HURTIN' UNITS MAKE UP WITH THE LUCKY STIFFS.

HURTIN' UNITS vs. THE LUCKY STIFFS...

Game # 24- August 6, 2011

Hurtin' Units win 13-12

Team Record 10-12-2

Coventry Park- Well, here we are playing our 24th game of the season, the last regular season game. I remember the Captain's meeting when we decided to play 24 games (last season we played 26 games) and I wanted a balanced schedule with 28 games, playing each team twice, I like to play, what can I say. It was motioned and voted on that the season would be 24 games...We only got to play some teams once on the season and that's a shame.

This game against the Lucky Stiffs was a rescheduled make-up game that was canceled on the 24th of August due to an incredible thunderstorm that came through town that evening...This game against the Stiffs will actually determine something in the over all standings, for both of our teams...As I write this part of the blog, we have not yet played the game. The Lucky Stiffs have played 22 games and they have 2 rescheduled make-up games on September 6... The Stiffs currently sit 2 points behind the Grisslies and if they were to win even one of these games would end up in second place and in B pool. The Hurtin' Units and the Banshees both have our final games remaining, the Units current have a single point lead on the Banshees, if the Units lose and the Banshees win the Units will drop down to 10th position and the Banshees 9th. If the Units win against the Stiffs the Units will end up in 9th place.

Anyway we look at it, the Hurtin' Units will end up in pool "C". If the Lucky Stiffs win even one of their two remaining games they will end up in 2 place, in pool B and the Grisslies would end up in  pool "C" with us. So it would be in our best interest to win our game against the Stiffs, just in case we have to play them again in the playoffs...Let's get in their huge heeeads!!!

We played the Lucky Stiffs back on June 21, the night of our doubleheader, and we lost by a score 8-2. Only 2 runs in the whole game, we were really struggling back then! We having been playing much better since the HTKP tournament, when we seemed to get our confidence back...

As I have mentioned before, Mike and I were first year captains last season and we had such a great regular season that we thought we were going to breeze our way through the playoffs and in to the Sunday games. Our first two games in the playoffs last season were total disaster, we lost 27-12 to the Rusty Rebels and 22-11 to the Dodge City Rounders. We gave up 49 runs in two games...Yikes!! I like to think that we are more experienced, and that we know what we need to do to win...I think we have the a great group of players this season; we have shown that we can play with any team and we have really played much better than our record would indicate. Mike and I have a better idea of what we did wrong last year in the playoffs, we will hopefully get it right this playoff run.

The weather over the Labour day long weekend was, for the most part, hot and Saturday was wicked humid, so what the heck happened on Monday, the temperature drop like a stone...I looked at the temperature on Monday evening at around 6:30 and it was 13 degrees...The high for Tuesday was to be 19 degrees and the evening temperature for our game was around 15 degrees, with clearing skies...Roman D. was the umpire for this game... Speaking of Umpires... I think it's time for another video... Click on anywhere on the green for video viewing

This was our last home game of the season and as Mike had pointed out a couple of weeks ago, we have a better record as the home team. If the Banshees lose their last game or if we win our game against the Stiffs we will finish the season in 9th place. If we finish in 9th place, we will be home team twice in the playoff round robin.

Well, it took all 24 games to decide the final seedings. The early game on Tuesday evening saw the Banshees and the Dislocated Joints playing, the Banshees needed a win to jump ahead of the Hurtin' Units in the standings. The Banshees were a single point behind the Units and unfortunately for them they could not pull it out and the Units go on to hold nineth position going in to the playoffs. The results of the Banshee/Dislocated Joint game were there right in front of us as we prepared to take on the Lucky Stiffs and now the game against the Stiffs would not matter to us as far as our positioning was concerned. The Lucky Stiffs could move themselves into second place if they could pull out a win against the Hurtin' Units or if they won in their second game against the Beer Bros. The Stiffs would not win either game and would end up in 3rd position in the standings... 

At game time we had 11 players warming up, Paul E (the other Paul) was still away.

In the top of the first inning the Lucky Stiffs scored 2 runs, but in the bottom of the inning the Hurtin' Units scored 3 runs to set the tone...We were here to play! In the top of the second inning (with myself in to pitch an inning, really prefer the third inning) the Lucky Stiffs, as their name implies, scored 7 runs on a handful of lucky breaks, we probably should have stopped them a bit earlier in the inning, but there were a couple of near misses that prolonged the inning. In the bottom of the second the Stiffs shut us out with only 4 batters going to the plate. In the top of the third inning the Stiffs went down quickly, Paul G. made the first two outs at first and had a chance for the hat trick, but just couldn't come up with the ball cleanly, the next batter came up and hit in to a fielder's choice for the third out.  In the bottom of the inning the Hurtin' Units chipped away at the Stiff's lead scoring 3 more runs. The score at the end of 3 innings 9-6 for the Stiffs.

In the top of the forth inning we shut the Stiffs down again, 4 up 3 outs. In the bottom we scored a single run and inched a little closer. In the fifth inning the Stiffs put up 3 more runs on the scoreboard and shut the Units out in the bottom. In the sixth inning the Units defense shut the Stiffs down again and the Units bats fired up for 4 huge runs to make the score 12-11 for the Stiffs...

The seventh inning saw the Units shut down the Stiffs for the forth time in the game... In the bottom of the seventh, with the Stiffs leading by a score of 12-11, Chris L came to the plate and hit a line drive up the right center field gap, the ball went all the way to the fence, Chris hit third just as the ball came in to the infield, Chris was going for home, the ball was thrown to the catcher, Chris came to a stand up sliding stop, he was in a run down, he ran back toward third, fell to his knees as the ball was thrown to third, and managed to crawl back to third safely, umpire Roman calling him SAFE!!!

Still nobody out, tying run at third, Mooner coming to bat, Mooner got on with a walk (probably intentional), our next batter was Mikey Boy, Mike hit in to a Fielder choice getting Mooner out at second...One out, runners at third and first and Cal S. batting, Cal hit a single bringing Chris in for the tie and moving Mike to second. Still one out with the winning run on second, the next batter Brad flied out and the runners advance on the tag...2 out, runners on second and third and Bill (Billy the Kid) coming up to bat...Bill took the first pitch as it hit the board, both teams could feel the tension in the air, the next pitch Billy made solid contact and a line drive cleared the second baseman's head hitting in RCF in to no mans land, a solid single, Mike came home and the game was over, UNITS win 13-12...

Boxscore         1    2    3    4    5     6     7     Total   

Hurtin' Units    3    0     3   1    0     4     2        13    

Lucky Stiffs     2    7     0    0    3    0     0         12  


Highlights:(not all are highlights, but more things I remember about this game).

Yea, like I said these are not really all highlights, but they were things definitely worth mentioning... Cal R. and Cal S. both had some great defensive catches in the outfield, playoff form if you ask me... Mike made a heads up play on a bunt hit by Woody, Mike threw the ball to first for an out, when the umpire doesn't say anything make the play... Paul had a good night at first base, a position he is new to, almost had a 3 play inning, missed it by that much!...Chris L , Bob M. and Richard G. all had great nights batting, Chris and Richard 3-4, Bob 4-4... Bob also made a great double play in the game... I have to mention MOONER who went 1-4 on the night and the one was an intentional walk, Mooner hit the ball probably the best I recall all season, sending the Stiff's fielders to the warning track on at least two occasions, Mooner has found his stroke, I'm looking forward to seeing him in the playoff run... And last, but not least, I tip my cap to our pitcher to Bill J.( Billy the Kid) who has been a solid contributor to our team since returning from his injury, his game winning RBI in this game was a great lead in to a hopefully successful playoff run...We have a great team here, capable of beating anyone in this league, let the playoffs begin...

   Team                 Games    Wins    Losses   Ties   Points

1 Dusty Cleats          24          22          2           0        44

2 Grisslies                24          16          8           0        32

3 Lucky Stiffs            24          15          9           0        30

4 The Wild                24          14          9           1        29

5 Dog Catchers         24          14         10           0        28

6 Brew Jays              24          13           9           2        28

7 Hot Tub Woody's   24          13         11           0        26

8 Torn Ligaments      24          12         12           0        24

9 Hurtin' Units          24           10         12          2        22

10 Banshees              24           8          13          3        19 

11 Red Dogs             24           9          15          0        18

12 Rusty Rebels         24          9          15          0        18

13 Beer Bros.            24           8          15         1        17

14 Dislocated Joints  24           8          15         1        17 

15 DC Rounders         24          4          20         0         8

The Hurtin Units had a record of 10-12-2. We played in 7 one run decisions and had 2 ties...
Hurtin' Units Roster Stats...

Hurtin' Units OBA On Base At Bat



Paul Evans                0.509%         27    53


Richard Gabourie     0.603%         44    73


Paul Gyori                0.663%         61     92


Bill Jonkman            0.522%         36     69


Chris Larkin             0.613%         57     93


Bob McCullough      0.725%        58      80


Kevin Moon             0.628%        54      86


Brad Moye               0.622%        46      74


Mike Oliffe              0.685%        63      92


Cal Russell              0.711%        54       76


Calvin Steeves        0.609%        53       87


James Taylor           0.495%       45        91

Hurtin' Units Team Average       0.625%