CLOSE...BUT NO CIGAR or BOB SEGER.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. SONS OF PITCHES.

It's a fine line.

Game #10- July 8th, 2014

Hurtin' Units lose 20-19

Team Record 0-10-0

Coventry Park- On Tuesday afternoon, around 2:30pm, I was driving north on Mount Wolfe Road, the rain was falling hard, so hard I could hardly see out my windshield. The thunder and lightening were booming and flashing all around me as I slowly made my way toward Tottenham. Mike had sent me a text about 10 minutes earlier, informing me that it was raining like a MOFO in Tottenham.  What is it about rain and thunderstorms on Tuesdays? For the third time over the last 4 Tuesdays, we have had rain and thunderstorms and even a tornado. 

Smokin at the Plate.

With the volume of rain that was coming down, I thought for sure the Tuesday night games were going to be canceled and rescheduled because the diamonds, the other 2 times, were flooded and unplayable. 

The rain stopped shortly after I arrived home and the sun actually made an appearance for a brief time. Around 5:30pm, dark ominous clouds started to roll back in to the Tottenham area and the threat of rain again reared it's ugly head. The temperature had dropped and the wind had picked up as the front moved in. 

Wonder if we're playin'?

At 6:35pm Mike and I were on Mainstreet, the rain had started to lightly fall. It wasn't looking good; the heavy rains earlier on the day, Coventry known for it's ponding on the playing surface and the threat of rain and thunderstorms in the forecast didn't make playing our game very promising. 

When we arrived at Coventry, the sky was still splitting a little.  In the Pavillion, the Grisslies were hosting a Fan Appreciation evening. They had wine, food and a DJ playing Old Time Rock and Roll. The turnout was pretty good, either that or the people were there, at the park, to watch the Units take on the Sons of Pitches. Would this be the night the Units finally get a victory? And with the unsettled weather, would everyone show up to play?

Crossing the line...

With the unsettled weather, I was worried about the Units players showing up for the game; Our team is spread out over the countryside, from Alliston to Beeton to Orangeville and weather can be different in these areas. 

By 7:00pm 8 Unit players were at the park. Rick was still in the tropics (Katmandu or Guam), Don C. was under the weather (no pun intended) Art was in transit (golf game ran long) and I didn't know if Esua was going to show. 

Livin' on the edge.

The grounds crew was still mopping up the infield and the start of the game was delayed. We were the visitors in this 7:00pm game, Lou R. was the umpire. 

In the top of the first inning, it looked like we had a chance to Turn the Page when we sent 11 batters to the plate and scored 6 runs. But our lead was short lived when the Sons of Pitches scored 6 runs, of their own, in the bottom of the inning. 

In the second inning we scored only a single run; The SOPs countered with 2 in the bottom.

Over the next 2 innings we were Still the Same when we didn't score a single run and we gave up 10 more runs to the SOPs.

In the 5th inning the Units put up 3 more runs to chip away at the Sons lead. In the bottom of the inning we were defensively Like a Rock keeping the SOPs off the scoresheet. 

Going in to the 6th inning (open) the score was 18-10 for the Sons of Pitches. In the top of the 6th inning, Kevin lead off with a towering homerun over the right field fence; the ball was a little bit wind assisted and if he had been hitting Against the Wind it might not have gone out.

Things are not always as they seem.

The Hurtin' Units would send 11 more batters to the plate and score 8 more runs before the inning concluded. Going in to the bottom of the inning, the score was now 19-18 for the Units...Yep you read that right, 19-18 for the Hurtin' Units... We were probably thinking We got the Night. The Units lead would short lived... again; The Sons would come back, in the bottom of the 6th inning, to score 2 runs for the victory. 

This game was a really good character building game for the Units, we came back from a 8 run deficit, and our bats are really starting to be more consistent. In this game, every Hurtin' Unit's player hit .500 or better. Dave, Art and Joel all went 4 for 4 and Kevin, Art and Joel all scored 3 runs each. 

The most interesting team in the world...

For the second straight game (not including the tournament) we had scored 18 runs per game. These are encouraging signs; we need to still tighten up our defense and hopefully with 12 games remaining we can improve our Night Moves and better our game. 

CLOSE...BUT NO CIGAR.