I Must Be Getting Tired

I must have been tired the night I rolled the Cubs vs. Cardinals game in my 1991 APBA replay.

Either that, or I'm beginning to lose my faculties, and there's plenty of recent evidence to support that theory.

The Cubs were trailing, 4-2, to the Cardinals in the top of the seventh inning when my mistake occurred. Chico Walker opened the inning with a double and then scored when Jose Oquendo bobbled a grounder hit by Shawon "Thunderpup" Dunston. The Cubs then went down in order, but I failed to note the team's run on my score sheet. The Cards added two runs in the bottom of the seventh and I had St. Louis leading 6-2 instead of the real 6-3 tally.

Ryne Sandberg hit a home run in the Cubs' eighth and reliever Chuck McElroy held the Cardinals hitless in the bottom of the eight. According to my stats, the Cubs had to score three runs, rather than the actual two, to tie the game in the ninth. Walker hit a bases-empty home run to lead off the top of the ninth and, after Dunston struck out, catcher Rich Wilkins added his own homer. Lee Smith then got the remaining outs and I thought he picked up the save for the Redbirds.

When I tallied the stats, I noticed the additional run that the Cubs had scored. The game was actually tied. I played on. Paul Assenmacher pitched a scoreless ninth for the Cubs and the contest went into extra innings.  Sandberg hit his second home run of the game in the 10th and the Cubs won.

Had I not caught my mistake, Chicago would have erroneously lost. They need all the help they can get in this 1991 replay. I'll call in Holly, a long-suffering Cubbies' fan (until redemption in 2016), to roll for the team on occassion. When slugger Andre Dawson is up, she will even imitate his batting stance before rolling the dice. (She's a keeper, she is).

I've made mistakes before, mostly because I was sleepy. I think all APBA players have done that at times. Life competes with our time and mental energy. There's only so much time to play APBA. I used to play late into the night when I was alone. Or, I'd wake up at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. and, after not being able to return to sleep, I'd toss a few games. When I'd get groggy, I'd catch that I inadvertently gave one team four outs in an inning. I'd have to go back and replay from where the error was made or I'd postpone the game on account of drowsiness.

I was glad I noticed the Cubs' mistake, but I wondered if there were other goofs that I may have missed. And I wasn't too ensured about my mental status after a series of events that happened these past few weeks after that game.

First, I found I couldn't punch in my time card at the hotel where I work part time one afternoon. I struggled, until I realized I was attempting to slide the card into the coffee machine sitting next to the time clock. I marked that dumb one to just being tired.

Part of my job as a second-shift desk clerk includes making sure the hotel is clean. I decided to vacuum the elevator rug because guests had tromped mud into it. After I cleaned it, I began looking for an extension cord and wondering how I'd plug it into the first-floor outlet to power the vacuum on the second, third and fourth floors. It took a while before it dawned on me: It's the same elevator cab that goes to each floor. Once I cleaned the rug the first time, I was done.

And finally, last week we went to northern Illinois to visit Holly's mother. Early one morning it snowed about 4 inches, covering our car in the hotel parking lot. I went outside to sweep the snow off the hood, headlights, windshield, side windows and back window with a thin hotel towel. I was doing a fine job, clearing the snow and making the car safe to drive, despite not wearing any gloves in the cold. When I was about 80 percent done, I swept off a pile of snow on the driver's side of the windshield and noticed odd stickers adhered to the window. It was a parking pass for the nearby Great Lakes military base. I don't have a parking pass for the Great Lakes military. I also don't have a Pennsylvania license plate, which this car did.

I had swept off the wrong car. It and our car were parked beside each other. Both cars were gray Nissans. Maybe it was a simple mistake. Maybe I am an idiot. I don't know. I hope the guy who owned that car appreciated my work.

I began the same process on our car and when finished, I stumbled back into the hotel; my fingers were frozen into gnarly claws.  I looked like an over-emoting actor trying to horrify viewers with his campy Dracula-stalking-his-victim role. Holly had to pry the soaked towel from my hands.

I plan to continue playing games late into the night when I have a chance. It's 1:30 a.m. now and I hope to roll a game or two before retiring for the night. I won't post this on the blog until later - when I have a chance to read over it and make sure there are no really dumb errors.  I'll really try to focus on the game to ensure the outcome is correct. And when the Cubs play again, I'll double check the score after each inning. They don't need a sleep-deprived moron helping them lose games. They can do that on their own.