WITH A REBEL YELL ...WE CRY MORE, MORE, MORE..

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE RUSTY REBELS.

Game # 22- August 25, 2014

Hurtin' Units lose 17-16

Team Record - 3-18-1

Keogh Park- Game # 22, the last game of the regular season. It seems like just yesterday that we were at the Legion selecting our team. I have to tell you, the Hurtin' Units nation, I have really enjoyed this season, despite having the worst record and worst plus/minus in the league. We have a great group of guys on this edition of the Units. 

Last season, near this time in the schedule (week of the playoffs, actually) I was not enjoying the baseball and when the season ended, it took me a considerable amount of time to decide whether or not I might come back. I obviously came back and I have really had a fun season. 


I know what you're thinking, your team has lost 18 games, you're in last place, you have the a record setting plus/minus (-177)...how can you call this a fun season? My season is not about wins, losses and stats; it's about going to the park, playing a game I love to play without controversy, distractions or conflict. And for me there is also the challenge of putting a lineup together and finding the most suitable positions with the players we chose in the draft...This is fun for me. 

There are times this season (past seasons also) that I thought that our team is jinx or cursed or maybe a former player has a voodoo doll, poking pins in to it. I say things like this from time to time, almost always tongue in cheek, I honestly don't believe there are forces out there working against us. I do believe we got off to a slow start and that played on our confidence, I also believe we have played better of late and we have weathered the storm and our game is on the upswing. Is it too little too late? We will soon find out...playoffs are just around the corner...UNITS UNITE!!

The weather for this game with Rebels was nice. The temperature was around 21 degrees, but with the humidity it felt like 27. The sun in the western sky played a bit of havoc, in the early innings, burning in to the retinas of the right fielders. The skies had a few fluffy clouds, but there were no threats on this evening. 

At game time we had 10 Hurtin' Units players dressed to play. We would have 11 on the night, but Art was a little late because he was at Wonderland eating beaver...tails and climbing Wonder Mountain. He did manage to make it just as the game started. Mike was the only missing link Unit.

Roman ( the official umpire of the Hurtin' Units) was the umpire for this game. The game was a 7pm start and the Units were the visitors. 

This game was probably the most enjoyable game of the entire season for me. It had everything and it was a see-saw battle all game long. The defense, for both teams, was amazing. And even with both teams having solid pitching and defense, each team still managed to score a basket full of runs. 

The runs that were scored were not those of the error variety; no sir ee bob, the runs scored in this game were all earned.

Over the first 2 innings, the boxscore looked the same for each team, both scored 3 runs in the first and were shut out in the second.  

In the 3rd inning, the Units would score 3 more runs and the Rebels would counter with 2 runs of their own. After 3 complete innings, the Units lead by a score of 6-5.

In the top of the 4th inning, the Units bats were energized and 5 batters came around to score. The bottom of the inning saw the Rusty Rebels rally for 3 more runs.

After taking a lead in the 3rd inning and adding to it in the 4th inning, the Units came out and laid an egg in the 5th and that would have been okay if the Rebels could have been shut down. This was not the case; the Rebels would rally for 7 hurtful runs. The Units had 2 outs quickly in this inning, but as with many other times this season, we could not get that elusive 3rd out. The score after 5 complete innings 15-11 for the Rebels....RAT FARTS!!!!

In the top of the 6th inning, the Units bats again came alive (like Frankenstein on the table) we rallied for 5 monsterous runs. The defense of Units would hold the Rusty Rebels to only a single run in the bottom of the inning. The score after 6 complete innings a 16-16 tie. 

Going in to the 7th inning, the Units and the Rebels found themselves in the tie game. The Units needed to score just to take the pressure off.. Maybe, just maybe, it was the added pressure that caused the Units to go down 1,2,3 in the top of the 7th.  In the bottom of the inning, the Units would get an out, but Rebels would then load the bases and would eventually get a base runner across for the win. Rebels win 17-16.

I mentioned earlier in the posting, that this was my most enjoyable game of the season. It really was fun, I almost wish it hadn't been the finish of the regular season. I would personally like to see a longer schedule, even if it means a few more 9:30 games ...What can I say, I like to play.

In conclusion, I would like to say it was great to have Kevin back in the the lineup, even if he was playing catch, he brings a power and confidence to the team. 

I would also like to say that I thought the Units defense was awesome in this game. The outfield played really well. Don C. made 2 spectacular catches, one going back over his shoulder and the second running in on the shoe top. Art, Joel and Dwayne all made fly out catches. Dwayne's was a bit of an adventure, but he got the job done. I'm not sure if Rick caught anything in the air, I know he got some ground balls. 

This was probably the best I've seen our outfield play this season and if Kevin can't play the outfield in the playoffs, we have these guys to back us up. Our defense, in the outfield was pretty good and the infield had their shiny moments also. Dave threw 2 runners out at home (with Kevin catching). Esau, Clayton, Bill and myself saw some infield action, and we all contributed in the very close game loss. Kevin also hit a homerun in to the tennis courts. Good game Units...UNITS UNITE!!!

IT WAS A DARK AND GRISSLIE NIGHT...

Hurtin' Units vs. The Grisslies.

Game # 21- August 20, 2014

Hurtin' Units lose 11-7

Team Record- 3-17-1

Keogh Park- I can't believe we are only 2 games away from the end of the regular season. One after this game. Where did the summer go? Now, I know our season was shortened by 2 games, because of the lighting problems at Keogh Park, the outfield damage on diamond #2 at Coventry and the first couple of rainy weeks in the month of May. All things considered I think things worked out okay. The Units, I believe, only had to play 1 makeup game (don't quote me on this, there may have been more) and we did have 2 or 3 scheduled 9:30pm games. I remember that there was a stretch in the season when it seemed to rain every Tuesday night. Doug was earning his rescheduling money back then.

Last week we had a late game against the Dogcatchers (some of us wish it didn't happen at all), but the game before ran late and we didn't get going until 9:45pm. It was also a cold night (11 degrees), another sign that the summer is coming to an end. The other signs that tell me summer is coming to an end are, the calendar (sure give away with this one), the CNE and the T.O.T August Tournament. 

Last weekend was the T.O.T. tournament. There were several out of town teams playing and in the fun division there were 8 teams competing.

Faster and stronger team.

I assembled a team again this year, but this year it was not called the Squirtin' Units. The Squirtin' Units are history, they had a good run, but now it was time to construct a new band of merry men. A stronger, faster and shinier team, that doesn't cost 6 million dollars to build.  This year's team was named the Hammell Hosers. The team was made of 8 Hammell Blvd. residents, 3 current Hurtin' Units players and Jeff B. Jeff made the cut when we needed a P2 for the tournament, Doug helped me out by assigning Jeff to the squad. 

Fleming Fighters...no loogie is untouchable.

The Hosers had a bit of a struggle in the round robin portion of the tournament. In the round robin the Hosers played the Merchants and won by 2 runs, then took on the Grusome Twosome and lost by a score of 11-8 and finally the Fathers and Sons team and lost by a lopsided score. The Hosers did manage to squeak in to the quarter finals against the Fleming Fighters (sounds like the name of super heros that fight spitting and loogies). 

Fathers and sons knew how to play.

The Hosers pulled out a 10-8 win and were off to the semis vs. the Father and Sons team again. CRAP!! Is basically what I said when I saw who we were facing. This game was much closer than the first game and in the top of the 6th inning, the Hosers actually took a 8-7 lead. The lead was short lived, the Fathers and Sons would score 4 runs in the bottom of the inning and would shut the Hosers down in the top of the seventh. The Fathers and Sons would go on to win the tournament.

Hurtin' Units vs. the Grisslies.

Minus 173...REALLY?

Before this game, I went online to the T.O.T  website to check out where everybody was positioned for the upcoming playoffs. The Dodge City Rounders sit at the top of the heap with 28 points, and the Dog Catchers and Tap Masters are tied for second position with 26 points. The Grisslies are having a really good season, they currently sit in 4th position in the standings with 23 points. The Units currently sit in 15th position and with the Dusty Cleats winning 2 games last week, the Units can only finish in 15th. D'oh!!!

Who saw this coming?

The one stat that jumps off the T.O.T standings page is the Hurtin' Units plus/minus. I have never seen such a lopsided statistic in this game. I keep asking myself how did we get so far in the negatives. The next closest team is -54 and that team is the Dusty Cleats. I decided to look back at the final standings for the last 3 seasons. 

In 2013, the Grisslies had the worst record in the league, they finished with a 3-20-1 record, the exact same record that the Units have right now. The Grisslies record was based on 24 game schedule and right now, the Units have 2 more games of a 22 game schedule remaining. We could finish better than the Grisslies did last season.

2013 Season Final Standings.

We could actually finish with a better record than the 2013 Grisslies. When I look at their record, it doesn't look that good, but the real difference between the Grisslies (2013) and Hurtin' Units (2014) is that the Grisslies had a 3-20-1 record, but had a 0 plus/minus. The Red Dogs won 6 games and had a plus/minus of -85. Somebody pinch me, because I'm sure I'm still living in bizzaro world. 

2012 Final Standings

2011 Final Standings.

The stats I have for the previous 2 seasons (2012, 2011) do not show the plus/minus, but I'm willing to bet that none of the team in these two seasons were even close to the 2014 Hurtin' Units plus/minus. How can this be, unless I am really still living in bizzaro world. Hey Superman (or Fleming's Fighters), get us out of here.

So we got that going for us. 

I also looked back to the 2010 season, again no plus/minus in my records. I guess we have only been keeping the plus/minus stat for 3 or so years. In the 2010 season, the Dusty Cleats had the worst record in the league with a 3-23-0 record. There is some light at the end of the Hurtin' Units tunnel, we will still have a better record (as far as wins and losses go) than the 2010 Cleats. That's a giant relief off my shoulders! And... and back then it was a 26 game schedule. So we got that goin' for us.   

            
GAME TIME: In the first game (June 23,2014), the Grisslies hammered us by a score of 27-11 to give the Hurtin' Units a 0-8-0 record on the season. A game with this kind of lopsided score can really get in the heads of a team, and it was a tough battle for us to recover from.

Big clouds...dark clouds.

Early in the day there were dark, almost black, clouds hovering over the town, threatening rain and thunderstorms. Neither of these materialized and by game time the weather was looking quite good. The daytime temperature reached 26 degrees, but with the humidity it felt like 31 degrees. By game time the temperature had dropped to a comfortable level, but he humidity was still lingering around. I think that most of the Hurtin' Units players would take these conditions over the weather last Thursday night with 10 degrees and a 9:45pm game time. 

Cousin Eddie....Grisslies fan.

For this 8:15pm start, we had only 9 players at the park. Missing from the lineup were Kevin, Billy and Mike. I pickup Jerry M. from the previous game as a sub. Roman was our umpire for this Grisslie night. The Units were the visitors in this game. 

Before this game had even begun on Thursday, I had said the Hurtin' Units players, that we could finish no higher than 15th position and treat this game as a practice game. What I meant by this was, since this game really had no bearing on our season finishing position, just go out and work or practice what you think you need to work on. I think some guys took advantage of what I was saying and worked on their batting and fielding. 

I know that I was working some stuff with my pitching. I pitched almost the entire game using pitches that I rarely use. At times, throughout the game, I found myself in unfavorable counts, but I stuck to what I was working on. I walked several batters in the game.  I didn't like it; my hand got sore from the way I was gripping the ball, but I stuck with it, and in the end I'm glad I did. We have one more regular season game remaining and I will probably do the same in the that game, hopefully with a better outcome. 

In the top of the first inning, the Units would go down quickly only sending 6 batters to the plate, stranding a runner on third. In the bottom of the inning, the Grisslies would only score a single run. Nice going boys!!

In the top of the 2nd inning, the Units would score a single run and in the bottom of the inning, the Units would hold the Gris off the score board. 

Units had the runs... 

In the top of the 3rd inning, the Units would produce 2 big, juicy runs (sounds gross doesn't it), but these runs were shortlived (probably with the assistance of Imodium...just kidding) and the Grisslies would score 2 more runs in the bottom of the inning. The score at the end of 3 innings of play...3-3 tie. 

It was arm a gettin.

In the top of the 4th, the Units would be shut out. The Grisslies would have themselves the biggest run inning on the night; the Units defense had a few hiccups, in the bottom, which ended up in about a 6 out inning.

Yep, a 6 out inning...The Units would have had an out at first, but Esau came off the bag a little too early for a safe call in favor of the batter. Don C. with a easy (it looked easy, can of corn) fly ball would have it go off his glove and drop to the ground, Clayton, who is always steady at second, had a ball go through his legs in to the outfield. A bizzaro world inning to be sure. 

Units needed a rally.

Over the next 2 innings, the Units were shut out and the Grisslies would score 3 more runs. The score after 6 complete innings...11-3 for the Griswolds. 

In the top of the seventh inning, the Hurtin' Units would rally for 4 more runs, but 4 runs would fall short of the 8 needed to tie this game. 

UNITS UNITE!!

I thought the Hurtin' Units played a really good game and with a few lucky breaks, we might have been good enough to pull out a victory, it was not to be on this night...UNITS UNITE!!

The Units next game is Monday August 25, 2014 at Keogh Park at 7:30pm vs. The Rusty Rebels..

CLUBBER LAHEY DEFEATS ROCKY UNITS..

Hurtin' Units vs. The Dog Catchers.

I pity the fools who play against Lahey.

Game # 20- August 16, 2014

Hurtin' Units lose 32-11

Team Record 3-16-1

Keogh Park- Do you remember that movie on NETFLIX, the one where the boxer gets beaten up by another boxer and then the defeated boxer comes back, later in the movie, to win the next fight?...Do you remember? Well, I liked that movie. The movie I'm talking about is, of course is Rocky III, when Clubber Lang beat the snot out of Rocky, and gets in his head as well and Rocky transforms himself in to a better boxer and wins the fight to end the movie. 

This game reminded me of that movie; the Units took blows to our body, but most of all we took major blows to our heads. In fact, we have been dealt serious shots all season long; hell, we lost our first 11 games, how can that not get in our heads? Recently, I thought we have been playing some really good ball (Tuesday was a great game) and our confidence level was rising slowly and it was showing on the field. 

We took a real shit kicking in this game and not to make excuses, but we probably deserved a little bit better result based on all the factors. The game was a 9:30 bout, but the game before us ran late and we didn't get playing until 9:45. The weather was crap, the temperature at game time, was about 11 degrees (beautiful Fall day in August) and there was a strong breeze blowing west to east (did play a part in pitching). Lou was our umpire, the Units were the home team.  

Paulie takes batting practise.

It's Friday morning (next day after the game), it's 6am and I'm still feeling the sting of this game. This was definitely the Hurtin' Units worst beating this season and I'm willing to bet, (I'm not going to check) that this was the worst lost in team history. Now I know a loss is a loss, it's all the same in the win/loss column, but when you get beaten up this badly it seems to hurt more, it creates deeper doubt in our minds. We seem to process a 2 or 1 run loss differently, even though it is still a loss. 

"Ya gotta swing right through the pitch"

When the draft,
on April 5, 2014, had concluded and everyone, at the legion, was milling around over the teams, I would have never predicted a season like the Units are having. There was just too much talent on that list. Twenty games later, we sit at the bottom of the standings with the worst record and a plus/minus of -152. 

On the other side (Dogcatchers), they are near the top in the standings, they have five players batting in the top 25, they have Steve Lahey (need I say more) and they have the best plus/minus in the league with a +96.  Steve Lahey, as of today, is leading in the batting with an OBA over .800. This guy dealt us some serious blows in this game, I'm not even going to talk about his defense (it was pretty damn good), but he must have had 8 RBIs in this game. 5 were for sure on a grand slam and another homerun, we can't defend against this. At one point I asked Lou to check the right field fence for a hole, everything Lahey hit seemed to go over. Mike Candy also hit a homerun over the left field fence. D'oh!!!

It wasn't our finest moment. 

I actually feel badly for some of the guys on our team. For Ricky G., this is the second season in a row on a struggling team (played on the Grisslies last year) and for Art and Joel, it's not a great way to be introduced in to the league. As for the rest of us, we need to put this game behind us, play hard and look forward to the upcoming playoffs. We can turn this thing around. Kevin C. has reminded us recently, the Tap Masters finished 12th last season and they went to the 2013 playoff finals. 

Lahey was a monster in this game.

The Dogcatchers are a very good team, but I don't believe we should have lost this game as badly as we did. Lahey was a monster in this game, but we also had some shit ass bad luck. Going in to the open inning (6th) the Units were down by a score of 21-11 (not bad, could make it a more respectable score with some luck), the first 2 Dogcatcher batters got out and with 2 out the Units could not get the third, the Catchers would score 10 more runs. 

It was like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

At one time, I got up in the count on Larry, 0-2, everybody wanted to go home, and I said to "Larry just let the next go" he agreed, I threw a ball that would have ended the inning, on the mat, and Larry drove the ball to right field, I said "I thought you were going to let it go?" Larry says " I lied"...LOL. We did finally get the 3rd out and the bottom of the inning was quick, we all knew it was over, we just wanted to go...Let it go Units, we have hit Rocky bottom. 

"Apollo thinks you can do it, so do I, but you got to do it for the right reasons, not for Mickey, not for me, not anyone else... but for you."- Adrian Balboa in Rocky III.  

Come on Hurtin' Units, it's time to get off the canvas, dust ourselves off, and let's go play some baseball.

Walk Watch- G-5, S-

HURTIN' UNITS GET TIED UP... AND LIKE IT.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE BREW JAYS. 

Heading out to play, no idea my belt would break.

Game # 19- August 11, 2014

Hurtin' Units tie 10-10

Team Record- 3-15-1

Woodington- Just a quick note about the HTKP golf tournament this past weekend. For those of you that did not play in it, you missed a great day. The weather was fantastic, at times a little bit too hot, but with a nice sun/cloud mix and a soft breeze that made it comfortable out on the course. There were 101 participants and I was part of a team made up of Glen T., Cam C., Mike O., and myself. We all wore matching shirts and we finished the tournament with a score of -4 on the day. We had 5 birdies, 1 bogie, and the rest of the holes we were par. I probably would have helped my team more if it hadn't been for a couple of personal issues.

What issues you ask? First, I had a shirt that fit like a tent. I usually buy a XL shirt when I shop, this time I bought an XL, but the thing was way too big...What up with that?? My other issue was...I was bending over to tie up my shoe and my belt broke just before the start of the tournament...D'oh!!! I played the whole tournament with my shorts always falling down...again D'oh!!!

The tournament was held, this year, at Woodington Lakes. The course was in great condition. The man responsible for putting the tournament together was Kevin Boston. Kevin and his merry men/women put on a spectacular day. From the moment we registered, we knew it was going to be a good day. Everything from loot bags to name tags were there to welcome us to this event. When we finally got golfing, there was a sponsor on every hole and on multiple holes there was some kind of prize, including a chance to an Austin Mini for a hole in one. Jeff Dancey came the closest, close but no cigar or Mini. Jamie Allen won a BMW, for a weekend, for closest to the pin on another hole. Kahuna won the longest drive on two different holes (might want to get him to pee in a cup...maybe not) with two monsterous drives. Rob Farah got the straightest drive and numerous other prizes were handed out. 

In addition to the golf there was also a silent auction to benefit Sick Kids. There were some really nice items on the tables and I did manage to walk away with one. I ended up with a Johnathon Bernier signed, framed photo after a bit of haggling with Tito P. Tito was actually the final bidder on the item, but I kept trying to convince him to let me have it at his cost. Tito finally gave in (at moment of payment) and let me have the framed photo to add to my Toronto Maple Leaf collection. Thanks Tito!

The Dinner was a buffet style, with pasta, salad and an outdoor barbecue with big, juicy burgers and hot dogs. We could eat outside on the patio or inside in the dining room. I personally, have special needs when it comes to eating, and Kevin and the Woodington staff were able to help me out. Thanks Radar.

There was also a 50/50 draw to benefit the Legion's childrens christmas fund (not exactly sure what this is). The winner of the 50/50 draw was Cheryl Boston...Fixed, fixed...L.O.L. Yes, Cheryl was the winner of $250.00 and when she came up to claim her prize, she took the microphone and announced that her and Kevin would like to donated the winning funds to the Legion's childrens fund...NICE!!!

This tournament was so well organized. Kevin and all the volunteers did a fantastic job and everyone who I have talked to had nothing but good things to say about this day. Great job!!

 Game Time: Brew Jays vs. Hurtin' Units.

Brew Jays executive offices...

Based on the weather reports earlier in the day, I didn't think we would even get this game in. At about 1pm, there was a severe weather watch in effect and Enviroment Canada called for thunderstorms with a possibility of hail and heavy downpours. 

At around 5pm the skies, over Tottenham, opened up and a lot of heavy, wet rain came down. Wet rain Jimmer, now that's funny!! I started getting e-mails and messages, shortly after, from players inquiring about the game's status, but all I could say was so far, game on. The rain didn't last very long and by around 6:30pm things had started to dry up. 

But what would Coventry be like? Surprisingly, Coventry diamond #2, was in terrific condition (really thanks to Doug Dwyer and the field crew, who were working on it when we arrived) and this game was a go. The sun actually made a brief appearance, in the first inning, but most of the game was played under overcast skies. The temperature was in the mid 20s and there was a strong breeze, blowing south to north, which had some effect on pitching. 

This was a 7pm game at Coventry #2, the umpire was Lou and the Units were the home team.

At game time we had 8 Hurtin' Unit players at the park. Missing on the night were Kevin, Art, Don and Bill. I knew about the first 3 and when I got home there was a message from Bill, he wasn't sure if we were playing. We picked up Kevin C. (skippy) as a sub." And like a good neighbor State Farm Skippy was there". 

No beer for this game. Forgot it in cooler at home...

Over the first 4 innings, the Hurtin' Units looked good both defensively and offensively. The Units defense didn't allow the Brew Jays to score a run over the first 4 innings. Dave Mc. was like a vacuum with ground balls and Esau was solid at first base. The Units scored 7 runs over the first 3 innings, none in the 4th. The score after 4 complete innings was 7-0 for the Hurtin' Units. 

In this game of baseball, things can change quickly, the momentum can swing on a single play or a half inning of play. I felt the pendulum start to swing in the bottom of the 4th inning. The Hurtin' Units were batting, Joel, Rick, and Dwayne went down 1,2,3...inning over. I could see the lift in spirits with the Brew Jays. In the top of the 5th inning, the Jays would score 7 runs and in the bottom of the inning, the Units would go down again. Kevin (sub) stranded at the plate, "like Gilligan's Island", Esau with a line drive to Doug Dwyer at first, and Clayton on a ground ball...1,2,3. The Units body lauguage told the story. At the end of 5 innings, the score was tied 7-7.

Sambuca before the game.

In the sixth inning of this very fast moving game, the Jays would send 4 batters to the plate and the Units would only give up a single in the inning. In the bottom of the inning, lead off batter Dave Mc. would hit and come around to score ("Cash Money" as Kevin would say) on some clutch hitting by Units bats. The score at the end of 6 innings...8-7 for the Units.


In the open inning (7th), the Jays would bring 3 more runs across the and take a 10-8 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Dwayne lead off and got out, Kevin (s) hit a double (a single for most of us),Esau got on with a single, Clayton got on with a fielders choice, scoring Kevin, but Esau was out, Dave Mc. got single and moved Clayton to third. 

With 2 out and the tying run at third, I came to bat and hit to the Jays 2nd baseman, the ball was bobbled and everyone was safe including the tying run. Dave had advanced to third base. Mike was the next batter and hit the ball hard on the infield, Bo (2nd) made a nice grab, threw to 2nd base for the final out. Make the final...8-8.

This was the first tie, on the season, for the Hurtin' Units. We have had a tie in every season since joining the league. I didn't think it was going to happen this season with only 4 games remaining. I have to say that I'm really disappointed with the Rusty Rebels this week (tongue in cheek really), they got their asses spanked by the Dusty Cleats and made it really tough for the Units to take over 14th place. The Units now have to win 2 of their remaining 3 games (against Dogcatchers, Grisslies and Rusty Rebels) and the Dusties have to lose all of theirs to get 14th.

Anything could happen.

It looks like the Units may have to go all the way from 15th position, with a plus/minus over -100. As Kevin C., of the Units, has reminded us on several occasions, the Tap Masters finished 12th last season and went to the playoff finals. Anything is possible!!!!



walk watch- g-1, s-

WOODY'S WAKE UP WITH HURTIN' UNITS.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE HOTTUB WOODYS.

Game # 18- August 6, 2014

Hurtin' Units lose 15-6

Team Record- 3-15-0

Keogh Park- I used this same picture (Baseball World), in the blog, last time we played the Hottubers. The only difference is that the picture was inverted, back then, because back then I believed the Hurtin' Units had been thrust in to bizzaro world and were going through this crazy bizzaro world stuff.  

The last time we played the Hottub Woodys was back on May 28th and the Woodys tore us up by a score of 26-10. I was really hoping for a better result in this our 2nd game.

I've got some good news and some not so good news!! The was perusing the stats last weekend and the Hurtin' Units numbers did not look all that great. The bad news is our plus/minus was at -143 and the next closest team was at -63. The good news was we were only 2 points out of 14th place. 

The weather for this game was almost perfect; I say almost because the sun played a little bit of havoc in the right field. The temperature was mid 20s for this 7:00pm start. The umpire was Don S... yea, shocked me too, I thought our official umpire was Roman...I hope he's okay.

Where's Roman? I hope he's okay.

We were the visitors in this game.

We were missing a lot of our roster for this game...it might be easier to say who was there.

Missing for this game were Kevin, Dave, Clayton, Don and Art. We played with only 9 players all game, the Woodys supplied a catcher. We picked up Brad Y. and Tim O. as subs.

I had a feeling that this game was going to be a rough one. After all, we were missing our 1,2,3, 4, and 6 rated players and as much faith as I have in the rest of the guys, this one would be tough.     

We really did live up to our team name on this night. Kevin was still out with a calf muscle, Dave with a sore shoulder, I still have a tender knee and Dwayne, even though he and Iplayed, has a nasty leg abrasion which he got sliding in to 2nd base last week. Dwayne's leg looked painful, it was really, really, really glowing red and it was scabbed up really good. He told us his wife was making him go to the doctor the next day. 

As for the game, like so many this season, we got down early and could not recover. The Woodys scored 6 runs in the first inning and they didn't look back!!

The Hurtin' Units offense wasn't very good to start the game, of the first 7 batters we sent to the plate, only one would get on base. The Units would get on the scoresheet in the top of the third inning, with a lead off, over the left field fence homerun by super sub Brad Y. The Units would score another run in the inning, but it would take 4 more innings like this to even tie the game. 

The Woodys have a solid lineup and I remember asking myself, on the pitcher's mound "when does the bottom of the order come up"? Before this game started, I told myself this was going to be a practice game. Over the past month or so, most of the Unit's players have been in a semi-permanent position, but last night, (this game) only two players were they had been playing, myself and Joel, everyone else was in an unfamiliar positions. 

Personally speaking, I think we did a decent job, considering who was missing. Since I thought of this game as a practice game, I decided to practice using some of my pitches (mostly knuckle ball), but it wasn't going over the plate very well and I was missing the mat a lot. I walked a season high batters in this game; on average this season, I was walking less than a batter a game. I guess practice makes perfect, but when does all this practice start to pay off? 

The Units only have 4 games remaining, our next game is Tuesday August 12th vs. the Brew Jays.   

walk watch- g-5, s-