I didn't write about Game 3 of the Dodgers' fall baseball season because, well, there was nothing to write about. It was a 12 - 2 win over the Angels. Nice coaches and good boys including Griffin, whom I coached in the early days with the Junior Dodgers. It was a hot day and the Angels ran up the white flag and didn't take their last at bat, which was kind of weak.
The most exciting moment of the day was the pregame' meeting between the umpires and the head coaches. I almost got run before the game had started because I insisted that the clock (1 hour 30 minutes pre game) didn't start until the catcher threw the ball down to second base before the first inning. The umpire - older and lazy - tried to tell me the clock started when the home team began to warm before the first inning. After the umpire asked me if I wanted to watch the game from the parking lot, I went and found Roger, who runs the league, and he straightened the umpire out.
My point is that since WNSL shortened the weekend games from 1:40 to 1:30, the boys have lost 10 minutes of baseball. It isn't fair to them to take away another 5 to 10 minutes by not starting the game until after the home team finishes warming up. I have 12 players and need to get as many of them at bats as I can. Losing almost 20 minutes of playing time matters.
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Game 4 was a rematch against the Diamondbacks whom we lost to earlier in the fall season in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicated due to WNSL's silly 5 run maximum per inning rule.
Oliver wanted this game badly, as evidenced by the fact that he started Simms, again, at pitcher and had him throw 72 or 73 pitches before taking him out. My coaches were shaking their heads as Simms' pitch count got higher and higher. In all of my years of coaching youth baseball, I've never seen a coach pitch an 11 year old 70 + pitched in a recreational league fall baseball game. That one really left me scratching my head.
Joe started for the Dodgers and pitched well. For the most part, he had better control. If memory serves, he had, maybe, three strikeouts, and gave up only 1 or 2 legitimate hits. In classic Joe fashion, after an infield hit he noticed the batter turned in toward second base and shouted at Daniel, playing first base, to tag him. Daniel did and the umpire rang him up for an out. Smart, smart baseball play by Joe but that's what he does. Later, Joe made a sterling play at shortstop to end an inning, leaping to his right to catch a blooper headed for short left/center field hit by Leo (one of my favorites on the Diamondbacks and probably a future President of the United States).
In his first at bat against Simms - a very good right-handed pitcher who throw hard - Joe roped a 2 strike line drive down the third base line with his new bat. It was his best hit ball of the falls season. Coaching third, I immediately yelled "Two! Two!" as Joe headed to first. The first mistake I made was that I wasn't coaching first, so it wasn't buy call. The second mistake I made was that Leo - aka "Mr. President" was playing left field. He chased the ball down and threw a seed to Henry (another one of my all time favorites) covering second base and Joe, sliding, was out by a mile. Still, a great hit and a great play by Leo. That's baseball.
In the second or third inning, our boys broke it open with good base running and 3 consecutive hits against Simms. Two were doubles on balls hit over the center fielder's head by Nico and Huck. We would have had 6 runs, at least, in the inning, but the silly 5 run maximum rule held us up.
Huck hit another double, later, then fell asleep and got picked off second base by Simms. Learning, always learning. I love that part of coaching baseball. Our boys ran the bases well, taking good secondary leads, and stealing several bags off Henry Singleton, an outstanding catcher. He has a future as a catcher, for sure, as I know he'll put in the work to get his hitting where it needs to be.
I pulled Joe after completed his third inning pitching. Joe could have pitched another inning but was just over 40 pitches and I wasn't going to risk hurting his arm in a fall baseball game. I also wanted him to leave with the confidence that comes with having a good outing, given up one one run.
After consulting Daniel - who I brought in to catch - I pitched Keaton, an athletic, competitive lefty. He didn't have his best stuff and struggled with his control. Still, he battled, which is what Keaton does. I was closing to reliving him by bringing in Bennett but Keaton got out of trouble and we came to bat with a 7 - 5 lead.
Joe led off and because I knew we only had 3 minutes left to complete the game, I told him to take some pitches and go deep in the count. He did exactly that, worked a full count, then grounded out on a fairly close play at second base as the game ended on time since we were the home team.
The Dodger game the Diamondbacks what was their first (maybe second) loss of the season. I wanted the win, I'll admit, for obvious reason. Most of all, though, I wanted my boys to win against a good baseball team and that's exactly what they did.
I love seeing and playing against the boys I coached the last 2 or 3 years. Leland. Henry Singleton. Henry Stout. Simms. Leo. Parks. Good boys, every one of them. I talked with them and encouraged them throughout the game. I congratulated them when they made good plays and encouraged them to get a hit when they were in the on deck circle in front of me.
Oliver, on the other hand, didn't talk to any of our boys during the game. He didn't interact with Joe except to tell him good game in the handshake line after the game, like he was a player he didn't even know. Joe - on his own - mentioned it to me after the game. I could never not talk to boys that had played hard for me, bled for me, given their all for me in past games just because they are on another team. That's another thing that left me scratching my head.
A good baseball game and good win for the Dodgers.
Scott Tygard, Joe, and Roger Maness. Scott and Roger have been the heart and should of WNSL for all of the years JP and Joe have played baseball and basketball in WNSL leagues.
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