Dizzy D and Christmas in May

The train keeps rolling along. All aboooooooooooard the Transdyn train.

After one of the weirdest games in recent Transdyn history where we squeaked out a narrow 10-8 win over the upstart Dirtballs last week, we simply crushed the bottom feeding JC's Green Plumbing, 20-2 this week.

Last week was whack. It started with a great traffic jam on 580 east to Pleasanton. Ya put in your time at work and then you're stressed because you left at the right time instead of putting in the expected three hours of overtime and you're gonna get there at game time and instead you get stuck in a traffic jam. I was gonna be late. And Cage and Donnie Softball were stuck in the same traffic jam. But at least I knew they would get there before me, so I wasn't too worried. The lineup had been safely sent electronically ahead, just fill them in as they get there. Besides we had plenty of players. Right? Well, not exactly. I get there as the tenth player and Jason is already hurt from something that happened his first time up which I missed. When he further aggravated his shoulder injury making a play in the bottom of the first, he hopped off the field in agony. Well it's still OK, we will just bring in Monty to catch, and move everyone around...and where is Monty? Oh he is in the dugout just putting on his cleats. Where was he? Oh he had to stay at work late too, in fact he had to go back after the game. What is America coming to that you can't even go to your game on time and do the thing you really love to do?

In the mean time Jason is hopping around trying to keep his shoulder in its socket, not very successfully. The .900 leadoff hitter will be sorely missed by us, and we just hope he can return sooner rather than later. Besides, I know Coop can take over as leadoff hitter but who will take over as biggest head case? (and I don't mean that in a bad way, we love quirky players around here).

But all was not lost; Monty comes in and goes 3-3 in the leadoff spot (I may have to move myself into that spot - apparently you don't make outs there). Coop makes a game saving throw from right field to home to keep the Dirtbags, er Dirtballs scoreless in the bottom of the 5th in a 7-5 game. Timmy takes a bases loaded walk - how weird is that? Pauly has a perfect 2-2 with a walk game.

Clutch hits were Heffe's two run single in the second that started the scoring after going through the whole lineup without scoring, and back to back hits by Donnie Softball and Big D in the last inning to give us the cushion we needed.

And after this week's affair Big D or Heavy D has a new nickname.

This is because in this game he turned that rarest of feats as a lefty playing second base, the 6-4-3 270 degree turn double play. From now on - Dizzy Dee of the Two Seventee. Fed from Hama filling for Jason at SS he looked like a natural turning this way and that and firing to first to complete the double play in the fourth to keep Green Plumbing all stopped up at one run.

Dizzy also crushed a ball or two among his three hits. I have never heard anything so funny in my life after one of my patented bloopers - the pitcher telling the outfield "move in on the lefties." Now seriously - has anyone ever mistaken me and Dizzy D? Twins separated at birth, the coffee momma fed us at an early age stunted my growth and ate all his hair? Really?

Dizzy had six RBIs and it only tied him for the team lead, with our latest pickup Rene Noel. Is that French for a Christmas present in May? Cage brings out his friend right at the Add deadline, a good time since we are a little banged up with Jas gone and Mario catching to rest his gimpy hammy.

So what happens? D turns the 270, Mario makes the short hop catch of the night, and Noel Noel just goes 3-3 with the mini-cycle (that's single double triple for those not in the know) and matches D's six RBIs in his debut. Not bad.

A word on Mario's catch too...I make my softball living by once in a blue moon scooping one out of the dirt at first. But doing it at home plate is a whole other thing. Cage's throw was awesome - a short hop from medium deep left center, and when that kind of throw comes in from that far it has a lot of mustard, and kind of skims the ground. Mario just nonchalantly closed his eyes and closed his glove and the last Green rally stopped at one run. The game was over shortly after that.

Six guys had three hits, Timmy, Cage, D, Hama, Heffe, and Noel Noel. Pauly continued his hot streak with another 2-2 this time with a sac fly and a booming triplle turned into a double by the slow runner in front of him and a conservative coach. Coop had a mini slump for a while in the two games and then hit a couple on a row as he remembered that the leadoff hitter doesn't make outs. Donnie softball had a couple and a walk, and Hama complained that batting behind Dizzy Dee takes away his RBIs. Watch what you are saying - the alternative is being on first when he is up if you bat ahead of him.

We eliminated one team after only seven, and it looks like more to come. Note - we have allowed less than half the runs as any oher team and have scored +23 more than anyone. Hmm there must be a word on Sir Guy's pitching in here somewhere - oh yeah, as he said you have a good feeling when you strike out the leadoff batter of the game - and the word is, 20-2.

On to Richerts next week.

Milestones:

Heffe          650 h (#1)
Cage          40 sf (#1)
Cage          20 gw (#2)
Monty        400 h (#5)
Pauly          20 bb (#10)

Showing Up Is Half The Battle

Polar Bears - supposedly they loaded up this season. They came into JFT's game at 3-2, having just beaten Corona, who is in the top tier of teams in our league.

And then Mothers' Day hit them, the bane of softballers everywhere. I don't know what it is with guys...you just make sure you have your brunch reservations made well in advance, or take the mother of your children, or your mom, or whoever it is you have to please, take her to Denny's if you have to when you can't get reservations, just get it done by noon and by four or five, she will be sick of your face and want a nap and will give you permission to go do your thing. Take the kid with you like Chuck did last night - it will be a bonding experience - and give her the night off. Let's face it - what she really wants is some peace and quiet. Then show up!

Luckily (?), softball has taken its toll on JFT's marriages, and we are mostly separated or divorced or (we lucky few) have partners that actually enjoy watching us go out there and pretend to be the little boys we never stopped being in reality. So JFT had a full squad, more or less.

Not so, Polar Bears. Rumor is they had eight of the seventeen on their roster, and they didn't have a chance. Not that they would have anyway against us, but playing three outfielders with no schmiddler and no catcher is not going to get it done against a team like us that have bunches of hitters that can go just about anywhere. They didn't help themselves: Their left fielder was playing just about at the North Pole, and almost the only ball he caught was the one totally crushed by Randy, and it came right to him in the deepest of left field.

And our schmiddler extraordinare, have a game Greg! After we loaded the bases with no outs in the first, he hit the ball seemingly right at the left fielder, hard, and in the classic misjudgment, the guy took two steps in, and had it sail over his head for a Grand Salami, and the rout was officially on. To top off his 3-3 game, Greg made two 11U-3 double plays in the course of the game.

And Joe had his curve breaking two feet, according to the scouts in the stands. Polar Bears were diving like they were trying to get fish out of the sea, and coming up empty, slipping off the iceberg and drowning. In fact for the second week in a row, Joe got a swinging strikeout. This is slowpitch softball!

Randy made a great catch facing away from home plate in foul ground, and the rest of the defense was solid. Three hits were had by Chuck, D, Greg and Heffe (including a patented sneak attack on the left field line), and Lefty, in a rare post-honeymoon appearance had a gap triple. We had two Conehead innings - seven and eleven runs - and the Heads haven't even started that season yet. Good signs all around.

Next week we play Corona's, and this is for the chance to remain in striking distance of undefeated Pinky's. Corona has beaten us twice since I have been on this team, most notably last year taking us out of first place on the last day of the season, and the year before ending our playoff run prematurely. We still owe them, and they are much improved the last two years, so motivation should not be a problem. Bring your A game.

Milestones:

Gerry        150 r (#2)
Ol' G         100 h (#12)

Big Moments

There is always a moment in a game where you know what the outcome will be. It might not occur until the last out of the last inning, or a walk-off home run, or even the first batter of a game. But there is always that moment when you just know.

Let's face it - BASBHAT was not going to beat Transdyn last Tuesday. They beat us once last year, on a fluke in the last inning, but besides that we hadn't lost to them since they were known as Fish Tacos back in 2009. We owned them in the playoffs last spring, and beat them twice by a combined score of 56-24 in two games in the fall.

And their pitcher couldn't throw a strike if his life depended on it for the first two innings last week. He walked a total of ten batters in the two frames before they replaced him in the third. Against a grizzled veteran team (aka old) that is the kiss of death. We are patient and he kept putting guys on base with free passes so we could knock them in.

And so, we worked the ten walks with three sac flies and six singles mixed together to take a ten to five lead when up strode Sir Guy with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the second. The left fielder was cheating in, and his dare utterly failed him when Bill pounded the ball over his head for a bases clearing double and at that point we all knew 13-5 was out of their reach. Jas followed with a triple and Timmy brought him in with another single before the third out, and the game was over, only waiting until the fat lady showed up - she came in when we put together a six run fifth to win going away 24-5.

BASBHAT actually had a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the first, and did not score again. Once again Sir Guy had opposing batters leaning all the wrong ways, and our defense was solid as usual.

Jason continued his quest for near perfection with three hits and two walks and four runs scored to lead the team. Timmy had four hits and tied Mario with the game high four RBIs. Each of them nearly matched the opponents' output by themselves. The team hit .676 for the game, just over the season average of .673. If we keep that up we will best our previous high by nearly sixty points. Nearly everyone had multi-hit games, and those that didn't hit some of the hardest balls all night right at someone and were part of the walk parade, so everyone contributed in multiple at bats. Keep it up!

Milestones:

Sir Guy  250 g (#5)
Mario    250 h (#10)
Jas        20 bb (#10)

D          20 bb (#11)

D          150 rbi (#12)

Big Zero 40

On Cinco de Mayo we couldn't even muster five runs. But never you mind - we rode a three run rally in the top of the third and our defense and especially Joe's best tosses to win a game 3-0. The winning run, fittingly enough, scored on a bases loaded walk. Gerry had what was really the only clutch hit of the game - his two run single following Chuck's bases juiced walk gave us all the cushion we needed.

Yes you read that right 3-0. Believe it or not that was the score in a slowpitch softball game between grown men on both teams. Message to Big Feet 40...perhaps you should have called yourselves Big Bat 40...your feet were great but you need to score at least one to win a softball game.

No one had two hits. We hit into three double plays in the last four innings, one more than we turned on the Big Feet 40. They couldn't beat us at that game - their defense played the best they were capable of, and yet ours was better. Chuck made one tremendous play - a ball off Randy's glove deep into the 5-6 hole and he threw from on his back to get a force at second. Greg fired twice to first to double up Big Feet. Chopper made a great throw from right on a 'single' that turned into a routine 10-11 force out. Tim and Gene ranged far to gather in the only deep balls hit off Joe all game.

Don't think you can outplay JFT at our own game. Our defense shut them down and Joe had them mostly guessing wrong on where the ball would land, with his curve breaking 18 inches according to Gerry catching. And he got a swinging strikeout. Yes in slowpitch softball Joe made a guy whiff.

Well a win's a win, and after our season opener we haven't lost and it's turning into a three team race with Corona and Pinky's. Perhaps next week we will get back to double figures.

Who Are The Ringers?

It's early in the season. Too early to go all cocky.

Yes it's early but Transdyn is 4-0, have beaten the next two teams in the standings convincingly, and have a run differential of +50. Average score 19-6. The next best team, BASBHAT is +22 but they are only 2-2, and haven't played us yet.

The Ringers got unhinged by Sir Guy's pitching. "What kind of spin does he have?" is what I heard from a guy who was on first with a bloop hit, but thought he should have gone yard. Others were all abuzz in the dugout frustrated with his ball placement. Bill toyed with the youngsters - there was hardly a hard hit ball all game. On that side anyway.

On the other hand, even with the new balls, our hitters hit it hard again and again. In the first, Jas and Timmy set the table and after an out, Donny Mac put it over the fence in LF and the game was over at 3-0, even though we didn't know it yet.

We relentlessly attacked the right fielder. Mario had a monster game - the mini-cycle in three at bats (that's a single, double and triple). He was the first to burn the right fielder in the second as we increased the lead to 6-1. Two innings later Jason came up and just salivated over how shallow the guy was playing him. He twisted the ball by him and ran wild to third for his own triple. Then the guy still wouldn't learn - in the sixth as we were about to put them away on the slaughter rule, on of all people Heavy D he plays shallow and watches the ball sail over his head for a double. Heavy D's pinch runner Cage scored the game ender shortly after that.

Jas, Timmy, Hama, and Mario all had three hits, and Coop and Sir Guy stayed hot with two hits and a walk each, as had Heavy D. But the latter also almost killed the pitcher when he speared a laser so he actually made an out to keep him from a perfect game. The guy had a rough night - he was nailed at third base by a line drive off his teammate's bat, and was called out. After his life flashed before his eyes on D's line drive, he disappeared into the dugout for the rest of the game.

In an ironic side note, Timmy had a foul out K. Jas and Timmy at the top of the lineup are now 31 for 35, and two of their four outs are on Ks. Try to get your swings better fellas.

Quest for 5 in a row under way, time to damage BASBHAT's run differential this Tuesday.