A GOOD MASSAGE, BUT NO HAPPY ENDING

The regular season came to a close for the Red Inks of the Pen & Pencil Club on Monday night at battled-scarred Edgeley 4. Regrettably, the regular season is the only one we qualified for this year, but we weren’t eliminated until the very end of the very last game. So there.
We lost 15-14 to our old rival Bishop’s Collar in a game so close that each team was 26-for-47 at the plate. That seems impossible, but Ron’s scorebook doesn’t lie, even if Ron had to go to his car in the fifth inning to monitor a radio interview by West Philly Prime Minister Chaka Kahn. Either that or he was checking traffic on the twos.
Unfortunately, we didn’t need a close game. We needed a blowout win to tie BC in the standings and offset a testy loss earlier in the season. That didn’t turn out to be the case, but we played well, gave them all they wanted and came within a hit here and a catch there of finishing the season with a win. Oh fucking well.
For those who have committed our previous results to memory, it was no surprise that we jumped out to an early lead on the Prelate’s Neckbands. In the first game, which turned out to be a 17-9 loss, we jumped out to an 8-1 lead and then went into coast mode. This one was different, but we did score seven runs in the first inning – visions of the playoffs! – and held a 10-6 lead after three innings.
At that point, alas, Bishop’s Collar broke through for an eight-spot, batting around plus one, and doing their normal, annoying, single, single, single, etcetera thing. We chucked the ball around a little and they kept running and, well, took a 14-10 lead that became 15-10 an inning later.
In the sixth inning, however, we broke through for four runs to make it 15-14 and had we just kept the inning going and put up another nine runs, we would have been in coin flip position to make the postseason. So close. But the inning stopped there and as we came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh trailing by one, the game was still alive but the season was over. We went down quietly, took the L, shook hands, kissed Phyllis and Laniece, drank beer and drove on the field. Ron came back and reported that Prime Minister Kahn had successfully navigated the radio interview.
Three hits each for Mark Nevins (including HR), Brian Donlen, the Management, Dan Rubin (including almost HR), Mike Galan and B.J. Clark. Two hits each for George Miller, Steve Lynch and the General Manager. What else? Good running, twisting catch by Lynch in right center. Very good third base from Galan. Almost successful execution of rundown play. Much better than usual. No teeth lost at shortstop by Donlen. No goddam radio control airplanes. Good foul ball retrieval by Whitmarsh on Edgeley 3.
That’s about it. After I collect my thoughts, there will be a season recap, including the always anticipated P&P Awards. Later this week maybe. We are going to try to have a couple of friendlies. Brennan’s brother wants us to play The Waterworks Restaurant again, and they promise once again to cook and then not actually, you know, cook anything. Kerry has a friend who plays on a gay team and they are looking for friendlies, too. I’ll leave that one where it is.