WEEK 1 - FROM THE CHEAP SEATS
Now that Week 1 is in the books, I thought I would recap on the things I saw throughout the day….
Old faces…As we began season 11 on Sunday, it was odd not to see a lot of the old vets around. Gaz,
Balke, Kudra, Ussh, D-Jax, Alldred, Craig. Nash and Algeo just to name a few. But the one who was
clearly absent for me was my old buddy Jay-Yo. Shout out to you, Stell and of course little Frankie…you were missed.
Now, back to Opening Day…
A) The ”WTF…did you see that?” goes to Mike Miller’s catch on Ariella Bar-Nissim in the first game. The new rover line rule of 25 meters out is a game changer this year and Miller did his best to make sure it would not come into play on his watch. Nice catch Miller. Mind you, AB-N you get some love too for making 2 key catches for outs behind the plate on Sunday!
B) “4 times! Seriously?” goes to Lowell Sanborn. This elephant in the room needs to be addressed and put to rest. Lowell is a vet in this league who is historically a strong lead-off hitter (and a great outfielder too). But never will we see that again….EVER. In a pitch to your own team softball league has a lead-off batter racked up 4Ks in a single game. That was incredible. Now put it in your rearview mirror buddy. Your weekly commitment to come from Jinju every week is impressive enough!
C) “Infield what…huh…Double play, wtf” goes to a play in the Dirtbags/Mavericks game. The infield fly rule is as follows, if runners are on first and second or the bases are loaded and the batter pops up into the infield AND the fielder is parked under the ball to catch it, the infield fly rule comes into play. Well, the problem with the DSL is that we don’t have a pitcher playing defense, so right away the infield fly rule is grey. It is not that easy to park under the ball if you are running in hard. Captains, may I suggest, from here on out, just call it after the hit. Dead ball. No play. No BS. No strange double plays. Just a thought, but your call Caps.
D) “Hi, my name is Tobe…I hit homeruns for breakfast.” In his first ever DSL at bat, Tobe comes to the
plate and rocks a bomb to left field! Impressive buddy! Back up left fielders…he crushes it! Side note,
and hats off to Murray Johnson here, as Tobe rounded the bases, he missed both second and third base. I know. I was there. I appealed it by tagging third, and Ump Johnson called him out, but changed his call. I get the #spiritoftheleague attitude, and it is true. I did not go circa 2010 and lose my shit (though Groba was tempting me!)…There was no point? He crushed it! Just make sure you touch those bags Tobe. In a closer play at the plate, that would have made the difference. Welcome to the game. You are going to be a force this year. Looking forward to seeing you mash!!
E) “26 WHAT??? NO WAY!!!!” goes to the entire team of the Dirtbags. This team managed to hit 26
singles. No doubles. No triples. No homeruns. That is amazing! Seriously….think about that!! I put that
up with Lowell’s feat in that we won’t see that again anytime soon.
F) I did not watch games 2 or 3 all that closely on Sunday (catching up with friends/and making new ones is what the DSL is all about…and of course, beer), but a player that stood out for me was Cara Markewicz in game 4. Damn! She was all over the field…she was hitting it hard, running hard and crossing the plate! Impressive play buddy! I tip my cap!
G) And while on the discussion of stats…There is a debate/discussion brewing with stats this year (that I know the captains want put to rest). It turns out that the captains have chosen to eliminate the fielder’s choice on the stat sheet. Some argue that it does not show the true numbers of the league. Others say captains will have a hard time choosing players for the draft next year. Well…as Bill Belichick once said “Stats are for losers…final scores are for winners.” Folks, don’t get me wrong. I appreciate what the DSL Stats Team does. It is not easy, nor is it a responsibility I want any part of. Their work is for us to enjoy. But let’s get real here. We are a beer league for 10 days a spring (11 if you are fortunate). Let’s not take stats too seriously. Yeah, it’s me, of ALL people, saying this.
I am going to share a story with you. One year when I was captaining, I received a message from one of my teammates during a week where we came off a loss. They were asking me if it was my fault for their personal stats not being correct and when it will be corrected. All I thought was: who gives a shit. We lost. The only numbers that matter are wins and losses. Would you rather go 4 for 4 and lose or 0 for 4 and win? I will take the latter. Let’s not take stats too seriously folks…you are more than a number! Remember, you win as a team and you lose as a team…THAT IS IT!
And with that said, Matty Campbell, the site looks awesome! I love the ticker at the bottom with the
scores. As well, nice to see the Twitter account up and running. Good work buddy! You do a lot of work for this league. Appreciated for sure! You make a mean sandy too!
Stollery…I meant what I said about you doing a solo cast. It would be a first and I, for one, would listen!
One final note, I want to shout out to the 8 Captains running the DSL this year. In particular to the ones
who did a lot of work in the off season to make sure Season 11 is off to a good start. A lot of people have no idea what work it takes to get this off the ground. I appreciate your work. You boys nailed it! Sunday was a blast! Keep it up!
Bring on week 2!
- Bolger