J.P.'s baseball team - the Dodgers - had a 7 p.m. game against the Knights, a team that beat us 13-7 a couple of weeks ago. The boys got out to an early lead in the first inning after Cooper walked, stole second and scored on a base hit. They stretched the lead to 2-0 with another run in the second inning. Benton started and pitched great for two innings. I brought in Cyrus to pitch next and he was really dealing. Two more innings pitched and no runs. In the meantime, the boys kept hitting and heading into what looked to be the last inning because time was running out, they had a 7-0 lead.
I brought in Wes to pitch after telling him all he had to do was throw strikes and we could go home. Normally one of our most reliable pitchers, Wes just didn't have it last night and immediately go into trouble. He walked a couple of batter, hit one batter, then gave up a hit. Suddenly, it was 7-3, the based were loaded and there still were no outs. I knew I had to have a short hook, so when Wes walked a run in to make it 7-4, I pulled him. As I walked out of the dugout, I looked at J.P. standing at shortstop, pointed at him then pointed at the pitcher's mound.
J.P. began warming up, throwing to Benton, who was catching. I looked around, shook my head, and grimaced a bit as I thought about what a tough spot J.P. was in. Bases loaded, no outs, our boys up 7-4. He's done it before this season, I thought. Let's see if he can do it again tonight.
On the second pitch, the first batter J.P. faced grounded into a fielder's choice at third base. Wes stepped on the bag, a run scored and it was 7-5 with runners on first and second bases. J.P. struck out the next batter for the second out. A ball got away from him and the passed ball allowed the runners to advance to second and third bases. Still 7-5, two outs, with the tying run at second base.
J.P. threw a couple of ball, then a strike. 2-1 count. Just don't walk him and load the bases, I thought. It was stressful and I was nervous. Really nervous. J.P. threw another ball. Oh, shit, I thought. Here comes the walk. J.P. took a deep breath, leaned forward and dangled his right arm in front of him, like Kenley Jansen for the Dodgers. He lifted his left leg high, stepped toward home plate and let the ball fly. Strike two. Full count.
Another deep breath (by J.P. and me), the same motion, the pitch . . . strike three swinging. Ball game! J.P. smiled, his teammates cheered and came running in toward him. The cool thing was that J.P. didn't celebrate too much. He was happy, of course, but he acted like he expected to put out the fire and preserve the win.
What I was the most proud of - and I told him this - is that I knew I could put him in at pitcher in that type of a situation and the moment wouldn't be bigger than him. He might succeed and he might fail. If he failed, though, it wouldn't crush him. He's confident, resilient and he would be disappointed but not devastated. I knew he could bounce back.
It took courage and heart to come in and pitch in such a tight spot. And he succeeded. It was a good night. A damn good night.
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