baseball opening games

Spring brings vicious winds to New Mexico, making for my least favorite season here, despite the otherwise sunny skies. For many, it also brings on severe allergy symptoms. We are now in our fifth season of playing little league in the wind and the blowing dust and, sometimes, a combination of those with freakishly low temperatures that cut through our clothes as we watch the boys on the field.

Opening Day was last Saturday. The boys were very excited. Ry could hardly sleep the night before. The boys had new uniforms. We got a new bat, Jackson got a new batting helmet, Rylee got some batting gloves from Brendon and he found a shirt to go under his Cubs jersey. We got socks. We got cups. Jack's cleats fell apart, and we got him new cleats, too. Ry got a bigger glove. He didn't want a leather glove, though. Jackson was satisfied with his old glove. Maybe next year he will get a new one. We looked for a stadium seat for Cyndi, but so far we haven't found one. I got a scorekeeper's notebook.

We piled in the car Saturday morning, the boys' bags--filled with their equipment, extra balls, my glove, and water bottles--tossed in the back. Opening Day has become a big day for Altamont Little League. Pictures are scheduled throughout the day. The banners are up. The fields cleaned, facilities repaired and painted, weeks before by all of the parents. The snack bar opened, with the first smell of hot dogs, popcorn, fries, nachos, and green chile cheeseburgers. The parking lot and the little dirt roads and lots were filled with cars already at 9 am. Some games were already in process. An opening ceremony was planned, with the mayor and the AAA Isotopes mascot. There would be an adult exhibition game, along with a slate of games in all the divisions. Even local businesses came out, handing out freebies. The league had unboxed logo t-shirts and parkas for sale.

When we arrived for Ry's pictures and game, the field for his division, Minor Machine Pitch I, was filled with blow up jumpers. This was a surprise to us, as Ry was scheduled to play on that field immediately after the time scheduled to photograph his team. The wind was swirling already, the temperatures had dropped. There even seemed a threat of rain. Things were blowing down. It was hard to fill in and hold onto the picture order forms. The Cubs and their coaches got their official team photo, but we discovered that the game was moved to later that afternoon, at the same time as Jack's photos and game on the field for the Minor Machine Pitch II division.

That's when Jack pointed out that it would not be possible to share the one new bat we purchased, so that's when we got a second new bat. This made the boys very pleased, as they now each had a bat to call their own. The boys and I did some other errands, but I don't remember what they were. Maybe something to do with finishing the garage re-organization. Oh, yes, I remember now that Pete went with me to pick up a dishwasher at Sears.

[The story of the dishwasher. Our dishwasher crashed and burned months ago. Cyndi has been hand washing everything since, and the next biggest inconvenience of not having a dishwasher is that the dirty dishes pile up at the sink and can't simply be loaded into the dishwasher. So Sears had a sale, and I got the cheapest one. I spent Saturday night installing it. A slow process, but actually very simple to install, and they are remarkably light weight. Got the old one out. The only trick there was getting it out over the new floor I had added. Leveled the new one as best I could. Had the foresight to get parts before. Wiring was tricky because the cord didn't color code the hot wire, and I even called Don to check and researched a little how-to on the internet. Thought about how I may need to eventually replace the hot water valve, or a ring, under the sink. And that's more than enough about the dishwasher, which works wonderfully and quietly.]

To finish Opening Day, everything was canceled shortly after we left in the morning because of the weather. It just got worse. Jack's photos and the boys' games were re-scheduled. All of which brings me to what I really wanted to write about: their first games this week.

Ry's first was Wednesday. There was no wind that day. It was warm and pleasant. The Cubs were the home team, so they took the field first. The coach put Ry at catcher, which made Ry very happy. That's all he ever talks about. I helped him into the gear. He had to put on the small gear; otherwise the knee pads of the regular gear were up around his hips. Cyndi was in the stands with her sister. Jackson was there, too. I gave Jack a couple of bucks, thinking he'd likely go to the snack bar for a hot dog and slushee.

I watched Ry from the dugout, where I was keeping the roster and would get the batters ready later. Ry, surely one of the youngest players on the field, took his place behind home plate. He needed no one to tell him what to do. He crouched down, turned his glove toward the pitching machine, and put his right hand behind his back. He stayed in that position, perfectly balanced, his eyes looking forward through the mask on the catcher's helmet. He seemed dangerously close to the batters, but he was exactly where he needed to be to catch the balls. Plop. Plop. Plop. Ry caught the balls and then would stand to throw to the pitcher, but a batting coach told him to throw them to him. A wise instruction, but it also assumed Ry couldn't reach the pitcher with his throw. Ry wouldn't have had any trouble.

Somewhere around the second or third batter, a pitch hit him in the knee. I think the guard had come off and at first I thought he might have gotten one in the cup. He cried and I walked him to the dugout. This is a pretty common scene at this level and often discourages players from wanting to be a catcher. No surprise there. Cyndi came into the dugout, too, but Ry quickly regained his composure after the initial sting and he was the first to say that he wanted to go back in. So he did and finished his inning.

He also got two hits that day, with good runs to first and then very good base running. He's fast, direct and determined.

Jack's first game was the next evening, and the weather completely changed. I read the gusts were about 50 mph, and it was cold. What's more, we were all suffering from some kind of cold or flu bug and that day the boys actually stayed home from school. I was in the stands with Rylee, keeping score. The wind was beating us up in the stands. Eventually I gave Ry my sweatshirt because he was so cold.

Jackson did marvelous. Jack doesn't strike you at first as a kid determined to be a star athlete, but I think the coach really considers him an asset to his team for a few reasons: he's smart and alert, he knows where the play should be without hesitating, he chats it up on the field and in the dugout, he fields very well, charges the ball, he can make the throw from third or short stop to first, and he gets hits.

Jackson played shortstop for most of the game. The coach assigned him to call the defense to get in ready position for each pitch. He had several assists. At his first bat, he grounded straight to first base, but it was the first contact the team made and he ran it out all the way. On his other at-bats he hit to the left side of the field and made first base every time before the throw. I was especially pleased to see his base running. He was quick off the bags, paid attention to the third base coach, and scored at least twice. A really good day for him.

So that's our week. We went to Monroe's once with Pete and Dorie and Brendon. We had Chinese food out the other night. I talked briefly with Ariel, who has some wonderful prospects in both NYC and D.C. The cottonwood was trimmed. Oh, and Cyndi was stuck on the highway when the water pump on the Durango went out, so we called USAA, got it towed to a shop near us, and we got it back the next afternoon. It's got over 100,000 miles, otherwise in very good condition, but things like that may start to happen I'm afraid. It's a great vehicle for us, though, and I think it has more time yet. Cyndi keeps looking at smaller vehicles.

I should add that Jackson also finished three weeks of SBA (Standards Base Assessment) testing in reading comprehension, math and writing. This was a big deal for the school, since I think it grades the school on its performance, and it began with lots of pep rallies and preparation for the test taking. Jackson did very well in a similar test earlier in the school year. I think he scored highest in his class. It's one of those blacken-in-the-circle-with-a-no.-2-pencil tests that he's sure to see for many more years. So it's good that he's off to a good start. Meanwhile, Rylee continues to be a big reader, understands his phonetics, gets all his weekly spelling words, and does bonus problems on his math quizzes.

School will end sooner than we'll know it. Easter is around the corner. The boys will go to school on Good Friday, traditionally a day off, to make up for one of the many snow days this year. Soon it will be Cyndi's birthday and Mom & Dad will be off to their annual Hawaii trip. We're thinking of finding some cheap flights for a short visit sometime this summer to Ariel in NYC, and I'm looking forward to our annual Father's Day trip to Durango, as well as some more camping during the summer. I'd also like to sneak in a short trip to California, too. I'm sure Cyndi will get the boys into bible camp and maybe piano for Rylee. I'd like to see them join the club summer swim team, and I'm looking into some way to learn a little guitar and Spanish...but we shall see.