BBQ accompanies dog-days-of-summer baseball chat

A dozen chapter members and guests endured the dog days of summer with large slabs of baseball talk and sides of post-season prognostications on Saturday.

The group gathered at County Line on the Lake for delicious barbecue, meeting for the 141st consecutive month. A wide range of professional team logos were represented at the meeting, including the Astros, Dodgers, Indians, Rockies and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Ryan, who attended the Sabermetrics, Scouting and the Science of Baseball conference in Boston earlier this month, sported a shirt from the conference – a periodic table of baseball statistical abbreviations. While he’s bummed at the tough season his Orioles are having, he’s hoping his team will hold on to secure the first pick in next year’s draft. Meanwhile I sported an Ichiro Suzuki shirt that featured a chart showing his 1,000th, 2,000th, 3,000th, and 4,000th hits. Jan grabbed one of his many caps and sported one of the Washington Nationals, a team rapidly fading from contention.

Speaking of contention, some in the group see the Boston Red Sox as the strongest team in the American League while the National League is a complete toss-up. One attendee said he hoped the Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners slip past the Houston Astros for playoff qualification, though there were others who disagreed with this outcome!

The group also welcomed first-time Tom to the group. He’s an Indians fan, just like another Tom in the group, so we all agreed that this will help us remember his name. Jeremy traveled the furthest to join us for lunch, having driven from San Antonio and planning on taking in a Round Rock Express game that evening.

Ira shared how much he enjoyed touring Wrigley Field during a trip to Chicago earlier this month. He said he was surprised at how close second base looked from the center field bleachers.

Next meeting will be at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, at Serranos (5030 W. U.S. 290 service road) in Southwest Austin. A request for RSVPs will be forthcoming.