July 28-31

Another week, another g()ddam heat wave. The entire month of July has been absolutely brutal, if I don't see a newspaper article claiming it as one of the hottest in history I'll be stunned. You know it's bad when your clothing sticks to your body and you must literally peel it off like a banana skin. The Southern End Softball League's regular season came to an end during the week, on Monday Kelly's won a doubleheader over Lancaster and Peach Bottom. Tuesday saw Lancaster and Memorial split a pair and on Wednesday the Silver Bullets defeated Akatsuki in a single game. Playoffs should start the week of August 4 but the format isn't official yet. On Thursday I had an appointment with my PCP (they used to be called "family doctors", these days it's "primary care physician"), she has been following my progress since the surgery. There were storms in the forecast, in the afternoon they arrived with a vengeance and cooled things off considerably. By all accounts the weekend should be much more comfortable, good news with the Stormers coming home and street hockey in Rothsville on Sunday, Take care, thanks for reading.

July 25-27

A relatively quiet weekend save for Saturday lunch with Jenny and Sunday street hockey in Rothsville. The league last played on June 29, between a holiday weekend and my infirmity the scheduled nine-game season was cut back to six games with this day being the last. Since I'm temporarily banned from any heavy lifting we did not use the scoreboard clock or the power cords needed for it, I sat in a lawn chair provided by one of the players and kept time on a stopwatch. It was a shoestring-budget kind of day but we made it work. In the games themselves Ephrata beat Hillside and Township won over Warwick, on August 3 Hillside meets Warwick in the consolation game with Township facing Ephrata for the title. Thirty-five players were there on a brutally warm day with storms in the forecast, we were in the third period of the second game when the rain arrived. It made for a sloppy finish but we got through it without anyone getting hurt (and besides, as it hit the body the rain actually felt good). Take care, thanks for reading. 

July 23-24

Wednesday morning at the health campus, the surgeon and his chief assistant were in town from Philadelphia. They both examined the scar and said it's healing perfectly. In the evening at the ballpark for game #2 with Hagerstown, after the Tuesday loss the Stormers evened the series in shutout fashion. Nick Ward scored the game's first run on a wild pitch in the fifth inning, a three-run eighth put the game away. Back-to-back bases-loaded walks to Evan Alexander and recently-added Scott Kelly made it 3-0, Ward's RBI hit scored the final run. Noah Skirrow pitched six innings of five-hit ball with ten strikeouts with Scott Engler, Cody Stashak and Gerson Moreno finishing out the 4-0 win. On Thursday in the rubber game the Stormers scored twice in the first on a Joseph Carpenter base hit and Nick Lucky's sac fly, in the second inning the game's competitive aspect disappeared. Eight runs scored for the Good Guys on a Hagerstown error, base hits by Lucky and Yeison Coca, Nick Ward's RBI double and a grand slam home run by Alex Isola. The visitors got to within 10-4 in the fifth but another error and an RBI hit by Isola put the Stormers up by eight. The scoring ended in the sixth on back-to-back home runs from Mason Martin (two-run) and Carpenter (solo shot). The final was 15-4, Michael McAvene won it with relief help from A.J. Alexy, Billy Sullivan and Kyle Johnson, The ballclub hits the road until the first day of August. Take care, thanks for reading.

July 21-22

Since I came home from Philadelphia I've taken to sleeping downstairs in my mother's old recliner. It's narrower than my own (my mother was much smaller from a physical standpoint) and there is literally nowhere to toss and turn, I merely recline all the way back and lay flat all night long. After a week in the hospital (where nobody ever sleeps because all they do is run in and out all night taking blood, vital signs and giving you medications) I figure about a week's worth of solid uninterrupted overnight rest should do me a world of good. Had visiting nurses in on Monday and Tuesday plus a physical therapist and they all say the same thing: thus far I look and sound better than I have any right to under the circumstances. The therapist put me through some basic exercises, when we finished he said he doesn't believe he would need to come back because all my motor skills were in good order. Saw Jenny and her mother on Tuesday between home visits, in the evening I was at the ballpark. The Hagerstown Flying Boxcars were in town for the third of four visits, on this night they defeated the Stormers 5-1. The lone run for the good guys came in the fourth inning, Mason Martin singled and scored on a base hit from super-utilityman Slater Schield. Max Green went the first six and took the loss, the series continues on Wednesday and Thursday, Take care, thanks for reading. 

July 19-20

A home healthcare nurse visited on Saturday morning, all she knew about my case is that she was calling on a 68-year-old man who had abdominal surgery eight days earlier. When I opened the door she said she was stunned, she expected to see someone looking a lot more sickly than I did. We talked for a while and filled out some paperwork, after that she took my vital signs and gave my heart and lungs a listen. When she was finished she said I looked and sounded remarkable for someone who had been what I'd been through as recently as I had. When I was younger people always told me I looked older than I was, now that I'm older people tell me I look younger than my years. I don't know if it's heredity, my basic metabolism or just plain old-fashioned guts but whatever it is I hope it doesn't change anytime soon. Went to Quarryville to visit with Jenny and her mother, I asked them if they wanted to see the scar and Helen wanted no part of it. In the evening I felt good enough to go over to the ballpark, the South Division's High Point Rockers were in town for their lone visit. Stopped by the press box to give everyone the update, they were surprised to see me up and around so quickly. The Stormers won on Friday in my absence, on this night it was all Rockers from the start. Two High Point runs in the first and a five-spot in the fifth blew it wide open, the final was 9-3. Nick Ward accounted for all of the Stormers runs with a solo home run in the third and and a two-run double in the fifth, Noah Bremer started and took the loss. The Stormers took the rubber game in the afternoon heat on Sunday, I personally stayed home and spent the day taking it as easy as I possibly could. Take care, thanks for reading. 

July 11-18

Returned home from a week in Philadelphia on the 18th, the surgery took place on the 11th. I needed a driver both ways, Don took me there and longtime family friend Melinda and her husband Sam brought me home. On the 11th I was expected by 9:30, between leaving at 7:00 and having favorable traffic Don had me there by 8:30. The facility is called The Hospital Of The University Of Pennsylvania, it's just off the Schuylkill Expressway at exit 346. It's about one block from venerable Franklin Field where the Eagles won the 1960 pro football world championship. They took me into the OR around 11:00 and the next thing I knew I was awakening in recovery, I was told the operation lasted about five hours. After sleeping off the rest of the anesthesia they took me to my room where I stayed until I was discharged. The surgeon and his team were regular visitors each morning, they said the procedure was a 100% success. Right now I have a scar on my stomach that looks ugly as sin but everyone from the surgeon himself to the hospital nurses tell me it's healing beautifully. Home healthcare has been arranged, visiting nurses will be here on a regular basis. I should be completely recovered in about six weeks, in the meantime I simply have to watch what I do (which shouldn't be too hard since this is a time of year where I do little to begin with). Take care, thanks for reading.

July 9-10

Another round of nasty weather passed through late Wednesday afternoon, on this night the ballgame on North Prince Street fell victim to the steady rain. It was immediately rescheduled as part of a doubleheader on Thursday, the first game started at 5:00. The Stormers took a 2-0 lead in the third on a wild pitch and Nick Ward's sacrifice fly but from there Southern Maryland tied it in the fourth and used a four-run sixth to win it 6-2 Recently-signed Luke McCollough (from Villanova University) made his Stormers debut and went five innings, Billy Sullivan was the loser in relief. Game #2 started shortly before 8:00 and this time around the Stormers made short work of the Crabs in a 10-2 victory. An Ariel Sandoval two-run single, Nick Lucky's RBI double and a Danny Amaral sac fly made it 4-0 in the first, single runs scored in the third on an Amaral base hit and in the fifth on a sac fly by Lucky. A four-run sixth put it away with Lucky's second RBI double, a Mason Martin RBI hit, a Nick Ward sac fly and a Blue Crab error accounting for the runs. Max Green went five innings for the win with Jackson Rees and Scott Engler finishing it out of the pen. The ballclub hits the road for the next week, they're back home on Friday the 18th. I myself will also be "on the road", with any good fortune I may be back home by then as well. Take care, thanks for reading.

July 7-8

Monday night softball in Willow Street, on this evening there was a "pure" doubleheader with Kelly's winning over Akatsuki and Peach Bottom victorious over Lancaster. On Tuesday we had a quick-hitting thunderstorm in late afternoon that was gone almost as fast as it arrived. The damage was done at Garrett Park but on the turf at the ballpark the game went on as scheduled, it even started directly on time at 6:45. The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs were in town for the second time in 2025, they are the only team from the South Division to appear more than once. On this night the Stormers spotted the Crabs a 3-0 first-inning lead before scoring eight of the next nine. A Danny Amaral RBI double and a run-scoring single from newcomer Joe Campagna made it 3-2 in the second but SM carried a 4-2 advantage into the fourth inning. The Amaral-Campagna connection clicked again in the fourth with RBI hits to tie the game, in the sixth a Nick Lucky triple and Amaral's sac fly RBI put the Stormers up 5-4. In the seventh Nick Ward went yard for an insurance run, the Stormers tacked on two more in the eighth on a solo home run by Lucky and a wild pitch scoring Amaral from third base. The final was 8-4, Jackson Rees won it in relief of starter Noah Bremer. Take care, thanks for reading. 

July 4-6

Friday the 4th: the nation's 249th birthday, the Stormers were back home for a series with the South Division's Charleston Dirty Birds. A crowd of better than 6400 (largely for a gigantic postgame fireworks show) saw their fair share of pyrotechnics in the game itself. The Stormers went up 2-0 in the first on an error and an Ariel Sandoval base hit, after the West Virginians got on the board in the second the Stormers added four more in their half. Back-to-back bases-loaded walks drawn by Evan Alexander and Nick Ward made it 4-1, Mason Martin picked up a ribbie on an infield groundout and another run scored on a wild pitch. It stayed 6-1 until Charleston scored twice in the fourth, the Stormers answered back with a Joseph Carpenter two-run home run to lead 8-3. The Birds scored one in the fifth and three more in the sixth to close within a run, in the home half the Stormers replied on a Sandoval RBI hit and Danny Amaral's two-run single to go up 11-7. Charleston would not go away quietly scoring three in the eighth to close within 11-10, in the ninth Gerson Moreno slammed the door and earned the save for winning pitcher Max Green. As the game ended the big crowd settled in for the fireworks while I settled into the drivers seat of my car. After thirty-five years Up North I am utterly desensitized to fireworks shows, if you've seen one you've seen them all and the only way to watch them is in the rearview mirror. On Saturday night in game #2 the visitors struck early with a two-run first inning, the Stormers scored four in the second on an RBI double by Amaral and a Dave Matthews three-run homer. Charleston scored single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh, those were offset almost singlehandedly by Nick Ward with a two-run homer run in the fifth and an RBI single in the sixth. The 7-5 lead held up the rest of the way, Noah Skirrow won it with Jackson Rees picking up the save. The Stormers dropped the Sunday finale to finish the league's first half with a mark of 31-32, over in York the Revolution claimed the first-half championship in the North at 39-24 while the High Point Rockers took the South at 41-22. The new half starts on Tuesday the 8th, the Stormers stay home to host Southern Maryland. Take care, thanks for reading. 

June 30-July 3

The last day of June and the first day of July were virtually the same thing: hot and muggy through the afternoon with late-day thunderstorms lasting well into the evening hours. There were makeup games scheduled both nights at Garrett Park which obviously never got off the ground. On Tuesday afternoon I was at the local heart facility for an echocardiogram (did I spell that correctly?) and everything looked good. When I first met the surgeon on June 11 he said they would book me for the operation on July 11, the fact that they haven't called me to move the date up because they saw something distressing in one of my tests is a good sign. Right now there is nothing further until the big day itself and I'm in good professional hands for that. On Wednesday the weather held up all day, Jenny and I had afternoon lunch and in the evening they played ball in Willow Street. On this night Memorial played a doubleheader, losing the opener to Akatsuki and the nightcap to Lancaster. The league officially reached its midpoint with these games, twenty-three down with twenty-two to go. Take care, thanks for reading