Tournament Time

I know this is starting to sound more like The Ryder's Baseball Diary than an account of the interesting moments in our lives. Truth be told, our lives are all about baseball right now, so it's as appropriate as it can be.

Smunch's club team, the Thunder, has been practicing all season for a single tournament this weekend. One shot at glory.Too bad I took that photo during warm-ups. There were few heroic plays like this in the two games on Saturday...at least not by Smunch's team.

But the organizers made the tournament a big deal for the boys, complete with a stencilled path of stars between the batting circle and the plate.Each player was introduced over the loudspeaker before batting, with their cool team-chosen nickname. "And next up to bat, Smunch, the S-man, Ryder!" It was cute at the very least. Smunch's team all got painted with "whiskers" as well...just to make them look extra cool.Turns out, the tournment circuit is a completely different experience than what most of the boys were faced with during the regular season. The basepaths (the distance between bases) is longer, the balls are harder and take weirder bounces, the opponents hit the ball to the outfield as a matter of course and the rules are all different. It's entirely coach-pitch. You get six pitches and you're done no matter if you foul them off or not. (We never saw a player strike out on strikes alone.) The defensive pitcher (the kid who stands next to the opposing team's pitcher coach to field the ball) stands in a circle. If/when the ball gets back to the circle, all play stops. The strategy is different. And although teams are still limited to five runs per inning, the tournament includes a "mercy rule" stating that the game is over once one team is 10 runs ahead of the other.This rule proved crucial to the Thunder.

The Thunder were scheduled for two games on Saturday and one on Sunday, so we arrived bright and early at the field for warm-ups before Smunch's 9am game.It was bright and sunny and warm...a marked improvement over the weeks of cold and drizzle we've had to this point.

Smunch played right field and second base. I strongly suspect he plays right field (where only left-handed batters are likely to hit the ball) because he's one of the weaker players on the team. The fact that they gave him a shot at second base was nice, but he had no spectacular plays there. Mam, as usual, held court with the other younger sisters, having finally warmed up to each other now that the season's almost over.The Thunder's first game lasted just 45 minutes, then ended according to the Mercy Rule...LABT 13, Thunder 3. Ouch. It was eye-opening to say the least. The Thunder isn't a bad team. It turns out they just aren't very good, especially with all the new rules. I suspect they are also playing against teams that have practiced together a lot more and not just for a couple of hours most Sundays for the past few months.

Smunch was mad. As the last kid in the batting order, he got to bat only once and popped out to the pitcher in his one attempt. "We were AWFUL!!!" he spouted, with not a little vitriol in his voice. I'm somehow going to have to get used to managing this kind of frustration and anger in him. Compared to the other team, they did look pretty awful. Compared to his regular season team, they rocked.

We went home for several hours and returned to the park at 3:15 for his 4pm game. More warm-ups. They don't look bad warming up.The game, however, was much the same as the first one, lasting about 10 minutes longer, but with a similar result -- Cambrian Pumas 12, Thunder 2. Smunch, still batting last, got to bat only once again. This time he made it to first on a pretty little line drive between second and third. It was beautiful. And the next batter drove him over to second. When the third batter hit a giant fly ball to the outfield, it looked like Smunch would score and he started for third, only to have the ball caught and have to dash back to second with a slide to the base to stay safe. *phew* And then he was forced out at third by the next batter. And the game came to another abrupt end.

Today, game 3 is at 3:30, but I don't expect to be blogging about it. They'll be playing a team that beat both teams the Thunder played yesterday. And they'll be missing two of their best players. But maybe Smunch will get more field time. And maybe he'll get to bat more than once. It's all possible. I still expect it to be a short affair. Fortunately, Smunch seems content with the idea that he can go out there, have a good time and learn from the better teams.

Today will mark a farewell to club team play, but the All-Star team will be set to go. Should be an interesting sight to see... I think we'll spend tomorrow watching the big boys play. Timmy's on the mound. Buster Posey's on first. The weather should be fantastic. The Giants may not win. They'll be facing Ubaldo Jimenez, the Rockies' pitcher who is having an incredible season (to Timmy's current slump), but it should be a fitting end to the weekend...

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!

Rumble!

Gosh, what didn't happen a couple of weeks ago? The weekend before last, Smunch had his first game with the Thunder, his "club" team. They played a team put together from some of the best players from all the teams at their level. And it was a pretty even match. Smunch did well.It was so much different than his games with the Giants. The boys paid attention, by and large. They could throw, they could catch and they had a clue what they were doing.Smunch is better too, when the kids around him are really into the game. His sister, I might add, was not into the game.Mam was bored. As usual. If there are no hot dogs, baseball is hardly worth her while. Don't know why she didn't run off to the playground on this particular day. But she sat there and scowled instead, although the scowling was mostly for the camera.There won't be a whole lot of these games this year, so I'm trying to appreciate each one, no matter that they're long and Mam's bored and I'm cold. Because really, if this kind of enthusiasm doesn't warm you up just a little, what will?

Baseball Smunch

I've been more than a little remiss in posting photos of Smunch playing baseball. After all, he's played lots of baseball already this season, even though he's only had three games. And all those games have been for his recreational team, the Giants. But he's also been practicing with the "club team", the Thunder...the one he tried out for a couple of months ago. Tomorrow is their first game and I can't wait to see it!When it comes to my kid playing baseball, I'm not über competitive. He really wanted to try out for the club team. Although it's another time sink in the week, I'm really glad he made the Thunder.

The Giants team is a bunch of 2nd and 3rd grade boys from his elementary school. That's always fun. There's only one other kid on the Thunder from his school. But the big difference is really in the experience and enthusiasm of the boys. The Giants' kids run the gammut. There are several who have never played baseball before. Some of them are catching on quickly. Some? Not so much. Some have been playing for the last 3 years, like Smunch has. But even among them, there are some huge differences. You can tell which ones really hate baseball, but their parents think they should play. And you can tell which ones are potentially losing interest. You can also tell which ones...well...baseball's just not gonna be their game.And then there's Smunch. I'm not sure any of his Giants teammates are quite like him. He may not have quite as many skills as some of his teammates on the Thunder, but holy cow is he starting to stand out among his Giants teammates. It's not that he always catches the ball or hits tremendous fly balls to the outfield. He doesn't do either of those, but the difference, at least today, is that he really, really cares. When his teammates watch the ball roll by them, he's sprinting to get it and to tag a runner out.He doesn't just get it, he really wants to play. I'm so glad he's got a team of boys to play with who are more like him in that respect. He doesn't stand out in the least on the club team...except that he's #1...which really only serves to indicate that he's the shortest kid on the team, although perhaps he's #1 in enthusiasm too!