-the name of the church was “Our Lady of the Holy Rosary”-

1.
quite a mouthful, but "Holy Rosary" choked it up.

The "Mary's” they called us.

the memory of Bobby Petrillo, a ballplayer who can not defend himself

because he’s dead, is now in my hands.

I thought about this over a bowl of Kellogg’s cornflakes.

a good second baseman, particularly going to his right into

the shallow gap at center, backhanding the bounding ball

and throwing the runner out at first.

that’s true.

It happened at South Park against "Saint Anthony of Padua"

called the "Anthony’s” or the "Paddy’s" –– or my favorite, the "Tony’s”.

but it happened on more than one occasion, so

it wasn’t a “lucky play” like the "Paddy's" were droning from their bench.

"lucky play.. lucky play"..

damn Portuguese.

It's true.
It was they who coined the obviously pejorative term: the "Mary’s”––

2.

If I had to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth

as in the attempt above, it would negatively soften the edge of poetry.

better to drizzle a little salt into the narrative and besides,
it's not like they wouldn't do it to me if it was me who croaked.