HELPIN' THE LITTLE RASCALS PLAY...

HELP THE KIDS PLAY TOURNAMENT.

Helpin' the Kids Play.

JULY 4-6, 2014


Coventry Park- In seasons past, I found that the HTKP tournament helped the Hurtin' Units teams to play a little better down the stretch to the playoffs. And if there was ever a season that we needed a change for the better, this would be the one. Where we really need to tightened things up is defensively. I looked at the standings on the Friday afternoon of the HTKP tournament (not sure of why I looked at them, it's not like something has changed for us) and it wasn't pretty. The Units still remained at the bottom of the barrel with a 0-9-0 record and a -96 plus/minus differential. I can't remember any team being this deep in the minus.

13	Dusty Cleats	11	3	8	0	6	140	176	-36
14	Brew Jays	9	2	6	1	5	101	117	-16
15	Hurtin' Units	9	0	9	0	0	101	197	-96

These numbers indicate more than just your average curse or jinx, this is more like a voodoo doll kind of spell cast on to the Units team. There are several ways to remove a spell like this one. Change the look on the field would be a good start. So I decided to make up some HTKP t-shirts for the tournament. And with 4 new players in the lineup, this could change things a bit. Added to the Hurtin' Units for the tournament were Andy G., Jim R., Brad W., and Phil G. Now that is some added fire power. I changed the colour of the tape on our bats to yellow (it was green for the last couple of years).

Hurtin' Units get mew equipment manager.

I purchased a little red folding wagon as our teams equipment manager. I also smudged the lineup and myself before game one. One more thing that I thought might change our luck was to bring out the Sambuca. We have used the sweet, slicky, licorice tasting beverage in previous seasons and this would be the first time for this season. I'm not sure if any of these things will help, but there has never been a better time to try.  

Game # 1 vs. Gruesome Devils

It's just their team name Buckwheat!!

Friday July 4th, 2014 at 8:15pm

Hurtin' Units lose 11-10

Coventry 3- This is probably my best season for pitching since I started in 2011. On the season, I have walked only 4 batters and have struck out more, either swinging or foul out than I can remember. I know the -96 doesn't look good, but really my pitching hasn't been the problem.

But with all that said, I thought it would be in the best interest of this team to start Andy G. in game 1. We needed a good start in this tournament and I hoped this could get us started. 

We did get a good start and at one point we had a 10-6 lead, but the speed of the Devils was too much (that Skippy guy can fly) and Roman is no slouch either.

I'm here for the beer.

Our defense was good in this game, we held the Gruesome to only 10 runs, but our bats were not firing on all cylinders. 

Going into the seventh inning, we had a chance to go ahead when Phil hit a triple with one out, but he was caught off the third base bag and was called out. I came up next and hit a single, which would have scored Phil. The next batter came up and hit into a fielder's choice for final out for the Units. The score was still tied going into the bottom of the inning. 

The Gruesome's lead off hitter Robin D. hit a single, the next batter hit a grounder to me between 1st and 2nd, I threw to first for the out and Robin advanced to second base. The next Devil batter also hit to me, I threw to first for the out and Robin advanced to third base. Two out winning run at third base. The next batter (Frasier) hit to Dave Mc. at short, Dave bobbled a little, but recovered, threw to first, but the ball went off Mike's glove and batter was safe, Robin came in to score and the game was over. 

We played a great game and we had a chance to win, we are getting closer and with 13 games left to play on the season, we could be looking at a win sometime in the near future.

Game # 2 vs. Tap Masters.

Only 9 runs all game...shocking.

Saturday July 5th, 2014 at 11:00am

Hurtin' Units lose 13-9

Coventry C1- I was a bit rushed before leaving home for this game and in my rush I must have put on two odd socks. I didn't realize my error until I was stretching my back just before the game. Well, all the other things I did before game #1 didn't seem to help us, so an odd pair of might be something to change our luck.

Yep it changed our luck alright... but not in the way I wanted. The Hurtin' Units bats went stone cold in this game against the Tap Masters. The Units only managed 5 runs in the first 6 innings and we put up a 4 run inning in the 7th falling short of the Tap Master's 13 run game.

You only need one bat.

The Units defense was pretty good (best I've seen all season, but we're not going to win many games scoring a single run an inning. 

We were the home team for this game, Phil called it and won the coin toss. Lou R. was our umpire. We were missing Dave Mc. from the tournament team for this game. 

I was originally planning on starting the game pitching, but I really wanted a win so I changed my mind at the start of the game. I put Andy in again. The Tappers got off to a good start, scoring 6 runs in the first. They scored again in the second, so I suggested to Andy that I come in to pitch and give them a different look. We slowed the Tap Masters, but without run support we were fighting an uphill battle. 

Late in the game, Bill C. took a ball off the shin which would slow him down for the rest of the tournament. 

As I mentioned before, the Units would rally in the bottom of the 7th, with 4 runs, but it would not be enough and the Tap Masters would get their 2nd win of the tournament. The Tap Masters would go on to win the HTKP tournament vs. the Dog Catchers by a score of 19-10.
   
Game # 3 vs. Sons of Pitches.

We need a win to stay in.

Saturday July 5th, 2014 at 5:15pm.

Hurtin' Units lose 9-8

Coventry C2- After the loss to the Tap Masters, we had to work the bar, side by side, with the team that basically knocked us out of the tournament. We now still had a slim chance to get in, if we could win a game, keep our plus/minus down and with a lot of help from other teams playing each other.  

There were 2 teams with 2 wins and a bunch off teams with a 1-1 record after their second game. With a slim chance still remaining, we turned our attention to the Sons of Pitches.

Art Lord-Stafford is dreamy...
he's my favorite player. 

Again, we had a chance to win our first game of the season and possibly sneak in to the top 4 of the tournament. By the time this game had started, we were all but out of the tournament, another team had a 2nd win and 2 of the teams with 1 win were playing each other and worse case scenario was a tie and that would give each team 3 points. All we could hope for was a win, for our first win on the season. 

We got off to a great start in this game, scoring 5 runs in the first inning and keeping the Sons off the score sheet. But the bats went cold again and the Units could only score 3 more runs in the whole game. The Son of Pitches would chip away at the Units lead and when the open inning was called (4th...way to early) the Units found themselves in a tie...at least that what we thought...We didn't score in the top of the inning and when we went on the field to defend the tie, the scorekeeper announced the the Sons actually had a 9-8 lead. The game was over. 

Dogglehead Day.

This was a tough way to lose, but  I guess it is the way our season has gone! I'm really proud of the team we fielded this weekend, we were in every game, our defense was good and I think it was a great experience for the new guys on the team...I think this tournament is going to help us down the stretch run.