Life of Wry

If you told me in the 5th inning of our game this afternoon with Pleasant Grove that we’d pull out a win, be on our way to playoffs, and I’d snap out of a very dark mood, I’m sure I wouldn’t have believed it.

We’d gone 4 1/2 innings and neither team had scored a run. We weren’t exactly losing, but given our four-game losing streak, and the fact most of our team has been in a serious hitting slump, it just didn’t seem like we had it in us to scratch out a win. I was already living our obituary and very, very sad about it.

It had truly come down to this very last game of the regular season: win and we move on to the post season, lose and we’d be done. It was a must win game.

I felt so bad for these guys–a team that had started the season with so much promise. They had risen to such national prominence and there was so much attention on them. And expectations. Baseball’s funny though. The mo can turn so quickly, sometimes for no good reason… a few bad breaks can turn into some unexpected losses and suddenly: slumpsville. They just seemed to unravel before our eyes, and their spiral down has been so very heartbreaking to watch.

Losing is part of sports and learning to lose with dignity and grace is far more important than winning. It wasn’t the impending loss that hurt so much. It was their fall, their unraveling after working so hard, after being a team of such phenomenal chemistry and good sportsmanship and thrilling excitement and energy. It was seeing that turn on a fickle combination of bad luck and overwhelm maybe? Understanding what causes these kinds of shifts is the work of psychologists, maybe, or some mysterious universal force. Not being woo woo, it’s just fickle and hard to understand.

They went from undefeated before the start of league play, to looking like they’d not even qualify for playoffs. FIVE out of eight teams in our league qualify for playoffs. It shouldn’t have been difficult at all for us to skate right in. Two of the eight will never, ever qualify. By the end, we looked like we were going to join those ragtag teams in the cellar. Us, the formerly #1 team in the nation. Miserable way to finish the season. Almost everybody loses their last game of the season (by definition), but to also not even qualify for a spot in the playoffs would be unimaginable.

That’s a spectacular fall.

And a loss today was also sad because it was so unexpected after this season and felt SUDDEN and final.For the seniors (and their families), it was grappling with the reality of having played their final game on the Blue Devil diamond, AND their final high school career game, and perhaps even their FINAL GAME EVER. It was going to happen now? And not only was it the end of all things baseball after so very long, but it put a icky final punctuation point on the end of that very sad sentence.

Weird, but I felt sick to my stomach. I was actually shaky.

Back to the game: no score going into the fifth, continued cold bats and sinking morale.

But then, bottom 5, Kreidler comes through with a booming 2-run double. He eventually scores from third on a balk. A balk! That definitely shifted the happiness. PG, shaken, went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 6th thanks to perfect pitching by Daniel, and in the bottom of the inning, we came up with a double, a bunt single and another towering hit by Kreidler, this time a home run. And with that–two productive innings–we took the game (6-0) and we’re back in the hunt.

And now all happy. Is that weird? Because of a win?

It’s just winning that game. I feel like from here out, it can be what it will be, but it will be on different terms. It won’t be desperate. There is time now to process where we are. The final league game on the home field by the team so deserving of early season accolades was solid. That felt better.

It was also SENIOR DAY.. which meant pre-game ceremonies honoring our graduating seniors, and a post-game celebration potluck dinner.  Such a good thing we won that game. It’d have been so difficult to celebrate the end of a season that went out on such a sour note.

Here are some shots of the pre-game festivities:

Seniors with the roses they will give to their moms, prior to the walk out: Peter, Ray, Solly, Gabe and Daniel…

(Not the best, most flattering picture, but: roses!)

One by one, the senior’s name was called, and he walked out to the field, escorted by his parents. The announcer read each player’s answers to questions like: favorite high school baseball memory, plans for next year, future baseball plans, and parting thoughts. Photos were taken, then players and parents walked the line, fist bumping or high fiving everyone.

It was very sweet.

I feel very sentimental about this. These boys have played baseball for 13 years in most cases, starting with T-ball. They’ve outlasted hundreds of kids who started the baseball program and, for one reason or another, didn’t go on–didn’t want to, wanted to but didn’t make it. These guys stayed with it. These are the one who played All Stars and District 64, who played on travel teams. They hoped they’d make the freshman team, then hoped they’d make the JV team, and really, really hoped they’d make the varsity team. And these seniors, ten of them, did–they totally went the distance. They all worked so hard and they became the best players in town.

I remember feeling like it was never a sure thing, and I was always so happy for Peter when he made it to the next level.

And now, he’s playing in his final season… in his final games!

And today, Senior Day, we celebrate them… their effort, their accomplishments, their endurance, their camaraderie. They made it. They grew up.

Sniff.

And whew, we won this one and are moving on to playoffs with a whole lot more mo than we had.

So the celebration dinner at the end was really fun!

There was food–Dickey’s bbq and lots of homemade salads…

And celebration cake:

And the flower shall bloom for a while longer…

This’ll work.

Taken while driving home Monday night from Pleasant Grove. Jim points to the setting sun. I whip out my iPhone. It’s come to that. I remain impressed what an iPhone can do while hurtling down the highway and shooting through very dirty, bug-spotted windows, avoiding windshield wiper blades and antennas to get the best angle on the sun and that neato lone, leafless stump of a tree, which I always like seeing against a saturated sky.

But this was good, because I needed a picture that sort of conveys the overwhelm, or maybe calms the overwhelm. Right now I’m managing–or trying to manage–my own overwhelm and taking in most of Peter’s too.

Meh. Here’s what it is.

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shallwepartnerupwithotherkidsandpeterlostnotonlyhisbikebutnowhisbikehelmet

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doacostcorunandmakeacalendarfor2016alittlelatehuhanddoabunchoffilingbuthatcansurel

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ineedahaircutandibelieveineedtocutoutglutonandsugarandneedsomuchmore

sleepandexercisethaniamgettingshoot.

Awards. They come in all shapes and sizes.

I’d like to say I understand this thing called The All City Sports Awards, but I really don’t. This is what I do know: Peter got one.

I also learned a little from information I gleaned from the promotional materials we received:

• This is the 7th annual.
• The Sacramento River Cats and SportsStars Magazine came up with, and sponsor, the award.
• Recipients were nominated by SportsStars Magazine, coaches and athletic directors, they say.
• Awards are presented to the top competitors in 25 high school sports–both men’s and women’s–in the region, a geographical area that includes about 200 high schools.
• A total of 400 athletes were recognized this year (an average of about 16 athletes per sport).. though I noticed some sports had lots of athletes recognized (like baseball, which had 35) and some had relatively few (like girl’s rugby, which had 4).
• Davis High had 28 athletes that made the list from 13 different sports. There were a lot of sports (12) in which Davis had no recipients. Some Davis athletes got awards in two sports.
• The Davis baseball team had THREE players named to the so-called All-City team: Peter, Ryan Kreidler and Hunter Jury.
• Athletes received a certificate, a swag bag, and a letterman’s jacket patch.

Yesterday morning was the ceremony out at Raley Field. I would guess about a third to a half of the honored recipients showed up to be recognized. The certificates had been mailed already.

There was a master of ceremony who talked about the award and then went on for quite awhile about the balancing act that is high school sports–especially what it takes to be both a successful athlete and a responsible student. I thought his comments were pretty good… especially those comments I could hear over the power vacuum cleaner a guy was using on the field–to pick up what I’m not sure–and the music blaring on the PA system behind us. We also had as a king sized distraction the River Cats players who came out toward the end of the awards presentation to warm up on the field.

Really??

That aside, it was a lovely, if very simple, presentation: One by one, sports would be called out and the athletes from that sport would walk to the front and stand atop the dugout. The emcee would go down the line of kids and ask them to state their name, high school and plans for competing (or not) in college. The responses were impressive (those you could hear)…. everything from no plans yet to great schools like Notre Dame, Columbia, University of Chicago, Cal, UCLA, Stanford… and of course UC Santa Cruz.

Here are our guys…  Peter (with Hunter looking on):

Ryan:

About 20 of the 35 baseball guys were on hand to accept their award. It was very fun to see a lot of the kids we’ve played against in our league, like Jack Cosca and Jack Wolger from Jesuit; Dylan Carlson, Aaron Wong, and Ryan Robards from Elk Grove; and Zachary Tresemer and Isaiah Morales from Franklin. That was it from the big bad Delta League. I can’t remember if all of those guys were present, but a lot of them were. We also saw kids from Oak Ridge, Whitney, Vintage, and Yuba City–all teams we’ve played this season, but not in our league. Plus some schools I’d never even heard of.

Anyway, the baseball portion of the program was the real highlight, and it was VERY nice to see Peter up there among the seriously talented ball players selected. I am sure he was singled out for his pitching stats, and as I’ve mentioned before, stats are an imperfect measure of one’s value on a team.  I think he felt slightly out of place among some of those guys, but he also felt really honored and flattered to be there. He wouldn’t say all that, but it was evident.

We were pleased for him, no matter what. He does do a great job of balancing school and sports. He does work hard at baseball. He has stuck with the game and has competed at a high level for thirteen years. He is a good teammate. His coaches have always liked him. And he does have great stats this year … more importantly, he has contributed to Davis’ exceptional record and phenomenal season in this–his final year of baseball. I could never ask for more than that. He’s not a Cal commit, but he can be proud of his participation and contributions–over the years, absolutely, but particularly in his senior year.

So hell yeah. Good job, Peter. Well earned.

Here is one more picture. These guys are track and field stars. The two Davis kids there are Willie Hall, whom we know from Peter’s farm league baseball team, when his dad Tom was one of Peter’s coaches, and Michael Vernau, who was recognized in both track and cross country. The guy at the mic was the only guy who used his time to thank his mom (Mother’s Day), which got a rousing ovation from the crowd. Nice kid!

And that was that.

This is the certificate, and the magazine that makes the award…

A very neat thing happened today, but I’m going to write about it tomorrow.

Today, because it’s Mother’s Day, I’m just going to post pictures… a few that make me happy to be Peter’s mom and one to honor my own mama.

This is Peter today. We’re having brunch at the Magpie Cafe, having just finished up the thing I’m going to write about tomorrow–an event at Raley Field.

I think he is such a handsome fellow:

Here are the three of us back at Raley Field after brunch to watch about 5 innings of a Rivercats game:

He’s so much more serious these days! But growing up, he was a total goofball. This is what 90% of his kid pictures look like:

…and of course he’s got a stick, or some other instrument of destruction:

But even a goofball has his tender moments:

…or a funny secret to let me in on:

Love him so.

And because Mother’s Day goes both ways… here’s one I particularly like of my mom and me:

I have this one on the wall above my desk. It is a gentle reminder that parental love is pretty much universal. The love I feel for Peter–so intense it makes me ache–is probably the same love my mom feels for me.  I don’t always believe it.. but I think it might be true.

I’ve written so much about this tournament already, I think in wrapping up this Boras story, I’ll just post some pictures.

We’d delivered the boys to Berkeley’s Evans Diamond at about 9:00 for batting practice and some loose warm up.

(Photo: Boras Twitter feed.)

And then.. it rained. And rained and rained. In May, that was about the last thing we really expected.. but there ya go. Our 12:05 game time was not happening, but, wow, after all the planning and travel and ESPN coverage… the show just had to go on if at all possible, so we just waited it out, while the organizers had coronaries.

The boys and coaches helped the field maintenance guys spread a tarp over the infield…

(Photo: Boras Twitter feed.)

And then they did some of this:

(Photo: Korlyn’s Facebook.)

That is the team from Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach) playing our guys in a game of touch football. Pretty wonderful, huh? Just a bunch of guys waiting for a baseball game to start. This about made me cry. (A comment Dianna drolly responds to with, “What doesn’t?”)

Meanwhile, parents scattered at cafes and restaurants around campus. We spent a few hours at the Blue Door Cafe on Bancroft–a place Peter and I had eaten on a trip to Berkeley about a year and a half ago… kind of a sentimental favorite of mine for that reason. It was pretty packed with students on a rainy day…

We had a nice time just shooting the breeze…

We finally got word that the game would start.. and headed over! The camera crews and announcers are ready, the field is ready, the umps and coaches are ready, and the boys are ready:

(Photo: Korlyn’s Facebook.)

Look who dropped in!

(I’m so bad at taking selfies. I am not really shellshocked.)

Daniel’s, Solly’s, James’, Ray’s, Pierce’s, Mason’s, Peter’s coach from the Crush days, Mr. Tim Busbin, who shaped a good third of this team. Those are his wonderful parents in the background, who often showed up to games, as well. All of us under our umbrellas, because it continued to drizzle for the first couple innings.

Here’s a shot of the game underway. Tim took this one and I really like it.. Berkeley’s field has a classic old-timey feel to it:

(Photo: Tim’s Facebook.)

I show this one (below) because of the young Mira Costa fans a few rows down who thought it was clever to distract our pitchers by waving shimmery green pom poms behind the plate. It was not clever or appreciated–at least in my opinion. Peter would later say he was utterly unaware of them.

And yeah, that’s Peter on the mound. He faced four batters in the latter 2/3 of the 5th inning. He relieved for Bell who had a truly fantastic outing today against a very aggressive, hard hitting team. Ryan had started to poop out in the top of the fifth but until then had looked great. Up to this point, we were keeping pace with the Mustangs (2-2), but then two two runs came in, two additional runners were on base, and Ryan was pulled. And that’s the thing about relieving. The runs, because they reached base at the previous guy’s hand, are part of his record, but it’s the reliever’s job to keep them on the bases and not let them come in. Mira Costa took full advantage of those two baserunners by hitting a double and sac fly to bring them both in.

Davis had some good moments (including nice hits from Kreidler, Hessl and Henrickson), but Mira Costa’s 5th inning flurry was too much to overcome, even with Holgate’s 2-run homer in the bottom of that inning (so exciting..and he went on to earn defensive player of the game). Four hits overall, though, was all we could muster–so unlike this previously crazy hitting team–and we lost 7-4.

They seemed to take it really hard. Three losses in a row for a team that until recently had a total of only three losses over twenty six games! Where’d the mo go?

No gatherings after the game, at least not for us.. Peter was really down and ended up falling asleep on the way home.. not his usual M.O.

(Please don’t mention you saw this photo.) He was so tired, he stayed in the car for quite awhile after we got home, just sorta passed out.

But he finally rallied, and hit the backyard with his clubs…

So I guess all is right with the world again.

The whole Boras experience, final loss notwithstanding, turned out to be exceptional.

This is the view from the 10th floor of the Hilton Garden Hotel in Emeryville on a Friday afternoon. Eastbound 80’s a bit impacted with pre-weekend commute traffic and storm clouds are looming.

Tomorrow, if it doesn’t rain, we are to play for the championship of the Boras Baseball Classic over at UC Berkeley’s Evans Stadium. In March, Davis had won the Northern division and earned a spot in the game to determine “state champion.” I wrote about that tournament here. 

The winner of the Southern division was Mira Costa High School of Manhattan Beach. They now have a 22-5 record (ours is 19-5).

CIF doesn’t have a true state championship… California’s too big, or something.. they divide us into North and South, always have (I remember back in 1974, competing for a “state” title, but in fact, it was just for the southern half of the state.) So these Boras folks decided they’d create one. They have the connections and chops to do it.. and did.

Anyway… this is all very exciting.

Tonight, both teams are going to be hosted by tournament organizers in this hotel, while we parents dine elsewhere. As it should be. Their deal.

Here’s a pic… all dressed up and looking good:

Top row, from left: Mason, Daniel, Griffin, Hunter, Ryan B, Max, Pierce (behind), Gabe, Sean, Tyler M, Reed.

Bottom row, from left: Ian, Tyler G, James, Peter, John (front), Solly, Ryan K, Eton, Ray, Ryan H.

Sometimes, when you’re a pitcher, your contribution to a game may only be three pitches. Today was such a day.

Peter came in in the top of the seventh with two out and a runner on second. The number two batter was up, who’d flown out three times–twice with big boomers to center, and once on a blooper over the Tyler’s head at third. On his last at bat, he’d lined a nice one into the gap for a double. Guy’s a hitter.

Turns out, he’s also Dusty Baker’s son. Dusty was a hard hitting outfielder himself, who played for the Braves in the seventies and the Dodgers in the eighties (which is how I knew him), among other teams; coached and then managed the Giants, Cubs, Reds, and, some months ago moved over to the Washington Nationals. He grew up in Sac and was a Sac-Joaquin Hall of Fame player (Sac-Joaquin is OUR section!), and now lives in Granite Bay (when not working, I guess).

And his son Darren is sort of famous himself. As the story goes, Darren, was yanked out of harm’s way during the 2002 World Series, when, as a three-something “bat boy” (how does that work?), he wandered obliviously from his post and into the region of home plate, where a major play was about to occur (worth looking up on YouTube, it’s pretty funny).

So, yeah, that kid.

Peter threw two strikes (I can’t remember if they were swinging or called strikes), and then forced a grounder to second. Reed made a nice, routine throw to Daniel for the out.

We were not able to score any runs in the bottom of the seventh, and lost the game 5-0. Big bummer. We’re starting to worry our playoff chances are less certain, but they will rally.

Thankfully, Dianna reminded me to get a photo:

Warning: This is a stretch.

Being as it’s an action hero kind of day, thought I’d share a couple of favorites in our household (not Star Wars guys, but heroes nonetheless):

These action figure magnetized finger puppets adorn the pole of this floor lamp, sorta like totem pole. We have Einstein, Pope Francis, and I’ll need a little help remembering who hero #3 is…

Pope Francis is a new addition. I picked him up about a week ago, stuck him on the pole, and nobody noticed.

They are fairly subtle. Unless you were really looking, you might miss them.

I know. Random.

As of today, it looks like that narcissistic blowhard reality TV show host who brags about his sexual conquests, plays fast and loose with facts, behaves like a petulant adolescent, and whips his supporters into frenzies by stoking their fears of people who are different, is going to be the one to represent the former Grand Old Party in the upcoming presidential election.

Unless something wild and unpredictable happens, he’s actually going to be running for PRESIDENT of the United States. We are going to have to deal with this sad, undeveloped man for another six months.

I couldn’t believe it would happen. It did. I can’t believe he will win. He won’t. He’ll have a hard time finding a sane running mate, for one thing, so good luck with that. He’s also failed, at least so far, to convince anyone with even the tiniest bit of grey matter that he can magically transform into someone who is presidential… like it’s simply a character you might assume, as in a play. Idiot line of the campaign, “I’ll be so presidential you won’t believe it, you’ll get bored I’ll be so presidential.” 

What is he, 8?

And just who does he think we are? Idiots who would buy it?

Cringe.

He has no business being in this race. This is a bad joke that nobody took seriously and now look. It’s a messy mess that nobody wants.. they are now stuck with a major liability. They can’t rebuild their party as long as he’s got them by the tail. The smart ones will take the very long view, let this one go, make sure nobody currently sitting in seats gets any of this muck on them, take to the back rooms where they can reinvent themselves and wait out this tsunami of a shit storm. Anybody with hopes for a role in the future of their party will put as much distance as they can between themselves and Mr. Goofball. He will lose this election, and when the media finally stops obsessing over him, and people come to their senses, the politicians who tried to hitch their wagons to his will look just ridiculous. And unelectable.

But we have six months of some really ugly stuff to get through first.

Oh, yeah, did I mention Trump won Indiana? I think by a lot, which forced that sleezeball Cruz to–quote, suspend, unquote–his smarmy campaign. Not before a bunch of ridiculous and desperate last ditch hail Marys to try and salvage his chances at the convention, though.  Ugh. Can you please just go away now Ted?

On the other side of the house, Bernie won Indiana this evening. Not sure what that means. I’m not displeased, but I’m a bit dubious that this goes much further. Has he earned the right to continue? Of course. Has he generated great gobs of enthusiasm among voters old and especially young and inspired millions to believe that we can begin to address the fundamental corruption that has profoundly undermined our democracy? Yup. Has he reframed the debate and moved the party leftward by shining a big bright light on an ugly underbelly and informed us that most modern nations serve their citizens better than we serve ours and that a more humane quality of life and a more civil society are possible? Totally, and I’m so hugely grateful.

I still think Hillary’s got this one, but her vision and priorities have shifted, thanks to Bern.

So.. anyway, I imagine this guy’s happy today:

The DHS Varsity Baseball team’s back in a nice little winning streak. We beat Monterey Trail twice (19-1 and 8-1) to take the series, which is no accomplishment whatsoever–they just don’t have much of a baseball program–and we are now, officially 19-3. Our national and state rankings are still way, way up there, but not in the top ten, and certainly not #1, like it was a few weeks ago. But hey. Twenty-three wins and only three losses (this includes our preseason scrimmages) is still damn impressive!

Here are a couple shots from this afternoon down in Elk Grove:

This is Hunter’s little brother who embodies every Norman Rockwell theme ever. Sitting in that chair, he couldn’t see over the backstop, so he found a crack through which he could watch the big guys play.

Terrible resolution because I was sitting in the top row of the bleachers and had to zoom way in… but I still like the image.

And here’s the team on the long walk back to the parking lot:

All in a day’s work.