So the games against the Pros go in order of the Championship team first, and then follow it down the line from there.

Gedman’s Bombers were the lead off team, they played well but managed to lose 1-0.

We then played the second game and lost 4-0. We pitched ok, and we fielded ok but the Pros are just that much better. We were lucky with the first inning we kept them to only 1 run. Butch Hobson scored on a bloop fly into right that I stumbled slightly while running in to get it before throwing it in, I think if I hadn’t stumbled I might have been able to throw him out at home.

That was when I felt the first twinge of pain in the elbow again.

Next batter was Chad Epperson, he never played in the major leagues but he is one big guy with a lot of power. He launched a high fly into right field where I was playing, I had to back up about 15 feet or so but I managed to reel in the hit to get the 3rd out of the inning.

I am not sure if it was being tired or sore or being dehydrated, which I still am even a couple days later, but my depth perception was all kinds of screwy on that catch, there were no clouds in the sky at all and the ball was kinda shimmying as it sailed through the air, I kinda prayed I would catch it and I was fortunate to do so and make the out.

Second inning came along and I was back in right field, they had a couple guys on base and U.L. Washington came up to the plate. So I shifted to closer to the line since he is a lefty hitter(toothpick and all). I then thought to myself, “Maybe I should be 10-15 feet back from here” but then as soon as I finished that thought there was a crack of the bat and I was right, I should have been about 15 feet back from where I was.

I took off running as best i could and with an outstretched arm I missed the ball by about 2 feet, it then bounced and rolled to the wall in right field. I ran, got the ball and chucked it in to the cutoff man and then let out a scream, both because I was annoyed for not being in the right position, but also because the pain I felt in my elbow radiated all the way up my arm and it made me wish I could just cut my arm right off to kill the pain.

They scored their 3 run maximum and the inning was over.

I was the lead off guy for the 3rd inning and I was in so much pain I had an absolutely horrible at bat against Walter Miranda who was pitching for the Pros. I swung 3 times and missed 3 times. Fortunately for me, all 3 were actually strikes so I didn’t feel too bad, but I just couldn’t get the bat around fast enough because of the pains in my elbow, hips, and groin.

I am 30 but I felt like I was a 90 year old guy who could barely walk.

Joe then grounded out, and then so did Steve to end the game.

I then went up into the visitors clubhouse and changed into street clothes after getting a nice big ice wrap for my elbow which was throbbing, unfortunately it wasn’t doing the complete job of soothing the pain, so I popped 2 advil, and then Phil was kind enough to give me 6 tylenal with codine. I took 2 and saved the rest for later if I needed them.

I watchehd a few of the following games because there were no shuttles back to the hotel until after noon, so me and some of the guys sat down on the first base line and watched the games while snapping some photos and meeting some of the wives and kids of our teammates. I also met Bill Lee’s wife at that point, a very nice woman.

It was at this point that the gift shop was opened and I thought about going to buy something for the players to sign, but I realized I left my wallet back at the hotel. Joe had already gone and gotten an oversized Red Sox License Plate, and he was having the players all sign it. I liked the idea and he was nice enough to spot me the money to go get one, and then I had the players sign it. I managed to walk through the dugout to get them all, and then got Joe Castiglione’s signature as well as Joe Morgan’s on my way out.

When I was getting Joe C’s he complimented my team again on the job we did in the Championship game even though we did not win. He couldn’t stop talking about how we made 4 double plays during the 7 inning game, and how we just missed making 2 more.

I don’t think it is a stat they track, but they might start to next year, we averaged almost 3 double plays per game for the week, we ended up the week with at least 20, probably closer to 25 by my estimates.

So then it got to be about 1, and I headed out to the shuttle and went back to the hotel, I was tired…

Well, camp is now over. I was so busy that past couple days that I just haven’t had time to update this at all.

We spent a better part of the morning on Saturday over at City of Palms Park. When Joe and I woke up, we didn’t realize the schedule of the shuttles to get us over to the PDC and then to CPP, so we went downstairs and found out that shuttles were going over at 7:00, 9:00 & 11:00.

It was now 8:00 and our game was approximated to be at 9:30, but we are supposed to be at the park an hour before the game.

Hmmm, Are we going to get there on time? lemme shake the magic 8 ball…. “Outlook not so good”

Fortunately, while Joe called Bryan about the shuttle, I talked to the hotel shuttle and he said he could squeeze a trip directly over to CPP for us, which is good because me and Joe cleaned out our lockers at the PDC the night before and did not have to go back there at all. The other two guys in the lobby did though, but there were shuttles running from the PDC to CPP constantly, just not to the hotel.

So we get over to the game and get ready.

More to come later…

Short summery because I am tired and heading to bed.

We started the day tied with Lee’s Lefties, if we both won or both lost our first games today then we were going to have a playoff game which picked up right where our last game left off with the tie, then this would determine who would go to the championship game.

We won our first game against Valintin’s Vikings.

There was no playoff though, Lee’s team lost their game so that put us into the 2009 Red Sox Fantasy Camp Championship game against Gedman’s Bombers.

We played then starting at 3:30 over at the big field at City of Palms Park, unfortunately we lost in a 2-1 game.

We didn;t hit and when we did it went right too them, we gave them too many free runners with walks and hit batters, and it cost us the game.

The loss was disappointing, but the fact that we played so well overall was great and I don’t think I really could have had any more fun or any better of a time this past week.

Tomorrow we play the pros, and I will consider it a success if I can foul one off…

We took Monty out to dinner tonight as a team, and the stories and such were great. I will get to this more soon, same with the pictures, more of those soon!

So today was a big day, we played Hobson’s Hornets in the morning and Miranda’s rights in the afternoon.

Same early morning training regimen as yesterday, only we had pancakes instead of eggs cuz the eggs had green things in them that I was incapable of identifying, so I skipped em and had pancakes with bacon and some fruit.

Game one against Hobson’s Hornets was over at the little field at the big park, we helped them keep their perfect record going, and they were 0-5 when we were done with them. We beat them 6-1 missing our starting second baseman and me feeling pretty rough, my hand was kinda sore on the fatty part of the palm by the thumb, But I went 1-3 and scored a run. Bill Lee’s team the Lefties also won their morning game so it put us still tied atop our division with a 4-0-1 record.

We had lunch and I got Mike Greenwell’s autograph on the helmet, the bat, and 3 of his cards. His 1987 rookie card, his 1988 All Star Card, and a 1989 Sport Illustrated for Kids card. Super nice guy that told a few hilarious stories about playing so I can share those later when I have more time to type them out. I also got to hear a couple good stories from my coach Monty about some of is experiences while playing.

So I also spoke with Frank Malzone today, turns out my mom emailed me and asked me to say hello to him since she was apparently the babysitter for his kids in the early 1960’s. Well, he actually remembers here, which is neat.

So then we go into the afternoon game. I was sore, I was really sore. I ended up sitting on the bench and did not play the field, but I did bat. I went 1-3 but man did it hurt and I looked like a 80 year old man running down the line. I need to do some work tomorrow morning to not let that happen.

We were fortunate though, we beat Miranda’s Rights who were 4-1 coming into the game. We beat them 9-3. So that puts us at 5-0-1 for the week so far!! I think you can technically say we are undefeated!! Lee’s team also won though. So we are still tied with one morning game tomorrow and then the championship game is tomorrow afternoon, along with the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th place games. The championship game is over at City of Palms Park.

I think we can do this, I just need to be stretched out real well tomorrow so I can run and play defense, I may take it easy in the morning game so I don’t risk screwing anything up for the afternoon game.

I am pretty confident we are gonna do well tomorrow, our morning game is against Valentin’s Vikings who I think are 1-5 so far, and we are going to have the coaches pitching as well, and we tend to hit pretty well against Victor our coach, we put up 17 runs with him pitching on Wednesday.

After the game there were 2 options, either playing Whiffle Ball over at the City of Palms Park with a BBQ, or going to a cigar bar with open bar and pizza and such. I chose the cigar bar, even though I don’t smoke at all. It was a great time, I got to talk to a bunch of guys, saw a total whore walking with her boobs almost hanging out and also got to chat with Luis Tiant, who’s personal cigar aficionado opinion of the cigar bar was “You don’t want any of these, they are crap”

Good times, good pics and good time to go to bed… big day tomorrow!!!