They Can't Take That Away From Me

And we're back to talk about . . . what else? Baseball! I never believed I would see these words in writing, but I'm so glad Tyler didn't have to pitch today! I was really hoping his arm could get a good rest, and as it turned out, the Cougars only played two innings--two L-O-O-O-O-O-O-N-G innings--so Will handled pitching duty and brought home a win.

The real story today was at the plate anyway. The Cougars were hitting hard and often, so Tyler batted three times. Even though I thought he swung his bat like a pro, he was disappointed with his first and third at-bat because he popped up both times--it was like deja vu, that's how closely the one resembled the other. Still, they were good, strong, solid hits that just happened to be caught by the outfielder both times. But that's not important--what's important is his SECOND at-bat, so pay attention!

Like I said, the Cougars all seemed hopped up on something because they were swinging at anything that was close, and it was really paying off for them. And Tyler was no exception. There is some dispute in the Todd household as to what the count was at this particular time, but for argument's sake let's say the count was 1-1. Next thing you know, Tyler is smashing the ball down the left-field side and barreling around the bases for a HOME RUN, baby! And make no mistake, there were no errors involved like there were with Darcy's grand slam on Thursday! That ball was gone!

But there's always something, right? Guess what? The home run didn't count. And would you like to know why? Because my stoked, pumped, crazed, out-of-his-mind-excited eleven-year-old son dove headfirst into home plate, and apparently the YMCA rules declare that to be verboten. Who knew??!

Still, a home run is a home run in my book, and everybody in the stands was screaming like a maniac. One mom was outraged when she found out the ump hadn't allowed the run and she said, "Well, I don't care if it doesn't count, I'm likin' me some of that!!"