COOKIE IN CHARGE...

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE DOGCATCHERS.

Game # 22- August 19, 2015

Hurtin' Units lose 24-21

Team Record- 11-10-1

Keogh Park- Over the past weekend the T.O.T league hosted our annual tournament. The Hurtin' Units were well represented with 10 Units players participating on 3 different teams. On the Merchants, Al F. was the lone Units player, on the Hammell Toes (team made up of mostly Hammell Blvd players + 2 others), Dave Mc., Mikey Boy and Myself (Jimmer) were playing, and on team JAK Fund, 6 Units players, Todd, Darrell, Bo, Dave Mil, Vince and Cookie all played. 

In the Beer League division, there were 10 teams, made up of mostly players from our league, but also some invited friends and family were involved in the play on the fields. The division was setup so that each team would play 3 round robin games and the top 4 teams would go on to the semi finals and then the 2 semi winners would play in the finals. The JAK  Fund team would go undefeated in the round robin with 3 wins, the Hammell Toes would defeated, but with 2 wins and a tie. The JAK Fund team would finish first in the round robin, the Hammell Toes would finish with 5 points and a +14 in the round robin. There were several other teams with 5 points, but the Hammell Toes would be the highest plus/minus and finish in third place. The Hammell Toes would win in the semi finals (vs. Paul's Pounders) and the JAK Fund would do the same (vs. Gruesome). It would be the Hammell Toes vs. The JAK Fund in the finals.

The finals, for the Beer League division, was a very good, close game, that could have gone either way with a good inning for either team. The Hammell Toes, had a few more lucky breaks and would be the victors of the tournament with an 11-4 win. I really enjoyed playing this tournament and I'm glad that so many Units were playing, this intense play can only make our league team, Hurtin' Units, better going in to the playoffs. 

The down side for me, in this tournament, was that I pulled a hamstring in the semi finals and it is still very tender. Crap!! 

Following the tournament, a handful of the Hammell Toes had to depart quickly, for a RVing trip to Sherkston, so there was not a lot of celebration following the win. Mike, Jamie, Cam, Glen, were all heading out that afternoon.  

Captain Cookie at the helm. 

I was asked to go to Sherkston and I decided to go down for a couple of days of rest and rehab on my leg. My attendance has been excellent this season, so I figured I would go. While Mike and I were gone, the Hurtin' Units only had a single game. I needed someone to captain for this game, and who better than the Cookie to do the job. I know we have 2 former league captains on the Units this season, but Mike and I thought Cookie was the man to handle the task. 

The result was not a win, but looking at the scoresheet, it was a pretty close game against a tough team. Good game Units. 

Captain Cook handled the task with ease and with a hit here or there the result may have been different... On the surface it looks like he handled the task with ease, but post game e-mails might be telling a different story. Was there a mutiny a foot? I received this post game anonymous e-mail from a Units player. 

Hey Jimmer and Mike, we lost 24-21 tonight, but that's not the story. I really hope one or both of you are back for tomorrow night's game. I can't play another game under captain Cookie, or as he likes to refer to himself, The General. Here's why:

- it was 80 degrees Celsius and he made us do push ups and laps before the game

- he put himself batting 4th and Todd 10th, because Todd is too tall

- after diving and missing a ball he made Vince stand in the corner and sing oh canada

- despite being injured he put Bo in the outfield and made him pinch run for himself

‎- he told Roman he thought he was a good umpire after missing a call

- we had to salute him before each at bat, and,

- after we lost he called a practice for 5am

Jimmer, Mike, please come back!

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Bell network.

After reading this disturbing e-mail, I can only apologize to the entire team for my decision and assure everyone next time Cookie is in charge, you all will have power to put him in a caged corner of the diamond, and the pitcher can throw multiple baseballs toward him...What? We already do that to him? Who knew? I've got nothing then... maybe that's why he is so tough on everyone....Good job Cookie!!! 

Since I was not at the game, it is slightly more difficult to highlight any plays or hits or... But I can tell everyone this...it looks like the weekend tournament helped everyone in their batting. 45 total runs in this game. Wow!! it must have been a revolving door at home plate as runner after runner came home. I hope there was no 9:30 game. 

The weather for this game was hot and humid, with temperatures in the high 20s.  

Roman was the umpire on the night.

At game time there were 8 Hurtin' Units players warming up for this tough match against the Dogcatchers. Missing from the lineup were Mike O., Jimmer, Bill and Dave Mil. The Units picked up Tim O. and Rob F. as subs. 

I will not try to describe what happened in the game, the boxscore will be the tour guide in this posting of the blog. Good game Units. UNITS UNDAUNTED!!