Time Served on a Platter - April 19^th Game

The B61 Lineup
B61 was out in full force- 20 of us, and that's not even everyone on the roster!  As the home team, we took the field:
Catcher: “Coppertop Amy” and then “Beer Can” Johanna
Pitcher: “The Czar” Jonathan
1^st Base: “Oh Henry” and Whipit
2^nd Base: “Bomber” Betsy and “Pigtails” Tamara
Shortstop: Chris “to be named later” and “Parachute Pants” Rob
3^rd Base: “Canadian Clubber” Jamie and Jason “De” Lux
Left Field: Steve “Rhino” and Big Alex Reinert
Center Field: Capone and “Not as Big Anymore” Alex (he lost 10 lbs.)
Right Center Field: Jason “De” Lux and JJ
Right Field: “Ribbi” Alyce and Renee “Boom Boom”
DH: JJ and Apeman “Adam”

Our 10 month hiatus showed as Time Served started to hit.  Sloppy play let them score the first run and put runners on first and second.  Then, we woke up and had our first ESPN highlight of the season.  Jamie snags a ground ball to his side and tags 3rd for the forced out, fires to Henry and beats the runner at 1st.  The runner from first stops between 2nd and 3rd as Henry pump fakes the throw to 2nd and commits the runner to go to 3rd.  Henry shoots the ball back to Jamie where he makes the tag.  A TRIPLE PLAY!!  Meow.  If I weren't there to see it, I wouldn't believe it.  Is this a sign of the team to come?
Then, it was our turn for offense.  Rhino started off with a walk followed by another walk for Chris.  Oh Henry hits a blooper to right center, and Steve rounds third to score our first run of the season.  The Canadian Clubber hits an easy double to score 2 more runs.  3 more walks and T. Served switches to a much better pitcher.  They get 3 outs, but not before we run through our entire lineup and make the score 6-1.  At one point, I was standing on second base, and T. Served’s second basewoman told me, “This base has been like a bus station with so many people moving through it.”  A B61 bus station?
In the 2nd inning, we quickly shut Time Served down and start the bottom of the inning with back-to-back base hits by Rhino and Chris.  Henry walks to set the stage for Jamie who takes his first pitch to the dirt on the other field.  A GRAND SLAM!!  A triple play and a grand slam in the first 2 innings???  Holy cow.
Feeling perhaps too cocky with a 10-1 lead, we fold as Time Served rallies to score 5 runs in the top of the 3rd.  "That was nice of us," commented Johanna when we returned to the dugout.  "We made it a game."
Time Served brings out a third pitcher from their bullpen as Amy goes up to hit.  She hits a solid ground ball bobbled by the shortstop and easily beats the throw.  “De” Lux follows with his own base hit, and due to an overthrow, extends it to a double as Amy advances to 3rd.  Rhino hits a sacrifice fly to left field, and Henry sends Amy after the tag up.  Steve thanked her for the RBI, and Amy later commented, "I think that was the first time it wasn't a total mistake that I scored."
We keep filling the bases with a line drive up the center by Chris and a hit by Henry.  Henry books around 3rd on Jamie's base hit to give Jamie his 8th RBI for the evening.  Betsy follows and hits an MVP of a bomb to left field for a triple!  The rumor is that Alex proposed to her immediately after seeing that hit, but it hasn't been confirmed yet.  Congrats, you two!
Capone soon follows with a triple of his own to make it 16-6.  Blue calls the slaughter rule- he wants to go home because this is his 3rd game of the day.  The Bus Stops gets its first win of the season!  Blue agrees to ump another inning because we're not ready to end it.  We find out later that the slaughter rule is 12 runs after the 5th inning, but it wouldn’t have mattered.

Apeman leads off the bottom of the 5th with a single, and big Alex Reinert without his explorer hat (one of the conditions for Betsy to marry him?) follows with a double.  Adam remarked that he didn't remember ever running from 1st to 3^rd before.  Whipit clocks a ground ball that's too hard for the shortstop to grab for a base hit and Whipit's first RBI of the season.  Jamie once again rocks a ball to the distant field for another long ball home run.  Unfortunately, only 3 RBIs this time.  21-6?  22?  By this point, it's hard to keep count. 
 

Memorable Moments

·         Steve announcing at the bar that Alex and Betsy got engaged.  Mazel tov!  That's great news

·         Henry and Jamie's triple play.  I don't know if I have ever seen a triple play before.  Ever.

·         "Are there banana peels on the field?" Renee's question as we watched the seventh slip of the night

·         "I'm not too smart, but I know how to count." Blue's comment when we doubt what he says the score is

·         Jamie's performance in the game - 1 grand slam, a 3 run homer, 11 RBIs, 2 slips and his part in the triple play.  That's good stuff

·         Rob's parachute pants- guess it's hard to hit in those things :-)

·         One of the Time Served guys giving a woman a 2-minute batting lesson during the middle of the game when she's down 0-2 in the count

·         A new B61 term - "pork chop" - n. a lame excuse for not partying such as, "I'd love to stay and do shots with you, but I have to go home and eat pork chops for dinner."

Player of the Game
MVP goes to Betsy for a legitimate bomb of a triple, making 2 RBIs and for agreeing to join the Reinert clan.   I can feel that this will be the start of things to come for the Lady Bus Stops.  (The hitting part, not the marrying Reinerts part)

Commentary
The B61 family keeps growing and growing.  It's great to share the love, but I'm worried that people might get frustrated if they don't get enough playing time.  Especially when we have close games, it's going to be hard to swap out so many players.  Tracey suggested that we have A and B games and rosters so subs know definitely when they'll play and act as subs to the subs on the other days.  Anyone like the idea?  Any better suggestions?