HURTIN' UNITS ESCAPE THE REBELS...

HURTIN' UNITS vs. RUSTY REBELS

Game # 7 - June 6, 2011

Hurtin' Units win 14-13

Team Record 5-2-0

Keogh Park- The weather and playing conditions for this game, seemed about ideal on the surface, but when we actually got the diamond we discovered it was not as good as it seemed. The temperature was in the 20s, but it was very humid and it wasn't long before most of us were dripping with sweat. The sun was shining bright in the western sky, any player facing in that direction was experiencing difficulty seeing the ball. I remember an exchange and offerings of sunglasses at the end of the first inning.

At game time there were 11 Hurtin' Unit players, although this would change. After pitching only 2 innings, Bill J. had to leave for personal reasons. One other note on Bill J., after being hit by a line drive in our last game, his arm was still bruised, and to add insult to injury, the morning after being hit he was stung (by a bee or wasp) on the hand of the bruised arm. Ouch!

After a rough road trip, we were back to being a home team.

We got off to a bit of a rough start. In the top of the first inning the Rebels scored twice and the Units came up with nothing. The top of the second inning wasn't very good either, the Rebels scored 5 more runs and the noose around our collective collars began to tighten just a little bit, memories of recent games starting to creep in to our heads... In the bottom of the second inning the Units bats came to life and brought around 3 runs. In the top of the third, I came in to pitch an inning and as I was warming up Bill J. informed me that he had to leave. (Bill had mentioned to me earlier that he had a family issue that he was dealing with and he might not make our game on Wednesday night. I don't know if last night's sudden departure was related to this family issue). My pitching in the top of the third inning was a little shaky to start, I must admit I was concerned about Bill and this was a distraction. We managed to hold the Rebels to 2 more runs, but in the bottom the Rebels shut us down again... The score after 3 innings was 9-3 for the Rusty Rebels.

In the top of the forth inning our defense shut the Rebels down, no runs, and in the bottom of the inning the Hurtin' Units struck for 5 runs...There was one event that happened in the forth inning that made us feel warm (well we were actually already warm) and tingly all over. With two Rebel batters out and Captain Hugh batting, with two strikes on him, I threw a pitch that Hugh watched hit the back part of the board for strike 3... GOT THIRST?? SEE CAPTAIN HUGHY... Captain Hugh, who is usually a real Chatty Cathy, most of the time, was suddenly silenced for... about a whole minute...

The fifth inning was very similar to the forth inning without the amazing strike out of the Rebel's captain Hughy. Did I mention he just stood and watched the pitch hit the board without even swinging the bat? The Hurtin' Units defense shut out the Rebels again and in the bottom of the inning the Units scored another 5 runs capped off with a 3 run homerun, over the left center field fence by Mooner (2). The score after 5 innings, 13-9 for the Hurtin' Units...

The top of sixth inning wasn't my pitching moment, I walked the first 3 batters, starting with 9 straight balls. The fortunate thing was they were all good hitters including Geoff Keogh, who hit a homerun in to the tennis courts in the second inning and the guy who leads the league in OBA with a perfect 1.000 average. I did however walk in a run, but we managed to get out of the inning giving up only 3 runs with some solid defense behind me. The down side was that we were unable to score any runs in the bottom of the sixth. In the top of the seventh inning the Rebels scored another run, tying the game at 13-13. Still in the top of the seventh, game tied, two out, Rebel runners on first and third, the batter with a deep count, I threw a pitch, the batter swung, made contact with the ball and foul tipped it in to Mike's out stretched glove for the final out for the Rebels evening. The worst we could do is tie this game...


Mooner was the lead off batter in the bottom of the seventh inning, he took a pitch or two and then when he saw something he liked, hammered a hard hit ball in to the outfield, digging hard he made it to second base. The next batter was Brad, who hit a line drive to center field , Mooner came all the way around from second to score and win the game... Make the final 14-13 for the Hurtin' Units...

Boxscore;           1    2     3     4     5     6     7            Total

Hurtin' Units      0    3     0     5     5     0     1               14  

Rusty Rebels      2     5    2     0     0     3     1               13  

Highlights: There were some highlights in this game, but it's really to hot to try and remember them... I do remember a couple of things... Mooner's 3 run homerun...Bob making a nice over the shoulder catch at short...Mike catching a foul tip, in the seventh, for the last out of the Rebels...Mooner's delayed throw to Mike at first, making Mike stretch out like Rubberman (okay, this might not be a highlight, but it was fun to watch)... Brad's game winning RBI in the bottom of the seventh, I'm sure there were others and I apologize if I've missed anyone...

Our next game is Wednesday June 8, 2011 at Keogh Park vs. the Grisslies...