END OF DUSTY ROADS...

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE DUSTY CLEATS 

Game # 5- May 26th, 2016

Hurtin' Units lose 11-8

Team Record- 1-4-0

Keogh Park- So far this season we have played every every time slot, 7:00, 8:15 and 9:30. We have played every diamond, Coventry 2 Coventry 3 and Keogh.

We have played teams in red, grey, blue, yellow and orange jerseys, but we still have not played a home game. We are the Road Warriors.

This season the Hurtin' Units schedule is a little different than any I can remember. We start the season with five consecutive road games (visitors game). And in our first four weeks, we play only a single game per week in 3 of the weeks.

We have also had a little break coming in to this game. The Hurtin' Units have not played since May 14th, when we lost to the Sons of Pitches by a score of 17-15. A nine day layoff could actually hurt us coming in to the game against the Cleats, hence we are the called the Hurtin' Units. I prefer to play more than one game per week, I believe it helps keep the rust off. I mentioned that this game againsts the Cleats is our fifth consecutive game on the road, next week the Hurtin' Units have their home opener.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the schedule, in fact, the Units will probably benefit from the early road schedule. The Hurtin' Units record is not that good over the four weeks, but our games have been close and we have competed. With a team record of 1-4-0, we have a plus/minus of -3. There are teams with a .500 record with a much worse plus/minus. 

The weather for this game was stinky hot, 27 degrees at 7pm and with the humidity it felt like 34 degrees.

At game time we had 11 Units players ready to take on the Cleats. Mark B. was the only missing player on the night. 

On Thursday afternoon I got a call from Rob F. asking me to sub, for the Dodge City Rounders, at 7 o'clock. I accepted the offer to play, even though it was pouring rain when he called. By late afternoon the rain had stopped and it looked like it was "game on". 

I subbed for the Dodge City Rounders, I played catch, I have mentioned this before, I really don't mind. What I do mind, is the condition of the batter's boxes at Keogh Park. The batter's boxes at the park were the worst part of the diamond. Even with all the rain earlier in the day the rest of the diamond was in very good condition. The boxes are arguably the most important part of the diamond and last night I was frustrated that I had to stand in mud like conditions every time I was batting. And when I was catching, in the Dodge City game, I saw multiple batters slipped coming out of the batter's box, running to first base. I also experienced the cool splash of the slop every time a pitch missed the mat. 

In a conversation with Gordy D., he suggested that we have a rake, a tamper and a bit of water to maintain the boxes. The problem is, who would do be responsible for doing this. I might experiment before we play our next game, to see how much work it would to take care of and/or maintain the batter's boxes on a weekly basis. If it doesn't take a lot of effort, it might be worth bringing it forward at the next Captain's meeting.

Game time. 

This is the tale of two games. The first half was dominated by the Cleats, but the second half was controlled by the Hurtin Units. In the first half the Cleats scored enough runs to win, in the second half the Hurtin' Units did not. I mentioned earlier that we had a 9 day layoff and I believe this layoff hurt us.

When you don't swing the bat for 9 days it has a tendency to make your timing a little off. It took at least one time through the batting order to get a feel for the bats again. It took the Units 3 innings just to get though the order the first time. But by that time the Cleats had taken enough of a lead that the Units could not make up the difference.

This was really the whole story, the Units played great defense after the first couple of innings, but again, the score was too high already for the Units to come back. If the Units had couple more Innings, there might have been a chance to make up the difference, but this was not to be on this night. Hopefully, with a normal schedule and home game coming up soon, we can finally get back in the win column.

The highlights or events of this game.

Here some of the things that happened in this game.

• Units got a new bat. On Wednesday evening, the captains voted in favor of each team receiving a new bat for the 2016. Each team got a new Psycho bat. 
• Jon almost made a triple play. With Runners on first and second base, the Dusty Cleats batter hit to Jon at shortstop, Jon tagged the runner running from second to third, touched the bag at second for the force, and threw to first barely missing a triple play on the runner running to first.
• On one play, Gord had an adventure in the Outfield he looked like a juggler at a busker festival, the ball was hit to Gord, it went off his glove, up in to the air, off his arm,  off his leg, off his shoulder, off his other arm, off his head and then it was caught with his left hand (this is how I remember it). An excellent, much needed catch to be sure.
• Jimmy R. gave me a set of green shoelaces, for my cleats, in the first inning. I only managed to get one of them into my shoe for the game, I will definitely get the other one in by next game. Having only one lace, probably gave us bad luck, I will be sure to change the other by next game. 
• There was one inning when the Units were on the field, the train started to go by, the Units played solid defense and by the time the train had finished the Units were coming off the field. I could not hear anything the whole time.
• Brooksie, for the Dusty Cleats, hit a homerun over the right field fence.
• Robert J. played catch for 3 innings and hit the ball hard in his at bats. 
• Pete made a deep hit catch off the of Brad Y. 
• I didn't have time to smudge the Hurtin' Units bats over the last 9 days, but be rest assured that they will be done for the Home opener.     

 Tragically Hit. 

When I do the blog, I will from time to time mention things that are going on in our timelines,( i.e Stanley Cup Championship or Jack Layton).

It came as a huge shock this week, when the Tragically Hip announced that front man Gord Downie has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. I thought I would include a video in this post of the Captain's blog. Enjoy!!

                                     

UNITS NOT ENJOYING SONNY DAZE!!

HURTIN' UNITS VS. SONS OF PITCHES. 

Game # 4- May 17th, 2016

Hurtin' Units lose 17-15

Team Record-1-3-0

Coventry Park- This week our long, long road trip, to start the season, takes us in to Charming for a turf battle with the Sons of Pitches.

The Hurtin' Units played the Sons of Pitches 3 times last season. In game # 2, 2015, the Units defeated the Sons by a score of 26-15. Three weeks later, June 2, 2015, in Hurtin' Units game # 6, the Sons would get some revenge by beating the Units by a score of 12-7.

The biggest win, for the Units, in 2015, would come against this same team in the playoffs.

The Hurtin' Units had struggled in the round robin portion of the 2015 playoffs. On September 19th, 2015 the Units would defeat the Sons of Pitches for our first win in the playoffs. This win would be enough (barely) to send the Units to an elimination game. The loss for the Sons of Pitches would end their season.

The Units would go on to defeat the Draft Kings in the elimination game, then defeat the league champion Master Batters in the quarter finals and lose a close game against the Hottub Woodys in the semi finals. A good playoff run all because we beat the Sons of Pitches

The weather for this game was sunny, at least to start, the right fielder had to look in to the sun in the beginning. The temperature, because of a cool breeze, was only around 15 degrees. The baseball was not coming off the bat very well because of the coolness. Still much better weather than the previous Sunday when we experienced snow flurries in the Tottenham area. 

At game time we had all 12 players dressed in green and gold for this battle with the SOPs. I always like when the whole team shows up, it shows me that we are having fun.

" It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness" - Charles Dickens. 

The Hurtin' Units really haven't played a clunker this season. In fact we have played pretty well, with very little to show for it. This season, we have not kicked or bobbled or thrown away very many balls at all. The innings when we gave up a lot of runs were earned by our opponents, this game is an example of such. The Hurtin' Units have been the victims of some good, well placed, late inning hits. 

Highlights or Events in this game: 

• The Hurtin' Units got off to another great start with 6 runs in the first inning and the defense shut down the SOPs.
• Robert had a rough night at the plate...mmmm beer.
• Peter H. was thrown out running home.
• Jon turned a great double play to end one of the innings.
• The Hurtin' Units gave up a 7 run inning, in the bottom of the 6th inning, for only the second time this season.
• Peter H. made a couple of catches off the bat of Todd H.
• Brad S. had a 4/4 game, they weren't pretty, but they all count. 
• I changed the top of the batting order to help generate more offense. 
• For the first time this season the Units had a full squad.
• Gord D. made a nice catch, off a foul tip, when playing catcher.
• 
  

In previous seasons, I would do something called smudging to our bats. Smudging is supposed to remove bad energies and bad karma. I will smudge the Hurtin' Units bats before our next game on May 26th. For more on smudging and jinxes you can view the blog I did on smudging at this link...Smudging the bats.

TOUGH, TIGHT, TAPPIN' NIGHT.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE TAP MASTERS.

Game #3 - May 12th, 2016

Hurtin' Units lose 16-15

Team Record- 1-2-0

Keogh Park- The Hurtin' Units long road trip, to start the season, continued last night as we rolled in to Tapper Town for a tilt with the tip, top Tappers. 

The Tap Masters were a little short handed, so they picked up a couple of Master Batters. Gord T. and Dave F. gave a helping hand to get the job done. They beat us hard! 

On Wednesday evening I subbed for the Dusty Cleats and with our game on Tuesday night, I would play 3 nights in a row. What the heck was I thinking? I woke up on Friday morning feeling a little sore. It didn't help that Dave and Gord (of the Master Batters) battered and bruised me with hits off my shin and glove hand. Holy Shin!!! That really, really hurt.

Trying to fix the Taps.

At around 5:00pm on Thursday afternoon (game day), I
went down for a 3 hour nap, but just before I did, I made the mistake of looking at the Weather Network. The forecast was calling for rain and thunderstorms, to begin shortly after 6:00pm. I did not nap very well knowing that I might wake up to bad weather. As it turned out, the weather looked good around game time (9:30pm). The temperature was around 18 degrees and seemed to be getting cooler, but once we started running around it felt warmer. As our game was finishing up, we could see lightening and hear thunder in the distance. The rain came shortly after the game had concluded. 


At game time the Units had 11 players in green and yellow ready to take on the yellow shirted Tappers. Robert was back from the DL where he was fighting a chest infection and Clayton was still away on a work assignment. 

Following most games, I will take a picture of the score sheet and do a boxscore for the blog. So last night I thought I took a picture of the both sides of the scoresheet, but it turns out I only did one side (the Hurtin' Units side). So based on what I knew about the score at the end of the 3rd inning I managed to fudge a few numbers and make a boxscore.

Highlights of the Units:

Okay these are not highlights, but more like things that happened in the game.

• Ingo made a spectacular catch, in left field, running hard to his left.
• Ingo was robbed on 2 hard hit balls that were caught in the outfield.
• Jon was called out at home when he believed he was clearly safe. (that one run might have changed the game).
• A Tap Masters batter was given second base, the umpire believed that Ted interfered with the runner at first. 
• Mark made a play at third, tumbled, rolled on the ground, tripped, bobbled the ball, fell down, did 2 cart wheels, and a hand stand before coming to a stop behind second base. Way to keep the ball in the infield! All I have to say about this play is that Tide will probably get those dirt stains out...LOL.
• Gord T. and Dave F. both hit me with hard hit balls at pitcher.
• The Beer Cup defense was short lived and the Cup is now in the hands of the Tappers.
• Robert made a nice catch in right field, struck out in the 7th...There is a learning curve, relax and enjoy buddy!
• Thanks go out to Deb for scoring this game.
• Thanks go out to Gina for being our only fan in the stands.
• Prior to the game Peter pointed out to me that we have had half of our runs scored against us in the last inning. Last night's game was the same thing. The bullpen is not doing a very good job.
• We scored 9 runs in the open inning and had the go ahead base runner on second...Al lined out for the Units final out.
• This game was a really good character building game for the Units. 
• Almost everyone on the Units hit the ball hard in this game. 
• Scott Peters is my new nemesis this season (last year it was Clouch). Scott
  
  played for the Hurtin' Units last season and I never saw him hit the ball out of the park. The Tap Masters had 2 out, 1 guy on base, when Scotty hit a 2 run homerun over the left field fence. The Tappers would score 7 runs, all with 2 outs, in the bottom of the 6th inning. PETERS!!!! 

The Hurtin' Units next game is Tuesday May 17th at Coventry Park at 8:30pm. 

WITH A REBEL YELL, SHE CRIES MORE, MORE, MORE...

HURTIN' UNITS VS. RUSTY REBELS.

Game #2 - May 10th, 2016

Hurtin' Units win 14-10

Team Record-1-1-0


Coventry Park- The last posting was just a train wreck, I couldn't get anything copy and paste, images would not move to where I wanted them to and I was all over the place with what I was trying to say. I'm hoping that this posting goes a little more smoothly. 

So, last Thursday night I subbed for the Dodge City Rounders vs. the Rusty Rebels. I played most of the game in the catcher position (which I don't mind) and I got a great view of the batting power that the 2016 Rusty Rebels. Yikes!!! These fellas can hit the ball!!! I also got to watch their pitcher Scotty B., throw the ball from way out, with the speed of a R.A Dickie knuckle ball (still pretty fast). The Hurtin' Units were in for a good battle in this game. 

So, going in to this game vs. the Rusty Rebels, I was again a little bit nervous. In the Units first game, the defense was really good, but our bats underachieved (it was our first game) and I was a little nervous of the same thing happening again after witnessing the power of the Rebels in my sub game. 

My nervousness quickly diminished after the Units sent 9 batters to the plate, in the first inning, and scoring 4 runs. It's always nice to play with a lead.  

Okay, let's take a step back before we go on with the game stuff...The weather for this game was almost perfect. The temperature was hovering around 18 degrees, no wind, but I said almost perfect, we were on C2 and the sun was shining in the eyes of right field and first and second bases for a portion of the game.  

At game time we had 10 players in the Hurtin' Unit shirts ready to go. Al was in the lineup for the first time this season. Missing from this game were Clayton and Robert. Al got in some hitting practice with Peter and Jon prior to the game.


The one noticeable difference between this game and our first game was the improvement in batting. We were up against a tough Rebels pitcher in Scotty B. and we still managed to hit the ball hard while spraying it all around the field. 





Highlights for Units.

• The defense was really solid again in this game.
• Jon hit an in the park homerun
• Brad popped up his first 2 at bats, but then hit 2 great line drives next 2 at bats. 
• The Units offense really started to come around...Jon 5/5, Pete 5/5, Ted 4/5, Jim 4/5, Al 3/5, Gord, Mark and Brad 2/4 and Ingo and Jimmer 1/4, (but hit the ball well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it).
• Al got his running legs after tripping over his own feet in the early innings.                                                                                                                                        

Quest for the Cup.

When I was subbing, last week, for the DCRs vs. the Rebels, I was informed that the DCRs were defending for the Beer Cup. Unfortunately, the Rusty Rebels would be victorious and the Rebels would claim the cup. 

At that time, I was not aware of who the Hurtin' Units were playing next on their schedule. On Monday afternoon I realized that the Units were playing the Rusty Rebels and the Beer Cup was on the line.

So, with the victory for the Hurtin' Units over the Rebels on Tuesday evening, for the first time in Units' history, the Units are the holders of the Beer Cup. The Hurtin' Units will be defending to hold on to the Beer Cup on Thursday May 12th vs. the Tap Masters. Units Unite!!

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE GRISSLIES.

Game #1 - May 4th, 2016

Hurtin' Units lose 5-4

Team Record- 0-1-0

So opening night has finally arrived and I must admit that I'm a  little nervous about the start of the season. You would think  that going into the 7th season, I would be calm, cool and collected.

Maybe I'm a little bit nervous because of the new stuff going on  this season.

  I have only played with 2 of the 2016 roster before , Al Fry and Clayton Avery (Clayton has actually been a Hurtin' Unit on 2 previous occasions), everybody else, including my new co-captain, is a new chapter in the Hurtin' Units saga. There are a few other changes going in... the new shirt color, new logo and the hope that we can build on what we did last season. There is also the new Oldtimers website, which allows all the teams to write a little blog. I have tried using the blog thingie on the Oldtimers website and really didn't like it ( it's not very user friendly), so I've decided to put the scores or our games there and any information about the game here. If this posting doesn't look quite right, it's because I cut and paste some stuff and like I said, the website blog is not very user friendly. 

So this game was our season opener and the Units took on the Grisslies, who had already played a game and had probably made some adjustments to their team for this game. The Units did have a practice and I had some idea of positions and where the guys would bat.  

For the only the second time in the Hurtin' Units his we lost our season opener. 
The only other time was back in 2014 when we went our first 10 games before we got a win in late July 2014. 

Going in to this game I mentioned I was a little nervous; I also had some worries about how good the defense would be, I also had a thought that the offense looked pretty good. As it turns out, the defense was damn good and the offense didn't have a very good night. Go figure!

I really enjoy a close game, and this one was quite enjoyable. This game was as close as it gets and there was never more than a 2 run difference in the game. In the end, the Grisslies would find a pull out the victory in the bottom of the 7th. Great game by both sides. 

 There were a couple of other things I liked in this game. I mentioned the defense was pretty good for the players of the Units for the first time out this season. I thought Jon and Pete were really good in this game (even though Jon thought he had a bad game). Brad and Robert hit the ball really well. Brad hit a ball deep to the outfield for an important RBI. Robert hit well, but had a few issues on the bases, he'll get it sorted out over the next couple of games. Clayton hit out of the batting order, we'll get this straightened out too! Peter hit a his first homerun, of the season, over the left field fence, hopefully there are more to come. 

Great first game Units!!