END OF DUSTY ROADS...

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE DUSTY CLEATS 

Game # 5- May 26th, 2016

Hurtin' Units lose 11-8

Team Record- 1-4-0

Keogh Park- So far this season we have played every every time slot, 7:00, 8:15 and 9:30. We have played every diamond, Coventry 2 Coventry 3 and Keogh.

We have played teams in red, grey, blue, yellow and orange jerseys, but we still have not played a home game. We are the Road Warriors.

This season the Hurtin' Units schedule is a little different than any I can remember. We start the season with five consecutive road games (visitors game). And in our first four weeks, we play only a single game per week in 3 of the weeks.

We have also had a little break coming in to this game. The Hurtin' Units have not played since May 14th, when we lost to the Sons of Pitches by a score of 17-15. A nine day layoff could actually hurt us coming in to the game against the Cleats, hence we are the called the Hurtin' Units. I prefer to play more than one game per week, I believe it helps keep the rust off. I mentioned that this game againsts the Cleats is our fifth consecutive game on the road, next week the Hurtin' Units have their home opener.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the schedule, in fact, the Units will probably benefit from the early road schedule. The Hurtin' Units record is not that good over the four weeks, but our games have been close and we have competed. With a team record of 1-4-0, we have a plus/minus of -3. There are teams with a .500 record with a much worse plus/minus. 

The weather for this game was stinky hot, 27 degrees at 7pm and with the humidity it felt like 34 degrees.

At game time we had 11 Units players ready to take on the Cleats. Mark B. was the only missing player on the night. 

On Thursday afternoon I got a call from Rob F. asking me to sub, for the Dodge City Rounders, at 7 o'clock. I accepted the offer to play, even though it was pouring rain when he called. By late afternoon the rain had stopped and it looked like it was "game on". 

I subbed for the Dodge City Rounders, I played catch, I have mentioned this before, I really don't mind. What I do mind, is the condition of the batter's boxes at Keogh Park. The batter's boxes at the park were the worst part of the diamond. Even with all the rain earlier in the day the rest of the diamond was in very good condition. The boxes are arguably the most important part of the diamond and last night I was frustrated that I had to stand in mud like conditions every time I was batting. And when I was catching, in the Dodge City game, I saw multiple batters slipped coming out of the batter's box, running to first base. I also experienced the cool splash of the slop every time a pitch missed the mat. 

In a conversation with Gordy D., he suggested that we have a rake, a tamper and a bit of water to maintain the boxes. The problem is, who would do be responsible for doing this. I might experiment before we play our next game, to see how much work it would to take care of and/or maintain the batter's boxes on a weekly basis. If it doesn't take a lot of effort, it might be worth bringing it forward at the next Captain's meeting.

Game time. 

This is the tale of two games. The first half was dominated by the Cleats, but the second half was controlled by the Hurtin Units. In the first half the Cleats scored enough runs to win, in the second half the Hurtin' Units did not. I mentioned earlier that we had a 9 day layoff and I believe this layoff hurt us.

When you don't swing the bat for 9 days it has a tendency to make your timing a little off. It took at least one time through the batting order to get a feel for the bats again. It took the Units 3 innings just to get though the order the first time. But by that time the Cleats had taken enough of a lead that the Units could not make up the difference.

This was really the whole story, the Units played great defense after the first couple of innings, but again, the score was too high already for the Units to come back. If the Units had couple more Innings, there might have been a chance to make up the difference, but this was not to be on this night. Hopefully, with a normal schedule and home game coming up soon, we can finally get back in the win column.

The highlights or events of this game.

Here some of the things that happened in this game.

• Units got a new bat. On Wednesday evening, the captains voted in favor of each team receiving a new bat for the 2016. Each team got a new Psycho bat. 
• Jon almost made a triple play. With Runners on first and second base, the Dusty Cleats batter hit to Jon at shortstop, Jon tagged the runner running from second to third, touched the bag at second for the force, and threw to first barely missing a triple play on the runner running to first.
• On one play, Gord had an adventure in the Outfield he looked like a juggler at a busker festival, the ball was hit to Gord, it went off his glove, up in to the air, off his arm,  off his leg, off his shoulder, off his other arm, off his head and then it was caught with his left hand (this is how I remember it). An excellent, much needed catch to be sure.
• Jimmy R. gave me a set of green shoelaces, for my cleats, in the first inning. I only managed to get one of them into my shoe for the game, I will definitely get the other one in by next game. Having only one lace, probably gave us bad luck, I will be sure to change the other by next game. 
• There was one inning when the Units were on the field, the train started to go by, the Units played solid defense and by the time the train had finished the Units were coming off the field. I could not hear anything the whole time.
• Brooksie, for the Dusty Cleats, hit a homerun over the right field fence.
• Robert J. played catch for 3 innings and hit the ball hard in his at bats. 
• Pete made a deep hit catch off the of Brad Y. 
• I didn't have time to smudge the Hurtin' Units bats over the last 9 days, but be rest assured that they will be done for the Home opener.     

 Tragically Hit. 

When I do the blog, I will from time to time mention things that are going on in our timelines,( i.e Stanley Cup Championship or Jack Layton).

It came as a huge shock this week, when the Tragically Hip announced that front man Gord Downie has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. I thought I would include a video in this post of the Captain's blog. Enjoy!!