Jitters and Nerves

OK, I talk a lot about baseball these days, but you have to understand: It's a very exciting subject. No matter what T thinks.

So Saturday, Q was scheduled to pitch the 5tgh and the 6th inning. This was a game against Cheshire, probably the best team they'll play against. Lots of big kids who hit the ball hard. I was home alone with the two kids, since Janneke was off at a conference, and was also on duty in the concession stand. (The game was at the very nice Cal Ripken field featured in the "Opening Day" video.) So we (T and I) just dropped Q off at the dugout and headed to work. I wound up flipping burgers under a tent, which afforded the best view around - right behind home plate, pretty much. I could see everything. But I couldn't leave the area, since every five or ten minutes somebody would come up and request that I cook something.

So the first two innings go by, and thanks to some VERY good defensive plays by Williamstown Savings Bank, Cheshire was only up 4-0. It was a much closer game than expected. And at the top of the third, out trots the same young man (Adam) who had pitched the first two innings. Now, that ain't right - by rule, they can only pitch two innings, and the next person to pitch should have been Pearl. "What the hey," I thought. And the same thing went through the mind of the opposing coach, who walked over and asked what the story was. Our coach said, "Well, we're down a pitcher."

This just wasn't true. Q was there, playing third base. I started to get suspicious - Since the score was close, was he going with pitchers he thought gave us the best chance to win? Was Q going to be bumped out...? I got myself madder and madder as I watched. At one point as they took the field, I saw an assistant coach with an arm around Q, down on one knee, talking to him earnestly, and Q nodding, seeming sad. "He's trying to justify not letting him pitch," I thought. Steam shot out both my ears. This was just not right.

Adam pitched three innings, and Pearl pitched three, and WSB lost, 9-4. Pearl wasn't on that day, and gave up the maximum allowed - 5 - in one rough inning. And I was hopping up and down, knowing - just knowing - that Q would be able to get it over the plate. I was a little delirious, I was so mad. But, on the advice of Alex's Dad, I decided to sleep on it before I said anything to the coaches. I greeted Q as he left the dugout, put my arm around his shoulders, and asked, as flatly as possible, "How was it?"

"Terrible."

"Why?"

"I just didn't feel like pitching."

Ahhhhhh. Suddenly it all made sense: We WERE down a pitcher! Q had been too nervous to face those big kids! Poor Pearl, tired as heck, had been soldiering on in the face of adversity, rather than robbing Q of his rightful spot. Man, I felt terrible. I had been shooting hateful thoughts at the coaches for over an hour - and they had been saying, "C'mon, Q, you can do it! We believe in you!" But Q couldn't do it. I felt awful, and so did Q.

So we had a lot of talks about how you can't ask and ask and ask to be allowed to pitch, and then when your number is called, not go. You have to overcome the nerves and go out there anyway. You can't let teammates and coaches down, especially on a day like Saturday, when we had several kids out sick. Boy, it was an emotional rollercoaster for everybody. The best conversation was when I told Q that the reason he was slated to pitch was that everybody BELIEVED in him. I did, the coaches did, his teammates did - the only one doubting Q was Q. That made him smile, and seems to have stuck with him.

Because today, in the rubber match against Pownal, Q was sent to the mound again in the 6th to protect a 15-0 lead. And the result was the same: One walk, three strikeouts. Q as a career no-hitter going, and his confidence is high.

This is so much fun...!