HURTIN' UNITS WIN A NAILBITER...

HURTIN' UNITS vs. TORN LIGAMENTS...

Game # 4  May 24, 2011

Hurtin Units Win 11-10

Team Record- 4-0-0

Coventry Park- The weather seems to be the topic of discussion this spring and if we continue to get more wet weather, we are probably going to set a record for the most rainfall in the month of May. I was working around the yard last weekend and the plant growth this spring is amazing, the grass now needs cutting every week (for me this is a lot), the Dandelions are taking over the world (there's probably a future Stephen King novel in the last statement) and all this damp weather has created breeding grounds for mosquitos anywhere water can pool...

I think, with all the rainy weather in the month of May, the Hurtin' Units have been quite fortunate to have played all of our games, sure the first one was canceled, due to poor field conditions, but the three nights we did play, there was no rain... Sooner or later (hopefully sooner) the unsettled weather has to stablize and dry warm days have to follow...The past long weekend was overall pretty good, with the exception of some late thunderstorms on Monday... 

Not an actual Torn Ligament Player.

 In this game, the Units were up against our last year's nemesis. The Torn Ligaments were the only team that the 2010 Hurtin' Units did not win against, at least once, in the 2010 season. On May 18, 2010, the second game of the season, the Torn Ligaments handed the Units a 7-5 loss and on August 4, 2010 the Torn Ligaments and the Hurtin' Units battled to a 7-7 tie. This season the teams are different, but the Torn Ligaments still have lots of secret weapons, to battle the Units...

The weather for game day on Tuesday was overcast for most of the day, but around 6pm the sun started to take  charge it was looking good for our game, but then the clouds took over again and by game time it was overcast again...I guess it beats looking into a setting sun. ...The temperature at 6pm was 13 degrees, I thought it might be time to dust off my batting gloves, after the vibes we were feeling in our bats, in the cool temperatures, in last week's game...

For the first time this season we were not the home team. At game time we had all 12 of the Hurtin' Unit players and all, except for Brad, dawned the Royal Blue shirt with yellow lettering and our new logo...

As I had mentioned earlier, the Torn Ligaments are our nemesis and they certainly showed it again on Tuesday evening. The Hurtin' Units came out swinging aggressively in the first three innings, scoring 4 runs in the first, 1 in the second and 2 more in the third against the pitching of Andy G., and the Unit defense held the Ligaments to 0 runs in their first two innings. In the bottom of the third inning, I came into pitch an inning, I threw some decent pitches, didn't walk anyone, but the Ligaments hit the ball through some gaps and over some heads and when the dust settled at the bottom of the inning, the Torn Ligaments had put up 3 runs to make the score 7-3 after 3 innings...

The Hurtin' Units managed to score 4 more runs in the fifth inning and the Ligaments countered with 5 in the bottom of the inning. Andy's pitching in combination with the cold evening air had us hitting a lot of ground balls for outs and the hits we did get didn't get us around to score. Neither team could score in the sixth inning and the score after six completed innings was 11-8 in favor of the Hurtin' Units...

In the top of the seventh inning (open) the Hurtin' Units went down in a ball of flames, 4 batters and it was “ change em up boys”. In the bottom of the inning the Ligaments got off to a great start, getting some runners on base and bringing 2 runs in with nobody out...11-10. The next two batters ( Rodger and Dave) also got on base and then finally Charlie hit a ground ball which forced Dave out at second base, but Rodger now moved up to third base... One out with the tying run at third, the winning run at first and the always dangerous Andy G. the next Ligament batter...

Bill J. threw Andy a couple of unsatisfactory pitches, Andy had a plan and was looking for something, perhaps a pitch to drive to his off field... Andy did see a pitch he liked and drove it just left of second base, the runners were on the move, the ball looked like it might make it through, but Bob M., the Units shortstop, made a great diving grab, relayed to Mooner, at second, for the force play on Charlie and then Mooner threw a bullet to Mike O. standing on home plate for the out of the runner coming from third base... The runner from third was easily called out... An amazing double play, stellar defense and the Hurtin' Units hold on for a 11-10 victory!!

Boxscore:            1    2    3    4    5     6    7        Total

Hurtin' Units       4    1    2    0    4     0    0           11   

Torn Ligaments   0    0   3     0   5     0     2          10   

Game Highlights: There were a couple of highlights that stood out for me in this game. The game ending double play started by Bob M. to Mooner at second for the force and then to home for the out, on the runner from third, is definitely worth mentioning again... Bill J. And Chris L. hit the ball really hard in the early innings, Bill actually hit the ball over the head of the center fielder, but had to stop at first because he had taken a runner earlier in the game... Cal R., Bob M., and Mooner all went 3 for 3 in the game, Bob scored 3 times... Paul G. was flawless in his 1st base defense debut... And our outfield defense was excellent in tracking down and getting the ball back to the infield...

As far as nail biters go, this game was probably as good as it gets. Great game guys!!

JIMBITS:

• We finally got our shirts for last night's game, although the shirts seem a little thinner this season and it was quite nipplie last night (13 degrees, most of us had to wear something else underneath the team shirt to keep warm), it was great to look around and see everyone dressed in the same colour...
• Speaking of shirts, our sponsor's name is on the back and our sponsor this season is the Taste of Freedom Resturant. I've never been to the resturant, but I was talking to our teammate Paul E. and he told me it was his favorite resturant in town...
• There was a play in last night's game that was both bizzare and scary at the same time...The play I'm referring to is the throw by Mooner, from home plate, to myself at second base, the ball narrowly missed base runner Gord T's head and then ended up in my glove. I saw the throw coming, but when Gord ran to the bag, I lost site of the ball and just as it went by his head, I managed to catch it... All I can say is that would have hurt... LOL.
• I mentioned several times, during the game last night, how important I believe the catcher position is. I know it doesn't have the dash and flash of the shortstop or pitching positions , but I think that it is an important position. Again this season, as in 2010, the Hurtin' Units don't have a designated catcher and so it becomes “catcher by committee”. We have had 7 of our 12 players catch at least one inning in our games. I actually like catching and Mike has volunteered to catch the bulk of the time, but I think it's a good thing to have guys catch in a game. I believe that catching an inning or two, keeps our arms looser and because we are talking to the umpire, we can communicate information (i.e. Outs, strikes, etc.) to our infield and outfields to keep guys in the game... There are also times when pitcher struggles and the catcher can help by providing a target...I'm sure the other teams wonder why Mooner would be catching, but Kevin told me last week that he wouldn't mind catching an inning and I took him up on his offer, it probably won't hurt us too much... runners going to second, that's a different story....Heads up Mooner's catching!!...LOL. 

Our next game is Monday May 30, 2011 at 8:15pm at Keogh Park vs. The Banshees...