DUSTY CLEATS CAN BE BEAT...

HURTIN' UNITS vs. The DUSTY CLEATS...

Game # 21 - August 15, 2011

Hurtin' Units win 15-14

Team Record-8-12-1

In our last game with the Dusty Cleats, we had a chance to win and fell just a little short. I thought I would refresh your memory with a little bit of the game... The last time we played the Cleats was the evening the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup, the Leafs were in golfing mode, the Hurtin' Units team record was 5-4-0 and the Dusty Cleats team record was only 7-0-0. The Dusty Cleats record going in to this game was 19-0-0  

Keogh Park JUNE 15,2011-  It was the bottom of the seventh inning, the score tied at 19-19, the Units defense was ready to stop the Dusty Cleats from winning another and adding to the undefeated season. Scott B. was the lead-off batter, Units pitcher Bill J. threw a beautiful pitch and Scott B. made solid contact...

There are probably not a lot of guys who like the 9:30pm game, I know I'm not a fan and will do my best to avoid one if possible. This game was on our schedule and who knew it would fall on the eve of the 7th game of the NHL finals, which the Boston Bruins would win by a score of 4-0.

At game time we had 11 players ready to play, Cal R. was the only missing player, in fact he was subbing in the game before ours, but he doesn't like to play the 9:30pm games. We were the visitors on this night.

The Dusty Cleats are the only undefeated team in the league this season with a 7-0-0 record...


The weather was really great for this game. The warm temperature, less the humidity meant that there would probably be a few well hit balls on the evening...


The Hurtin' Units looked solid offensively in the first 3 innings, scoring 16 runs (including two 7 run innings), but the Dusty Cleats powerful offense also scored runs in the first 3 innings, in fact they scored runs in every inning in the game. The score at the end of 3 innings was Hurtin' Units 16, Dusty Cleats 7...


Mooner's new glove.

Well, there you have it, the Units were in control early in the game back on June 15, 2011, but with the tremendous fire power on the Cleats roster, the pendulum quickly swung in the other direction and when it was all said and done, the Dusty Cleats walked away with another victory...20-19, highlighted by walk off homerun by Scott B. in the bottom of the seventh.

One of the players, with tremendous batting power, on the Dusty Cleats roster, is Rob McCarron...I had the pleasure of playing with Rob in 2007 on the Lucky Stiffs. This was the year that the Lucky Stiffs won the Championship. After every game in the regular season, Rob would buy the team Sambuca shooters and in the playoffs we continued to indulge in the delicious, sweet nectar. The Stiffs in 2007 were a middle of the pack team, I think we were 7th in the standings and we just peaked at the right time, so it goes to show that any team has a chance to win it all, if they get on a roll. 

I mention Rob and the Sambuca shooters because since the HTKP Tournament we (the Hurtin' Units) have had this little tradition of having a Sambuca shooter before every game... It hasn't really helped us win many games (3 wins, 3 loses and a tie), but it seems to be a good bonding moment before each game...I would like to dedicate the next Sambuca Shooter to the Dusty Cleat's player Rob McCarron. Rob also played in the August Tournament and my friend Samantha D. captured a couple of great action shots of Rob...It is a must to zoom in on the Rob's expression...

Zoom in on this one...



Tourney entry fee- $20.00

Beer at the bar - $3.00

Water at the Pavilion- $1.00

Rob's facial expressions-  Priceless!!

When I look back to the 2010 Hurtin' Units season, I am impressed with what we accomplished. I didn't think about it at the time (probably caught up in the moment), but with the season the Dusty Cleats are having it makes me realize the 2010 Hurtin' Units were really a solid squad. Last season the Hurtin' Units won the league with a record of 19-5-2 with 40 points. This season the Dusty Cleats have won 19 games in a row and will definitely win the league title (no other team can catch them anymore). 

This years edition of the Dusty Cleats is certainly walking away with the league, but if anybody recalls, the Dusty Cleats were beaten twice in the HTKP tournament...The Cleats were probably missing a few players in the tournament and I remember subbing for them on the Sunday morning, but for the most part, the core of their team was there.
 

In 2010 the Hurtin’ Units had our first loss early in the season, it was game # 2 against the Torn Ligaments, but then we went on a nice little streak ourselves...After the loss in game # 2 the Units went on a 14 game unbeaten streak, there was a tie in the streak, but the rest were wins. This was a nice little streak and racked up a lot of the points in our season, but it doesn't really compare to the incredible run that the Dusty Cleats have had this season. The streak of 19-0 started way back in May and has gone on until the middle of August.

Let’s face it, the incredible run the Cleats have had has been the talk of the league for some time now. Will they go undefeated all season? Has there ever been a perfect season?

I’m not sure if there has ever been a perfect season in the history of league, but I would really be surprised if there ever was. This league is structured to create parity amongst the teams, in the past seasons most teams were probably evenly matched. I think this year is just an anomaly because of the abundance of new players  that registered to play.

I think the talk of a purrrfect season has players, in our league, divided; on the one hand I’m sure there are players hoping that someone beats the Cleats and prove that they are beatable going into the playoffs and on the other hand there are players who want to see the purrrfect season…I personally would like to see the Cleats lose a game or two. A totally dominate team is not good for a league that is supposed to built on parity. Although, last season the Dusty Cleats had the worst record in the league with a record of 3-23-0 with 6 points. Where was the parity there? Wow, what a turn around, maybe the Leafs can do the same thing... What's that look for? It could happen.

This game was the 20th game for the Dusty Cleats this season, so I decided, just for the fun of it, to go back to the 20th game of the 2010 Hurtin’ Units and see how the two teams records compare…

Game # 20 - 2010 Hurtin’ Units- 15-3-2 with 32 points

Game # 20 - 2011 Dusty Cleats- 19-1-0 with 38 points

It leaves ya scratching your head, just how amazing the Dusty Cleats have been.

The Hurtin’ Units last two games were decided by a single run in each game. It seemed to me we have had numerous single run decisions, so I decided to check how many one run games the 2011 Hurtin’ Units have had this season…We have played 6 single run decision games this season, 2 games against the Dusty Cleats, 2 games against the Rusty Rebels, 1 game against the Banshees and 1 game against the Torn Ligaments.




Game # 4 - Banshees - 16-15 loss


Game # 5 - Torn Ligaments - 11-10 win


Game # 7 - Rusty Rebels - 14-13 win


Game # 9 - Dusty Cleats - 20-19 loss


Game # 20 - Rusty Rebels - 13-12 loss


Game # 21 - Dusty Cleats - 15-14 win


We have a .500 winning percentage in single run decisions.

For most of our games I bring a camera and take a picture of the game sheet, it really helps me to see what happened throughout the game. On Monday evening I forgot my camera. D’oh!! If there was ever a game that I would have liked a copy of the game sheet it was this game. So I’ll wing it based on the boxscore.

On Sunday night, we in the Tottenham area, saw some awesome thunderstorms and on Monday afternoon the skies were still filled with dark storm clouds. The forecast was calling for possible thunderstorms and isolated rain showers for Monday evening. By 7:00pm, on game night, there were still clouds hanging around, but it was mostly sunshine shining in to the eyes of anyone facing the western sky.

At game time we had all of our 12 players back in the lineup. Amazing!! Game #21 and using only 1 sub all season. We were the home team in this game.

In the first inning the Dusty Cleats got things going early, scoring 2 runs. In the bottom of the inning the Hurtin’ Units scored a single run to keep the score close. In the top of the second inning the Units shut down the Cleats. In the bottom of the second inning the Hurtin’ Unit bats broke out and 7 runs came around to score.

In the top of the third inning I was penciled in to pitch the inning, but Bill didn’t realize and went back out. Before this even happened, I was thinking about having him go back out anyway, we had just scored 7 runs and I would hate to blow that lead. I guess it really wouldn’t have mattered, the Units gave up 7 runs in the top of the third… In the bottom of the inning, the Units scored only a single run. The score after 3 innings, a 9-9 tie.

In the forth inning the Units shut down the Cleats offence again and then scored 4 more runs in the bottom of the inning. In the top of the fifth inning the Cleats scored 2 more runs and then shut out the Hurtin’ Units in the bottom (the only inning in this game, that the Units would not score). The sixth inning saw the Units defense come up big and stopped the Cleats from scoring again and then the Units offense would tack on 2 more runs in the bottom…At the end of six innings the score was Hurtin’ Units 15 - Dusty Cleats 11.

In the top of the seventh inning the Cleats sent their top offensive players to the plate, 3 runs would come around to score, but the Hurtin’ Units would hold on for the win, with Mikey making the last out on a fly ball. Hurtin’ Units win 15-14 and give the Dusty Cleats their first loss of the season…





Boxscore         1     2     3     4     5     6     7      Total  

Hurtin' Units     1    7     1      4     0     2     X        15   

Dusty Cleats     2    0     7      0     2     0     3        14    

This was a great win for the Hurtin’ Units. A win where absolutely everyone on the Units team made contributions to pull off the biggest upset of the season. Great game guys, let’s keep it going…