Life, and human nature, double-teamed me Wednesday, which is the convoluted way of saying I watched no AAABA Tournament games in-person.
The wife’s car needed inspected this month, a local shop had a 1 p.m. opening and I eagerly grabbed the slot to get those new stickers. Even though the car was done quickly, I punted on an afternoon trip downtown.
I wasn’t up for baking in the heat and humidity to watch Johnstown-2, AKA Martella’s Pharmacy, play a 2 p.m. game at Point Stadium. As it turns out, seeing Martella’s disembowel Brooklyn to finish second in Pool D and advance to the knockout round of tournament play probably wouldn’t have been that interesting. Plus, there was a Chicago Cubs-Los Angeles Dodgers game on the magic mirror at the same time. When in doubt, take the easy route.
The often-wrong online weather sites I’ve been monitoring again called for rain Wednesday and, according to the radio broadcast of the night game at the Point, some rain eventually did fall into the life of the tournament, But it was not enough rain to stop Mainline from beating Cleveland to claim the top spot in Pool C.
Because of the weather threat, the fact that many from my opening night posse opted for other pursuits on this evening, plus there was a Wacky Wednesday pizza deal offered at Papa John’s, and also the ability to watch the Pirates play Milwaukee on ESPN in a night game, with Paul Skenes pitching, meant after picking up the pizza, I sat in air-conditioned comfort and watched the Pirates lose, again.
I did monitor the progress of the Mainline game via the radio broadcast.
Back to the Pirates game, Skenes was not sharp and his Milwaukee counterpart, Kyle Harrison, just back from a stint on the disabled list, sparkled, including striking out the last eight Pirates batters he faced. The Brewers won, 4-2, leaving the slumping Pirates 4.5 games out of a wild-card slot, with three other teams between them and that third spot.
According to the good folks at fangraphs.com, the Pirates have about a 16.5 percent likelihood of making the playoffs as a wild-card team.
To borrow from the movie Dumb And Dumber, “So, you’re telling me there’s a chance?”
Speaking of chances, let us ponder the AAABA Tournament prospects of Martella’s and Mainline.
Martella’s (2-1) drew the short straw, facing perennial tournament heavyweight New Orleans (3-0) in a 2 p.m. Game Thursday at the Point.
Mainline (3-0) draws Altoona-1 (2-1) in the night game at the Point.
If either team is to win the tournament, it will require someone beating New Orleans in the knockout play. So if it is to be, it might as well happen in the quarterfinals. If not, such is life.
Mainline stands three wins away from defending the title it won last tournament.
No longer is there any margin of error, for any of the eight remaining teams. Lose and you’re done.
Let’s just hope the online weather gurus, again predicting more rain for throughout today, are wrong yet again.
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