G. O. M.

I owe the inspiration for this post to my partner in crime Julia.

We were speeding down to Phoenix for Thanksgiving with my sister and her family.

Now Julia gets a little nervous in a car, in general. So my driving method (perfectly safe as far as I am concerned), which may be a little aggressive and fast (unlike my base running for example) tends to make her do things like scream or grip the door tightly. Or both.

I try to calm her down by explaining something I heard I think in traffic school about the benefit of riding motorcycles ten mph faster than the traffic around you. That is, if you are passing everyone, it eliminates 50% of the cars (the ones you passed) as candidates to strike you and cause you harm. I have taken this to heart whenever I am in a car or on a motorcycle.

This does not soothe Julia. Instead, she offers, "You drive like a Grandpa on Meth!"

And when I reflected on this (after the laughter subsided), I thought about the comment in the context of our Conehead softball season and year. We need to play like Grandpas on Meth (GOM), if we are to return to our former glory. We just had a year without Cotton. Unacceptable.

Think about it. Think about Sting. Before he got hurt (and I am sure when he comes back), he played and will play like a GOM. But even though we are mostly old enough to be grandpas, most of us don't all have the ability to generate that level of adrenaline like Sting does. So - this off season I expect each and every one of you to start taking and build up the level in your system the stimulant of your choice (dex or bennies or meth or crank, glass, chalk, redneck cocaine, yellow powder, yellow barn, Tina, Tick-Tock, Go, Spoosh, or Scootie) so that by first pitch in the spring we are hitting on all 8 cylinders. or 200. Whatever, what we want is for the fans in the stands to cry out - Look! They are playing like Grandpas on Meth!

Guaranteed to win or die trying!

And then, we can change our team name - the COKEHEADS! Teams everywhere will be so intimidated, they will just lay down before us.

Amen.

I should stop now, but I have to say something about the season and year that did just pass. It was kind of a lost year from a cotton standpoint, but there were some highlights and some fun.

Johnny had a monster fall season. He hit .773, and some of his few outs were loud. Patrick had the best season taking into consideration both sides of the ballgame - .750 and who knows how many runners gunned down that kept us in games. Pope hit the long ball like no other time - he obliterated the record for home runs in a calendar year since we went to shortened seasons in 2013. He doubled the previous record with twelve dingers, and drove in the second highest number of runs in that period with 52. Led the team the team in runs, hits, doubles, game winners, SFs, slugging, on base and overall batting average.

But perhaps the most intangible best hitter all year was Ol' G. I don't have quite the metrics to prove it, but it seemed like every time we needed a hit to drive in an important run, it was G who delivered.

In the playoffs the stars were Gene and Chopper. Neither made an out. Gene walked four times to go with four hits, netting six RBIs to lead the team. Chopper hit a blast for a triple one for one of our few extra base hits.

So get some rest  but work out in the off-season, get ready for the spring, AND EAT YOUR BENNIES!

Milestones:
10/30 Game 1:
Gene      100 bb (#4)
Ol' G      950 ab (#9)
D            600 ab (#15)
Chopper 250 r (#16)
Randy    20 bb (#20)
Patrick   50 ab (#40)

10/30 Game 2:
Pope       800 rbi (#1)
Randy    100 rbi (#24)

11/6:
Pope       750 h (#5)
Patrick    10 bb (#25)

Life on the Edge

For the Coneheads, the Playoffs started last week. In fact, they really started five weeks ago when we started the season ignominiously 0-3. We couldn't afford to lose more than one game and we didn't.

Last Monday, we completed our push for the Playoffs with a close victory over the Hawks, with the winner going to the playoffs and the loser done for the year. It took grit and determination in yet another game where are bats were mysteriously absent to some degree, but we just hit enough and played enough defense to come out on top.

The defensive highlights as usual featured in no particular order, Chuck's glove, Bruce's arm, and Patrick's legs. Chuck played a terrible hop in the first into an out and helped us keep the Hawks  off the board. After that, we took a 3-0 lead in the bottom half and never really looked back or gave up the lead, even though the Hawks were never far behind in the rear view mirror, coming back to 3-2 and 5-3 and 6-4 before falling by the final score of 8-5.

In the third, Bruce gunned out a runner with a fourteen hop but on the mark throw from left, and the runner was still out by a step and a half. After that, the Hawks played a lot more conservative on the bases, so the play had an even greater effect than one out or one run. In the fourth, Chuck fielded a high hopper at third, and would have had a tough play at first. But he saw out of the corner of his eye the runner at third inexplicably take off, and had the presence of mind to throw a strike home to nail him at the plate. That's two runs in a three run game. Finally in the sixth Patrick laid out to grab a sinking liner to kill the Hawks comeback that inning - again when they were close they couldn't score.

On offense, Knight and Heffe were both 3-3 and five others had multiple hit games. Two key blows were Patrick's two run bases loaded single in the first to give us the lead we never gave up, and Lefty's two run double in the third to make it 5-2. Heffe provided two clutch insurance hits with two out RBI singles in the fourth and sixth.

Now we start out 0-0 just like the other playoffs teams. It's up to us to rediscover our bats, and keep up the effort on defense, but even though we are pretty old in the tooth, and banged up injury-wise, we've overcome adversity before and can do it again! Will we play into November?

Milestones:
10/16:
Knight        100 g (#21)

10/23:
None

Back in the High Life

Left for dead, the Coneheads rose up from the hibernating through a 0-3 start to claim three straight victories, including Monday night gutting it out against the defending Champions Cream and Clear, 17-12.

We are right in the thick of the race at 3-3 believe it or not. The two teams at the top both lost, and now there is a three way tie for first, with us just a game behind in fourth, the final playoff spot.

Don't poke the bear, we always say!

(That's us, do I have to explain?)

Last week we simply crushed Reeelaax 26-12. We included the first true Conehead inning in a while, scoring 12 in the third to put the game out of each early. Pope and Chopper lead the way with a homer and a double and five RBIs each, and Ol' G continued his sizzling year with a 5-5 night.

Monday night, though, was a much bigger challenge. C&C had owned us for a bit, but we put it on them with an eight run top of the first. Ten of the twelve in our lineup hit safely.

Those boys can hit but it makes a difference when you play the whole game from behind - it puts more pressure on anyone.

More importantly, in the third and fourth we added on. Four in the third, highlighted by Chopper's bases loaded double. In the fifth, seven straight hits produced the five that counted, and Johnny was safe but there was a bad call, and I am completely objective in this matter.

Larry held C&C to eight runs in four innings, no small feat, and Joe came in for the save. They were aided by the return of the vaunted Conehead defense. Ol' G picked a hot shot at second in the second. Patrick simply gunned down a would be run in the third from medium center field - Chuck at the dish made a great pickup of the hot throw. And Larry made a life saving stab at a shot up the middle.

Can it be? Can we make it four in a row? Tune in next week.

Milestones:
10/2
Heffe      450 g (#3)
D            300 r (#14)

10/9
Chuck     1900 ab (#1)
Chopper  50 2b (#17)
Heffe      20 sf (#16)

Scarlet Sees Red, then Red Raises 21-19

In a collective senior moment, Big Red and Scarlet forgot that today's consolation game was totally meaningless and dueled to the end, with Red prevailing 21-19.

It started with both teams hot each gaining the "curse of the first" with five runs. Red stayed ahead or tied through six, but Scarlet wouldn't lay down, and took leads of 16-14 and 19-16 in the top of the seventh and eighth, respectively. But Red responded each time, and in the bottom of the eighth, after the bottom of the order turned it over to the top with three runs in and the score tied, Rich Brown put Red ahead to stay with a two run single. Scarlet couldn't answer the bell in the ninth, and suddenly the season was over.

Everyone had a hit but the top of the lineup did most of the damage. Kevin Kane went out in style with a perfect 5-5 day including a triple. Mark Pitzlin led the team with four RBIs on a double and a home run. James Del Rio also was perfect at 4-4, including two doubles and a home run. Nah, we didn't miss him last week when he was suspended. Much. Oh Well.

Randy Crase, Mr. Consistency, was also 4-4 with a double, and Lamont LT Thompson rounded out the hitters with perfect days, 4-4 with a double and three RBIs. Brown and Tony Gorgone had three hits, and Kravin got a clutch double in the third.

On defense, it was a tale of two games. At times, we reverted to our former error prone selves, but we put up enough good plays in this game to ultimately make a difference. In the second, Del Rio made perhaps the play of the game, snagging a sinking line drive up the middle and flipping it to LT who alertly covered second and got the runner there who had taken off too quickly.

If there would be gold gloves given out, my nominee at 2B would be Gorgone, who made play after play, including handling a tough grounder in the sixth to hold Scarlet to one run. Del Rio also showed his range by going into shallow left to catch a blooper that seemed destined to fall. But not. And finally Pitzlin made one of his signature running catches on a shallow fly in the fifth.

What a season for Red, from the depths of last place to the top of the heap in the second half and then the disappointment of losing the first round of the playoffs, when expectations were so high. We all learned from it, even in our advanced ages, and appreciated going out with a win all that much more. We also went out for pizza, at Pinky's Pizza to enjoy the season just a little more. Special thanks to Mark Pitzlin for bringing post game beer and soda every week, and injecting a winning spirit into this team. And to Larry Rafferty for keeping it together through the tough first half and leading us to the undefeated second half. But - let me remind you one more time Larry - in the games you missed, we never lost, the Co-manager went the whole year without a loss. And there you have it!

Red Finish Undefeated, 19-17 over Navy

As I sit here twelve hours later, one sight and one sound stand out from today's game between the best two Creaker teams this half. One was exhilarating, and the other was a dud.

The sight was the end of the game. After Red let the seemingly unsinkable Navy storm back to tie us at 17 going into the bottom of the eighth, and we took a precarious two run lead going into the unlimited ninth, Navy had a couple runners on with one out. Even though we had last ups, the game was hanging in the balance.

Crack - a sharp grounder up the middle. Tony Gorgone, our second baseman lunged to his right and on one hop stabbed at the ball, backhanded, and it stuck in his glove. He flipped it to Al Kidwell covering second, and Al fired as hard as he could to first. The runner was out by two steps, game over. It happened so fast, it was hard to believe at first. Then everyone slapped hands and agreed we all something great go down.

The sound was much earlier in the game. It didn't make much sense we were playing on Field 3 with Field 5 open, and I had a sense of dread that our last two games were there, what with the harsh penalty for hitting one over the fence. It proved to be prescient. James Del Rio came up in the third, and tried to hit a line drive to the opposite field. But he got a little under it, and it hit the top of the fence. But instead of dropping back down onto the field of play, it kept going, and the sound is ball hitting wood - thwack! - it next hit the telephone pole sticking above the fence and then slid down on the other side.

We will see what Leadership decides - the rule simply states that the player is suspended, with no guideline for how long. It does not even say he is suspended for the entirety of the game. I may be biased, but I personally would hope that the Creakers would want all teams at full strength for the playoffs. If I were our opponent, I would want to beat the best the other team has to offer. It's not like Del Rio picked a fight or cheated or performed any other criminal act - he merely hit a ball too hard on a field not designed to be played on with Senior bats in the hands of powerful men.

Navy jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first but we answered with five, highlighted by Del Rio's triple. In the third, before the dreaded 'out' by Del Rio, Mark Pitzlin hit a gapper to right center good for two runs. After Randy Crase plated Mark, we had built a 9-4 lead. It closed up to 11-8 in the next inning but after a shutdown top of the sixth, the top of the lineup again produced five. Included were extra base blasts by Rich Brown (triple, one run), Pitzlin (double, one run) and the closer, Lamont 'LT' Thompson, a booming double for the last two runs.

The rest is Bob Muegge being Muegge, one run allowed over three innings until the eighth when we faltered. In that inning our defense relapsed and Navy is just too good to not take advantage. But that just set the stage for Gorgone's dramatic play to end it.

Pitzlin was 4-4 with four RBIs and four runs scored. Yours truly also reached safely four times, but there was some, ahem, Navy help involved and some generous score-keeping. Kevin Kane continued to be leadoff hitter extraordinaire, going 3-3 and a sac fly. Bill Marthinsen and Crase, two models of consistency, rounded out those with three or more hits. A true team effort as we hit .681 as a team with everyone having at least one hit and all but one with an RBI. That's 18 RBIs for 14 guys - pretty well balanced (the actual game winning run scored on a double play, so there was no RBI).

Next up, we seek to continue this roll we are on to the end of the playoffs.

Chicken Little

The Coneheads started 0-3, as I said in my previous post, unprecedented. We had lost three in a row (once) but never at the beginning of the season in the Modern era of Conehead ball (post 1997), and never had we lost four in a row.

I was like Chicken Little running around screaming "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"

Joe, who never found a hope that couldn't be dashed, was convinced that the sky was not only falling but in fact had already fallen, and crushed us.

And then a funny thing happened. I got to the field and if you looked at each team warming up, you couldn't tell which team was 3-0 (the Snorts) and which was 0-3 (Coneheads). Our guys were laughing and talking just like it was any other game.

We are either a team of dumb goofs or maybe, just maybe, this is why we are the Coneheads - we never give up.

More importantly then we went out and proved we are not an 0-3 team, coming back to win 14-11.

Oh we had our all too frequent bad inning - we gave away four unearned runs in the top of the first. We left the bases loaded in two of our five innings, hit into a bases loaded double play, failed to score on confusion with the base coach, and left at least two on in every inning.

But after falling behind 8-2 we started playing defense and got enough clutch hits to score every  inning and overcome the Snorts.Patrick made the catch of the game look easy as he tracked down a deep fly Willie Mays style over his shoulder. His Dad leaped high for a liner over first base for an out. Gene made a couple of great catches, one on a knuckler toward him and one in the RC gap. Johnny threw out a runner at home. and Lefty also ranged into the RF gap to gather in a well hit ball.

It also didn't hurt that Larry got two scoreless inning in the middle of the game.

In the third, we had a mini-Conehead inning (five runs) to close the gap to 10-9. We nearly batted around and nearly everyone had a hit (including Gene who had a 'hit' but a runner got forced out from the outfield). Clutch two out RBI hits from the bottom of the order. Everyone batted except Pope, who promptly led off the next inning with a solo blast for a homer. That tied it and later in the inning Chuck put us ahead to stay with a run scoring single. The top of the order gave us a four run cushion in the fifth, and Joe came in to close the deal despite a bases loaded walk to the cleanup hitter (he wanted to get lower in the order according to him) (ahem).

Knight was 3-3 with a line drive single that nearly took the head off the third baseman, and a LC gap double. Johnny stayed hot, also 3-3 and Pope kept pace, also with three hits. Heffe broke out of his slump with a 2-2 plus a walk that ignited our last rally. Lefty had the other extra base hit, a double among his 2-3 plus a walk evening. Larry led the team with three RBIs on two hits.

It's not too late as it turns out to come back to make the playoffs this season if we play like that. Baby steps. Stay dumb and happy!

Milestones:

8/28:

Lefty        300 h (#18)

9/11:

Pope         50 3b (#2)
Lefty        450 ab (#19)

Knight     20 bb (#19)

9/18:

Pope        140 hr (#1)

9/25:
Pope        1100 ab (#6)

Unprecedented

Of course before Joe even sent the email a out our 0-3 start I had already done the research. In fact, I had started a blog post – called it “Unprecedented”.

But I didn’t finish it. I could say I have been too busy getting ready to move but that is not it. I just have a hard time writing about losing, unless there is some compelling angle to it.

At any rate, here is what I said (note the optimism!):

The bad news - we started the season 0-3, unprecedented in my 18 years on the Coneheads.

The good news, the silver lining - I hit the archives, and the last time (and I think only) time we lost three in a row in that time was in 2004. We ended that season 8-6, and then reeled off 15 wins in a row to take the Orinda playoffs and go undefeated through the Walnut Creek fall season and playoffs.

And in 2013, we started the Orinda season 0-2, and then finished 8-3. What’s more, that was the year we spotted St. Mo’s a win in the first game of the playoffs, and then took six in a row to win the championship.

We were however, a lot younger then and we played OLD Monday night…(to be continued)

Or not.

So there you have it. It’s up to us to play better and turn the season around. Maybe we are getting too old for this league but we still have tremendous talent if we put our minds to it.

My two (non-coach) cents.

Milestones:

8/28:

Lefty        300 h (#18)

9/11:

Pope         50 3b (#2)
Lefty        450 ab (#19)

Knight     20 bb (#19)

9/18:

Pope        140 hr (#1)

Gray Sees Red, Red wins 21-12

The problem with the Gray team is that they have a drab color to represent. They are in every game, and then they go all drab in the late innings. If I were them, I would demand the season be played over with, say, Silver or Warrior Slate uniforms. Think how different things might be.

Red hasn't actually been playing as well lately as we were early in the second half. I think we have read too many of our press clippings.

But today we scored early and we scored late, and had pitching and defense throughout, so we beat Gray going away, 21-12.

Jerry Ginochio, getting ahead of a lot of batters early, held the Gray lineup to two runs in the first three innings. In the mean time, we scored five in the first, including a massive drive for a triple by Lamont Thompson, and then put up two in the next two innings for a 9-2 lead.

The bottom of the lineup, in a pre-cursor to late inning heroics, produced two runs on three successive hits (Howard Davis, Al Kidwell, and Ginochio) and two walks plus Kevin Kane's two out single. In the third, it was the middle's turn as Randy Crase doubled and this was followed by singles from Kravin, LT, and Bill Marthinsen, and a bases loaded walk to Tony Gorgone.

Then, as has been our habit, we gave up almost a game-tying six runs in the top of the fourth. We didn't answer in our half and this set up perhaps the most important at bat of the game. In the top of the fifth, Gray loaded them up with two outs and Mike Saindon at the plate. A hit ties it, and an extra base hit puts Gray in the lead. Instead, we got Saindon to hit a one hopper to LT playing Rover and that was all she wrote for Gray that inning. Lead protected.

It stayed close with just two runs on each side until the bottom of the seventh, and we held onto an 11-10 lead. Then the bottom of our lineup performed their magic. With no outs we got consecutive hits, all line drives from Gorgone, Davis, Kidwell, Ginochio, Bob Muegge, and coach Larry Rafferty, good for four runs. Kane and Rich Brown had no choice but to follow with singles of their own to finish off the five run inning. In the eighth, Mark Pitzlin, James Del Rio, and Crase continued the streak of all told nine straight Red hits; It was left to yours truly to fly out to right to end the streak. LT and Marthinsen picked it up to knock in our fourth and fifth that inning, and the score settled to its final version of 21-12.

Red played excellent defense today to keep Gray at bay. Brown ran a long way to catch a potential gapper to keep Gray to just one run in the first. LT made a Rover step on the bag throw to first double play, as well as the stop on Saindon. Marthinsen had a hot day at the hot corner, making two outs in the sixth, although the line drive out may have been more self-preservation than anything. Pitzlin came from nowhere in the eighth to grab a sure extra base hit that had Gray muttering to...well, out loud. And Gorgone grabbed everything in his reach at second, including starting a second to rover to first double play.

LT led the way with four hits. Del Rio had five RBIs on three hits. Crase, Kane, Marthinsen, and Superman Davis also had three. Coach Rafferty had three RBIs on a hit and a walk.

This couldn't be complete without mentioning our pitching. We had one bad inning, the fourth, but other than that, Ginochio and Muegge held Gray to six other runs, and despite their record, they have a very good lineup.

One more next week to clinch the second half and two more to go!

Red Smokes the Forest

Bob Muegge brought a smoked salmon lunch to share with the team and other Creaker hangers-on after Red's game today. It was a fine dining experience.

In a prelude to lunch, Muegge shut down a potent Forest lineup for the last three innings, allowing but three runs in his five inning stint and Red won going away 16-8.

It was a tight game until the eighth inning. Forest took their last lead at 5-3 after 3 1/2 innings, but we answered with a five spot in the bottom of the fourth. Seven of the first eight hitters in our lineup got hits and Bill Martinsen hit a line drive to plate the fifth run with one out. James Del Rio's hustle double was the only extra base hit in the frame.

After we traded three run sixth innings (again Del Rio had the biggest blow, a two run triple, and we scored all our runs with two outs), Muegge pitched a scoreless seventh, but the most significant inning was the top of the eighth, when he held the first four Forest hitters to a single hit.

In the bottom, the bottom of our lineup got us the start we wanted. Tony Gorgone (3-3 with a double) and Coach Larry Rafferty set the table for the top of the lineup and Kevin Kane, Rich Brown, Randy Crase, Del Rio, and yours truly finished the five run outburst. While it didn't completely seal the deal with just 16-8 lead going into the ninth, Muegge took care of it from there.

The only home run we hit was by Larry Fogli. It was a gapper to right center and Larry just put his head down and started running. And running. And running. It may have been ill advised but when he tried for third Forest threw wildly and guess what? He just kept running to complete the circuit. Run, Larry, Run!

Along the way to holding the opponent to eight runs there was some very good defense. In the second, a certain weak armed right fielder managed to catch a ball and toss it to Gorgone, who made a strong throw home to complete a double play by a step. In the fifth, LT Thompson ranged (can we use that word with Creakers?) far to his right at 1B for a grounder and raced over to beat the runner to first for the third out. I think he was just showing off his lately discovered speed. In the critical eighth, Crase playing rover made an exceptional play on a hard shot up the middle. Kane made a running catch on a ball that was twisting in the wind for the second out, and Gorgone used his boiler to knock down a ball and throw to first for the third out.

No one was perfect in the batter's box but Kane, Brown, Del Rio (double, triple), Mark Pitzlin (2 doubles), LT (triple), and Gorgone (double) all had three hits, and four others had two.

Wish we didn't have a break next week. We are smoking!

Double Trouble

It's easy to write about a win, especially a tournament victory. Everyone is a hero, and contributed to the greatness that we all agree we are.

Not so much when we lose.

The Coneheads had an unprecedented August, losing both the Walnut Creek final to Advance Construction and in the Orinda semifinal game, and had to watch the Old Scouts and Cal Broncos battle it out, both teams decimated, perhaps by us pushing them both by losing our last games to them Sunday by one run each.

Yeah we were shorthanded and one of these years, I have a dream that we will be at full strength going into the Orinda playoffs in particular. You just don't lose the firepower of Bruce, Chopper, and then Mark and Reggie to injury without it diminishing the returns.

But I won't complain - we made it nearly to the end of each weekend, and most teams would take that. We just have higher standards.

I won't go into excruciating detail about the games and the weekends. You will just have to live in your own memories on that one. What I will do, though, is call out three players for being exceptional in the playoffs, not only as players but as men.

Second runner up is the Sting. He has had a serious illness for the last almost full year, and he did everything humanly possible and then more to get back on the field with us. He hasn't yet been given the OK to play outfield, but he managed to DH or catch for us in the last three games of the Orinda regular season. In his second game back, he only went 5-5 with two doubles, a homer and three RBIs. In the same game he made a tremendous catch playing catcher on a popup up the line, and on a putout at home from the outfield, he stretched full out and kept the plate to reward the strong throw I think from Bruce.

On playoff weekend he had to choose between us and making a mandatory appearance for his tournament team - he chose split the weekend but to be with us on Finals day. And then when the Doc said no, no, no you can't play both days, he chose us. Not easy for him. His reward for his giving 110% every time he takes the field was a pulled hammy in our last game Sunday. It was then that I knew we weren't going to prevail. But it was great to have his smiling face back with us.

Runner up was Pope, who locked down left field on the Coneheads as a 'kid' of about 27 many years ago. Seems like it was 27 years ago but I think it was only twelve or thirteen.

I also knew that it would be near impossible to win the Orinda finals without him since he had to leave at noon on Sunday. Somehow it made losing a little easier. He hit .700 in the Walnut Creek series with our team's only two home runs and both our game winning RBIs among the seven he collected. In Orinda, he hit .688 and a slugging percentage of 1.437. He hit three home runs in four games - including the first ever by a Conehead over the fence at Wilder. Thanks Dave for collecting that souvenir. And he started the greatest play of the weekend, a 7-5-4-5-4-6 rundown in the first scouts game. Things surely looked up when we routed them 14-4 in that one.

Pope's performance would have been epic, except that he was completely upstaged on the Orinda weekend. Ol' G just came out there on a mission, and if the rest of us played with half his heart and talent we would have swept through the weekend easily.

His line: 13 for 15, good for an .867 average. He knocked in 17 runs, and had the game winner in both games we won. His on base percentage was .813. The seventeen RBIs were fourth in Conehead Orinda playoff history and fifth overall - Pope had 20 once and 19 twice, but they were in seven and six game series, respectively, so G now has the most in a four game series. Second to him this year was Pope with ten. It seemed every time we needed a clutch hit, G was up and he came through.

The great thing about sports is that once it's over, it's over. At least for me. Time to start anew and we all start 0-0. Time for revenge on Cream and Clear, starting tomorrow!

Orinda Milestones:
7/24
None

7/27
Chopper        350 h (#16)
Haze             300 ab (#22)

7/31
D                  400 h (#14)
Ol' G            250 g (#13)
Mark            50 ab (#39)

8/7
Sting            60 hr (#2)
Heffe           1650 ab (#2)

8/12 Game 1
Larry            1400 ab (#3)
Ol' G            450 rbi (#6)

8/12 Game 2

Larry            80 2b (#7)
Gene            1050 ab (#7)
Ol' G            550 h (#8)

8/13 Game 1

Lefty            200 r (#18)

Haze            100 g (#20)

8/13 Game 2

Pope             150 2b (#2)

Ol' G            350 r (#12)

Walnut Creek Milestones:
7/30
Knight        150 g (#4)

8/5
Game 1:
None

Game 2:
Lefty       40 bb (#4)
Pope        50 rbi (#17)

8/6
Game 1:
Ol' G       400 ab (#8)
Pope        50 r (#19)
Pope        100 ab (#22)

Game 2:
Chopper 350 ab (#10)
D            150 h (#13)

Red Eclipses Black

Don't ever give up your spot in the field. You just might be Wally Pipp'ed.

It took me two weeks to turn two double plays. This doesn't happen very often at first base. You just don't get that many chances, and have to perform when you get the chance.

I moved off first base for two innings today, and Lamont 'LT' Thompson turned the feat twice in his two innings there. The first was a hard grounder and he stepped on the bag and wheeled to second and threw a strike to nab the runner coming from first. The second was even better. He snared a hot shot, and had the presence to tag the runner trying to go to second and then stepped on first base. I may never get back there.

Today Red's hitters may have been somewhat blinded by Monday's eclipse, but our gloves found the ball on defense enough to prevail over Black 17-9. Besides LT's great day, Tony Gorgone was a vacuum cleaner at second base, and Mark Pitzlin made a couple of huge running catches on short bloopers to the middle of the field. Al Kidwell started a nifty 11-4-3 double play in the eighth, and he managed to get a force out on a very bad hop grounder in the second.

The game was close through four, in fact it was 7-7 and had the markings of a battle to the end. We took a 3-1 lead after one, but Black answered in the second with three of their own and when we answered back with three they repeated the feat. So after three full it was tied, and anyone's game.

This is when LT and the defense took over. We only allowed two runs the rest of the game.

The offense sputtered but put up five in the fifth and sixth, and that was the difference in the game. The hitting was spread throughout the lineup - everyone had at least two hits, except Rich "A walk's a hit") Brown, who had a sac fly and an RBI bases loaded walk, and Larry Fogli who did have a clutch RBI single in the no out five run fifth to clean things up. The bottom of the lineup produced eight runs and the top nine - that's how balanced it was.

Kevin Kane was the best of us with four straight singles. Jerry Ginochio was 3-3 and Pitzlin, Bill Marthinsen and yours truly joined them with three hits. Gorgone had the only real power hit of the day, a middle gapper good for a triple.

We might even make the playoffs at this rate!

Walkathon

I thought I was done with Walkathons when my kids graduated elementary school. No such luck. Transdyn walked away to a 27-13 victory over Cup Check with sixteen walks gifted to us. We had pitches behind us, flat pitches not being called (perhaps out of sympathy), three pitchers, walks with the bases empty, walks with the bases loaded, you name it. Bubba of Forrest Gump fame didn't have more shrimp recipes than we had walks.

By the way, I won the contest with four walks, tying a career high. Only Pauly failed to walk, but then he was 6-6 (with six RBIs). He swung at everything, which might explain his multiple hits that blooped into empty green spaces.

In between, we tattooed the ball all over the yard. Although Cup Check had five bombs over the fence (the team name maybe should be Bat Check), six of our players hit doubles, and D only failed to get one because he was admiring his hit to the fence that he thought was out (the wind knocked it down, or so the excuse went). We had innings of eight, six and five runs in the rout.

Rusty was perfect with three hits and three walks, Hama and Nick also had three hits, everyone scored a run, and everyone had a hit except me and my four walks.

There were no defensive plays to speak of except a couple of nice catches on shallow popups by B and Hama and Jay, and a double play or two.

The win leaves us in a virtual three way tie for first at 5-1, but we own the tiebreakers on both tied opponents. Win out and cotton is ours. A tall order perhaps but maybe there will be more gifts down the line.

Milestones:
8/8
None

8/15
D            350 h (#11)
D            550 ab (#12)

Red Butler 21, Scarlett Ohara 13

The Red Menace kept rolling today, roasting Scarlett 21-13.

Our MO lately is to build a lead, tease the other team (and worrying our coach) by letting them into the game, and then slamming the door in the late innings.

Today we built leads of 12-0 through three and a half, and then 13-3 through the top of the fifth. But then the Other Red came roaring back led by the bottom half of their order, and made it a 13-10 game.

It stayed close for a couple of innings, and going into the bottom of the seventh it was just 14-10.

Then the stuff of legends. Scarlett had their leadoff batter aboard, and Lee Namanny, nominally the most feared hitter in Creakdom, stepped to the plate. He had already crushed a three run home run down the left field line when we dared pitch him inside in the seven run fifth.

This time Lee was just thinking about getting the runner to third with no outs. He stung the ball into right field, but Oh No, our first baseman leapt to the skies, and snagged the line drive! I'm not naming names in deference to Greg Slauson. The runner, sure the ball was ticketed to right field, was half way to second, and the slow footed first baseman was able to beat him back and tag him out.

Now everyone agreed he got off the ground. Some said you could put a credit card under his feet, some said he rose at least three feet or five feet or more off the ground. Me, I'm not saying, until I see the video. But the play killed their rally, and Rich Brown ran down a deep fly in the right center gap to end the inning.

Then said first baseman led off the eighth with a walk, and the bottom of the order put up five runs to go up by nine. Scarlett only responded with one, and when James Del Rio crushed a two run homer in the ninth, it put it out of reach. There was talk about Scarlett's 16 run open inning last week, but it was not to be today.

You don't hold Scarlett to five scoreless innings out of nine without a lot of great pitching and defense. Jerry Ginochio shut them out the first three innings and only gave up three total in his four innings. Bob Muegge had the rough seven run fifth, but a lot of that was we faltered on defense for an inning, and then he settled down, allowing only three the rest of the way.

Tony Gorgone made two great catches from second base, in the fourth and the sixth, ranging into shallow right to make over the shoulder catches. On a third blooper to that area also in the fourth, he nearly collided with Randy Crase playing right field, but Randy made a shoestring catch. In the fifth, Lamont Thompson cut off a ball in the 5-6 hole and got a force at second. And then put the icing on the cake by scooping a ball in the dirt when Al Kidwell tossed it low after making a great stop at rover. Al also made a great pickup of a ball heading into center field and tossing to Howard Davis covering second to end the game.

On the offensive side, we were a little inconsistent, but a few guys had great games. Of course Del Rio came in at 5-5 with the ninth inning home run. The bottom of the lineup did a lot of damage, and LT, who arrived late as usual, and thus batted last, cleaned up four runs with three hits, including a slicing shot down the right field line good for a triple.

Gorgone was hot today, a perfect 3-3 plus a walk. Davis continued his hot streak with three hits of his own, as did Kidwell and Crase. Davis and Kidwell had RBI doubles, and Crase got a one out triple to start a rally.

Past the half way mark of the last half. One team to go to run the table (he said without jinxing anything) (hopefully).

Red Justice

I don't want to take too much credit for this, I really don't. But the play of the game, the last play of the game, was an unassisted double play turned by yours truly.

The set up is that our Red team jumped all over Royal with a near max 19 runs in the first four innings to go up 19-4. After a scoreless fifth, Royal came up with seven in the top of the sixth to make a game of it - they're too good to go down that quietly. We scored three in the seventh to establish a 22-11 lead but we knew it wasn't over.

Things were getting a little testy with little issues here and there, but then went a step further in the eighth. Since we were up by 10, Royal declared that we should 'flip-flop'. Our manager knew that the rule only comes into play when it is the visiting team up by 10 or more (Rule 5.12). Doesn't make sense otherwise, you'd end up with potentially the home team batting twice in the case of a tie or the visiting team taking a lead.

At any rate, we stood our ground, but it didn't matter as we went out 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth. In the top of the ninth, Royal clawed their way back, and five runs later with just one out, Steve 'Mongo' Alvarez stood on first as a courtesy runner from home for Rich Shuler, who had singled and driven in the what turned out to be the last Royal runs of the game.

One of the players that had scored on the hit by Shuler is arguably the fastest player in the league. They wanted him to run for Mongo. We insisted that you can't have a courtesy runner for a courtesy runner. They wanted to see it in the rule book, which, of course, we did not have in our back pockets. The thing about it is, is that a bunch of old men are all arguing and no one is really sure about it but they are all bluster and very 'sure' about their viewpoint. I don't exclude myself from this. There are probably a handful of Creakers who REALLY know the rules without looking them up, and even they are susceptible to senior moments.

So I looked it up when I got home - sure enough there it is clear as day (Rule 8.16 (A)): "A courtesy runner may not be replaced by a courtesy runner except for injury causing the removal of the original runner permanently from the game." And I didn't see Mongo limping, at least not any more than normal, and certainly he was not coming out of the game.

But we caved in and the runner took over his spot on first. Justice was about to be served.

Because the next batter, a lefty, hit a hot liner to my right at first base, just above my shoe tops. I managed to snag it before it hit the ground. The runner, assuming it was going through, had taken off, and had to back the engine up. I was a little too slow to catch him going back to first but he overran the bag, thinking this was Creaker-legal. Not this time, I tagged him out sliding back into first from foul territory, and that was it, game over.

Gives one hope that there is justice in the world, or will be eventually.

Hitting heroes abounded for the Big Red. Howard Davis continued his reputation as Clark Kent/Superman. He was 5-5 with five RBIs, including a two run triple. He drove in at least one run every time he was at bat. Lamont Thompson was 4-4 with a booming triple and a two run two out blooper in the first. Mark Pitzlin knocked in four, including a three run bomb, but was robbed twice by great plays in the Royal outfield. James Del Rio was also 4-4, including a home run. Someone else was 3-3 plus a walk and scored four runs. Everyone had at least one hit as we hit .633 as a team.

Coach Larry Rafferty joked that he had two errors and a K in the same inning and that might be a dubious record, but he neglected to say he started a double play at second and was the middle man in another one that stifled a Royal rally. Tony Gorgone made a couple of fine plays at 2B.

Jerry Ginochio settled down after a rough start adjusting to the gusty wind, and only allowed four runs in his four innings. Muegge, as usual shut the door in the latter innings.

Batman (and Robin)

Note: Severe artistic license has been taken in this one. Started it Sunday so now it's a little behind the times; tomorrow is playoffs. But anyway...here it is.

When they were growing up together as two carefree young lads, our own Bruce "Willie Mays" Reed and Lefty were star athletes together.

Bruce was the smooth fair sandy haired one with the rocket arm, and probably got all the girls. Lefty looked at this and developed his class clown persona, and got the laughs, and learned to pitch, and it was all good. Batman and Robin, fighting crime everywhere.

But deep down, Lefty watched Bruce, who by his own admission practiced countless hours at this, make basket catch after basket catch, and was just waiting for his turn. For years...until finally in Sunday's Conehead game against the Hammers, the ball floated into short left field, and he had a bead on it, and this was it! and kerplunk, it hit him in the gut and popped to the ground, and the moment vanished, never to return.

Dang. The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men.

In truth, Lefty made probably the best catch of the game, which we won 19-7 (or 20-7, according to the league web site). It was on a sinking liner to right center that he managed to track down.

And we turned a couple of double plays on the infield, and Chopper made a nice grab of a popup behind the plate. We played without a schmiddler and then finished with nine after Randy got hurt.

But the game belonged to Bruce "Wayne (Batman)" Reed, who gunned out not one, but two Hammers trying to challenge his arm running home from third. We were only up something like 14-2 the first time, why not try to beat the best arm in the league? And then in a stunning repeat they did it again in the late innings. In both cases the throw was right on the money on a bounce, and Chopper made nice pickups. On the second the runner on second was dancing off the base and eventually took off for third. Chopper was doing his best Self impression celebrating the out at home and actually had his back to the field. In a case of classic Hammerbating, he then woke up, and turned and threw a strike to Knight at third who slapped a quick tag on the runner just in the nick of time. Inning over!

Speaking of class clowns, Lefty decided that this was the game to debut his right handed batting. And promptly fouled enough off to get a strike three called. Beer, Here!

Lefty - look at your friend, maybe some practice is in order here.

Bruce was 4-4 to finish a perfect game. Lefty managed to get a couple of hits and a walk and a sac fly good for three RBIs the rest of his times up. Haze also drove in three with two hits and a walk. Heffe, Knight, and Chopper all had three hits.

Milestone:
Knight        150 g (#6)

Walk On By

Quick - who sang the song in the title of this post? Only Bill may be old enough to remember this one...no cheating...*

3-1 in the Fall Season is a great start for Transdyn/Kapsch, especially considering one of the wins is against defending playoff champion the Brews Bros.

And then there is winning the ugly ones, this week in the case of beating Pitches Be Crazy 9-6. We were shorthanded, but not desperately so, missing three regular outfielders, plus super sub Gregg. We didn't hit, well not much by our standards, no extra base hits at all.

But we walked, and walked and walked. Six in all and three of them were with the bases loaded (Rusty X2 and yours truly), and that was the difference in the three run game.

And we played defense. The critical moment in the game came in the bottom of the sixth with the score stuck at the final tally of 9-6. There was a medium deep fly ball to Cage, and the runner on third put his head down and tagged up. He was fast, but not as fast as Cage's bullet on the fly to Monty. He was dead out. After that the air was out of the Crazy balloon. Even though we didn't add on in the top of the seventh, after a sizzling line drive to third to open the bottom half that D caught, they went down quietly on a fly out and a ground out.

Cage and Hama had three hits, and Rusty was 2-2 plus the two bases loaded walks.

Winning the ugly ones is a good sign.

* Dion Warwick, music by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David

Milestones:
7/25
None

8/1
Heffe        140 bb (#1)
Tom          20 bb (#14)

Red Storm

Red took a vote today for game MVP and it was unanimous. Mike Howard won in a vote of 1-0. The rest of my team weren't in my living room.

This wasn't because we scored 33 runs to his Navy's 14 with him pitching most of the game - he pitched pretty well, and we just hit from top to bottom of the lineup.

It is for giving us Mark Pitzlin when we lost our third player to season ending injury, and solidifying our team.

Once again we gifted an early lead, committing a base running gaffe to keep us from scoring in the first inning. After two it was 3-2 to Navy, but we scored five in the third and never looked back. Even though we built a 19-4 lead at one point, Navy didn't quit and it was 20-12 going into the open inning. For the second time in three weeks we busted it open by batting around and then some to score 13 this time in the last frame, led by the bottom of the order: Tony Gorgone, Bob Muegge, Jerry Ginochio, and Coach Larry Rafferty all went 2-2 in the inning.

Big hits in the game included a two out, two run double in the third by Pitzlin; two out hits from Rich Brown, James Del Rio, Pitzlin, and Kravin plated the five runs.

Al Kidwell, Gorgone, Muegge and Ginochio got successive hits in the fifth to ignite a four run rally. Randy Crase, Brown, Del Rio, Pitzlin, and Kravin also had consecutive two out hits in our five run seventh.

In the open inning onslaught, the big blows were a three run homer by Del Rio and a two run triple by Lamont Thompson. In that inning we had eleven straight hits at one point.

The defense was sometimes solid, sometimes iffy. Howard Davis had a good inning in the fourth at rover - he tied a record by getting one assist and two putouts including a step on second, throw to first double play. Kevin Kane, Pitzlin, Del Rio, and Brown all had some nice running catches in the outfield, including robbing Gary Tryhorn one time. Kidwell at rover also turned a run to second, throw to first double play, and also made a great stop on a bad hop grounder up the middle that threatened to send him to the dentist after the game. Unfortunately there was confusion on second base coverage so we didn't reward him with an out.

Ginochio pitched his best game this year, holding a potent Navy lineup to four runs in his four innings as we built the 19-4 lead, even with our usual share of gifts in the field. In his five Muegge fared not quite as well, but had to deal with more errors, and still kept Navy from mounting a serious comeback.

Gorgone was a perfect 5-5. Kane, Brown, Del Rio, Pitzlin (three doubles), Kravin, LT, and Coach Larry all had four hits, as we hit .710 as a team. Hope it continues!

The Red Scourge

Here's the new Red MO: Give the opponent false hope by giving away runs in the first few innings, then *surprise* learn to play defense just when the bats wake up.

Ideal game: Errors by inning; 6,5,4,3,2,1,0,0,0
Runs by inning: 0,1,2,3,4,5,5,5,15

While we didn't quite live up to the ideal today, I think you get the point.

What we did was give Burnt Orange five or six outs in each of the first four innings. It started when Mark Pitzlin popped off that we wanted to give BO the 'curse of the first' - so we handed them five runs. Happy to oblige. Bah-Da-Bing! You're welcome. Five zip. We were down 9-2 after two, but got lucky in the third when they could not capitalize on two errors in their half. This allowed us to get seven runs in 'catch-up' mode and tie the score. We again gave it up for four runs in the fourth, but we answered with five and the race was on.

At that point (after four innings) it was 14-13 Red. In the next five innings we tightened up and held Orange to one run, and the final score was 20-14 Red.

While the top of the order produced the key seven run catch-up third, the two five run innings were put up by (primarily) the bottom of the order. Bill Marthinsen, Howard Davis, Bob Muegge, Jerry Ginochio,and Coach Larry Rafferty accounted for most of our runs in the fourth and sixth inning five spots. Davis in particular - he had run scoring doubles in two innings and he and Marthinsen and Muegge kick-started three different rallies with back to back to back singles.

The catchup third featured clutch doubles by Lamont Thompson and James Del Rio and the fourth inning rally was highlighted by a key two out, two run single for our fourth and fifth runs by Pitzlin.

Overall Davis and Marthinsen were 4-4, Rich Brown was 3-4 as a temporary leadoff batter and Muegge and Pitzlin each had three hits. Del Rio led the way with four RBIs.

On defense, Larry Fogli made a nice grab in right in the ninth for that all important first out when you have a lead. Brown and Del Rio and Pitzlin had good running catches. Randy Crase and LT had some great stops in the late innings, and Kravin scooped a low throw to save an out.

Pope John

Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to get the game winning RBI on two teams on the same day, playing one game in the morning and one at night; I thought that was pretty special.

Last night, Pope achieved it in two games of a doubleheader for the WC Coneheads, and there was no luck involved. He blasted three home runs in the two games, and two were in the first innings that accounted for our first runs of the respective games. Since we never trailed all afternoon/evening, he gets the nod for both game winners. What a day - 5-7, a double, three HRs, seven RBIs. He fell just a double short of the cycle in the nightcap.

The long shadow of Pope partially hid a remarkable day for Johnny Steele too. Johnny would have had two HRs, but was ruled out of the batter's box in the third inning of game one. It cost him three RBIs as well, and he still ended up the day with this line: 4-6 a double, HR , and four RBIs.

As far as the team overall, Lefty set the tone early. When Pope came up in the first, he noticed how shallow Who's On First's right fielder was playing, and said "3 Run Bomb". Pope obliged and it was game over. We ended up going 5 1/2 innings and ended the game with a 12-2 win (although the league recorded it as 12-3, maybe I missed a run?), but the Big Hit ended it right there. The game could have been much worse, but Who's fielders made numerous great plays themselves, robbing Pope, Nomar and others of seemingly sure hits.

In the nightcap, sometimes a problem for us Corona was outgunned from the beginning, and aided by our superb defense, we blasted them 17-0. We have now had two shutouts in our last three games, and outscored our opponents 51-2 (or 3) over that stretch, and 81-6 (or 7) over the last five games.

The middle infield played really well. Chuck made two headlong dives into the 5-6 hole and recorded key outs, and played a blooper behind the mound into a double play by letting it drop and then firing to second to start the DP. Knight made several stops on hard grounders up the middle, and turned a double play on one, although Heffe had to bail him out with a long stretch up the line as the hurried throw went toward the runner.

Other hitting stars: Chopper crushed a two run homer among his four hits. Welcome back Nomah for a cameo - he want 4-5 and put himself atop the stats, a place he used to occupy regularly.
Knight was 4-6 with six RBIs in the twin bill - he managed four in the nightcap on just one hit (two run single, SF, and run scoring fielder's choice). Randy and Gene were also 4-6 on the night, Heffe 3-5 plus a walk.

We clinched first place for the regular season with these wins, so next week's final regular season game has no meaning, other that to continue this roll we are on into the playoffs. That's enough incentive for me!

Milestones:
Game 1:
Heffe        550 ab (#2)
D              250 ab (#14)

Game 2:
Chopper   10 hr (#2)
Heffe       200 r (#3)
Gene        200 h (#9)
Johnny     50 r (#18)

Zero

On the one hand - eight hits total (Pope 2-2!).

On the other hand - no extra base hits.

On the other hand - we didn't even get Joe up twice.

I'm running out of hands.

I got all excited - I thought .296 had to be a team low in batting average, time to hit the archives!

Then I saw last fall, in our playoff tune-up, we hit .269 in a game. No wonder we didn't win the fall league.

What happens to us at times like these? We are too good to have clunkers like this, yet we seem to do it at least once a season, lately. Already we had it in the early part of the Walnut Creek season, losing to the Polar Bears 4-2 . Is it as simple as that game Sunday in 107 degree WC heat took it out of us? Is the Waitlisters' Chris that good a pitcher? I doubt it and I doubt it.

It remains a mystery, but the result was a 12-2 loss to the Waitlisters, the team we love to hate.

In other news, Sting is back and looked fine in his first at bat, slashing a single up the middle and generally being a dugout pest. We need you Reg!

That's all I got this week, nothing more to say. Except this Monday's game against 12 Angry *deleted expletive* looms larger than before.

Milestones:

Seriously?

Ball(er)s Out

The Pleasanton D Upper league got tougher this season, but Transdyn/Kapsch has come out like gangbusters with a 2-0 start. Latest victim the Ballers put up a fight but went down 21-16 in our second straight win over them.

We held them to one run over the first three innings, and this allowed us to take an 8-1 lead into the fourth. From then one, every time the Ballers would make a run, closing to 8-4, 9-5, and 13-9, we did what you're supposed to do - add on. Finally in the bottom of the sixth, we batted around for eight runs, with the exclamation point being Rusty's grand slam with two outs. And even though they again responded with seven in the top of the seventh, the 21-9 score at that point was too much to overcome.

Rusty had quite the game at the plate, with two doubles, the grand slam, and seven RBIs altogether. And to top it off he struck out in his other AB.

Speaking of which, at least he didn't take a called third strike. That honor belonged to Pauly. In possibly a first in softball history, he anticipated it by bringing a 12-pack of beer to the parking lot.

D had a perfect 4-4 night with three RBIs, and hit one of the hardest balls I have seen, a rocket double down the right field line. He also wins the magic award - now you see it now you don't. On a routine throw to first, he allowed the ball to pop out of his glove, yet sold it to the ump that it popped out on the exchange. I want that exchange rate next time I travel overseas. When the Ballers objected, the latter told them, "I've seen everything I need to see to make the call." And I've been to the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids, and the moon.

Cage also had a perfect night, 3-3 with a walk. He and Jay hit one hop doubles to the fence in left. Jay's was very clutch - it came with two outs and a man on first in the sixth, and ignited the two out eight run inning (seven straights hits) that put the game away.

Tom came off the mound to make a tough putout in the third, and we turned a J to B to D DP in the 5th. But the play of the game was a smash off D's mitt that B corralled in shallow right and fired to first with Tom beating the runner there by a millisecond and catching it. Our defense was as important as our offense in this game, as always.

Up next the Sons of You Know Whats, and a chance to really make a statement for this season.

Milestones:
Cage         1000 ab (#4)
Jay            60 2b (#6)
Jay            650 ab (#10)
B              100 r (#18)
B              50 g (#29)
Rusty       100 ab (#38)

Red Tsunami

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I was going to embed the Red box score from yesterday's slugfest betweeen Red and Gray, which we won 40-30 in perhaps one of the highest Creaker games in history.

Alas, I can't figure it out or it is not possible to embed it here. So I will have to list the multitudes of heroic hitting performed by our team yesterday (below).

First - the game summary. In the top of the first inning Paul Lisi made two incredible catches to rob Rich Brown and Lamont LT Thompson on balls to the LC gap, and Gray held us to two runs on a Randy Crase home run. This enabled Gray to build a 10-3 lead after two, as we were up to our usual early game defensive high jinks. But then we stormed back with a seven run third to tie it and shut down Gray No Matter in the bottom half. In the up and down game we seemed to take control as we turned it up to a 20-12 lead after six, and feeling a little too comfortable. But Gray had other ideas and their fine lineup produced the second comeback inning in the bottom of the seventh - eight runs after holding us in check in the top half. We took a small lead going into the ninth, and then just exploded. Batting around nearly twice, we broke it open with a 15 run open inning, highlighted by a Mark Pitzlin grand slam among other great hits. But you have to give Gray credit - they didn't lie down and they responded with an eight run bottom of the ninth, and the outcome wasn't certain until Larry Fogli made a nifty running catch in right field to end it.

Believe it or not but the high scoring game had some defensive highlights as well. In the middle innings we held Gray to two runs in four innings. In the fourth alone, Brown and LT robbed two different hitters that hit line shot base hits at Rich and he fired to Rover LT covering second to get force outs. And LT had to short hop one of the hurried throws and twist to the side to corral the other. He also made a stop on another play to get all the outs in that inning. Brown was everywhere, as he also threw out a guy who dared to challenge him going to third on a hit in the fifth. This also went through LT to Howard Davis covering third. And late in the game we turned a Tony Gorgone to LT to first double play.

But this game was all about hitting and here are the stats:

1. I guess we will keep Pitzlin. He merely went six for seven with four doubles, two home runs, including the grand salami, and 13 RBIs. Yes that is not a misprint: 13 RBIs.

2. A new nickname was born: "Seven for Seven Kevin" for Kevin Kane, whom Gray couldn't keep off base or from scoring as he scored on each hit, including a deep home run to the left center gap.

3. Unfortunately "Seven for Seven Randy" doesn't really have the same ring, yet Crase also accomplished the feat. He also hit a home run, and drove in seven in the two hole, and scored every time. 7 for 7 with 7 and 7?

4. I didn't do too badly, 6 for 6. I spoiled my admission to the 7 & 7 club with a walk. I don't have their pop but I managed 4 RBIs and three runs, which is another lucky 7.

5. Rich Brown kept repeating to everyone that a "walk is a hit". We took it to heart as we earned 11 altogether, and he avoided swinging at bad pitches to claim 3 BBs himself. I guess they were walking him to get to Pitzlin. Rich scored five times, and drove in two - another 7.

6. Larry Fogli amassed four hits as he continued his consistent hitting.

7. Bob Muegge was 3-5, drove in the tying run in the catchup third, and kick started our 15 run open inning with a nice slice single down the right field line. He also pitched the whole game for the second straight week, although his ERA suffered in the slugfest.

8. LT probably hit the furthest but was robbed once by Paul Lisi in the first, and then Gray was playing him so deep that two more of his blasts were caught, once again by Lisi in the fifth and once by Barry Gronenberg, who was standing nearly in the bushes in right field in the ninth as if he knew that's where it was coming. And it was. If not for that last out in the top of the ninth we might still be batting. LT still managed three hits and a couple of RBIs.

9. Gorgone, Davis, and Coach Larry Rafferty all contributed hits, runs, and RBIs as everyone on the team notched at least one in all those categories. "Holy Moly" Tony in particular had a huge hit - his double in the catchup third drove in runs five and six, and he scored the tying run.

We were luckily spared the worst of the heat wave, which ended Monday, in the afternoon game, but we were all ready to get to the showers by the end. First we had a celebratory beverage after the game - post game beer never tasted better!

OCD

For those that are a little short on edumacation, OCD is obsessive compulsive disorder. I'm sure we don't know anyone like that on the Coneheads...hmmm...

One instance is when you look online at the standings and results of your softball league and you notice that the scorekeeper recorded your game as 22-0 when you know damn well it was 23-0 (yes the headline should have been SHUTOUT!)

It can be helpful if you are, say, a politician, or a businessman, etc. but maybe not so much in rec league softball.

On the other hand.

What about that poor guy who scored but never got the credit in the official book? If he just knew, he might head into a depressive tailspin from which he would never recover.

What if a tie in the standings at the end of the season comes down to run differential and we are one short??? Let's put it this way, you just can't call the commissioner and tell her to fix the score when you won by more than 20 runs...it's just not done. But how would it look at the end of the season if you demanded a score audit? You see my point here?

Like I said, no one on this team...

So it came down to Ol' G hitting a bases loaded bases clearing double in the top of the first. 3-0, game over. In the second Pope hit a majestic blast into the bushes in RC for a grand slam, and that slammed the door shut. 9-0.

And then...we scored 14 in the third. It wasn't really fair. It was 107 degrees at game time, and our bats were that hot, and they played without a shmiddler, and they had to run around chasing our hits all over the place, while we were jogging around the bases. In the mean time, Joe had them popping up, and hitting into easy outs on the infield (although in one inning Randy and G made great back to back plays on hot shots). He had a one hitter going into the last inning and ended up with a three hitter. Not bad in softball, no matter who the opponent is.

To top it off the Chico Bail Bonds' pitchers couldn't throw strikes and they walked about eight guys, including two with the bases loaded preceding Pope's salami. Their relief pitcher wasn't much better than the starter, but by then we were fake swinging with three balls, and swinging at anything close just to put it in play.

We did have a Chopper slide into second for our entertainment to give him a double to go with his own bases clearing triple that was kind of the exclamation point of the 14 run inning. He had 4 RBIs in that inning.

Buddha, Ol' G, and Johnny had three hits each and the list is too numerous to mention of those that had two plus a walk or two. Mostly we just wanted to get to the post game refreshments in the heat. That certainly gave us incentive to keep it to a 15 run lead after five!

The Polar Bears and Advance Construction both lost games they should have won, so we are in first place alone once again. Magic number for first place seed for the playoffs is 2, which we can get with next week's doubleheader.

Milestones:
Heffe          50 bb (#2)
D                40 bb (#3)
Ol' G          150 rbi (#6)
Chopper     200 h (#8)
Randy        150 h (#12)

This One's for You, Jimmy Sue

This column is dedicated to the memory of Jim 'Jimmy Sue' Dial, a former Transdyn employee and player in the classic age of Transdyn softball in Concord, who passed away last weekend. Jimmy played 57 games in the 'stats' era but was on the team before that in the 90s. He didn't lead the team in anything but always kept things loose at work and on the field with his southern charm and slow drawl. One of the great ones.




They call him Coach at his real job. I offered the job to him on the Transdyn-Kaptch softball team, after all, isn't there a term limit for me here (18 years and counting)? But he politely declined, and I guess I will carry on.

That didn't mean he couldn't carry us to victory over the just concluded playoffs winner the Brews Brothers on Tuesday.

Greg hit a three run bomb to left to spark us to a nine run first inning, and then when the game turned seesaw, clubbed a rocket to deepest right center, also a three run job, to put us ahead to stay in the top of the seventh, in a game we eventually won 19-17. It was, indeed, a great start to the fall season.

He wasn't alone though. Our defense was outstanding, especially on the infield. Greg did make perhaps the catch of the game, ranging far in to swoop up a sinking liner in left late in the game. But it was Pauly, Jason, and B who made play after play to save us from big innings and ultimately turned a double play to end the game, and Brews Bros' hopes for a walkoff win. Pauly must have stopped five or six hot smashes at the hot corner. J and B seemed to be competing in who could make the best turn on a DP, and fire it harder to D or me at first to nail a runner by 1/4 of a step. Everyone won.

Theses weren't even the only great plays. Monty got out of the box in a hurry to catch a popup near our dugout in the second inning. And Cage got in his usual throw to nail someone errantly deciding to run on him - it was a nineteen hopper to third, no doubt, but was right on the money and the runner was out by two steps.

The Brews were without their starting pitcher, and to be sure they helped us out with eleven walks, five in the first as we jumped out to that 9-0 lead. But the Bros kept coming back, and there were lead changes in the second, fourth (twice), sixth (also twice), and finally in the seventh. Every time we took a lead they showed why they are now the team to beat, until J and B shut them down with the DP in the bottom of the seventh.

Pauly had four crisp singles, and D, Tommy, and Jas joined Gregg with three hits. Mario made the most of his single hit, driving three with it plus a sac fly. D, robbed of his RBI chances by Gregg's HRs, became a rally starter as he or his surrogate scored three times. B had a perfect slice on the line in RF, so perfect he was robbed of a triple when it skipped out of bounds and he had to retreat to second with a ground rule double. He scored anyway when Cage followed with his own two-bagger.

The league appears to have gotten even more competitive so this was a great start. More next week.

Milestones:
None

Sunday, Monday

The number of softball players and teams may be shrinking across the land as the Millennials take to their soccer and lacrosse fields and skateboard parks, not forgetting because they never knew that we are a nation of beer guzzling ball players, at least those of us above 40.

But within the shrunken softball slut culture, we seem to all play more than we used to, and we play with each other and against each other on different teams in different leagues and tournaments at different times. Be careful who you pick an argument with; he may be throwing to you to complete the game ending double play on a different night.

And so it was perfect that the Conehead game Monday night ended with the Buddha, the tying run, popping up in the bottom of the last inning. On Sunday he was our teammate, going 3-3 and contributing greatly to our win in Walnut Creek. Monday, when he made the last out, he preserved our 11-9 tight win over one of our arch-rivals, his Cal Broncos.

The Buddha has always had a lot of respect and just a little fear of the Coneheads - I think it was in his head when he popped up because he is just too good a hitter to do that. If he doesn't seem to remember the times the Broncos have just waxed us, especially in the playoffs, I say so be it!

(Actually, sick as I am, I compiled our record against all our arch rivals and we are 10-4 against the Broncos in the regular season and 3-2 in the playoffs the last several years. They put us out in 2010 and 2015 and we put them out in 2011, 2014 and 2016).

That was the game within the game. The game itself started out like gangbusters - we put together nine hits and a walk in the first and took an 8-0 lead, starting with a run scoring double by Pope and cemented by new Head Hoge's two run single. The artificial turf was hopping with Conehead hits of all kinds.

The Broncos answered with three in the bottom and four in the second. A game that we threatened to run away with became tight at 9-7. Amazingly, both team scored only two more runs the rest of the way. After we failed to add on in our last two innings, things looked ominous going into the bottom of the sixth, proclaimed the last inning. They had slugger Brady coming up as the tying run with one out. Our right side outfielders were playing in Lafayette. All he had to was place a base hit to right, and it would have scored one and put him in scoring position with the tying run. Instead, he was determined to punch it down the left field line, and he hit a hot shot that Mark (who had a great defensive game) snared and turned into a 5-4 force, tearing into what momentum they had created. Up came Buddha and before you knew it, it was over.

It was a big win, as we moved the Broncos out of the undefeated list, and passed them in the standings, plus hold the head to head tie-breaker. The new Orinda administration has not kept up on the scores online, so who knows where we stand. But we all know who will be in the top five or six, and the seeding may be important in the playoffs.

Lefty (who made a great running catch and had one of our two extra base hits) and Larry were perfect 3-3s. Pope had two hits including the other double, and scored and plated two. Hoge led the team with three RBIs.

Big games continue with the Waitlisters Monday. It is not such a frendly rivalry, and should be good. I hope Chris pops up to end it.

Milestone:
Ol' G        900 ab (#9)

Red Burns Forest

I am beginning to really like Field 6. It's a pain to park far away and shlep everything there, but as my esteemed colleague Mr. King said, there are no sun issues and the infield is usually impeccable.

But since this is about me, I'll just say that coach Larry Rafferty and the great James Del Rio have missed two games, and in both (that I managed) we played on field 6 and won, including 20-15 over Forest yesterday. Can we petition Leadership to always put us there?

And James - you can come back, our outfield was not perfect, but Larry - you may face some push back. You know how these guys are.

Just kidding - we had only 10 players, and even though that can be an advantage since you stay hot at the plate, in warmer weather it may have taken its toll. But it was a beautiful day, and it was pretty easy to manage without having to worry about who was sitting out where and when. We just all trotted out there every inning.

Forest gave us a catcher and two of our highlights were Rich gunning down runners at the plate. The Forest catchers made the plays, and that was good sportsmanship.

On the other hand Bob Muegge, who pitched the whole game masterfully, kept getting into fake arguments (that's a little like Fake News) with the catchers for their throws back to the mound, which were occasionally erratic. Once, the Forest bench started riding him mercilessly, and he threw a ball at the dugout - you just can't control this hothead. It was all in fun though and everyone had a good laugh.

The game was close through in the early innings - our defensive lapses kept it that way, and we were tied 4-4 through two. Howard Davis (more on him later) put us ahead in the top of the fourth with a slicing two run double to right (he bravely hobbled to second as he had injured his hammy). Ahead to stay as it turned out, but it was still just 9-6 going into the fifth. A spate of walks by the Forest pitcher helped (3 in a row) and we got two out hits from Kravin and LT Thompson, the latter of which provided the fourth and fifth runs of the inning.

We were in control but it wasn't a sure deal until the last out in the 8th (we stopped after 8 because of the time limit). Our best inning was the 7th - eight straight singles (Brown, Mark Pitzlin, Kravin, LT, Tony Gorgone, Larry Fogli, Davis, and Muegge) to score five with no outs. 20-7 seemed like an insurmountable lead, but Forest answered with five of their own, and it ended up coming down to their last ups.

Brown was perfect with five singles and a bases loaded walk. On a prior Red team when Davis was a teammate, we used to call him Superman or the Secret Weapon - he had four hits including the game winner, and played flawless third base. Fogli just quietly keeps hitting singles relentlessly, and Gorgone had a double as those two joined Howard with four hits. Everyone on the team scored at least run and drove in a run as we pounded out 32 hits. And no one scored more than or drove in more than three - a true team effort.

Pitzlin, a great addition, made perhaps the best contribution to his new team - he brought us post-game beer. This team needed the jolt of energy he brings, and that beer sure tasted good after the win.

Good start to the second half!

Mastered and Battered

In a game so big and so tense, it felt like I wasn't even a part of it, Advance Construction edged the Polar Bears 8-6 to plant themselves a half game ahead of us in the standings.

I guess it's because I wasn't part of it, only watched as I awaited our game. Rosie Posey the dog watched too, but kept wondering why no one on the Polar Bears was paying attention to her, and why wasn't I on the field?

That game put so much pressure on the Coneheads, we opened ours with 10 straight hits, which ultimately produced nine runs in the top of the first against the Masterbatters, and then Joe shut down the top of their order on four pitches in the bottom half.

In a note of symmetry, by the time D came in to finish the game off in the last inning, it was 14-2 and he shut down their last ups also on four pitches.

The biggest drama was who was going to go yard on the short porch Field 3. Pope launched a couple, one to right that fell short but got him a triple. Next time up he hit the top of the fence in dead center. A prodigious shot to be sure, but he hit it so hard they held him to a single. Note to Greg and those trying to go yard: That got you as far as my nine-hopper to the 3-4 hole, which Chopper turned into a hit with his pretzelizing his body to avoid a force at second. The Chopper school of base-running, Graduate School version. Sometimes you love it sometimes you hate it.

But I digress. Big D came up his next time and was determined to best Pope (who along with Buddha led us with three hits). Big D popped up to left center. Team players one and all. But even though he wore a sheepish grin when he admitted to the sin when he got back to the dugout, it didn't matter because this game was over in the first inning.

Speaking of goats, Joe got one K, but Randy paid the Masterbatters back when he took a called strike three in the sixth. When did the tradition stop of buying a six-pack or 12 pack for a backward K? Randy had already made up for it (can you do that ahead of time) by contributing shots down the third base line in the first two rallies we had, and by tracking everything in left center in a tough sun.

The play of the game, though was made by the MB right center fielder. D smashed one in the gap and the outfielder went all out into a dive to grab it. You gotta give kudos when it is deserved to the other team. On our side, G made one heck of a catch roaming into short right, and Knight took one in the middle hole and turned it into an out. Other than that Joe and D had the MB's off balance and hitting routine flies and grounders.

Due to Advance's doubleheader we dropped a half a game into second place, but we own the tie breaker over them, so all we have to do is keep winning to take the number one seed into the playoffs. Even though there is no cotton associated with that distinction, there is another Bay Area team that recently made a point of ending the regular season in first place for seeding in the playoffs. You might check the Warriors' web site to see how that went. Onward and upward.

Milestones:
Knight     200 r (#2)
Lefty        300 h (#3)
Chopper   200 h (#8)
Randy      250 ab (#14)
Pope        50 h (#22)

Foiled Again

Get it (the title)?

After way too much debate, consulting the crystal ball, reading my palms, horoscope, and tarot cards, in the playoffs last week, Kapsch decided to call aluminum on the Brews Bros, and guess what - it made no difference, except perhaps it kept the score lower, and we lost 12-5.

There wasn't much to talk about. The one highlight was Cage doing what he does - he gunned down a would-be scorer from medium deep left center, a perfect one hopper to the plate. Pauly made a hot stop at the hot corner.

After we gave up six in the bottom of the second, Cage drove in two with a one out double in the third and we threatened to make a game of it. Bert knocked him in to cut the lead to 7-4 but we never got close than that.

In the end, we might have been swinging aluminum foil the way we hit. Back to composite next season.

Milestones:
Bert         150 rbi (#15)
Pauly       30 bb (#11)
Rusty      50 h (#37)

Triple Play

I've got to talk to Commissioner Val about these doubleheaders.

Not because I don't like playing them, I do - and the Coneheads seems to thrive in them.

But - between two games Sunday and then Orinda on Monday, I hardly have time to breathe on the blog, much less remember anything that happened. As I age, it gets harder.

So you will get a blurred vision of the games Sunday and Monday, plays and highlights may be swapped around. Just remember the most important part - we got better as the games went on, starting with a 12-8 ho-hum win over the Hammers and then clubbing the Polar Bears 16-2 in Walnut Creek, and then utter annihilation of the Reds in Orinda Monday night 34-6.

The win over the Polar Bears was the most significant. It catapulted us over them in the standings. We are a half game ahead of them (due to a tie they have) plus own the tie breaker because of the lopsided score. And we remain tied with Advance Construction at 8-1 for first but own the tiebreaker over them as well. Once again we are in the driver's seat for the number one pole at the playoffs. But we can't get complacent - each team has but one loss, and even though they have to play each other, neither is likely to lose many more games.

A funny thing happened last night in Alameda (well not haha funny). I have been filling in on a team there, playing for the fourth Friday in June. We scored 17 runs in the top of the sixth to put away the game, including 15 straight hits with two outs. It was outstanding. Until that point it was relatively close and we were clinging to an 8-4 lead. After the game the team was (properly) in awe of what we had accomplished, which was impressive. But I couldn't help thinking (and may have actually said it out loud) that I am on another team that has done similar things if not routinely, many times over. It's called a Conehead inning (I may have gotten blank stares at that point).

And as a matter of fact, just last Monday against the poor Reds, in the bottom of the fifth we had sixteen straight hits after a lead off walk to Larry and we scored 15 runs with no outs. Mercifully I popped up into a 2-3 double play and Chopper followed with a ground out or we might still be batting. This just was the nail in the proverbial coffin - it changed a 19-6 game into a total rout.

Derek had a monster game: 5-5 with nine RBIs including the initial run that served as the game winner. He had a double and two triples and a couple of singles, but will forever be remembered for lumbering into third when they were still looking for the ball in the left center bushes at the fence on his second triple. He could have walked home and ultimately it cost him the cycle. We all groaned and made fun of him, because those of us who may have difficulty achieving this feat wanted to live vicariously through him. Of course it may not be such a big deal to him, but what kind of teammate deprives us of our vicarious thrill? We will remember forever or until the next game, whichever comes first. Notably his double was a one hopper over the fence in deepest right center, must have been 350 feet on the fly.

Pope and Bruce joined him with five hits, and Pope and Chopper did run out home runs in the gap, gathering four and five RBIs respectively. Gene was perfect at 4-4, and everyone on the team had at least two hits, a run scored and an RBI as we pounded out forty hits as a team.

In Sunday's Polar Bear rout we piled on 10 runs in the top of the second on 11 straight hits and a fielder's choice RBI to start the inning. It took all the drama out of that game. Knight, Bruce, and Johnny were all a perfect 3-3, and Chopper plated five RBIs on a double and a triple. Haze made the defensive play of the day, running far into deep right field to catch a blast from a Polar Bear. It was text book - run to the spot and turn around and there was the ball, although I hear that Lefty deserved a big assist for yelling when to turn around from next door in right center. The fourth inning catch took out what air remained in the Bear tank, and they were not really heard from after that.

The first game Sunday was really just a tuneup from our couple of weeks off. We thrive on playing, and this year's weird schedule with sometimes weeks between games leaves us cold sometimes. The Slammers are not really in our league (actually literally this season with the split divisions), and spotting them a 3-0 lead proved to be no problem.We scored eight in the middle innings and even though Joe was disappointed in the final score of 12-8, there was never a doubt as to the outcome.

Knight had a great game up the middle, prompting Johnny to pronounce him the "World's Greatest Schmiddler", which I have not found in the baseball almanac yet I believe him. He turned several ground balls into outs including one far to his left and an 11U-3 double play.

On offense D and Bruce (with a triple) were 3-3 and Ol' G led us with 3 RBIs but no one really stood out. Other than we had two Ks and this shockingly prompted a snide remark from our fearless leader to the effect that it was amazing we won despite two Ks. Notably he also got at least one, maybe two from the Slammers.

Now we have the long holiday break. This slut had zero games this week, what will I do?

Hopefully at a minimum we will remember what a Conehead inning is when we come back.

Milestones:
WC 6/25
Game 1:
Ol' G        200 h (#7)

Game 2:
Lefty        500 ab (#3)
Knight      450 ab (#4)
Chuck      150 rbi (#5)

Orinda 6/26:
Chuck      1850 ab (#1)
Heffe       160 2b (#1)
Heffe       1050 h (#2)
D             70 2b (#9)
Chopper  300 rbi (#15)
Chopper  20 sf (#15)
D             550 ab (#16)
Chopper  550 ab (#17)

Charity Starts on Field 4

It seems all the other Creakers did the sane thing and cut their games to seven innings in a nod to the heat wave. Not so Red and Black, heat wave hah! We spit in the heat. Actually some of us might have been frothing at the mouth by the end.

As it turned out, Red should have called the game after 4 - we actually had outplayed Black at that point and led 9-7. Quit while you're ahead, a wise man once said. Or was that my mom. Someone should have faked a fainting spell or something. Instead Black's hitters took over and we started gifting runs as is our habit, and we stopped scoring. Bad combination and they ran away to a 19-13 victory.

We had a few highlights. James Del Rio continued his assault on Creaker pitching, with a home run and two run scoring doubles among four hits. Rich Brown drove in three runs on two hits, and gunned down two runners at second - once on a catch and gun on a fly to right center and once on a 'single' to right center turned into a fielder's choice. On the latter Al Kidwell did his best Twister move holding the bag while catching the slightly off throw. Bill Marthinsen and Randy Crase were the other Reds with three hits.

No one got hurt, the geese stayed away, and we put the first half behind us - hopefully we will play more consistently and to our potential in the second half.