April 1 – “It’s Baseball Season”

Last night I had a real blast from the past.  Jachin had his very first baseball game.  We were all pretty excited, but he almost couldn't stand it.  His Mom said that lately it had been hard to get him out the door to go to practice.  She finally got out of him that he was tired of practicing all the time.  He wanted to play a game.  Now I remember that feeling well.    Because of where they live, his games are at a field that I never played in as a kid.  It is right next to the field where I played in the Galveston Little League All-Star game when I was twelve years old.  It was the only game we played that year.  That would be because we lost something like fifteen to nothing.  They had twin brothers on their team who each hit the ball over the lights.  Several times.  And their pitcher threw a curve.  No one on our team could hit a curve.  Hence the wide difference in scoring.  The only positive I remember about that game was that I made a pretty good backhanded stop.  I was playing shortstop.  Never attempted the throw, though.  I had a strong arm, but I was never quite sure where the ball would go when I let go of it.   Enough of Memory Lane.  Jachin and his five and six year old cohorts were all so excited just to be on the real field.  He started the game at pitcher.  Actually that was his position on the field.  The coaches pitched to their own team.  Then if the batter missed three pitches, he got a chance to hit it off the tee.  There were some crazy rules on that level.  On an overthrow to first no one could advance.  The ball was considered dead when it made its way back to the pitcher's mound, which often took a long time.  The coaches stood out on the field with the kids.   The first batter hit a shot right at Jachin and he reacted by standing straight up.  He did make good use of his ankles, though.  He deflected the ball over to the second baseman and held the guy to a single.  Later in the game he played center field.  One kid hit a shot out past hi.  He is pretty fast, though.  He ran it down, picked it up, and ran with it all the way to the infield where he eventually tagged a runner out near third base.  He hit a few really good shots off the tee, so he is definitely learning.  Once he understands that he needs to keep his back foot still and wait on the pitch to get to him, he is going to get some nice hits.  His swing is really level.  He was just way ahead of the pitch every time.  OK.  So much for the DadDad scouting report.  We had a great time.  Mom even came out in the "cold."   At one point we had some unexpected action out behind the stands.  No, it wasn't a fight.  One of the power modules caught on fire.  It was a tiny flame, but it wouldn't go out, and the breaker wouldn't trip.  So I called the fire department.  They had a truck parked out in right center field, so it didn't take them long to get there.  By the time they arrived the fire had finally gone out, so there wasn't anything for them to do.  They finally called the electric company and passed it off to them.   Now I can't wait for Monday night.  Chris and I are going to the Astros opening game with some friends.  My first ever opening night.  She'll be coming back to Galveston after taking her Mom to chemo Monday morning.  Sure hope all goes OK so we can get there in plenty of time.   Proverbs 17:1 says, "Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife."   Father, keep Jachin well enough to really enjoy playing baseball.  Amen.