Second Day of Regular Action (Tues., Feb. 3)

(Written by Meg Goldsmith on behalf of Kerry)

In the morning, the Grizzlies played Grant Jackson’s Buccaneers.  The Grizzlies were the home team and took a 4-0 lead after the first.  Kerry started this game on the mound and had an easy first inning.  In the second inning, despite allowing no ball to be hit out of the infield, no hits, no walks, and no hit batsmen, the Buccaneers scored four times.  Kerry said his team committed “error after error after error” in the inning (at least seven in all).  Kerry faced at least nine, perhaps ten, batters and threw at least 50 pitches in the inning and got two strikeouts.  (Kerry’s note:  I’ve never seen anything like this.  Not only wasn’t a single ball hit out of the infield, there wasn’t a single sharply hit ball of any kind; it was all routine grounders and squibbers.  The errors were unreal—balls were kicked.  Balls were thrown away.  Balls were kicked and then thrown away.  Balls were thrown away and then kicked.  I would guess, conservatively, that we gave them at least a dozen outs in this inning…and the bizarre thing is, we didn’t have a poor defensive team out on the field.  After the inning, I asked Jim Palmer—who witnessed this entire half-inning—what he’d do when the team just collapsed defensively behind him.  He said “Yeah, I saw what when on out there.  The thing is…you still have to trust your defense to make the next play because if you don’t, you start overthrowing, missing your spots, walking guys.  Ultimately, you have to believe that they’ll make a play.”)  The Grizzlies took the lead in the bottom of the second, scoring one run to go up 5-4.  The Buccaneers scored two more unearned runs in the top of the third, but the Grizzlies countered with six of their own.  In the four innings he pitched, Kerry got 5 K’s, gave up 2 hits, no walks, and 6 unearned runs.  He earned the win in a game the Grizzlies ultimately won 11-7, putting them at .500 for the tournament.

In the afternoon game, they played Jack Voight’s team (Note:  Voight’s team went on to win The Ring.) and lost 4-1.  Kerry played shortstop the entire game, went 1-2 at the plate and had a good game in the field. Down 2-0, with one out and runners at first and second, he went a long way to his left behind second base and got the force at second.  (Kerry’s note:  This was probably the most “dramatic” play I made in the infield until the pro games on Saturday.  A ball was grounded up the middle and I went far to my left, made a diving stop and flipped to the second baseman for the force at second.  I had some other nice plays in the field during the week—I had a good camp with the glove; only a decent one with the bat, in my opinion—but none had the same impact.)

His hamstring felt o.k. today and he’s hopeful the tweak he felt yesterday is a thing of the past.  He is taking care to do extra stretching, however.

  There were no scheduled events tonight so he went out with a group of the guys he’s gotten to know over the years.

The Stat Line--Batting

The Stat Line--Pitching

Previous Reports from 2004 Fantasy Camp:

Mon., Feb. 2-- First Day of Action

Sun., Feb. 1-- Veteran's Tournament Day 2

Sat., Jan. 31-- Veteran's Tournament Day 1

Fri., Jan. 30 -- Preparing for Camp