We had two games today.  We came very close to having to forfeit due to lack of players.  As I said, they have been dropping like flies, but Stu, our coach, pulled some players in from other teams.  It is one of the odd things about this league.  You can use players from other teams if you come up short.  One of our players in our first game, was on the team that we beat in the second game.  Yes, I did say beat.  I know, it is a short and harsh word, but we won!  We lost the first game, and I felt sorry for Vicky to be on two losing teams in one day, but she seemed pretty chipper at the end of the day.

Before going into too much detail on today’s events, let me fill in a few stories from the past couple of days.  We took a drive out to Whitewater, which is an area neat the foot of the mountains where Big Bear Lake is.  Very nice preserve, and we had a nice, but short visit.  We will plan more trips out to this area.  It is a lovely respite from the desert.  We went for Pho afterwards in town.

On Thursday, we went to see a movie – Pride – with Donovan.  It was about a group of Gay and Lesbian activists in London in the 80’s who wanted to support the striking coal miners in Wales.  It was a bit formulaic, but very enjoyable.  The movie was good, but buying tickets was a bit shocking and depressing for me.  When I went up the counter, I asked for two seniors and and adult.  Donovan pointed at the sign that said “Seniors 55+” and said, three seniors.  First, I have over three months before I reach that threshold and second, she didn’t even question it, and there we were, three seniors going to see the matinee in Palm Springs.  It all begins.

So, today, David wanted to come to the games.  I told him that since Donovan wasn’t coming, he would be stuck there for the duration, and he was game.  We drove over, and were at a different field than we have been before.  The place was packed with soccer games, birthday parties, bar-b-cues and various other activities, like softball.  The field was a hike from where the car was parked, and I had to push the wheelchair over some rough terrain, but we made it.  I settled David in just outside the dugout, and we started the game.

I was a little worried because Stu asked if I would play first base, and I thought, why not?  I think I will play first base all the time.  I didn’t have one “Charlie Brown moment”, and was actually pretty good.  There was a moment during the first game when a batter on the other team hit a foul ball that landed about 2 feet from David, and after that inning, I moved him into the dugout.  Much safer.  So, that first game, we lost pretty badly, sad to say, but the second game we won 11-8, and at one point the score was 8-2.  Things just gelled, and we were all playing pretty good.  I was getting folks out at first, left and right.  I give most of the credit to the folks who were throwing the ball to me really beautifully.  David said we won because the other team was just worse than we were, and he thinks we stink.