Jammin' with Captain Live Cavern, Winnin' Some Games, and Playin' Baseball Golf.

Hey guys. Sorry, I was too tired after yesterday's games to post but I figured that you would enjoy reading on a Monday anyhow. Thanks for the comments. Karly, thanks for the comment and miss ya qt, Biff, I'll try my best to record our music day, Ian, thanks for the Neosho flashback...that was nice, Emily, funny comment about "Ian's Blog", poor little bugger...Alex, If you were over here, I know you would need a couple of cold ones to numb your aches...tet de bit (dickhead), Mom and Dad, really glad I talked to you guys yesterday. To everyone else, thanks for reading.

Ok. I will start with last Friday. I met Jean-Luc on the field that afternoon to clean up the field. Raking, mowing, and adding dirt. Charles helped out as well and that was good. The sun was blaring and I was getting a pretty good tan during the whole day. Jean-Luc quickly noticed something.

"Tony, you are getting skinny man!"
"Ha, I have lost about 8 kilos." (16 lbs)

So all three of us were on the field, working, and then I saw a whole class of kids walk through the gate. They had a P.E. teacher with them and they were going to play a mock softball game in the outfield. I gotta tell you...I am lady killer with the 15-16 year old girls. I know...I'm a pimp. It was funny because when they were warming up, the girls would purposely overthrow each other in my direction and they would chuckle when they got close. Dammit, send me a 20+ and we'll talk.

I saw Jean-Luc talking with the P.E. teacher and he was motioning in my direction. Soon after his chat he walked over to me and said that he wanted to throw me some BP so these kids could see how I hit. At this point, the P.E. teacher brought all of his kids together and told them what was going on. I stared hearing "Bonjour Tony..(tee hee hee)" from the girls. I put my shirt back on and strapped on my batting gloves. The very first pitch Jean-Luc threw I knocked an opposite field homer. The whole class was "oooing" and "aweing" at the hit. Out of the next 10 pitches, I hit 8 more out. On the last homerun that I hit, the whole class erupted in applause. It was really funny and I was laughing the whole time.

After our little Bp, Jean-Luc asked if I wanted to go to his band's jam session. I agreed of course and we made our way to his band practice. I was greeted by the rest of "Captain Live Cavern."



*From Left: Denis, lead guitar/bass. Theirry, vocals/rhythm guitar. Jean-Luc, Drums. Benoit, lead guitar/bass*

This is a band of older guys who just love to jam out to classic rock and roll. Before their practice began, Denis (Lead Guitarist), asked if I wanted to play his stratocaster for a bit.

"BA OUI!" (Oh, YEAH!)

So I played some of my electric guitar riffs in my repetoire. I was nice to have an electric in my hands. I then started on an easy but bad-ass riff that I knew. "Seven Nation Army", by The White Stripes. Jean-Luc came in with the drums and Benoit came in with a sweet bass line. When I got to the chorus...we just jammed out. The guys were are laughing and it was a great time. The guys were impressed that I have only been playing for about 6 months. Then Captain Live Cavern took over. They played some really good songs. Smoke on the Water, Where is my mind, Hotel California, and Stairway to Heaven just to name a few. The lead singer, Theirry, has a good voice but it is really funny to hear how he pronounces the english words. Completely off but you can get the point. Hahaha, they would always look back at me when they would finish a song and ask,

"Do you know that one?"

When I said yes, they all would look at each other in a successfull grin.

After the Jam session and a couple of brews, I went downtown with Charles and had a good night.


*Paul warming up*

The next day, I would go with the Cadet team to Honfleur to coach their game. There was no softball game on Saturday due to lack of players. So we went to Honfleur and proceeded to kick ass. Paul and Dimitri pitched really well, using lessons that I had given them, and the whole team had great hits. I am really proud of our progress. Our infield was flawless and our hitting was superior to Honfleur. The umpire came up to me and said,

"Your kids look like they know what the hell they are doing." In perfect English.

Woah, wait...

"Haha thanks, and what are you doing here?!"

"Haha, I have lived here with my wife for the past 7 years and we love it here."


*Don and Me*

His name is Don and he was a NBC News correspondant for many years and he has been stationed all around the world to be a T.V. personality. I couldn't believe it. He and his wife have written several books and he informed me that his next book is going to be about baseball in France. So we talked the entire day, and I am meeting with him and his wife at a bar close by to get an interview on my take on things. He has visited the blog and loves my style. So that was really cool to hear him say.

So we made our way back to BG and I retired early to get ready for our double header on Sunday against Dunkerque.

Today was a special day because after the games there was going to be a barbeque for the whole club/parents.

Let me just jump into the games.

Game 1: Bois Guillaume Woodchucks vs Dunkerque Korvers
Time: 11:30
Weather: Humid as hell
Attendence: About 18

There was a lot of cloud cover just creating an oven over our field. Marc got the start for us and he shut them down in the first. In the bottom of the frame, we tacked on 2 runs to get an early lead. They struggled not only offensively but defensively as well. We just completely routed them 14-2 in 5 innings for the run rule. Bernie and Marc had homeruns and 8 RBI's between them.

I was informed a couple days ago that other teams are talking a lot of shit about us. On the French Baseball Forum, other teams are saying that the only reason that we are good is because we have "a strong American player and two Canadians." This has caused some bad blood against other teams but tough shit...start recruiting and shut your mouths. There is a lot of bark but no bite.

So we relaxed during our break, having sandwiches and drinks. I have to tell you that my arm feels 100% now and I wanted to get some innings in to get some practice in on the mound. Jean-Luc and I decided that I was going to start the second game and go until I would feel the slightest pain in my arm.

Game 2: Bois Guillaume Woodchucks vs Dunkerque Korvers
Time: 2:30
Weather: Sun finally came out to break the clouds
Attendence: 25

The other kids from the program started showing up. It is nice to have their support and that gave me a little more incentive to pitch well. So I took the mound for the first time in about 2 months. I have to say my knuckle ball was on.

First inning. Struck out the first guy on outside heat. Struck out the second guy on a knuckle ball that I still think he is thinking about right now. I remember when I was pitching in high school and when I would throw a knuckle ball...I would just laugh at the faces the batters would give me. Just utter confusion. Like...

"Just what in the hell was that?"

Nothing has changed now. I still giggled to myself on the mound and the guys in the field were laughing as well. The next guy fouled out on a first pitch knuck and we were out of the inning.

We started off slow in this game. Not really what I wanted when I was pitching but oh well. I had completely silenced their bats in the first part of the game. We finally struck in the 3rd. I started off when I triple to center field and then Bernie blasted his second homer of the day to put us up 2-0. I was thinking that was all I needed, but my assumption wasn't right on.

My location was great the entire day. Changing arm angles and just completely keeping the other team off balance. We tacked on three more runs to go up 5-0. Then the Korvers finally put together a decent inning. One of their batters got a chopper over my head and Romain, SS, failed to make the play. Next batter, ground ball to Romain, and he failed to handle it cleanly. K...relax, just get the batter. Next batter for them hit a side arm fast ball pretty well to center but I was almost sure that we were out of the inning. Vincent, CF, took a horrible route and the ball went over his glove for a 2 RBI triple. Next guy got on first on a ground ball to Charles at 2nd. Well, dammit c'mon guys. Next send a duckfart into center. Another RBI. I jammed the next batter to get a ground ball to me, inning over. 5-4.

Dammit. I was pissed.

We went down in order in the 5th.

Ok...six more outs. First batter for them hit a weak ground ball to 3rd. Our guy sailed it over the first baseman's head and the tieing run ended up on third base. Unfuckingbelievable. Jean-Luc called time and called Eric, C, and me to the mound.

"I am sure they are going to squeeze here."
"If you see him square, throw it up." Eric said to me.
"Pfft...Ok."

I threw a knuck for a first pitch strike in defense of a possible bunt. He didn't square. We didn't know, but the squeeze was on, on my second pitch. I motioned for Romain, who was at 3rd now, in Spanish to be ready. So I went into my wind up with a long pause that completely threw off the runner. He got a very late break but he was stealing home for the squeeze! I launched a high fastball that wizzed into Eric's mit. The batter missed the bunt and Eric easily tagged out the runner to foil the tie. It was great and everyone was pumped including myself. I blew a side arm fast ball that buckled the batter's knees for the strikeout and threw three sweet knucks to get the next guy wiffing three times for the final out of the inning.

Bottom of the 6th. 5-4 BG.

We needed some insurance. The heart of our order was coming up. Arthur, me, and Bernie. I told Arthur if he gets on, I am hitting a homerun. Arthur grounded out on a first pitch ground ball.

I really needed to get something started here to help out my situation. I stepped in and let a pearl of a strike blow by me. Well dammit Tony, swing the fucking bat. The next pitch was a complete mistake by the pitcher. He let a changeup hang on the inside part of the plate. I proceeded to hit it over the trees in right center that landed on the soccer field. It felt so good. We tacked on two more runs in the frame to go up 8-4.

Momentum was with us. The whole club was in attendence and was cheering. The softball girls were telling me the same things that I would tell them during their games followed by laughter.

I struck out the last three batters of the game.

We got the sweep and everyone was happy. We were even more happy now because we could smell the grill being fired up and the meats that were being put on the rack. So we cleaned up the field, showered in the clubhouse, and satisfied our hunger with some sausages, cheeseburgers, and beer. A great day. The other team stayed for the barbeque and we all just had a good time. I love the fact that all of us were friends off the field yesterday.

So we were all sitting around not doing much and I motioned Olivear over to me.

"Wanna play some Golf?"
"Hahaha, sure...how?"
"Grab a ball and a bat."

Baseball Golf is a simple game that incorporates the rules from a traditional golf game. You pick out a spot anywhere on the field (an outfield pole, a base, billboard, etc). You get one drive where you get to toss the ball up to yourself and try to crush it. Then wherever your ball lands, you have to hit the ball on the ground using a golf swing. Whoever hits the target with less shots wins the hole. So Olivear and I played a couple holes and I noticed the people from the barbeque were looking at us wondering what we were doing. Before I knew it, we had a 10 person scramble match going on. Jean-Luc even put wooden stakes at different parts of the field for different holes. It was great. Just like back home. We all were laughing and I got some good pics.


*Laura judging the distance of the next hole*


*Vincent watching Olivear wack the ball from the fairway*

That is it for now. Sorry, the post is a little long. Love you guys and talk to you soon. Au Revoir.