HURTIN' UNITS POLISH OFF THE CLEATS...

Hurtin' Units vs. The Dusty Cleats...

Game # 22- August 30, 2010


Hurtin' Units win 22-4


Team Record 16-4-2

Keogh Park- The weather on game day was absolutely perfect, bright sunshine, clear skies and warm temperatures filled the day. At game time the temperature was still high and the humidity was brutal, we were sweating before we had our dusty cleats on.. There were mosquitoes and flying ants all over the park, irritating everyone, but mostly feeding on the flesh of Chris R. and Mikey O.

Today is game day, we have the game against the Dusty Cleats tonight at 8:15, but I decided to get a jump on the blog, while I had a few moments to scribble down my thoughts...The month of August has not been friendly to us. In August, the Hurtin' Units have played four games, not including this game and we have one more ( a makeup game) against the Dogcatchers on Tuesday August 31.  We have a record of 1 win, 2 losses, and 1 tie. In these four games we have allowed 51 runs against and only scored 41 runs for...

I mentioned in a previous blog that the schedule maker was kind to the Units, we only had 5 games scheduled in the month of August plus a makeup... In this is our first year as captains, Mike and I have learned that August is definitely the toughest month to field a team. I had to call Rob F. for a sub, at least one per game, every game in August... 

Last week was the worst; We only had six of our original team on the field in Thursday's  24-14 loss against the Dogcatchers. My thanks again go out to the substitutes that devoted their time to helping us out. Doug Dwyer, Piero Delgreco and Tim Sullivan... Without guys like you we would be playing makeup games into October.

When I look back at the statistics over the month of August, they don't look all that bad, but still compared to the first 3 months of the season, we did fall off a little...In the standings, I think we were fortunate that the Brewjays suffered a few losses in the month also, it has kept us close... As the standings go today the Brewjays are in first place with 34 points and the Hurtin' Units are 2 points behind with one game in hand... The runs for and the runs against we stand at 269 for and 191 against with a run differential of 78, the highest in the league, not too bad considering the 24 runs we gave up last Thursday. Our team On Base Average is at .642 still the highest in the league...I have been hitting the ball really well for the month, but everything I've hit seems to find a piece of leather, if you know what I mean... And despite hitting hard and solidly, my personal OBA has dropped by .71 points over the last 3 games and it will drop more after this game...D'oh!! We also, as of today, have 4 Hurtin' Unit players in the top 25 OBA standings...

I'm looking forward to what we can do over the next 5 remaining games, we should have most of our vacationing players back by the first week in September and that would be a great time to get back on a winning trek towards the playoffs...

At game time we had 9 regulars back in our lineup...Chris N., Al H., and Paul Gyori were all away on vacation. I haven't heard anything from Paul recently in England, I certainly hope hasn't met up with Jack the Ripper or Werewolves of London...LOL Perhaps Pauly is a secret agent on assignment with James Bond... Secret Agent 005'2". I could see Paul as a secret agent... Secret Agent

   
                        
                          1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th    Total  
   Hurtin' Units    3       3      4      7       1      4      0        22    
                                                                                         
   Dusty Cleats    0      2       0       0      1      0      1         4             

I think the boxscore tells an obvious picture of what happened in this game. I could do an inning by inning recap, at least the things I remember, but we won and I think I would rather focus on the game tonight... Maybe a few things about the game against the Cleats...

This game was exactly what Hurtin' Units needed going into the playoffs. A nice little confidence booster... After a rough month of August so far, where we went 1-2-1, we looked like the Hurtin' Units of June and July. Some may say that it was only the Dusty Cleats, the team at the bottom of the standings, but I would say that any team in this league can beat another on any given night. When I look at the Dusty Cleats roster, I can't understand why the reside at the bottom. I really think with players like Rob McCarron (a solid team player) and Scott Peters ( a solid baseball player) leading the way, the Cleats would be higher in the standings...Last night, Scott made two outstanding grabs at third base, but just couldn't finish the plays, I would love to have this guy on my team anytime....

This game was really lopsided and at times I felt for the guys playing for the Cleats, they have had a tough season...but everyone makes the playoffs and a good run can go a long way...

The Units defense was stellar in this game only allowing 4 runs over the 7 innings. The outfield made several spectacular catches and Jimmy Mac threw out a runner, on a force play, at second base. The infield was solid. Robin ( shopvac) Dickson was vacuuming up every ball hit near him and had numerous outs at every base. Most of the team hit really well, but some are of us are still finding the gloves of our opponents. Oh yea, someone on our team struck out in this game, can't seem to remember who it was... Oh yea, now I remember, it was Paul, I mean me...

Tonight we finally get to play the makeup game with the Dogcatchers, it's only been two months, but it's time to get the game off the books... I sent Paul a next game reminder, as I do before every game, telling him about the makeup game, he actually thought we were going to wear makeup...He even suggested I wear a ruby red lipstick...LOL.

Last Thursday night, August 26, with only 9 players, 3 of which were subs, we were beaten and kicked and then beaten some more by the Dogcatchers. Final score 24-14, our worst loss of the season. I really wouldn't mind if we went out and beat them up like we did the Cleats. We have something to prove tonight and hopefully we are up for the challenge... UNITS UNRELENTING!!

HURTIN' UNITS CAUGHT BY THE DOGCATCHERS...

Hurtin' Units vs. Dogcatchers...

Game #12- August 26, 2010

Hurtin' Units lose 24-14

Team Record- 15-4-2

Keogh Park- Wednesday August 25, 2010- The weather on Wednesday morning was absolutely great, very few clouds in the sky and a perfect sunrise. I mention the weather on this morning, almost two days before our actual game on Thursday evening, because of the weather we experienced last Sunday.

Last Sunday (August 22) was the T.O.T golf tournament. The weather was damp to say the least, in fact it was downright miserable. It was drizzling or raining from the moment we put the clubs in the van until we left the Legion. My feet were wet from the first hole we played and even with umbrellas everyone was soaked by the end of 18 holes...Our team, Cam Clark, Mike Olliffe, Glen Tinkler and myself shot a -3 score, not bad considering the conditions. What we really needed was a lot of birdies, but it didn't happen. I kept asking Mike if he had heard at the bird, but Mike hadn't heard about the bird...To learn about the bird check out this link... Bird is the Word

 I thought I hit the ball well most of the day, a couple of duffs, but consistent hits most of the day. My biggest golf downfall is the distance I hit the ball, I'm straight down the fairway on most shots from the tee. My problem is...I have older clubs and my no.1 wood is a Calloway Great Big Bertha from several years back. My Great Big Bertha is probably half the size of my other teammates drivers, the heads on these things are the size of a football, a slight exaggeration, but the heads on these clubs are huge. It's really not a surprise when golfers keeping hitting the balls further and further, year after year... This game was the first time Big Bertha and I have been out this year, actually this is the first time I've played since the T.O.T. Tournament in 2009. I hit the ball pretty well considering how little I've played. I said to Mike during the round “ I should not play more often”, meaning I play better when I don't play. The golf tournament was still a good time despite the weather...

One guy who was unable to make the golf tournament was our teammate Paul Gyori . As most of you know, Paul is across the big pond in England. I sent Paul an e-mail a couple of days ago to see how things were going... Pauly says he misses us very, very much and he's homesick and he has diarrhea from all the Guinness beer and steak and kidney pie and people are making fun of his Canadian accent and his height with their mocking british accents. Okay, Okay, Okay... I made the whole story up, Paul didn't say any of these things...I was jealous he was having such a great time. In fact he mentioned having tea at Buckingham Palace ( I assume this is a resturant) with an older lady named “ Elizabeth” and then he went out partying with some guy, who was in a couple of bands, I think the guy's name was Sir Paul McCartney ( he can't be that good, I've never heard of him) and then Pauly wrote he was going out shagging with Austin Powers... Yeah Baby!! Okay, Okay, I made all this stuff up too, the only thing Pauly actually said was he was having fun. (Nothing about the cousins either). I guess he's having a good time and really that's what it's all about...


What else is going on? We had a Captain's meeting this week, we discussed the usual topics, budget, T.O.T. Baseball tournament financial results, new web site and the finalizing of the playoff format and schedule. We were also given award information, in which the players on each team vote on various awards for teammates and the league awards. Mike and I will be distributing ballot sheets over the next couple of games to fill out. The banquet tickets were also distributed...

Game On:

At game time on Thursday evening we only had six of our own players. Don C., Tom P., Paul G., Chris R., Al H., and Robin D. were all absent for this game. I arranged for 3 subs with Rob F. and we managed to pick up Doug Dwyer, Piero Delgreco, and Tim Sullivan to help us out. With only nine players at game time, I had a decision to make; we asked the Dogcatchers to provide a catcher and Piero ( The Pieman) I asked to play third base. The Pieman is mostly a catcher in our league and I felt a little uncomfortable putting him at third...Piero at third is like a fish out of water...


Our whole infield, with the exception of myself, was made up completely with subs. I started myself at second, Doug at first, Tim at short, Pieman at third and the Dogcatchers supplied a catcher. I later moved Timmy to second and myself to short, not because Tim wasn't playing well, but more so I could backup and help Pieman out on third base. The Pieman had some rough moments at third, but also had a few good plays. Hopefully, this experience makes him want to try playing a couple of other positions on the playing field...

The game had a back and forth feel to it, even though I don't think we were really anywhere close from the first inning. But we did manage to score 14 runs without our # 1, 2, 4, 6, 11, and 12 in the lineup. The baseball was really carrying off the bats and I have give the Dogcatchers some props for spanking the it around the park.


I don't want to bore you with a play by play in this edition of the blog, I think the score says most of the story. Check out the boxscore for the inning by inning scoring. This is the first time this season we have given up more than 20 runs against in a game. The closest any opponent has come was back on July 6, 2010 when the Brewjays scored 16 runs in a 20-16 Hurtin' Units win.

Boxscore:
                          1st    2nd    3rd    4th    5th    6th    7th    Total

Hurtin' Units          4       0       6       0       1       0      3        14

Dog Catchers        4       3       7       2       2       5      1        24   
 The turn out at the Legion post game was not very good. Only Mike, Piero and I went back to the Legion. Piero only went back because he rode with us to the park. We enjoyed a frosty cold jug and talked strategy for our final 5 games...5 more to go... UNITS UNDERSTAFFED!!

HURTIN' UNITS FIGHT HARD AGAINST THE REBELS...

Hurtin' Units vs. Rusty Rebels...

Game #20- August 17, 2010

Hurtin' Units win 15-8

Team Record  15-3-2

Coventry Park-The weather in August, for the most part, has been hot and humid, but we haven't had to worry about any rain outs or make up games. I hope I didn't just jinx us by saying this. There have been rain storms, but they haven't prevented us from playing. The Keogh lights not working properly have caused more problems with game cancellations than the weather has. Game day was absolutely fantastic, the temperature was still in the high 20's, but the high humidity was almost gone, great weather for baseball...On Tuesday evening there was an amazing western sky at game time. The sun had almost set and it cast a redish/ orange hue upon the long feather shaped clouds with a contrasting blue background. Amazing!!

At game time we were down a bunch of players,

August don't ya know... Missing for tonight's game were Mike O., Robin D., Chris R., Don C. and I thought that Al H. was gone. This was definitely the most players gone in one night this season. I called Rob Farah (the sub-controller, that name always conjures up hilarious images in my brain) and asked if could find me 3 subs...Mr. Sub (my secret name for Rob) came through with flyin' colours. Rob managed to acquire the subbing services of Rob H., Lynn W., and Jason B. Three solid players... Al H. did show and we had 11 players, Lynn was willing not to play, he had just played the early game, I was happy to have him play, but he decided not to. Our thanks go out to Rob H. and Jason B. for playing with us, both  made solid contributions in the win. 

1970 AMC REBEL.

Tonight our opponents are the Rusty Rebels, a team captained by Hugh Armstrong and Donny Booth. With Hugh as a captain they should have called the team the KRUSTY REBELS...What is a RUSTY REBEL anyway?? Is a Rebel a car? Maybe I'm thinking of a Rambler- The RUSTY RAMBLERS?  I'll have to  look that up before I publish this edition of the blog. Looked it up, a Rebel was a car built by AMC in the 70's. I could really see Hughie cruzin' in a rusty Rebel car with tunes blasting " Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol and a tattoo of James Dean on his arm with the phrase " Rebel without a Cause" underneath... Hughie the original Rebel...

I think I'm entitled to poke fun at Hughie. I mentioned in a previous blog that Mike and I played for the Rusty Rebels in 2007 and I played beside Hughie the entire season. I listened to Hugh rib and roast me game, after game, after game, after game, after game, I think you get the point... To this day, he still gets a little jab in everytime I see him. It was all in fun and I think I could have put a stop to it by saying something, but I'm a good sport and I can take a little bit of ribbing...And besides, you know what can happen if you talk back to your captains... Don't You?? LOL.

Sometimes, rarely actually, I will start scribbling my draft of the blog before the game, today is game day, I have no idea what kind of game we will have tonight, I just hope we play better than in the last game. I don't mind if we lose as long as we compete...

Wednesday August 18, 2010: 

The game last night was just what the Hurtin' Units needed after being winless in our last 3 games. This game was a solid effort all around and our bats came back to life.

Boxscore:

                        1st  2nd  3rd   4th  5th   6th  7th   Total

Hurtin' Units    0     0      1     4      5     1      4         15  

Rusty Rebels    1     1      0     0      1     1      4          8     

   

In the first 3 innings the Rebels scored 2 runs and the Units put up only a single. The Rebels left the bases loaded in the first inning and the Units did the same in the third inning. In the forth inning the Hurtin' Units bats came out of hiding and knocked the ball all around the diamond for 4 more runs and the defense shut down the Rebels offense. 5-2 Units at the end of 4 innings....

The fifth inning saw the Units score 5 more runs capped off  by an in the park homerun by Chris Nyers. The Rebels managed to score another single in the bottom of the innning. Both teams scored a single run in the sixth inning. Both teams scored 4 more runs in the seventh.... Final score 15-8 Hurtin' Units...

Here's a riddle for you: How does a batter hit 1 for 5 at the plate and run the bases 5 times?? Answer: Hit in front of Tom Perry, who went 5 for 5 at the plate last night and took a runner at first. I line drived out 4 times in the game and ran for Tom 4 times... Uncle Tom was back from holidays last night and made a solid impact on the outcome. Not only did Tom go 5 for 5 at the plate, he also made a great defensive play to deflate a surging Rebel squad. With the bases loaded with Rebels, nobody out, the next Rebel batter hit a ground ball to Tom at third base, he touched the 3rd base bag, and then threw to home for the double play...

Here's another riddle: Which player on the Hurtin' Units, hit the ball hard at every at bat, scored four runs in the game and hit a homerun in the fifth inning? Answer: Nyzee- Chris was hitting the ball really well last night and went 4 for 5 while scoring 4 runs and hitting an in the park homerun... Chris also made a great catch in center field on a hard hit ball from Roger Burton...

Jerry, Jason and Jens all had multiple hit nights at the plate... Rob Hayward was very good for us at short stop... Jim Mac made a nice running catch on a ball hit short in RCF. Paul, Al, and I all made contributions. Chris Ross showed up in the sixth inning to be an athletic supporter... This was a feel good win... UNITS UNREEL!!  

HURTIN' UNITS STINK UP THE JOINTS...

Hurtin' Units vs. Dislocated Joints...

Game # 19 August 12, 2010

Hurtin' Units lose 12-5

Team Record 14-3-2

Keogh Park- The week was another hot and humid one and for the first time this season I wore shorts to play a game. I actually wore shorts for the first time on Tuesday evening, when I subbed for the Lucky Stiffs and then again on Wednesday when I subbed for the Banshees. I have been a bit of a baseball slut this week, some people would call me a baseball whore, but I don't get paid for my services and I really just play for the pleasure of it. Whore? I don't think so...

I even managed to get a game in on Sunday at the T.O.T tournament, when my team Team Extreme was eliminated from the tournament. Mike and I had the pleasure of playing with JOE and the VOLCANOES in the semi-finals, only because 5 of the team's players were playing on a 40+ team at the same time. The Volcanoes didn't fair very well with the 5 subs they had picked up and they went down in a ball of flames...

On Tuesday evening I subbed for the Stiffs and they were victorious against the Hottub Woodies by a score of 10-7. I was torn in this game. When I sub I like to play the best I can despite the name on the shirt and I did on Tuesday. I was torn because the Stiffs are one of the teams breathing down our collective necks in the standings. On Wednesday I subbed for the Banshees who were playing the Brew Jays, another team breathing down our necks.

I went out and gave a 110 percent in both games, but unfortunately the teams I wanted to win both lost... D'oh!! I haven't really subbed or substituted in very many games this season, not like last season. Last season I was definitely a baseball slut, sometimes calling the sub-controller and saying I was available... I probably could have used a bit of counseling.

This season I haven't subbed as much, but when I do get a call I don't like to refuse, unless I can't really make it. There are two reasons I don't turn down the invitation to sub. The first is, as a Captain, I have come to realize the difficulty in fielding a team night after night ( the Hurtin' Units have been great) and I know there are some teams in our league that have had some problems fielding a team, whether it's because of injuries, shift work or just unfortunate circumstances. I like to support the other teams and I hope that they will do the same for us when a sub or two is required. The second reason for subbing is...I like to play; I like to go out and work at getting better, although I think this week's play might not have been beneficial to me or our game last night. I actually encourage players to sub. I know we have some guys on the Units that get out for an extra game once in a while.

Last night we were missing Don C., Chris N., and Uncle Tom P., although some people would argue that the whole team took the night off...Of course I'm joking ...LOL.

Okay, I guess I've avoided the game for as long as I can, let's get to the nuts and bolts of what happened...I called this game a CLUNKER and Pauly called it “ICK”, I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it probably is some old English term for rubbish, but what ever you call it the results were not that great...

The lights in left field were not working again, this really frustrates me, to the point where I'm distracted in the game. The left fielders are basically defending themselves when the ball is hit in their direction and when the ball was thrown back in to the infield it was difficult for the infielders to track it coming in... I feel cheated when things are not working properly. This game was shortened by one inning, an inning that could have changed our fortunes, after all we did only lose by 7 runs, a number that this team is very capable of putting up in a single inning... Even if we are having a off night!

I turned the lights on before the

game had even started and we realized that the left field was not coming on, this bothered me from the start of the game... The town should rent some portable lighting for the field until they are sure the lights are working properly. I worry about the players in the field, lighting is affected everywhere on the field when one bank of lights is out it worries me that someone might get hurt... Some of the players in this league ( Rob McCarron, Cam Clark, etc.) hit hard line drives and I would hate to see anyone get hit by a ball off the bat of these guys...The days are getting shorter and this problem has been going on all season (it's August already), let's get these fixed before someone gets hurt...

Our game was a little sloppy, maybe we were to hard on ourselves based on how we have played most of the season. Maybe some of us still had a T.O.T tournament hangover, there were 8 ( I think it was 8) of us who played last weekend in the tournament.

In most of our games this season, when someone is having a rough game, the other players on the Units have picked up the slack and we have pulled through. However, in this game I think the number of guys struggling out weighed the number of guys having a good game.

There were early indications that this could be a rough night for the Hurtin' Units. The lights not all coming on was a start... Early in the game, Paul got hit in the chops (mouth area) by a ball that deflected off third base and bounced up and caught him around the mouth...Jens is playing with a pulled hamstring (a nice one with all the colours of the rainbow)... I hurt my wrist on Tuesday (on my throwing hand, really doesn't explain how I missed two ground balls hit right at me...D'oh!) and it was still sore on Thursday... The outfielders, Jens, Mike, Chris R., Tony and Jimmy Mac all had to deal with bad lighting, sure only the left field lights were out, but these lights cast lighting on the entire playing surface and when the entire field is not properly lit, this can be a problem for everyone...Al's new glove is taking a little bit longer to break in than expected, probably needs one of breaking in ways that were discussed at the Legion...Everybody has there little helpful tips... Saddle soap, glove oil, shaving cream, etc... Jerry was a bit upset with the Joints score keeping, we asked where the 7th run was and we were told to keep playing and then a runner comes home and that was the seventh, one more thing that seemed out of place on this night...

When you really look at a 12-5 score, it doesn't seem all that bad, certainly better than say 25-5. Our bats were not as bad as the score would indicate either, we did have the bases loaded twice in the game, but just couldn't get the big hit to bring them in to score...We also hit a lot of balls into the gloves of the Joints... Looking back at our offensive output over the season, a five run game is quite low and we only have one other game when we scored as few runs, that game was back on May 18 vs. the Torn Ligaments. This game was our first loss of the season by a score of 7-5...

Boxscore:

                           

                                1st     2nd   3rd    4th   5th  6th   7th   Total

Hurtin' Units               0       5        0      0      0      0      X       5   

Dislocated Joints        0       4        1      7      0      X      X      12      

Maybe there were other reasons for this unusual evening of baseball; I'm sure most of us are a little superstitious. Perhaps forces of the universe threw us into a state of unbalance on this evening. Athletes are a strange breed! When a team is going well, they will do things the same; wear the same socks, do not wash their jersey when on a streak and a list of other bizarre, quirky things to keep things going in the right direction. I mentioned before that I wore shorts, for the first time this season, to one of our games, maybe the shock of seeing my pale white chicken legs, through the guys off their games...I also changed to a different vehicle to come to the diamond...Today is Friday August 13th... and on Thursday evening there was even a meteor shower... Could all of these things have thrown us off our game? I say yes! We ( the Hurtin' Units team) are much better than we showed on Thursday evening and we will right the Unit ship as we make the final push toward the playoffs... Things may be a little bit rough for couple more weeks, but once everyone is back, our game will be where it was earlier in the season. I am looking forward to the stretch run and the playoffs... UNITS UNLIMITED!!

HURTIN' UNITS FIT TO BE TIED...

HURTIN' UNITS vs. TORN LIGAMENTS...

Game # 18 - August 4, 2010


Hurtin' Units tie 7-7


Team Record 14-2-2

Keogh Park- Most of the week it has been hot and muggy and at game time on Wednesday evening it was still the same. The humidity was hovering around 78 percent and I think just sitting around you were going to break into a sweat. I do peruse the weather networks, especially on or just before game day, I want to be ready for anything, not that I have a backup plan, but more whether or not I have to bring an umbrella or a jacket. The forecast had been calling for thunderstorms on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and considering the temperatures and humidity it would not have surprised me if there had been a major downpour. The storms held off and the weather was not a factor for the league this week...

Until this point, in this season, most nights it has been somewhat easy to field our team. I think we have only had to pick up one sub per game when needed and we have only needed a sub 4 or 5 times. The schedule makers did us a favor by scheduling single games per week in the month of August. This month we have weeks when we will need multiple subs, it is after all holiday season. Last night we were down 3 players. Tom. Chris R. and Don are all on holidays, Chris is back next week and Tom is back August 16 and Don is back at the end of the month. We brought in Doug Dwyer to sub for us... Our thanks go out to Doug and his subbing skills...

The Torn Ligaments really have a strong team and they showed us again, just how strong they can be. The Hurtin' Units first loss of the season came way back in May and it was to these same Torn Ligaments. We were beaten May 18, 2010 by a score of 7-5. Since that crushing loss (okay maybe not crushing) we have had a nice little run, unbeaten in 14 games and 11 wins in a row until last week when we were beaten by the Hottub Woodies.

Last nights game against the ligaments was a tight defensive battle, each team only scoring 7 runs. We were the visitors in this game.

BOXSCORE:

                     1st   2nd  3rd   4th  5th  6th  7th  Total
Hurtin' Units       0      4      0      0     0      2     1      7   

Torn Ligaments  1      1       0      2     2      0     1     7        

In the top of the first inning the Hurtin' Units were unable to score and stranded 2 runners on base while the Torn Ligaments scored a single run. The second inning saw the Hurtin' Units come out swinging, putting up 4 runs, but again the peskie Ligaments scored a single run. 4-2 Hurtin' Units after 2 innings...

For the next 3 innings the Units were unable to score, the bats had gone on a break and they didn't realize that they were needed. The Torn Ligaments scored 4 more runs over the next 3 innings and after 5 innings the score was 6-4 Ligaments ...

In the top of the sixth inning the Units battled back to get two runs and tie the score at 6-6. The Unit defense shut down the Ligaments in the bottom of the inning. In the open (7th) inning the Units again got runners on base, but could only manage to bring one home to take a lead of 7-6. The bottom of the 7th started off very promising, the lead off batter was retired on a ground ball. The Ligament's next two batters reached base and it could have been much worse if Al H. hadn't knocked down a hard hit ball from Bob Smith, there was no out recorded, but the ball was kept in the infield and now runners were at first and second... The next Ligament player hit a double and scored the runner from second and brought Bob Smith around to third base...Score tied 7-7, winning run on third, only one batter out... A base hit scores the runner and it's “Good night Irene”. The next batter hit a ground ball to second base, I snagged the ball, had a play at first, but saw Bob Smith breaking for home, I threw the ball to Doug Dwyer on home plate for the out... With runners still on 1st and 2nd bases, 2 out, the next batter hit a ground ball down to Pauly at third , Paul tagged the runner forced from second for the third out... Hurtin' Units and Torn Ligaments tie, final score 7-7...Units second tie of the season...

When the game had concluded, I heard several of the Unit players, not sure who, mention that this tie was as good as a win. I would have to agree, this game was tough and we were close to losing, but we hung on and earned ourselves an important point in the standings..

There were some highlights in this game, not a lot ( 7-7 score), but certainly somethings worth a mention...The play at home in the seventh was definitely a highlight... In my opinion I thought this was the most consistent hitting from Chris N., solid and hard contact every at bat... Jim Mac made several difficult catches in right field...Doug Dwyer (sub) hit a ball down the right field line to drive in a couple of important runs...Pauly made a nice ground ball catch at third and tagged the runner from second for the final out of the game... UNITS UNMITIGATED!!

HOTTUB WOODIES BEAT THE UNITS....

HURTIN' UNITS vs. The HOTTUB WOODIES....

 
Game # 17 - July 27, 2010


Hurtin' Units lose 12-10


Team Record- 14-2-1

Coventry Park- Our weather has settled a bit over the last couple of days and for the first time in weeks there was not a serious threat of rain or thunderstorms. Most of game day was quite nice, the temperature topped out at 28 degrees and the skies at game time were clearing. Clear skies meant sunshine in the faces of almost every player on diamond #2. We were the visitors in this game...


At game time we had eleven players suited up. Tom Perry was the only missing body...


I must take some responsibility for the loss last night, not necessarily because of my play, although I probably should have a couple of balls hit down the right side, but more because of my negative thoughts over the last couple of days...There are times when we are out of balance with the universe and when I say “we”, I'm not talking about us as a team, but more as individuals... Whether you refer to these feelings as imbalance, resistance or even ying and yang, there is something throwing you off. Sometimes people experience resistance for a day, others for a week and some even for years...

Everything they do is met with resistance. Unfortunately, I'm having one of those weeks, and even as I sit here writing this blog, I'm trapped at a railway crossing, the barriers are stuck down and I have been here for more than 15 minutes, not bad if you're being paid (which I am), but when you have 20 people on your bus, who are late for work, the pressure can be very uncomfortable...

This is only 1 or 2 or 3 of the minor resistances that I've been experiencing since the start of the week. I'm not going to bore you with the details, but believe me when I say there seems to be a backlog of issues...Today (July 28) is the anniversary of my mother's sudden passing, it's been 19 years and it seems like only yesterday. These events are so clear in my head that perhaps, I tend to attract negative thoughts around me this week. I'm sure we all have devastating events in our lives we can clearly remember, where and what we were doing on these days... Events like JFK assasination, the space shuttle Challenger explosion or planes smashing into the World Trade Center are days that some of us can recall and when we do think of them they are not the most positive of thought...

On Tuesday evening I subbed for the Red Dogs, I had a good game and the Dogs were victorious over the Torn Ligaments. I find this event to be negative event because for the first time subbing this season I was on the winning side... As we were shaking hands, I kept thinking about our game against the Woodies on Tuesday evening...This could be a bad omen. Plus I was thinking the Woodies have played us hard both times we met this season( once in the regular season once in the HTKP tournament) and the way my week had been shaping up had me thinking the Units were in a heap o' trouble on Tuesday night...


The Woodies are a solid team; they have good defense and their bats managed to rattle the Hurtin' Units. The game at one time looked like it may be a rout, especially when the Woodies a scored 7 runs in one of their innings..

Up until last nights game we have looked damn good; we lead the league in the standings ( at least we did earlier today) , we had a 14 game unbeaten streak, we won 11 games in a row and we lead the league in batting average with an average of

The game against the Woodies was definitely not a blow out or a good o' fashion ass kickin', but it was a loss , something we are not used to experiencing and hopefully this makes us stronger going forward...

The Game:

The first inning saw the no scoring for either team, but we were retired with the bases loaded, which in hindsight could have made the difference in the final score if we could have brought those runners around. The Woodies scored a single run in the bottom of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. The top of the third inning saw the Units score 3 runs and take a brief 3-1 lead, but in the bottom of the inning the Woodies scored 2 more runs to tie the game at 3-3 after 3 innings...

In the forth inning neither team could score. In the fifth inning, the Units put a single run, but Woodies hammered in 7 runs to take a 10-4 lead. The Woodies would score 2 more runs in the bottom of the sixth to increase their lead to 12-4.

In the seventh inning, the Hurtin' Units bats came to life. The Units managed to bring 6 runs around making the score 12-10 and with the tying run on second base, Al H. hit a solidly hit linedrive down the third baseline which was caught by the Woodies third baseman for the final out of the game...

Boxscore:
                      1st    2nd   3rd    4th    5th    6th    7th     Total

Hurtin' Units       0       0        3       0      1        0        6       10


Woodies             0       1         2      0      7        2        X      12

When I write the blog I usually write it the morning after the game, this way I can remember some of the events, highlights and plays. As usual I wrote the blog on the day after, but couldn't find the time to type it out and publish it until Sunday...On Thursday evening my negative woes continued. On Thursday evening I subbed for the Dodge City Rounders and I was given the opportunity to play second base. During the game I had numerous balls hit in my direction and everything just seemed to be hit out of my reach or when something came to me it was an adventure to make a play... I felt like I was fighting the ball the entire evening and of course the ribbing I was taking from my teammates wasn't helping. Needless to say it was not my greatest game of the season. The Dodge City Rounders lost the game...

On Saturday things started to turn more in a positive direction. The little negative things that were happening earlier last week were disappearing and good things were starting to happen... On Saturday Rosa and I went to the local variety store to check some lottery tickets and found we had won over $300.00, nice little surprise...

Next Wednesday we play the Torn Ligaments, the only other team to beat us this season in the regular season and I look forward to face this team with a renewed positive attitute... Units Unravelled!!