Reese and Weekend Sweep

After a brief trip home to Walkerton, Reese packed his bags and headed back for Korea, but not before a little detour to Dohren City to see the Wild Farmers. His plane landed at 10 am in Frankfurt and then he hopped on a train bound for Hamburg. I met him at the trainstation and we headed back to Dohren. There was one ultimatum laid down by guys on the team and it was that he would not be allowed to step foot on Dohren soil if he did not have dip with him. He did not disappoint. Since Reese was new to Germany and Dohren, I took him on the Dohren Tour around the city. That included stops at the baseball field and the DC bat factory where we saw johst turn a bat on the lathe. Later that evening we headed to dieckhof for an introduction to German beers and a Currywurst and Pommes, a dish that has become a staple for me everytime i go there. Actually i get it some much the waiter asked me if i wanted one before we ordered our first beer. Tony met us there later, after he was done with softball practice, and we shot the shit until around 12 when we headed back toward Dohren. We debated going home to bed or going to Krila's to have some more beers and watch baseball. Reese said that we should keep drinking since we were going to a Concentration Camp the next day and it wouldnt be appropriate to be chipper but rather we needed to look tired and irratible. So we went to Krila's to watch baseball since he's got ESPN America.

Wednesday Krila picked us up around 1 and we went to Bergen-Belsen, A POW camp that was later turned into a concentration camp by the Nazi regime. Now I had to learn about these camps when I was in school, and then they seemed so far away, so other-worldly. It was like something out of a fiction book and i couldnt believe that people would actually do something like that. And now that i have been there, seen the reminants of the buildings, walked on the same Earth that was once covered with the stench of death and dying and disease, it takes on a whole new realness. Though all of the buildings have been torn down since the camps closure in 1945, there are a few foundations of some of the bunk houses still remaining and 6-7 mass graves mounded up on the west side of the compound. This was the thing that was the most shocking to me, between the POW camp and later the concentration camp, somehting in the neighborhood of 52,000 people died at the camp or as a result of the injuries and disease of the camp. There was a video shot in 1945 when the British came and liberated the remaining prisoners and it shows hundreds of bodies being pushed around by a bulldoser in an effort to clean up the site. Anne Frank died in this camp just a few months before it was liberated.

Wednesday night we went to practice where Reese joined us and took some grounders and hit a little bit. I tried to talk him into dropping and driving for the fence but he assured me that that was not his game and proceeded to lace liners right over the 2nd baseman. We had some pizza and beers after practice, which is the norm for wednesdays.

Thursday we had to go to the school in Tostedt so Reese came along and we taught some younsters how to throw and catch...which is proving to be easier said than done, most of them arent grasping the concept and the teacher doesnt speak English very well so its been tough to get our point across to the kids. after our lesson at the Dieckhof School, we had to run over the Tostedt Real for an afterschool program. there are kids from all over the area that come and choose what sport they want to do. there is basketball (the coach for this one is a chick...if you can call her that...that is at least 6' 5" and 250 lbs) soccer, ping pong, karate, and baseball...we had one kid, but they sent us home anyway. we got beat by table tennis and karate...it was a sad day, but at the same time, we were all pretty tired and not in the mood to teach 1 kid baseball for 2 hours. so we got something to eat in Tostedt and came home and took a nap.

Hasi made us reservation at the Beck's Brewery in Bremen for friday at 2 pm so we got to the train station in Tostedt at 12 to buy our ticket for the 12:10 train. it took at least 15 minutes for us to figure out how to get the right ticket and come to find out, there was no 12:10 train, the soonest one was 12:47. that put us in Bremen at 1:30 and we still didnt know how far it was to the brewery or exactly where it was. so when we got to the trainstation, we headed to an info desk and asked the best way to get there. at first they all looked at me like i was speaking a foreign language...wait...i guess i was, but they conversed for a few seconds and told us to get on the 1 tram toward Huchting. when we walked outside and found out where the tram was it was coming down the tracks. we jumped on and rode it with no idea what stop to get off, just that we were headed in the right direction. We figured the brewery would pop out and we would just know...we were right. we got off the tram and got the brewery with 10 minutes to spare.

the tour itself was like most others ive been on, no big differences between styles or ingredients, but thats not why i go, its the beer tasting after the tour thats the main attraction. at the tasting here, they give you 2 of their 3 brews and you are to distinguish between them. Tony and Reese agreed that the first one was Beck's and the 2nd was Hakke-Beck's. I thought it was the other way. Our guide said that the people that got it right would be given another beer...he gave Tony and Reese another one anyway! actually everyone gets 4 beers and then a beer for the road. we were pretty hungry so we decided to get back to the train station and see when our train left before trying to find some food. its a good thing we did because we just had enough time to get Burger King at the station before getting on the train. we got back with just long enough to get home and change before leaving for practice.

Saturday we had to make up our one game against Bremen at their place that got rained out last time. which was a good thing because we were losing bad that game. but we came in with a different intensity this time around. i could tell from batting practice that we knew we were going to win, there was a refreshed attitude among the team, the one that was there in the beginning of the season. the score was tied at 0-0 after the first inning but that would change in the 2nd and the 3rd and the 4th. Laser had a no hitter going through 4 innings and we were lighting up their pitcher. Laser's arm was bothering him, so i took him out and put myself on the mound. I dont know what it is but they hit me well for some reason. the first batter i faced got a hit and the post game show was cancelled for both teams. we won this game easily 8-2.

Sunday was a double header against the worst team in the league, Braunschweig. But depiste their record, we have never played 3 games in a weekend and were a bit worried about our pitching situation. Henrik helped us out big time by coming and giving us 4 solid innings. Tony came in in relief and held them to just 1 run. I hit a 3-run HR in the 1st, my 7th HR since being in Germany, and added an RBI single later in the game. we won this game by the mercy rule 11-1 in the 6th.

Thies started the 2nd game and threw a complete game, 7 innings 3 runs. again we scored 11 and i had a triple and a double in this game. that gave me a 1b, 2b, 3b, and HR on the day...the cycle. despite it coming in a double header, its the first time i've gotten all 4 in one day so i'm counting it. So despite all the worry and stress over finding out how we were going to find pitching for 3 games in a weekend, it ended up as best it could have. With those 3 wins, we are now in 2nd place in the league and have a possible chance at getting 1st if the 4 game series between Berlin and Paderborn plays out right.

After the game we had a BBQ to get rid of the leftovers from the Farmers Cup. there was all kinds of meats and beer, and salads, it was a feast. Henrik came back after tending to the farm and brought Charlie along. now this is the most skiddish dog i've ever met so you imagine my surprise when i called his name and he came right over to me and let me pet him. this was icing on the cake for the day. I was beginning to think it would never happen, but i can cross this one off my to-do list! Granted, he never came over and let me pet him again that day, but it did happen once and i'll take it.

A-Ron

in other world news: Congrats to Christie and Harris on their wedding. wish i could have been there guys.

AND Matt Walker has resigned from both the head baseball and football positions at DePauw University for personal reasons.