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A Letter from Otter to Oregon Otterz – 2006
Team Otter
Hey Oregon Otterz, 10/31/06
I thought I would drop you a line reporting on the final Red Sox game of the Fall. We had an 11am game against the A’s this past Sunday. Since we played like total dogshit the Thursday before (after a 10+ day layoff) Dwayne and I talked about really stressing to the kids to have some fun and play hard but with a smile on your face (I even quoted Crash Davis “Hey this is baseball, it’s fun, smile damn it!”). The game started off pretty well with us swinging and putting the ball l in play but not coming up with any runs, and Dylan throwing well but with a couple of walks and passed balls, blah blah, you know the story and we’re down a few runs in the middle innings. As you know Jeramy and Brandon have been struggling quite a bit over the course of the year putting the ball in play. In practice they do great but just haven’t carried it over to the game. Well that day things were going to be way fucking different. Trailing by three we had the bases loaded and two outs with Brandon at the plate. He was swinging much better and even fouled off a pitch or two. With two strikes hit roped a line drive down the left field line clearing the bases and tying the game. Considering his struggles the entire team and all our fans went stupid crazy. We ended up adding two more runs that inning and took a two run lead into the last inning. We were home team so we went out to try and hold them for the win, but were unable to do so. They scored two and we went to the bottom of the last inning tied. We told the kids that we had the chance to win this game and go home happy. We had Chong, Hank, and D Wade coming up so things were looking good. Chong and Hank both got out to lead off the inning and D Wade came up with two outs to try and start a rally. He singled and got on first and up came Jeramy…Jerm had already walked on four straight his first time up and struck out swinging at all three pitches his second time. I told D Wade to steal so he could get into scoring position, and on a first pitch swinging strike to Jeramy he stole second. Jerm took the next pitch for a ball, and fouled off the next for strike two. With the game hanging in the balance and our season ending game on the line Jeramy drove the next pitch hard on the ground to the left of the second baseman toward the hole. The ball was hit so hard the second baseman could not come up with it, and as the ball went into the outfield D Wade rounded third base and brought home the game winning run. I was coaching first base and with tears in my eyes and a huge smile on my face, I lifted Jerm up in the air. He had a huge smile on his face as well and I told him he had just won the game for us. After the ump called the game he came running to the dugout and all the guys mobbed him as out fans were on their feet cheering a great ending. As we gathered for the post game cheer and handshakes I told the kids to turn around and look at all their friends and family cheering for them and I got choked up again. It was one of the best moments, THE best sports related moment, I have had as a dad to date. I thanked Jermay for giving me such a great gift that I will likely remember for the rest of my life. We went out to ice cream last night to celebrate, along with the kids’ straight A’s, awesome report cards. Anyway, reliving the event as I write to you guys has let me re-experience it. Sooooooooo goooooooood!! We miss you guys and hope you are both doing well. We love you, take care.
Otter