Mariners win!

I'm starting to sound like a broken record. As of Sunday, the Mariners were tied for first place. In my mind they are actually in first place because they beat the team they are tied with.

Tonight's game was against the Pirates. It got a little ugly tonight, although Brantley did have some solid hits. The other team only had 9 players there. There is a rule that you have to have 10 players or you are penalized. The rule is in place so that coaches don't 'coerce' the worst players on the team to not show up. Pretty sad if you ask me that we have to have rules like this in place to keep people in line. So, if you only have 9 players, the 10th missing batter is an out. An out is recorded each time it's the 10th batter. If they only had 8, the 9th and 10th would be recorded as outs and if there are only 7 players the game is forfeited.

Since I've been recording the games I had printed out the rules. Was it bad of me to point out the rule? I pointed out to the ump that they only had 9 and he said to let him know when it was time for the 10th batter. I believe he did know the rule, but the umps are kids themselves and I don't think they like challenging the coaches. The coach for the other team acted like he didn't know the rule. Since I had the rules printed out, we flipped through them and found it to give to our coach. It was too late to record the out in the second inning (the second inning should have started with an out), but their coach agreed once he was shown the printed rules.

Did it make a difference in the game? I don't think so, but you never know. I'm guessing that the kids that were not there were actually their better players. At any rate, the game ended early and the Mariners won 15 to 8. Go Mariners!!

Another win for the Mariners!

Tonight's game was supposed to be easy, but it turned into a nail-biter. We had purchased a new bat for Brantley last fall and decided it was too big, so we bought one that was 2 inches shorter. He's been hitting with the shorter one until tonight. He wanted so bad to hit with the bigger bat so I told him he could take it and practice with it, but if coach said it was too big for him he'd have to use the smaller one. Coach thought he was swinging well with it in the cage, so he used it for the game. He then proceeded to prove me wrong about the bat. His first hit went just right of second base and landed out in the grass. I'm not sure how far from the fence it was when it landed, but it rolled out to the fence. He got a double out of it and a RBI since the first batter also hit a double and was waiting on second base. His second at bat sailed out between 2nd and 3rd to land in the grass and roll to the fence. Brantley got up to bat in the third inning with the bases loaded and he did not disappoint. I can't remember where that ball went, but he hit a triple for 3 RBIs. The 4th and 5th innings were not good at all. They started the 6th inning with the top of the batting order. I think his arms were getting tired at that point, but he still hit a base hit. There were so many good hits tonight. Jackson hit one that bounced out of the fence. Since it bounced out, he only got to go to second base. Still a great hit. Their fielding was not up to par tonight an they allowed 14 runs. But, the final score was 15 to 14. Way to go Mariners!

Brantley's Fairy Tale

Once opon a time there were three little wolves and the big bad pig.One day the mother said its time to seek your fortunes.The first little wolf met a guy with grass the little wolf said'' can I have these grass for my big fort"the man said" yes you can have the grass for your big fort and so the little wolf went on and made his big fort.The other little wolf met a guy with sticks and the little wolf said'' can I have these sticks for my big fort the man said'' yes you can have these sticks for your big fort and so the little wolf went on and made his big fort.The other pig met a guy with bricks and the little wolf said" can I have these bricks for my big fort''the man said" yes you can have the bricks for your bigfort and so the little wolf went on and made his big fort.Later the big bad pig came into town and the big bad pig knocked on the grass door and said" little wolf let me in not by the hair of my chinny chin chin then all hofe and pof and blow your fort down and he did blow the fort down then the little wolf ran to the stick fort and the big bad pig came to.The big bad pig knocked on the stick door

5 and 1!

And down go the undefeated Giants. Granted, there was a bad call but I don't really think it made a difference in the outcome since the Mariners didn't even have to play the bottom of the 6th. Brantley caught another fly ball at third base, and threw the ball to first base for the out that ended the game. They won 11 to 8. From left to right, front to back: Jack, Logan, Thomas, Chapman, Brantley, Samuel, Michael, Troyce, Jackson, Adrian, Eli, and John, Coach John, Coach David, and the other Coach John.

Go Mariners!

Tonight the 3 and 1 Mariners took on the 4 and 1 Dodgers and won! They really put together a whole game, defense and offense. There were some amazing plays in the field, including a pop fly caught by the 3rd baseman Brantley. Little Jack (I say little because he really is tiny!) made a catch that no one thought was catchable. Eli made a diving catch in the first baseline. It was just a really good game. They won 13 to 1. On to tomorrow's game against the undefeated Giants. Let's hope the Mariners put a kink the Giants' perfect season.

Easter (spoiler alert...pre read before small children read!)

I know. I'm very late with this posting. Pop pointed out that I've been slacking lately. I like to think I've just been choosier about what I post about. Okay, I guess you can call it laziness.

We decided to take a long weekend and go to Chicago for Easter weekend. Normally we drive over to Cookeville and Brantley gets to do an Easter Egg Hunt with his cousins. But, since it was the only weekend until June without a baseball game, we decided to go to Chicago. Lawson, Brantley, and Matt got to take in the Brewers home opener against the Cubs. It sounded like they had a good time. We spent the night up in Lake Geneva which was really nice. It's so pretty and tranquil up there. I'm jealous that Matt and Rosemarie have a place like that where they can just go whenever they want.

Rosemarie and I went to Popeye's while we waited for the boys to get back. They have absolutely, hands down, the best brocolli cheese soup I have ever had. Every time we go to Lake Geneva, we have to go there and get the soup. This time I got to go into the gift shop since the boys were not with us and I got a pretty necklace. I'm starting to make it a habit of getting necklaces when we go up North. Last time we were in Chicago, Lawson bought me a pretty one at the farmer's market in Wheaton. It is from a lady that makes jewerly, and I think I remember that everything was made out of copper. I could be wrong about that, but my necklace is copper.

On Saturday we decorated eggs. We had lots of decorations to choose from but I think the glitter eggs were the prettiest. Rosemarie posted some pictures on her blog.

After the official egg hunt, we decided to make egg salad from the hard boiled eggs. We all managed to survive, despite some of the dye somehow getting through the shells. Egg salad sandwiches were really all that was needed after a huge Easter brunch. Rosemarie's family inlcuded us in their Easter celebration. We all went to Venuti's for Easter Brunch. It was a HUGE buffet with pretty much everything you could think of for a brunch. Definitely not diet friendly. I have to say the highlight was the Easter Bunny, or how Brantley felt about the Easter Bunny. Brantley said the Easter Bunny was just a guy dressed in a suit. So, Lawson and Matt told him to go pull his tail and find out how real he was, to which Brantey replied that it was illegal to assault a mascot. The rest of the year should be interesting.



Click here if you have trouble with the slide show.

Joke Time

Brantley apparently read a joke book during library time, so he told us a couple last night.

What do you call a big lizard between 2 buildings?

An 'Alley'gator!

Game 1: Mariners Vs. Cardinals

Tonight was our first game of the season. The real first game was rained out. It was cold out there tonight! Next game is tomorrow at noon and it should be much warmer. Anyway, for some reason I volunteered to keep the score book this season. It's taking me some time to figure it out. I know a lot of the rules but I'm still learning. It didn't help that the girl running the scoreboard was apparently clueless. Either that, or she was with the other team and was trying to slip in some extra runs. She did it every inning, but only for the other team. Go figure. Don't worry though. I don't think any of the parents would let it go unnoticed. Brantley only had 2 at bats. His first at bat landed him at first base only. The next batter got out at first, but Brantley made it to second base. Then, with the next batter Brantley ran to third. He heard someone, he thought it was the ump, say he was out so he stepped off base to walk to the dug out and the kid tagged him. Apparently he was actually safe and the play hadn't ended. So, we told Brantley next time to not step off the base until the ump comes and tells him he is out. Oh well. Luck didn't turn around for his second at bat. Brantley popped a foul ball back which was caught by the catcher. When does that ever happen!!! Needless to say, Brantley was a little upset during the game. The coach noticed and really tried to concentrate on what he was doing right and I think that helped him. It was a good game, but the Mariners lost 13 to 6.