HURTIN' UNITS FIGHT HARD AGAINST THE REBELS...

Hurtin' Units vs. Rusty Rebels...

Game #20- August 17, 2010

Hurtin' Units win 15-8

Team Record  15-3-2

Coventry Park-The weather in August, for the most part, has been hot and humid, but we haven't had to worry about any rain outs or make up games. I hope I didn't just jinx us by saying this. There have been rain storms, but they haven't prevented us from playing. The Keogh lights not working properly have caused more problems with game cancellations than the weather has. Game day was absolutely fantastic, the temperature was still in the high 20's, but the high humidity was almost gone, great weather for baseball...On Tuesday evening there was an amazing western sky at game time. The sun had almost set and it cast a redish/ orange hue upon the long feather shaped clouds with a contrasting blue background. Amazing!!

At game time we were down a bunch of players,

August don't ya know... Missing for tonight's game were Mike O., Robin D., Chris R., Don C. and I thought that Al H. was gone. This was definitely the most players gone in one night this season. I called Rob Farah (the sub-controller, that name always conjures up hilarious images in my brain) and asked if could find me 3 subs...Mr. Sub (my secret name for Rob) came through with flyin' colours. Rob managed to acquire the subbing services of Rob H., Lynn W., and Jason B. Three solid players... Al H. did show and we had 11 players, Lynn was willing not to play, he had just played the early game, I was happy to have him play, but he decided not to. Our thanks go out to Rob H. and Jason B. for playing with us, both  made solid contributions in the win. 

1970 AMC REBEL.

Tonight our opponents are the Rusty Rebels, a team captained by Hugh Armstrong and Donny Booth. With Hugh as a captain they should have called the team the KRUSTY REBELS...What is a RUSTY REBEL anyway?? Is a Rebel a car? Maybe I'm thinking of a Rambler- The RUSTY RAMBLERS?  I'll have to  look that up before I publish this edition of the blog. Looked it up, a Rebel was a car built by AMC in the 70's. I could really see Hughie cruzin' in a rusty Rebel car with tunes blasting " Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol and a tattoo of James Dean on his arm with the phrase " Rebel without a Cause" underneath... Hughie the original Rebel...

I think I'm entitled to poke fun at Hughie. I mentioned in a previous blog that Mike and I played for the Rusty Rebels in 2007 and I played beside Hughie the entire season. I listened to Hugh rib and roast me game, after game, after game, after game, after game, I think you get the point... To this day, he still gets a little jab in everytime I see him. It was all in fun and I think I could have put a stop to it by saying something, but I'm a good sport and I can take a little bit of ribbing...And besides, you know what can happen if you talk back to your captains... Don't You?? LOL.

Sometimes, rarely actually, I will start scribbling my draft of the blog before the game, today is game day, I have no idea what kind of game we will have tonight, I just hope we play better than in the last game. I don't mind if we lose as long as we compete...

Wednesday August 18, 2010: 

The game last night was just what the Hurtin' Units needed after being winless in our last 3 games. This game was a solid effort all around and our bats came back to life.

Boxscore:

                        1st  2nd  3rd   4th  5th   6th  7th   Total

Hurtin' Units    0     0      1     4      5     1      4         15  

Rusty Rebels    1     1      0     0      1     1      4          8     

   

In the first 3 innings the Rebels scored 2 runs and the Units put up only a single. The Rebels left the bases loaded in the first inning and the Units did the same in the third inning. In the forth inning the Hurtin' Units bats came out of hiding and knocked the ball all around the diamond for 4 more runs and the defense shut down the Rebels offense. 5-2 Units at the end of 4 innings....

The fifth inning saw the Units score 5 more runs capped off  by an in the park homerun by Chris Nyers. The Rebels managed to score another single in the bottom of the innning. Both teams scored a single run in the sixth inning. Both teams scored 4 more runs in the seventh.... Final score 15-8 Hurtin' Units...

Here's a riddle for you: How does a batter hit 1 for 5 at the plate and run the bases 5 times?? Answer: Hit in front of Tom Perry, who went 5 for 5 at the plate last night and took a runner at first. I line drived out 4 times in the game and ran for Tom 4 times... Uncle Tom was back from holidays last night and made a solid impact on the outcome. Not only did Tom go 5 for 5 at the plate, he also made a great defensive play to deflate a surging Rebel squad. With the bases loaded with Rebels, nobody out, the next Rebel batter hit a ground ball to Tom at third base, he touched the 3rd base bag, and then threw to home for the double play...

Here's another riddle: Which player on the Hurtin' Units, hit the ball hard at every at bat, scored four runs in the game and hit a homerun in the fifth inning? Answer: Nyzee- Chris was hitting the ball really well last night and went 4 for 5 while scoring 4 runs and hitting an in the park homerun... Chris also made a great catch in center field on a hard hit ball from Roger Burton...

Jerry, Jason and Jens all had multiple hit nights at the plate... Rob Hayward was very good for us at short stop... Jim Mac made a nice running catch on a ball hit short in RCF. Paul, Al, and I all made contributions. Chris Ross showed up in the sixth inning to be an athletic supporter... This was a feel good win... UNITS UNREEL!!