1st Place?

ZF back at it. What's six months between blog posts?! Many thanks to others who have posted in my stead.

Last night, I spent the first hour of the game with dedicated city and stadium officials testing (again) the sound levels that come from Borleske Stadium during a Sweets game. (Little known fact: a motorcycle or diesel engine on Rt. 12 creates a higher decibel reading in the surrounding neighborhood than the sound effects from a Sweets game! Who knew?). I also was wearing a Wally Szczerbiak jersey from his Sonics days (it was Halloween Night at the ballpark and I was in character), so it was simply an odd way to start the night.

Wally is in Walla Walla.

As I was feeling a bit frustrated that I looked ridiculous and that I had missed the first part of the game, I settled in to the 4th inning (glad to see that we had the lead), and picked up slowly on the fact that our pitcher, Drew Christina (a Walla Walla native) was in the midst of a no-hitter. The temperature was perfect, the crowd small but lively and into the game, and everyone was smiling. I started to think further - we are in first place! At the time, it was 1/2 game over Wenatchee, and ultimately, Wenatchee would go on to win and pick that 1/2 game back up (creating a tie), but the fact still remained that more than half-way through the season, we were sitting in a position that we had worked 3+ years to be in: the ability to control our own destiny in regards to the playoffs after July 15. I smiled.

So what if the crowds are too small, or that people call when the forecast is a 15% chance of an isolated thunderstorm over some random wheat field in Dayton (no, we are not canceling the game...)? Who cares? We are in first place - the plan that we put in place to build the team to compete for a championship is coming to fruition. The loyal fans - there are a lot of them - that come regularly and smile are there smiling. The "heat" that seems to be a common complaint in town cools off to a perfect 79 degrees with a breeze by the 2nd inning, and then we are in heaven. We have the best hot dog in the league (I know - I've tasted them in each park). So, all things considered - it's great.

Here is the proof.

And we are in first place.