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).
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).
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