Fit to Be Tied.

Game # 21- August 14th, 2024

Hurtin' Units vs. Brew Birds

Hurtin' Units tie 16-16

Team Record-5-15-1

Keogh Park– Over the last weekend, the T.O.T had their annual August Tournament. I put a team in again this year, as I have done for the previous 14 years. Since 2015 Myself, Troy and others have captained the Hammell Toes and before the Toes, it was the Squirtin' Units and before that Rob Farah and I had Team Extreme. It's been a fun run. I like building a team and playing with friends and family.

The Hammell Toes have played well since this team of street friends was put together in 2015, but we have not been exclusive with players just from our street, we have picked up outside players to round out the roster. This tournament we got away from the street players, I slipped in a different name (The Hammers) and we picked up new guys to fill the roster. We brought in 5 new players from the T.O.T league. Brandon, Roger, Tyler, Dave and Wayne joined the Hammers in this tournament.

I thought we had a good roster heading into the tournament, strong bats and good defence, I thought we could compete with teams like the Stallions. Nope, we lost 3 games in a row. The first game was close, but the others were painful. The Jak Fund and the Stallions were just strong for the other teams in the division, and unless we go out and get some ringers, we cannot compete. In years past, submitting a team was done by ratings, with every player rated compared to other players in our league, the average used to be between 6.5 and 7.5 to make the teams competitive. I was the scorekeeper for the final game and I can say the teams, in the final, were not between 6.5 and 7.5. It was a good final game, but in the end, the Stallions were just too strong. In my opinion, they should have played in the competitive division.

Despite the Hammers being knocked out early, I enjoyed the tournament, the games were good, I worked the bar with Rob and Sue which was fun, I got to play with friends and we got to play some baseball. The weather was good, except for a rain storm on Sunday afternoon, but the tournament finished and another August Tournament is in the books.

Hurtin' Units vs. The Brew Birds.

When I do these posts, I am keeping a record for the Hurtin' Units team, I do the posts and then I do a post on the blog site https://hurtinunits.blogspot.com/ of basically the same post. I have been doing the blog since the Units started back in 2010. I have not posted on the blog this season, I still update it, but I don't publish until I've had a chance to clean it up and add pictures and other stuff. Since I started the Hurtin' Units group on Facebook the blog has taken a back seat, but the information about the Hurtin' Units is still there.

The weather for this game was great, the temperature was in the mid-20s and the sun was shining. This game was played at Keogh Park and it was a rare 7:00 pm start. At game time the Units had 6 players dressed in Unit's shirts ( I wore a Pennywise shirt hoping to scare the other team), we had called for 2 subs and picked up Jerry M and Shawn C as subs. Cookie was supposed to be at the game, but had car troubles and called last minute. Missing from tonight's game were Peter, Brandon, Roger, Cookie and Justin. Jason B was in the stands and Shawn R. (Brew Birds Captain) allowed him to play for us. Why watch when you can play? The Brew Birds had 2 subs, Darryl Hags and Tommy B. Played. Colleen M was the scorekeeper and Reagan was the Umpire.

Okay, I've dodged around the fact that I don't have the scoresheet and Dave hasn't updated the stats on the website yet. I will tell you that this was a fun game and I thought it was close throughout, I asked the scorekeeper in around the fifth inning and was surprised to hear that the Units were leading by quite a bit. I think I jinxed us by requesting the score, the Brew Birds started coming back and before we knew it, they had taken a one-run lead.

I took a little break and Dave has now updated the website so, I'll include a picture of the box score. I was right, we did have a lead and the Brew Birds did come back. In the fourth inning, the score was 11-6 for the Units. In the top of the fifth, the Units scored a single run and in the bottom, the Brew Birds mounted their comeback with 3 runs. The score after 5 complete innings was 12-9 for the Units.

In the top of the sixth inning, the Units were gripping the bats tightly and put a goose egg on the board. The Birds would score 4 runs, in the bottom, and take the lead. CRAP ON A CRACKER!!! Another blown lead for the Units. In the top of the seventh, the Units bats would still hit, we put up 3 runs (unheard of this season) to retake the lead by 2. The Brew Birds would come back again, and with the tying run on second, and 2 outs, I would intentionally walk Al Frans, Varinder would get a hit and take a runner (Fernando) the next batter would get a hit and the game was tied, and Fernando was running home for the win, Jamie gunned the ball to home, Jason caught the ball, Fernando was out and the game was over. Final score 16-16 tie. This tie was the first for the Units this season and it was the first time this season the Units have scored more than 15 runs in a game. Maybe, we have turned a corner and we are prepping for the playoffs.

The Unit's next game is next Tuesday vs. The Gruesome Devils, who beat the Master Batters on Wednesday night to take the Beer Cup. The next game for the Units is a chance to take the Beer Cup from the Gruesomes.