Award-worthy performance

Day 2 of Week 2 of 2022 MFC started off like almost any other in the past. I got to the complex around 7:45, leaving me an hour to get some brekky and get into my uniform for the 8:45 meeting under the outdoor tent.

My team, coached by Nelson Figueroa Jr. and Glendon Rusch is known as Rusch Hour. We were scheduled to play our first game in Ft. Pierce at Indian River State College. The remainder of the teams would play each other at the complex beginning at 9:30 am. I grabbed my equipment bag and pulled it out to the Academy bus which would transport us to IRSC. As I handed him the bag to go in the bus' cargo area Fast Eddie, our driver, asked me if I had my shoes. He'd noticed that I wasn't wearing my baseball cleats. I had replaced them, for the bus ride, to a pair of Mets logo-emblazoned padded shower shoes. I assured him that they were indeed inside of said DeMarini equipment bag. I actually returned to the clubhouse to look for, of course, my sunglasses. I then remembered that they had been placed in the top section of the bag, so all was good. Or, was it.

About halfway through our ride north on I-95 I had a funny feeling (funny "strange", not funny "ha-ha") that made me think that I had NOT placed the bag which contained my grey cleats into the equipment bag. When I reached our dugout at the  IRSC field there were indeed no cleats inside. I couldn't believe that I'd made a "rookie mistake" at the start of my eighth week. I told my coach Glendon Rusch and he asked what size I wore. I told him 11-1/2 or 12 usually. So he agreed to swap shoes for the duration of the game. He's from San Diego, so he thought it looked totally laid-back to be coaching in cushioned shower shoes today. Figgy said we needed to take a picture for evidence that I'd made this faux pas. And so we did that before I took the field at first base for game one. 

We won our game 2-0 behind a great pitching effort from Chris Buscemi. I went 0-for-3 on the day with two infield pop outs sandwiching a strike out swinging against the always amazing David Reale, who tweaked his hamstring early in the contest and pitched masterfully through the pain.

Upon my arrival back at the complex I found said cleats at the bottom of my locker waiting to be taken to game 1, which was now in the books. 

Game two saw us jump out to a 3-0 lead after the first half inning, but we surrendered four runs in the bottom of the frame. We trailed throughout the game by various margins. I drew walks my first to plate appearances then singled to right field and ended my day by getting hit by a pitch in the back of the leg. My on base percentage jumping exponentially in the process. 

We ended dropping a 22-17 decision but the run total may help us later in a possible tiebreaker situation. 

Tonight we took our coaches to Hokkaido Hibachi and Sushi. It's called "hibachi" by most in the U.S., although it's actually teppanyaki, which is prepared on a metal sheet, not over open grating like hibachi is. It was great to hear stories told by Glendon and Figgy while telling them of our experiences as fans watching them and others during our youths. 

When it came time to choose where we would dine this evening many of the players looked to me for advice. It was then when I realized something. In the first few years I was at MFC I relied upon the veterans to help me along with some aspects of what went on. I was now the person whom the rookies and shorter-tenured players look to for information and advice. It was a cool thing, actually because I enjoy adding to the enjoyment of camp for others as much as possible. I know what it meant to me early on to get help from guys who are now Hall of Famers here. Which reminds me that I did not know of the newest members of the MFC Hall of Fame- Kevin Baez, Mike Tulles, Pat Mascarini and my great friend Phil Forman. All are greatly deserving of this great honor. 

Tomorrow Rusch Hour hits the field at 9:30 after photos are taken and attempt to improve on our 1-1 record. 

Tomorrow I am without a doubt going to get a brown rope nomination. Heck, unless someone did something more boneheaded than myself today, I would win it. I was nominated for a gold rope one day in 2019 when I went 6-for-6 with a walk and 4 rbi, but that was my only rope nomination....until tomorrow. Tune in tomorrow to see if I win the "award". My money is on ME, but I wouldn't be upset to lose out on this bit of notoriety. Trust me on that one.

Day 3 is but hours away. Man, this is great!


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