2065.06 - Home Opener (Sim 2)

[R.Umali]

Will was a young man of his word even though his word seemed drenched in the dreadful slang of youth. And so while he was really kidding when he said to Mustafa that his future was in the hands of the Black Sox, he really wasn't going to let the Black Sox determine where he was going to go to college. But the thought lingered like bad juju.

Minneapolis wouldn’t be the worst fate, he told himself. Will was a city kid at heart; Madison read a little podunk to him. His Wisconsin stereotypes - cheese-brained and snow-boot earnest - were both confirmed and shattered each summer at Camp Driftless near Viroqua.

Will and his aunt got to Vinnie Vitale early, noses pink from the 43-degree wind that kept shoving in from straightaway center. Decorah tugged her scarf higher and thumped the rail of their aisle pair in Section 212. The place eventually filled to near capacity.

Dave Matthes gave the still-filling crowd something to shout about in the first. Three straight balls from righty Jerry Stone, a taken called strike, and then a solo-shot yanked to right.

"Let's go, Badgers!" Will said, in jest.

His aunt looked at him and Will said, "I haven't heard yet but I might end up going there with Mustafa."

She knew about that dumb bet he had before the first pitch: that he would go to the University of Wisconsin if the Wolves swept the Black Sox, which the Wolves did like it was no big thing. Maybe it wasn't. The season's still young.

In the top of the second the River Monsters tied it. A Phillip Warner HBP, a Héctor Canó Jr. sac bunt (in the second?!?), an Octávio Sánchez single. Will felt the bet snapping at his heels again. By the sixth, Warner and Cano again manufactured a run. Bodine was out and, lo and behold, Bobby Sherman trotted in. Will grimaced, "Unc's walk looks wrecked."

It was Fang's first appearance in Chicago in three years. The crowd seemed to have forgotten the results of Fang's last season with Chicago: 0-2 and 85 belabored innings after shoulder tendinitis shelved him for 5 weeks. Instead, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Will stood up with the rest of them. "Let's go, inc!" He yelled. Bobby Sherman was 34 years old.

Sherman did not acknowledge the crowd, although he did check in on Cano on 2nd and Sanchez on 1st. The crowd remained standing. The guy behind said, "Is this guy that good that they put him in such a high leverage sitch?" There were two on and two out.

Sherman induced a ground ball from Randall Gray to shortstop Ángel De La Cruz, who mishandled the toss to 2B Jeff Feagin. All safe. Bases juiced. The Black Sox had been snake-bit by the crooked inning and the 6th was shaping up to be another.

But Sherman, a groundball pitcher if there ever was one, get César Román to ground out to Feagin to limit the damage to 1 run.

The unlikely hero for the Black Sox was light-hitting defense-minded outfielder Bob Hills, acquired in free agency. In the 7th, he stroked a 3-run home run (he had his 3 in all of 290 PAs last season). Tony Cochran added a solo shot in the eight, and Iván Villarreal bridged it to Nakamoro Hori who closed it and the Sox sent the faithful home warmed and happy.

Will and his aunt stuck around as Bob Hills got interviewed on the field and responded with the same boilerplate ("Great atmosphere", "Grinding", "Stepping Up", yada, yada, Gatorade drench). Will finally told her about the second dumb bet - the U of Minnesota thing. Decorah listened and said, “Seems to me that the universe just handed you permission to choose your future for reasons that aren’t superstitions.”

"Your the most superstition person I know!"

Decorah had no reply to that. She certainly was not going to tell her nephew about the ring she wore around her neck, a memory of many home openers. What was her record with this ring? She'd have to check when they got home.
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The Black Sox completed a sweep of the River Monsters and would've had an undefeated sim to pair with their all-defeated sim had the Brooks Elliot and the Bluebirds not beat them 2-3 in their first meeting of the year. A re-match between David Molina and Adam Hines at a packed Les Paul Field.

Bobby Sherman did come out for the 7th inning but left after the first out. He looked crestfallen as he walked out, clutching his back.