WE PLAYED BASEBALL WITH A HOCKEY SCORE; NO SHOOTOUT REQUIRED.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE DUSTY CLEATS...

Game # 23- August 27,2012

Hurtin' Units tie 3-3

Team Record - 8-13-2

Keogh Park - Last season the Dusty Cleats were the talk of the town, with a record of 19-0-0, going undefeated until August 15, 2011, when the Hurtin' Units finally burst their bubble. In game # 20, for both teams, the Hurtin' Units, with a 8-12-1 team record, beat the Dusty Cleats by a score of 15-14 to end an incredible run by the Cleats.

The win by the Hurtin' Units was a highlight of a mediocre season and probably a real disappointment for the Cleats who were very close to a perfect season. The Hurtin' Units actually came close to a win over the Dusty Cleats in their first meeting (June 15) losing by a single run, with a score of 20-19. The Cleats would go on to lose one more game and end the season with a 22-2-0 record...The Dusty Cleats would breeze through the playoffs until the finals, where the Grisslies would beat them, in a close game, to win the championship...

The 2012 edition of the Dusty Cleats is not the team of 2011, but they still have a good looking (baseball good looking) squad, lead by Scotty Barton with the league's best on base average, Mark D. and Radar. I now understand how a team with a solid core of players can underachieve; the Hurtin' Units have been going through the same issue this season, a really solid group of players, but just not playing up to the potential of it's players.

Going in to this season, I thought this was the best looking team the Units had ever drafted; I'm basing this on our drafted players previous seasons and how they have played in the past. In the Units first season, we had chemistry and a great group of guys, not the most talent, but everyone seemed to play their hardest and the winning made our bond stronger. The playoffs are about to begin, can the 2012 Hurtin' Units become that group that goes all the way?

The weather for this game was humid and it had rained a good portion of the day, making the batter's boxes a Keogh very muddy. The fields were a little damp, and with this dampness comes a soggy ball. Nobody likes soggy balls.

At game time we were missing, Gord (3rd), Jamie, Anicete and Davey. We picked up Don Booth and Gord Dol as subs for the evening. 

Boxscore:       1     2      3     4       5      6      7      Total  

Hurtin' Units    0      0     0     0       1      2      0         3     

Dusty Cleats    0     1      1     0       0     1      0         3      

The boxscore tells most of the story. This had to be the lowest scoring game of the season. The Hurtin' Units hit 13 fly ball outs and the Dusty Cleats hit 11 fly ball outs. This also had to be one of the fastest played game on the season, approximately 50 minutes to play.


Since there wasn't a lot to really talk about (did I mention Mark struck out?), I thought I would look at what we have done over the last 9 games we have played. In the last 9 games we have scored a total of 50 runs with an average runs per game of 6.25. On the defensive side, we really have been quite good allowing a total of 81 runs against, with an average of 10.12 runs per game. This number is probably close to the league average.

The really concerning numbers have to be the games where we only scored one run , I don't recall a team, in this league, scoring only a single run in a game, and we did it twice in the last 9 games. We also went 6 games scoring 5 runs or less. Only twice did we get into double digits. When I looked at the hitters we drafted back in May, and the hitting we did at our first practise, I never thought we would be struggling to score runs... The second season is almost here, maybe we just need a reason to score.

Our defense has been excellent all season long! I struggled with pitching at the start of the season, which probably accounted for the higher runs against on the season, but from just before the HTKP tournament, I thought I was throwing much better. The 10.12 runs against is probably around the league average and when you look at our numbers over the last 9 games they really don't look that bad. 5 of the 9 games were in the single digits, hold most teams to single digits and you're going to be in the game, unless ya can't score runs.  The worst runs against in this stretch was against the Dusty Cleats, with 14 runs against.  We also played a really good game against the 2012 league champs, in fact we lost both our games against the Brew Jays by a single run.

Speaking of single runs...I have mentioned it before, but I think we have played decent this season, we have lost 5 games by a single run and 2 games by two runs, winning half of these games would have put us in 4 place in the standings and winning all of these single and two runs games would have placed us in second place. Missed it by that much.

We have one more game remaining, if we can come out strong for a win, we will have been undefeated in our last 3 games going in to the playoffs...we could sneak up on a few teams.

HURTIN' UNITS COME OUT BIG WITH WOODYS.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. HOTTUB WOODYS.



Hurtin' Unit's evil twin Squirtin' Unit.

Game # 22 - August 22, 2012

Hurtin' Units 13-9

Team Record - 8-13-1

Keogh Park- This past weekend was the annual August Tournament; this tournament helps raise revenue to lower the cost of registration of the T.O.T league.

Included in the tournament is a fun division. In the past, players would submit a team with friends, neighbors, league players, etc. Each team was assembled based on a rating, trying to keep the teams as equal as possible. This year the there were 3 partial teams entered and Mr. Dwyer recruited enough players to build three more teams.

Last Monday there was an open draft and 3 more captains were brought on board, we picked 3 other teams for the tournament and filled the rosters of the partial teams. There were a total of 6 teams for the fun division.

In the round robin portion of the tournament, each team would play 3 games and the top 4 teams would go on to the semi-finals. The Hurtin' Units evil twin team, the Squirtin'Units, would be one of those 4 teams in the semi-finals. The Grusome Twosome would take on the Weekend Warriors and the Squirtin' Units would take on The Other Guys. The Grusome Twosome and the Squirtin' Units would both win their games and battle it out in the finals. In the finals, the Squirtin' Units would win the final game and would become the Fun Division Champions for the second year in a row.

It was the second year in a row for the Squirtin' Units to win, but it was the first time for several of the Unit players. Both Tumble (A.K.A. MR. AWESOME) and Clayton told me after the win, that it was the first time they had ever won anything, I'm glad to part of their win. This was only the second year the Squirtin' Units, but I think it is time to retire the name, if there is a tournament next year, there will a new team name. The Squirtin' Units will be locked up, never to be seen again...good- bye evil twin.



Pretty sure this is Tumble.

 On this this year's edition of the Squirtin' Units there were 5 current Hurtin' Unit players on the roster and I would have tried for more if I could have. On the team was: Clayton A., Rob R.(Mr. Awesome), Cam C.(Cam- L- toe), James T.(Jimmer) , and Jamie A.(Jugs).  I really enjoy putting teams together for this tournament, this is probably the 5th year in a row that I been involved in entering a team. If I recall, I probably had about the same number of Hurtin' Units players from the 2011 team playing on the squad in last years tournament.  Yep, looked at the picture, 5 Hurtin' Unit players on the team last year.

One other thing I did in this tournament was a rotation of pitchers. On the team I had 4 pitchers, Myself, Roger, Rob R. and Brad W., so I thought it would be cool to use one guy in each game. Roger started the tournament with a win against the Grusome Twosome by a score of 18-11. I (Jimmer) would follow with a 8-8 tie in game #2, which we got in the bottom of the seventh inning, against the Weekend Warriors. In game #3 Rob R. (Tumble, Mr. Awesome) would pitch for another win against the Fun Bags by a score of 20-7. With our 2 wins and a tie, we made it in to the semi-finals.


Squirtin' Units 2012 - Fun Division Champs.               Photo by Samantha Delgreco

In the semi final game, I asked Brad to pitch, I have never seen Brad pitch, but I had asked Roger (teammate on the Rebels) and got the thumbs up, so Brad went in and we won by a score of  12-5 against the The Other Guys. Now that we were in the finals, I had a decision to make... who would start the final game? I decided to let Mikey Boy decide, sort of... I would write the four names down on paper, fold them up and let Mikey pick the name. And the oscar goes to...James Taylor for a tie in the 2nd game. Fixed? No, I made sure Mike picked the name in front of our teammates. I really wanted to pitch this game anyway, I wanted the experience and pressure of being in a something game. In the final, I would get a lot more run support than in my first game...The Squirtin' Units would go on to win by a score of 18-10. 


 Squirtin' Units 2011- Fun Division Champs.

I was looking at the picture from 2011 and noticed that only 3 players
from the 2011 team were on this year's team. Mike would have been on the team if he hadn't buggered up his wee knee. I find it really quite amazing that I changed almost 75 % of the roster and we still made it back to win...again. I'm glad to be part of the winning teams and stories like Clayton and Rob never winning anything makes me feel pretty good. 

HURTIN' UNITS VS. HOTTUB WOODYS.

We were the visitors in this game.

Boxscore:              1      2     3     4     5     6     7         Total     

Hurtin' Units           1     3     2      3     0     4     0             13      

Hottub Woodys      1     3    1       1     3     0     0              9      

I think the last game against the Beer Bros. was the lowest point in our season. I will say it one more time for effect - It was as low as we could get in terms of scoring runs. A shut out was only one out away...

And I'll say this about the game with the Woodys, this was, in my opinion, one of the best all round games we have played all season.  



The weather conditions were perfect, which meant the ball was dry for the first time in several games. I had good command of my pitching and the plays on the diamond were definitely cleaner than our last couple of games. We played a mucho bettero game in this game against the Woodys. 

On May 17, 2012 , in our 3rd game on  the season, we took on these same Hottub Woodys and they kicked our asses all around the diamond. The final score in that game was 22- 9. It was our worst defeat of the young season, but it still knocked us down a bit, we still had not won a game and our confidence was a little shakey.   I mentioned in the blog back in May, how good the Woodys looked with the likes of Stikes, the muck of Chuck, the fancy of Dancey and the others on this team.

The team, in this game tonight, was a little different from the team back in May. I noticed that Fast Eddie, Brad M., and the Billy (the kid) Jonkman were not in the lineup, as well as the Danceman who is still recovering from a broken collarbone. The Woodys are not the only team to look a little different. The Hurtin' Unit team also looked different for this game. Since the game against the Woodys in May, we have lost and added two players. Mikey Boy and Dave (Kidder) have both retired for the season and we replaced them with Mark B. and Davey S.

In this game tonight we had 7 of our own players dressed to play. Missing from this game were Cam, Jamie, Davey, Gord (3rd) and Anicete. Davey and Anicete are still injured, Gord had to work and the others were away. We picked up Ricky Bobby, Dan R. and Rob McC. for subs.

As the boxscore would indicate this game was a see-saw battle, the score was tied on several occasions, with the Units coming out on top with 4 runs in the sixth inning.

I mentioned in the blog about having the bats smudged and I did. I'm not sure if it was the smudging or just a coincidence that got us scoring again or perhaps it was just the energy of Mr. Awesome. Rob R. (Mr. Awesome) is back baby; Tumble hit a towering homerun in to the tennis courts and after the tremendous weekend tournament Mr. Awesome had, I think we can officially say that Tumble's drought is over. It wasn't just Tumble's hitting, he played third base and again he was awesome. 

We have two games remaining on the season and then it's playoff time. I like to believe that we are a sleeper team, a team that has up and downs most of the season, but could certainly do a bit of damage in the playoffs. For most of us, I think that it's been a rough, inconsistent season and for the most part it has been, but I have really enjoyed playing with the guys on this years edition of the Units.  

HURTIN' UNITS BATS ARE JINXED.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE BEER BROTHERS.

Game # 21- August 15, 2012

Hurtin' Units lose 13-1

Team Record 7-13-1 

Keogh Park - It was as low as we could get in terms of scoring runs. A shut out was only one out away...

It's obvious to me, and if it's obvious to me, it must be obvious to the other Hurtin' Units players and if it's obvious to the other Hurtin' Units players, it must be obvious to the entire T.O.T league...the Hurtin' Units bats have a hex or a jinx or a curse on them.  What else could it possibly be? These bats don't even work for the subs that come out play with us. In this game we had 3 subs, each one went 1 for 3.

Now don't get me wrong, most of the Hurtin' Units lineup were hitting the ball, some were hitting the ball with great power, but with all this solid contact, it seemed like easy pickings for the Beer Bros outfielders who always seemed to be positioned in the right location.

This is not exclusive to the Beer Bros outfielders, over the last 5 or 6 games the outfielders and the infielders, of the teams we've played, have caught a seasons worth of pop flies, line drives and fly balls off the Hurtin' Unit bats. In this game against the Beer Bros, we had players on base 18 times and only scored a single run. It time for this activity to cease.

I have a friend who is a psychic. This week I was talking to her through telepathy, (just kidding about the telepathy, I was talkin' on the phone), and we got on to the topic of the Hurtin' Units team batting woes. The first thing she said was that our bats carry the energies of all the players and all the teams that have used these bats in the past. These energies are blocking the batting energy for the current players using these bats. 

In 2010, Mike and I signed up as captains, we were given the set of bats we still carry. I'm not even sure who had these bats before us, but I'm thinking it was the RECYCLED, a team from the past. I was just reminded of an incident involving one of the RECYCLED captains. If you want to know the tale, I've included it at the bottom of the page, TALES of the GRAY DOT- NOBODY REALLY NOSES.  This set of bats has been around for quite some time, can you imagine how many hands have transferred their energies on to these bats, maybe the former captain's energy still lingers. 

At Tuesday's game a few of the Hurtin' Units players were joking around saying we needed some chicken bones to tap on the bats to bring them around, Gord suggested a bucket of KFC. My thought was KFC might be a little greasy and the bats might fly out of our hands, that's all we need, another injury.



Smudging


My friend the  psychic informs me that the bats must be cleansed or smudged, as she says, to remove the energies inhibiting the flow new energy from this seasons Hurtin' Unit players. There are several ways of smudging our bats and I will have our bats cleansed (smudged) and ready to go for our next game. This is long over do. I Googled smudging and found it to be very interesting stuff.  I don't know why I didn't realize this before.





Beer Bros score sheet.



The weather for this game was a little bit damp. Around 5:30pm a huge thunderstorm rolled through town, dumping a lot of rain. The storm pasted through and the 7:00pm game was a go, but the outfield was still quite wet. In our game, there was still a light fog lingering around and everytime the ball came back to the infield it was soaked. Gord and Clayton, who both where glasses, were fogging (I said fogging up) up everytime they were on the diamond. 

At game time we had 6, yes 6, of our own players, and we called for 3 subs on the night. Al was running late and Doug Dwyer played an inning with us. Rob, Mark, Davey, Jamie and Anicete were all unable to make this game. Thanks to the subs who helped us out. Jerry M., Simon S., Cliff T., and Doug D. for an inning.

Boxscore:          1     2      3      4      5      6      7       Total 

Hurtin' Units      0      0      0      0      0      0      1          1     

Beer Bros.         2      2      1      1      0      3      4          13   

It was as low as we could get in terms of scoring runs. A shut out was only one out away...

I don't recall ever seeing a shut out in this league, I'm sure it has probably happened, but not on my watch. And certainly not against the Hurtin' Units. This game was within reach almost the whole night, but we just couldn't bring the hits together, I mentioned earlier we had 18 base runners. 18!!!  Hence the reason to smudge our bats. 

We were the home team in this game with an 8:15pm start time.

The Beer Bros didn't kick us around all that badly. When you look at the boxscore there was never a blow out inning, 4 runs was the most they scored in an inning and by the time these came in the game was out of reach.  

Since there was not a lot to talk about on the Hurtin' Units side, I will spare you all the boring details about the game. I will tell you about the 1 run we did score. It was the bottom of the 7th inning, Jerry M. (sub) lead off with a base on balls.The next batter Cliff T. (sub) got out on a ground ball, but advanced Jerry to second on the play, 1 out runner on second.

The next batter was Simon S. (also a sub), he got out on a ground ball and Jerry could not advance, 2 out , runner still on second. I (Jimmer, not a sub) was the next batter, I let the first pitch go by for a strike, the next pitch I hit solidly to left field, almost right at the fielder, I started running, but pulled up thinking the fielder was going to catch the ball. I was wrong, the ball sailed over the fielder's head and to the warning track, I started running again and stopped at second base with a double, Jerry M. came around to score the Hurtin' Units only run of this game.

The next batter was Gord, he hit a single advancing me to third, the following batter was Clayton who got out, not sure if it was his strike out, 3 out that's the game. Did I mention that for the first time that I can remember, Clayton struck out... watching the third strike hit the board.

It was as low as we could get in terms of scoring runs. A shut out was only one out away...

Hurtin' Units game sheet.

 



TALES OF THE GRAY DOT

 NOBODY REALLY NOSE-  A TEAM "RECYCLED" CAPTAIN STORY


It was a warm August evening at Coventry Park, the T.O.T August Tournament was under way, Team Extreme had just taken the field and Rob Farah ( yes, the same guy from the championship Grisslies team) was throwing his warm up pitches.

The infield players were throwing the ball around the infield, 3rd toSS to 2nd and then, as if in slow motion the second baseman named Jimmer threw the ball toward first base, but the first baseman was looking toward homeplate and didn't realize the throw was coming. Other players on the field screamed his name, but it was too late... Darren (Lefty) Hall turned at the last second only to be struck square on the nose, he went down in a heap...

Lefty got to his hands and knees, blood was pouring out of his nose like a drain plug hole when changing your oil, someone ran for ice, someone grabbed a towel, things were a little scary for the next couple of minutes. After things had calmed down, Lefty got to his feet and walked off the field, he would not play this again on this night...

Lefty did play the next game of the tournament with a broken nose and a couple of developing black eyes. Lefty was advised not to play on the Sunday... He never played again that weekend. What exactly Darren was looking at down at home plate, nobody really knows...Another tale of the Gray Dot.



TAMING OF THE SHOE.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. DUSTY CLEATS.

NOW COUGH...

Game # 20 - August 14, 2012

Hurtin' Units lose 14-4

Team Record  7-12-1

Coventry Park- Week # 16 puts us back in Coventry Park on Tuesday (sixth week in a row) and over to Keogh on Wednesday. This is our final game at Coventry (until the playoffs) and as much as I like the Coventry diamonds, I prefer playing at Keogh and then going back to the Legion. All the games at Coventry have also hurt our chances at winning the keg party, we usually just stay at Coventry when we play there.

Including this game we have 5 games remaining and with a 7-11-1 team record, our window of being a .500 team is closing quickly, in fact this is our final opportunity, unless we tie.

It doesn't bother me to finish under .500, but with the team we have, it seems a little surprising. I looked back to last season, I actually looked at the playoff draw and I noticed that the Hurtin' Units finished in 9th place in the regular season and just missed the elimination round in the playoffs. 

Last season the Dusty Cleats were the talk of the town, with a record of 19-0-0, going undefeated until August 15, 2011, when the Hurtin' Units finally burst their bubble. In game # 20, for both teams, the Hurtin' Units, with a 8-12-1 team record, beat the Dusty Cleats by a score of 15-14 to end an incredible run by the Cleats.

The win by the Hurtin' Units was a highlight of a mediocre season and probably a real disappointment for the Cleats who were very close to a perfect season. The Hurtin' Units actually came close to a win over the Dusty Cleats in their first meeting (June 15, 2011) losing by a single run, with a score of 20-19. The Cleats would go on to lose one more game and end the season with a 22-2-0 record...The Dusty Cleats would breeze through the playoffs until the finals, where the Grisslies would beat them, in a close game, to win the championship...

The weather for this game against the Dusty Cleats was definitely much better than the rain soaked conditions of our last game, but there was rain earlier in the day and it still created some problems.

At game time we had 9 Hurtin' Unit players...Mark, Jamie and Anicete were all away. We signed Dave Argue as a free agent on a two way contact, with incentive clauses, trade anytime and no guarantee of playing time for a single night and no money...what can we say, he has a lousy agent. We sent him back to the minors after the game, called up another 3 subs for Wednesday's game. Same standard deal for these players, gotta watch the cap space and when I refer to cap space, I mean the space in my head, lots bouncing around in there these days. It was great to have Gord R. and Clayton A. back in the lineup; they both had some rust, but that's going to happen when you haven't played in 2 weeks.

The Game: I really don't know what to tell you, it wasn't a great game for the Hurtin' Units, it was mediocre at best. I'm startin' to think we play down to our competition. I didn't copy or photograph the game sheet, so I have no information, no boxscore and all I can tell you is we got beat up by the last place team in the league.

I was really upset with myself after the game. My pitching was very inconsistent, I was all over the place and if it wasn't for the defense, it could have been worse. The thing that upset me the most was the walks I gave up, it was only 3 walks on the night, but 2 of those were to Peter S., I joked with Peter about having a force field around home plate, I couldn't hit the board when he was batting and these are the guys you're supposed to let put the ball in play. I can't esplain it.


Hurtin' Units you have some esplainin' to do.

 

I really can't esplain it Lucy, we have all the components to win and yet we continue to spin our wheels. I looked back at our last 6 games, (including the Beer Bros, who we played on Wednesday night) trying to find some kind of esplaination why we can't win games or score my runs. I have a few thoughts on why we can't string hits together or why we are hitting the ball hard, but not being rewarded for our efforts. I'll touch on these thoughts in the next posting.


Here are the results of my findings:

Hurtin' Units last 6 games:

                                     








The  run results of our last 6 games.

Our average runs for over the last 6 games is 4.83 runs per game and only once have we gone in to double digits.

Our average runs against is actually quite decent, with an average runs against per game of 9.83, with average numbers like these we should be competing in every game. The highest runs scored against us in the 6 games was 14 and unfortunately in was the Dusty Cleats.
The run results for the entire season to date.

Our average runs for on the season is 11.333.

Our average runs against on the season is 12.76.

Based on the season runs for and against we should have a better record.

The Brew Jays ( the league's first place team) have an average of 14.85 runs for and an average of 10.71 runs against.  

Next game we're up against the Beer Bros., back at Keogh Park.

BANSHEES SCARE UNIT'S BATS IN TO HYDING.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE BANSHEES.

A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step- chinese adage.

Game # 19 - August 9, 2012

Hurtin' Units lose 5-3

Team Record 7-11-1

Keogh Park- Yes, you read that right, this game was at Keogh Park. This was the first game we have played at Keogh Park since July 5, 2012 when we beat the Dislocated Joints by a score of 16-10 for our forth win of the season. Our team record back then was 4-7-1, our record now is 7-11-1. If I were to poll most players as to where they would rather play, I'd be willing to bet the bulk of the answers would be in favor of Keogh, it would be my first choice. The schedule was not our friend over the last month, but we only have one more game at Coventry. Hooray!!

Since Gord and Clayton and Mark (this week) have been gone; we have lost 3 games in a row; we have scored a total of 16 runs over three games, slightly over 5 runs per game; our defense is still playing stellar (by slo-pitch standards) allowing only 29 runs over the last 3 games, slightly under 10 runs per game. On most nights, keeping your opponent under 10 runs per game, there is a pretty good chance that the game will be close, but our batting has been in Hyding and we need to do some seeking. 

The weather for this game was awful, it had been raining almost all day and at game time there was a chance that the game would not be played. There were some soft and slippery spots on the infield, mostly around first base and a little around third, but I think we have played in worse. There was a discussion as to whether or not to play the game, I was in favor, but there was a bit of resistance from Chris N. (umpire) and I think Frank might have been leaning toward canceling also. Doug Dwyer wanted the games to go on, I agreed, the field wasn't all that bad considering the amount of rain that had fallen during the day. Doug even went  and picked up some bags of sand and put it around first and third bases. 


Jimmer uses the same glove.

The batter's boxes were brutal, but that is usually the case after any rain showers, we have definitely played in worse. 

At game we had 9 Unit players dressed (let's hope they were dressed, with this type of weather you could easily catch a cold) We signed little Timmy Sullivan to a one game tryout contract (update: good in the field, didn't help our batting). Missing on this night was Gord (Birdman), Clayton and Mark.

I had a rough night on the mound; the ball was constantly wet and I couldn't get a good grip, Gord Robert... kept trying to dry it on every throw around, but it would get wet from the batter's boxes on each throw. I also had some trouble with the rubber on the mound, it was in the place my foot lands on my follow through, as a result I walked several batters on the night. The defense saved my ass on several occasions on this night.

This game was our first meeting with the Banshees and it wasn't our finest moment.

I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, I have been approaching this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing from the wrong angle. Let's say Dr. Jekyll has been here all along, our defense has been scary good in the last while, maybe that's the Jekyll of this team, after all the Dr. Jekyll is prevalent  most of the time. Mr. Hyde only comes about from time to time, (mostly in the bad weather I've noticed)we just have to learn to keep Hyde in hiding, control his evil offensive (or in the Hurtin' Units case, non existent offense) side. And if we can't control the Hyde side, perhaps we can expose it to gamma rays so it becomes the Incredible Hulk and can hit the ball out of the park for some runs. I know this last sentence is really silly, where are we going to find gamma rays. Steroids would be a lot easier to find, but the season is coming to an end quickly and it would not really help us at this point. I guess we'll just have to start getting some hits. Mr. Hyde it's time for you to sleep now, we no longer wish to see your hideous face until the season is finished.

Boxscore:      1      2       3      4      5      6     7       Total   

Hurtin' Units   0     2       0      0      0      1      X          3       

Banshees       0     0       3      0       2      0     X          5             

The Hurtin' Units were the home team for this game. In the first inning both teams went down quickly, 3 up, 3 down, the Banshees on three ground balls, the Units two ground balls and a fly ball. In the top of the second inning, the Banshees went down stranding runners at third and second. In the bottom of the inning, the Units sent 7 batters to the plate, Cam and Craig would come around to score. In the top of the third inning, I would walk the lead off batter and 7 batters later the Banshees would take a 3 run inning to the dugout. In the bottom of the inning, Al and Jamie would be stranded on bases, as 3 fly ball out put us out of the inning. At the end of 3 innings, the Banshees 3, Hurtin' Units 2.

The forth inning saw the Banshees send 6 batters to the plate, but the Units defense would get outs and leave runners on third and second bases. In the bottom of the inning, the Units went down 1,2,3. In the top of the fifth inning, the Banshees would send 8 batters to the plate, I would walk a batter, there were 5 base hits, 2 runs would come around to score and the Hurtin' Units would get out of the inning with the bases loaded on a third out fly ball. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Jimmer would lead off and get out on a ground ball, little Timmy S. would single, Al would fly out , Timmy would advance to third on a double by Anicete and Jamie would fly out for the final out of the inning, stranding Anicete and little Timmy.

The sixth inning became the open inning. In the top of the sixth inning, the Banshees lead off (Kevin a.k.a Radar, subbing on the night)  would start with a single, next batter Paul would hit a single, Radar came around to third. With runners on first and third, the Banshees would hit 3 consecutive fly ball outs and not score the runner from third. In the bottom of the open inning, Hurtin' Units down by 2 runs, Rob (I'll tumble for ya) was the lead off batter, Rob would hit a fly ball out (there's a surprise twist to the end of the story) for the first out of the inning. Cam, Craig and Gord would all hit singles, Cam would be forced out at second for the 2nd out of the inning.  Davey would hit a double, scoring Craig from third and with runners at third and second (the tying run at second) I (Jimmer) came up to bat, I passed on the first pitch, on the second I made solid contact sending the ball toward left field, Jerry M. came sprinting up and made the catch to end the game. Hurtin' Units lose 5-3. 

HURTIN' UNITS LOSE A NAIL BITER.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE BREWJAYS.

Game # 18 - August 7, 2012

Hurtin' Units lose 13-12

Team Record  7-10-1

Coventry Park - This week we find ourselves at Coventry Park again, fifth week in a row, but the good news is we finally get back to Keogh for a game later in the week.

It really would have been great if we could have had our entire team together for this game. I think it would have been a better measuring stick of how the Units are playing now, but next week we have most of the guys, who have been away, back in the lineup. We have two games this week and five more over the next 3 or 4 weeks to finish off the season. This is where we put it all together for a playoff run.

I have said, from the draft, that we have a solid team and with our play in the second half , we have a chance to upset the power teams in the playoffs. 

Speaking of power teams...last week the Brew Jays were finally defeated by the Grusome Devils. The Jays had gone something like 15 games in a row, without a loss. If we can compete with this team, we can compete with any in the league this season. 

The weather for this game was excellent, the temperature at game time was in the low 20s and it was a perfect night for baseball. 

At game time we had 9 Hurtin' Unit players suited up and ready to go. We recruited Roger B. ( A.K.A Kahuna) as a sub on the eve. We also had our newest player here for his first game as a Hurtin' Unit. Welcome to the Hurtin' Units Davey Stamp. Missing from the Units lineup tonight was Clayton, Gord Robin..., and Mark B.

In the top first inning, I had a bad feeling about this game, it seemed very reminiscent of our last game against the Rebels. Craig was in the lead off position in this game, he got on with a hit, Anicete followed with another hit, bringing Craig around to third and then, fly out, fly out, fly out, change sides boys. In the bottom of the inning the Brew Jays scored 3 runs senting 8 batters to the plate. In the top of the second inning, the Units went 1,2,3, all fly ball outs. In the bottom of the second, the Jays scored another 2 runs. The third inning saw the Units finally string some hits together, but it would be short lived, I came in to score, Roger (sub) came in to score, two runners were on base and the Units would hit 3 more fly ball outs in a row to end the inning. In the bottom of the third the Jays would tack on another single run... the score at the end of 3 innings... Brew Jays 5, Hurtin' Units 2.

In the top of the forth inning, the Units bats would finally come out of HYDING (you know what I mean) and they would bring 4 runs around to score. In the bottom of the forth, the Units defense would shine, 4 batters would come up to bat, 3 were fly ball outs. In the fifth, the Units bats would continue where they left off, scoring 4 more runs and the defense again shut the door on the Jays in the bottom of the inning. In the top of the sixth inning, the Units would put up 2 more runs, but end the inning with 3 more fly ball outs. In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Jays would bat around and when the dust had settled (it really was a dusty on this diamond) the Jays scored 6 runs, stranding the seventh on second base... the score at the end of six innings...Brew Jays 12, Hurtin' Units 12.

A tie game going in to the seventh inning, could this be any more dramatic? Roger lead off the top of the seventh with a fly ball out, Craig got out at first on a grounder, Anicete got on with a single, Jamie also hit a single and Rob flied out to end the top of the inning. In the bottom, Jamie M. lead off with a single, Tito also hit a single advancing Jamie to second, Bo hit a single forcing Tito out at second, Jamie advanced to third base. With runners on the corners, the winning run only 60 feet from home, Dave Fleming came to the plate, I intentionally walked Dave F. to load the bases and create a force everywhere. One out, bases loaded and Dave P. coming up to bat. Dave took the first pitch strike... the second pitch he hit hard to left center field, Jamie Allen made a great running catch, Jamie McClean on third, tagged and started for home, Jamie Allen threw toward home plate, but it would not be in time, Jamie M would score and the Brew Jays win, the Brew Jays win, the Brew Jays win... 13-12 
Note: I thought the fly ball outs in the Rusty Rebel game was excessive, but in this game we ( the Hurtin' Units) hit 15 fly out, pop out, line outs, we should think about trying to hit the ball on the ground and take our chances... Ouch! 

Boxscore:          1       2      3     4     5      6      7        Total  

Hurtin' Units       0       0      2     4     4      2      0          12     

Brew Jays           3      2      1     0     0      6      1          13       

I would like to say this was a great game, it was a great battle on the field, two teams with a close score, one mistake could spell defeat, but this game was overshadowed by an injury.

In the top of the fifth inning, Cam C. leading off, hit a line drive to left center field to Rob Hayward, the ball dropped quickly, Rob tried to make a diving, shoestring catch, to most it looked like he caught the ball, but Rob's momentum carried him forward, hitting the ground hard and landing on his left wrist.

Rob was in instant distress, time was called and numerous players ran out to the field to Rob's aid. Rob remained on the field for some time and was eventually assisted off the field to the Jays bench. The injury had started to swell and Rob's wrist seemed to be dislocated. Jamie McClean sent out an e-mail on August 8, stating that Rob had fractured his wrist. I will update if I hear anything new.

REBELS FORCE THE UNITS IN TO HYDING.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE RUSTY REBELS.

Game # 17 - July 31, 2012

Hurtin' Units lose 11- 1

Team Record 7-9-1

Coventry Park...Again. - We find ourselves back in Coventry Park for the forth week in a row and we still have two more weeks to go in this park. Six weeks in a row playing a game at Coventry Park. We do have a couple of games at Keogh mixed in, but this really seems excessive. I went through the schedule and counted the number of games we will play at Coventry this season. We will play 10 scheduled games at Coventry during the regular season. I don't want to dwell on this topic, it's the way the schedule worked out and when talking to some guys, they think the more we play at Coventry the better acquainted we will become with the park, for the playoffs.

Something seams to be wrong here...
Mr. Tightie Whitey check your pants.

So we're up against the Rusty Rebels for the second time this season. This team, for some reason is positioned 13th in the standings with a record of 5-9-2. This team has some talent, with the likes of Kahuna, Mooner, Hughie, and Don. This team should be watched closely going in to the playoffs. This team can probably light it up on any given night.  

The first 2012 meeting between the Rusty Rebels and the Hurtin' Units took place on May 22, 2012. The final score was 12-11 for the Rebels and this was our third loss in a row to start the season. This loss was one of those four losses, by a single run, we experienced early in the season.

I still think back to those single run losses and where the Units team might be if we had been on the winning side. Add 8 points to our record and the we would be sitting in third position and only 3 points out of first place (one of those single run losses was to the Brew Jays), but I guess if my aunt had nuts, she'd be my uncle.

The Hurtin' Units were playing some decent ball back at the start and we took our sweet time getting things rolling, but of late our play has been really good and that's always worth a mention.

In the early afternoon on game day, the weather was scary; there were dark black clouds, heavy rain, lightening and thunder and it didn't look very promising that we would be playing. Later in the afternoon the weather broke and the skies cleared enough to get the games in on Tuesday evening.

At game time we had 9 Hurtin' Unit players, Clayton, Gord and Dave K were all away. We recruited Bob P. as a sub.

Hurtin' Units Enforcer Gone for the Season.

On Tuesday morning (July 31), the entire Hurtin' Units team received an e-mail from Dave Kidd (Kidder) informing us that his season was finished. Kidder had been dealing with some nagging injuries all season had been told by his surgeon to stop playing ball for the remainder of the season.

Dave is a real trooper; even with all the injuries, aches and pains and having to wear 4 support braces, he came out and played the best he could. A man with a lot of heart. I'm personally going to miss the big lug, he always brought a smile to my face when he was in the lineup...a character guy to be sure. Best wishes Dave.

The Hyding Game.

Wusty Webels game sheet

When I wook at the weally, wespectable Wusty Webels

woster I wonder why they haven't had a better season. The top batters are just that, top batters and the defense seems to be tight, at least in this game. 

The Hurtin' Units could not generate any kind of offense in this game. Any time we had guys on base, we got ourselves out shortly after. I went to the game sheet  to  see how many times we flied or popped out in to a Rebels glove. Take a guess...13 outs of a possible 21 outs were of the flied out, lined out or popped out variety.

This was definitely one of those Mr. Hyde nights for the Hurtin' Units, we have had them on occasion throughout the entire season, but he was definitely here for this one. Not to make to many excuses, but the field conditions were not great. The rain earlier in the day left it's mark... the right handed batter's box was deep and full of mud and there was a pond behind 2nd base that was a safety hazard. 
The Rebels had some left handed batters in their lineup, maybe this was an advantage with these conditions.

This was our lowest runs for game in the history of the Hurtin' Units and it can only get better from here...or can it?

Gord R. and Clayton not being in the lineup certainly takes away some offensive punch from the Units and if the Rebels had been missing their #2 and #4 rated players also, this could have been a different game. Looking forward to seeing Dr. Jekyll in the near future.

Notes:

Al Hayward had a great defensive night playing most of the infield positions.

Rob was hitting the ball hard, once a line drive in to Hughie's glove.

This was a fast game... 15 minutes and 22 seconds. Okay, it was a little longer, but it definitely went quick.

Anicete scored our only run.



Next week the big, bad Brew Jays.

 

On a more positive note, our defense was really solid again, despite giving up 11 runs. Next week we have 2 games; On Tuesday we play the number one team in the standings, the Brew Jays and on Thursday evening we play the Banshees for the first time this season.