THE TRIL– The SweatSox kicked-off the 2022 campaign with a 2-1 win over the Winchester Heat Monday night at Trillium. The win put the SweatSox above .500 for the first time since Opening Day 2021, and put the Winchester Heat below .500 for the first time since Opening Day 2019. It also goes down as the first ever SweatSox win over the Heat, after we went 0-2-1 against them last year.
Josh Ramage got his 2nd straight Opening Day start, and his 2nd straight Opening Day win, pitching 3 no-hit innings, giving up just 2 walks and the lone Winchester run (on a double steal). The Hero of Hydration was pulled after 3 by SweatSox Authority Cory Bond, an obvious graduate of the Dave Roberts School of Managing, who put himself on the rubber rather than watch the Arsonist get any closer to baseball immortality.
The SweatSox bullpen (Cory Bond, Dillon Lowry, Eric White) did ultimately prove most effective, giving up 0 runs and just 2 hits (& 2 HBP’s) with 8 strikeouts over the final 4 innings. What could’ve been though…
The SweatSox offense produced just 2 runs, but because of the great pitching, that’s all that was needed. Eric White, Kent Johnston, and Marc Lett all had 2-hit games; White scored both of our runs; White and Johnston each had a double; Larry’s RBI single in the 3rd ended up being the game winner; and I, Shaun Keay, somehow batted in the 10th spot in the order (I thought we got rid of this, glad I asked somebody first).
Ignoring the rules of baseball, much like we ignore the rules of golf when it suits our needs, we gave the W to Ramage, despite not pitching the minimum number of innings. GLE and Larry each picked-up Holds (it’s got to be the first time in team history there have been multiple Holds in a game), and White gets the 2-innings Save.
Great game all around by both teams.
The SweatSox would like to take a moment and acknowledge the behind the plate debut of umpire Louis-Philippe Gadbois. I’ll be honest, initially we were surprised to see him at the field, everybody assumed he and Phil Martin (Black Sox) were still in Hall F wrapping up their 2+ week filibuster re: demoting themselves back to Tier 3 despite winning a championship just 1 real season prior. I guess they finally accepted that they are indeed a Tier 2 team, even if they did pick up a few Dukes.
It was a strong debut for Gadbois, and we look forward to many more games with him behind the plate, but if we can offer one piece of advice: work on your signature strike-three punch out move, here’s why. With a strong punch in your repertoire, pitchers will be more motivated to strike people out, and batters will be more motivated to avoid striking out. This will lead to better baseball. The sport will continue to grow. Word of mouth will spread, and more kids will sign up to play, keeping them off the streets where they could be tempted to drink, do drugs, or join a gang. Crime rates will quickly drop, and eventually disappear. Wars will end. And then, obviously, World Peace is achieved. Only you can save the Earth Louis, just punch a few people out, in style. Showmanship baby!
Final SweatSox vs Winchester Heat Notes/Thoughts:
- Eric needs to learn how to silence his notifications
- Techno!
- Nobody drops a pin like KJ
- Who the fuck is Mikey?
- Seconded
- Thirded
- We have Ross!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Ditch car > “strikeout”
- We thought something was wrong with Cory when he wasn’t there 2 hours before the game
- Larry’s minivan still has room for a few more car seats
- Doing it harder doesn’t mean you’ll have a boy
- Rookie Dave Rotari was disappointed he didn’t get 69
- Everybody can play, if only 9 players show up
- If Kent Johnston can get to the ball, he will catch the ball
- Cory isn’t throwing harder, it just seems harder when he follows Josh
- I lost control of that ball in the cloud of dust, it wasn’t Tek’s fault. E-me
- Liddy isn’t in “leg-out-a-real-slow-roller-down-the-third-base-line” shape just yet
- Larry’s boy hits the cut just as well as Armando Navarro used to
- Ross finally got to live out his dream of only hitting and not playing defense (EH), although he did spend a lot of time bullpen catching
Next up for the SweatSox is a matchup with the Lumberjaxpos Thursday night at the Sportsplex. This will be a tough one for the SweatSox, as the Jacks are out for revenge on everyone who voted against them during the special Tier 3 email meeting last weekend. Noted baseball purist Craig Cornell, who always feels like a pro, might even sit this one out to avoid the inevitable retaliation.
#WONTHEHYJINX