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.

Old Times

Last year, when the Warthogs joined our league, I described what a real Warthog is, and how that applies to our opponent last night. I have to amend it for this year.

A Warthog is apparently, a sometimes softball player who shows up at a game to play ball but mostly to drink beer in the dugout - or on the field, or anywhere it can be consumed.

Now don't get me wrong, the Coneheads and all my teammates everywhere like to imbibe the adult beverage of their choice, and even though I have cut back personally over the years, some of my teammates have carried on the tradition of getting relatively trashed after games. But we do it after the game. In other words we may play softball in order to drink beer but we do it in that order.

Not so the Warthogs. They reminded me of my original team the Lyons in our early days. We signed up for our first tournament in Dublin, and we brought a keg to the field with us. Things have sure changed since the 80s! We went two and out and ended up downing the keg on my front lawn.

The Warthogs would bring not one but two beers with them to the third base coaching box, and had to be admonished by the umpire that beer must be kept in the dugout. So they kept it in our dugout, and took sips between plays. Or pitches. Or whenever possible.

All this is leading up to the fact that we beat them 18-9 or 17-9 depending upon whether you believe our book or the umpire's tally. It wasn't that close - we seemed to lose interest after we were up 18-3, and in fact they got better the more they drank! Maybe they are on to something...

It was also like old times in that we all took turns contributing here and there, but mostly turned the game over to Pope, who knocked in seven runs on two homers and a very deep sac fly. He was helped by coming up with guys on base every time - three times in the first three innings he came up following a Chuck single and a Dave walk.

The Warthogs kept trying different pitchers, and they couldn't tell which plate to throw to apparently. They issued three walks to Dave, two to me plus three more - in fact the Game Winning RBI came when I walked with the bases loaded in the first, how appropriate.

Other stars included Old School Stink Eye, the only one who was perfect with four hits including a gapper that went for a triple by his proxy runner. Haze who featured a double down the third base line among his three hits and Larry who had a two run double in the gap. Chopper had his usual 3-4, and of course provided the entertainment by sliding/diving/falling back to the bag on a back-door throw to first after a single.

I tried to compete for the entertainment award by running to the painted on wrong 'bag' at first on one grounder to D. Poor D, he didn't know what to do, throw to me? to the actual base? I denied it happened of course. Never mind everyone in the park saw it, unless you have a YouTube video, it didn't happen. Besides as a senior who clearly had a senior moment, I don't remember it so it must not have happened. I tried to make up for it by fielding a couple of in between hop grounders for outs and picking up Larry on a short hop throw after he made a great stop in the sixth.

Chuck also had a great play on a ball in the hole, and he fired it to first to get the batter by a half a step. He is the master of throwing just hard enough to nail the runner by half a step. Plus like old times, he ranged far into center field to snag his specialty, the over the shoulder pop-up.

All in all not a classic Conehead but just enough classic moments to qualify as good entertainment. Three stars.

Milestones:
Chuck        950 r (#1)
Chuck        1200 h (#1)
Pope          750 rbi (#1)
Heffe         110 bb (#3)
Joe             1300 ab (#4)
Pope          40 sf (#4)

Chopper Wobbles and He Do Fall Down

It could have been a metaphor for the whole game.

Taking a throw from the outfield, our dear Chopman caught the ball, then dropped like a ton of bricks. If we had won the game it would have led off the highlights. Gone on YouTube.

As it was, it was just the metaphor. St. Mo's came out blasting, and they decked us with a bunch of long balls, and an eight run first. We took the punch, but did come back with a four run answer in the bottom half. The highlight was a two run triple in the gap, by Chopper, of course.

After shutting down St. Mo's in the second, we took another shot to the chin in a seven run third. But in the bottom of the fourth we finally had the Conehead inning we have been waiting for all year in Walnut Creek - 10 runs. It brought us back to within one run and suddenly everything was possible. We had 11 hits in a row at one point, punctuated by Lefty's soaring two run triple in the gap and Joe's smash double down the left field line. Every single one of us had a hit in the inning, Haze and I two. Now that was Conehead ball!

But alas that was all we had, and when St. Mo's poured on ten unanswered runs in the last two frames, we came up on the short end of a 26-15 score.

The star was Chuck going 4-4 as he re-took his rightful place at the top of the lineup. Chopper led us with three RBIs.

So it goes in the opener of a very short season. This could loom large later on.

Milestones:
Larry       500 tbi (#4)
Pope        550 r (#5)
Pope        1050 ab (#6)
Pope        700 h (#6)

Be like B

The Heffinator softball cliche is "If the bottom of the order hits, we win."

Well Tuesday's game against Sons of Pitches proves the rule, as we lost 21-11 in our playoff tuneup game. The bottom of the order beyond #5 was 4-18. Beyond #6 3-16. Beyond #8, 2-12. You get the picture. At least there wasn't one hole in the lineup - there were several.

On the other hand, Brian had a tremendous game in the two slot - 4-4, four runs scored, two RBIs. Cage behind him was 3-3 with a walk and a triple, and Bert was 3-3 with four RBIs. Jay scored three runs on two hits including a triple in the gap. That was pretty much our offense.

Our defense was decent, the SOP just hit the hell out of the ball. Tom snagged a death shot right at his head. We turned a slick (Tinker) Garcia to Evans to (Chance) Muller DP in the fourth. Rusty made a couple of great running catches in right center. We actually had a 5-4 lead going into the fifth but SOP turned it on with 17 runs in the last three frames, and our answers were not so much.

The most interesting thing in the league is what happened after our game. The Blue Dots upset the Brew Bros 15-9, creating a very real possibility of a four way tie for second place and then one team would be left out of the playoffs. SOP will likely beat the Bros, Blue Dots will likely beat the Shockerz (1-8), and no doubt the Ballers will trounce Workday Plan B, if they even show up with their 0-9 record. This would leave us all tied at 6-4. I think this still leaves us in third after all the tie breakers, but I could have the order wrong or whatever. I know, too much time thinking about this stuff.

But there you have it. We get an extra week off while the rest of the league finishes up their rain out makeups. No regular season cotton but if we play our best, who knows what the playoffs will bring?

Milestones:
5/23
Heffe        800 h (#1)
Cage         500 rbi (#1)
Mario       250 g (#7)
Hama        350 ab (#14)
Bert          200 ab (#25)
Rene         200 ab (#26)

5/30 (Credit given for a forfeited game)
Cage         300 g (#5)
Tom          100 g (#16)

6/13
Tom         300 ab (#16)
B              100 h (#18)
Rusty       10 bb (#26)
B              50 rbi (#33)

Advanced Past Advance

Well the Coneheads really broke out of our one game slump Sunday in a tight game over Advance Construction to advanced past them in the standings. We more than tripled our runs output!

See how fake news works? You thought we scored like twenty or thirty runs, didn't you?

But actually the game was close and ended 7-5 and we scored just enough to win. It's true we never trailed, yet we were never up by more than three, and it was 5-5 going into the bottom of the sixth.

Defense was the rule of the day, and ours once again was the difference. Chuck made a couple of great pickup and throws from the 5-6 hole. Buddha made a great scoop at the plate to stop a run after Randy did a quick catch and throw at rover to nail the runner. And then there was a grounder with guys on (I think) second and third. I got the out at first but couldn't get the runner going home. However, Buddha had the presence of mind to fire it to D at third and he put a quick tag on the runner trying to take third. Pete the Ump could have gotten it wrong, and we wouldn't have bitched (too much) but he made the right call on the close play. More runs saved.

And finally, with two outs and the tying run on in the seventh, Randy ranged far to his left, and Chuck and G were so sure that the grounder was going through that they didn't cover second; Randy got to it and then had to wheel completely around and fling it as hard as he could to first, where (I say humbly) yours truly corralled the short hop for the last out of the game. We had the Hammer, but what a great way to end a pitching and defense battle!

Chopper was perfect with three run scoring singles, including the Game Winning RBI in the eighth. Pope, hitting line shots and a deep double, was also 3-3. D was 2-2 plus a walk, so he didn't make an out either. Randy had two singles, and the rest of the team, well, not so much. But no matter, a win's a win, and now we are in a virtual three way tie for first, holding tie-breaker over Advance, and another chance to undo our defeat against the Polar Bears. And we know Conehead bats don't remain quiet for long.

It's been a weird schedule as this was our first game in a month, and now we have the postponement next week. And then two doubleheaders down the stretch. But it will give us lots of momentum going into the playoffs.

Milestone:
Buddha        50 ab (#24)

Reds Win! Reds Win!

Despite missing our fearless leader Larry Rafferty (who was in some Manhattan Speakeasy, I'm sure) and nominally our best player James Del Rio, the rest of us sucked it up and pulled off one of the upsets of the first half over the other Red, er, Scarlet, 21-13.

Now Larry may have trouble taking back the helm when he returns - I heard cries of "Larry Who" after the game. But as much as I would like to take credit for being 1-0 as manager (conveniently omitting the pre-season when Larry also was gone and we were 0-2), it was Al Kidwell who made the managerial call of the game. Al told me after the first couple of innings that he can play infield too and loves playing rover and did I want to switch positions with him? He also very politically said it was because, you know, I am left handed and all and it makes the double play difficult. Ahem. And amen.

Because we then turned four double plays in the next four innings and Al was in the middle of three of them, and that was really the difference in the game. Al was also all over every ball hit up the middle, making numerous outs, one deep from the hole that Lamont Thompson stretched as far as possible while keeping the first base bag. And Al hit our best ball of the day (among a 3-4 day), a two run gapper in left center. Have a day, Al.

And appropriately, with two outs in the ninth, Scarlet's lineup turned over. Bases loaded, one run in. Up came Hank McDermott, who we never get out, no matter how much we squeeze him in right center where he likes to go. Lee Namanny on deck. This game could be 21-18 in just seconds. But Hank hit his liner a little too hard this time, a one hopper to Rich Brown in right center, who fired to Al covering second for the game ending force and all was good in the world. Or rather, Al was good in the world.

We turned five double plays in all and I think they might have been in five straight innings, or close to it. Bill Marthinsen started two, including one on a little blooper he caught at third base and then fired to me covering second. Randy Crase made some great stops all day at SS, and he started two DPs. The other one was on a comebacker to our Mueggster, Bob Muegge that went 1-11-3.

AND - we actually broke 20 runs! Quite a feat for the little Red Engine! Although Scarlet helped us out a few times on defense, several Reds had good days at the plate. Randy was a perfect 5-5 and drove in four, slashing line drives all over the place. Howard Davis joined him with four RBIs on his three hits, and knocked in what proved to be the winning run. Kevin Kane was again a nuisance at the top of the line-up, scoring three times on four hits. Rich Brown also had three hits plus a walk and also scored thrice. LT and Jerry rounded out the list of hitters with three, with LT legging out a couple of booming doubles.

All in all it was a good team game...it started out with the usual set of guffaws at the beginning, surrendering four in the top of the first, but we kept scoring every inning (throughout the whole game, 2-2-2-5-2-1-4-3) and so we were able to not only come back from the 4-0 hole we dug, but take charge of the game once Master Al took over the defense.

Who know - maybe we can compete in this league!

Larry Who?

Red Herring

My mother used to say to us kids, "If you can't find something nice to say about someone, don't say anything at all."

I never did listen to my mother, much to her frustration. While it was great advice, I never seemed to have enough self-control.

But therefore, in honor of that great woman, I will make today's post on Red's ignominious loss to Royal, 16-6, very brief. Indeed it is summarized elsewhere by the venerable G Namanny.

We sucked. They played well. The end.

OK, that's not all.

Royal did play well, particularly on defense, and we were done in by our usual sad-sack miscues. But we did have some highlights: Bill Marthinsen made a great stop on a shot down the third base line, but unfortunately was not in position to get an out. Rich Brown made a great running catch in right center, but made it look routine as he often does. And Randy Crase went deep into the hole at short to get a force out at second to end the third scoreless. On a shot up the middle, Lamont Thompson made a great stab on a hot one hopper, stepped on the bag, and fired a dart in the dirt, and I picked it for the double play. Just to make the cliche true, he and I were the first two hitters the next inning.

And there aren't too many hitting highlights when you only score 6 runs. We had all of one extra base hit, a double by Kevin Kane, and Tony Gorgone was a perfect 3-3. Al Kidwell and I had two. That's about it when you hit .395 as a team.

Isn't there another tournament coming up?