HURTIN' UNITS TAKE ON THE WILD THING...

HURTIN' UNITS vs. THE WILD.

Game #21- August 28, 2011

Hurtin' Units tie 11-11

Team Record 9-12-2

Keogh Park- This game was supposed to be our final of the season, but last Wednesday there were major thunderstorms and warning of tornadoes and close to game time it was not looking good. It was decided (mostly by Mother Nature) that the game could and would not be played, the weather stations out there really don't know what's going on, one station says the storms will have moved out and others say the worst is yet to come...I know, I know they are only predictions, but still you would think they could agree most of the time...There were 6 players that showed up for the game, 3 Lucky Stiff players and 3 Hurtin' Units. I felt bad for Clayton, who drove all the way to Tottenham, in the storm, 35 minutes away,only to have the game not go. We talked about having a shuffle board match to decide the game, Clayton wanted to flip a coin (I chose not to go this route my coin flipping/calling skills are not what they used to be) and in the end it came down to a rescheduled game to be played on Tuesday September 6, 2011 at Coventry Park at 8:15pm.

The weather for the this game ( Wild game) was excellent, okay excellent may not really be the best way to describe the weather, but at least it wasn't raining and lightening...At game time the temperature was around 20 degrees (it actually felt a little cooler, but I guess playing in the darkest can do that) and the skies were almost clear... These were good temperatures for hitting the ball and with no humidity, I was expecting some homeruns, especially from our new found homerun hitter Mikey Boy. It's in the Boy's head now that he can put them out of the park, I think he can do it again...What say ye Mikey Boy can ya do it? Your first homerun will get you on the cover of Baseball World Magazine, the second will get you on the TSN highlights, 5 will move you up in the ratings and 10 will probably get you a nice, juicy contract to play another season with the Hurtin' Units. No pressure!

At game time we had only 10 players suited up, Richard and Paul were away, Richard I knew about being away, but Where's Paul?

This game would have been our last of the season if it hadn't been for the cancelling of last Wednesday's game against the Lucky Stiffs. It seems like only yesterday that we were preparing for the draft and now the end is near and so I face the final curtain...

Before the game last night, Mike handed out award selection ballots. One of the questions was about the team you most enjoyed playing against this season. I have to say the Dusty Cleats, for many other teams the Cleats are probably not their first choice. We played the Cleats in two 1 run games and both were great fun. The win against the Cleats was a real high for us, knowing that we were the only team to defeat them this season and to be within a run in both games, that to me is fun. I choose the Dusty Cleats for my Award.
I also really like the roster of the Cleats, with the likes of Rob M., Robin D., Pully, etc., it's guys like this that make the league the class act that it is... As for the my other award choices, well I'll have to keep those picks top secret for now.

I really enjoyed this game against the Wild and similar to our last game with them, this was a close match. In the first couple of innings, the Wild got off to a great start, scoring 6 runs and the Hurtin' Units started slowly with only a single run. In the top of the third inning the Units scored 4 runs and in the bottom ( with myself in to pitch an inning) we showed some solid defense behind me and shut the Wild down with a goose egg.

I also managed to strike out Ed Vonda (prompting someone from the Wild dugout to say that Captain bought strikeout beer tastes better than regular strikeout beer).  The score after 3 innings of play, 6-5 in favor of the Wild...

In the top of the forth inning the Hurtin' Units were quickly shut down and the Wild added to their lead with 2 more runs in the bottom of the inning. In the fifth inning the Hurtin' Units scored 2 runs and the defense closed the door on the Wild. The sixth inning saw the Units scored 3 more runs and again shut the door on the Wild. The score after six innings of play 10-8 for the Hurtin' Units. 


In the top of the seventh, the Units would add 1 more insurance run and good thing because in the bottom of he inning the Wild had scored one run, the bases were loaded and Ricky C (no.1 sub) was coming to bat. Rick had hit a homerun, into the tennis courts, earlier in the game and I approached Billy suggesting I wouldn't be unhappy to see him walk Ricky Bobby. Bill said he would pitch around Ricky, but when Bill threw the first pitch (inside and down), Ricky swung and hit the ball through the infield scoring 2 more runs and tying the game, all with 2 outs... The next Wild batter hit a single and advanced Ricky, the winning run, to second base. The next batter hit a ground ball to myself playing third, I touched third base for the final out... Final score 11-11 tie.

Boxscore         1   2   3   4   5   6   7   Total 

Hurtin' Units   0   1   4   0   2   3   1      11  

The Wild          3   3   0   2   0   0   3     11   

There were a couple of game highlights that I remember thinking they were important to our team in this game. Cal S. made the natural hat trick in catching 3 fly balls hit to RCF...Brad M. hit a sac fly that scored a very important run... There were numerous guys who batted well on the evening...I had two hard hit ground balls hit to me at third in the seventh, one for an out to Kevin at second and the second for the final out of the game at third base... 

We have one more game remaining, next Tuesday at Coventry Park at 8:15pm vs. the Lucky Stiffs.