BREW JAYS WIN KEEPS THE HURTIN' UNITS STREAK ALIVE...

THE HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE BREWJAYS.

Game #5 -May 29, 2012

Hurtin' Units lose 22-21

Team Record - 0-4-1

Coventry Park- This week we find ourselves playing two games in the week, for the first time this season... This game against the Brew Jays and Thursday evening against the Dodge City Rounders. We play the Dodge City Rounders on Thursday evening at 9:30pm, the last game of the week and then we play the Dodge City Rounders again on Monday evening at 7:00pm the first game of the week... Well at least we finish up with the Rounders early in the season...

In 2010 there were two new teams introduced in to the Tottenham Oldtimers League, the first was the Hurtin' Units and the second was the Brew Jays. Mike and I had been on the new captains list for quite some time, we actually thought we were going to captain in 2009, but the registration was low and the league chose to go with 13 teams. " Missed it by that much"- Maxwell Smart -secret agent. Leading up to the 2010 season, one of the 2009 teams decided to fold (could have been the Hole Asses, but I'm not really sure), creating an opening for new captains in 2010. In 2010, Mike and I were awarded a franchise and the Hurtin' Units were hatched or assembled or born, all depending on how look at it...

Just before registration had begun in the spring of 2010, I had mentioned to Chris Ross (the Tottenham Oldtimer's former president) that I had a portable display sign and the league was welcome to use it to help boost registration if they wanted. Chris took me up on the offer and the sign was erected coming into town. The registration results were quite good for the 2010 season, so good actually that the league decided to add an additional team... The Brew Jays were hatched (hatched definitely works here) with new captains Bo N. and Roddy D. at the helm.

The first season for these two new teams would be a overwhelming success. The Brew Jays and the Hurtin' Units would battle the entire season for first place and the title of League Champions. The race came down to the final two games and the Hurtin' Units squeaked by the Jays by only two points to win the title, even if the Jays had tied the Units the Units would have won. The Hurtin' Units won both head to head games against the Brew Jays in the regular season. The Hurtin' Units would go on to struggle in the playoffs and the Brew Jays would not fair much better... The Wild would go on repeat as  playoff Champions.

Prior to this game, I was looking at the standings again and it's funny how the times have changed since our first season in 2010. In 2010 both the Hurtin' Units and the Brew Jays were battling for first over all, this season the two teams are at the bottom of the standings. After 4 games, the Hurtin' Units are the only team without a win and a record of 0-3-1 and the Brew Jays have a record of 1-3-0. We have only played 4 games and we have 20 more to go until the regular season is complete and even if we were 0-23-1, we all make the playoffs. Only one of our games has been a blowout, the other 3 have been close, 1 tie and 2 games decided by a single run...If we lost 22 games by a single run going into the playoffs, I would feel we are due for a win and we are capable of playing with any team in the league... We have a great team we just need a confidence building win or two to get it turned around.

 

Boxscore:            1     2     3    4    5    6    7     Total   


Hurtin' Units       1     1     5    7    7    0    0        21    

Brew Jays           5     3     6    4    1    3    0        22       

This game seven innings were played.

I looked at the team stats again and the one number that keeps on jumping off the page is the Hurtin' Units runs for column. We have only scored 41 runs up until this game, now there are some teams that have played 6 games, most of the league has played 5 games, so this statistic is probably not as bad as it seems... In the runs against column we are tied for 4th with 56 runs against, again there are teams with more games played so this stat is also a little bit deceiving... A couple of high scoring games for us, low scoring games for our opponents and win in our column would change these numbers very quickly...        

Early on game day (around noon), I was on my way to pick up some sodas for the game, there was a real  threat of  thunderstorms and rain, the skies were dark and to the west I could hear thunder rumbling (not Rob) and getting closer to town. The Weather Network wasn't calling for a storm, but the skies over Tottenham were telling another story. At around 12:40pm, the rain began to fall, not heavily, but in was steady for 45 minutes. By 5:00pm, the skies had cleared, a few fluffy clouds still remained in the sky and it was shaping up to be a great evening for baseball...

At game time we had 11 players ready for our fifth game of the season. The only missing body for this game was Gord R. (third base guy). Mike played this game (even with the sore knee, he's a trooper) sharing first and catch with Kidder.

One thing I like to do is compare the Hurtin' Unit teams from the past with the team of the present. In the first five game games in the 2010 the Units record was 3-1-1 and we finished with a team record of 19-5-2 on a 26 game schedule. In 2011, in our first 5 games, we were 4-1-0, winning the first 4 games and we finished with a 10-12-2 team record... I remember in 2011, when we were at 4-0, that Doug D. had a poll on his blog asking who do you think would lose a game first? Naturally, I voted for the Hurtin' Units and from that point, we went spiraling down to a under .500 record to finish the season... There is real parity in the league this season and the games are close, anyone can win or in our case lose, on any given night... I really have to give some credit to the ratings commitee for balancing out the teams this season.

Hurtin' Units Scoresheet

This game was our third 1 run loss on the season and as a result we still remain at the bottom of the standings. It does however increase our runs for stat, so we got that going for us...Which is nice. Our only real blowout was to the Woodys by a 22-9 score. 

Our bats seem to be getting off to a slow start almost every game and we seem to score in bunches, if we ever get off to a quick start watch for a high scoring game...

Our next game is on Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki Day, sorry my mistake, it is onTurkey Day... See ya there.... hope we don't need a sub.

Keepin' the streak alive!!!

0-4-1 in the weeds...

Pitch Bits:  I really liked the way I pitched in this game. We really got nickled and dimed in the early innings of the game, but we seemed to slow the bleeding while we tried to mount a comeback. I walked two batters again in this game, one walked in a run (hate walking guys), I'm still nibbling too much, need to go right after batters... The balls I was throwing were all around the board and I really think my control is getting better by the week... 

HURTIN' UNITS LOSE BATTLE WITH REBELS...

THE HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE RUSTY REBELS...

Game # 4 - May 22, 2012

Hurtin' Units lose 12-11

Team Record 0-3-1


Coventry Park- I mentioned in the last posting that Mike and I played for the Rusty Rebels in the 2007 season. Anybody who has played for the Rebel's teams knows that the Rebels are a well run team with some great experience with Don and Hugh at the helm. When I played for the Rebels, Hugh put me at third base and even though I asked to play other positions, he kept me at third the entire season. It wasn't that third base bothered me, it was that I played beside Hugh, who played short stop, at that time, and he would ride me the entire game. Playing along side Hugh actually wasn't  that bad, he really does have a lot of baseball knowledge and he was a pretty decent mentor for me that season. 

The real down side to having Hughie beside me was I had to listen to the endless chatter (those who have played with Hugh know what I'm talking about) and I was usually the guy on the receiving end of it. To this day, Hugh still has little comments he says to me (sometimes cute, sometimes annoying), but I'm a good hearted soul, and I know he only does it in fun, so I think I can take a little bit of his abuse... The year I played with the Rusty Rebels was the first time I ever blogged and I was really just goofing around with a blog page. I ended up blogging the complete 2007 season. You can check out the Rusty Rebels blog 2007 edition at http://rustyrebels.blogspot.ca/

The Rusty Rebels would be the last team Mike and I would play together on until we became captains in 2010. I would go on to play for the Lucky Stiffs in 2008 (the year the Stiffs won the Championship) and in 2009 I would play for the Banshees... I'm not really sure where Mike played in 2008 and 2009, I know he didn't win the championship in 2008...

The weather for this game was very comfortable, the temperature was in the high teens, the skies were mostly clear. I was subbing for the Lucky Stiffs in the game prior (7:00pm) to the Hurtin' Units vs. the Rusty Rebels game, and the setting sun was very bothersome, especially for the players in right field and second base, but by the time our game started the sun was almost down...

We were missing 3 roster players in this game. Dave K., Gord Robertson were both away and Mike is still nursing his injured knee. Mike still came to the game and did the score keeping. We called for a substitution and Jason B (sub controller) picked up Hurtin' Unit alumni Paul Gyori to sub for us.


BOXSCORE         1      2      3      4      5      6      7       Total    

Rusty Rebels       3      0      2      3      2      1      1         12     

Hurtin' Units         0      1      0      0      7      3      0         11     

We were the home team again for this game. In the top of the first inning, I walked the very first batter and it looked like it could be a long night, but we showed some stellar defense, turned a spectacular double play and got out with only 3 runs scored against us. I think one of our issues, in this very young season, is our inability to get out of the gate quickly, score a bunch of runs and get the lead, it seems we are always fighting back. Our first four innings are an example of the slow starts we have had, one run in four innings. In the fifth inning, we showed what we are capable of doing, stringing together 8 hits and 7 runs.  I've included the game sheets, from both teams, in this posting, for your viewing pleasure.

I have to give some credit to Roger (Kahuna), the Rebel's Pitcher, for our lack of run production in this game, the backspin on his pitches gave us some difficulty until we became a little more selective in the later innings. Our fifth inning hit storm turned this game around...

I remember standing beside Mike (who was score keeping), we were in the middle of our 7 run inning, and I said " hitting is contagious" and for that moment in the game it was, it was like a hitting wave had just taken us over...The seven run inning also seemed to give us some much needed confidence , I think we started to believed we could turn this thing around and we almost did... 

Rusty Rebels Scoresheet

Hurtin Units Scoresheet

I was looking at the standings earlier in the day and one thing that really stood out was that we were the lowest scoring team in the league with only 30 runs scored. The next closest team had 39 runs for. In the runs against stat we were in the middle of the pack with 44 runs with an average of just over 14 runs per game. With 11 runs in this game, it still only gives us 41 runs at just over an average of 10 runs per game scored, we either need to score more runs or play even better defense to win some games... We played some great defense in this game and it's just a matter of time before our bats are going to start hitting, we have too many good hitters on our roster!!!

I really think this was our best game of the season. Our defense turned 3 double plays, we caught Mooner with a tag running for second and threw another runner out at third when Clayton tagged him with a great throw from Craig in the field.

It looks like we may have to find a ride home our next evening at the Legion. For the first time this season we had a batter strike out, in fact we actually had three strike outs in this game. Al and I both struck out with fouls on the third pitches and Tumble watched a third strike pitch hit the board. There will be beer flowing next evening at the Legion- "Hey Bartender, 3 frosty jugs of beer please, and put it on the STRIKE-OUT BOYS tab".

In the Coventry Park parking lot, post game, we had a couple of sodas. It was a different energy surrounding our team, I think for the first time there was a confident optimism that we are very capable of winning a game... I vow not to wash my team shirt until we win a game...

JIMBITS: I don't have a lot of bits in this edition, but I'll give ya what I got...

• Rob (Tumble) took a ball off the arm in the middle innings, bad bounce really, and it hit on a vein, causing it to swell to the size of a golf ball, Cam had an ice pack and it slowed the swelling, Rob would play catcher for the remainder of the game.
• I looked back at the last two times we played the Rusty Rebels (2011 season), both games were one run games. On  June 6, 2011 the Hurtin' Units beat the Rebels by a score of 14-13 and on August 9, 2011 the Rebels beat the Units by a score of 13-12 and this game was 12-11. There is a pattern here, I predict the score of the next Rebel/ Unit game will be 11-10.
• Our defense turned 3 double plays in this game...SOLID D!
• We had 3 strike outs in this game- Al and I fouled out on third pitches, Rob watched the 3rd strike hit the board...Arrange for a ride night time we're at the Legion...
• We had 2 of our batters, Gord and Jamie go 4 for 4 in this game and we had 3 batters, Anicete, Rob and Cam go 3 for 4 in this game.
• Cam went through the infield in this game.
• Hughie thought that I looked like an space alien with my mask on.
• I have vowed not to wash my shirt until we win a game!!

Pitch Bits: As I mentioned earlier, I walked the first batter of the game and I'm sure most guys thought this might be a long night, but a quick first inning double play really got us headed in the right direction. I thought this was my best pitched game this season and our defense was great throwing out and running down batters and 3 double plays (don't see this very often in a single game) doesn't hurt either.  I only walked two batters on the night, the first batter (Don) I faced in the game and the second I believe was Mooner, it could have been Kahuna, but it was definitely a big hitter and I wasn't going to throw a pitch down the middle, I'll give up walks to these guys all day long. We as a team gave up no big innings and I think our defense got tighter as the game progressed...

The Rebels have a potent hitting lineup, with (in my opinion) two # 1 rated players in Mooner and Kahuna leading the way. Just as a little side note, Mooner played for the Hurtin' Units in 2011, we know what this guy is capable of doing and he's also a great team player, I would have him on my team anytime...

I really liked the way I was throwing the ball in this game. I had some excellent height on the pitches (a couple of times the ump called them illegal for being to high, I don't think they exceeded 12 feet, but I never want to argue with an umpire), I also introduced a new pitch in this game, most guys woundn't notice, but it was in there. I found I could hit the board when I wanted, but there were times in the game where I was trying to nibble at the edges to much. I still have to work at getting ahead in the count and then try to be a little finer... I look forward to the next game...

LAB- AL H.

WOODYS BEAT UNITS...

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE HOTTUB WOODYS...

Woody in Toy Story.

Game # 3 - May 17, 2012


Hurtin' Units lose 22-9


Team Record 0-2-1

Keogh Park-This is the third season for the Hurtin' Units and we have no returning players from 2011 campaign (Mike and I excluded). We do however have one player who played for the Hurtin' Units in our first season (2010). Al Hayward played with the Units in 2010. Most of the 2011 Hurtin' Unit players have been scattered over most of new 2012 team rosters. The only exception would be the 2012 edition of the Hottub Woodys. The Woodys have 3 of the 2011 Hurtin Units on this year's roster and strangely enough the Hurtin' Units have 3 players from the 2011 Hottub Woodys. It's fun pretend that over the winter there was a "Block Buster Trade" the Hottub Woodys have sent Clayton Avery, veteran Al Hayward and relief pitcher Dave Kidd to the Hurtin' Units in exchange for veteran pitcher  Bill "Billy the Kid "Jonkman, up and coming prospect Brad Moye and third baseman Chris Larkin. We all know that this isn't the way things went down, but to exchange 25% of each 2011 roster is at least worth mentioning and it should be a fun game when we play each other.

Mike and I once played on the Woodys (many moons ago) and in fact,  it was Fast Eddie Hopkins who encouraged us to become captains. I believe the year we played with the Woodys was my first year in the league... The following season Mike and I were fortunate enough to be on the same team again, we ended up playing on the Rusty Rebels. I took it upon myself to blog the Rusty Rebels season and when it came to playing the Hottub Woodys for the first time in the new season, I decided to write a little bit about the previous season with the Woodys...

The following, in blue, is an excerpt from the Rusty Rebels vs. the Hotub Woodys blog I wrote in 2007:

 As I was perusing our schedule, I noticed we play the Hottub Woodys this upcoming Wednesday May 23, 2007, at 8:30pm, at Keogh Park. Mikey Boy, as I like to call him (Mike O.) and I (Jimmer) are part of the 2006 Hot Tub Woodys alumni; we had the pleasure of playing with a terrific group of guys last season. I was reflecting on how bad a season we actually had on the field (we played some pretty bad games!!!) , but I also reflected on how much fun we had off the field.

The 2006 H.T. Woodys looked good on paper, but in the game situations, something almost always seemed to be out of sorts. The nights the bats were hitting on all cylinders, the defence couldn't stop a beach ball and on the nights the when the defence was stellar, the bats were colder than the North Pole. We did manage to win 6 games and we weren't the worst team (close) at the end of the season, but it rarely seemed to come together on the field.

On the field was fun, but it was spending time away from the diamond that brings a smile to my face. Post game nights at the Legion were a riot. With guys like Coxy, Woody, Dancer and Fast Eddie, throw in a Barbie Hunter (the Woodys unofficial groupie) and almost anything could happen. I can remember nights where tears were streaming down my face from laughing so hard, most of the time at my expense.

Woody Harrelson

This is what this league is really about, having fun and making new friends along the way. I hope that the new Hurtin' Unit players, who played for the Woodys in 2011 are really looking forward to there game against there former team and I hope it brings back a flush of great memories created in the summer of 2011. As for me, I'm looking forward to seeing Brad, Billy and Chris, now playing for the Woodys, these guys were great teammates and we had some fun times together last season.  



Dan (WOODY) Chaisson- Played for
the Hottub Woodys in 2006. A great
Woody in his prime, now retired... 



This was our third game of the season, Al Hayward was away and Mike was still nursing a lower body injury (for the record, it's a knee injury). At game time we only had 9 players, Rob R. was not on the scene yet, we yelled across the street to his house, he poked his head out (kinda like a groundhog in spring time) and informed us he was waiting for his gear, on it's way home from Alliston (his gear drives?). The Woody's supplied us with a catcher for the first inning and Rob showed up just in time to be the lead off batter in the bottom half of the inning.

The weather for this game was sunny, the players in right field and first base struggled a bit when the balls were hit in to the sky. The temperature had dropped to only 11 degrees at game time and there was a strong wind blowing from the north, which created a few early inning problems with pitching.

I was perusing the 2012 Hottub Woodys roster on game day... these guys have a nice looking team (nice looking in a baseball sense) with the likes of Stikes, the muck of Chuck, the fancy of Dancey, the boy Moye, the looks of Brooks, the barkin' of Larkin and throw in "Billy the Kid" Jonkman and a few more supporting cast and they've got a team that can scream!

The diamond conditions were actually really good; no muddy batter's boxes, no pond behind second base, the infield had been graded, this was the best playing surface we had seen in this young season.

I'm hoping that this game is the low point of our young season, but I have a feeling that things might get a little worse before they get better. This was the Woodys first win in four tries, which means that they have had a little bit of a difficult stretch themselves. Now, our last two games were close and this game had moments when it looked like we may bust things open, only to have our offense shut down in a split second. My pitching was not the greatest and when you walk three batters, including walking in a run and when you let guys like Chuck and Stikes come up with guys on base, the runs pile up real fast...

Woody Allen

Chuck and Stikes were like vacuums for the Woodys, they were gobbling up ground balls and throwing Units out at every base. The walks hurt us, but so did our innings with more than 3 outs. We had several innings where we should have been off the field, but for some reason or another we missed our opportunities...Clayton made a tag on a runner going from first to second but missed with the ball (still got the runner running to first), three of our fielders came together in right field and the ball dropped in between them (we probably need to work at communication out there), Rob R. showing great range, scooped up a ball behind first, but Kidder couldn't get back to first base in time for the out... These are all problems that happen in games, we'll straighten things out, we have too good of a team not to...


As Rob R. said after the game, at the Legion, "it was just one of those games". There were some good moments in this game also, both Gords made some really nice plays, Gord the Shortstop made two line drive grabs, one off the bat of Chuck (Gord actually lept off the ground) and Gord (the other Gord... this Gord thing is going to be tricky this season) playing third base picked off two hard hit ground balls for outs... I had two balls hit to me when pitching, one I threw to Clayton at second (almost over his head, that's okay Gord (SS) was backing him up) and the second shot I threw to home for a forced out...

Jimbits:

• I thought we would have an advantage when we chose the green shirts; green shirts and changing to green balls this season, thought we could conceal the ball a little bit better, didn't  work for the tag between first and second... Are you sure he didn't touch him with the ball Roman? Lotta green out there! 
• Mike's scoring keeping  skills were improved by scoring the entire game, it's great that he's injured and still comes to our games...real team guy!
• Tumble has some interesting things to say, I think I should have a Rob quote of the game included in the blog... i.e " It was just one of those games" or  " We're a seventh inning comeback team, we just never get to the seventh inning", very deep stuff.
• Stikes and Chuck were gobbling  up balls at second and short for outs, no fouls here... A couple of turkeys!
• Rob's quest for the perfect o.b.a in 2012 came to an end, Rob went 2 for 4 in this game.
• Did I mention Rob was late for the game? A one jug of beer fine will be imposed; no you don't get a free jug Rob, you have to buy one... D'oh!!

Quid pro quo

Pitch Bits: On Tuesday evening I subbed for the Brew Jays, I played third base... One thing I noticed about playing third base was how much more action I saw compared to pitching... I probably had 6 or 7 plays (pop ups, plays to first and second bases, etc.) at third base.

In our first two games, I think I touched the ball once coming off the bat, I probably could have caught a pop up around home plate, but backed off thinking the catcher was going to get it. I saw a few balls whiz by me (definitely out of my range, definitely!). I always assumed that the pitcher saw all kinds of action, but I hadn't seen it yet...Finally in game # 3, I see a bit more defensive action, one ball hit by Danceman, I threw (almost over threw it) to Clayton at second for a force, the second was a grounder which I threw home for another force play and a third play was back to me and I threw it to first for the out...

I take the P1 position very seriously! And what I mean by this statement is that I don't just show up to the game, throw a few warm up pitches and I'm ready to go... this is not the case. In April, when I learned that I was going to be a P1, I started working at improving my pitching skills. 

This season I've changed how I pitch compared to how I pitched, as a P2, the last 4 seasons. I used to pitch underhand with a forward spin on the ball, now this season I have been working on pitching overhand with backward rotation...I also spent some time on the internet looking at pitching techniques, different pitches, pitching strategies and other pitching related topics. All these things are good to know, but unless they are put to use, they are just tidbits of information...

I really believe that practise is truly valuable in improving at whatever it you do. There are guys, perhaps even in our game on Wednesday night, that are natural athletes, the guys who show up to the game, play spectacular and never even give practise a second thought. But, for the most of us, who want to improve, we need to practise. Whether it is golf, music or even art, we must practise . Professional athletes probably spend more time practising than they do playing, if we want to improve we need practise.

Woody Woodpecker

 In April, I started going to the park diamonds (there are probably 5 or 6 different diamonds I use in Tottenham, Brampton and Mississauga) and I would bring a bucket of balls (the same bucket we use for our team practise), I would throw 2 to 3 buckets of pitches, working on different things. Even now that the season has begun, I still spend 2 or 3 times a week stopping by the diamond and tossing some balls. It takes some time to change a pitching delivery and get use to different grips and learning different pitches. Some pitches I haven't even tried in a game yet. Most people wouldn't notice, but I am seeing the good results from my practise sessions and game experience, I will continue to practise with the goal of getting better as the season continues unfold...

Recently, I read the book Outliers written by Malcolm Gladwell and I loved what I read about how much time and effort must be committed in order to become elite at anything. Great people don't become great without making sacrifices and devoting a great deal of time to their interests. This is a great read and I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to improve at anything that they do.

I really enjoy playing softball and I will jump at the opportunity to go out and sub if asked. As I mentioned earlier, last Tuesday I subbed for the Brew Jays, I played third base and had a really good game. One of the things I did while playing this game was to observe the pitching of Wayne B. and Tito P. the two opposing pitchers in the game... They both pitched underhanded and both of them missed the strike board more than we realize, which got me thinking that I'm making progress. When I practise pitching, I use my first bucket of balls to work on technique, my second is on range  and my third is a combination of both, but the third I also keep track of my pitches that hit the board (not counting the ones that come close) I'm hitting at around 50% accuracy. This is probably not to bad, I don't know what other P1s throw, but I'd bet it's not much better.

In our game on Wednesday, we got off to rough start giving up lots of runs early and making it difficult to comeback. The strong wind pushed the pitching to the left and I learned from this experience that I must adapt quickly to avoid disaster. I hate walking batters, I would rather hang a juicy pitch in the middle of the plate and take my chances with our defense to get the out. I walked three batters in this game, one walk forced in a run (hate this even more), the hits just kept on coming and we had a little communication breakdown on the field (which we can work on). I had zero strike outs in this game... I plan on letting Kidder pitch an inning in our future games...

LAB- Kidder

If anyone is wondering what LAB stands for, it means last at bat. In the first half of the season, we like to rotate the lineup to allow our batters to have equal at bats. Kidder was our last at bat in this game which means whoever followed Kidder will lead off the next game...

HURTIN' UNITS PLAY IN MUDDY WATERS...

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE GRISSLIES
t

 
Game #2- Tuesday May 8, 2012


Hurtin' Units lose 17-16


Team Record 0-1-1

Coventry Park- I really enjoyed this game against the Grisslies to the point where I could have played a full 9 innings or even more. This game had everything- runs, hitting, great defensive plays, lead changes, comebacks, you name it, it was there. I remember standing out on the pitcher's mound, in the bottom of the sixth inning (the open inning for this game) and looking into the bleachers, there were alot of people there watching, there was a hush and most were focused on what was taking place on the field. I think it's pretty cool that our game had the attention of most that were there...

There were several things that bothered me about this game. First was the gigantic, swamp like pond where the infield meets the grass, between second and first bases. The Grisslies managed to stickhandle the ball in to this giant puddle on three different occasions, forcing our scuba players in to retrieve the ball, everytime this happened the Grisslies took full advantage of the situation... “We're not good swimmers”!! I look forward to the games where we have ideal (or close to ideal) conditions, no ankle deep with mud battter's boxes, no pond on the infield and a dry outfield wear the ball is not constantly wet in our hands. This was our first night in our team shirts, I tried to dry the ball on my unwashed shirt, after every dip in the pond, but the shirt had no absorbing qualities at all and all I could smell was that new shirt smell... I'll give her a washin' on the wash board down by the creek and she'll be ready for the next game...  

The second thing that had me bothered (maybe concerned is a better word) was that Mike sustained an lower body injury, in his Sunday night league, and was not able to play. The extent of the injury is unknown and Mike will be consulting with a surgeon in the upcoming weeks... I'm hoping for good news...

The third thing that really, really bothered me about this game was the play of Doug Dwyer...This guy is a Hurtin' Unit killer... I think he was the first guy to splash down in the infield pond, forcing Rob Rumbolt to put on his hip waders and go in. Then he hits another ball down the first base line, almost perfectly on the line, he snagged some balls on defense, etc. etc. How do we defend against this guy, because ya know if we shade him to the off field, he'll hit the other way... He's not Danny Chaisson, who would hit to the same side if he was facing backwards... 
Doug Dwyer is to me, like Newman is to Jerry Seinfeld... “ Dwyer” !! Good game Douglas.

For the second game in a row, I forgot to photograph or write out the game sheet, something I do to help me do a boxscore, last batter and other information. I figure since we had a full team out (Mike came out to watch), most of us can recall what happened and if you don't remember you can always slip over to Doug Dwyer's blog, afterall it was the Grisslies and Doug will have a detailed account of this game, on his blog.

Pitch Bits: This game was not the defensive gem that we had against the Dogcatchers, but did anybody really think we were only going to allow only 5 runs per game, I don't think so... Okay, I can't keep track of all the hits (there were a lot by both teams), but I can tell you I had 2 strike outs (drink up boys, there are 2 jugs coming), I walked 2 batters and I allowed a career high 17 runs... One of the strike outs was a third strike foul out, but it still counts as a strike out. I can also tell you this, when the ball goes in the water, it becomes slippery and harder to grip, it went in the pond (water) 3 different times...I'm not making excuses, this information is more for my development purposes this season, I'm hoping I can improve every game as the season progresses...whether my balls are wet or not...

LAB- Gord Robin...

See ya next game...

HURTIN' UNITS TIED UP IN SEASON OPENER...

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE DOGCATCHERS...

Game # 1 - May 2, 2012


Hurtin' Units tie 5-5


Team Record 0-0-1

Keogh Park- The season opener seemed to take forever to arrive. We had two batting sessions in the month of April and on opening night it looked like we hadn't swung the bats in a couple of years. Now I really want to be fair here, the batters boxes were just nasty, the muck was ankle deep and most guys could not even get any type of footing. The heavy rain earlier in the evening (around 5:30pm) made the things very uncomfortable at the plate, hence the 5-5 score.

At game time we had our full team, 12 guys all warmed up and ready to go...

There really wasn't a lot to talk about, other than the solid defense displayed by both teams. Gord Robinson and Rob Rumbolt turned a beautiful double play in the middle innings and Craig (the new guy, as Roman likes to call him), made a couple of nice catches in the field, we looked pretty solid and if we can get the bats going we should be able to compete with most teams...


Pitch Bits: Since this is my first season as a P1, I thought I would track my progress with walks, strike outs and game scores, as well as any other bits of pitching related information. In this game I gave up 1 walk and struck out 2 batters, allowing 5 runs to score...
It doesn't hurt to have such a solid defense behind me...



It's early in the season..



LAB- Kidder

Our next game is Tuesday May 8, 2012 vs the Championship Grisslies...

USING YOUR HEAD...

Will that be Heads or Tales?

 INTRO:
When I do this little bloggie thingie I do it for several reasons:

1. It's fun, it's really that simple, I enjoy writing out the events and happenings of the Hurtin' Units team. Last year, I had actually thought about not doing the blog, but once I got going, it was really not that painful. I always encourage other players to contribute to the blog, either writing something or with pictures or with stories, etc. If anyone wants do some blogging or contribute let me know.


2. I like to keep the past and current  players, of the Hurtin' Units, informed about the day to day (more like week to week) activity, with game scores, game highlights and team events or happenings.

3. When I look back at old postings of the blog (and I believe that they are all still there), I'm reminded of the Hurtin' Units teams from the past and the game by game events that we all experienced together from the draft to the end of the playoffs...Looking back, a little, at last season, I was reminded of how we started drinking a shot of Sambuca before every game and how we believed it was helping us win... I look back at the 2010 season and I'm reminded of our teammate Tom Perry who was a great calming influence on our whole team, leading us to the regular season league winning championship. I really hope the other Hurtin' Unit alumni go back and read what I wrote and it brings them back to the good times we shared as a team.

There are times when this blog can get a little boring and lifeless, I know it and sometimes I struggle to keep it going. It is even more difficult when we aren't playing any games yet. When I actually write this stuff, I'm sometimes sitting at a traffic light scribbling down thoughts (when I say scribbling, I mean scribbling, I can't even read my own handwriting sometimes) or I'm writing in a poorly lit area at 3:30am, not the most ideal conditions for blogging...In this edition of the blog, I thought since there has been so much discussion about concussions and head injuries, I would play around with this topic...

GIT UR GOING:

It seems like the time between the draft and the start of the regular season is in slow motion, week after week of nothing to do but wait for the season opener. Fortunately, the weather this April has been really good and I've had several opportunities to get out on the diamonds to practise. I have also been fortunate to go to Coventry when the Town employees have been working on stuff and the new gates, the Town installed at the water tower, are open. I'm looking forward to getting out on the diamond will the 2012 Hurtin' Units players. Our practise was good, even if the weather was a little bit crappy. Unfortunately, some of the guys couldn't make it out, I might try for another get together for some hitting and preseason warm up... I'll let you know if we decide to get out again... 

THAT'S USING YOUR HEAD:

It would seem these days that we can't pick up a newspaper, turn on the radio or tune in to a sports network without hearing a debate or discussion about head injuries. Maybe, it's because we are more informed about how a blow to the head can cause more serious brain damage than we did in the past. I wonder if athletes like Shawn O' Sullivan, Steve Young or Eric Lindros would have done anything differently if they had known more about brain injuries... Especially Shawn O' Sullivan.

When I was younger, I was an enthusiastic boxing fan, Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard were two of my favourites. There was an incident in boxing that started me down a path that maybe I shouldn't be supporting this sport, the incident was when Roberto Duran knocked out a Korean boxer and the boxer died shortly after from brain damage. This incident really hit me hard and I had a hard time with the boxing scene after this point, every time I started watching a fight, I was reminded of what had happened and I could not be a part of such a violent sport...Even to this day, I can't watch the MMA or Boxing without thinking about how the brains of these athletes are being sloshed around inside their skulls...


Jacques Plante wearing a mask for the first time in
 a regulation game, after being hit by a shot. 


BEHIND THE MASK:


If we were to poll all the NHL goalies asking them the question” if you could play without a mask, would you?”( it's actually mandatory for NHL goalies to wear a mask), what do you think the answer would be? I'm sure most would say “no bloody way” and who could blame them with players like Zedano Chara firing pucks over 100 mph. Some goalies would probably be crazy enough to stand out with nothing between themselves and the shooter (from maybe the blue line), but no mask with sticks, bodies, legs, etc. to deflect or redirect the puck, that's just nuckin' futs!! It's really amazing that goalies didn't wear masks at one time.

I played in the Tottenham Mens' Hockey over the winter and one of the rules in the league was, if a goalie was hit in the mask with a shot, the play was whistled down. I was a little surprised by this rule only because the league has a no slap shot rule also, but I guess with head and brain injuries in the news recently, it's better to be cautious.

On November 1, 1959, the Montreal Canadiens were playing the New York Rangers, early in the game, Andy Bathgate of the Rangers fired a shot striking the Montreal goalie Jacques Plante in the face, breaking his nose and cutting his face. Goalies in the NHL in 1959 did not wear masks and there were no such thing as a backup goalie. Jacques Plante had been been wearing a home made mask during the Canadiens practises, but coach Toe Blake would not permit him to wear it during games. After being struck in the game against the Rangers, Plante went to the dressing room to be stitched up and returned to the game wearing his mask. Coach Blake allowed Plante to wear his mask in future games, until his nose healed, but the Canadiens got on a roll and Plante continued to wear the mask. The Montreal Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup this season. Jacques Plante was definitely an innovator...

STOOGED: 

 I recently installed a high definition antenna for someone and as I was scanning for channels, channel 2, a Buffalo station came up. There were actually three channel 2s, but the one that caught my attention was the one showing old, black and white comedies.

Playing on the channel was a show where the three lead characters named Larry, Curly and Mo were constantly hitting each other on or around the head with either 2x4s, frying pans or a ball peen hammer etc. I laugh at how stupid this show was, these guys in real life would have been concussed 95% of the time. When the show first aired, I wonder how many hospital emergency rooms had idiots who thought that you could actually poke someone in the eye or bonk someone on the head with a shovel and not cause any kind of injury. Of course, I'm speculating about the emergency room visits, but I do know first hand that television, games and movies can lead to injuries.

 I remember going to see one of the Rocky movies ( I'm going to say Rocky III, I don't really want to date myself), and when the movie let out there were all kinds of little scuffles and sparring going on and it didn't take long for a fight to break out.

Yo Adrian, pass the popcorn.

TO SERVE AND PROTECT:



Animated photo showing the scars that

Terry Sawchuk received during his career.

I think the most vulnerable position on the baseball diamond (and I'm sure most would agree) is the pitching position. It is my opinion that every pitcher in the T.O.T league should wear a helmet or some other kind of head protection and I'll tell you why I feel this way.

The pitcher stands 50 to 65 feet directly in front of the batter, an object (let's say a baseball) traveling at a speed of 70 KPH (there are numerous batters in our league that can easily hit the ball this hard and fast) will travel an approximate distance of 58 feet per second. At this speed (which really isn't that fast) the ball off the bat could be back to the pitcher in one second and that's not even taking into consideration the reaction and perception time of the pitcher which could be over a second and realistically more like one and a half seconds... The ball could travel 87 feet in this time...Yikes

Before I became a P1 this season, I had already decided, even if I was only going to be a P2, I was going to wear a helmet. There were a couple of close calls last season that swayed me this direction. The first was when the Hurtin' Units were playing the Lucky Stiffs, Roger B.(Kahuna) was batting, he hit a line drive back up the box, striking the our pitcher Bill J. in the forearm. The shot was so hard and so fast that Bill's arm was already bruising before he walked off the field...

The other was during the August Tournament when the Lollipop Guild were playing the Squirtin' Units. I was pitching in this game, the batter was Paul P. and Paul screamed a line drive back at my head, I managed to get my glove up in time and catch the ball, but still a little to close for comfort. These are just two incidents that stick in my mind, I'm sure each team/player could tell us another close call story...

Last week, I went in search of a baseball helmet, I ended up at National Sports, I tried on several different brands and models and there were a few that interested me, there were definitely some helmets that would have served my purpose and I was willing to purchase one of them.

I drifted away from the baseball helmets, for a moment, and in to an area with catcher's masks (the masks that look like the NHL goalie masks), these masks seemed quite heavy (although I did see a pitcher wearing one in the tournament last year), but decided that these were not for me. I was about to go back to the helmets when I noticed something I had never seen before which I thought was the cat's meow.

The mask was the first I had ever seen (probably because I had never looked before now), a protective mask for a pitcher, there were actually several different makes, but I liked the one made by Combat Sports...I chose the Combat brand because it seemed to be the strongest... You can check out the product testing (baseballs hitting this mask and other brands at 80mph) at...
http://www.combatsportsgroup.com/combat/pg_GearFaceOffVideos.php

A ball impact to the front of your face can change your life. Teeth, cheek bones and eyes are all extremely vulnerable to an unexpected frontal impact.

Check out this website for the Combat protective mask, really cool stuff, worth viewing a couple of times.

TALES OF THE GRAY DOT...





 Eye'll Be Black.

Year's ago, long before the Hurtin' Units were even a glimmer in his eye, Units co-captain Mike O. was tracking a ground ball, while playing second base and just as he was about to snag (yes, snag, he was a snagger back then) the ball it took a mysterious bounce... The cause of this mysterious bounce is unknown, but what we do know is the ball (the gray dot from hell) leaped over his well positioned glove and struck Mikey Boy on the left side of his face.

This blow to the face cracked Mike's orbital bone around his left eye, it cut, requiring 6 stitches and the eye was so swollen that it was very difficult to remove the contact lens he was wearing... Tales of the Gray Dot...

NOBODY REALLY NOSE.

It was a warm August evening at Coventry Park, the T.O.T August Tournament was under way, Team Extreme had just taken the field and Rob Farah ( yes, the same guy from the championship Grisslies team) was throwing his warm up pitches.

The infield players were throwing the ball around the infield, 3rd toSS to 2nd and then, as if in slow motion the second baseman named Jimmer threw the ball toward first base, but the first baseman was looking toward homeplate and didn't realize the throw was coming. Other players on the field screamed his name, but it was too late... Darren (Lefty) Hall turned at the last second only to be struck square on the nose, he went down in a heap...

Lefty got to his hands and knees, blood was pouring out of his nose like a drain plug hole when changing your oil, someone ran for ice, someone grabbed a towel, things were a little scary for the next couple of minutes. After things had calmed down, Lefty got to his feet and walked off the field, he would not play this again on this night...

Lefty did play the next game of the tournament with a broken nose and a couple of developing black eyes. Lefty was advised not to play on the Sunday... He never played again that weekend. What exactly Darren was looking at down at home plate, nobody really knows...Another tale of the Gray Dot.
  

FOUL TIPPING.

The game was being played on diamond # 3 at Coventry Park, Donald (Donny) Swabuk, a top 3 umpire in the T.O.T league, was umpiring the game. A left handed batter with determination in his eyes, emerged from the left field dugout with a 28oz Worth bat in his hands. The batter stepped in to the batter's box waiting for his first pitch, the bat cocked and ready to swing... A high lob came in, the batter swung, Donny the umpire yelled "striiiiike !!!". The batter gathered himself, adjusted his batting gloves and stepped back in to the box. The pitcher set and threw a big, fat, juicy pitch, it was headed toward home plate, the batter froze, the bat resting on his shoulder as the ball barely missed the board, Donny yelled " Ball"... The catcher threw the ball back to the pitcher, the batter set again, the next pitch had extra backspin on it, it spun like ninja star, the batter swung with all his might, this time there was contact, the ball went off the top edge of the bat heading back to the left...

The ball hit Donny the umpire flush on his right side jaw bone and mouth, he dropped to one knee in pain. Donny mouth was bleeding, his lip already beginning to swell, someone ran for ice, but it was probably too late. Donny's lip had puffed up like a blow fish, he was no longer the pretty boy everyone had come to know. The game was understandably delayed and another umpire had to finish umpiring the game. Donny would eventually return to the umpiring game, but this experience left him wondering if this was the career for him... A short time later Donny would give up his umpiring gig and join the T.O.T as a player... The Gray Dot strikes again...

Alright, I really think it time to put a stop to this posting, this posting was a lot longer, but it would be crazy to keep going. If you have managed to get this far and you are still bored (you must be bored if you got to this point), I'll give you something else to do...

Last season was the first season with our new logo Bender (the robot smoking the cigar), I inserted a picture of Bender in every posting of the 2011 Hurtin' Units blog, go see if you can find him... Kinda like where's Waldo...

Let's get the 2012 season started already!!!