Matt Cain may have had the attention of the Bay Area and national sports world last night, and most of the national media is in the Bay Area to cover the US Open starting today; but the best game of all broke out this morning in the MDSSL game between the Blue Meanies of Concord and the Walnut Creak Blues. It was a marathon, and ultimately the WC Blues emerged with a 39-33 win.
We scored the maximum five runs every inning but the fourth. In the end because of the flip flop rule, we didn't get our ninth inning, so we scored 39 out of a maximum 40 runs in this game. We shut down Concord in the second, but after we got a lead they kept up with us in the middle innings, scoring seven in the third and fifth when the 'catch up' rule was in effect. Then we wore them down and held them to one run in the sixth through eighth, and their late rally in the ninth fell short.
As you can guess everyone was hot. The battle within the battle was for hitting prowess among the WC hitters. The early hero was Mike 'The Babe" Carlo. All he did today was go 5-5 with five runs scored, and five RBIs, and his first two hits were gapper home runs leading off the second and ending the third. Ever cognizant of the numbers being put up, we kidded him that he could set a team record with five home runs. This cooled him off considerably, and he settled for singles his last three trips to the plate.
The leadoff hitter was also hot; he got six straight hits, and scored five runs and drove in four, and his loudest 'hit' just went foul down the right field line. And Tom Occhiogrosso did his usual thing with four hits and a walk. Randy Kramasz clubbed one to deep left center among three hits, after taking measure with a hard hit line drive right at the left center fielder his first time up. Scott Starlin hit four straight line drives for hits before finally making an out his last time up. Murray Herrimen didn't make an out although one of his ABs would have to be called an error. Still that one brought in a fifth run in the first to set the tone for the game. Everyone else contributed as well.
But the day belonged to Ray Mariadaga. Don't ask him, he is too humble. Like Ray Woodson of KNBR (JustAskRay.com), he could have a web site but it would be called Just Don't Ask Ray.com. He is humble so I will tell you. Ray let Mikey get ahead in the home run race, while driving in three of our first 10 runs in the first and second with singles. And THEN he came to life. He hit three three run homers in his last four trips to the plate, sandwiched around a lead off single to start a rally in the sixth. That's right - altogether TWELVE RBIs for the game. Somewhere there is a Creaker record book up in the sky, and his name was just etched in it forever. Matt Cain - feh. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson - feh. We have Ray Mariadaga.
There wasn't much defense on this day. But a few plays were worth mentioning. Occhiogrosso had a few nice running catches, and one was spectacular. Mariadaga also had a field day, stopping numerous hot shots down the line at third on a very rough infield; in fact on one, he surprised himself so much that he couldn't find the ball in his glove to get the force out at second base. WC turned one double play, a crisp Starlin (at the mound) to Brian Chu to first. Brian had to throw through the runner's head coming at him; luckily the head got out of the way. And finally we actually retired Gary Tryhorn twice, including on a grounder to Chu to end the game.
What a way to break out of our four game losing streak!
We scored the maximum five runs every inning but the fourth. In the end because of the flip flop rule, we didn't get our ninth inning, so we scored 39 out of a maximum 40 runs in this game. We shut down Concord in the second, but after we got a lead they kept up with us in the middle innings, scoring seven in the third and fifth when the 'catch up' rule was in effect. Then we wore them down and held them to one run in the sixth through eighth, and their late rally in the ninth fell short.
As you can guess everyone was hot. The battle within the battle was for hitting prowess among the WC hitters. The early hero was Mike 'The Babe" Carlo. All he did today was go 5-5 with five runs scored, and five RBIs, and his first two hits were gapper home runs leading off the second and ending the third. Ever cognizant of the numbers being put up, we kidded him that he could set a team record with five home runs. This cooled him off considerably, and he settled for singles his last three trips to the plate.
The leadoff hitter was also hot; he got six straight hits, and scored five runs and drove in four, and his loudest 'hit' just went foul down the right field line. And Tom Occhiogrosso did his usual thing with four hits and a walk. Randy Kramasz clubbed one to deep left center among three hits, after taking measure with a hard hit line drive right at the left center fielder his first time up. Scott Starlin hit four straight line drives for hits before finally making an out his last time up. Murray Herrimen didn't make an out although one of his ABs would have to be called an error. Still that one brought in a fifth run in the first to set the tone for the game. Everyone else contributed as well.
But the day belonged to Ray Mariadaga. Don't ask him, he is too humble. Like Ray Woodson of KNBR (JustAskRay.com), he could have a web site but it would be called Just Don't Ask Ray.com. He is humble so I will tell you. Ray let Mikey get ahead in the home run race, while driving in three of our first 10 runs in the first and second with singles. And THEN he came to life. He hit three three run homers in his last four trips to the plate, sandwiched around a lead off single to start a rally in the sixth. That's right - altogether TWELVE RBIs for the game. Somewhere there is a Creaker record book up in the sky, and his name was just etched in it forever. Matt Cain - feh. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson - feh. We have Ray Mariadaga.
There wasn't much defense on this day. But a few plays were worth mentioning. Occhiogrosso had a few nice running catches, and one was spectacular. Mariadaga also had a field day, stopping numerous hot shots down the line at third on a very rough infield; in fact on one, he surprised himself so much that he couldn't find the ball in his glove to get the force out at second base. WC turned one double play, a crisp Starlin (at the mound) to Brian Chu to first. Brian had to throw through the runner's head coming at him; luckily the head got out of the way. And finally we actually retired Gary Tryhorn twice, including on a grounder to Chu to end the game.
What a way to break out of our four game losing streak!
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