Weekend Planning, Beisbol

I will be out of gaming again for the next two Saturdays, so I just wanted to put that out there early in case someone else wanted to start plans for the weekend.

BASEBALL ONLY FOR THE REST OF THE POST...

Jon and I got together for the 2nd and 3rd games in our series. In the first game played about 2-3 weeks ago, I jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings, followed by Jon loading the bases and calling his shot, saying "One eight" and then rolling...one eight, which equated to a 2 out grand slam and a fatigued starter on my part before I was out of the third. He proceeded to run away with it as my guys shut it down after the demoralizing blow, winning something like 9-4. That was the setup for the second game in the series. This time, my players realized that the keys to success were 1) more than a 4 run lead against Jon, and 2) not having the starter get fatigued before the end of the 3rd inning. I sent 11 players to the plate in the top of the first and the rout was on, with HIS starter getting fatigued before getting out of the first. Jon left his starter in to learn the error of his ways, and I managed to touch him for at least four fatigue-singles throughout the game. The good news is that his starter pitched a complete game. The bad news is he was on the losing end of the 15-4 decision. But only 12 of those were earned, so that's something.

The third game, the rubber match, lived up to the hype, as the two teams fought and scratched the entire way. A-Rod hit a solo shot in the first to give my team the early lead. We managed to get out to a 3-0 advantage after 3 innings. In the fourth, Jon said "breakout inning." And there was a breakout inning. And it was good...for him. He got a clutch two-out two-RBI hit that gave him a 4-3 advantage. By the end of the fifth, Bonds had jacked a solo shot to make it 5-3 for Jon. In the sixth, I put my first two on by a walk and a single. My backup DH came to the plate (starting DH Glaus wasn't "feeling it" and had decided to sit this one out). At this point, Jon and I talked about when a sitting player could come in to pinch hit, as I asked whether or not Glaus could come in off the bench. We looked up the posts on this blog and could only find Brian's reference to "no early game substitutions." Jon conceded that the sixth was no longer "early game" and allowed the sub. (Maybe we need to agree to a bit more specific definitiion of when sitters are allowed to come in as substitutes for the benefit of all the players in their future games?) So, Glaus strides to the plate...and blasts a pinch-hit 3 run home run to take the lead, 6-5. (For what its worth, the HR came off the pitcher card, so the sub was inconsequential when all was said and done.) Jon got runners in scoring position in the eighth and ninth, but I sent in three relievers over the last two plus innings to hold on for the nailbiting 6-5 win, with Papelbon getting the last out for the save.

So Jon and I are both 8-4 after 12 games played, which I'm pretty certain is the league lead right now (+4 differential). I've gone 2-1 in all four series I've played against Dennis, Sean, Scott and Jon. I think this leaves Brian and Michael for me, and I'm not sure who's up next for Jon.