Day Three Hundred and Sixty-One

The Divisional Series Game 2 and Adam's Thirteenth

This photo should not come as any surprise. Neither should that gigantic tarp or those looming torrential clouds. This sight has become a thing of the season, and really, truly, I'm getting quite sick of that shiny white plastic draped over the infield. I showed up to Digital Domain Park at 5:45 this evening, grabbed my seat, and began eating my Subway sandwich before the butterflies could take claim of the space in my tummy. I was feeling good. Excited. And then something wet dropped on my head. Then another. Before I knew it, the clouds were falling and the announcer was hitting us with more bad news: a game delay. What was supposed to be a 6:35 start was now scheduled for 7:00 PM. But at 7, the tarp was still lying there. 

At 8:15, Adam finally began his pre-game bullpen. The new, official start time was now 8:35...two hours after the original start time. Sigh. 

If you look closely in this photograph, you'll notice a man watching Adam from the top of the stands. His name is Mr. Meek, and largely because of his effort, Adam now calls himself a Marlin. Stan is the Vice President of Scouting for the Marlins organization and made his way to Port St. Lucie to watch Adam pitch tonight. Back in July of last year, Adam and I met with Mr. Meek at a hotel near Bellevue, WA to discuss negotiations regarding Adam's potential contract. It was a sort of business meeting that I'd never been apart of, so naturally, I had a lot of questions for Stan. Well, he must have remembered me. Because I got a chance to sit down and talk with him for a good amount of time today. It was nice to have a regular conversation with him about life away from the business end of baseball. He's a Christian man with a lot of insight on the experiences ahead of us, and I was eager to learn whatever I could from him. Mr. Meek had many sweet things to say about my husband and was excited to hear that married life is treating the Conleys so, so well. He also told me to put some more meat on Adam. Yes sir! Coming right up! 215 by Spring Training...

The second game of the Divisional Series was called by these fellas. Umpire second from the left was behind the plate tonight, calling all of Adam's pitches. He only messed up a few times, I'd say. One of those times, though, was a potential called third strike. Instead, he called it ball four. Boooo. 

Adam pitched well tonight. Especially if you take away the first inning. He said he felt good in the first, but had trouble finding the strike zone. Two batters walked. Two struck out. It was weird. I almost cried and my anxiety almost consumed me whole. But after that, it was smooth sailing for the next 3 innings. He was frustrated when he got pulled after the fourth...but, this late in the year, his withdrawal from the game was a sign from the Marlins that they care more about his health and his future. 

His line:

4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 Ks.

The Hammerheads lost though, 2-1. Our bats just weren't alive. Somebody killed them. Tomorrow's game will determine if our boys have a shot at the championship...and that shiny ring that I'd really like to display in our Man Cave some day ;)

Oh, and shhhh...the Hammerhead Groupies shared a funnel cake during tonight's action. It was our reward for the long season. Yeah. That's it.