Pocket Pair 6/26/12

Last night I was not afforded the opportunity to watch my normal allotment of sports.  I missed Arizona sweeping away South Carolina ending their stranglehold over the competition in Omaha.  I missed, for the most part, Stephen Strasburg having a mere mortal outing in Colorado as the Rockies touched him up for all of 3 runs in 6 innings.  So you're saying he might be human after all?  I missed my Athletics pound out all of three hits in Seattle against the Mariners, but still walk away with a win 1-0.  Tommy Milone who is another piece of the Gio Gonzalez trade from Washington has now become the first rookie to win 8 games before the All-Star break for the Oakland franchise.

I was out with some of my teammates from my baseball team.  We were saying goodbye to one of our players who has taken a job in the state of Washington.  It's never easy to lose a teammate especially one that has been so vital to us winning two straight championships.  We keep a list of retired News Hounds (our team name derived from the Falls Church News Press) and that list grows ever longer as we keep playing.  After 10 years players have left for various reasons and each time somebody moves on its tough.

Our team has always worked to be very open to new guys and keep the mood of the team light except for when it comes down to winning in the playoffs.  We don't practice, we barely show up on time, but when we step between the chalk lines (if there were any for our amateur league) it's all about winning.  We may not always have the best talent, but I guarantee you we have the most fun.  It's always tough to watch other teams who are very talented but seem to be having no fun whatsoever while playing.  This is an amateur league, one in which we pay to play...nobody's paying us!!  If you're not having fun while paying money then you're doing it wrong.  Our opponents from this past weekend are famous for showing up 2 hours early to the game, hitting, fielding, running and stretching under strict order from their coach all the way up until game time.  We show up very casually, some players at various levels of inebriation and are usually trying to figure out a lineup as the pitcher is throwing his final warm ups.  Then we go and stomp on them while joking the whole time...it's a great feeling.  We have knocked that team out of the playoffs each of the last two years and I still don't think they can figure out how we do it.  Win or lose we're going to have fun and that's probably why its so difficult to see a teammate, because they usually end up being a better friend in the long run.

The above photo shows the Falls Church News Hounds winning championship #2 last year in dramatic walk off fashion.  That's me barely getting off the ground as my now ex-teammate, Jason Hand, scores the winning run.  My other teammate pictured, Jody Fellows, is the topic of my next story.
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The other reason for going out last night was to sample a hamburger that had pulled pork on it.  There were other toppings, but Jody runs a burger blog for the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia for those of you not in the know) area and he'll tell you all about it at BurgerDays.com.

Make sure you have an empty stomach because after visiting the site, I guarantee you will be hitting up a burger joint afterwards.  He takes fantastic photos and along with his brutally honest descriptions of the restaurant, you are certain to know whether your trip will be a good one or not.

You can follow him on twitter @Burgerdays and your stomach can thank me later.