MEET, PLAY, GLOVE.

"YEA, THE WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART"-TOM PETTY

The picture on the cover of Baseball World tells a great story. This photograph was taken by me moments after Dennis (Shorty) Short caught the ball for the final out in the 2012 Championship game. I love the raw emotion in celebrating the victory. Congratulations to Paul, Steve and the 2012 Beer Bros team for their win. Just a little side note, I actually video taped the final game and I may throw some of the game up, in the blog, sometime in the future...but for now, it is time to focus on the 2013 Hurtin' Units season.

The waiting is the hardest part.

Between the draft and the start of the season it seems like the days just drag on. We draft our team, we know who we are going to play with, but for some reason we seem to just wait and wait. The draft was on April 6th, today is April 21, it just seems like the draft was months ago. Yea, the waiting is the hardest part. But I guess it's all worth the wait if your team goes on to win the championship, right Shorty?

As we wait for the season to start, I'm sure there are some of you out there day dreaming of hitting the game winning homerun and your teammates swarming around you jumping up and down as you cross the homeplate line. In your fantasy world, they hoist you up on their shoulders and carry you around yelling Rudy, Rudy, Rudy... Then you suddenly snap back to reality when you realize your name isn't Rudy.

There are not a lot of hoist on to the shoulders moments in our league. This is not to say we don't have any, but we would probably pull a muscle or sprain something trying to lift the the guy up to our shoulders... And then the homerun guy would come crashing to the ground, hurting his arm so he couldn't hit  the same for the rest of the season...it's just better to stick to the high fives and maybe a high ten for those really, really special moments.

Nothing can distract this focused batter.

I do remember a time last season when a player was hoisted (allegedly) on to the shoulders of his teammates for his part in a triumphant victory. It was in the HTKP tournament, when Piero (A.K.A Pieman, Mr. Bean, Bubble Boy) hit a grand slam homerun, in the final inning, of the final game, to win the Help The Kids Play Tournament. I unfortunately was not there to witness this monumental moment in T.O.T history, but as the story goes, as the Pieman crossed the line to score, his teams all congratulated him. Then the team all grabbed TITO P. and hoisted him on to their shoulders... apparently Tito told the Pieman to hit a homerun... LOL

" Stick with me Pieman... I'll make you famous"

I really don't mind the wait until the season starts, there are plenty o things to do before we get on the field. The world is not really as static as we inch toward opening night. There are preparations going on daily, both in the league and for the Hurtin' Units (i.e. smudging, practise, bat day, insurance waivers, etc.). There always somethin' goin' on.

On Saturday April 20th, the captains got together for bat day or should I say equipment day, now.  It was frickin' cold on Saturday and when you hold on to a icy, cold beverage for a bit...you can get some shrinkage. Or as Tim S. would say... Shrankage.  We gathered in a top secret location (the Bat Cave perhaps?) and some wheeling and dealing went down. There are no new bats this season, as of yet, but there was an exchange of some used bats. The new captains got the first pick of the bat litter , but the pickin's were really slim. We also received our annual issue of baseballs (going green again), team information package (paper work, rule book, etc.) and a first aid kit (we now got some bandages don't ya know). I inquired about team shirts...I'm told the supplier has his top (no pun intended) men on them and is hoping to have the shirts really for the first couple of weeks of the season.  

The Hurtin' Units bats are in good condition. Mike and I take the time to maintain the bats as best we can...new grips when needed, waxy ball build up removed and of course I'm going to do a smudging of the bats before the season begins. If you're not sure what I'm talking about with the smudging, go to the blog posting from last season titled the Hurtin' Units Bats are Jinxed  or click the following link and read up on smudging.
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This season the Hurtin' Units bats will be clean...

HURTIN' UNITS BATS ARE JINXED. Click Here for page.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE BEER BROTHERS.

Game # 21- August 15, 2012

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Last week the 2013 schedule was posted. The Hurtin' Units opening night is on Wednesday May 8, 2013 at Keogh Park at 8:15. There will probably be a sell out home crowd on hand to greet our team as we take the field. There is nothing like opening night, the smell of Ben Gay in the air, the tink of the Aluminium making contact with the ball, the sound of baseballs hitting the house next door to Keogh Park. The season has officially begun! For the Hurtin' Units Schedule click here and for the complete team's schedule click here.

Our schedule this season looks more favorable than last year. Last season we played 10 games at Coventry park, one stretch was 6 weeks in a row at Coventry, with a few Keogh Park second games, in the week, peppered in for a change of venue. We also had a game rescheduled which gave us an extra 9:30 game. As a team we didn't get back to the Legion on those Coventry or 9:30 games, we would just spend our Coventry nights hangin' in the parking lot drinking Gatorade and Bottled water.."Hey guys, this Gatorade has a hops and malted barley flavour." 

The baseball gods took all of this inconvenience into consideration when it came to deciding the winner of the keg party. Yes, even though we didn't get to the Legion as much as everyone else (I'm assuming here) we did manage to submit enough jug slips to win the keg. Although, now that I think about it, the nights we were at the Legion, the jugs came fast and furious... What can I say the boys liked their wobbly pop. This season's roster could also contend for the keg party...but with the most jugs consumed. It's a contending team with, Coxy, Mikey, Ricky Bobby, Ricky L., Woody, etc... The league should just give us the keg party now. 

Last season's opening night was a bit of a disappointment for the Units. The rain earlier in the day, made the batter's boxes really muddy and no team could muster up very many hits. Last season's opener was a 5-5 tie against the Dogcatchers. 

El Presidente

For the second time since the Hurtin' Units came into existence, we drafted El Presidente. In our first season Mike and I drafted Chris Ross to the Units. We had a good season and Chris assisted when we needed him, but he was really a hands off kind of guy and let us do what we wanted with regards to the team. If we had also drafted Chris this season we would have been a lock for the keg. I have a feeling that Jamie (current El Presidente) will be the same as Chris when it comes to running the Hurtin' Units day to day operations. Neither Mike or I have every had the pleasure of playing on a team with Jamie, it should be a fun season.

The Pieman and I stopped by Keogh Park today and the diamond looked really good, considering how much rain has fallen over the last couple of weeks...we have played on a lot worst during the regular season. Mike and I have been discussing a little practise for the Units, but wanted to see how the diamonds were looking, they are looking marvelous. I will check the weather forecast over the next week and if things look good, we could set up a practise for Saturday April 27.

I also had an opportunity to throw a baseball today. Ouch! It was a little bit rough and painful at the start, but after about 10 minutes my shoulder and arm started to loosen up and felt pretty good. If I can do this kind of throwing over the next couple of weeks, my spring training will pay off at the start of the season...LOL I have loaded my practise gear (balls, bats, tee) in to my car and I'm ready to get things going.  

And finally, I'll wrap up this blog posting with a tip of the cap to my beloved Toronto Maple Leafs for wrapping up a playoff berth. It's been a long time coming for the team in blue and white and it gives me great pride to finally see them back in the hunt. Throughout the Leafs playoff run, I'll throw in a update now and again. Go Leafs Go!

YOU SAY GOODBYE AND I SAY HELLO...

SAYING GOODBYE- The 2012 edition of the Hurtin' Units has been Yoko Ono-ed. I mentioned in the last posting that Mike and I are the only remaining players from the 2012 Hurtin' Units on the 2013 Units team. Last season, Mike was injured in his first game of the Sunday night youngtimers and I believe he might have played maybe 2 or 3 games with the Hurtin' Units. The Boy was hurt, but like a real trooper managed to show up to most of our games to coach or scorekeep.

I really thought the 2012 edition of the Units was a special group, maybe it was because for the first time, since we joined the league, we played on Sunday in the playoffs and we also made it to the semi-finals. I thought we had a great squad and it surprised me we didn't finish higher in the standings. I went back and looked at our record, game by game, and noticed a couple of things; we got to a bad start, we had some early injuries (Mike), Anicete was playing hurt and this was my first season pitching, which took a bit to figure it out. 

I mentioned last season about (10 times), that we were a really Jekyll and Hyde team. Some nights we couldn't string anything together and other nights we were smokin' the ball, but the defense would have a rough night. When I look back game by game it would appear as I'm describing it here.

The Units had 9-13-2 record. We had 11 games where we didn't score more than single digits runs. In our 2 ties we scored a total of 8 runs, 5 in one game and 3 in the other. 8 frickin' runs in 2 games, unbelievable!! In our first 5 games we had 4 losses and one tie, 3 of the losses by a single run. 

We had 8 games where the difference in score was 2 runs or less. We had 2 games when we only scored 1 run per game, only 1 run per game, again unbelievable! In the stretch run, the last 10 games of the season, the Units had 7 games when the team scored single digit runs. The runs for average, for the last 10 games was 6.90 runs per game. No team is going to win too many games scoring this many runs per game. 

The Hurtin' Units team ERA for the entire regular season was 12.08 per game. I don't really know what the average is for the other teams in the league, but it is probably not much lower. The first half of the season we had some rough times, I struggled pitching in the first half, but started pitching much better in the second half, especially in the last 11 games. I the last 11 games the Units ERA was only 6.0 runs per game, half of the season average. But as I said, we were a real Jekyll and Hyde team and we couldn't get the bats to work in most of these games.

The 2012 Units were a bit of a streaky team also, we had a 2 game winning streak, a 3 game winning streak and we finished the season off with a 3 game unbeaten streak. 

The Units had a good playoff run, going to the semi-finals, but it's now time to say goodbye to the 2012 Hurtin' Units and embrace the new team that we drafted for the 2013 season. My thanks go out to the 2012 roster and I wish all of the players the best of luck on their new teams. See you on the field.

SAYING HELLO- So the 2012 Hurtin' Units team is now been put to bed and it's time to move on to the task at hand. I may refer back to the 2012 team from time to time, but there is a new team on the horizon and it's time to focus our energy here. So, what do I think about the team we drafted on April 6th? I think it is the most awesome team I have ever seen. Okay, I might be blowing a bit of smoke here, but I really do think it looks pretty good. I know that most captains on draft day will say they have a pretty good looking team (when I say good looking, I'm referring to baseball talent, not appearance) and for the most part on draft day there is optimism. Hell last season I thought we had the team to contend for the league title and look how that turned out. 

We finished 12th last season, but the 4 teams in front of us only finished a single point ahead. One more win and we would have been in 8th place, 1 point behind the Beer Bros, who won the championship. Last year's team took a little time to come together, I'm hoping for a quicker start this season. Based on what we have on our roster, I would like to think the Hurtin' Units have the best outfield in the 2013 campaign. Now this could be my affinity for the team we drafted, but I really think we could challenge any other team's outfield. 

I went to last year's statistics and recorded what the 2013 Hurtin' Units team hit last season...Ricky Bobby was on fire (no pun intended), second overall in batting. Mikey Boy's average was the lowest of last year's statistics on the team, now let's be fair here, he was hurt from the first game and is really a mucho bettero hitter. I know for a fact that Mikey Boy begged the stats guy to remove his OBA. I know it didn't help our team average.

I compiled a list of the 2013 roster with each players OBA from last season and there were some pretty nice numbers on the list . Ricky Bobby was outstanding, 2nd in the league in OBA, Phil was in the top 25 in batting, Coxy was in the .700s, Jamie, Richard and Brian were all in the high .600s, Woody was in the high .500s and then there was Vince and myself in the lower .500s. I was really impressed with Brian's numbers .698, this would be 4th on the team. Rick L and Hags didn't play last season, hence no OBA. Mike's numbers are not even worth putting up because of his injury. Mike is usually in the 600s in batting and I expect him to be back there this season.

Our team average would be .635, which would be middle of the pack for last season. Mike's .400 brings down the team average, but if we were to put Mike in the .600 range, where I believe he truly hits, it brings our average up to a respectable .655. It makes the Hurtin' Units a lean, mean hittin' machine.

So we have a couple of weeks before the start of the season, I think we just continue to do our spring training and we should be good to go when the season starts. I hope that the weather gets better soon, so we can try to get in a batting/ meet and greet practise. But until we can get on the diamond, I suggest we keep up our spring training method of procedure faithfully or regularly followed. Welcome to the Hurtin' Units, looking forward to playin' some ball.

 

 

I'll Have a Draft Please...

DRAFT DAY – SATURDAY APRIL 6, 2013: 9:05 am – I have just received some disturbing news! A fax from one of the Hurtin' Units advanced scouts has informed me that a story, (unconfirmed) is about to break that several of the players on my 40 man wish list, are about to be accused of using performance enhancing drugs. Inside sources say that the players have been caught with several different PEDs, the most dangerous being the drugs A535 and Advil. Apparently, these drugs when used at the same time, provide pain relief and loosen muscles to make men 35+ years old play better baseball. This is definitely a black (there's that colour again) eye on the T.O.T league and it's especially bad on the most important day of the entire season. More on this story as it unfolds...

How does this news affect the Hurtin Units draft picks today? I knew that some players in the league had been using these PEDs, but I just turned a blind eye when I saw the hairy legs that they were being applied to, not a pretty sight to see. I will admit that I have used similar substances in the past and I could use them again in the future. How does this news affect the Hurtin Units draft picks today? It doesn't it's a blind draft. And further more, I encourage (especially if you're over 40) the use of these PEDs if it makes my new teammates better on the field!!!

I was perusing the rating sheets again this morning; there are some players on the ratings sheet I probably would change on my 40 man wish list, but I have put my list out there and I'll let the chips (mmm chips, I should bring some chips to the draft) fall where they may. I'm thinking about these players anyway, so they could still manifest themselves on to the Units.

As the draft nears, we continue to prepare for the 1:00 pm start. We have our new draft shirts ready to go, we have the ratings list on hand, pens ready to write names and numbers, money in the wallets for beverages and a great attitude that we are going to draft a great 2013 Hurtin' Units team. If by some chance is not the most talented team...we are still going to have a fun season.

Draft Day Draft - Let's do this!  We arrived at the Legion at about 12:15,  I thought we were going to be a early and when we arrived, there were already team captains seated  throughout the legion. So much for getting a seat up near the front. We were greeted by V.P Paul P. who allocated the 2013 Team draft sheets, we set up out table and then started preparing for our picks. The draft started just after 1:00pm and the first round was for number 1 pitchers.

It's Roster Time-In the second round we made our first pick of the day. The Hurtin' Units first pick in the 2013 draft was rookie player Darrell Hager (Hags) as the Units P2. The Hurtin' Units second pick was the number 12, Brian Kononiuk. Brian played for the Tap Masters last season. The next pick was the number 11, Rick Lyon, I had the pleasure of playing with Ricky on the Banshees in 2009. In our next pick, number 10, the Units picked up Vince Basacchi. Vince played with the Dogcatchers last season. 

In the next round, number 9, the Units picked Richard Gabourie. Richard played with the Hurtin' Units in 2011 and with the Gruesome Devils last season. We had a bit of a break after the number 9 round. The 8th, 7th and 6th players were already on the roster with myself (8), Mike (7) and Darrell (6) which gave us some time to actually review the players we picked up, grab a brewski and hit the head. 

Mike picked our next player, the number 5, and the Hurtin' Units select Gary Cox (Coxy). Coxy played with the Dogcatchers last season. Coxy played with Mike and I in my first year in the league, I took a lot of abuse that season, I also had tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard. This is a great pick up. Our next pick was EL PRESEDANTE, Jamie McClean as our number 4 rated player. Jamie played in the finals last season with the Brew Jays. The next player, in the number 3 rated position, was Dan (Woody) Chiasson. Woody played for the Banshees last season. Mike and I also played with Woody on the same team as Coxy, I'm definitely going to be abused this season. 

I was up to pick the number 2 player, and the Hurtin' Units pick Ricky (Ricky Bobby) Cudnik. Ricky Bobby played with the Grisslies last season. Heading into the final pick, the number 1 rated player, Mike and I kept saying " we need a shortstop", there were players we picked that could play SS, but we were hoping for a stud. It was Mike's turn to pick a player, and the player Mike picked was Phil Glecoff. This was a huge pick for our team. Phil was the stud we were looking for, Mike and I were smiling ear to ear with this final pick. Phil played with the Dogcatchers last season.

There you have it, the 2013 Hurtin' Units team. A well balanced team of defense, hitting, running and beer drinking. To view the roster go to rosters or click here.

Looking back at mine and Mike's wish lists, I was 3 for 10 on my picks at 30% and Mike was 5 for 10 at 50%.

BLACK DRAFT 2013.

"THE MAN IN BLACK FLED ACROSS THE DESERT, AND THE GUNSLINGER FOLLOWED"- Stephen King.

When it comes to posting on this blog, there are times when I feel like shelving the whole thing and just playing ball. I have probably said something like this at the beginning of every season, but I somehow muster up the energy to get it going. In the past, I've said I'm going to make it short and sweet and not babble on and on and on about the most trivial of things. That might happen this season, but I doubt it because just when I think there is nothing to talk about, something seems to pop up and catch my interest. 

When I take the opportunity to look back at the 3 seasons since the Units came in to the league, it gives me a lot of pride to have kept this blog going for this long. It's really fun to go back to any game this team has played and recall most of what happened. I also will go back to points in previous seasons to recall information that I may be including in a current posting. Having Hurtin' Unit archives is a great source of information and data to assist me in blogging.

We are going into our 4th season and it's been a great ride so far, but Mike and I are hoping this is our year. "We're in to win" is my mantra for the season. The first three seasons we gained a lot of experience as captains and last season was my first season as a P1 which gave me excellent insight to what I need to do this season. Mike is back playing this season, with limited capabilities, he will be playing either 1st, 3rd or catcher this season...as for running the bases, we'll play it by ear (or leg). We have a new outlook and a new look...

BLACK: This season the Hurtin' Units players are the men in black. We chose black shirts with gold lettering and for those fans of the Boston Bruins or the Pittsburgh Penguins you're probably as excited about our shirt colours as I am. This is not to say I am a Pittsburgh or Boston fan (I'm a passionate Leaf fan), but I am a fan of the intimidating colour of black with gold lettering. I don't recall any team going with these colours, at least not in recent memory. Perhaps we will start a trend and now every team will be hoping for a first pick, of the team shirts, just to get black with gold lettering. The Hurtin' Units logo should look fantastic on black. I know that Mike has wanted a black shirt since we became captains. This should be a fun season.

The colour black has always been associated with the bad boy image. The cowboy dressed in black was the bad guy, the motorcycle rider with the black leather jacket was a bad ass and black clothing in general (Gothic) has been a symbol of toughest, strangest and scariest of all colours. Some would even suggest that black isn't even a colour at all, but it definitely carries our team to the dark side.

When Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, on Aug. 9, 1988, at the press conference to introduce Gretzky, King's owner Bruce McNall said,"at the moment, I would like to now go to the reason you all came here, to introduce our new team colors," he said to a crowded room of laughing reporters. "Let’s see, I think we have a model here for the new team colors, I am not sure." Out walked Wayne and Janet Gretzky and the "Silver and Black" era began. The Kings went to a black jersey and became a more intimidating team. I would love to see the Toronto Maple Leafs with a black jersey in addition to the traditional blue and white. There is definitely something mysterious about the colour black.

DRAFT: There seems to be a real buzz around the league this upcoming season, I'm not sure what is creating this, but there is definitely something going on. Maybe it's been here every season and I just haven't felt it the same way. What ever it is, it all starts on Draft Day. Most of us really enjoy the draft; the legion is usually packed to capacity and the energy is so thick you have to cut it with a knife. Friends and past teammates all gathering to catch up after a long winter layoff and all eager to see what team they'll end up on.

I remember the Hurtin' Units first pick in our first season. It was an exciting time for us, we were hyped up almost to the point of confusion. Our first pick was a pitcher (P1), as they usually are, and the pick was Jerry Wallace. I don't think we could have picked a better pitcher to build a team around and a little bit further down we picked up Chris Ross as our # 4 pick. Chris was the President of the league, at the time, and a good mentor for us. These two players were solid support as we worked our way through our first season. It didn't hurt that we got off to a great start and finished the season with a 19-5-2 record.  

In our second season our first overall pick was pitcher (P1) Bill Jonkman. I had never played with Bill, but it didn't take very long to figure out what a great guy to have on your team. Bill had a bit of a rough time with the Hurtin' Units, on a couple of occasions he got injured playing. In one game Bill took a line drive, hit by Kahuna, off this left arm, causing a huge bruise. Another time Bill was running to first base, tripped over the bag, fell hard and got beaten up quite badly. He ended up with cracked ribs and a collapsed lung, he was out for 6 weeks.

Last season (2012) our first overall pick was David Kidd (P2). Dave was a guy I loved having on our team. He was fun, he had a good sense of humour and brought some toughest (took on Tito one game). He also wore 4 different braces on various parts of his body, one on each knee. The down side was, he wasn't able to finish the season, his knees got so bad, he could hardly run to first. He is not on the registered player list for this season. Too bad, I was hoping after off season knee surgeries, he would try to come back.

This season (2013) our first overall pick will also be a P2. I have perused the P2s on the ratings sheet and there is a fine, fine crop of players that we may end up with. My first choice, if I actually had a choice, would be Roger Burton (A.K.A Kahuna). Roger has played with me in the August Tournament for probably the last 5 years and I just enjoy playing ball with the big lug. We could change our name to the Burton Units...LOL.

Does anyone know who Jerry and Esther Hicks are? Has anyone ever heard of the Law of Attraction? Jerry and Esther are the authors of the book Law of Attraction. The idea behind the Law of Attraction is basically you focus, observe, talk about and think about something for a period of time and that thought will manifest itself in to your life... 

The reason I mention the book Law of Attraction is because each of the last 3 seasons, I have written out a list of the players that I would like to see drafted by the Hurtin' Units. I have never publicly posted my lists or talked in detail about who was on the list, in fact I don't even remember who I had on the lists; I know we drafted some of them. I thought his blog I would post my top 4 players, I would like to draft, in each rating and see how we do at the draft.

Number 1
Peter Holmann
Kevin Moon
Robin Dickson
Steve Lahey
Number 2
Roger Burton
Rick Cudnik
Cameron Clark
Gord Robinson
Number 3
Anicete Goncalves
Winston Gayle
Clayton Avery
Brad Moye
Number 4
Kevin Boston
Mark Butler
Rob McCarron
Jamie McClean
Number 5
Chris Ross
Gary Basso
Dennis Short
Tim Osmond
Number 6
Rob Rumbolt
Steve Brooks
Rick Greenfield
Matt Foerster
Number 7
Can't pick a 7, Mike Olliffe would be my first pick.
Number 8
Can't pick an 8, James Taylor would be my first pick.
Number 9
Glen Tinkler
Richard Gabourie
Dave McKendrick
Stephane Simard
Number 10
Paul Gyori
Harley Sherman
Gord Robertson
Gord Dol
Number 11
Ingo Bartens
Bill Clouthier
Dave Doucette
Rick Lyons
Number 12
Piero Delgreco
Troy Hope
Fraser Barratt
Charlie O'leary

So there you have my 4 top picks at each level, in no particular order. There are other players (i.e Chuck Cragg) that the Units couldn't get for a number of reasons, they could be captains, P1s or at the same level as Mike or myself (Jimmer). I asked Mike for his wish list, and it was a little bit different. We have 24 of the same players out of the 40 picked. Mike wants to keep his wish list close to the vest (probably so he can manifest the other 16 players he picked) and for that reason I won't post his players. After the draft we'll compare lists and see who we drafted. 

The players on my list are on there for different reasons, mostly because I would want them on my team. I don't have time to go in to details about my picks, but lets just say I would like to play with most of these players. There are plenty of others I could have chosen, but I stopped at my top 4.

With my list displayed where everyone can view it, I will be interested to see how many of these players end up playing for the Hurtin' Units in 2013. Check back in on draft day to see the 2013 Hurtin' Unit roster.

Draft day is only 3 days away and I'm looking forward to drafting the 2013 Hurtin' Units team. Once we have drafted a team I will continue with this posting... see ya at the draft.