=== M's 11, KC 6 ===
Fourth inning, 1B and 3B with one out, Jack Wilson squares around and bunts the ball at the second baseman. Kyle Davies, SP KC, scrambles over awkwardly, reaches for the ball awkwardly, falls over doing a face plant, and the ball goes for a hit.
Next batter steps in. Davies, with a Little-Leaguer look of frustration on his face, spins and FIRES to pick Gutierrez off second ... and spikes the ball into the ground. The ball rolls out to CF as if it had been between-innings infield practice.
Guti moves up.
Davies' next misfire is a pitch, to the backstop. Guti scores easily, but the KC catcher (one of 13 ex-M's on the KC roster) BLASTS!!!! the ball towards home plate just as Guti crosses it standing up. Fortunately no one is killed.
It's been a while since I saw a pitcher score the runner from second with no help from any of the other 11- 12-year-olds. But seriously, not just because of that, coaching Little League? It is even a lot more fun than you'd think.
................
We hadn't seen anything yet. A fly ball to RF and Guti camps under it ... no he doesn't! With the ball in the air, he starts running again -- at 3/4 stride. Which is not enough to get him to the ball's landing point. :- )
Ichiro races over to bail out the vapor-locked Guti and ... more interested in avoiding a career-ending Guti forearm than he is in the baseball .... LUNNNNGGGGES gingerly at the last second, as the ball THUDS onto the grass.
With the ball in play and the runner screaming around the field counter-clockwise, Guti confusedly stares at Ichiro ... we'll draw the curtain on the play here.
Seriously again, I never (n-e-v-e-r) saw my LL outfield look THAT bad on a play.
Which created a slight vertigo effect for Dr. D, watching two of the greatest outfielders on planet Earth out-goob my 11- and 12-year olds.
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=== When does HE go? When HE Goes! ===
In Little League training camp, one of your drills is ... runners 1B and 2B, you throw home to the catcher. Sometimes you throw one so the catcher misses it. The child on 2B practices advancing or not.
All the other players watch. You ask them, right before you throw, 100 different times: WHEN DOES THE RUNNER ON FIRST GO? They yell back gleefully, "WHEN THE RUNNER ON SECOND GOES!!!"
(In case you were wondering: practice fielding ground balls, teach two kids how to step down the centerline when they pitch, make sure your baserunners go every chance they get, and your LL team is guaranteed to play .700 ball.)
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Seventh inning, Jack Wilson doubles, and then Rob Johnson rips a line drive up the middle. You can't STOP Rob Johnson, you can only hope to contain him.
The CF Maier airmails the throw home, about 25 feet off the ground, despite the fact that Wilson pulls up only two strides around 3B.
Rob Johnson, approximately the 2nd fastest catcher of my lifetime (Biggio), takes second base with a 230-lb. Pete Rose headfirst dive into second. Second base bounces twice when Johnson's landing gear hit the runway.
Olivo of course throws to 2B anyway, the second feebleminded throw of the play, so ... it's the other runner's turn to go. "WHEN DOES HE GO? WHEN HEEEE GOES!!"
In comes the throw to the plate. Wilson does a nice Ty Cobb hook slide away from the tag. The runner from 2B now gets to run. The throw goes down to 3B, too late, of course.
The play stops because there's no place else to throw the ball. Ah, those were the days.
.....................
The Mariners had 17 at-bats with runners in scoring position, and the batted ball rolled between KC fielders on more than half of them. .500+ AVG's with runners all over the bases... ahhhhhhh.
The Mariners had 16 different hits, none of them over anybody's head, and several of them rolling less than 90 feet.
.....................
Yer point is?
Sure, it's nice to get two big wins the last two days. But it does make a difference who you're playing.
Greatest game of the year.
LOL,
Dr D