Is Our Play a Home Run?

Phrase not as expected (runners are supposed to be touching the base in order to be safe)
off base
Our school play opened last night. It was disappointing, we expected 500 but only 200 people came. The planning committee sure was off base!
Phrase to be surprising (runners may be unaware of a ball thrown in from far out)
came out of left field
Wow that's too bad. Lots of my friends said they were excited to go to see it. Seems the low attendance came out of left field.
Phrase a position where success is unlikely (a batter only has 3 strikes until he is out)
two strikes against us
What do you think happened? Well... the flu is going around and the first episode of the new TV series was on. That made it two strikes against us.
Phrase to substitute for someone esp. in an emergency (one batter replaces another to try to win)
pinch hit for her
Oh right, I heard the leading lady got sick. Was the person who pinch hit for her good? Yes, she's pretty experienced and was fantastic!
Phrase do something extremely well (such a good hit the ball goes over the wall for a home run)
hit it out of the ballpark
The lead actors hit it out of the ballpark. But I must say the supporting roles weren't so hot. Maybe it's good that fewer people came after all!