Baseball's Two Requirements

As many have observed before Baseball is a strange sport because it relies on individual and team achievement.   But it also requires a mix of heart and skill.  

Last year the Rivercats got two big players who were initially nicknamed the "bash brothers."   Both had demonstrated a capacity to hit the long ball and also had the capacity for fielding.  But in their first AAA season both hit below their capacity.    At the beginning of the season, one, Michael Taylor, began to come into his own.  His hitting improved to just under .300.   And he has thrilled fans several times this year with outstanding pegs from the outfield to stop developing plays of the opposition.  (RIVERCATS PHOTO)

But the other ""bash brother" stumbled a bit.   Chris Carter had a pretty rough start in April and then rode the bench from middle April to middle June.  One of our friends who knows baseball said Carter had lost his "heart." Then on the 13th he came back.  His second night back he hit two homers.     Six of his nine hits in the season have come since then.

Last night the Cats went ahead in the first and then saw that lead evaporate in the fourth.  In the eighth the Fresno Grizzlies added another seeming insurance run to make it 5-1.  In the eighth the Cats came back including a two run homer from Carter.  We held them in the ninth.  When the Cats came up in the bottom of the ninth we developed some scoring possibilities but then went down with two outs.   Sogard got to third.  And the Carter came up again and hit the game winning single.   The dugout ran out  and pummeled Carter in a sheer sign of exuberance that they knew that the other "bash brother" was back.   This was one of the most exciting games of the season, but it was even more exciting to see the team support the return of one of their own who had struggled early on.