Monday, June 08, 2009

The Patrick McDermott Plastering Orioles

The season is over. And I feel bereft. As I said to Coach Matt on Saturday after the game, it reminded me of a spell of jury duty I had about 15 years ago. I sat on a jury for a first-degree murder case, which lasted 3 weeks. It wasn't exactly pleasant, but by the end of the trial the jurors had bonded so tightly because of our jointly-lived vivid experience that we all got weepy when we parted. I spent all Saturday afternoon and evening kind of floundering around thinking about all the great kids and missing them!

The team didn't win any games, but boy were they game. In a league for 9- and 10-year-olds, Coach Matt was given a team with 13 9-yr-olds, 5 of whom had never played baseball before. Half of their practices were cancelled because of rain, so they didn't start hitting their stride until almost season's end. But they loved their stern-but-loving Coach Matt, and they almost won their playoff game against a team more typically-composed of experienced 9 and 10-yr-olds.

Here are some images from the season:

Opening Day


The salty, Varitek-esque catcher. He's always liked catching, but this year he had a real pitcher to handle, and they both raised their games because of it.

Here's his pitcher, the fireballing southpaw, Stephen:

He could throw about 80 mph and the commissioner of the league put him on Gus's team because he thought Gus was the only one who could handle him. He pitched every game and never complained. A great kid, sweet and goofy. He and Gus hung out together between innings:


Gus would call mid-inning conferences where they would discuss strategy and how to pitch to the batter at the plate. It was insanely awesome:


They were both named to the All-Star Team.

Though they lost game after game, the team got better all the time and almost won their playoff game. But of course for a 9-yr-old boy, all disappointments are made better by post-game ice cream with his teammates:


Great season, Orioles. I'm so proud of my catcher and my Coach Matt.

2 Comments:

Blogger CurlyGirl said...

Do you think if I took the Baltimore Orioles out for ice cream they'd feel better about their not so outstanding record so far this season? (I like the image of a bunch of MLB players sitting in the back of my little car happily eating ice cream!)

2:16 PM  
Blogger diana said...

CG - if it works for the PMcD Orioles, I don't see why it wouldn't work for the Baltimore Orioles!! You could cram, well, maybe 3 of them in your car....and then go to Rita's for a water ice! They would like it!

4:40 PM  

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