Baseball's End

Does that title make you laugh? It makes me smirk just a little because we all know that baseball is NEVER over in the Ryder household. There's a whole summer of San Francisco Giants, after all!

We were "fortunate" this year that Smunch didn't make the traveling all-star team for his league. Sure, that would have been flattering, but he was getting so little playing time on the club team...and he got that same kind of time on the travel team last summer...that I wasn't keen on letting all our summer plans slide just for more baseball.

Instead, Smunch was chosen for the "In-House All Stars" team. The team was a mixture of Phillies and Marlins players, with one player from the Cubs and they played a single weekend tournament with two games on Saturday and two on Sunday.In a lot of ways, it was a fairly dismal affair for the team dubbed The Chillens". The games were long and although they were somewhat close in score, the Chillens lost every single one of them.

On the upside, Smunch played pretty well. He pitched well enough to get the attention of the coach...the head coach of the Marlins who had also coached the Mavericks.Smunch never pitched for the Mavericks, so the coach hadn't seen that much of him. He struck out a bunch and got some good coaching on how to pitch just a little better. He also got a few hits and I believe he even scored once.

It was a mind-numbing weekend, with Daddy largely unavailable due to scorekeeping duties and me roped into providing snack just because no one else volunteered to bring anything when the kids had back-to-back games right at lunchtime. Watermelon, yogurt, cheese sticks...and hot dogs provided by another family. It was pretty successful as snacks go.

And know what? The coach asked Smunch if he was planning to play Fall Ball (he already was) and said he was getting together a team and he'd like to have Smunch on it. Awesome. I have a feeling summer is going to feel mighty short before baseball season begins again!

Team #3, Tournament #2

Smunch is now playing on his third baseball team of the season. Is it still "the season"? I'm not even sure anymore.This time around, Smunch refused to be #1, opting instead for #3, despite the fact that he's the smallest kid on the PONY All-Stars Red Fireballs...by at least two inches.See him out there during the national anthem? Yeah, that's him. The shrimpy little kid in the middle.

I hate to admit that I haven't been enjoying the All Star team as much as either of his other teams. Some of the parents take things seriously enough to be real jerks on occassion. The coach is no exception. He's normally a great coach and a nice guy, but if things get a little intense during the game...well, I'd call yanking a kid out in the middle of the inning for bobbling the ball a couple times an excessive move. And he thinks it's cool to cheat, by secretly coaching the kids while he's pitching to them. Nice role model, dude.

Still, I hide most of this distain from Smunch. Despite the fact that he sits on the bench for half the game and has been relegated to playing catcher...a position that could be important, but his coach seems to consider disposable...he's happy to be there. He's going to all the practices with little complaint. And he had practice every day last week, so a little complaining was probably in order. He's really been a super sport out there.He's rarely put in a position where he really gets to play much defense, but he's hitting the ball, driving in runs and scoring a few too.He doesn't get to bat much either. Apparently, he's permanently stuck at the bottom of the batting order. Still, no complaints.

The Fireballs played in their first tournament last weekend. They had three games...Thursday, Saturday and Sunday...in a town about 45 minutes away. The Thursday evening game was windy and cold. Daddy didn't look happy as he kept score on his iPad.This is no longer an official duty, but the coaches get a kick out of all the data he can capture about the players.

The team was only just finding its feet at the tournament level. Many of the boys had never played in a tournament before. They lost rather handily, 12-6.The team they played on Saturday had already lost twice. The Fireballs started out strong, but faded towards the end, still coming in with a 21-15 victory. Smunch had a great game and had three great hits, making it to base every time. He even made a couple of good moves in the outfield. Despite being a scorcher, it was a fun day.Sunday was a fun day too, even though the Fireballs lost to a team that made it to the championship finals. Smunch didn't have a great game, hitting into the third out of the inning...twice. He still didn't let it get him down. I know I've said it before, but even though he can be a real pain in the rear at home, Smunch turns into an awesome sportsman-like kid in the unlikeliest of situations. Gosh, how I admire that!Now, if I could just turn everyday into a game.

Season's End

Saturday could have been Smunch's last baseball game of the season. His tenure with the Giants was certainly over after yet another crushing loss. I give his coach a lot of credit for the fact that the boys never really knew they lost, even when the score was 20-5. They didn't notice and they didn't care enough to keep track of the score themselves. Despite their dismal performance, I honestly think almost all the boys had fun and came away feeling like they were pretty decent baseball players.Although it was clear from the moment he got up that morning that Smunch didn't have the focus to play baseball, we got him out the door. He got one last chance to pitch. He did a great job and it was a little bittersweet. No more opportunities to pitch this year.Bummer. He was really beginning to fancy himself a miniature Tim Lincecum!He's developed some crazy little hand signal/celebratory flourishes. We'd seen him emulate Brian Wilson an Pablo Sandoval. This one seemed a little more generic.The rest of his game was pretty unremarkable. Smunch was angry after striking out twice and angrier yet when he realized that he wouldn't get another opportunity to bat. I tried to remind him that he'd have other opportunities to bat. After all, the club team has a big tournament this coming weekend. He wasn't going for it. Nothing a little season-ending trophy couldn't cure though.I didn't even get to see that part because Mam and I had to jet off to her final softball game of the season. Mam's team was playing a team called the Blue Butterflies. If you remember, this was also the name of her soccer team. Might not have been a coincidence. The coach from her soccer team was coaching this butterfly team too. And she adores him. All of a sudden, she turned into a super softball player, making outs everywhere and even catching a fly ball that she turned into a double play when she ran back to third with it.As usual, there was no score and the girls who were out stayed on base. But it was a fitting end to a fun little season. Still, kinda glad we're done with Friday evening practices and splitting our time between two kids' games.But, wait! There's more! I already mentioned that Smunch has a baseball tournament coming up this weekend. Beyond that, we just got confirmation that he'll be playing on the league's All-Star traveling team. That means tournaments almost every weekend through Independence Day. It's a big honor. The kids on the traveling teams are nominated by the coaches of the opposing teams they've played. I'm super proud of him, but not because he's got any kind of incredible baseball prowess. I'm proud of him because he's figured out what it takes to be dedicated to something and it shows. He really wants to be good at baseball. He listens, he knows what to do. Gosh, he's a pain in the butt sometimes, but he's such a cool little kid when he's in the vicinity of a baseball diamond!