And so came my first pre 10am awakening in weeks. Like a moron I stayed up late the night before doing absolutely nothing. The alarm came at 7, I grabbed my travel bag which was strategically packed the night before, threw my glasses on, drank some milk, headed outside to my car, headed back inside to grab the keys to my car, came back outside, drove to our home field (The Pipe Yard, see below), hopped on the bus and slowly fell back into a rather uncomfortable sleep.
I had never been to West Virginia before. I found it pretty scenic. Lots of tree covered hills and foresty areas. It looked like Jurasic Park could have been filled there. The trip was 7 hours, plenty of time for both napping and sight seeing.. as well as eating, word games, card games, and of course the signature Lorain County Ironmen bus ride activity – singing. Coaches hate it, [most] players love it. Perfect combo. The current unwritten rule is if we win, anything goes. If we lose, we have to act somber for about an hour or so… then anything goes.
By the time we pulled up to the stadium around 5 for the 7 o’clock game, it had already felt like a long day.
West Virginia had a similar situation a couple weeks ago when they came up to play us for two games. We waxed them the first night 17-3, but they came back to beat us the next night.
On top of that, word on the street was that WV had some of the best home field advantage in the league. Big, rowdy crowds, nice stadium (see below), video highlight screen, premier audio system.. pretty much the works. They were 6-6 on the road, but a perfect 7-0 at home. We had our work cut out for us.
About an hour and a half before game time the first wave of fans comes through the gates. Among them, a 6’6 300 pound man sporting a full miner costume. Construction hat and coal blemished face in all. His deep bellowing voice was a constant presence in all 4 games.
Surprisingly we jumped out to an early lead in game one, but couldn’t hold on and eventually lost 10-7.
The next day we show up for batting practice around 4 and are greeted with a continuous loop of three songs during our 1 hour batting practice session, all from the 1950s era and all about coal mining. I thought it was funny but many of us were trying to cover our ears. We put in another strong outing that evening and came away with a 2-0 victory. It was the Miners first loss at home that season, and first time being shut out at home, ever.
All smiles that night.
Saturday night saw another great pitching performance, another victory, and another shutout, 5-0. All smiles again, but there was a sense of reservation after this one. Everyone knew we still had work to do.
The overall mood and atmosphere of our ensuing 7 hour bus ride home hinged on our performance in the final game of the series Sunday afternoon. The second team meal at Cici’s in three days had taken a toll on some, but the Ironmen grinded out another victory, this time by the score of 6-5.
From a team perspective it was an excellent weekend as we moved just one game behind WV for first place in the division. From a personal standpoint my struggles continued. Of the 4 games I started 2 and came off the bench in another. Played some good defense at 1st base but couldn’t put it together at the plate. I can’t remember the last time I’ve done this poorly for this long but like everything in life, it’s a learning experience. As long as I can look in the mirror and say that I’ve given it everything I’ve had, then I’m okay with whatever happens. And so far I can say that.
Today was a much-needed day off which I used to lay by the pool and take a mini shopping spree – putting my Mom’s best advice to use “Never pay full price for anything!”
Thanks Mom.
Were back on the field at home tomorrow night at 7pm. See below for some sweet pictures.
Batting Drills with Michael Grieco
Always Joking About Something
Sam Alvis (left), Michael Burke (right) and Me practicing our game faces
Gameface.. Loading.. 100% complete
Great Signage at the West Virginia Stadium
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