They say they don't do it on purpose.
Frank made a hell of a play yesterday. With Vintage Terry bearing down on him, the throw sailed toward third base from the outfield offline. Frank did what you are supposed to do - he came off the bag to catch the errant throw so there would be no further advance. But then in a very nifty two step, he tip tapped his toe to the bag, beating Terry there by half a step. It wasn't even that close.
And the call from Pitcher Pete umping at home plate - "Safe" - with a big sweep of his arms.
I mean, Mark Kraft wasn't even present, the most notorious Vintage umpire. Still this is what we get. If they ain't cheating, they blind! Vintage is a walking testament to not have self-umpiring, unfortunately.
It allowed three extra runs to score, creating a tie going into the eighth inning. Once again we had taken an early lead but stopped hitting and let Vintage creep back in until they scored six altogether in the seventh to tie it up.
But we scored one in each of the last four innings, and that was enough to eke out the 11-9 victory. Too close against the other Green lineup but a win is a win. And for this (and putting them out of the playoff hunt), we get to go through it all again next week. What a strange schedule they concocted this year.
Depending on whether we make up the rain out as rumored, we either did or did not clinch the playoffs with the win. Even with it Vintage would have to win every game and we would have to lose every game from here on out. That ain't gonna happen. In other words the magic number is one for us to make the playoffs if there is a make up. So let's take it out on them once again next week, and not give them hope next time.
Chris had the biggest blow of the game, a three run homer in the fourth that produced most of the runs in our only five run inning. The only other extra base hit was vintage Heffe, a slicing line drive down the left field line for a double. Billy and Heffe were the only ones with three hits, but John L drove in two without a hit, and JP got two clutch two out RBI singles. Chris, Frank and Dave R all had two hits plus a walk.
On defense, we were under the big top in the middle outfield. First Paul in the fourth, and then Chris in the fifth made circus catches on balls that turned them this way and that, and Chris added a juggling act to his. The latter also had a great running catch in the first. David P in left didn't get an out but did an outstanding job cutting off a hard liner to his right that prevented extra bases and probably a big inning in the third. In the eighth, Doug made a strong play to his left to get an out on a grounder ticketed for center field, and then Frank closed it out by starting a 5-11-3 double play to John L (strong turn and throw) and JP on first. JP also had a good time catching a tough foul pop in the fifth.
It was too close for comfort but with Leo's helping us as expected by beating the Crows, we leapfrogged back over them into third place again. They have the easier schedule down the stretch, but if we can manage to put Vintage out of their misery next week again, it will come down to our head to head meeting with the Crows in a couple of weeks. It would be a lot nicer to end up third and face the Hornets in the first round of the playoffs instead of Leo's. But I digress. One at a time.
Frank made a hell of a play yesterday. With Vintage Terry bearing down on him, the throw sailed toward third base from the outfield offline. Frank did what you are supposed to do - he came off the bag to catch the errant throw so there would be no further advance. But then in a very nifty two step, he tip tapped his toe to the bag, beating Terry there by half a step. It wasn't even that close.
And the call from Pitcher Pete umping at home plate - "Safe" - with a big sweep of his arms.
I mean, Mark Kraft wasn't even present, the most notorious Vintage umpire. Still this is what we get. If they ain't cheating, they blind! Vintage is a walking testament to not have self-umpiring, unfortunately.
It allowed three extra runs to score, creating a tie going into the eighth inning. Once again we had taken an early lead but stopped hitting and let Vintage creep back in until they scored six altogether in the seventh to tie it up.
But we scored one in each of the last four innings, and that was enough to eke out the 11-9 victory. Too close against the other Green lineup but a win is a win. And for this (and putting them out of the playoff hunt), we get to go through it all again next week. What a strange schedule they concocted this year.
Depending on whether we make up the rain out as rumored, we either did or did not clinch the playoffs with the win. Even with it Vintage would have to win every game and we would have to lose every game from here on out. That ain't gonna happen. In other words the magic number is one for us to make the playoffs if there is a make up. So let's take it out on them once again next week, and not give them hope next time.
Chris had the biggest blow of the game, a three run homer in the fourth that produced most of the runs in our only five run inning. The only other extra base hit was vintage Heffe, a slicing line drive down the left field line for a double. Billy and Heffe were the only ones with three hits, but John L drove in two without a hit, and JP got two clutch two out RBI singles. Chris, Frank and Dave R all had two hits plus a walk.
On defense, we were under the big top in the middle outfield. First Paul in the fourth, and then Chris in the fifth made circus catches on balls that turned them this way and that, and Chris added a juggling act to his. The latter also had a great running catch in the first. David P in left didn't get an out but did an outstanding job cutting off a hard liner to his right that prevented extra bases and probably a big inning in the third. In the eighth, Doug made a strong play to his left to get an out on a grounder ticketed for center field, and then Frank closed it out by starting a 5-11-3 double play to John L (strong turn and throw) and JP on first. JP also had a good time catching a tough foul pop in the fifth.
It was too close for comfort but with Leo's helping us as expected by beating the Crows, we leapfrogged back over them into third place again. They have the easier schedule down the stretch, but if we can manage to put Vintage out of their misery next week again, it will come down to our head to head meeting with the Crows in a couple of weeks. It would be a lot nicer to end up third and face the Hornets in the first round of the playoffs instead of Leo's. But I digress. One at a time.
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