DOG NAB IT .... GOT BIT AGAIN.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE DOGCATCHERS. 

Game # 7- June 12, 2014

Hurtin' Units lose 26-6 

Team Record- 0-7-0

Keogh Park- This game was our 2nd on week and I was hoping for better results than Tuesday night when we lost to the Brew Jays by a score of  20-7.

The weather for this game was a little strange, there were dark clouds peppered all around the park, threating to open up at a moments notice. The temperature was around  23 degrees and with the humidity it felt like 30 degrees. There was a weather forecast of thunderstorms, but they held off and we managed to play this game.

For this game we had 8 Hurtin' Units players and we picked up Andy G and Dave F. as subs. Missing were Mike, Clayton, Don, Kevin. 

It seems that every game is a challenge. 

This game was played at Keogh Park at 8:15pm and our umpire was Donny S. This game got cut short and we didn't get to play our open inning. I don't think the open would have helped us anyway. 

I was perusing the standings and it wasn't looking good for the Units. Not only are we the last place team in the league (someone always holds the last place position), but we also have the highest runs against and the lowest runs for with a -74 run differential. Despite these numbers I still believe we are capable of playing much better. 

I had a feeling that we would have a difficult time with this game, after all we were missing four solid bats from our lineup. We were missing our 1,3,4 and 7 rated players. All of which are solid defensively and can hit the ball hard.


We did pick up Andy and Dave, who played really well for us and I was thankful for Andy because my shoulder had tightened up and Bill's legs were bothering him. Andy came in and pitches 2 or 3 innings.

It's definitely an up hill battle.

We as a team, are on a bit of a learning curve; we have a rookie outfield and the infield is still trying to figure things out. The outfield guys are still trying to figure out where our opponents are hitting. We have watched more balls drop in to gaps and holes than most teams have all season long. I have confidence in all of these guys, that we can all get better, we will be a better defensive team by the end of the season.

We're just not hitting well... 

We have a total of 72 runs for after 7 games,

just over an average of 10 runs per game. With the lineup and the firepower that the Units have, I have a hard time believing that we will not get better in this area of our game. I think every player on this team is capable of hitting better, it is just a slow start.

This game was a tough one, the Dogcatchers hit the ball hard and in to the right spots, it was hard to watch this game unfold and sometimes I feel for the other guys on the team, everyone is doing their best, but it is just not clickin'. Mike and I will continue tweak and help in any way we can, and hopefully we will turn things around.     

Walk Watch G-1, S-3, Randy H.

DESPERATELY SEEKING SOLUTION.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE BREW JAYS. 

Game # 6- June 10, 2014

Hurtin' Units lose 20-7 

Team Record 0-6-0

Coventry Park- I have found even more evidence that the Units have been thrust in to Bizzaro World. On Monday evening, I looked at the T.O.T standings and wasn't difficult to find the Hurtin' Units; there we were sitting at the very bottom with a 0-5-0 record. No team in the league has a worse record. This is another first for the Units...Bizzare! 

Why is it that the new teams in the league always seem to do well? Last season new captains Chuck and Stike (Draft Kings) powered there way to the top of the standings and rode that wave to win the league and T.O.T championship. 

When the Tap Masters and the Gruesome Devils came in, they both did well. This season the Sliders and Son of Pitches are both hovering around the top of the standings; mind you it is early in the season.

The Hurtin' Units and the Brew Jays came in to the league in the same year. That season the two rookie teams would battle, all season long, for the league title. The Hurtin' Units would prevail in the final week of season with a 19-5-2 record. Things sure have taken a 180 degree turn, for the Units, since that season... or have we somehow been thrown in to Bizzaro World.

Since that first season, the Brew Jays and Hurtin' Units have become pretty good rivals, with some great battles on the playing field.  

As recently as last year's playoffs, the Units and Brew Jays squared off in a game that saw a total of 45 runs scored. 

I remember standing on second base and the Brew Jay's shortstop, Rod D., asked me if there was going to be enough ink in the scorekeepers pen to finish the game...LOL. The Units went on to win that game with the final score 24-21.

The weather for this game (June 10) was perfect; the temperature was around 22 degrees, there was a slight breeze and the sunset that was giving us problems last week, was shrouded by a thick haze in the western sky. 

The Hurtin' Units had 10 guys in the lineup; Art strolled in a little bit late, but still made his first at bat. This was a 7:00pm game, we were the visitors and the umpire was Donny S.

Nothing like a good rivalry.

 This game against the Brew Jays was not as offensively charged for the Units as the last back in the playoffs, but the Jays still can bring it. 

The Units scored 2 runs in the top of the first inning and we were feeling good. The Jays scored a 7 in the bottom, without an out, and we drooped a little. The Jays were doing the same thing all the other teams, this season, have been doing, hitting the ball everywhere on the playing surface except to a Hurtin' Unit player. 

I started Bill C. at pitcher tonight, looking to change things up, but nothing changed defensively on the field, we were still watching the ball drop in all around us. The Jays scored 2 seven run innings on their way to a 20-7 win. 

I came in to pitch in the 4th inning and we managed to stop the bleeding, we had 2 stellar defensive innings, topped off with 3 straight hits to Bill at 3rd base, throw to second for a force out. It was like groundhog day, 3 times in a row. 

The Units would rally a little in the later innings, but it would be too little too late. The Units would go on to lose their 6th straight game to start the season. Our next game is Thursday evening vs. the Dogcatchers...Could this be the night for the Units first win? 

Walk Watch- G-0, S-2   

LIFES A BEECHY!!

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE DODGE CITY ROUNDERS. 

Game # 5- June 3,2014

Hurtin'Units lose 25-15

Team Record 0-5-0

Dodge City- I could almost sense the vultures flying over head, waiting to swoop down and tear apart what was left of the Units after a vicious beating. Now don't get me wrong, the Units put up a hell of a fight, but in the end the Units could not overcome the strength of the lefthanded hitting Rounders.

I think that I would be overstating a fact if I said the Hurtin' Units are off to a rough start. We have never been in this position and I can't remember a losing streak this long. 




The weather in this game was not a friend to the Units and in fact it seemed to benefit the Rounders. The sunset really played havoc on the field and at times made it very difficult to see the ball coming off the bat and when it got up in the air...for getta bout it. The temperature during the day was about 28 degrees and with humdity felt like 31. The temperature dropped considerably by game time, down to about 18 degrees. 


This game was played on Coventry #2,the umpire was Lou and the Hurtin' Units were the home team. 

All but one Hurtin' Unit players was dressed for this game. Kevin was the only missing player. Our new player Joel H. was in the lineup. Joel was Coxy's replacement.Joel reminds Mike and I of a little younger, slimmer Kahuna.

I mentioned that the strong wind and sunshine played in favor the rounders. The Rounders are stacked in left handed gun slingers and all night long they pounded hit after hit over, or between or in front of the Units players. 

The Hurtin' Units had a few wind assisted plays of their own, I believe Mike O., Art S. both had in the park homeruns. There may have been another(Esua maybe?).

This may be the Hurtin' Units start in the history of the team, this group of guys in no different than any we have had over the previous 4 seasons. 

We may not be tearing up the league, but I still believe we have a good roster and hopefully with a few tweaks we will find ourselves in the win column. 

I'm going out on a vulturous sitting limb and making the bold prediction that the Hurtin'Units will make the playoffs despite an rough start.

Walk Watch- G-1, S-2, Beechy 

   

HOTTUB UNITS BEAT THE HURTIN' WOODYS.

HURTIN' WOODYS VS.THE HOTTUB UNITS  

Game # 4 - May 28th, 2014

Hurtin' Units lose 26-10

Team Record -0-4-0

Keogh Park- At 6:00pm the temperature has hovering around 28 degrees Celsius and with the humidity it felt more like 32 degrees. The temperature and humidity were still hanging around at game time (8:15), it didn't take much movement before we were sweating. 

For this game we were missing Art, Clouch and Coxy. We picked up Stef K. and Peter H. for subs in this game. Earlier in the evening, Gary Cox called me and told me he had to pack it in for the season. Coxy's knee problem wasn't improving and he didn't want to hold the team back. I was a little saddened to hear this news, I think Coxy is a character guy and he would have fit in great with our team.

As I am writing this blog posting, I can tell you that Hurtin' Units have already played game # 5 against the Dodge City Rounders and lost again (what can I say, I'm a little bit in my blogging). 

The Hottub Woodys are really a solid hitting team and they can score runs in bunches. The night before this game, the Woodys were playing the Rusty Rebels and the Rebels were leading going in to the open inning. The Hottub Woodys would score 16 runs in the open inning to win the game...Yea, they can score in bunches!  I our game with the Woodys, we only played 6 innings and gave up 26 runs. The boxscore really shows how strong they are offensively. 

After the game, Mike and I were walking in to the league and Mike says to me " it's like we're jinxed" referring to the way that our season has started. I said " I forgot to smudge the bats this season". I like to smudge the bats before the season starts, I forgot to do it and I will do it before the next game.

The next day, I was thinking about how many strange things have occurred this season. I thought maybe the Hurtin' Units have somehow been thrown in to bizzaro world. The Units have played some good games, but are being beat by nickel and dime hits. The team has not thrown the ball all over the field, or made egregious errors, we are just being beat by good seeing eye hits and little flares all over the field. This doesn't happen 5 games in a row in the real world. 

Going in to this game (game #4) I had not walked a single batter (first came in this game against John) and in the past I was good for a couple a game, not this season...Bizzare 


Over the last 4 seasons, the Hurtin' Units never had a designated catcher (always catcher by committee) and this season we have 4 players who played catcher in previous seasons...Bizzare. 

This season, 75% of the Hurtin' Units roster lives outside of Tottenham. This has never happened in our 4 year history...Bizzare

This is the first season that we have the same shirt colours as any other season. This season we are playing again in the black and yellow. Our first season was blue with white lettering, second was blue with yellow, third was green with yellow lettering, and last season was black and yellow the exact same as this season...Bizzare. 

The Hurtin' Units have never started a season with a record of 0-5. In fact, the Units have never lost an opening night game...this season was our first season losing the opening game...Bizzare.

Throw in all the strange events around the start of the season (lights at Keogh, Coventry Park #2 field conditions and rain outs in week #2, the reduction of games on the season) and it all adds up to Bizzaro World. 

So if the 2014 Hurtin' Units are indeed now in Bizzaro World, what do we do to change things up in the win column? I assume that we need to do things differently (batting order, positions and pitching). The Hurtin' Units have to the opposite to what we have done in the past to get back on track...Bizzare. 

Walk Watch- G-1, S-1, John 

WHO NEEDS A SIX PACK, WHEN YA GOT A KEG...

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE BEER BROS.

Game # 3 - May 26, 2014

Hurtin' Units lose 19-14 

Team Record 0-3-0

Keogh Park- This game was one of our three scheduled 9:30 pm games. I have to admit I don't remember alot about this game and I been quite busy over the last couple of weeks and have found it difficult to keep up with the blog. 

I can tell you this; This was a fun see-saw battle and in the end the Brothers would prevail. I thought the Hurtin'Units bats were really starting to come around, in fact we put together a 7 run inning. We certainly have some offensive, but I also think that our defense needs a little spit and polish to tighten it up and give us a chance to win. 

On the defensive side, in this game, Dwayne made 2 really nice back to back catches that probably kept the score closer. We're still looking for the right fit for the Units in the playing positions, this could take a few more weeks. We really haven't thrown the ball around, we've just been beat in alleys. 

It's a long season, were off to a bit of a rough start, but I truly believe we have the makings of a good team.  Lot's of season left, we'll keep working at it.

Walk Watch- G-0, S-0 

GRUESOME? THEY LOOK THE SAME SIZE TO ME...

HURTIN' UNITS VS. GRUESOME DEVILS.

Game # 2 -May 21, 2014

Hurtin' Units lose 20-10

Team Record - 0-2-0 

I mentioned in the last blog that I had lost my interest in doing this blog. I will however, continue to do the blog and maybe it will become more interesting to me as the season goes on. One thing I do like doing, in the blog, is playing around with Photoshop, taking pictures of Hurtin' Units players or league related photos or internet pictures and playing around with them. 

Dennis makes final out in championship game.

In this blog, I took a picture of Babe Ruth and made it in to a magazine cover. This is not the first time I have done this in the Hurtin' Units blog, in fact, I've done BASEBALL WORLD magazine covers 9 other times. I also have another Baseball World cover in the works for a future blog. If you go back through the previous year's blog postings you'll find all of the others. The Baseball World cover, with Dennis Short on it, the picture was taken by me as Dennis caught the final out in the 2012 championship finals. The Beer Bros. won the the championship. I love the raw emotion of this photo, definitely worthy of a cover shot...Fun stuff !! 

When I make the covers, I actually prefer to use photos that I have taken or at least something related to the Hurtin' Units or the T.O.T league. This picture of Clayton is exactly what I'm talking about. In 2012 Clayton played for the Units and this picture was taken by my friend Samantha Delgreco. This is one of my favorites, but the best, I think, is the shot of Craig Slater running the bases. If you click on the link you can view the cover page. http://hurtinunits.blogspot.ca/2012/09/let-playoffs-begin.html
  

In the last posting, I used pictures I took of the 2013 Hurtin' Units players and made them look like baseball cards. It was my intent to actually have these cards printed on to card stock and actually make a set of cards for each of the 2013 Units players... I got distracted late last season and never had the chance to have the cards printed, shame really, considering how much work I did on them. 

Are these guys twins?  Same legs and face. 

Two postings ago, I took a picture of Woody (played for the Units in 2013) and Photo shopped a picture of Shrek in to the picture. Dan is really a great sport about stuff like this, last season he could be found in multiple postings as well as 2 hilarious Jibjab videos. In the videos. I used five 2013 Hurtin' Unit players to create a unforgettable, top notch, powerfully moving video that will be viewed for years to come. Starring in these videos are Dan C., Darryl H., Mike O., Rick C., and Ricky L. If you get a chance, go back and watch them, you'll get a good laugh from them.

http://www.jibjab.com/view/EDRGXZYjSsiuGYyTlKBDcQ

http://www.jibjab.com/view/Z8dIGmuaTyek5I1Zz9R1Aw

I have also added or changed things in pictures to stick to a Hurtin' Units or baseball theme. I really have a fun time playing around with these little projects. What cat watches baseball? REALLY???

I also enjoy writing with little themes attached  like I did with a couple of Dodge City Rounder games. I love the idea of traveling to another town by train back in simpler times. A time when a home town game attracted all the town's folk to attend and cheer their team. Again fun stuff!  

If you go back and look at the previous postings over the last 4 baseball seasons, you'll probably see a lot of other things I've done with pics. 

Last season or maybe it was 2 seasons ago, the blog site started allowing videos or links to videos to be inserted in to the blog. I have included videos in some postings, but maybe it's time for me to explore this avenue and see if I can come up with something a little different for future postings. This is a fun little video.          
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBv3xVoAoCI

Blog is a time machine to Units historical past.

I mentioned somewhere, in some posting, that I do the blog as a timeline of the Hurtin' Units baseball team. Each posting is a history of the team from the very first game back on the 4th of May 2010, when the Hurtin' Units defeated the Red Dogs by a score of 14-10 to this present day posting. 

So, when I post stuff that doesn't really pertain to the team, there is a setting or reason I babble on a little about it. An example of what I'm talking about is the season being shortened or the Keogh lights not working. Wait a tick...I guess it does pertain to the team. D'oh!!!

Rescheduling Guy.

I guess I should really talk about the stuff going on around the Hurtin' Units team. To start with, we had our last game canceled because the Keogh lights were not working. In fact, there have been more games canceled because of the damage done to Coventry diamond #2  and the lights at Keogh than I can ever remember, throw in a week with several days of rain and the rescheduling guy is standing on the edge of a bridge. 

So with the lost week, there were some decisions to be made. In the last captain's meeting, there were discussions about what we would do if the town didn't release the diamonds and the season got pushed back a couple of weeks. Would we go to a 22 game or a 24 game season? 

BASEBALL BABES ARE ALWAYS NICE IN A BLOG

The town released the diamonds 2 days after the season started and it looked like we didn't have to worry about the 22 or 24 game season, at least that's what we thought. On the Wednesday evening of opening week, the lights at Keogh did not come on and it was discovered that they were disconnected and it could be some time before they would be reconnected. All 8:15 games would be canceled for the next 2 weeks. The Coventry diamond #2 would not be fixed until late in week 2, all games on this diamond would be rescheduled. The second week of the season was filled with rainy thunderstorms and the bulk of the week's games, scheduled on usable diamonds, were also canceled and rescheduled. 

Since the bulk of the games in the first 2 weeks were rescheduled, the executive and captains held a vote to decide if we should reduce the season to 22 games. The vote was in favor of going to 22 games. Since the season was reduced to 22 games, the league decided to redo the entire schedule. The schedule was rejigged to fit a 22 game season. 

The Hurtin' Units new schedule included the first game played on our schedule and the other 21 games left to play. Let's hope that things go smoothly from this point on. 
  
Our first game was quite solid as far as defense and offense are concerned. We had a bit of rust coming off a long, long, long winter and with no practice I really thought we did well.  

Coventry Park- It was a long time between games, but we finally get back on the field. In this game we almost had a full team; the only missing player was Coxy who is still nursing a sore knee. 

During the day there was a few isolated rain showers, but by game time (8:15) the sky was a mix of dark clouds with a few clear spots. There was a light breeze blowing south to north and the temperature was in the mid-teens.

This game was played on Coventry diamond #3, the scheduled start time was 8:15pm and the umpire for this game was Lou R. 

There was a strong smell of new shirts in the air as the game was about to start; the 2014 Hurtin' Units were officially a team... dressed in the black and yellow. 

I really believe that if this game were played a little bit further in to the season, the score would have been closer. I say this because there was still a bit of rusty play on the field. I would say that almost every Units player had to deal with a bobble or a tip off a glove or a bad bounce in this game. The timing was just a little off with some of us and it will probably take several games before we get it perfected. And with a new ball on the field this season, there will be a little bit of adjustment. Speaking of the new ball, I voted against it (I like the Gray Dot), but now that we have played with it for 2 games, I really like it. I like the pitching mat also. 

On the offensive side of the ledger, things looked promising, in the top of the 1st inning, when little Stevie D.(pitcher for the Gruesome) walked the first two batters he faced. With Don and Clayton on base, Kevin, Dave and Mike came up to bat. 1,2,3 out finished off with a swinging strike out by Mikey Boy (something I've never seen before) and just like that the inning was over. 

The speed of the Gruesome Devils was awesome, they got around bases with the ease of a gazelles. This Gruesome team is scary good and I was impressed!!!

The Units were hitting the baseball well, everyone made good contact, but a majority of the good contact found the gloves of the Devils. And when we did get on base, we stranded numerous base runners all game long. I was at the bottom of the order (11th) and my first at bat was in the 3rd inning, I came around to score the Units first run. 

Our timing was probably still a little off while batting. This will be corrected when we get a few more games in, hopefully bringing those stranded base runners home. The Devils played well in the outfield, Tim O. and their rookies lead the way with strong defense. 

I mentioned the timing was off with some players, but the legs of some players were not in mid-season form either. We can probably laugh about it now, but during the game, I recall at least 3 guys tripping or slipping on to the playing surface. Fraser B. ( Devils) took a tumble running to first, Art (Units) slipped while rounding first and soiled the new shirt and Esau (Units) tripped over 3rd base and injured his ankle. Dwayne (Units) also hit the dirt trying to run from 2nd to 3rd and was called out. 

Over the last couple of seasons, I would take a picture of the gamesheet or write out the boxscore of the games. I will try to do this for future postings, I think it shows patterns and trends that might help to adjust lineups. I can tell you this, there were a lot of innings with zero on the scoresheet in this game. I would guess that in this game, all of the Hurtin' Units runs came in 3 innings. The 2014 look like they can score in bunches, we just need to do it in every inning. 

One more note on this game; Billy C. made a couple of nice catches, off of foul tips, playing catcher. Nice Job!

The Units next game is Monday May 26, 2014 vs. Beer Bros. 

Walk Watch- G-0, S-0

"AND BY THE WAY...THEY'RE REAL, AND THEY'RE SPECTACULAR."

HURTIN' UNITS VS. BLUES BROTHERS.

"AND BY THE WAY...THEY'RE REAL, AND THEY'RE SPECTACULAR."
Teri Hatcher talks about the 2014 Hurtin' Units.  

Game # 1- May 8, 2014

Hurtin' Units lose 10-8 

Team Record- 0-1-0

Keogh Park- I must be honest here and say that I really have no interest in doing the blog thingie again this season, but it is something I started back the Hurtin' Units entered the league and I will continue even if my interest is wavering a little. Who knows, I may get back in to it and enjoy doing it again. As I have in other seasons, I welcome anyone to contribute to this blog, I will gladly publish anything anyone wants to blog. 

The one thing I do like about the blog is I can go back to the beginning or season 2 or 3 or 4 and recall what it was like when we were playing in those years. 

The blog is a timeline of this team. It is a walk down memory lane for the past Unit players and it will hopefully be an entertaining site for the 2014 Hurtin' Unit and T.O.T players.  

It's been a long time since we rocked and rolled. It really has been a long time; the 2013 season ended for the Hurtin Units on September 14, 2013 with a 17-14 loss to the Dislocated Joints in a elimination game. 

The winter we just went through seemed extremely long and it even seems like a long time since the 2014 draft. But for the Hurtin' Units, the season is finally underway. 

On Thursday May the 8th, we finally got on the field and it felt great. The final results were not what we wanted, but we have 23 games left to turn it around.

Our first game was actually scheduled for Tuesday May 6th, but the diamonds were not yet released to the league and the game was cancelled. On Wednesday, the town released the diamonds, but no games were played due to a problem with the lights at Keogh Park. The Units got our game in on Thursday evening only because we played the 7:00pm game. 

At game time we had 9 Hurtin' Unit players really to play the first game. Missing from the roster were Dwayne, Coxy and Esau. We picked up Stef K. as a sub.  

This game marks the first time, in the Units five season history, that the Units have lost their season opener. Going in to this season we had a record of 3-0-1 in opening season games. I mentioned this stat to Mike last night and he seemed to think that maybe, just maybe, a change could put the Units on a path to bigger and better things. I hope the boy is right...only time will tell. 

Considering that we were not able to get a practice in, I thought we played quite well. There were some first game jitters, but I think everyone played well. Our rookie Art got lots of action, the batting of most players seem solid (considering it was a different ball from previous years) and everyone (including myself) had a bit of difficulty throwing at times. 

There were two new items introduced in the first game. First was the new ball that will be used this season; the league will be using the Hot Dot as our official ball this season. The second item is the new home plate mat; a new rubber mat will replace the wooden board used in previous seasons, home plate will now be included as part of the strike zone. 

So the season is now officially under way and I'm looking forward to getting on the field on a regular basis. And with the 2014 now in full swing, it's time to say goodbye to the 2013 Hurtin' Units players. I would like thank the 2013 team for a great season and wish you all the best of luck with your new teams. I made the 2013 player cards last season, but never got the chance to use them. I have the whole 2013 and will include them in this blog when I get a chance. See you on the field. 

Walk Watch- G-0, S-0

PICKIN', GRINNIN' AND HOPEFULLY WINNIN'.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GO TO GET...

Draft Day...Sometimes you get a good player...sometimes you don't 

After a disappointing 2013 season, Mike and I are hoping to have great bounce back 2014 season. 

A disappointing season for me is finishing in 13th place in the standings and not playing on the Sunday of the playoff weekend. In 2013, I really thought we had the team to do better. 

From the day we drafted the 2013 team I really thought we had the makings of a competitive team. It was not meant to be and the signs were there early on. 

I remember Ricky Bobby was having problems with his hip/leg and on practice day he almost called it quits on the season. Mike tore up his other knee, Richard was having back problems, Phil had a sore shoulder most of the season, Ricky Lyon was fighting a bug and Woody injured his leg early in the playoffs. There were also other issues that really prevented us from really doing some baseball damage. On draft day every team looks good on paper, but looking good on paper doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be good on the field.  

On April 5th, 2014 the T.O.T baseball league held it's annual blind baseball draft. The teams were picked and the Hurtin' Units should change their name to the Bandits. I think we came away with a really nice looking team (when I say nice looking, I don't mean how the players look). We have a great mix of solid players and it should be a fun season. To view the 2014 roster go to rosters or click link. 

When the teams are all picked and they are all juxtaposed on the tables at the front of the clubroom, most captains would say their teams look pretty good. We look over the top parts of the rosters, we compare the bottom parts of the roster, we start the wheels in motion as to where our new teammates will play on the diamond. The draft is a fun time, filled with hope and excitement, but until we get on the field we will not know what we really have. I think the 2014 Hurtin' Units are a solid team and I'm looking forward to see if I'm right.   

The Units have a lot of positive signs this season...Mike is back and lookin' lean, I'm going in to my 3rd year pitching with some new tricks up my sleeves (bigger strike zone too), Clayton, Don C. and Coxy have played with the HURTIN' UNITS before (they know what were all about), Bill is the most solid 12 rated player (in my opinion) in the league, Rick G. is going in to only his 2nd season, but knows how the league operates now, Clayton and myself played hockey with our rookie Art (he will fit in great with this group, might also bring snacks to the legion), Dwayne was the Most Improved Player last season (he also has high yellow socks to match our yellow and black shirts), I have never played with Kevin C. or Dave M., but I've seen them play and I'm glad to have them with us and I'm looking forward to meeting Esau, who I have heard many good things about. 

I'm not going to get too high on the 2014 Hurtin' Units yet, but I really think we can compete with the other teams that were picked at the draft. 

I'm looking forward to getting on the field with my 2014 teammates.