IT WAS A DARK AND GRISSLIE NIGHT...

Hurtin' Units vs. The Grisslies.

Game # 21- August 20, 2014

Hurtin' Units lose 11-7

Team Record- 3-17-1

Keogh Park- I can't believe we are only 2 games away from the end of the regular season. One after this game. Where did the summer go? Now, I know our season was shortened by 2 games, because of the lighting problems at Keogh Park, the outfield damage on diamond #2 at Coventry and the first couple of rainy weeks in the month of May. All things considered I think things worked out okay. The Units, I believe, only had to play 1 makeup game (don't quote me on this, there may have been more) and we did have 2 or 3 scheduled 9:30pm games. I remember that there was a stretch in the season when it seemed to rain every Tuesday night. Doug was earning his rescheduling money back then.

Last week we had a late game against the Dogcatchers (some of us wish it didn't happen at all), but the game before ran late and we didn't get going until 9:45pm. It was also a cold night (11 degrees), another sign that the summer is coming to an end. The other signs that tell me summer is coming to an end are, the calendar (sure give away with this one), the CNE and the T.O.T August Tournament. 

Last weekend was the T.O.T. tournament. There were several out of town teams playing and in the fun division there were 8 teams competing.

Faster and stronger team.

I assembled a team again this year, but this year it was not called the Squirtin' Units. The Squirtin' Units are history, they had a good run, but now it was time to construct a new band of merry men. A stronger, faster and shinier team, that doesn't cost 6 million dollars to build.  This year's team was named the Hammell Hosers. The team was made of 8 Hammell Blvd. residents, 3 current Hurtin' Units players and Jeff B. Jeff made the cut when we needed a P2 for the tournament, Doug helped me out by assigning Jeff to the squad. 

Fleming Fighters...no loogie is untouchable.

The Hosers had a bit of a struggle in the round robin portion of the tournament. In the round robin the Hosers played the Merchants and won by 2 runs, then took on the Grusome Twosome and lost by a score of 11-8 and finally the Fathers and Sons team and lost by a lopsided score. The Hosers did manage to squeak in to the quarter finals against the Fleming Fighters (sounds like the name of super heros that fight spitting and loogies). 

Fathers and sons knew how to play.

The Hosers pulled out a 10-8 win and were off to the semis vs. the Father and Sons team again. CRAP!! Is basically what I said when I saw who we were facing. This game was much closer than the first game and in the top of the 6th inning, the Hosers actually took a 8-7 lead. The lead was short lived, the Fathers and Sons would score 4 runs in the bottom of the inning and would shut the Hosers down in the top of the seventh. The Fathers and Sons would go on to win the tournament.

Hurtin' Units vs. the Grisslies.

Minus 173...REALLY?

Before this game, I went online to the T.O.T  website to check out where everybody was positioned for the upcoming playoffs. The Dodge City Rounders sit at the top of the heap with 28 points, and the Dog Catchers and Tap Masters are tied for second position with 26 points. The Grisslies are having a really good season, they currently sit in 4th position in the standings with 23 points. The Units currently sit in 15th position and with the Dusty Cleats winning 2 games last week, the Units can only finish in 15th. D'oh!!!

Who saw this coming?

The one stat that jumps off the T.O.T standings page is the Hurtin' Units plus/minus. I have never seen such a lopsided statistic in this game. I keep asking myself how did we get so far in the negatives. The next closest team is -54 and that team is the Dusty Cleats. I decided to look back at the final standings for the last 3 seasons. 

In 2013, the Grisslies had the worst record in the league, they finished with a 3-20-1 record, the exact same record that the Units have right now. The Grisslies record was based on 24 game schedule and right now, the Units have 2 more games of a 22 game schedule remaining. We could finish better than the Grisslies did last season.

2013 Season Final Standings.

We could actually finish with a better record than the 2013 Grisslies. When I look at their record, it doesn't look that good, but the real difference between the Grisslies (2013) and Hurtin' Units (2014) is that the Grisslies had a 3-20-1 record, but had a 0 plus/minus. The Red Dogs won 6 games and had a plus/minus of -85. Somebody pinch me, because I'm sure I'm still living in bizzaro world. 

2012 Final Standings

2011 Final Standings.

The stats I have for the previous 2 seasons (2012, 2011) do not show the plus/minus, but I'm willing to bet that none of the team in these two seasons were even close to the 2014 Hurtin' Units plus/minus. How can this be, unless I am really still living in bizzaro world. Hey Superman (or Fleming's Fighters), get us out of here.

So we got that going for us. 

I also looked back to the 2010 season, again no plus/minus in my records. I guess we have only been keeping the plus/minus stat for 3 or so years. In the 2010 season, the Dusty Cleats had the worst record in the league with a 3-23-0 record. There is some light at the end of the Hurtin' Units tunnel, we will still have a better record (as far as wins and losses go) than the 2010 Cleats. That's a giant relief off my shoulders! And... and back then it was a 26 game schedule. So we got that goin' for us.   

            
GAME TIME: In the first game (June 23,2014), the Grisslies hammered us by a score of 27-11 to give the Hurtin' Units a 0-8-0 record on the season. A game with this kind of lopsided score can really get in the heads of a team, and it was a tough battle for us to recover from.

Big clouds...dark clouds.

Early in the day there were dark, almost black, clouds hovering over the town, threatening rain and thunderstorms. Neither of these materialized and by game time the weather was looking quite good. The daytime temperature reached 26 degrees, but with the humidity it felt like 31 degrees. By game time the temperature had dropped to a comfortable level, but he humidity was still lingering around. I think that most of the Hurtin' Units players would take these conditions over the weather last Thursday night with 10 degrees and a 9:45pm game time. 

Cousin Eddie....Grisslies fan.

For this 8:15pm start, we had only 9 players at the park. Missing from the lineup were Kevin, Billy and Mike. I pickup Jerry M. from the previous game as a sub. Roman was our umpire for this Grisslie night. The Units were the visitors in this game. 

Before this game had even begun on Thursday, I had said the Hurtin' Units players, that we could finish no higher than 15th position and treat this game as a practice game. What I meant by this was, since this game really had no bearing on our season finishing position, just go out and work or practice what you think you need to work on. I think some guys took advantage of what I was saying and worked on their batting and fielding. 

I know that I was working some stuff with my pitching. I pitched almost the entire game using pitches that I rarely use. At times, throughout the game, I found myself in unfavorable counts, but I stuck to what I was working on. I walked several batters in the game.  I didn't like it; my hand got sore from the way I was gripping the ball, but I stuck with it, and in the end I'm glad I did. We have one more regular season game remaining and I will probably do the same in the that game, hopefully with a better outcome. 

In the top of the first inning, the Units would go down quickly only sending 6 batters to the plate, stranding a runner on third. In the bottom of the inning, the Grisslies would only score a single run. Nice going boys!!

In the top of the 2nd inning, the Units would score a single run and in the bottom of the inning, the Units would hold the Gris off the score board. 

Units had the runs... 

In the top of the 3rd inning, the Units would produce 2 big, juicy runs (sounds gross doesn't it), but these runs were shortlived (probably with the assistance of Imodium...just kidding) and the Grisslies would score 2 more runs in the bottom of the inning. The score at the end of 3 innings of play...3-3 tie. 

It was arm a gettin.

In the top of the 4th, the Units would be shut out. The Grisslies would have themselves the biggest run inning on the night; the Units defense had a few hiccups, in the bottom, which ended up in about a 6 out inning.

Yep, a 6 out inning...The Units would have had an out at first, but Esau came off the bag a little too early for a safe call in favor of the batter. Don C. with a easy (it looked easy, can of corn) fly ball would have it go off his glove and drop to the ground, Clayton, who is always steady at second, had a ball go through his legs in to the outfield. A bizzaro world inning to be sure. 

Units needed a rally.

Over the next 2 innings, the Units were shut out and the Grisslies would score 3 more runs. The score after 6 complete innings...11-3 for the Griswolds. 

In the top of the seventh inning, the Hurtin' Units would rally for 4 more runs, but 4 runs would fall short of the 8 needed to tie this game. 

UNITS UNITE!!

I thought the Hurtin' Units played a really good game and with a few lucky breaks, we might have been good enough to pull out a victory, it was not to be on this night...UNITS UNITE!!

The Units next game is Monday August 25, 2014 at Keogh Park at 7:30pm vs. The Rusty Rebels..