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!