HURTIN' UNITS GREW SOME IN WIN AGAINST DEVILS.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. GRUESOME DEVILS. 

Game # 9 - June 22, 2015

Hurtin' Units win 23-16

Team Record- 4-5-0

Coventry Park- This game marks the 7th away game the Units have played and there is one more before we are the home team again. I know that it really doesn't matter that much who is the home team and who is away. In tournament play, with a coin flip, the winner of the flip will often take the away position just to put pressure on the opposition. I guess, in many cases the top of the order is strongest at the beginning of the game.

In this game, we get the Gruesome Devils (or did they drop the Devil part? no wait, that was Tampa Bay or New Jersey) a team captained by Jens L. and little Stevie D. In the Units first season, Jens L. played for the Hurtin' Units and he was a monster contributor to the Units winning the league. 

Drew Miller takes 60 stitches on Gruesome cut.

Since the Gruesome Devils came in to the league in 2012 the Hurtin' Units have not had a very good record. From 2012-2014 the Units have played the Devils 8 times. The Units have played the Devils, 1 time in the playoffs (loss), 2 times in the HTKP tournament (2 losses), and 5 times in the regular season with 4 losses and only 1 win.  The Units only have a single win in 8 meetings with the Gruesomes. I would have never guessed such a lopsided win/loss ratio between our teams. It's time for all this to change.

Yvonne De carlo played Lily in the Munsters.
Gruesome? I don't think so!! 

Up until this game, I have been going on to the T.O.T website and scouting the opponent we would be playing. I have decided to stop doing this because I don't think it has helped me at all. So when it came to this game, I was a little surprised at the awesome talent the Gruesome Devils had in their lineup and where they reside in the standings. But I guess there are teams who look at the 2014 Hurtin' Units roster and say the same thing.  

On Tuesday morning, at around 6am, the rain was coming down extremely hard and I wondered what kind of pooling was going on at the Coventry diamonds. The rain let up around 10am and the sun started to peek through. At game time the sky was almost clear and the diamonds had dried up to perfection. There was a soft breeze making the weather great for this game. The batter's boxes were just a little damp, but it was actually a little better for grip. 

At game time we had 9 players in Units garb and 2 subs on hand for the game. I called for 2 subs because Scott was unsure how his knee would hold up and I didn't want to be left shorthanded. Missing from this game were Al, Bill and Dave Mil. We were again the visitors in this game. We picked up John D. (A.K.A Victor) and Cliff T. as subs...Thanks guys.

I changed the lineup for this game because we were short some players. I put myself to the top of the order for the first time this season (I've been batting last all season) and I hoped I could spark a good response. I had a decent night at the plate...In fact everyone did. 

Gruesome Baseball: Our teammate Mike O. was
 hit by a ground ball several years ago. 

This game was another on our long list of our Coventry Park games and being the visitor for the 7th time this season. We had 11 guys for this game and it warmed the cockles of my heart to see 5 or 6 Hurtin' Unit players stretching along the diamond fence post game. When I saw this going on, I said to Darrell that it reminded me of one spring, when I went on vacation to Dunedin, Florida. I was out jogging and on one of the streets I was on, I came upon the Blue Jays training camp and there they were, about 40 Blue Jay players (or want to be players) all lined up stretching along a fence in the training facility doing the same stretching routine as the Units. Wow! We looked like the pros. Then, just after the stretching session last night, every Hurtin' Unit's player and the subs were all throwing the ball to warmup...an excellent site to see. 

By now, most of you know I write down or take a picture to assist me in the recording of the game. Last night (probably because of the exciting win), I forgot to do either one of these things..." What the Deuce"? I guess we can go a game without a boxscore for a posting. It's the score on the score sheet that really counts. 

I titled this posting "Hurtin' Units Grew Some In Win Against Devils" and I really think we grew as a team. We had a few innings where we bent a little, but in this game we fought hard to get ourselves out of jams and we found a way to close it out. I liked that we used some mental tricks to help us through. "How many out"? Only 1, but in fact it was 2, we found a way to get out of some innings. We have to keep working at finding ways to get out of innings with minimum damage against us. 

Devils opened Hurtin' Units eyes.

I mentioned that I forgot to get a copy of the scoresheet because of all the excitement of winning this game, but I had also forgot that this game was our 4th win of the season. It was probably a good thing I had forgotten about the 4th win thing, or I might have gotten nervous and walked some batters (oh wait, I did walk some batters). Side Note: I had a discussion with Mike after the last game (Rusty Rebels) and I said I should have walked some guys, in that game, and Mike agreed... walks don't hurt as much, in this league, as most people think...big bats do! I truly believe the Units have the offensive power to win, and I repeat again, we just need to find ways to consistently close down our opponents. 

Winner, winner chicken dinner. 

This game was game # 9 on our season. Last season, game #9 was played on June 26,2014 and the Units were beaten by the Rusty Rebels by a score of 24-18. That loss would be the Hurtin' Units 9th in a row to start the season. The Units would finally get a win in game #12, but by that time, we were not going anywhere and our confidence was almost non-existent. The Units did manage 2 more wins and a tie on the season. So to win our 4th game, in the 2015 campaign, breaking last season's total, is definitely worth a word or two. Winner, winner chicken dinner!! Nice job Units.

Since our last game, I have spent some time on the internet trying to find some pitching tips to help me help our team get out of trouble. I spent some time in this game working on what I had been learning. There were some times when I struggled, but overall I was pleased with my results and a win doesn't hurt either. Striking out the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh inning really helped to solidify a victory and the thirsty, beer drinking Devils probably looked forward to the Legion.

Since I originally published this post, Lou the stats guy sent me a copy of the game sheet, so I can include a couple of stats from the game.

There were a few highlight on the night: Brad M. (Devils) robbed Scotty P. of extra bases on an amazing catch in LCF, Todd made a couple of painful catches, one a line drive, the second were he had to run in on a sore leg, Cookie was hitting the ball hard all night long, Vinny changed bat (it's about time, that other bat was crap) and the top of the batting order was on fire at the plate, providing very few easy innings for the Devils...Units Unleashed!!!

One final note for this week, congratulations should go out to the Chicago Blackhawks and Golden State Warriors on their championship victories.