tor-TU-gas!

I know, I know: it sounds like an old-fashioned car horn, right?
Nope, it's the Single-A MLB team for the Cincinnati Reds!
As good fortune would have it, these boys of summer were having their final home game on the first day of my stay in Ormond Beach!
i thank You, God!
The game start time was 5:35 pm, so I forewent church - Billy's first day back from his summer vacation. That's okay, though. The service is just a click away!
(smile)

By the time I bought my Senior VIP ticket ($8) and a chicken finger combo and found my seat, the game was in the bottom of the third inning.
The Daytona Tortugas had scored a run by Bruce Yari in the second inning; the Tampa Tarpons were scoreless.
I had snagged a front row seat in Section A, right behind home plate, on this blue-sky day!
i thank You, God!

By the bottom of the fifth inning, a little distraction from the score was needed.
The Tarpons had just made two runs, despite a change in pitchers by the home team.
Now,the visitors led by one run and tensions in the crowd were mounting...
Sheldon the Tortuga to the emotional rescue, hugging a baby and parading through the stands!
Nice one, y'all!

Two innings later, more distractions were needed,
as the score hadn't budged a bit and was stuck at
2 to 1, Tarpons' favor.
Time for Sheldon and Shelly to nestle up together and
do some canoodling!
(I just love her pigtails!)
Next thing you know, they're tossing little green
turtle eggs to the kids at this Sunday game!

Then, what to my wondering ears did sound?
That's my man, Elvis Presley!
A moment ago "Burnin' Love" played for the mound
and now it was "Viva Las Vegas", baby!
Right place, right time -
I heard the message clear as day!
And now it's best for this rhyme
to go its merry way!
(smile!)

Then it was nail-biting time.
Bottom of the ninth, and the first man struck out.
Morgan Lofstrom got a single and was switched out with Stuart Fairchild...
who took advantage of a pitcher's trowing error to advance all the way to third base...
and then to home on Randy Ventura's single!
As Sam Johnson would have said, "BOOM!
There goes the dynamite!"
On to the tenth inning for free baseball!

That's when things started looking pretty dark, literally and figuratively.
The Tortugas had started a new pitcher for the inning...
and the Tarpons used him for batting practice, scoring run after run after run after run after run.
Yes, that was five iterations of the word "run" for the five runs brought across home plate.
Sure, the International Rule had allowed them to begin with a man on second base, but that was not the reason for the score to now stand at 7 to 2.

Now, tell me the logic of this next move: the Tortugas had changed pitchers and gave up five runs...
and the Tarpons still changed pitchers at the start.
How many runs might that benefit the home team?
Well, remember, they could - and did - start with a man on second base, ready to trot.
That man was John Sansone and he would soon get to trot on in!
(Spoiler alert: that's him, doing that very thing!)

The Tortugas' first man at bat grounds out, but the pitcher himself makes sure that Taylor Trammell gets on first base by walking him.
Nice one, that!
(Another spoiler alert: that's Taylor on home plate with John, while the umpire and Tarpon catcher stand idly by, simply allowing them to bring in runs 3 and 4 for the home team.)
Brantley Bell, the next man to bat, is there at home, too, to welcome in his teammates.

So, we all know what that lack of defensive action portends, don't we?
Oh, you betcha!
Some boy of summer has hit a home run, and had the good fortune to have men on base when he did it!
There's that talented man trotting in from third - let's hear it for Ibandel Isabel and his mighty bat!
Suddenly the home team was within two runs of
another tie!

But those two runs never materialized.
The game ended with the Tarpons' seven runs
besting the Tortugas' five runs.
The kids still got to run the bases -
since it was a Sunday game -
and I bought this nifty sun visor as a keepsake -
partly for the turtle, too.
(smile)

An hour later, I was back at the condo,
refrigerator stocked with milk and salad,
out on the deck under the full moon,
eating newly-bought Chunky Monkey ice cream
and listening to the waves roll to shore -
bliss!
i thank You, God!