HOT NIGHTS, COLD BATS, - HURTIN' UNITS 2.0 – THE REPLACEMENTS.

Hurtin' Units vs. The Gruesome Devils

Game # 10- June 23rd, 2025

Hurtin' Units lose 22-10

Team Record – 4-6-0

Coventry Park - I've been writing blog posts for the Hurtin' Units for 16 seasons, and every year it seems to be a little more challenging. I find myself not interested in doing this, but I know that when it's all said and done, I will have a history of this team. There are some games I have fun writing out what happened with a theme wrapped around the post or blog post. With Dodge City, I seem to have fun just because of the old Western style, and there are other teams as well. It's also easier to type something out for a win and a little tougher for a loss. Our last two seasons were not great, and we finished second-to-last in 2024 and last in 2023. This season got off to a good start, but over the past 4 games our bats have been tired, and the players holding them are having a challenging time getting hits.

Earlier this week we played the Brew Birds, a team that had won 5 games in a row, and we almost
pulled off a Beer Cup win losing by one run in the bottom of the open inning. I thought our team played with intensity even though it was 30 degrees outside, but a loss is a loss and we are now on a 4 game losing streak. A four-game losing streak is really not that bad compared to the winless streak I had in the 2023 season. In 2023, I had a 19-game winless streak, made up of Hurtin' Unit loses, HTKP loses and subbing loses. Now, that's a losing streak.

We are all a little superstitious, whether we believe it or not. When we are on a winning streak you don't change anything, the shirt doesn't get washed, the socks are stinky, the batting order doesn't change and you carry that lucky rabbit's foot until the streak ends. The opposite is true for a losing streak, you look for ways to end it and get back in the winner's circle. In the past, I have smudged the bats (I don't think I've done that this season, so last year's energies are still on them) and tweaked the lineup a little. I think the Units have reached the point where something needs to be done. Over the past weekend, I washed my shirt, bought a lucky crystal and smudged our bats with sage and Palo sticks. I'm hoping this changes our luck.

The weather for this game was still stinkin' hot, not as bad as our Monday game, but it was warm for
this 9:15 pm tilt with the Gruesome Devils. I did not realize that we were the home team (we have played so few this season) and I was a little unprepared, I borrowed a game sheet and pen from Beechy and little Stevie Deland kept the score. Reagan was our umpire.

At game time we had 7 of our own players dressed for this game. I had to call (several times) to get subs, missing for the Units were Kevin C, Matt M, Mike B, Fabio, and Jim R. That's a lot of talent missing from our lineup. We got 3 excellent subs to field a team, Jerry M, Simon S and Kevin (Radar). As good as these guys are, it still makes it tough to produce the strongest lineup because they are put at the bottom of the batting order. As good as the Units looked on paper this night, we struggled to score early runs and the Gruesomes were just droppin' hits and bloopers all around the diamond. In the end, the Gruesome Devils were the better team on that night.

I'm not going to go into any details about this game, I will include the game sheets and move on to our next game. The Hurtin' Units next game is Wednesday, July 2nd, at Coventry Park, 8:45 pm vs. The Dogcatchers.