HURTIN' UNITS LOSE BATTLE WITH REBELS...

THE HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE RUSTY REBELS...

Game # 4 - May 22, 2012

Hurtin' Units lose 12-11

Team Record 0-3-1


Coventry Park- I mentioned in the last posting that Mike and I played for the Rusty Rebels in the 2007 season. Anybody who has played for the Rebel's teams knows that the Rebels are a well run team with some great experience with Don and Hugh at the helm. When I played for the Rebels, Hugh put me at third base and even though I asked to play other positions, he kept me at third the entire season. It wasn't that third base bothered me, it was that I played beside Hugh, who played short stop, at that time, and he would ride me the entire game. Playing along side Hugh actually wasn't  that bad, he really does have a lot of baseball knowledge and he was a pretty decent mentor for me that season. 

The real down side to having Hughie beside me was I had to listen to the endless chatter (those who have played with Hugh know what I'm talking about) and I was usually the guy on the receiving end of it. To this day, Hugh still has little comments he says to me (sometimes cute, sometimes annoying), but I'm a good hearted soul, and I know he only does it in fun, so I think I can take a little bit of his abuse... The year I played with the Rusty Rebels was the first time I ever blogged and I was really just goofing around with a blog page. I ended up blogging the complete 2007 season. You can check out the Rusty Rebels blog 2007 edition at http://rustyrebels.blogspot.ca/

The Rusty Rebels would be the last team Mike and I would play together on until we became captains in 2010. I would go on to play for the Lucky Stiffs in 2008 (the year the Stiffs won the Championship) and in 2009 I would play for the Banshees... I'm not really sure where Mike played in 2008 and 2009, I know he didn't win the championship in 2008...

The weather for this game was very comfortable, the temperature was in the high teens, the skies were mostly clear. I was subbing for the Lucky Stiffs in the game prior (7:00pm) to the Hurtin' Units vs. the Rusty Rebels game, and the setting sun was very bothersome, especially for the players in right field and second base, but by the time our game started the sun was almost down...

We were missing 3 roster players in this game. Dave K., Gord Robertson were both away and Mike is still nursing his injured knee. Mike still came to the game and did the score keeping. We called for a substitution and Jason B (sub controller) picked up Hurtin' Unit alumni Paul Gyori to sub for us.


BOXSCORE         1      2      3      4      5      6      7       Total    

Rusty Rebels       3      0      2      3      2      1      1         12     

Hurtin' Units         0      1      0      0      7      3      0         11     

We were the home team again for this game. In the top of the first inning, I walked the very first batter and it looked like it could be a long night, but we showed some stellar defense, turned a spectacular double play and got out with only 3 runs scored against us. I think one of our issues, in this very young season, is our inability to get out of the gate quickly, score a bunch of runs and get the lead, it seems we are always fighting back. Our first four innings are an example of the slow starts we have had, one run in four innings. In the fifth inning, we showed what we are capable of doing, stringing together 8 hits and 7 runs.  I've included the game sheets, from both teams, in this posting, for your viewing pleasure.

I have to give some credit to Roger (Kahuna), the Rebel's Pitcher, for our lack of run production in this game, the backspin on his pitches gave us some difficulty until we became a little more selective in the later innings. Our fifth inning hit storm turned this game around...

I remember standing beside Mike (who was score keeping), we were in the middle of our 7 run inning, and I said " hitting is contagious" and for that moment in the game it was, it was like a hitting wave had just taken us over...The seven run inning also seemed to give us some much needed confidence , I think we started to believed we could turn this thing around and we almost did... 

Rusty Rebels Scoresheet

Hurtin Units Scoresheet

I was looking at the standings earlier in the day and one thing that really stood out was that we were the lowest scoring team in the league with only 30 runs scored. The next closest team had 39 runs for. In the runs against stat we were in the middle of the pack with 44 runs with an average of just over 14 runs per game. With 11 runs in this game, it still only gives us 41 runs at just over an average of 10 runs per game scored, we either need to score more runs or play even better defense to win some games... We played some great defense in this game and it's just a matter of time before our bats are going to start hitting, we have too many good hitters on our roster!!!

I really think this was our best game of the season. Our defense turned 3 double plays, we caught Mooner with a tag running for second and threw another runner out at third when Clayton tagged him with a great throw from Craig in the field.

It looks like we may have to find a ride home our next evening at the Legion. For the first time this season we had a batter strike out, in fact we actually had three strike outs in this game. Al and I both struck out with fouls on the third pitches and Tumble watched a third strike pitch hit the board. There will be beer flowing next evening at the Legion- "Hey Bartender, 3 frosty jugs of beer please, and put it on the STRIKE-OUT BOYS tab".

In the Coventry Park parking lot, post game, we had a couple of sodas. It was a different energy surrounding our team, I think for the first time there was a confident optimism that we are very capable of winning a game... I vow not to wash my team shirt until we win a game...

JIMBITS: I don't have a lot of bits in this edition, but I'll give ya what I got...

• Rob (Tumble) took a ball off the arm in the middle innings, bad bounce really, and it hit on a vein, causing it to swell to the size of a golf ball, Cam had an ice pack and it slowed the swelling, Rob would play catcher for the remainder of the game.
• I looked back at the last two times we played the Rusty Rebels (2011 season), both games were one run games. On  June 6, 2011 the Hurtin' Units beat the Rebels by a score of 14-13 and on August 9, 2011 the Rebels beat the Units by a score of 13-12 and this game was 12-11. There is a pattern here, I predict the score of the next Rebel/ Unit game will be 11-10.
• Our defense turned 3 double plays in this game...SOLID D!
• We had 3 strike outs in this game- Al and I fouled out on third pitches, Rob watched the 3rd strike hit the board...Arrange for a ride night time we're at the Legion...
• We had 2 of our batters, Gord and Jamie go 4 for 4 in this game and we had 3 batters, Anicete, Rob and Cam go 3 for 4 in this game.
• Cam went through the infield in this game.
• Hughie thought that I looked like an space alien with my mask on.
• I have vowed not to wash my shirt until we win a game!!

Pitch Bits: As I mentioned earlier, I walked the first batter of the game and I'm sure most guys thought this might be a long night, but a quick first inning double play really got us headed in the right direction. I thought this was my best pitched game this season and our defense was great throwing out and running down batters and 3 double plays (don't see this very often in a single game) doesn't hurt either.  I only walked two batters on the night, the first batter (Don) I faced in the game and the second I believe was Mooner, it could have been Kahuna, but it was definitely a big hitter and I wasn't going to throw a pitch down the middle, I'll give up walks to these guys all day long. We as a team gave up no big innings and I think our defense got tighter as the game progressed...

The Rebels have a potent hitting lineup, with (in my opinion) two # 1 rated players in Mooner and Kahuna leading the way. Just as a little side note, Mooner played for the Hurtin' Units in 2011, we know what this guy is capable of doing and he's also a great team player, I would have him on my team anytime...

I really liked the way I was throwing the ball in this game. I had some excellent height on the pitches (a couple of times the ump called them illegal for being to high, I don't think they exceeded 12 feet, but I never want to argue with an umpire), I also introduced a new pitch in this game, most guys woundn't notice, but it was in there. I found I could hit the board when I wanted, but there were times in the game where I was trying to nibble at the edges to much. I still have to work at getting ahead in the count and then try to be a little finer... I look forward to the next game...

LAB- AL H.