SLB: 13; Balls Deep: 21

Things could have been a lot worse for your Sirs of Baltimore tonight, after a couple of lousy innings in the field.

The game started brightly enough, when SLB allowed only one run in the first inning and scored three of their own. But in a long second inning, Balls Deep managed to send six batters across the plate on a handful of routine groundballs and untimely walks. It didn't seem the Lords could buy an out.

In the bottom of the second, SLB scored none.

In the third inning, things worsened for the Sirs. Put simply, they were slaughtered due to even more mishandled plays. At 3B, James J lost a ball in his glove and never made his throw. At SS, Adam R failed to snag grounder and missed setting up a double play opportunity. At pitcher, Joan S gloved a couple balls but wasn't able to connect with Emery P at first. And throughout all of this, Balls Deep knocked several powerful line drives into the short right field fence of Riverside Park.

"They were hitters," Adam R said after the game.

"They were walkers, too," Joan S noted, referencing the high number of BD batters who laid off her pitches.

Going into the fourth inning, the shaggy umpire notified SLB that they were down 19-3, and if they didn't score at least two runs they would be mercy-ruled out of the game. Adam C stepped up to the plate and knocked his second home run of the night. His first, it was noted, went farther than perhaps any ball he'd hit before.

After Adam C's homer, the Sirs plated two more runs, keeping them in the game. In the inning that followed, they held Balls Deep to only two runs. At 3B, Nick made two of the outs, reeling in an infield fly and then a hard struck liner.

In their last at bat, Sir Lord Baltimore finally got their rally going. Adam R led off with a triple then scored on an overthrow, then Jay, who homered in the first inning, followed with a triple. Joan S walked. SS Kevin D sent a ball to deep center, back to the warning track, and got to third base himself. Adam C homered for a third time. All in all, the Sirs scored seven runs in the inning and went through the order, until Adam R struck out to end the game.

Kevin D pointed out afterward that the game should have continued, as SLB was within eight runs of winning. Apparently, the time rule was invoked.

It was a night of much despair for the home team, but as Joan S said, "At least we're hitting better."

SLB: 16, Party Down: 18

It was a tough night for your Sirs of Baltimore, in spite of a 9-run first inning in which SLB had only one out before the slaughter rule was effected. Things were beginning to look like Game One of the new season, when the Sirs dismantled Patient First with a 19-0 drudging.

Michael K was in good form on the mound, striking out a record-tying five or six batters--and this did not include one obvious strikeout foul ball that was egregiously put in play by the umpire. He admitted that he lost the ball in the lights, but Party Down still claimed the two runs which would prove to be the difference in the game. "Of course it was foul," said LF Emery P, "I had already stopped chasing it."

Michael K said it was clear as soon as the ball came off the bat that it was out of play. "I pitched him to hit that ball," he said.

SLB rookies hit well -- Jay drove three liners into the drink and Brad knocked a homer that traveled to the batters box of Swann Park's second field. SS Kevin D also had several extra base hits and, defensively, made a great cutoff throw to notch an out at second base. Barbara D's tag was placed perfectly on the big runner.

And even with his sore leg, Michael K managed to knock a ball deep enough to amble home. 1B Joan S had a clutch double as well, and 3B James J drove a beauty to deep center. All in all, the Sirs played a solid game of offense, with only the second inning in which they scored no runs.

Defensively, things went about as well as they could, considering the conditions of the field. "That outfield is like a parking lot," Emery P observed after scooping up a couple of base hits. He also registered some great turns at the plate, taking advantage of the rocky ground with his solid liners. Balls landing in the outfield had a tendency to either bounce ten feet or roll speedily down the hill. Playing short a woman, the Sirs had only three fielders out there, increasing the challenge.

Worst of all, the Sirs were themselves slaughtered in the third inning, when the infield couldn't come up with a play. After the game, James J said, "I have to say that was frustrating." Several hard knocks were sent to the hot corner, just out of reach. At SS Adam R fielded a grounder but his throw pulled 1B Joan off the bag. Michael K fielded a comebacker but his throw to first ended up rolling out of play. At 2B, Barbara D put her glove on a ball that ended up thirty feet behind her in right field.

In a post game interview Adam R said, "While the bad call on that foul was the difference-maker, things would have gone differently if we could have made a couple easy plays in that inning."

It was a tough night for your Sirs of Baltimore.

Sir Lord Baltimore 12, Knight Rider 20 (?)

The season's opener started out well, but after an interminable sixth inning against the hated The Knight Riders, the Sirs of Baltimore watched their chances of winning sail off into the murky water of Swann Park.

In the first, pitcher Michael K, back from off-season surgery, walked the leadoff batter but got the second to sky a ball into the very shallow outfield. Shortstop Adam R waited as it continued to fall. "I was under it for so long, I had time to think about my life. I wondered if I should get a Porsche. I decided not to." He fielded the next two balls as well, flipping a grounder to second basewoman Kristen A to retire the walked batter. Still, the Knight Riders managed to score two runs in the inning.

To which the Sirs responded with four of their own. The early lead was built on some handy small ball that the team hasn't shown in seasons past.

The Sirs put up a defensive wall in the second inning, allowing only one runner on the base path. At the hot corner, James J made an acrobatic catch for the third out.

Back at the plate, Kristen A hit a hard grounder that carried her to second after a misthrown ball. Then, Nick S--who was acquired off waivers (outside Aloha Sushi at 2am)--got his turn to make a statement. In bright white trousers, the youngster hit a deep shot to center field for a two run homer.

When The Knight Riders came up in the fourth, spirits were high for Sir Lord Baltimore, who enjoyed a narrow lead. However, with two outs in the inning, time seemed to stop on the field. A crucial walk loaded the bases and the next batter cranked a line drive sharply into right for a grand slam.

The grass in the outfield was patchy and shorn close across the hard-packed dirt, so balls were prone to roll quickly. It was a feature that The Knight Riders exploited to great advantage.

The grand slam was called back, however, on a technicality. Earlier in the contest, Umpire (or, "Drunkpire") Avery had fervently declared it illegal for anyone to touch a player until the play was called dead. The Knight Riders came to the plate to celebrate the hit like it was a World Series walk off. Thanks to Michael K's attention, their high-five-contact was ruled an out. Two of the runs were called back and the top of the third was over.

"I wouldn't have said anything if they would have swung at a pitch once in a while," K said after the game.

But there was no advantage in it. The remaining innings were payback all around, as the game turned into a grudge match on the field, and Avery issued several make up calls. (At one point, Adam R earned the Sirs an out for carrying a beer over to coach third base.)

Michael K kicked against the pricks again with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the fourth (he had two in the night, this time scoring Emily B who played with a sharp eye and reached base on several occasions), but the score grew out of reach in the next inning, when the opposing bats came alive, crushing the ball all over the outfield. Still, the Sirs defense kept things within reach until the final inning, when it didn't seem they could buy an out. The spread grew to something like 20 to 9.

The inning finally ended on a 9-1 double play, when Adam C managed to snag a line drive and hurl it in to Michael K, who made a leaping grab at second base to tag out the runner who left the bag early.

In their last attempt, the Sirs put a few more runs across (including a 4th homerun for the team from Adam R), but like the US Congress they couldn't negotiate their way out of the deficit.

In spite of the loss, spirits were high after the opening game. "We played well," Joan S (1B) said in a press conference. "I felt like we played as a team, we got out there and did our best. I'm just grateful to the fans, that we get to get out here and just play as well as we can."

The Knight Riders defeated the dreaded Mobtown Beatdown in a previous championship series, a fact which softened the emotional blow of the loss. It looks like your Sirs of Baltimore are off to--at least--a capable start for the new season. Next week they take on Wolfepack and Mobtown in a doubleheader.