Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the crowd....

Well, I did it. For better or worse, I did it. I sang the national anthem in front of my entire community. People said it sounded great, but I thought it sounded like shit. It sounded PERFECT in my bedroom when I was warming up in the morning. But in front of people, with my voice shaking all over the place? Not so much. I almost puked. I had myself REALLY worked up over this. I was more nervous than I was at Jimmer's....waaaaaaay more nervous. I should have sucked a beer down or something before I left the house.

*Note to self, no singing without some form of alcohol in my system. Ever. EVER.

I did hit every note...no one can accuse me of being tone deaf, that's for sure. I had to hold the mic - so that kept the spastic moves to a minimum. A bunch of softball girls came up to me gushing when I was done, so I guess that's a good sign, and Donny the bball prez who asked me to do it shouted "YEAH!" when I was done.

After that it was business as usual. The concession stand was overrun and understaffed as usual, so I bopped in there for awhile. Then Owen had his game. He started pitching - he looked really great. Composed, in the zone. The few he threw in the dirt he bounced back from. They ended up calling his game in the 4th inning due to the slaughter rule...they were beating the other team 15 -1. And that was only because we have a 5 run limit for each inning. This is what replace the "10th batter" rule. Remember that? Owen did have one 3 up, 3 down inning which was great and made it out of 4 innings in well under 60 pitches. This is a good thing. Pitch counts are what it's all about.

They have practice tonight and their next game is on Wednesday. I have to miss it, which makes me sad because Coach Kevin is putting Owen in at catcher. I've never seen Owen play that position and after seeing the game on Saturday? You MUST have someone who can stop a ball in that spot. LOTS of bases gained on the catcher not stopping the ball. It's probably good I won't be there, I'd be a nervous wreck.

Owen hit well on Saturday, too. A walk, a single and a triple. Maybe two walks. Their pitchers were having problems getting it over the plate. Hell, they were having trouble getting it IN FRONT of the batter instead of behind them. I felt bad for the little guys.

I'm missing Wednesday's game for the Kiwanis banquet. Remember this from last year? Alex and I have a plan this year. No ketchup, no gum...we're going to be better this time. We can learn from our mistakes.