Game # 23- August 31, 2010 (makeup game from July 1st)
Hurtin' Units win 13-6
Team Record- 17-4-2
Coventry Park- On a great evening for ball, the temperature had dropped from a daytime high of 33 degrees Celsius and with the humidity it felt like 40 degrees. At game time (9:30, yes 9:30pm this was our long awaited makeup game) the humidity and the high temperature had diminished to a comfortable level. There was even a soft, warm, west to east breeze keeping any bugs from bothering us.The humidity and bugs on Monday night at Keogh Park were awful.. For the first time in 3 weeks, I felt really comfortable on the diamond.
My discomfort on the diamond, over the last 3 to 4 weeks, came from a variety of reasons. I found the Keogh lights not working for a several games, fielding a team in the month of August, Piero's safety at third one game, the sun on diamond # 2 in our eyes another game, I had a sore wrist and even the flying ants and mosquitoes all distracted me over the last month...I hear you guys offering me some cheese with this whine, but these are all valid reasons for my personal distractions on the field...I know we all face most of the same problems, but they were distractions none the less...what else I'm I going to write about... the game??
The two games we played this week were fun, not because we won them both, but because we had most of our regular players back in the lineup. As Mike and I were walking toward diamond #3, I said to him " isn't that a great site", I was referring to the number of blue Hurtin' Units shirts with players in them, hanging around the diamond...A beauty site to see...
At game time we again had 9 of our own players and our super sub Doug Dwyer returned for another tryout with the team. Doug Dwyer played the best I've seen him play all season, in the two games he played for us...I discussed a trade with Mike, to see what the Grisslies might be asking for Mr. Dwyer, but Mike is extremely happy with our existing roster and doesn't want to give up a roster player. But, we are willing to give up a couple of juicy prospects from the farm system and a 2 for 1 pizza voucher... What say ye Mr. Farah, is there a deal or a pizza to be made here? Forget the subs, think of the pizza...mmmmm pizza.
I received another e-mail from Paul in England. Paul is still having a good time and says he's pumped about being back for next week's game. I believe Al H. is also back which means no more sub calls to Rob. He'll probably think there is something wrong with my phone if he doesn't here from me...LOL. I give Rob a lot of credit for what he does for this league, he had requests for 14 subs for a single evening, it's a good thing he works for a phone company. If I had a nickel every time Rob called me to sub, I'd have about 50 cents... I wanted to get the word nickel in a sentence...There's a reason, click on the link...
Speaking of subbing...On Wednesday evening I was called by Rob to sub for the Dogcatchers, ironically the team we beat the night before. I quickly accepted the invitation to sub not giving as much thought as I should have. I really should have declined for a couple of reasons. First reason: I managed to book and get a massage on Wednesday afternoon. I don't like to get a massage on the day of a game, it really defeats the purpose of the massage, I really prefer to relax after getting massaged. For those of you who get regular massages, you know what I'm talking about. If you have never had a massage, I highly recommend doing so on a regular basis. My second reason for not subbing would be that I was a little tired from our game and the post game activities on Tuesday evening. On Tuesday afternoon I did get in a 2 hour nap before our game, but it just wasn't enough...Well at least the game I subbed for was at 7:00...
I don't think the Dogcatchers would have been any worse off without me in their lineup against the Grisslies. I played catcher for them, they could have had the other team catch... I guess Randy was just covering the bases, so to speak... My game summary would go something like this... I played 7 innings at catcher... I made one foul ball catch for an out...I had 4 throws toward home plate, one for an out, one not in time for the out and the other two off line... I batted 4 times, got on base 2 times, once on a hit, once on a fielders choice, I struck out on a third pitch foul ball ( that's twice this week Rob F. has struck me out, that skinny, little, bastard) and I also came around to score a run. How much could I really do, I was the catcher!
This was a fun game, at least for me it was, I like playing with Randy H. and add Gary Cox, Doug Dwyer, Rob Farah in to the mix and there is always going to be some degree of entertainment. Randy had me catching which I really didn't mind. Roman was the umpire for the game and I had several good conversations about rules, batting and other baseball related stuff with him... I think that this was a worthwhile subbing venture based on the knowledge I received from Roman...
The Grisslie/ Dogcatcher game ended in a tie, but it did have the dramatic flair of a Hollywood movie in the final inning. Going into the 7th inning, the score tied, the visiting Grisslies had a chance to take the lead. There were a couple of Grisslies on the bags, but as "Grisslie luck" would have it, they were unable to get the monstrous hit they needed to bring them home... In the bottom of the inning, obviously still tied, with one out and Dogcatcher runners on second and third, the Grisslies intentionally walked Neil Pendlebury to load the bases and create a force situation at every base...Nail biting time at Keogh Park. The next Dogcatcher batter popped out in the infield, two out based loaded. The next Dogcatcher's batter hit a bullet line drive to right field, but the Grisslie's right fielder made a great, running catch to end the game in a tie... Exciting stuff!!
Okay, let's get back to the Hurtin' Units vs. the Dogcatchers on Tuesday night. As I mentioned earlier, this was the makeup game, rescheduled from July 1st. It took a little bit of time to get it in, but the results were worth the wait...This was the game from the Hurtin' Units I really wanted to see, strong defense and even stronger batting. I really like when Don and Robin are in the lineup, not because they are our 1 and 2 rated players, but more because Don gives us great energy every game, not that everyone else doesn't , but when you guy willing to slide at home, now that's energy... I know (now) that there is no sliding at home, interesting way to learn the rule. I guess were always learning...Robin is a calming force on the infield, and his confidence to make the plays makes the rest of us want to play the same, it may not happen all the time, but we all play much better when Robin's on the field. Oh yea, the bats of both these guys are not too shabby either... Both Don and Robin are in the top 25 in batting...
The whole Hurtin' Units team played a great game on Tuesday. I included the game sheet in this edition of the blog just to see how it would fit in. I like to experiment with different ideas in the blog, sometimes for the experience of doing it and sometimes to make some changes for the sake of change. I have viewed the blog on several different computers and it looked a little different on all of them. I hope that anyone who wishes to view the game sheets can see them well enough. The copy probably looked better before I carried it around in my pockets for several days. I usually carry a copy of the boxscore or the game sheet to write up the game blog results... However, today I'm not going to write anymore about the game and let the game sheet do the talking...
Boxscore:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th Total
Hurtin' Units 1 4 2 0 1 5 0 13
Dogcatchers 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 6
Hurtin' Units vs. Dogcatchers score sheet.
My discomfort on the diamond, over the last 3 to 4 weeks, came from a variety of reasons. I found the Keogh lights not working for a several games, fielding a team in the month of August, Piero's safety at third one game, the sun on diamond # 2 in our eyes another game, I had a sore wrist and even the flying ants and mosquitoes all distracted me over the last month...I hear you guys offering me some cheese with this whine, but these are all valid reasons for my personal distractions on the field...I know we all face most of the same problems, but they were distractions none the less...what else I'm I going to write about... the game??
At game time we again had 9 of our own players and our super sub Doug Dwyer returned for another tryout with the team. Doug Dwyer played the best I've seen him play all season, in the two games he played for us...I discussed a trade with Mike, to see what the Grisslies might be asking for Mr. Dwyer, but Mike is extremely happy with our existing roster and doesn't want to give up a roster player. But, we are willing to give up a couple of juicy prospects from the farm system and a 2 for 1 pizza voucher... What say ye Mr. Farah, is there a deal or a pizza to be made here? Forget the subs, think of the pizza...mmmmm pizza.
We had the exact same lineup on Tuesday evening as on Monday against the Dusty Cleats. Paul G., Al H., and Chris N. are still away. I also left the batting order exactly the same, not because it was so good on Monday, but more because I forgot to record who our last batter was against the Cleats...D'OH!!
I received another e-mail from Paul in England. Paul is still having a good time and says he's pumped about being back for next week's game. I believe Al H. is also back which means no more sub calls to Rob. He'll probably think there is something wrong with my phone if he doesn't here from me...LOL. I give Rob a lot of credit for what he does for this league, he had requests for 14 subs for a single evening, it's a good thing he works for a phone company. If I had a nickel every time Rob called me to sub, I'd have about 50 cents... I wanted to get the word nickel in a sentence...There's a reason, click on the link...
Speaking of subbing...On Wednesday evening I was called by Rob to sub for the Dogcatchers, ironically the team we beat the night before. I quickly accepted the invitation to sub not giving as much thought as I should have. I really should have declined for a couple of reasons. First reason: I managed to book and get a massage on Wednesday afternoon. I don't like to get a massage on the day of a game, it really defeats the purpose of the massage, I really prefer to relax after getting massaged. For those of you who get regular massages, you know what I'm talking about. If you have never had a massage, I highly recommend doing so on a regular basis. My second reason for not subbing would be that I was a little tired from our game and the post game activities on Tuesday evening. On Tuesday afternoon I did get in a 2 hour nap before our game, but it just wasn't enough...Well at least the game I subbed for was at 7:00...
I don't think the Dogcatchers would have been any worse off without me in their lineup against the Grisslies. I played catcher for them, they could have had the other team catch... I guess Randy was just covering the bases, so to speak... My game summary would go something like this... I played 7 innings at catcher... I made one foul ball catch for an out...I had 4 throws toward home plate, one for an out, one not in time for the out and the other two off line... I batted 4 times, got on base 2 times, once on a hit, once on a fielders choice, I struck out on a third pitch foul ball ( that's twice this week Rob F. has struck me out, that skinny, little, bastard) and I also came around to score a run. How much could I really do, I was the catcher!
The Grisslie/ Dogcatcher game ended in a tie, but it did have the dramatic flair of a Hollywood movie in the final inning. Going into the 7th inning, the score tied, the visiting Grisslies had a chance to take the lead. There were a couple of Grisslies on the bags, but as "Grisslie luck" would have it, they were unable to get the monstrous hit they needed to bring them home... In the bottom of the inning, obviously still tied, with one out and Dogcatcher runners on second and third, the Grisslies intentionally walked Neil Pendlebury to load the bases and create a force situation at every base...Nail biting time at Keogh Park. The next Dogcatcher batter popped out in the infield, two out based loaded. The next Dogcatcher's batter hit a bullet line drive to right field, but the Grisslie's right fielder made a great, running catch to end the game in a tie... Exciting stuff!!
Okay, let's get back to the Hurtin' Units vs. the Dogcatchers on Tuesday night. As I mentioned earlier, this was the makeup game, rescheduled from July 1st. It took a little bit of time to get it in, but the results were worth the wait...This was the game from the Hurtin' Units I really wanted to see, strong defense and even stronger batting. I really like when Don and Robin are in the lineup, not because they are our 1 and 2 rated players, but more because Don gives us great energy every game, not that everyone else doesn't , but when you guy willing to slide at home, now that's energy... I know (now) that there is no sliding at home, interesting way to learn the rule. I guess were always learning...Robin is a calming force on the infield, and his confidence to make the plays makes the rest of us want to play the same, it may not happen all the time, but we all play much better when Robin's on the field. Oh yea, the bats of both these guys are not too shabby either... Both Don and Robin are in the top 25 in batting...
Boxscore:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th Total
Hurtin' Units 1 4 2 0 1 5 0 13
Dogcatchers 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 6
Hurtin' Units vs. Dogcatchers score sheet.
I also enjoy doing the video links, I've peppered several throughout this edition for your viewing enjoyment. If you haven't already found them look through the blog for the words in green. I think I included 4 videos links...
Okay back to the Hurtin' Units...We are down to our final 3 regular season games (where did the season go?) and our remaining opponents are The Dodge City Rounders, The Lucky Stiffs and The Wild. The think it's time to start preparing for the playoffs.
2 comments:
James, sorry your memory is flawed, the Hurtin' Units have NOT defeated the mighty Torn Ligaments this year.
Dear Anonymous, you are absolutely correct and I meant to change my statement. The Hurtin' Units did not defeat the Torn Ligaments, 1 tie, 1 loss...
Jimmer.
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