THE WILD AND SOME CRAZY GUYS...

Hurtin' Units vs. The Wild...

Game #26 - September 14, 2010

Hurtin' Units lose 12-11

Team Record 19-5-2

Bottom of the seventh, with one out, runners at first and second. The home team Hurtin' Units down by two runs against the Wild. I was batting, Tito had a 1-2 count on me, I could hear someone chanting beer, beer, beer, beer, perhaps the chant was all in my head, memories of Tito striking me out in last year's playoffs ending the Banshees season. The next pitch was a ball, really too close to take, 2-2 count, next pitch was right down Broadway, I made solid contact and the ball bolted off the bat toward center field. The ball was headed up the alley, between the RCF and the LCF and the runners were off. The runner from second (Robin I think) scores and the runner from first ( Chris R.) rounds third chugging for home, the relay hits the cut-off man ( Chuck Cragg), Chuck pivots and throws a strike toward home plate, right on the money. With Chris running hard and the throw in the air, the play is going to be very close, the ball is caught as the runner is at the line, Roman makes his call, the runner is....This is the best I can do to Tarantino (video link) a baseball story

Coventry Park- We made it!! Yes we made it through the regular season. Our final game was a great way to finish a great season for the Hurtin' Units... The weather was good for baseball, although it's certainly starting to feel like fall, there definitely was a chill in the air this week and the dark fall like clouds have been hanging around for a couple of weeks now. On these cool, humid free evenings the ball really carries well.

At game time on Tuesday, we had 10 guys suited up for the game. Don was resting a minor, lower body injury and Chris N. was tending to one of his children who was under the weather. We were the home team in this game...

The Wild played us hard in this game, hit for hit and run for run, inning after inning. We probably would have won the game if it wasn't for Steve Ross. Time for your urine sample Stevie...LOL. Steve was the difference maker in this game. He showed some awesome hitting power, hammering a ball over the head of our right fielder Mike Olliffe for his first homerun of the evening. And just when we think we have him figured out and Mike is at the warning track and is prepared for him next at bat, Steve decides to hammer another homerun over the head of Chris Ross. Stevie the Wonderboy probably had at least 6 RBIs in this game. I have already made several entries in to my scouting reports this week, Steve R. from the Wild, and couple of the guys from the Lucky Stiffs.

It was great to see Al and Paul finally get a couple of hits after being robbed in the last game. Both these guys are making excellent contact with the ball, but had a tough game against the Lucky Stiffs on Monday with nothing to show for it...

We had our chances to break this game wide open on several occasions, in fact, in the first inning we had the bases loaded. Tito walked home our first run of the game. We left the bases loaded in another inning also and left runners on the bags throughout the game. Tito's pitching wasn't very good, he was throwing low and short , he was even reminded by Roman on several occasions to pitch the ball higher. We should have taken advantage of this weakness. If we had been more patient, we probably could have worked Tito for a few more walks or better pitches to hit. Everyone was hitting the ball well and isn't that what we want going into the playoffs.

I mentioned before in the game that each team traded runs, at the end of six innings the score was 10-9 for the Hurtin' Units, a close game to be sure. In the top of the seventh inning the Wild scored 3 runs to take a 12-10 lead.

Bottom of the seventh, with one out, runners at first and second. The home team Hurtin' Units down by two runs against the Wild. I was batting, Tito had a 1-2 count on me, I could hear someone chanting beer, beer, beer, beer, perhaps the chant was all in my head, memories of Tito striking me out in last year's playoffs ending the Banshees season. The next pitch was a ball, really too close to take, 2-2 count, next pitch was right down Broadway, I made solid contact and the ball bolted off the bat toward center field. The ball was headed up the alley, between the RCF and the LCF and the runners were off. The runner from second (Robin I think) scores and the runner from first ( Chris R.) rounds third chugging for home, the relay hits the cut-off man ( Chuck Cragg), Chuck pivots and throws a strike toward home plate, right on the money. With Chris running hard and the throw in the air, the play is going to be very close, the ball is caught as the runner is at the line, Roman makes his call, the runner is out!!

Chris R. had been thrown out at home by Chucky, a close play, but with Roman making the call, it was probably the right one. I had come around to third on my hit. Now with two outs, runner at third base, Hurtin' Units now down by only one run. Our next batter was Mikey Boy. Mikey tagged the first pitch toward right center field, the fielder hesitated and then had to run to his left and back and with an outstretched glove he managed to get his glove on the ball for a great catch... That's the ball game! Wild win 12-11. This was a nice game to end the season on; last year's league winners taking on this year's league winners in a good, well played, low scoring, tight defensive game...

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


Hurtin' Units       4      0      0      1      4      1      1         11      


The Wild             2      1      4      0       1       1     3         12        


The Playoffs:


This guy looks like Cam Clark...
with a beard ...

By now everyone has probably started growing their playoff beards, I started mine on Wednesday morning and it got a little itchy, so I shaved it off, and then I started another on Thursday morning, it got itchy so I shaved it off again...I started another on Friday...

The final seedings have been posted on the T.O.T website and our opponents are the 3rd , 12th, 9th and 6th seeds in this order... The nice thing about finishing first is that we will be the home team through out  the round robin...

Chris Ross has suggested that we have our own score keeper (who ever is sitting at the time) in addition to the game keeper. I concur with Chris on this idea, mistakes are sometimes made and keeping another record won't hurt us. As you have probably noticed,  I like to be prepared... My definition of LUCK is "Preparedness meeting opportunity".

There is a line in the movie Hoosiers (video link) that goes like this- " there is a tradition in tournament play, you not talk about the next step until you've climbed the one in front of you". One game at a time guys...


I would also suggest before the playoffs begin, you  try to get out for some batting practice or if you have a bat at least, pick it up and take 10 to 15 swings a couple of times over the weekend just to work the muscles used for batting. By the time we start the playoffs we will have been off for a week...
Here's to a great playoffs... UNITS UNDERSTAND!!