Who's on First?

 Due to the Kansas City Royals magical run in the last two World Series, our family has become the biggest baseball fans ever.  The boys played for hours in our backyard last fall and remembered into the spring that they wanted to play on a real team.  (This did not occur the previous spring when basketball and English Premier League diminished their memories more, and we didn't remind them...but a World Series win clinched it for this season)

 Eric and I were not super excited at the prospect of a season of Little League.  We've heard a lot of stories about how boring it is to play and, more importantly, watch.  But, Eric signed up to be coach on Base and both boys are in the same age group.  So they get to be on the same team.  I love this sort of thing.  Eric was also nervous about coaching a sport he knew little about.  Turns out, it isn't so bad and he has three coaches that are young and enthusiastic, so everyone is have a really good time. The bubblegum in the dugout also helps.

 As it turns out, it isn't so bad to watch either.  I highly recommend having a couple of kids on the team you want to watch so that there isn't too much of a lag between interesting plays for your 2-year-old.  Or you for that matter.

 And then he wants to play on his own for hours at a time.  Don't worry, he still prefers basketball.  The instant gratification of seeing the ball go through the net beats watching it fall off the T...but, he does get some pretty good swings and it wears him out a bit to chase it down.

 Or chase his brother's down.  Yup...Dom is that brother.  I told them they should let John hit the ball and they can practice their fielding, because that is really the difference in the games. So far they haven't taken me up on this awesome opportunity.

 They will, though.

 We have played three games so far.  One tie and two losses.  The games are either 4 innings or 90 minutes, whichever comes first.  We've made it through a complete game once.  Up until last Saturday, Will had struck out every at bat except one.  Unfortunately, that one, the third baseman caught the ball.  This is an extremely rare occurrence in this league.  Generally, if you make contact...you get on base. 

 Then this past Saturday, Will got on base twice.  Even making it to second before the end of the inning.  I was thrilled for him.  He has told us many times that he never missed the ball during the game.  Which is totally true.  The difference maker?  He wore his glasses at bat.  Apparently the force isn't as strong with him as we originally thought.  But, our disappointment quickly dissipated as he ran to first base.  Not a Jedi, but we're still holding out for that letter in a few years.

 Dom is a pretty reliable hitter.  He even scored in the second game.  Did I have my camera ready? No.  Why would I have done that?  But, I'm keeping my fingers crossed there will be another opportunity to get a shot.  Dom is also one of a few kids willing to play catcher.  Watching Salvador Perez all last October has definitely influenced his playing.  The fans were really enjoying him throw off his catcher's mask so that he could see the ball clearly enough to tag a player out at home.  Never worked, but he looked good trying.  He also is the most enthusiastic player on the field.  He yells out the number of Outs in an inning and cheers wildly for every play.  Which he may get from me.  Luckily, no one had a camera rolling when Will got his first hit.  You'd have thought we had just won the World Series due to the reaction of a crazy lady in the stands. 

Oh, and we got a hammock.  It's awesome.  Who's on First?