Billy Wagner and I both had big Sundays...
When Wagner was asked if he was ready to go again after blowing a four run lead for the Mets on Saturday, he responded, "Does a one-legged duck swim in circles?"
For you cityfolk, he meant yes.
So when he came back on out for the third day in a row to nail down the rubber game of this weekend's Subway Series, it was big.
Billy, I know how you feel.
Last week, Sunday morning softball was an utter disaster. After getting yanked in the middle of an inning after booted two routine fly balls, I left the field and didn't return. It was pretty much a low point in my casual team sports career.
So when I rejoined the team yesterday and the first ball came to me in right... I had a little voice in my head.
"Don't f*ckin' miss this... don't f*ckin' miss this."
Caught.
[Sigh of relief]
So when I got back to the dugout, we all had a good laugh about getting that behind me.
But just catching a flyball wasn't quite enough to nail the coffin shut on last week's demons. So, when their lefty cleanup hitter came up in a 7-2 game with two on, I knew it was time for a hammer.
The kid hadn't taken a pitch all day and everything he hit was hard.... pulled hard. So I backed up to the edge of our field, about 20 feet from the next field over (no fences). Brian said that when the ball left his bat and said over his head at first, he figured it was gone. But I was on my horse and got a step on it.
He told me after that I must have been thinking, "I might actually have this."
He was totally right.
I figure given the time I was running, I was about 75 feet past the edge of our field, fully into the outfield of the next one over.... and I caught the ball in-stride with my hand high in the air.
Redemption feels good.... especially when you undo exactly what you screwed up on the last time.
Today, redemption feels a little sore, though. I played three softball games yesterday, two in the morning, and one Zog game in the afternoon... sandwiching a Zog touch football playoff game in the middle. Three softball wins and one football loss... all in all a pretty good day.