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!!