Gregory Pratt
05-26-2007, 07:48 PM
Hi guys. It was a very good game. Very fun. Especially for me!
SoxTalk, of course, won, 24-12.
I am Greg Pratt. I am the third hitter for SoxTalk. I was in the outfield (I was not the very busy left fielder, however); I was the terrible pitcher; I was the younger shortstop.
I was wearing the plaid pants and purple shirt. Hot.
I've posted something similar to this on SoxTalk but will be editing it a bit for you guys.
Some notes and recaps from my SoxTalk recollection:
If we had a highlight reel and a lowlight reel, I'd have been prominent on both. First: a baserunning gaffe. I took one to center field and Kap was at first. I thought he'd kept going to third and ran to second. We were both out; me running back to first and he at second. On the same play I ran into their first baseman and kind of armed-him in the chest. That was an accident. Sorry buddy!
The other lowlight: I started the third inning for us as NSS and I agreed to alternate every two innings. I walked two hitters, gave up a three run shot, and gave the ball back to Matt. That wasn't meant to be. I hate pitching a softball.
My highlights, for me, might've been lowlights in some of your players' view because I AJ Pierzynski'd much of the game, and like with AJ, "You either love me or hate me depending on whether or not I'm on your team." :P I've been compared to AJ on every team sport I've ever been on and I love it. I was loud to pump up my teammates and myself, as well as entertain the crowd which was essentially all the WSI Wives and GFs.
I had a playful, teasing series of arguments with the umpire, DumpJerry from WSI. Gave him dirty looks after each ball thrown to me. Called him out as a bad umpire. (He wasn't really.) (He was cool. Good sense of humor.) (He told me to bite him, with his shirt, and I told him that I'll bite him for every good call he makes, if he's into that sort of things and might consider it a reward.)
I teased your pitcher for looking like Mayor Daley. When I saw him at the train station, as we were all leaving, I said to him, "Pleasure hitting off of you." It was! But I didn't mean that disrespectfully, Mr,. Pitcher, whoever you were. You seemed like a good guy, and you were teasing me too about how I couldn't throw strikes, so it's all in good competitive fun.
Now, for fun and shenanigans (and, I suppose, to show you guys up :P) I did such things as, oh, catch a liner for the final out of an inning and then spike the softball as I ran back to the "dugout." When I was scoring runs, I'd moonwalk into home or, in my favorite incident, do a Barrel Roll into homeplate.
Hey, I'm a showman.
As far as hitting, I had a hustle double, and I batted third. I had a bunch of hard hit singles. I hit two of the hardest hit balls all day long but they were both just very, very long fouls. The other guys started calling me a pull hitter. I'm not. Not with baseball, anyway, but I suppose I was pulling everything in softball (you really should though, if you've got power, which I do) but in my last two at-bats I singled into centerfield just because.
I must confess, though, I was playing with a chip on my shoulder. I was a little irritated by the fact that so many WSI guys showed up (about sixteen) when we only had five. That bothered me because it looks bad for us. Your pitcher pitcher kept somewhat jokingly asking, before the game, Where's SoxTalk? Where's your team? and I know he didn't mean it offensively but I took slight offense. Then there's the fact that I take offense at the mere presence of opposing teams, no matter what the situation, simply because I expect to win and play everything to win, and them being there = obstacle to us winning that we have to beat.
I love competing.
And I guess I was a little eager to win the game because I've always felt that WSI gets more attention than SoxTalk while both are very good sites with very good people. (I'm a member of both, but I don't come here too often as I call SoxTalk home.)
I mean, I like this place though, don't get me wrong.
In summary, to the WSI guys:
1) In baseball, I'm no pull hitter per se. I think I showed that I'm not completely in softball, either. I had fun hitting to center and left. See, I play baseball. HS baseball and occasional pick-me-ups. I'm not really used to hitting a softball so all I tried to do was pull. I hit one that was VERY homerun deep but foul, and I kept lining into left field. You guys kept calling me a pull hitter and shifting so for that I took the last two into CF.
2) I hope you didn't take offense to anything I said. I was having a ton of fun. I think you guys were, too. I know for a fact some of you were amused, as you should've been. It was fun, and funny.
3) Pitcher, don't be offended by the teasing. I wasn't and I assume we were both going at one another in good humor. (PS: I really liked your attempts to get me to ground out softly by throwing me a softball that doesn't reach the plate. It didn't work, as I took every ball you pitched for a ball, but it was a very good effort and you're a good, crafty pitcher.)
4) Tell your wives/GFs I'm not a jerk, plz. They were people I was trying to entertain, too.
What can I say? I like playing with enthusiasm and effort.
Great time.
Great game.
We really need to do it in August, and I hope that some of you keep in touch with me, particularly you, Umpire!
SoxTalk, of course, won, 24-12.
I am Greg Pratt. I am the third hitter for SoxTalk. I was in the outfield (I was not the very busy left fielder, however); I was the terrible pitcher; I was the younger shortstop.
I was wearing the plaid pants and purple shirt. Hot.
I've posted something similar to this on SoxTalk but will be editing it a bit for you guys.
Some notes and recaps from my SoxTalk recollection:
If we had a highlight reel and a lowlight reel, I'd have been prominent on both. First: a baserunning gaffe. I took one to center field and Kap was at first. I thought he'd kept going to third and ran to second. We were both out; me running back to first and he at second. On the same play I ran into their first baseman and kind of armed-him in the chest. That was an accident. Sorry buddy!
The other lowlight: I started the third inning for us as NSS and I agreed to alternate every two innings. I walked two hitters, gave up a three run shot, and gave the ball back to Matt. That wasn't meant to be. I hate pitching a softball.
My highlights, for me, might've been lowlights in some of your players' view because I AJ Pierzynski'd much of the game, and like with AJ, "You either love me or hate me depending on whether or not I'm on your team." :P I've been compared to AJ on every team sport I've ever been on and I love it. I was loud to pump up my teammates and myself, as well as entertain the crowd which was essentially all the WSI Wives and GFs.
I had a playful, teasing series of arguments with the umpire, DumpJerry from WSI. Gave him dirty looks after each ball thrown to me. Called him out as a bad umpire. (He wasn't really.) (He was cool. Good sense of humor.) (He told me to bite him, with his shirt, and I told him that I'll bite him for every good call he makes, if he's into that sort of things and might consider it a reward.)
I teased your pitcher for looking like Mayor Daley. When I saw him at the train station, as we were all leaving, I said to him, "Pleasure hitting off of you." It was! But I didn't mean that disrespectfully, Mr,. Pitcher, whoever you were. You seemed like a good guy, and you were teasing me too about how I couldn't throw strikes, so it's all in good competitive fun.
Now, for fun and shenanigans (and, I suppose, to show you guys up :P) I did such things as, oh, catch a liner for the final out of an inning and then spike the softball as I ran back to the "dugout." When I was scoring runs, I'd moonwalk into home or, in my favorite incident, do a Barrel Roll into homeplate.
Hey, I'm a showman.
As far as hitting, I had a hustle double, and I batted third. I had a bunch of hard hit singles. I hit two of the hardest hit balls all day long but they were both just very, very long fouls. The other guys started calling me a pull hitter. I'm not. Not with baseball, anyway, but I suppose I was pulling everything in softball (you really should though, if you've got power, which I do) but in my last two at-bats I singled into centerfield just because.
I must confess, though, I was playing with a chip on my shoulder. I was a little irritated by the fact that so many WSI guys showed up (about sixteen) when we only had five. That bothered me because it looks bad for us. Your pitcher pitcher kept somewhat jokingly asking, before the game, Where's SoxTalk? Where's your team? and I know he didn't mean it offensively but I took slight offense. Then there's the fact that I take offense at the mere presence of opposing teams, no matter what the situation, simply because I expect to win and play everything to win, and them being there = obstacle to us winning that we have to beat.
I love competing.
And I guess I was a little eager to win the game because I've always felt that WSI gets more attention than SoxTalk while both are very good sites with very good people. (I'm a member of both, but I don't come here too often as I call SoxTalk home.)
I mean, I like this place though, don't get me wrong.
In summary, to the WSI guys:
1) In baseball, I'm no pull hitter per se. I think I showed that I'm not completely in softball, either. I had fun hitting to center and left. See, I play baseball. HS baseball and occasional pick-me-ups. I'm not really used to hitting a softball so all I tried to do was pull. I hit one that was VERY homerun deep but foul, and I kept lining into left field. You guys kept calling me a pull hitter and shifting so for that I took the last two into CF.
2) I hope you didn't take offense to anything I said. I was having a ton of fun. I think you guys were, too. I know for a fact some of you were amused, as you should've been. It was fun, and funny.
3) Pitcher, don't be offended by the teasing. I wasn't and I assume we were both going at one another in good humor. (PS: I really liked your attempts to get me to ground out softly by throwing me a softball that doesn't reach the plate. It didn't work, as I took every ball you pitched for a ball, but it was a very good effort and you're a good, crafty pitcher.)
4) Tell your wives/GFs I'm not a jerk, plz. They were people I was trying to entertain, too.
What can I say? I like playing with enthusiasm and effort.
Great time.
Great game.
We really need to do it in August, and I hope that some of you keep in touch with me, particularly you, Umpire!