We had a nice game today against the DC Mustang A's on a beautiful field at the Yankees player development complex. They took an early lead, but we came back to jump ahead 5-2 in the 3rd. They scored, we scored, they scored again, and so it went. We held a narrow one run lead heading to their ABs in the bottom of the 8th. But a couple walks, a HBP, and a couple hits turned into 4 runs for them, and we were down 3. We managed one in the 9th, but fell 10-8.
A bunch of guys did nice things in this contest. Jimmy Preller threw 7 solid innings for the Capitals, and the Shasky brigade -- Don Ball, Tim Burns, and Jim Tesoriero -- pounded the ball. Pat Alston continued to hit with authority. And Albany was well-represented on the other side. Chris Dunn roped a triple to right center and golfed an eighth inning single to add an insurance run. Joe Careccia mostly sat this one out, but came in to work a leadoff walk in the fateful 8th inning, and I think ultimately scored the tying run. Jim Bonaparte hit the ball hard, including a double down the left field line, and played a solid 1B in the field. Tony Parella, also sitting out most of this one, was intentionally walked in his only pinch hit plate appearance.
The best part of the game may have been the Albany player photo, with guys from both sides, taken after the game. Hopefully, someone will post it at some point.
That makes the Mustang A's 3-0 and sitting in first place in their division. Meanwhile, the Capitals are one of three 0-3 teams. We play one of the others in a stadium game Wednesday at 4:00pm. We're hoping to turn things around then, as qualifying for the playoff round remains a possibility.
A few of the guys went on a fishing expedition after the game. I won't offer fish tales here, but apparently Pat Alston caught a monster and has a photo to prove it.
