Remember when this wasn't a Lions baseball blog - it was a weather blog? Remember having one great practice and then having every other one, and our Opening Day, rained out? Looked out your window today, have you? It's pouring. Now the official word hasn't come out from Marjorie yet, but I'm thinking what you are - the likelihood of practice at Ft. Scott today is not high.
So, what's different today than those near panic days of March when a team of Lions wasn't preparing for their last season of baseball together, but were instead stuck inside doing meaningless non-baseball stuff, like, you know, studying and homework (hmmm, on how many levels did I just get myself into it with that one)? Or in Morgan and Stevie P's case, surfing, cause you can surf in the rain (which is why I grew up surfing and not playing baseball)!
1. The Lions have 3 wins. They've scored 8, 11, and 10 runs in those wins. They've given up 6 (or 7!), 1 and 4 runs respectively.
2. The Lions have no losses. They've been played tough twice, but are showing a lot of resolve and confidence.
3. The Lions are in first place. Even using that "half the difference in losses plus half the difference in wins" formula to calculate games behind, the Lions are half a game up on Epiphany and a whole game up in the Loss column (see #2).
4. We've got Coachie, and Coach E., and our opponents don't.
Our coaches watched a number of those galloping 12 stolen bases on Saturday end in awkward slides (or even, ahem, one non-slide). So for yesterday's practice, the boys were told to bring sneakers and old trousers, and they got themselves a lesson in proper sliding. I wish I'd been there - the photo ops would have been priceless.
It is very clear that these coaches sat down in pre-season and laid out a team development plan that was going to take a collection of talented players and turn them into a baseball team, executing in all facets of the game. In spite of the many missed practices, progress is apparent.
So let it rain today (but not for another 3 weeks straight, thank you very much). The Lions are going to keep getting better. And they had better, because so will their competitors. If there wasn't a target on the Lions' jerseys before, there is now.
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