Well, there's no easy way to put this one. The DC Bullets played one of their worst games of the year, and Marvel - or so they told me, perhaps trying to ease the pain as I sobbed into my beer at McGees - played one of their best of the 2011 summer.
In the end, Marvel schooled the Bullets, 18-4.
And the game looked competitive after one inning. Marvel struck hard in the first. They took advantage of a few DC miscues, but mostly just hit the stuffing out of the ball. The first-inning six spot could've been a run or two less, or we could've written it off as a traditional Bullets first inning.
Bottom of the first, the Bullets played their part - beginning to dig out of their early hole. Neil Hiremath slapped a ball into shallow left and hustled it into a double, and Mike Lorah lined a single off a leaping second baseman's glove. Travis Hastback singled to score Neil, and John Choi loaded the bases with another hit. Brian Walters's sacrifice fly to right added a second run, and then Travis raced home on an errant throw, and DC halved the lead with only one out. After LP Vollano popped up, CNap punched a single to left for a fourth run, (Note the final score here.) before Pat Brosseau grounded out to end the rally.
Marvel scored four more in the second. Nothing in the third. Three in the fourth, including a booming triple deep to left center; one in the fifth; two in the sixth (including a homer); and two more in the seventh. For the most part, the runs were legit. Joel Press had a couple throwing errors, Mike couldn't field a couple hits cleanly, Pat lost a ball in the sun, and Travis bobbled a pair of singles in left to allow for extra bases - but by and large, Marvel earned their scores, particularly after the first inning.
The Bullets ... well, we had plenty of chances, but couldn't get the big hit. The team went in order in the second, but loaded the bases in the second on singles by Larry, Neil and Travis. Alas, each hit was followed immediately by an out. Brian, Pat and Sal singled in the fourth, but no runs crossed. Down in order in the fifth. Travis's two-out single was the entire sixth-inning offense. And bottom seven, with it all on the line, CNap and Pat singled with two out before Sal popped up to wrap this embarrassing effort. And some credit must be given to Marvel for getting the big outs - after Travis's sixth-inning single, John crushed a drive to deep left field, and Marvel's leftfielder hauled it in, a spectacular snare near the fence.
Hey, we picked a bad day to have a bad game. It's over, and we have a chance to pick it up on Tuesday against Vanity Fair, so everybody take a deep breath and get ready to kick some ass. Larry Ganem went five perfect innings against these guys in a win last summer.
Thanks to Marvel for coming out for the game and hanging out at McGees afterwards. It was embarrassing, but still a fun time. We'll show up next year, I promise!
Also, a tip of the hat to Broadway star Spider-Man for showing up to support his team.
10-6 (3-1 NYMSL), the Bullets meet Vanity Fair on Tuesday and then are back in NYMSL on Thursday.
Bullet Box:
OF Neil Hiremath - 2-3, R, double
3B Mike Lorah - 1-3, R
LF Travis Hastback - 3-3, R, RBI
OF/SS John Choi - 1-3, R
2B/OF/3B Brian Walters - 1-2, RBI, sac fly
DH LP Vollano - 0-3
2B/C Christine Napolitano - 2-3, RBI
OF Pat Brosseau - 2-3
1B/C Sal Cipriano - 1-3
SS Joel Press - 0-2
C/2B/1B Laura Demorueille - 0-2
P Larry Ganem - 1-2
C Allison Dugas - 0-2
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