It was a good weekend. 17's team came back to win the series after a one sided loss in game 1, a thrilling come from behind win in game 2 where they were down 10-1, and then a defensive 5-2 win in game 3. It was a good weekend to see 17 coming back at the plate a little with his bat. It was good to see his confidence grow with each inning at the plate and behind it.
But the best part of the weekend was a little interchange his mother and I happen to witness in the bullpen. A sophomore pitcher just came out of the game after going in for relief and giving up 5 runs (2 earned) in 2/3 of an inning in the midst of our 10-1 slide. We see the pitcher go into the empty bullpen and begins smacking his glove on the ground and bending over in obvious frustration. My wife commented it looked like he was getting sick as he collapsed to the ground in a sitting position.
Then we see 17 walk in to the pen and put his hand on the big guys shoulder, lean over and say a few words. Pitcher gets up and returns to the dugout. We wait until evening to talk to son and ask him if Pitcher is ok. He says yes. Like usual we have to dig a little and ask what the deal was. He said he told the guy come on, it’s alright, c-r-a-p happens, come back to the dugout. Pitcher comes back to the dugout and then we proceed to score 13 runs, holding opposing team to 1 more run to secure the victory.
Baseball Karma for 17 – he had no idea that he would be going in to pinch hit next inning and play a big part of the victory. Some of his stats were erroneously recorded during the day – (questionable passed ball in the dirt, 3rd baseman getting a putout 17 made, other player given credit for 17’s run scored in the come back inning…) All he said about those was, “We won and that is all that matters.”
Do work.