Your Fighting Diplomats cruised to four straight wins this week against the Shoreman of Washington ( Md) and the Red Devils of Dickinson. George Washington founded Washington College ( by consenting to have the "College at Chester" named in his honor) so along with Ben as the Franklin and Marshall founder we are dealing with two first ballot Hall of Famers.
In Tuesday 's opening game with the Shoreman, Andrew Hanson. a junior shortstop, sharing time thus far with senior Tom Miller was give a start by Coach Walkenbach. He responded with a 5 hit day including 4 doubles to pace the first win over Washington 15-4 . In the Friday rematch Hanson ripped 3 more hits to really go on the "Magical Mystery Tour" . Andrew is reportedly eating the same cereal and has not shaved in order to keep this magic going. Anything to keep hitting... The Diplomats added 9 other hits and and the shut out pitching of Junior Matt Metsch let them cruise to win 12-0. Shea had two good games and continued his hitting and increased his team lead in stolen bases to 10 and moved his average up to .429.
A forecast for heavy rain pervaded Friday night and I worried that my plans to drive to Carlisle Pa to see the doubleheader may be rained out. Dickinson College offers several notable alumni including President James Buchanan who grew up in Lancaster near the F and M campus) and Roger Brooke Taney the Chief Justice who issued the Dred Scott decision. Dickinson scholars since then have studied that court decision and supposedly have not been involved in the next major decision which of course was the designated hitter rule.
Heading off to bed on Friday, with heavy rain in the forecast I lamented that I may journey 5 hours by car to see a wet field. But I consoled my self with the view that I will miss 100% of the games i don't see , so I went to sleep hoping for the best. I rose early and went outside to observe the forsythia were suddenly in bloom and the azalea bush was a lovely lavendar. A Cardinal swooped across the lawn and I interpreted all these as good omens and I jumped in the car with Tim and Faith, Freddie , Elton, Johnny, Bruce, Phil, Bonnie and Five for Fighting to keep me company for the 4 river drive. I had to traverse the Hudson, the Delaware, the Schuylkill and the Susquehanna to reach my goal and started off with Johnny singing "I've been everywhere" to set the tone. I didn't want to hear Bonnie tell me to "Turaround bright eyes".
Arriving in Carlise, I wondered if I would feel the presence of the ghost of Jim Thorpe. Jim played football for the Carlisle Indians after asking for a tryout and running through the defense not one but twice and finished by flipping the ball to coaching legend Pop Warner and saying "no one is going to tackle Jim " and thus beginning the tradition of athletes referring to themselves in the third person. But Chilis' and the Gap seemed to have squeezed out the ghosts as I arrived at Dickinson but the trees had buds and the coeds were wearing shorts as the sun had peeked out of the clouds and we were going to play 2 at MacPhail Field. Current Orioles general manager Andy MacPhail is a '76 graduate of Dickinson and along with two brothers and they have donated a beautiful field to the school.
The Fighting Diplomats came to play and routed the Red Devils in both games shutting them out each time. ( 10-0 and 17-0) The pitchers have now throw 4 shutouts in the past five games. Senior Matt Kalos has been very sharp giving up only three hits and no walks in his last two efforts and the defense played well all day making every play and turning a couple nice double plays. The offense continues to be relentless and each hitter hits the ball hard and runs well.
The team seems to be peaking now and just at the right time. Everyone had to feel good about the team going home .Driving back to CT, Elton asked me "can I feel the love tonight?" yeah Elton , it feels pretty good..
Now we come to the heart of the season . Next week the Fighting Diplomats play Gettsyburg twice ( currently 3rd in the league standings behind JHU and F and M) and on Saturday down in Baltimore they face the Blue Jays of Hopkins in a twin bill. Hopkins has been running up scores on all opponents and leads the conference by a game over the Diplomats. Athletes do not really like to play in 12-0 games. What they really like is to play and beat formidable opponents. Why was "MASH" better with Winchester than when Hawkeye picked on Frank? Because Winchester was a formidable adversary for Hawkeye. Well, Hopkins has hitting pitching and defense and they bring lots of confidence and swagger to the game. Yes indeed, this JHU bunch is a formidable adversary and Hopkins would like nothing better than to crush the Fighting Diplomats so the Blue Jays will also be up for this game. Both teams are fully aware the other is the toughest opponent they will face. Both teams know they other teams has many good players and can beat you in many ways. Both are ready to compete. This is their "Ali- Frazier" moment.
Baseball is a game of unconscious confidence. You have to go to the plate knowing you are going to hit the ball hard likewise the pitcher has to know he is throwing a strike and he is going to locate his pitch where he wants. When the intensity is raised so with it, is the uncertainty and some players will not execute they way they hoped. A pitcher will miss the strike zone. A hitter will check his swing in indecision. But these are the games they will remember when time has passed by. The hi intensity games are the most fun to play in because let's face the most fun in life is climbing hills --the steeper the better. Beating Hopkins won't be easy. It will take their best effort in every facet of the game. However, Gettsyburg is a solid team and can't be taken for granted. The Bullets have some weapons of their own and the Diplomat pitching will need to perform the way they have the past couple weeks. But even though no one will openly concede it, they are looking at the Hopkins games as the BIG ones.
We watch a couple TV shows that seem to have characters with visions. In particular. Desmond in "Lost " has vision of the future and has come to realize "the universe is self correcting" . Meaning if something is supposed to happen , like the Lost character Charlie dying, if it doesn't happen when it is "supposed to" the "universe" finds another way to kill him. Well this brings us to destiny and fate all wrapped in in questions of purpose and even karma. But baseball , although it has a karma element ( if you make a mistake you pay dearly) it doesn't offer karmic benefits if you shovel snow for your elderly neighbors. The karma is the result of hard work and talent so you can hit in THIS at bat or make the throw on THIS play. Which is why as teams advance to the higher caliber of play, the weaknesses are more evident and impact the game. Or as they say in baseball, "the ball will find you".
I don't know Desmond's destiny but the universe better get me to Baltimore on Saturday. Go Fighting Diplomats!!
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