Day 9: Chinese Taipei vs Panama

I had the late game on day nine on the plate. Not much to write about prior to the game, as we stayed out fairly late again the night before and I slept in. This was my fourth game in a row with Chinese Taipei, which didn't bother me because they tend to draw better crowds, are a pretty solid team and don't say anything to the umpires. I particularly like their catchers, who don't pull or question pitches. They may hold a close two strike pitch for a second to see if they'll get it, but other than that they just catch the ball and throw it back. My partners for this game were Oswaldo (Venezuela), Fred (Netherlands) and Neil (Australia). Oswaldo actually speaks a little English, so our crew had no trouble communicating during the game.

Panama started struggling mid-game, and their catcher actually turned completely around to question one pitch. That was the end of our communication for the game. Shortly thereafter, another ball four pitch loaded the bases and the manager for Panama came out to the mound and looked like he was waiting to have a conversation on balls and strikes. I beat him to the punch when I got out there and warned him not to do it and he just asked for a new pitcher. Panama went on to commit a couple more errors in the inning, and by the time it was over the game was out of reach.

Sensing the problem between the catcher and I, the manager replaced him when his turn came up in the batting order the next half-inning. I thought this was a heads-up move on his part. The game continued without problem until the top of the ninth. Panama brought in a pitcher who kept trying to quick-pitch the hitters. I warned him to wait a couple of times. With two outs, he tried to do it again and the Chinese Taipei hitter requested time, which I granted. This upset the pitcher and he drilled the hitter in the ribs on the next pitch. End of his night. This cost us about fifteen minutes, as there was no one warming up in the bullpen when I threw the pitcher out. The manager handled this ejection well and shortly thereafter we finished the game (10-0 Chinese Taipei).

Our same core group got together once everyone was back and we went back to Frog's to see our friend Queenie and the rest of the staff there. In attendance was our guide Johnny, who we've adopted and corrupted the last few days, along with Corrie, Neil and Oswaldo. The others went back to the karaoke bar after Frog's, but I called it a night and went back to the hotel for some much needed rest.