I picked up all of the garbage in the stands and then set to work on scrubbing down the seats in the members’ stand. It took forever, both because the seats were really dirty, due to not having been cleaned over the last two weeks, and because the sponge I was using was already dirty. I was out of clean sponges and the dirty one just kept moving the dirt around, instead of actually cleaning. Eventually I found something usable in order to finish the job, but I also asked Gonzo if we could get some new sponges before tomorrow so I wouldn’t run into the same problem again. The job took a lot longer than I thought it would, but eventually I finished and headed back home to shower.
Before heading back to the ballpark I had some extra time, since I finished my cleaning in the morning and we made sure yesterday that there wouldn’t be too much for us to do before the fans come pouring in (that's not sarcasm, it's wishful thinking). So I had time to hang out with my good buddy Durket. On his family’s last day in Australia, they are still driving back to Brisbane from Sydney, so he had time to hang with me, too, I guess.
He came over and we went for a swim in the pool at the apartment. The water is super cold, especially on a not-so-sunny day like today, but we braved it. Durket told me about the awesome places he went to in and on the way to Sydney and we talked about the possibility of everyone maybe going on another trip like we did to Byron Bay but perhaps this time he could join in. We also talked about him taking the LSAT in February, which would seem to me like a daunting task to have to look forward to at the end of the season, but he doesn’t seem too worried. I learned that Durket is interested in being a criminal defense attorney. Either that or getting into sports agency. That led us into a conversation about Scott Boras, who I love to hate, mostly because I am jealous of him, and a little bit of me wishes I were him.
For those of you who might be unaware, Boras is one of the biggest agents in the game. He’s had a bunch of huge clients and has landed several large contracts for them, making him the highest paid sports agent in baseball. And a little-known fact, his birthday is the same day as my birthday. You’re welcome.
Durket and I went for a late lunch at the burrito place post-swimming and ran into Gonzo there. Of course Gonzo would be at the burrito place. He was getting lunch for Steve, who had now been at the field for over six hours without anything to eat, so that was probably a wise idea. We each had our own burritos and then decided to head to the park, or back to the park for me.
There wasn’t much that I had to do when I got there, but I was able to help out a little bit, just moving things around and getting the diamond game-ready. I also met Carl’s girlfriend for the first time before the game. We talked about her flight and the fact that she missed her birthday on it. Because of the travel time and crossing the International Date Line, she’d skipped over her entire birthday, so that kind of sucks. She said it wasn’t so bad, because she didn’t want to get another year older anyway. We talked about the ham that she and Carl had cooked for Christmas, which is pretty impressive, and she told me about the Botanical Gardens, which they’d visited previously. It sounds like a nice place, but I don’t know if looking at a bunch of flowers is really my thing, so I might put that down near the bottom of my list.
During the game my main job was to write the story for the website and the media, with minor stints on the soundboard. At one point I might have also had an interesting conversation with a member of the Canberra Cavalry. Tristan Crawford came up to the members’ stand to assist the Brisbane broadcasters during the game with some commentary, since he wasn’t playing due to an arm injury. I’d heard previously that the Crawford brothers kind of chose playing for Canberra over Brisbane, since they are both Queenslanders. I’m not sure if that’s exactly the right way to put it, but I decided to ask Tristan anyway. I was probably a little too blunt about it, but he politely told me that he went to play for Canberra because his coach in the minor leagues also coaches the Cavalry. I asked him a couple more questions, but I was taking both of us away from what we should have been doing, so that didn’t last long.
Maestri was dealing the whole game, so it was a great one to watch. There were scouts from a Japanese independent league there to see him pitch, so he performed well for that. He didn’t know they were there though, I don’t think. He was just being himself on the mound, doing a good job and finding success. It looked at one point like he was having back issues or something but I guess he wasn’t because he pitched a complete game. He finally had some support from the offense too, including two home runs from the light-hitting Brad Dutton.
The Italian Stallion would have had a complete-game one-hit shutout if not for the last play of the game. It was a fly ball to left field that was dropped. Andrew Campbell is normally a middle infielder but the Bandits don’t have many outfielders on reserve, so he found himself in left. There was a runner on second base when the ball was hit and he came in to score, taking away the shutout. Campbell threw the ball to third, where the batter was tagged out trying to stretch the misplay into a three-bagger, ending the game. The most frustrating part was that the dropped ball was ruled a double, adding another hit to Maestri’s line. I spoke to a scorer after the game though and learned that no matter what, if an outfielder makes a reasonable effort for the ball he cannot be charged with an error. It’s not a very good rule, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone doing anything about it, minus my whingeing of course.
During the game, Durket’s dad came over to talk to me so I left my post for a little while to see his family and hear about their trip. I also met Jon’s other brother, who hadn’t been around in Brisbane when they first arrived. He flew in to meet them in Sydney. They told me how great Sydney was and asked about Byron. They also mentioned that they’d been reading my stories online and were enjoying them, which is always nice to hear. The Durket family didn’t get to see Jon pitch in their last Bandits game, but at least they got to see a good one. They flew all the way to Australia to see Jon throw 1 1/3 innings, though they had a good time taking in sights and enjoying more than just baseball.
I said goodbye to the Durket family after the game. It was awesome to meet them, and like I said before, they made me feel a little more at home for some reason. I guess I don’t have a lot of people to talk to outside of the Bandits, so maybe that was it. I wished them a safe flight home for the morning and they were soon on their way.
I ran into SJ and Maestri after that, first congratulating Maestri on the great game he threw and then acknowledging that both of them had new haircuts. I told Maestri he should start getting a haircut every week if he’s going to pitch the way he did. The three of us also discussed the last play of the game being called a double, though it’s just frustrating talking about things that there’s nothing you can do about them.
I started my short trek home but I was quickly stopped. Carla Pinder, Maestri and SJ’s host mom and volunteer extraordinaire, asked if I needed a ride. Though I tried to convince them to let me walk, I gave in and took a ride. Carla didn’t think it was safe, no matter what the distance. I appreciated it though, since I was tired.
It wasn’t bedtime for me yet though. I had a phone date tonight with Nicole. I woke her up early in her morning and we talked for over an hour. It was nice to speak over the phone, instead of just emailing all the time. When I had almost fallen asleep during the conversation a couple times though I figured I should probably head to bed.
This could be the beginning of a long weekend.
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