It had been a month since our last games against Bonn in the sweltering heat of early July. Since I had been home from vacation it had rained nearly everyday and was nowhere near the 100 degree temperatures of early July. The weather in Northern Germany reminded me of late October in Portland as you could clearly feel a crisp bite in the moist air. Not to mention is the fact that when it rains here, it rains hard.
Before my trip to Belgium I was pretty much stuck at home because I couldn't go outside and not get wet. I got a little stir crazy and when I took off for Belgium I realized I had been stuck in the same 5 square mile radius for almost a week. If you know me, you know why that is a problem. I need to be on the move. Once we started practice on the following Tuesday before our Sunday double header at Pulheim I was ready to get back to work. Having not thrown in a month seemed like it would be a good thing, but I really had to work the kinks out, even after a month. Danny felt the same way and although I had kept up with my arm exercises, I just didn't have the same zip on the ball that I had before the break.
I had done a good job of holding base runners from stealing (thanks to good pitching and quick moves) and I even had a two month period where nobody stole a base off of us. However, after I had mentioned before our Bonn games that it had been two months since anyone had stolen, Danny and I both laughed because we instantly knew that I had jinxed myself. Sure enough, the next game a runner went and I threw a ball just right off the bag and the runner was safe. I must have opened the flood gate because since then I have only thrown out 3 of the last 10 which is not good for me over here. At one point I had thrown out 64% which is pretty good.
Our games at Pulheim were interesting to say the least. Like the late October weather in Portland that can be so unpredictable we woke up and it was pouring rain. The sky was a deep grey even when it wasn't raining and we spent half of our 2 hour drive in a downpour. I thought to myself that it would not be a bad thing if we got washed out because we still had the "rainout makeup weekend" the following Saturday. We would almost rather play then so we did not have to wait another two weeks to play, because the playoffs didn't start for another two weeks. That has been the hardest part of this entire trip for Danny and myself. Sitting around and practicing all week to play one day of the week has been tough. It reminds me of playing in a city league although the competition is much better here and we don't have to work during the week. If you have a bad weekend, you have the entire week to think about it and it can be really tough. Not to mention it can get really boring as well. Regardless, as we showed up to the field the weather had cleared up and things dried up rather quickly. Even with some threatening skies in the distance we still managed to start on time.
We won the first game at Pulheim by a score of 13-2 and I got a hit in my very first at-bat of the day which felt great considering I had not seen live pitching in over a month. The rest of the day did not go so great for me at the plate. I only got one more hit on the day and we struggled as a team in game two. With a half hour rain delay in the third inning of game two Danny came back out with runners on the corners and gave up a few hits and a few runs. It went downhill from there and we struggled to regain any type of lead. We actually scored a few runs to threaten the lead, but it was too little, too late. We lost game two 9-5 to end the final game of the regular season.
The ride home was quick. Danny and I discussed how terrible it was that we had two weeks of practice before our playoffs games started and we tried to stay positive in our thoughts. It can be tough after any loss because, like the Monday morning quarterback, you replay all the things that you should have done differently in your head. That is the best part about playing at home in the states. You usually have to have a short memory due to the fact that you might be playing the next day.
Up next is Mannheim in the first round of the playoffs. Mannheim is the third place team from the south and they play in a cracker-jack ballpark that everyone claims is a hitters delight. We will have two weeks in between games which will be hard, but necessary if we want to work on the things we need to improve on and plain old fundamentals.
The past five years the Untouchables have not made it out of the first round, and the past two years have been against Mannheim. All three rounds are a best of five series. Since we are the second place team from the north, and Mannheim the third place team from the south, we must play two games in Mannheim before finishing the series at our place the following weekend. It is a best of 5 series, with a double header in Mannheim, followed by the possibility of three games including a double header on Saturday and one game on Sunday if necessary. (Whoever wins 3 games first wins the series) If we pitch and play defense we should win. We are facing an few old faces from the Untouchables organization including the left-handed starter in game one who is the younger brother of Danny and my roommate Mitch Franke. Renee ("Shorty") Franke is friends with everyone on the team including Danny and I. He has lived with us for half of the year as he is working for a fencing company in Paderborn and commuting to Mannheim on the weekends to play. He is a complete mess at the house and never cleans up after himself. I figure he will be the same on the mound, however, I really like the guy a lot. If I get a nice hit off of him I plan on saying "that's for not cleaning up the dishes!"
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