Baseball Adventures in Buenos Aires- Game one - We are the Champions by Queen played on the radio as the Shankee Press overcame the everyday automotive pitfalls and made it to the Estadio Nacional for an epic baseball moment. We arrived with bases loaded and with the US team looking to score. Meanwhile, guest Shankee correspondent, Henry Perry, tore open a pack of Sugar & Spice chocolate chip cookies. “You want a hamburger,” Jack Green asked his young sidekick. “Nah, just the cookies, “replied Henry, whose eyes gleamed from the enthusiasm of his first ever nighttime baseball game. With a full count, the US batter failed to capitalize and popped out to end the inning. On the mound for the US team was #21 Mark Forester out of Canton, Michigan, the burly pitcher dominated by throwing strikes and the help of his solid defense. Steve Zolatas, a member of the National Adult Baseball Association since 1994, made fielding sharply hit groundballs look easy and performed almost flawlessly the entire game. The next Metro batter reached on a single and then stole second on a pass ball. #13 for Metro hit a sharp grounder that managed to sneak past under the glove of second baseman Rogelio Lara, a player that can play all 9 positions and that once pitched at Tiger Stadium. Lara saw a lot of action on the field and handled every groundball that followed with great style, throwing out the next two Metro batters. Lara led off the third inning with a line drive up the middle, but later got caught in a run down and was tagged out. Next at bat was Dennis “The Rocket” McCroskey, who looked destined to put wood on the ball; and that he did. He drove the ball into short center to put runners at the corners. McCroskey, who has played in countries throughout the world, and alongside baseball legends such as Tommy Lasorda, and rock star Joe Walsh, looked content when he saw #1 sent a fast ball sailing over the left fielders head. #1, pinch running for McCroskey rounded third and came into score. “I’ll throw-up right here!” he said crouched over on the on-deck circle. “I’ll throw-up right here if you want!” He recovered quickly and was back on the field the next inning. The catcher, meanwhile, steady and posed all game, hit a fly ball that dropped between the shortstop, the center fielder and right-fielder, as it seemed nobody wanted to catch the ball. The next batter hit a grounder to second that was followed by a bad throw to first. The guy with the Cuba jersey, #30, draws a walk, as does McCroskey, #14 grounds out to first to end the US rally. With the Baseball Adventures team up 5-3, pitcher Forester and his defense kept up the good work to allow no Metro runs in the fourth. Steve Zolatas steps up to the plate to start the 6th, swinging wild at a ball in the dirt. He escapes fouling out and reaches first on a walk. Perki, tries to bunt as the Metro pitcher struggles. The Americans score a few more and extend their lead to 5. The liga Metro stars chip away in the seventh but fall short. The game ends 8-5. Everybody happy! Reporting for the Shankee Press, Jack Green. Buttermaker gameball: Dennin McCroskey, who brought Baseball ala-Americana to Buenos Aires. Shot of bourbon: To the player who threw bazooka Joe bubblegum up into the stands.-- Game two. --The Baseball Adventures team was back at the Stadium again for a meeting with the feisty Cardenales, a mix of Central American players doing quite well in the Metro A2 division. The Shankee Press has not been able to gather much info but this is what we got from the Baseball Adventures manager, DH, and Pitcher, “We won today 4-1. I had a no hitter until some A-hole bunted for a hit. None the less I pitched 5 innings, struck out 6-7 batters, 2 walks and 1 hit.” -- Game three--The Baseball Adventures team wanted to visit some of the Liga Metro’s other ballparks, and hence they headed to Parque Roca to face the Buenos Aires Shankees at Legendary Shankee Field. “Where the hell is the mound?” one of the Baseball Adventures players asked while walking past the falling gate and onto the field. “There is no mound,” stated Shankee Skipper Paul Perry dragging a long canopy to place over the dugout to serve as shade for the visiting Americans. “And those long broken boards are the benches, and that sorry-ass white, deteriorated thing is the rubber. Welcome to the real side of Buenos Aires baseball.” And with that, it seemed obvious that the Baseball Adventures team was somewhat upset by having to play on such a precarious field, which if not for the backstop, was just an enormous patch of grass. “Can’t we play on that field?” asked one of the US players referring to Roca 1, once the nicest ballpark in the city, now just as bad as Shankee Stadium. “Nah, there’s an official league match, this is all we got. Just imagine you’re a kid again, playing in an abandoned parking lot," stated Perry, trying to add a surreal touch to the bitter truth. And thus, the Americans settled for Shankee Stadium to endure the same conditions everyone who plays in parque Roca does week in and week out: nowhere to sit, no shade, no bathrooms, no nothing. But there was a baseball game to be played despite the dismal conditions, and thus the Baseball Adventures team gladly suited up to play ball. “You guys want adventure, welcome to baseball in the third world!” stated one of the players as the two teams hung around talking while waiting for the umpire, already half an hour late, to arrive. As for the Shankees, many of the starting Shankee Line-up was not in attendance, perhaps still celebrating the teams epic triumph over their bitter rivals, the Cubans. Hence, the Shankee Skipper had to resort to his old improvising a line-up ways. David “The Bird-slayer” Raudonat got the call in left field and batted first. Oswald Parks started at the elephant graveyard as Alex “the Little Papi” Mata worked the hot corner and was batting third. Mata played a great game and made some solid defensive stops and accurate throws to first. Esteban “Hacha Brava” Rojas batted cleanup and got the call behind the plate for today’s starting pitcher Paul Perry, who batted fifth. Rojas played with the Shankees three seasons ago. At the plate, Perry had a superb day with a walk and two hits on the day, one of them a line drive into left center. Mariano Villar, making his first start and playing in his first game in 20 years, batted in the sixth hole. Mariano had a pair of productive plate appearances and made some solid plays at the second base position. Some guy named Gaston played short and batted sixth. The dude played ok. Diego Imperiale was back to his sun-tanning escapades in the outfield. Diego didn’t catch any of the balls that came his way, but he did catch some nice rays while wearing his usual white jeans. There were three people in the nine hole and in right field, but the Shankee press could only catch one of their names; Martin something. For the Baseball Adventures team it was batting practice as they unloaded on Perry’s fastball, which only managed to reach 60 on this hot day. His infamous Bourbonball was somewhat unhittable though, as it floated in for strikes several times, and had some of the opposing hitters bedazzled. Unfortunately for Perry, there was not much of a defense behind him and things just got out of control. Defensively it was Alex “Little Papi Mata and the Bird-slayer rounding out the few highlights. From shallow left, the Bird-slayer gunned down a BA base-runner trying to score from second, and had a double to give the Shankees some life in the late innings. Offensively for Baseball Adventures, it was Mark Forester leading the way with two homers and Rogelio Lara with a pair of doubles. Manager Dennis McCroskey also had a pair of hits. The Shankees began to rally back but the game had gotten too far out of reach. Official BA stats not available for this friendly match, bat everybody seemed to have a good time in the end. The Baseball Adventures team has two more games remaining before they face the real Shankees on Thursday night at the Baseball stadium in Ezeiza. Final Score: A blowout. Reporting for the Shankee Press, Jack Green. Buttermaker Gameball: The Shankees who showed up. Shot of bourbon: For the Shankee Skipper, who did the best he could to play baseball today and show the Baseball Adventure team a good time at Shankee Stadium.
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