Phillies rally late to take game two from the Nationals

Tonight’s home crowd of 29, 611 was in for a wild time as the Philadelphia Phillies scored

11 runs in the last two innings to defeat our Washington Nationals 14-9. The game started out slowly with the only scoring through the first three innings coming from a rbi groundout by Washington’s Jacob Young in the bottom of the 2nd.

But things sped up in a hurry. In the Nats’ half of the fourth, after two walks and a single,

Nazim Nunez singled to left field driving in Jorbit Vivas and Dylan Crews. That big rbi

producer was followed by another single via the bat of Jose Tena driving in Nunez and

Vivas. 5-0. Nice!

The Phillies offense woke up fast with a home run by Edmundo Sosa, his 5th, scoring Bryson

Scott who had singled to start off the top of the 5th. That made it 5-2 Washington. The score stayed that way until the top of the 7th when the Phillies manufactured a run after

singles by Bryson Stott and Gabriel Rincones followed by a ground out to shortstop that

allowed Stott to score. 5-3, the Nats holding on.

Things really fell apart in the top of the 8th with J.T. Realmuto coming through with a bases

clearing two-bagger after a double, a walk, and a hit batsman. 6-5 Phillies. But you have to give the Nats some credit…they came right back in the bottom of the inning and went ahead 8-6 courtesy of Jorbit Vivas’ three-run bomb, his 2nd, after Luis Garcia walked and Dylan Crews was struck by a pitch.

All heck broke loose in the top of the 9th with the Phillies scoring a total of 8 runs. Highlights

of the inning (if you’re a Phillies fan) included a two-run homer from Brandon Marsh, his

14th, to tie the game, a go-ahead three-run dinger from Bryson Stott, his 7th, and a two-run

double courtesy of Edmundo Sosa. 14 to 8 Phillies. Yikes!!!

Washington did manage a run in the bottom of the inning due to Luis Garcia’s 12th home

run, but that was far from enough. Philadelphia scored 11 runs in the last two innings. Not a good night for our relievers. But, that’s baseball. A new game almost every night.

The Nats’ loss dropped them back into a tie for third with the Miami Marlins, 8 ½ games

behind the division leading Atlanta Braves. Game three of the four-game series starts

tomorrow at 6:45.

Dave’s Dimes…Nostalgia Time

I’m unfortunately one of those guys who was good at a lot of things but not excellent at any

of them…unless I can count teaching school. I was a high school English teacher back in

Colorado for twenty-seven years and, if I’m allowed to brag a little, was a dang good one. I

still have a lot of notes from students to back me up. But I digress…

I played organized basketball at the YMCA from third grade through junior high. I made the

all-league team pretty much every year, but I was never the best player on the team.

I participated for a few years in Little League baseball and, again, I had my moments but

not enough of them. It just wasn’t meant to be. I remember one year when I thought

pitching might be my thing. This was probably in the eighth grade. I threw a little that night

at practice and was doing okay. I had some pop to my fastball. It felt good. I couldn’t wait

to get to the diamond that following night. But, as fate would have it, I broke two toes in

gym class that next day playing softball. I was the first baseman and got my foot stomped

on by a big eater who was rumbling down the first base line trying to beat out a grounder to

shortstop. That’s life… To make it even worse, he was safe…

I played a little football in high school. I was a pretty big kid, but I just wasn’t engaged

enough, I guess you could say. I never did anything other than goof off during

practice. These were my friends…my buddies…I couldn’t hit them hard. Who would do

that to a pal?

I did letter in golf my senior year. Yes, golf. I went to a ghetto school, and we only had five

guys go out for the team. The top four played in the tournaments. Our rival high school

across town was not in the ghetto and had forty guys try out for the team. You do the

math. We were bad.

Probably my best sports moment came a few years later when I was working at a

bank. One of my many career choices before I finally found my true calling in English

class.

Our bank sponsored a fast-pitch softball team that competed against some pretty good

talent. We had the worst uniforms imaginable. They were 100% wool, bright green and

yellow, and our ball caps had a hand-stitched dollar sign for a logo. Please don’t laugh at

me. I remember a team from Fort Carson, a local army base, won the league every year. Of

course, they only had hundreds of fine young men to choose from. We all actually worked

at the bank and none of us would have ever warranted a second look from that army team.

But, as a form of consolation, we would have been the best-looking team in the league if it

wasn’t for those hideous uniforms.

The night I’m thinking of was the one where we played a team of younger guys. I think they

were sponsored by a car wash or pedicure parlor or something like that. They were pretty

good. Like in everything else, I wasn’t that bad. I played catcher, first base, and left field,

but not at the same time, obviously. Well, this night I finally got a hold of one and hit a

scorcher over the left field fence for my one and only home run. I took that smug look right

off that car washer’s face.

I still reminisce about that game from time to time. Like whenever I stub my toe or fall down

on the ice while walking my dog. Time goes by so fast when you’re old. But the memories…

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