Coral Gables A’s Stories: When You’re Hot, You’re Hot

The Coral Gables A's kicked ass and took names in this game.

America’s funniest men’s league baseball team, the Coral Gables A’s, were back at it this past Sunday against the Yankees. This being our second season in our new league, we’ve now faced this team a handful of times. We’ve thrived. Each game is its own entity, however. Would our domination continue? Let’s see. 

Two-Out Magic

Their pitcher was not overpowering, but threw a ton of curveballs for strikes. This can bother the heck out of a lineup if they’re not disciplined. “Pitching backwards” is what it’s known as. While most pitchers throw their fastball the majority of the time and work off that, someone who pitches backwards throws offspeed pitches early in counts, then surprises you with a heater. This guy was like that. 

He got two quick outs, both on curveballs. It was shaping up to be a quick top of the 1st. Then Matt slapped a ball up the middle for a single. Nick followed him with another single, and all of a sudden we were in business. Amed proceeded Nick and worked a walk, loading the bases. This brought Dy’lan to the plate, who is not a small man. Their pitcher let a curveball float a little too far inside, plunking Dy’lan and forcing a run in. We wouldn’t score again in the 1st. 1-0. 

Ground Balls are Nice

Willy was on the bump for us. Since Willy throws sidearm, sometimes at an angle below sidearm, his ball sinks and runs a ton. Hard to lift. He typically produces a ton of ground balls, which, if we’re making the plays behind him, will make it a nice and easy game. 

After a one-out single, Willy induced a tailor-made double play on a ground ball to X at shortstop, who flicked it over to Ulri at second, who sent it over to Dy’lan at first to end the inning. Nice. 

Situational Hitting

Willy led off the top of the 2nd and helped himself by lacing a single up the middle. Wes followed with a walk, and two batters later a new guy named Jhan (more on him later) hit another solid single, loading the bases. 

This brought X to the plate. We’re a really good team, but one area we tend to struggle in is situational hitting. Most of our guys swing to do damage, which is great! But a more conservative approach with runners in scoring position is a valid way to do things. Big swings = big results. But it can also mean no results. Suela are the kings of situational hitting. Man on third and less than two outs, that guy is scoring almost every time. It would be nice for us to do more of that. 

X is one of the few A’s who thrives in these situations, however. He hits leadoff, but is an excellent RBI man when you need one. That continued here. He did not take a major hack, instead lofting a high fastball to centerfield, which was more than deep enough to score the runner from third on a sac fly. 2-0. We didn’t score after that. 

Ground Balls: Still Nice

Willy gave up another hit in the 2nd, which just happened to squeak through the infield on the ground. This was then erased, similar to the 1st inning. This time, Ulri fielded a grounder and flipped it to X, who fired to first for the double play. 

We went 1-2-3 in the top of the 3rd. We committed an error in the field behind Willy, but he himself was able to erase that mistake. He caught that runner leaning and picked him off at first, which ended the inning. Between two double plays and a pickoff, that’s three extra outs Willy got without having to get the hitters out at the plate. An entire inning’s worth. Huge. 

Men’s League Ohtani?

Speaking of huge, Willy got a chance to help his cause on the mound and did not let it go to waste. Dy’lan got hit by another pitch to lead off the inning, and two batters later Willy laced a ball into the left-centerfield gap for a double, sending Dy’lan motoring around to score. He was now two for two at the plate with three scoreless innings on the bump. Big time. We did not score after Willy’s RBI double. 3-0, us. 

Good Baseball

The Yankees put up a run in the bottom half of the 4th to make the score 3-1. X led off the top of the 5th with a walk, then swiped second. I hit a single that landed just in front of the right fielder, bringing him to third. Matt followed me with another single, this one in a two-strike count on a breaking pitch. X scored and I advanced to second. 

If I’m able to pick up the catcher’s signs, I will usually steal on an offspeed pitch. My thinking is, firstly, that the ball will get to the plate slower, giving me more time to run before the catcher has it in his glove. Secondly, I think a pitcher is less likely to attempt a pickoff if he’s gripping a change-up, curveball, slider, etc. More difficult that way. And finally, an offspeed pitch is more likely to end up in the dirt, which basically ensures I’ll be safe. 

Their catcher was throwing down one sign, so it was easy to know what was coming while I was on second. I took off on a curveball and Matt followed. We were both safe. Nick then lifted a flyball into centerfield, more than deep enough to score me from third. Matt advanced to third on the play. 

Dy’lan came up two batters later and brought in Matt the old-fashioned way: by hitting a goddamn rocket. His double into the gap made it 5-1, then Alex, our catcher, muscled a single into right field that scored Dy’lan from second. 6-1. We didn’t score after that, but between the stolen bases, walks, sacrifice flies, and hard-hit balls, we were putting together all types of quality at bats. We were scoring methodically. Very good shit. 

Putting Them Away

Willy spun a scoreless bottom of the 5th inning, which would be his final inning of work. Jhan (told you he’d be back) got the party started in the top of the 6th by tattooing a line drive into the gap, which sent him racing around second and sliding into third with a triple. X, who, again, is shockingly good with runners in scoring position for a leadoff hitter, smacked a ball up the middle, bringing Jhan home. 

I hit a double after X, setting up runners at second and third. Nick added another double to the till, scoring two. Amed then drew a walk, and Dy’lan stayed hot with a single that brought another run in. Alex stayed hot as well with his own RBI single. That brought the total to four in the inning, and the score of the game to 10-1. This was becoming a certified ass-whooping. 

Insert Amed

Amed relieved Willy after the latter allowed one run over five innings. He allowed one run in the bottom of the 6th, making it 10-2. Our onslaught would not stop, however. 

Jhan collected his third hit of the game with a single in the top of the 7th. X notched his third RBI of the game with a double that sent Jhan around to score. I came up afterwards and, very rudely, hit a bomb over the right-centerfield fence. 12-2. 

Amed fired a scoreless bottom of the 7th, and that’s your ballgame, folks. By way of knockout (10+ runs after the 7th), your Coral Gables A’s move to 3-2-1 on the season. This was one of the most complete games we’ve played in a long time. Pitching, baserunning, fielding, situational hitting, and power hitting. Literally every aspect of baseball was on display on this Sunday morning. If we play like this, no one can hang with us. 

Now Do The Veggie Dance!

A couple guys on the team are teachers and/or have kids, i.e. they know what the youths are listening to. “The Veggie Dance,” a song from a YouTube channel called Gracie’s Corner, was making the rounds in the dugout during this game. Why? Because it’s shockingly catchy.

Maybe we should play it in the dugout every game? It clearly gets the people going.

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