Out, but Hopefully Not Down

Nobody loves you when your down and out. Well we are most likely out of the play offs, but I truly hope nobody is too down. Yes we are all competitive and that is why we play the game and that is why it hurts to lose. We all want to win but lets put it in perspective.

Remember that we ALL took a deep breath in the fall when we decided to elect for the tougher league. I still contend it was the right choice. The quality of play we have experienced in this league is better than we would have seen in the other. We saw better pitching, we faced better hitters and the games were tougher. Don't forget we had a very strong run earlier in the year. If we are looking for excuses I think that our Memorial Day break, combined with a stretch of bad weather kept us off the field too long and perhaps our edge was dulled.

In addition I think we had one other factor that perhaps hurt us more than we let on. We have faced more scheduling factors this year. I think the school year factor of some boys in High School, some not fractured our early ability to function as a cohesive team. I also think LIFE, and by that I mean the all encompassing pulls and strains of the mid-teen athlete impacted us more that we realize.

It is too late to combat these issues at this juncture of the season. At this point I hope we can still keep our heads up and scrap as hard as we can against our remaining opponents and I hope we can look to our 4th of July tourney as a chance for some competitive satisfaction. But as we look towards next year I hope we all can sit back, think about commitment to a cause and look deep into our souls and discover where baseball fits into our priorities.