MASTERS OF THEIR DOMAIN...

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE TAP MASTERS. 

Game # 4- May 20th, 2015

Hurtin' Units lose 22-15

Team Record 2-2-0

Over the past weekend, I started thinking about the Hurtin' Units upcoming game vs. the Tap Masters. The Tap Masters always seem to have the Hurtin' Units number. I think that every team, whether professional, amateur or recreational has that one team that is their nemesis (i.e Montreal Canadians vs. the Boston Bruins), for the Hurtin' Units, I feel that team is the Tap Masters. I can't remember ever beating the Masters in regular season, tournaments or playoffs. I can honestly say, I don't know what the Units all time record, against the Tap Masters is, so I decided to do a bit of research on the topic.

Intense Research Results.

After some intense research, I discovered my feelings regarding the Tap Masters are valid. Since the Tap Masters came in to the league in 2012, they have dominated the Hurtin' Units. In the seven games played, the Tap Masters have a 6-1-0 record. And they have outscored the Units by 127 to 67 runs. Yikes!! You have to think that sooner or later things have to balance out. Right?

This game is the final game of our 4 game road trip to start the season. We have been on the road since May the 5th and I think everyone will be happy to get home, eat a delicious, home cooked meal and sleep in their own beds. I don't think there is anything more uncomfortable than trying to sleep on the team bus. The Hurtin' Units home opener is next Thursday Night vs. the Master Batters. 

The weather for this game was still a little on the chilly side, with a high temperature on the day of only 15 degrees, a brisk northwest wind making it feel cooler and mostly sunny skies... so we had that going for us. It's an 8:15pm game you say, the sun we be going down during the game...D'oh!! or should I be saying " what the deuce?". Family Guy fans should know this one. 

At game time we had 12 players dressed in navy and white shirts, although some of those shirts were covered up with a warmer outer layer. All 12 guys again, probably another good night for a team picture, forgot again...D'oh!!

The Masters de Tap have once again shown their dominance over the Hurtin' Units. I didn't mention, to the Hurtin' Units players, about the record vs. the Tap Masters until after the game. Maybe, if I had, there may have been more incentive to want a victory against these guys. I will definitely bring it up before the next game with the Tap Dancers.

I woke up on Tuesday morning with a extremely tight lower back, I could barely bend over, I popped a muscle relaxant and hoped for the best. When I finished work on Tuesday, my back was still tight, fortunately I had a massage booked and let my therapist work her magic. The next morning (Wednesday), I woke up and my back was feeling good, the only problem was, my neck was stiff and my shoulders not much better. I popped another muscle relaxant and again hoped for the best. Later Wednesday afternoon, I started thinking about asking Darrell to pitch and at game time I asked him to go in. 

I probably should not have asked him to pitch, not because he's not a good pitcher (he is, he's super awesome), but more because he is also an awesome second baseman and if he had been at second we probably would have been out of the first inning sooner. I really enjoy playing second base, I can usually hold my owe, but Darrell is so solid in this position.

In the top of the first inning, the Units would score 5 runs. Awesome!! In the bottom of the inning, the Tappers would score seven. Crap!!

In the second inning, the Units would score only a single run, but the upside is the defense would hold the Masters off the scoresheet. 

The bad news is that over the next 4 innings, the Tap Masters would out score the Units, in every inning, to the tune of 15 runs to the Units 5 runs. The score after 6 complete innings was 22-11 for the Masters. The Units would rally in the top of the seventh with 4 more runs, but it would not be enough, the final score 22-15 for the Tappers. 

We played a decent game on the night, we had one inning when we threw the ball around, allowing several runs to score and runners to advance a base or two. The Tap Masters really hit the ball hard, getting it by our infielders and on one occasion just getting the ball by Scotty, in the outfield, who almost made the catch. Scotty also had to run in to make a spectacular sliding catch in shallow LCF. On this play, I thought the Tapper's runner, at second base, left early on the tag, but Roman was honest about not seeing it because he was watching Scott for a fair catch. I can live with that, only one umpire, can't watch everywhere.

The Units also hit the ball well; Cookie screamed a line drive to the first baseman, Vinny lined out to short, I was caught again, in this game, in left field and Dave Miller continues to impress me with his hitting and defense. Hicks (the birthday boy) hit a homerun over the left field fence, he also struck out for the final out of the game (homeruns cancel out strike outs for jugs of beer). Cookie made a barehanded catch, at catcher, for an important out. Vince made a scary good catch in right field, crashing in to the chain link fence. 

Over all, I thought we played pretty well; we had one bad inning defensively and our batting was not quite where it should be with 4 innings of only 1 run or less. I don't think we should push the panic button yet. Scotty is looking forward to the Units getting their 4th win of the season to surpass the Hurtin' Units record of 2014. We have 22 more games to get ur done boys. Let's set a goal of 4 wins and work upward from there. 

Thanks to Gina for score keeping. 

The Hurtin' Units next game is Thursday May 28th at 7:00pm at Keogh Park. The Units first home game of the season.