HURTIN' UNITS CAN'T ESCAPE DOGCATCHERS.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE DOGCATCHERS.

HURTIN' UNITS FIND THEMSELVES IN BIZZARO WORLD.

Game # 21 - August 9, 2016

Hurtin' Units lose 31-30

Team Record 12-9-0 

Coventry Park- The Hurtin' Units have found themselves in Bizzaro World.

I'm not sure how we ended up in this world, but I'm not liking it. I think it all goes back to the game against the Sons of Pitches (on Monday night), when a couple of different things happened to send us in to Bizzaro World. 

The first thing that happened was Jimmy R. showed up with his shirt on inside out and the second thing was I drove my car to the game, (I have never done this, bad carma) I always drive my van. These things are enough to send us in to the world of the opposite....BIZZARO WORLD!

Coming in to this week the Hurtin' Units were on a 4 game winning streak, they had the second best runs against in the league and were sitting in fourth place in the standings. The Units have now been thrust in to Bizzaro World. 

On Monday night, the Hurtin' Units played the Sons of Pitches and when the diamond dust settled, the Units found themselves on the losing end of a 40-12 loss. 40 runs scored against us, the highest number of runs scored against a league team this season. 

In the 4 games prior to this SOPs loss, the Hurtin' Units had only given up 38 runs in total, less than 10 runs per game on average. And to make things a little more bizarre, I pitched the first 3 innings and gave up 20 runs and then Peter came in to pitch (2016 pitching debut) and he gave up exactly 20 more runs. Bizarro World. 

In this game vs. The Dogcatchers, the Units defense looked like they did against the Sons of Pitches. The difference in the two games was that the Units bats were actually hitting the ball. How many games are there, in this league, where a team scores 30 runs and loses? I'm willing to bet, with not even looking, that there is not a game this season where a team has scored 30 runs and lost. I can guarantee that the Dogcatchers have not been in one. tHIS IS DEFINITY bIZZARO wORLD!!

Game Time:

The weather for this game was good, the temperature was hovering a 25 degrees and with the humidity it felt like 28. The sky was mostly clear and there was a light breeze. 

At game time we had 9 Hurtin' Units players dressed and ready to take on the Dogcatchers. Missing on the night were Peter, Gord and Clayton. We picked up Hags (in a black Hurtin' Units shirt, bad karma here) as a sub. 

INSIDE THE LINES.

• Maybe we were in Bizzaro world to start the season also. In our first 6 games of the season we had 5 visitor games and 1 home game. A record of 2-4-0 to start the season, ending with the Dogcatchers. In our final 6 games we are the visitors again 5 games and a home team in 1 game, all starting with the Dogcatchers this time. I hope the record is a little better this time around.
• When it comes to baseball, most of us have little superstitious quirks that help us or hurt us throughout the season (one of mine is the Hurtin' Units' black shirt, which Darrell was wearing for this game. Hurtin' Units black shirts era was not a good one). Some guys will not wash their shirt or change their socks (stinky). Most of you have heard me talk about bat smudging, something I do when we are not batting well or if other teams have use our bats. I have some superstitions and when things are not going well and usually I'll change things up. Jimmy R. has suggested we have a shot of Sambuca before the game next week, so let's give it a shot (pun intended). I will definitely not bring my cars to the game and I'm sure Jimmy will not wear his shirt inside out again this season. 
• The Hurtin' Units bats were back in this
  
  game, but the gloves were still having a difficult time. Our defense has been stellar this season, it doesn't just disappear over 2 games.
• The Unit's offense seemed to pick up steam as the game progressed, in the last 3 innings we scored 22 runs. We're coming back...
• Ingo and Brad were both hitting the ball well. 
• Ingo made a nice line drive catch at third.
• I knew this was going to be a tough night. No team gets beat 40-12 without losing some confidence.
• Going in to the bottom of the 7th inning, the Hurtin' Units had an 8 run lead...and couldn't get 3 out. The Dogcatchers sent 11 batters to the plate, 9 would score. 
• The playing surfaces, for the 2 games this week, were awful. The lack of rain has turned Keogh and Coventry diamonds in to an incredibly hard surface. On Monday evening, I recall several hard hit ground balls bouncing over the heads of infielders. We need some rain. 
• The Units defense is fighting the ball this week, the offense started to come around in this game, next week the defense will be back.  The banner and Sambuca on Monday night. 
• Rarely does a team score 30 runs and lose a game. Get us out of Bizzaro World!!!
• Al F. and Jon D. both went 6 for 6 in batting.
• Mark went 5 for 5 in batting. 
• Jimmy R. and Brad both went 5 for 6. batting. 

The Hurtin' Units next game is Monday August 15th, 2016 at Keogh Park at 7:00pm.