Side Story: It's good to be a fast outfielder. It's even better to be behind one at a stop light.
This is because after the last Conehead game, I was behind our own Sting at the light to turn onto Camino Pablo. Reg was a little impatient, or in a bit of a hurry because Mrs.Sting wanted him home. Well, our hero stopped his car, dashed out, ran to the stop light, pushed the pedestrian crosswalk button, and was back in the car when the light changed. Go Sting!
Saved me from doing the same thing. Thanx.
I have a friend on the Creaker Red team that calls me Hollywood. I can't imagine why - could it be because I show up in the morning games at 9:29, one minute before game time, and I am the lead off hitter?
He may think I want to have everyone waiting on me and be a show off. In fact, as a manager on my other teams, I hate when players show up late or just before game time. What he doesn't know is that I am just a night owl, never been a morning person, and getting to a softball game at 9:30 in the morning for me is like 6:00 for other people.
At any rate, I took his nomenclature at its face value and went on vacation from my semi-permanent vacation to the land of tinsel and dreams. Perhaps I would finally be discovered. I happen to have a musician friend somewhat connected in show-biz - he was playing in a bar and grill two blocks off Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills on Friday night. This was it. So old Heffe went off in search of stardom and wealth last week.
Break into song now,
"Come and listen to a story about a man named Hef, a simple softball slut in search of Cotton anywhere.
Then one day he was taking grounders and BP, and up through the ground came a bubbling crude."
Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.
And so, I am back.
It was really an early loss by the Coneheads sent me away in despair. Once again the dread Cal Bronco beat your Heads senselessly. This was two weeks ago Thursday. We were so flat, I thought I was in the Central Valley. Oh, that's right, I was in the Central Valley. But that was later when I sought my fortune.
There was only one highlight against the Broncos - Greg the Knight hit for the cycle. He is making a habit of that, did it again the next Monday McKnight, but we will get to that later. On the last Thursday when we lost to the Broncos, there was a weird feeling in the air - no one (except Greg) particularly hit, no one caught the ball. The Broncs even kept it in reach; we trailed only 7-4 after four and had the hammer. But we couldn't tame the Broncos this night. It's OK, we play them again and we all know what happened last year when we met in the playoffs. And it's not OK, we need to learn how to break out and fight through it when we fall flat like that.
Milestones:
Gerry 450 h (#10)
Knight 20 2b (#20)
For the next Conehead game there was a perfect storm of missing persons. Gene and Don and Larry were on vacation. Reggie and Markley found things more important than Conehead ball to do on a Monday night (Really?). Ol' G had a meeting, and Derek had a commitment. Lefty was being Lefty. At that point we had six actual Coneheads available. Luckily in the end, Ol' G and Heavy D found a way to get to the game, and subs Cage, Bobby, Gentleman Jim from JFT, and Bill who is always there for us filled us out to be a pretty good team.
Still, we were pretty rag tag. The last time this happened was last year against the Old Scouts, and it was on the same field at JM. I didn't like this one bit. Luckily this time our opponent was the Waitlisters, not one of the powerhouses but a pretty good team.
Then things got weird. The Waitlisters have some pretty young (for our league) players who carried them to the championship a few years ago (although I still think that was a fluke). At the time they insisted that they were grandfathered players from when we were a C league, just like Cage on our team. The are all back on the team, and they might even be 35 by now. At any rate I couldn't complain about that since Cage was one of our fill ins. And I didn't even want to - we would just beat them.
Then they came out with their Green Mayhem bat. And an arsenal of other USSSA bats. I couldn't believe it. We had the bat controversy last year in the playoffs - how could they have missed the memo and then the follow on memo and on and on and on. It's pretty simple - we are an ASA Bat league now, you either have the ASA sticker on your bat or you can't use it.
We called them on it and they bitched that we were the bitches. GET A CLUE.
And then in about the third inning our own Derek goes up to bat and he's toting a Combat Senior Bat. WTF?? He smokes one into right center, and he told me that one of their players used one so it was payback. I was so concerned with their damned USSSA bats I didn't even notice they used a Senior bat. And to think, I could have brought mine! I could have been the one with the laser line drive. That's right, when I use a senior bata I hit just like Heavy D. I couldn't argue with his logic but luckily after that the bat controversy went away and we just took care of the business at hand - coming back on the Waitlisters after spotting them an 8-3 lead after two. We chipped away until it was 13-11 after five and then had the shutdown inning in the sixth, put up three to take a lead, and then shut them down in the seventh. I think they were a little stunned that it was over and we beat them, yet again. Instrumental in there somewhere, Heavy D, the lefty playing third, turned a nifty double play, I think it was 5U-4, to nip a rally.
Cage in a cameo appearance went 4-4 with a team high 3 RBIs, D had a triple to start our scoring among three hits, the Heffinator was 3-3 with a walk, and Joe's bat is back with three hits, and how about yet another double on those reconstructed knees (oh that was Bill running).
Special thanks to Cage, Bill, Bobby, and Jim. Literally couldn't have won without you.
Milestones:
Heffe 300 g (#3)
Gerry 10 gw (#8)
Chopper 10 3b (#18)
Chopper 150 ab (#21)
Cage 20 2b (#)
And then there was the Usual Suspects, which always fixes whatever ails us. I like to think of this as the Goose Goose, no Goose Game. This is because yet again I was on first when Chopper hit a blast over the right fielder's head, and gets a head of steam behind me as I jog in to score easily. But this time I was prepared, there was not going to be a repeat of the Goose incident (for those who don't remember or didn't see the tabloids (Headline: Man or Goose? Chopper Gooses the Hef), he goosed me when he hit a home run on the exact same field a couple weeks earlier. No Mas. I ran the last few feet backward, although if you think about it, maybe that wasn't so smart either.
It may also be remembered because this was the game Ol' G refused to lie and say a runner coming into second was safe even though he was out and the ump got the call right, but the Suspects more than suspected otherwise, and demanded that he admit the call was wrong, and furthermore, overrule the umpire. C'mon G, where is your honor? How can you refuse a run on sentence like that? Man up, Man.
Nevertheless, as mentioned above, the real hero of the game was the McKnight, who got his second cycle in three games (good for six RBIs). I have hit for the cycle exactly once in 30 years of softball, so that shows how easy it is for some of us. Chuck contributed five hits, Sting, Bill, Joe and Gerry had four.
Big game tomorrow against the perennial South Division winner, those Old Scouts. Should be good times.
Milestones:
Joe 400 r (#6)
Ol' G 30 3b (#13)
If you made it this far, either I love you or you are insane, or both. You pick.
This is because after the last Conehead game, I was behind our own Sting at the light to turn onto Camino Pablo. Reg was a little impatient, or in a bit of a hurry because Mrs.Sting wanted him home. Well, our hero stopped his car, dashed out, ran to the stop light, pushed the pedestrian crosswalk button, and was back in the car when the light changed. Go Sting!
Saved me from doing the same thing. Thanx.
I have a friend on the Creaker Red team that calls me Hollywood. I can't imagine why - could it be because I show up in the morning games at 9:29, one minute before game time, and I am the lead off hitter?
He may think I want to have everyone waiting on me and be a show off. In fact, as a manager on my other teams, I hate when players show up late or just before game time. What he doesn't know is that I am just a night owl, never been a morning person, and getting to a softball game at 9:30 in the morning for me is like 6:00 for other people.
At any rate, I took his nomenclature at its face value and went on vacation from my semi-permanent vacation to the land of tinsel and dreams. Perhaps I would finally be discovered. I happen to have a musician friend somewhat connected in show-biz - he was playing in a bar and grill two blocks off Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills on Friday night. This was it. So old Heffe went off in search of stardom and wealth last week.
Break into song now,
"Come and listen to a story about a man named Hef, a simple softball slut in search of Cotton anywhere.
Then one day he was taking grounders and BP, and up through the ground came a bubbling crude."
Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.
Well the first thing you know ol Hef's a millionaire,
Kinfolk said 'Hef move away from there'
Said 'SoCal is the place you ought to be'
So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.
Hills, that is. Swimmin' pools, movie stars. Year round softball"
Kinfolk said 'Hef move away from there'
Said 'SoCal is the place you ought to be'
So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.
Hills, that is. Swimmin' pools, movie stars. Year round softball"
So I packed up my gloves and bat and went on a tour of the gold country and then down to 90210. And guess what: I wasn't even discovered. Although, on the way back, I stopped in oil country at the last intersection where James Dean stopped before his violent demise:
And so, I am back.
It was really an early loss by the Coneheads sent me away in despair. Once again the dread Cal Bronco beat your Heads senselessly. This was two weeks ago Thursday. We were so flat, I thought I was in the Central Valley. Oh, that's right, I was in the Central Valley. But that was later when I sought my fortune.
There was only one highlight against the Broncos - Greg the Knight hit for the cycle. He is making a habit of that, did it again the next Monday McKnight, but we will get to that later. On the last Thursday when we lost to the Broncos, there was a weird feeling in the air - no one (except Greg) particularly hit, no one caught the ball. The Broncs even kept it in reach; we trailed only 7-4 after four and had the hammer. But we couldn't tame the Broncos this night. It's OK, we play them again and we all know what happened last year when we met in the playoffs. And it's not OK, we need to learn how to break out and fight through it when we fall flat like that.
Milestones:
Gerry 450 h (#10)
Knight 20 2b (#20)
For the next Conehead game there was a perfect storm of missing persons. Gene and Don and Larry were on vacation. Reggie and Markley found things more important than Conehead ball to do on a Monday night (Really?). Ol' G had a meeting, and Derek had a commitment. Lefty was being Lefty. At that point we had six actual Coneheads available. Luckily in the end, Ol' G and Heavy D found a way to get to the game, and subs Cage, Bobby, Gentleman Jim from JFT, and Bill who is always there for us filled us out to be a pretty good team.
Still, we were pretty rag tag. The last time this happened was last year against the Old Scouts, and it was on the same field at JM. I didn't like this one bit. Luckily this time our opponent was the Waitlisters, not one of the powerhouses but a pretty good team.
Then things got weird. The Waitlisters have some pretty young (for our league) players who carried them to the championship a few years ago (although I still think that was a fluke). At the time they insisted that they were grandfathered players from when we were a C league, just like Cage on our team. The are all back on the team, and they might even be 35 by now. At any rate I couldn't complain about that since Cage was one of our fill ins. And I didn't even want to - we would just beat them.
Then they came out with their Green Mayhem bat. And an arsenal of other USSSA bats. I couldn't believe it. We had the bat controversy last year in the playoffs - how could they have missed the memo and then the follow on memo and on and on and on. It's pretty simple - we are an ASA Bat league now, you either have the ASA sticker on your bat or you can't use it.
We called them on it and they bitched that we were the bitches. GET A CLUE.
And then in about the third inning our own Derek goes up to bat and he's toting a Combat Senior Bat. WTF?? He smokes one into right center, and he told me that one of their players used one so it was payback. I was so concerned with their damned USSSA bats I didn't even notice they used a Senior bat. And to think, I could have brought mine! I could have been the one with the laser line drive. That's right, when I use a senior bata I hit just like Heavy D. I couldn't argue with his logic but luckily after that the bat controversy went away and we just took care of the business at hand - coming back on the Waitlisters after spotting them an 8-3 lead after two. We chipped away until it was 13-11 after five and then had the shutdown inning in the sixth, put up three to take a lead, and then shut them down in the seventh. I think they were a little stunned that it was over and we beat them, yet again. Instrumental in there somewhere, Heavy D, the lefty playing third, turned a nifty double play, I think it was 5U-4, to nip a rally.
Cage in a cameo appearance went 4-4 with a team high 3 RBIs, D had a triple to start our scoring among three hits, the Heffinator was 3-3 with a walk, and Joe's bat is back with three hits, and how about yet another double on those reconstructed knees (oh that was Bill running).
Special thanks to Cage, Bill, Bobby, and Jim. Literally couldn't have won without you.
Milestones:
Heffe 300 g (#3)
Gerry 10 gw (#8)
Chopper 10 3b (#18)
Chopper 150 ab (#21)
Cage 20 2b (#)
And then there was the Usual Suspects, which always fixes whatever ails us. I like to think of this as the Goose Goose, no Goose Game. This is because yet again I was on first when Chopper hit a blast over the right fielder's head, and gets a head of steam behind me as I jog in to score easily. But this time I was prepared, there was not going to be a repeat of the Goose incident (for those who don't remember or didn't see the tabloids (Headline: Man or Goose? Chopper Gooses the Hef), he goosed me when he hit a home run on the exact same field a couple weeks earlier. No Mas. I ran the last few feet backward, although if you think about it, maybe that wasn't so smart either.
It may also be remembered because this was the game Ol' G refused to lie and say a runner coming into second was safe even though he was out and the ump got the call right, but the Suspects more than suspected otherwise, and demanded that he admit the call was wrong, and furthermore, overrule the umpire. C'mon G, where is your honor? How can you refuse a run on sentence like that? Man up, Man.
Nevertheless, as mentioned above, the real hero of the game was the McKnight, who got his second cycle in three games (good for six RBIs). I have hit for the cycle exactly once in 30 years of softball, so that shows how easy it is for some of us. Chuck contributed five hits, Sting, Bill, Joe and Gerry had four.
Big game tomorrow against the perennial South Division winner, those Old Scouts. Should be good times.
Milestones:
Joe 400 r (#6)
Ol' G 30 3b (#13)
If you made it this far, either I love you or you are insane, or both. You pick.
You pick. Great post.
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