My Newfound Obsession with the Spirit...Part Deux

Note: See the next post below for Joe's complete game report from North Shore's 5-1 victory over the New Haven County Cutters.

Section Nine, Hell-Hole ("Historic") Yale Field, West Haven, CT-- Joe and I had quite an eventful day leading up to the game tonight. We started off with a PIMPIN' boat ride on my uncle's new boat on long island sound and a little ways up the CT river on just an IMMACULATE day for boating, baseball, basket-weaving, you name it. It was, as we in the bih-niss like to call, 'NOICE'.

Anyway we took off from there to make the 35-mile or so trek to West Haven. Along the way, I see on the car's info-thing that I have about 75 miles worth of gas left and pull into a gas station to fill up, only to find that I don't have my mom's keychain with the gascap key on it. So we figure, OK, we'll just pray. Then we pull into a Subway to get some food, and get stuck behind a few people. It's 1/4 after 6 by the time we leave.

So, we'll just pray, we say to ourselves.

We end up getting to the field about ten minutes before game time. As we walk to our seats, the umpires are already meeting at the mound. Great timing, really. After the game, we get to my house with--no joke--FOUR miles of gas left in the tank. Gotta love the prayin'.

So anyway, the game itself was, in the beginning at least, almost a carbon copy as last nights. One quick run for the Spirit, with good pitching shutting down the Cuttahs. Trout, however, as Joe already said, pulled a Jon Lester and put on about 2 runners an inning, only to say 'PSYCH' and snatch it all away with a DP or a couple K's.

Later in the game, things started to pick up. Jon DeVries (who, it's worth noting, hasn't had a ground ball to run out the entire series, having either struck out or walked in all but one at bat, where he had a Sac Fly.) was called out on strikes, and, almost immediately, was tossed from the game. I personally, in my completely unbiased opinion* (*See: It was a completely retahded call) thought 1) the pitch was a ball and 2) Jon should NOT have gotten the axe at that point. He ended up coming and sitting 2 rows in front of me, Joe, and Dave, so I asked him what he did, and he said he just drew a line in the dirt showing where the pitch was.

However, the umpire remained as consistantly inconsistant as he had been all game. After a Cuttah's player argued a call, and argued, and gestured, and argued for about 3 minutes, finally, clearly just at our three-person Spirit Fan Section's urging, the umpire threw him out of the game. It really seemed like some home-field umpiring today.

Brooks was also tossed for, according to him (or according to DeVries, i can't remember which) "talking from the dugout". But ah, well. Robsinson came through.

The pickoff of Gibson at third in the eighth was MASSIVE, and could possibly have shifted the entire complexion of the game. The next pitch after the pickoff was a grounder to shortstop that would have easily scored the run and have given the Cuttahs a lead and changed the Spirit view of things.

The Spirit REALLY lucked out again in the top of the ninth. Chas "Don't Call Me Chuck" aka "Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits" Terni let a ball skip under his glove for a big error. It would have been the third out, but instead, it eventually allowed four runs--all unearned--to score and give the Spirit a fairly exciting victory.

"I'd rather be lucky than good" --Lefty Gomez

But you know what? The good ol' Spirit was both tonight.

Pictures to come tomorrow night, Joe will finally bring his camera. I'll be (literally) be bringing the brooms!

On a side note, me and Joe played a little 5-at-bat-each Wiffleball match today, in which I struck him out all five times (not that he's bad, I'm just that....damn...good), and I hit a single and 2 homers, a fly out and a strikeout. Good Times.

I've Caught the Spirit...Caught Caught the Spirit...

-Grant Salzano