Something Strange in Danville

We should have known how weird the game was going to be when, in the bottom of the second, Dave hit the right center field gap and the fielder kicked the ball all the way to foul territory. I think he was trying to kick it into the soccer goal out there in right field, so he could claim it was a ground rule double as Dave was racing around the bases. Never you mind it was a three run homer, and settled our lead at 6-2 after two.

We scored at least two in each of the first five innings to build an 18-7 lead. In the fifth, none other than Wolfpack owner/GM JP led off with a smash down the left field line. It was hit so hard that the Vintage left fielder watched it and neglected to go after it. John didn't know quite what to do. And then everyone started yelling "Run, John, Run!" and he hobbled past second, and third and all the way home. These were two of only three extra base hits we had all game, and whoda thunk it would be Dave and John?

Along the way we experienced one of the strangest plays I have ever seen, and seemingly could only happen in senior softball. It was so strange I made a mess of it in the scorebook and I am not even sure who was at bat but I think it was Dave who hit a bases loaded popup near second base. As soon as he hit it I remember thinking, no one is getting that, and sure enough the Vintage infielders, instead of trying to catch it started yelling "Infield Fly". Well our umpire was having none of that, as it clearly was not a routine play for any of the 65+ infielders. But our runners froze except the one at third, who thankfully did score. So ultimately, I'm not sure who came out ahead - we had a run but they put out the runners forced at third and second.

And so we sat pretty at 18-7 after six, and all was well. Except it was a strange day in Danville. Marc came in to close out the game, and Vintage suddenly remembered they knew how to hit. We didn't really make defensive mistakes, they just hit the ball. It took the manager too long to relieve Marc, who really didn't do anything different than our other pitchers, but sometimes you just have to change things up to stop a rally. At long last JP came back in to stop the bleeding, and we still led 18-16.

The mark of a good team is what do you do when faced with adversity. I have been in games like this one and the team that is ahead just loses all the momentum and never recovers. But not Wednesday in Danville. We responded with our third five spot. JP start this rally too, and six of the next seven batters hit singles to plate the five.

JP came back in, and he couldn't close out the game. But Chris, who had started, managed to finish the 23-19 win.

There was some great defense along the way. Selwyn made a couple of running catches, including a one of the shoestring variety. Ditto Paul L in left and then he moved to right center and nabbed another tough chance. But the play of the day was a grounder (to second?) and Johnny G stretched all the way out to cut down a hitter in the late innings after the score was tight.

Johnny G drove in a run every time up for a total of five, and ended two of the five run innings with a hit as he went 4-4. Similarly, Marc was 4-4 and drove in runs on three of his hits. Paul D rounded out the trio of four hit batters, had the only double in our lineup, and drove in three. Paul L, Chris, and Nick had three hits apiece.

Maybe it was the odd warm temperature. Maybe it was the 12:00 game. Let's just say we are 1-0 in bizarro games.

Emptying the Hornets' Nest

First they were the Renegades. When they played over 50 Rec League in Pleasanton they were Boomer's Bangers, then Ritt's Boys. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, they held pickup games, the Spartans against the Trojans.

Whatever their name, they were a bunch of tournament players that slummed in the Rec Leagues and they usually won and had our number especially.

But not today.

Our relentless hitting up and down the lineup including I don't know how many two out hits, and very good defense save one really really bad inning, and pitchers that re-discovered the strike zone just in time, put them on their heels and kept them there until they just ran out of time to come back. And as it turned out, there was a screw up and we only batted seven times ourselves.

So to say the score was 25-15 and it wasn't that close is quite an understatement.

I can't help myself, here is a list: Four two out hits in the third. Three in the fourth. Five in the fifth. Seven in the sixth. Four in the seventh. The Hornets should feel lucky that we didn't get or need our open inning - we would probably still be batting!

On defense, Ladd and Selwyn were running all over the place on the left side of the outfield, catching this and that. Wilbur was, as usual, a vacuum cleaner at second. Heffe made a falling down scoop at a key moment at first base. Les somehow placed himself right where line drives up the middle went to die, including on the past out. As did Marc at SS a couple of times.

Yeah they were hurting but I don't care who was missing on their side - we dominated after spotting them a 7-2 lead in the second inning.

Billy hit perhaps the slowest home run in the history of Danville, a two run job in the sixth. Selwyn managed to get on base three times in the beginning of the game on what we would call 'errors' but there aren't such things in senior ball so we call them 'hits'. But he earned them by hitting a grand slam gapper in the seventh that put the final nail in the Hornet's Nest.

Marc joined Billy with a 5-5 day. John Look matched Selwyn with four hits, a perfect 4-4. Ladd, Paul and Heffe all had three hits. Everyone else had at least a hit.

Keep this up while I am enjoying Mezcal in Oaxaca next week. Beat Leo's!

Orange Comeback Tuesday: 13-12 Royal Walk-off and 18-14 White-Wash

Each game was a microcosm of our year so far. In the first game against Royal, we charged out to an 11-2 lead after four, and Royal was on their heels. Then in the top of the fifth, The men in Blue charged all the way back, thanks to the hitting they are capable of combined with a one inning defensive meltdown by the Orange. Then they got the shutdown inning they needed. In the sixth, we had more shaky defense but Royal could only plate a single run. In the bottom half it looked grim when the first two hitters made outs. But the top of the order, Ron Schwab, Mark Edelstone, Mike Saindon, and Greg Wilson smacked four straight hits, and we walked off with two runs.

Edelstone had three hits with a double and a triple, Saindon had three including a triple and Wilson had three including a double. The top four had 10 of our 13 RBIs.

Schwab, Jay Chafetz and the Coach had two hits apiece. Chafetz made any number of great catches in LF and Edelstone robbed Helen Kostoff in shallow LC Willie Mays style on a sinking line drive. The first baseman scooped one in the dirt backhanded to steal an out in the same inning, and Howard Davis, who pitched all 12 innings today, made a great play on the third out that inning.

In the day cap, Orange scored three in the top of the first then went to sleep for three innings. Going into the top of the fifth we trailed 8-4. But we batted around in the fifth to take a one run lead 9-8, and after a shutdown bottom half, batted 15 hitters and more or less put the game away as we went ahead 18-9. White's sharpshooters came back with six runs, but in the end they had dug too big a hole. Final was 18-14.

A word about Davis. He pitched lights out all day, He had batters off balance in both games, and I think he had but one walk in the doubleheader. He started the season fourth on the depth chart of Orange pitchers, but worked his way up the ladder, and today with all the other pitchers missing, he really came through for us. And to boot, after we came back against White in the fifth, in the bottom half, he stabbed a shot up the middle and started a 1-11-3 double play to essentially take them out of the game.

Against White, Vince Franceschi was 4-4, and Chafetz and Lamont "LT" Thompson were each 3-3 with a sac fly each and co-led the team with four RBIs. Schwab also had three hits including two doubles, and Kravin rounded out those with three hits. Everyone else had two hits except Saindon and he had a sac fly and a walk and a hit. Great team effort on offense and defense.

It comes down to next week - we need some help from Scarlet and Royal, and it starts with going up against the juggernaut Purple - but we know and they know we have beaten them three of four so far this year. Fun fun fun!

Orange Squeezes Purple 17-15

Bottom of the seventh (in a game shortened from the beginning by agreement), two outs, 17-15, Mark Pitzlin on second and Paul Lisi on first as the tying run. Gary Tryhorn up as the winning run. Raul Delgado on deck. A gapper ties it, and the Delgado wins it for Purple with a long ball.

That's the way the script reads, except that's not the way real life worked out. You know Orange is doing something right, or living right, or just got lucky, but Tryhorn flied out to Mark Edelstone in left center and it was game over.

What we did right is what Edelstone did. Catch the routine ones. The outfield - Brian Black, Edelstone, Jay Chafetz, and Vince Franceschi made every catch that was catchable, and hustled in to hold the mostly speedy Purple to one base at a time.

Due to a makeshift infield, the game started off rough. We started out with a solid three run first but  defensive lapses and the usual good hitting by Purple propelled them to a 10-4 lead through three innings. It was getting ugly.

But we settled down on defense. Mark Narciso pretty much held Purple down. Except for a four run outburst in the sixth, they only scored two runs he rest of the way.

And so the table was set for a comeback. We burst open in the fifth. After a leadoff double by Steve Sloat, we made two outs. Then with two outs and our backs against the wall, we got consecutive hits from Mike Saindon, Greg Wilson, Narciso, Franceschi, Chafetz, the Coach, and finally a bomb by Lamont Thompson to tie it up at 10.

We followed that with a one out rally in the sixth, again started by Sloat. This time the big hit was a two run triple over the left fielder's head by Edelstone. Purple answered with four to re-take a lead at 15-13, but we answered right back with another two out rally to plate four in the last inning, again all with two outs. Clutch hits came from Art Oller, Sloat (again), Black and Edelstone.

Sloat stood out with a 4-4 day. Chafetz, Edelstone, Franceschi, Saindon and Wilson all had three knocks. Multiple hit games were enjoyed by Black, Kravin, and Narciso. Everyone had at least one hit. Everyone but Kravin scored a run, and ironically everyone drove in at least one run except Wilson, who has been our RBI leader all season.

There were no webgems on defense, but kudos to Wilson for filling in well at 3B and Saindon, Sloat and Thompson (who had not played together in today's positions all season) as they worked out their early problems and got more solid up the middle as the game went on.

It was a meaningless game, except for the fact that we have given Purple three of the four losses they've had all season. Coppa and company have something to think about with the playoffs coming. I just hope we are both in it when we play them in our last game of the playoffs October 5th. Maybe it will matter, maybe not, all there is left is the play the games!

The Cliff of Lake George

Last week my Creaker Team Orange, which enjoys good team camaraderie, talked about holding a team barbeque at the end of the season to celebrate our time together.

Then last night, in our weekly zoom, my good friends from back east decided, somewhat in jest, that we should meet for a road trip to stay in the last remaining Howard Johnson's Lodge, which is in the resort town of Lake George in upstate New York (one of the participants lives in nearby Albany, NY).

So my dream combined the two themes. Here it goes:

Team Orange signed up to play in a tournament in Lake George and stayed at Ho Jos. While we were in between games, we walked into a park which overlooked the lake, and we stood atop a very high cliff. Our pitcher, Mark, who in the dream was from Lake George, offered $300 to anyone that would jump into the lake from on top of the cliff; he said it was a local rite of passage growing up in Lake George. He said he would also give out $10 to anyone that would even go into the lake, because it was very cold (this took place in early spring). There was a path down to the lake from where we stood. A couple of my teammates took Mark up on this. There was one player, a woman, who was seriously considering jumping. I tried to talk her out of it. I said, "One small movement in the wrong direction, you could land awkwardly, and break your neck! Not something you want to do at our age!"

We finally talked her out of it, and then Mark declared he was only joking, and would have called her off if she decided to jump. He said no one had ever jumped from that height.

The next day, we played in the finals of the tournament. In the championship game, we took a one run lead in the top of the seventh. In the bottom half, with two outs, the other team had the tying run on third, and the winning run on second. With two and a half strikes (in softball you get one foul ball with two strikes and then on the next foul ball you can strike out), the batter hit a pop fly up the first base line, which bounced and then started behaving oddly (note - in the dream the dimensions were distorted, and the first baseman had no chance to get the ball. And normally I would be playing first but in the dream I was watching this from the third base dugout). The ball rolled foul, and almost stopped and our team started celebrating. But then out of nowhere, it improbably took a sharp right turn into fair territory and the other team commenced whooping it up, because by that time both runners had crossed the plate, having run with two outs on contact, and the batter had gotten to first base safely. Then the ball, not quite stopped, turned left again and started rolling into foul territory again, and the whole celebration started again on our side of the field. For some reason, in the dream you weren't allowed to pick up the ball before it settled in foul territory, which you would in real life. In any event this process repeated itself again and again, with players from both sides crowding around the ball to see what it would do. Finally, after about the third or fourth cycle zigging this way and zagging that, the ball settled down for good in foul ground, and we had our victory. What a bizarre way to win a championship!

That's all there was to the dream, and I am not sure if there are any life lessons from it, but there you have it. Maybe just that we should all visit Ho Jo's on all you can eat clam strip night, and go from there.

The Orange Streaks On, 15-11 over Scarlet

It was a key moment in the game. The opposing manager Dave Rose came up with a runner on and one out. He hit a pop up near the first base dugout. The slow footed first baseman pulled up his gut and got on his horse and got almost all the way to the dugout. And then - he reached out and got a glove on it, tried to catch it with his ample midsection, and then his arm, and then his mitt again. But alas, it popped out. Rose followed with a key hit and Scarlet was in business. But Howard Davis shut down the top of the Red lineup with minimal damage and Scarlet could only narrow the lead to 13-11. They tie us up there and it's game on. We got the two the first baseman let score back in the bottom of the eighth and it was 15-11 going into the ninth. And Davis induced three popups (two on the infield) and it was game over, home team wins.

A different tone was set in the first. Scarlet hit it where we wasn't and netted five. We answered with five of our own - seven straight hits after a flyout to open the inning. Greg Wilson had a two run double and Heffe hit the middle gap for the last run.

Pitching and defense took over for the next three innings, won by Big Red 3-2. We got one third out when Art Oller hustled in on a single, threw a strike to Ron Schwab, who replicated the perfect throw home to nail Rose by a half step, trying to score from second. In the third, the 3-1 putout of the year, that same first baseman leading pitcher Mark Narciso perfectly on a slow grounder, who neatly stabbed the edge of the bag just ahead of the runner. Except, the umpire ruled otherwise. C'est la vie, I guess there won't be an ESPN highlight on that one. Narciso made several other tough plays in his five innings on the bump - he stabbed one with the bases loaded and got the third out at third base, and on one play he slowed a hot shot ticketed for center field just enough that it went right to Wilson at rover who completed the double play.

That was one of three Orange double plays - the others being Narciso to Davis (rover) to Bob Carver at first and then in his one inning at SS. Mike Saindon took a grounder to second himself and fired to first to complete the twin killing.

The Orange offense shows how balanced our latest winning streak (three) is. Only Mark Edelstone had three hits. Nine others had two hits, and everyone had at least one. We did not hit long balls today - Greg Wilson had two doubles, and heffe had a third (Steve Sloat thinks I am still running to second), and that was it for extra base hits. But the consistency was there to get runs home when needed, and pitching and defense took care of the rest. A good win against a good team.

It was a fierce battle for playoff positioning - three teams were within a half game of third place, including these two. Orange leapfrogged both others - but wait - it's a round robin end of season tournament, no seeding. Oops - never mind - anyway well we now have bragging rights for third place with one week to go...

Orange White Washes White, 26-13

This is a story about loyalty.

All season, after Creaker Ball, I have gone to my favorite taco joint in Pleasant Hill for Taco Tuesday. I get enough tacos for lunch and dinner for me and my girlfriend. She is a teacher - she was home on Zoom through summer school but now is back in the classroom. But we have continued the tradition, except I just get her enough tacos for dinner only.

Well, my place in PH was slipping - they were slow to answer the phone (I always ordered ahead). And they were slow, slow slow to get the food out. I think they changed management. This coincided with my discovery of one of those Top Ten Tacos in the Bay area Chronicle lists, and there was one on it in Concord nearby on Monument Blvd. that was all rave reviews. I decided to try it today. After I collected my food, I drove out along the strip mall and pow! a truck just backs up right into my car, crushing the front right fender and wheel well and bumper and various other parts and pieces, and rendering my car un-drivable.  So I spent the whole afternoon, when I should have been celebrating the Orange victory over White today, dealing with insurance, the tow truck, the body shop, and car rental. All because I was not loyal to my taco shop. Live and Learn.

In the mean time, Lamont Thompson, who thought his softball days were over two months ago, tried to return to his Scarlet team (he played for them last week), but they had replaced him on the roster (as they should have), and we picked him up, since we were down to 13 bodies. All he did today was hit a single, double, and triple (the mini-cycle) for his new team, including the three run bases loaded double that put us ahead to stay in the fifth. So I am glad his loyalty went from Scarlet to Team Orange!

He was not the only one that hit. Greg Wilson hit another bomb - his ninth of the season (he must be the league leader?) and added a triple for a 4-4 day with four RBIs. Mark Edelstone was 5-5, and had two home runs taken away because the fifth run of the fourth and eighth innings scored on his hits ahead of him. He had seven RBIs. Recently anointed leadoff hitter Ron Schwab was 3-4 plus a walk setting the table every other inning. Brian Black continued his comeback from his recent slump with a 3-4 day. Bob Carver brought hits down from his vacation in Alaska, also going 3-4, as was Howard Davis.

The defense started and ended with pitching. We were shaky on defense the first few innings, and it cost starter Mark Narciso some unearned runs. Once we settled down, he held the tough White lineup to one run over his last two innings. And along the way he made several of the finest plays of the day on comebacker-smashes that he stabbed. Jay Chafetz made his usual assortment of great catches, whether in left field or right center. We turned at least two double plays - one started by Schwab at SS, and one started by Mike Saindon at 3B.

Finally, our new late inning specialist super-closer Davis came into the game in the sixth, and held White to one run over four innings while we added on 11 runs to salt away the game.

Another team win for the Orange Crush! We stayed loyal through our losing streak!

I guess I will return to my old Taco place. Never mind the wait - it was a lot faster than what I went through today!

(Although I have to say the burrito I had while I waited for the tow truck was really really good).

Orange gets a Royal Flush, 23-13

Apologies to Clay Kallum for stealing your style last week in my frustration at Orange's six game losing streak. I was at the end of my rope, as much as you can be in rec league softball.

But it worked! Thanks Clay, but I won't do it again.

I won't be holding a press conference to announce that our lineup came crashing out of the gate with six straight hits and Jay Chafetz drove in the fifth run as we jumped to a 5-0 lead and 9-0 after three and a half and never looked back. In fact, the top five in our lineup, Ron Schwab, Mark Edelstone, Mike Saindon, Greg Wilson, and Mark Narciso accounted for 16 of our 23 runs. Schwab had three hits, Edelstone two and a walk and four runs scored, Saindon had three hits (also four runs) including a booming triple and a walk, Wilson had three hits and seven RBIs including a Grand Slam - Royal played him deep in right and he still clobbered the ball  20 feet over the right fielder's head. Narciso had a great game at the plate too - three hits and a walk including the 'mini-cycle', single double and triple - but couldn't buy an RBI because Wilson knocked everyone in. His grousing about that made for some good laughs.

But the rally and hit of the game may well have been Gabe Tanaka's shot to center that split two of the best fielders in the league in Gary Namanny and Rich Brown. The three run homer in the top of the seventh put us up 19-8 and pretty much dashed Royal's hopes of a late inning comeback.

Speaking of laughs, Orange played loose like the team that had won six of seven early in the year, not the one that was riding a six game losing streak. It's a testament to the team that we stayed on a level plane throughout the streak. And it's humbling, and it's why we play the game - you just never know until you take the field how it's going to go. And no one can explain why we went into a collective hitting slump, including scoring only 13 runs total the last two weeks, and then matching that today by the sixth inning.

It also helped that Orange played excellent defense today. Third base had several great plays made from all three who manned the hot corner - Saindon, Howard Davis and Art Oller. Chafetz was a Royal wrecking crew in left, making several tough catches over his head and diving for one about to fall in front of him.

And a little luck combined with the good defense helped - Namanny and Brown hit into many outs that were either right at someone or we made a great play on.

Tanaka at 2B and starting pitcher Narciso also added some highlight plays to our reel. And Davis came in to pitch from the sixth on, and even though he allowed one five spot (with many of those runs unearned), he set Royal back to the dugout in three of his four innings with a zero.  That iced the game and we won 23-13.

Orange Juiced Again, Falls to Green 16-7

Orange Manager Heffe Kravin walked into the post game interview room. He sat down, and tapped on the microphone to make sure it was on. It was.

When everyone settled down, but before Kallam could ask his usual softball question, he quickly stood up and flipped over the table.

The room was shocked. As he walked out, someone heard him muttering, “Worked for Rose!”

No Respect But We Don't Care - Coneheads Champs Again!

This is what the Playoff Results Page says on the WCASI web site:

So we are now the AIR COMEHEADS!

And indeed, we did COME again!

It was a remarkable weekend. I think the only real (uninjured) runners we had by the end were Pope and Darren and possibly Gene and Charlie. And Chop and me of course but do we count?

A truism - being the home team is overrated unless there are 40,000 cheering fans in the stands. Jumping on the team in the first is a much larger advantage. We were up on the Elite 9-2 in both games that we came out on top. They never recovered in the Saturday game, and even though they were relentless in the Championship game we were able to add on to stay ahead, if not completely comfortably.

The other truism is the ability to add on - in the championship game the eight run fifth inning when we batted around as the best inning of the year, and loomed even larger when they answered with seven.

There were too many highlights to list them all in (much less I can remember) but the one that is burned into my brain actually occurred in the last inning of the game against Advance Construction. It was in the last inning when Advance wanted to make a last run at us. There was a dribbler to short that James barehanded and slung to first on a bang bang play - no way he gets the out if he doesn't bare hand it. We go on to win the tight game to advance (sorry for the pun).

James was all over the place, diving this way and that, and never made a throw that wasn't right in the first baseman's glove whether it was D, Haze or me. And his hitting - he drove in seven of our dozen runs in the first game against the Elite, outscoring them by himself. He added six in the championship game. All told he drove in 16 over the weekend - all with a hobbled leg. Second on that list was Darren (who had clutch hit after clutch hit) with 6. All of James' doubles deep in the center field gap would have been homers undoubtedly if he were 100%.

Next up is Joe. Joe had batters reaching all weekend long. I think he walked one the whole weekend. And I have never seen anyone defend the middle like Joe. The last play summed up his whole defensive game - he had to reach down in a split second to nab the smash, and the Championship was ours. His defense allowed us to put Rover Randy in the shallow outfield. Normally I am not a fan, I'd rather have five infielders, but with Joe on the mound you already have the middle covered. Against the Elite this was particularly effective because they hit a lot of liners in front of the outfielders, who have to respect their power potential. With Randy's range, it gives us another powerful defensive weapon.

The outfield put on a show, Each one of them, Pope, Gene, Lefty and Darren made numerous running catches. Luckily their legs held out, and I am sure they all took it easy today. Pope and Randy in the leadoff spots were running all over the place and scored nineteen of our 51 runs over the weekend. And that doesn't include when they ran for others, so I'm sure they scored half the team's runs. Darren was 5-6 with two outs in the four games. And he's never seen a shallow fly where he didn't want to make a sliding catch.

Haze gets the all around play any and everywhere award. He made plays at first, second, and rover before settling into third base for the Sunday games. He handled everything flawlessly.

Chopper as usual was a gnat in the opposition's ears behind the plate. And he rediscovered his stroke during the weekend, after struggling for a long time. His shot to left center, a two run triple put the stamp on our biggest inning of the year in the penultimate game that put us up 22-7. Even though they gave us a little scare and narrowed it to five runs, they were really through after that.

Charlie showed up just in time and made a few plays at second including starting a double play on a hot shot, and had a few clutch hits. The first baseman doinked a couple but also made a few plays. His play of the weekend was stretching to his full full 5'7" on the ground while holding the bag on an errant throw from third. Unfortunately, when the call was protested, the field ump realized he was so focused looking to see if he held the bag, he forgot to look at the runner and then decided he had already reached the bag and reversed the call.

Obviously Derek played a huge role in the season and on the first day of Playoffs. Larry stepped in when G went down and anchored 2B all season. Chauncey and super sub Rob and Rich before he was hurt all contributed. The team had to get to know each other this season - between the year off and all the new players. But we got it together and in the end the rag tag team came through. It was sweet.

And last but not least - Chuck wins a Championship in his first year as Manager! There was a learning curve but he made all the right moves. And filled in when necessary, and the man can still hit!

It may be our swan song, and/or it may be the last hurrah for some of us oldsters. If so, it is great to go out on top. But if we can recruit a few more Joes and Jameses and Darrens, maybe the Coneheads can come back and defend our crown. It's hard to believe since we don't routinely go 13-1 in the regular season like we used to, but this is our fourth Cotton year in the last six years the league has played. No one else can say that.

Have a great off season and see you at Masse's!

Milestones:

Game 1:

Chopper      20 bb (#14)

Game2:

Haze            550 ab (#4)

James          10 2b (#20)

Game 3:

None

Game 4:

Lefty            650 ab (#3)

Orange Slush loses to Purple 17-6

The game could be summed up in one at bat - our nominally best hitter, Greg Wilson took a called third strike his last time up.

Team Orange had finally started a too little too late rally in the ninth, scoring four, but that K did us in.

No one knows the mystery of why teams can slump as a whole at times. If you do, please get in touch. The Orange Crush-turned-Slush has just collectively forgotten how to hit and it has turned as viral as the Covid Delta variant.

Lost three, won six of seven, and now lost five. No we're not streaky.
Purple was kind enough to keep us in the game. After streaking to a 10-2 lead after two, we kept them from scoring for three straight innings. But since we didn't take advantage offensively, and then they turned it back on and put the game away with a five run eighth.
At least we had some defensive highlights. Howard Davis was a one man wrecking crew at Rover, and turned two 11U-3 double plays. Mark Narciso swiveled around at the mound and snared a hot shot to start a 1-11-3 double play. Jay Chafetz made tough catches on a couple of bombs to left. Ron Schwab scooped up a few hard grounders and turned them into outs. The first baseman took a hit away from Mark Pitzlin, snagging a nasty one hopper and getting the led runner at second.
Wilson and Heffe led the team with three hits, Mike Saindon and Schwab hit gappers for triples, and that's about all there is to tell about our offense.
I will say that as confused as we are at the plate, we still are having fun out there. Maybe we will even win another game sometime.

Advance to the Playoffs

Sunday we (re-)learned one of the truisms in softball. In a close game, it is better to be the home team.

Yesterday, we parlayed a few dropped balls and lack of hitting to trail most of the game, yet somehow produce a rally in the top of the sixth to take a one run lead going into the bottom half.

But a 6-5 lead in softball, even in a pitcher's duel, is not safe. A couple of hits tied it, and despite a great relay throw from Lefty home, the winning run scored in a 7-6 walk off to Advance Construction.

The defensive play of the game came early - an out at home on a hit to Gene in left center. Randy made a tremendous throw home on that one and we kept them to one run in the first.

We gave away a three run inning in the third and the score held at 5-1 until the sixth and last inning. Finally we strung together a few hits - Gene, Charlie, Heffe, Larry, Pope, Randy, and D made it seven of eight and a sac around a couple of flyouts to give us the 6-5 lead.

Pope had a great game - two doubles including one half way up the fence in deepest right field in that last rally. We all thought it was out. Randy, Darren, Gene and Larry also had two hits. Most of us only got two ABs in the pitchers' duel.

All we proved was that we are very even with Advance, and the good news is that we will have home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs Saturday. I sense another walk-off coming.

Milestones:

7/25:

None

8/1:

None

Elite Delete!

A bases loaded groundout, a slow grounder up the middle bobbled at least twice. These accounted for two of our three runs in the top of the seventh to take what in this game was a commanding 9-6 lead.

Add to that a hard grounder that Dr. Larry managed to knock down and somehow shovel to James covering second in the bottom half, and the elite Elite stranded the tying run on first, and suddenly find themselves just a half game up on the upstart Coneheads.

Granted we will need help to topple them and let's face it, it's all about the playoffs in this league anyway. Still they have now lost to each of the three teams, and the race for Cotton is wide open.

I'm not sure if it was the heat or the pitching but neither team hit very sharply. Joe certainly had the Elite hitters reaching.

Derek made the play of the game in the second when he went airborne to snare a line drive with a ticket to right field. Joe later turned a shot off his toe neatly into a 1-11-3 double play.

Pope's towering opposite field blast over the left fielder's head was the hit of the game, a two run triple in the third. Lefty made an attempt to one up that in the fourth with a gapper to center, only to come up lame with another calf pull coming into second. Whoever heard of barking calves?

It's always tough to win a tough low-scoring close game as the visitor. In that way tonight's was a big game in more ways than just closing in on first place - we let the Elite know they are not all that.

Milestones:

7/11:

Lefty            50 2b (#1)

Pope             10 hr (#2)

Pope             50 g (#21)

7/18:

Pope             100 h (#18)

Orange turns Green with envy, loses 22-21

In a very competitive game, Orange suffered defensive lapses at critical times, and allowed the Mean Green to walk off with a 22-21 win.

The lead changed hands early several times. Green 2-0, Orange 4-2, Green 5-4, Orange 9-5, Green 10-9. Orange 12-10. Then we played even for a couple of innings, until we put up five in the eighth. 21-17 is not a comfortable lead on these fields, but it felt like we had the momentum going into the ninth.

Then Green hung a zero on us in the open ninth. We still felt good, with the bottom of their lineup coming up. But as my own personal adage goes, if the bottom of the lineup hits, you win. They quickly loaded the bases and plated one and with one out, an infield pop fly was dropped and then it was a day at the circus. ALL THREE RUNNERS scored to tie the game. Cue circus music.

With the top of their lineup up now, the end seemed pre-ordained and they walked off with two more hits.

We have all kinds of excuses and had all kinds of chances, but give Green credit for hanging in there, and playing defense until the last out was made.

Jay Chafetz (LF) and Greg Wilson (RC) gave us our great outfield grabs of the day. Wilson also went high up to snare a line shot at rover. And on an earlier infield bases loaded infield popup that was not high enough to qualify as an infield fly, the ball hit the second base bag, and Ron Schwab pounced on it and got a force out at third, with Mike Saindon staying on the base. Heads up play all around.

Saindon led the way with a perfect 5-5 day. Schwab, Steve Sloat, Art Oller, and Kravin added four each. Oller's seemed to all be two out clutch hits, and he led the team with four RBIs. Wilson, Mark Narciso and Chafetz chipped in three each, and Wilson's included our only home run.

The league is tightening with Scarlet's win over Royal, and seems very balanced. Every play counts as we saw on Heather Field Five today.

Vintage Vintage

I played a lot of years in Pleasanton on Sunday and Tuesday nights. One year my Tuesday league had eight teams. And we had sort of a bad season, going 3-6-1. But playoffs came and for the only time in Pleasanton league history that I know of, the powers that be said all teams make the playoffs and there would be two divisions and two declared 'Champions'.

We went out and kicked ass in the 'Lower' division and took home the Cotton.

That's what we need in the Danville League. Let's face it, there are two divisions, the Hornets/Leos and Crows/Vintage. If we end up third we should get an award, and Don should talk to the league about it.

That's because in our second great matchup with Vintage this season we came out on top 17-15 after winning the first game by a run. We are now up 2-0 in the season within a season.

Having previously played for the Wolfpack in Winter ball here, I can say in the years I have played in Danville there is one constant - there will be a call that goes Vintage's way because their umpires do not know how to make a call against their own team if a play is close or is in their minds open to 'interpretation'. Such a play happened in the second inning when one of their base runners stormed right at Mike at third base when he was cocking his arm to throw to second to try for a double play. Runner obviously should have been called out. Their argument was the runner going to second would have been safe. Weak, weak, weak and not to mention that is not the intent or meaning of the rule. There is no 'interpretation'. They ended up scoring more runs, but it just fought off the inevitable as it turned out.

It always happens with that team. It was vintage Vintage. Yet, it seemed to wake us up and we came charging back from the 10-2 deficit we had gifted them with some tough luck pitching and on defense. It was not a roar but we chipped and chipped away and by the top of the sixth we tied it at ten. Then when they answered with two in in the bottom half, we responded with the only five run inning of the game in the seventh. They tied it again in the eighth, but we squeezed two across in the ninth and then had our fifth shutdown inning to close it out 17-15.

Much of the credit goes to Don's pitching, as he settled us down after falling behind. But a lot of that was due to several plays up the middle by Howard at rover and Bruce at SS. And then a couple of times Anthony fired to second on a 'single' to get a force out on some old slow guys, including on the last play of the game to nail the victory.

It was truly a team game, especially on offense. Al, Mike, Anthony, Steve, Bruce, David C, and Howard all had three hits. AND COACH DON, who also walked. David had the biggest hit of the game, a two run triple on the fifth. Anthony had a two out two RBI hit to end the five run inning. Al had a two out two run single in the fourth.

Hopefully you guys can get a win against Leo's or the Hornets while I am on the East Coast. In any case I will see you for the third act of Vintage Vintage in three weeks.

Kiss My Smelly Big Feet

In a very competitive game, both Big Feet and the Coneheads had chances to put away the other team, so maybe it ended appropriately in a tie at 14-14.

The Coneheads sprang out of the box with a three run first as Lefty, Randy and D singled to start the game and it was off from there. Then Big Feet came roaring back with a six run bottom half, and we were back on our heels.

But we had seven straight hits in the second and before you knew it, we were up 10-6. Gene made a great catch in left in the bottom of the second and it helped produce the first of three shutdown innings that saved the game. The biggest hit of the rally was a two run single by Derek, and he was just warming up. In the third we loaded the bases with one out and he promptly cleared them with a deep shot to the fence.

Now we were up 13-6, but Big Feet would not go away. They answered with four and only a great play at third base by D (5-4 putout) for the third out kept them from breaking it open.

Sadly our offense shut down at that point. Big Feet scored another four to take a lead into the last inning. But Derek wasn't done yet. He deposited the ball over the center field fence to tie it at 14. Unfortunately, we couldn't muster enough offense to even squeeze one more run out.

It looked bad as the home team had the heart of their order coming up, but Joe (who also had started a 1-6-3 double play earlier) pitched great and got three very routine outs with no further damage done.

Derek had the monster game with 4-4, both of our extra base hits, and six of the RBIs. Lefty, Randy, and Haze had three hits apiece.

Kiss this.

Milestones:

Derek        30 2b (#7)

Larry         100 r (#14)

We're Back! on the Road Again - Orange 23 - Purple 13

Orange put together another complete game today, dominating in all phases over Purple 23-13.

Orange dared the curse of the first in this one - we scored the maximum in the top of the inning. The big blow was a 3-run gapper with the bases loaded by pitcher Mark Narciso. It cleared the bases for our fifth run and we hadn't even made an out yet.

Purple never came closer than four runs. There was a mini-drought by both teams in the middle innings, and after five it was only 8-4, anyone's game. But the Orange Blizzard woke up and we scored five in each of the next three innings to put it away.

We had a small collection of miscues in the field, but we more than made up for it with some stellar plays. In the third center fielder Greg Wilson made a great running catch for the third out. In the next inning, right fielder Vince Francesci came up clean on a one hop line drive single, and quickly hit rover Steve Sloat, who turned in a flash to fire a bullet to third to nail the speedy Mark Pitzlin trying to steal an extra base.

In the fifth Sloat one-upped himself by snagging a hot shot up the middle, stepping on second and winging an accurate throw to first to double up the other Purple speedster, Chip Sharpe. And then Jay  Chafetz launched into left center and literally stabbed a ball out of the air for the third out. He later ranged far into foul territory for another great running catch.

But the play of the game was a bases loaded no out smash (in the seventh when the game was still not completely out of reach for Purple) to temporary shortstop Brian Black, who plays wherever you ask. He turned to third base and got the runner going there, and third baseman Howard Davis wheeled and threw home to injured outfielder turned catcher Mark Edelstone, who made a great stretch and the second double play in as many innings was ours.

Davis also pitched the middle three innings and held the Purple monsters to just four runs and I think all three of the runs in the sixth were unearned. Narciso battled some wildness but held Purple to just nine runs in his six innings, including a one-two-three  ninth when we flip-flopped.

Wilson led the team with a 4-4 game but he would admit it was not his usual hitting display - two of them were classic Creaker infield pop ups that fell in no man's land.  Black, Edelstone, Francesci, Mike Saindon, Gabe Tanaka (who had the biggest bomb, a right center gapper for our fifth run in the seventh), and Bob Carver all had three hits. Coach Kravin was two for three plus a bases loaded walk, and that included a two out two run single to close the five run eighth, and he led the team with four RBIs. Everyone else had at least one hit.

Looking forward to the next half - the teams are well balanced and it should be a great race to the finish.

Flat!

In an otherwise perfect defensive game, one mental mistake by the Coneheads in the fourth inning with two outs opened the dam for a two out four run rally by the DeGen R-8 Elite, and they went on to beat us in a very tight game, 9-7. James went deep into the 5-6 hole to snag a hot shot, but no one covered second for the force. By the time James threw to first, he threw off balance and the first baseman couldn't stretch far enough to get the out (the batter was probably safe anyway). 

The game started off oddly. On a marginally flat pitch, Marc Hamanaka struck out looking. You know what, with two strikes, swing the bat on a close pitch if you don't hear the ump call "Flat". The rest of the game, Umpire Terry Mason seemed determined to show that he was consistent - another of their hitters was called out on a flat pitch, and there were several flat ones called on us. But the Elite were more and more pissed off, and therefore the more in our favor the umpiring seemed to go.

Joe did a masterful job of going with what the umpire wanted to call, and holding the Elite to nine runs is very impressive, especially considering no more than five were earned.

In the end, the Heads couldn't muster enough offensive power to defeat the Elite. I kept thinking there would be a walk-off hit but it was not meant to be.

The defense was spectacular. In the first, D turned a 5U-2 double play to end the inning when the bases were loaded. Joe started not one, but two 1-6-3 double plays on shots up the middle. In the fifth he threw three pitched, flyouts to Haze in right and Darren in right center sandwiched around a popup to the mound. Charley made a nice stop in the 3-4 hole to get the third out in the third. Chauncey made a great "Willie Mays" Johnson running basket catch in the sixth. Randy and the right side outfielders made several good running catches.

James had another great day at the plate, 4-4 with two doubles. Darren was 3-3, and Heffe was 1-1 with two walks. But once again, we proved scoring under ten runs will not win you many softball games as we also hit into three double plays ourselves.

Milestones:

None

On Any Given Sun...er Tuesday, Scarlet 19 - Orange 12

I've been telling Dave Rose all year that his team has as much talent as any team in the league. I forgot to tell him not to bring it out against Orange.

Orange had run the table the last five games but we were caught dead in our tracks and had a relapse to lose this one. We kept thinking throughout the game that we would come back and win dramatically in the bottom of the ninth, but it just wasn't our day.

Put simply, Scarlet hit the ball, mostly line drive hits, and we didn't. Scarlet caught the ball, and we had a few defensive lapses at key times. We walked batters, Scarlet only one. It's a simple game.

Scarlet dominated from the beginning, putting up nine runs in the first two innings, and we could never quite get that catch-up inning we needed. The closest we got was 16-9 after six, and that was that.

Brian Black and Mark Edelstone were each 4-4, the latter with two run scoring doubles and four RBIs altogether. Mike Saindon had three RBIs on three hits. Steve Sloat and Heffe had a couple of hits in three plate appearances and the latter had the only other extra base hit, a double leading off the ninth.

Defensively, Greg Wilson made a great catch in right center to save a run in the first, as did Jay Chafetz in right field in the fourth. Ron Schwab started a SS to (rover) Sloat to Kravin DP in the seventh, and Gabe Tanaka started a 2B to (rover Wilson) to Kravin DP. These plays helped keep Scarlet from completely running away with it, but didn't make enough of a difference, given our lack of offensive punch today.

We've now split the (first half) season series with each team, with Purple pending next week.

Damn Lucky Hitters

Many of you old farts will remember the group King Crimson, an English progressive rock band from the 60s and early 70s. Predating the group they were Giles Giles and Fripp, which was a trio of three of the main guys in King Crimson. There's a satirical song on their one single album, called The Sun is Shining, that mimics the crooners of the previous generation. It goes like this:

The sun is shining, but it's raining in my heart, 

So please come back dear, and we'll make a brand new start.

Because of you the flowers will not bloom [(will not bloom)]

Because of you the clouds obscure the moon [(obscure the moon)]

The day will come, I hope it's very soon [(very soon)]

The day that brings the sun right into June [(right into June)]

And so on.

In Lefty's case, it goes like this:

The sun is shining, and it's left center in my eye, 

So please take me out coach, before another fly makes me cry.

And so on.

After the Coneheads staked out an early 8-1 lead, Lefty found himself in left center field.

Let me just say I love Lefty's defense. But tonight, the sun got the best of him as he was forced into left center when Rich pulled up lame with a hamstring injury on his double in the bottom of the third. The next inning, Advance Construction found Lefty a few times and put together their only threat to the game when they nearly tied it (8-6). And the next inning it was more of the same when he switched with Pope in left, and then Chopper did his best Jose Canseco imitation as he dropped one off his head, and suddenly our lead was down to 9-8.

It was pretty scary.

But we straightened out our defense, and even though we allowed Advance to tie us in the top of the seventh, we pushed one across in the bottom half on a walkoff sac fly by Darren.

Along the way we really played some outstanding defense, especially by shortstop James. He dove for a third out liner to end the first and kept AC scoreless. He grabbed a shallow left popup and doubled off the runner at second in the fifth. And he turned quickly on a feed from rover Haze to fire to first for another double play in the sixth. And to top it off, he snared the hot line drive with the lead run at third to end the top of the seventh to preserve the tie to that point.

Add to that a strikeout of the veteran sneaky Advance pitcher Bill Eppinga by Joe, and a tough catch in left center by Pope in the same sun and we actually had a pretty good game defensively.

Now about the offense. Let's just say that all you big time smashers at the top of the lineup got more bloop hits today than I usually get all season - and I get a lot! You guys have all the advantage with those outfielders all spread out and deep. I say, more power to you! Because it's more power to the Coneheads! But we all know who hit three line drives tonight, even though I couldn't stretch my single to center into a double on a boot.

The bleeders played in our favor tonight in the penultimate inning as Pope, James and Joe blooped our way to bases loaded with the winning run on third and no outs. And after Advance brought the outfield in, of course Chopper hit the best ball of the inning and lined out directly to the left fielder. But Darren knew what to do and managed a fly deep enough that Pope easily scored the winning run, final score 10-9.

Pope was 4-4 with a double and a triple. James had two doubles in his three knocks and Joe also had three hits. Larry (sincere thanks for showing up and giving us a full team) started his season with a triple. Lefty and Heffe and Darren each had two hits.

Suddenly we leapt over two teams into second place at 2-2! And the season is definitely looking up! We did this without G, Derek, Randy, Charley, and Gene - that's a lot of firepower. And they'll all be back soon.

Milestones:

Pope        150 ab (#20)

Orange Crush Strangles White 25-6

In a perfect world, there is some comic relief. Every day. My Dad used to say, "have some fun every day." And it takes a big man to play the clown, whether by design or happenstance. Regardless of intent, I am willing to provide such service for my team.

In Dennis Perrone's highlight of the year, I sent a ball up the middle, and he fielded it on one short-hop. He was so surprised, he stepped on second for the force out, except there was no one on first to force. There was a runner on third, and he broke for home. Dennis started to go that way but - yours truly was so stunned at how hard he had hit it and how nonchalantly Dennis had picked it, when I saw Dennis make the phantom out at second, I stopped to admire the goings-on. And then Dennis could very nonchalantly throw to first to get an easy third out. And my teammates roared. 

And roared. And I think White did too.

Of course, when your team is up 20-5 in the fifth, it's easy to find humor in the coach's lack of hustle and brains.

So, rewind back to square one, Orange spotted White the Curse of the First, relapsing into some early season lack of defense. but we responded with five of our own in the bottom half, and never looked back. Mike Saindon and Greg Wilson hit back to back bombs for a triple and home run, respectively, and we were off to the races. We then scored 3, 5, 5, 2, 4, and 1, and except for a single run in the sixth, we shut out White the rest of the way. Final score was 25-6 after we flipped and flopped and gave up our last two at bats.

Highlights included Mark Edelstone hitting three gappers for two doubles and a triple and six RBIs, Art Oller, Steve Sloat, and Brian Black going 4-4. Edelstone, Saindon, Wilson, and pitcher Mark Narciso all collected three hits. Each of the rest of the lineup had two hits, so no one was left out of the fun.

Narciso, pitched 8 strong innings, throwing strikes despite the gusty wind, and kept White's great hitters off balance. Howard Davis made his season debut after an eight week road trip, and allowed just one unearned run in his one inning. Gabe Tanaka made several highlight stops at 2B after a rough one in the first. Sloat caught a screaming line drive in the later innings keeping the ball from decapitating him, and also grabbed a much tougher chance out of the air when he wandered into the outfield on a softly hit pop-up. The first baseman picked one out of the dirt, and stopped a hard hit grounder for an out. Wilson tracked one down in the RC gap after a long run, and in his one inning at rover also grabbed a hard liner up the middle and knocked down a grounder to his left, stayed with it, and gunned down the batter at first.

But the web gem was Edelstone going to his knees in shallow dead center to pick a ball before it touched green with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth. That catch changed to tone of the game.

I do want to congratulate White for playing hard and having fun despite the lopsided score. I'm not sure I would have been such a good sport as their players were, and kudos to them.

Every week someone else steps up on this team. Who's next?

Sweet 16

The play of the game for me: I was sitting in my car, getting ready to leave, minding my own business. The car door was still open, I was talking to Julia.

All the sudden I hear the sound of a ball hitting a car, and the next thing I know, there is a ball bouncing off my car door and landing at my foot by the brake. I picked it cleanly!

Reggie from Big Feet came over to retrieve it. He saw it hit my car on the inbound, and said it looked like I got lucky because there was no dent where it hit.

I have to say I have parked at the dog park parking lot for 100% of the games I have played on Field 5 in the last five years at least. Tonight I was a little early so I parked way down the line on the outside. I think it's back to the dog park!

Now back to the game.

In my other life, I was a mathematician. I know, big surprise. So I like numerical sequences.

Especially this one: 2, 9, 16. That's the number of runs we have scored in the first three games. So the next three will be 23, 30, 37. I like this trend!

Finally shaking off the pandemic rust, the Coneheads  put together a combination of solid defense and timely offense to dominate first place Big Feet tonight.

The Feet dropped two on us in the first and it didn't look good when we left the bases loaded in the bottom half. But Joe started his way to a great game in the top of the second when he stopped a smash up the middle, before it hit the ground, and calmly and quickly flipped the ball to first where all I had to do was tap the runner who was slow to get back to the bag, for the double play.

After that, we nearly batted around in the bottom half of the second. Rich had the hit of the game when he cleared the loaded bases with a double to give us the lead at 3-2, and we never relinquished it. We scored three with no outs and importantly scored another three with two outs when Joe and James hit back to back doubles. We never looked back, adding two in the third on a Jeff Hazel Coneheadish double, and six more in the fourth. Chauncey started that rally off with a gapper triple, and after Heffe brought him in and Lefty singled, Joe tripled home two more.

Joe had a big game. He dominated the Big Feet big and little hitters. He stopped another smash up the middle. All told he was 4-4 with two doubles and a triple. Lefty, James, and Gene added three hits each, and everyone had at least one. Rich made the catch of the game with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth, and James ranged far into shallow left/foul ground to catch the last two outs.

Milestones:

Game 1:

Heffe        650 ab (#2)

Gene        250 h (#9)

Randy      350 ab (#12)

Game 2:

None

Game 3:

Chauncey  50 h (#23)

Three for the price of one, Orange 26 - Royal 11

 After the Orange team had a victory beer, I moseyed over to the Royal pod to gloat.

John Preston said, "Here comes Kravin to gloat."

I was trying not to gloat.

Doug and Gary and Gerry and others said, "You can gloat now."

And I was trying not to gloat!

Well so here goes: No one wants to play Orange right now, we are on a roll, four wins in a row, including taking down two undefeated teams.

Way to jinx us for next week Heff.

This game was actually way closer than the score indicates. It was one of those three games in one games. In the first three innings we scored five twice, and zero in the third, while the talented Royals tallied 4, 1. and 5. So after three innings it was knotted up at 10 and it looked like a 31-30 game.

Thirteen of our first 15 batters got hits. The Marks, Narciso and Edelstone both ended an inning driving in the last runs with a double. I'm sure the scorecard on the other side looked similar.

And then an amazing thing happened - all the bats went silent on both teams. We scratched over two runs in the fifth, and Royal one in the sixth but for innings 4-7 the score was 2-1.

So it was that we took our very slim one run lead into the top of the eighth. Royal got two quick outs. Then Vince Francesci singled, and Mike Saindon doubled and up strode the secret weapon, Greg Wilson, the big lefty. He planted a long line drive way over the right fielder's head for a three run homer. And when we got back to back doubles by Ron Schwab and Narciso and a single from Ike Garcia, it seemed that the game was over.

Royal threatened in the last two innings but didn't score. We batted around in the open ninth and piled on another nine runs for the final score of 26-11 so it looked like a blowout, but really wasn't. We did dominate the last two innings 14-0.

Along the way we had plenty of good defense, which has really been the hallmark of our turnaround. Jay Chafetz made a great catch robbing Gary Namanny with two outs and the bases loaded in the second. Steve Sloat and Gabe Tanaka played two really high hop grounders into outs in the fourth and sixth. Saindon went to his knees at third base to stop a ball ticketed to left field to get a force out at second in the eighth. Then Francesci gunned down a runner at second on a clean single to right and Bob Carver snared a fading hard hit line shot up the middle for the third out.

The play of the day, though came in the fifth. On a little looper in no man's land in the infield, Schwab scooped it up before it touched the ground, and then shot the ball to second to turn a double play.

Narciso was 5-5 with six RBIs, Francesci was 4-4 plus a walk, and Chafetz, Edelstone, Saindon, Wilson (five RBIs), Schwab, Sloat and Carver all had three hits. Tanaka took two walks for the team to go with his hit, something he probably rarely does. Narciso also pitched the middle three innings, allowing just one run, and Garcia allowed zero the last three innings.

It was a great way to spend a Tuesday morning!

Orange Crush Cruises past Green 22-15

 I love Orange Juice. Especially when the team is slashing line drives all over the field, and when not doing that, dropping in bloop singles.

For the third week in a row, Team Orange took it out on the opposition, this time avenging our opening game loss to Green, 22-15.

It was a good sign (for us) when Ike Garcia retired the first three batters for a one-two-three first. And then we put up five, two of them on a monster shot by Greg Wilson over the right center fielder's head. In the second, two picks by the first baseman kept Green from tying it up, but in the top of the third our defense got a little too relaxed and allowed Green to get things even at 8-8. It was as close as they got to a lead in the whole game.

Mark Narciso came in to pitch the middle innings. Steve Sloat made a nice catch on a popup behind second that was whistling in the breeze. Garcia, in his time off the mound, went out to play second base for an inning in the fifth. Immediately the ball found him and he made a two nice plays to keep Green off the board.

In the bottom half we got five straight hits to open the inning, and after a sac fly, Gabe Tanaka plated the last run with a bomb to right center field. He was bummed it wasn't a home run (I suspect it was him that secretly snuck up and filled in his square on the scorecard), which it would have been had not the fifth run been on first.

That gave us a 20-9 lead and we kind of went on cruise control until the end. There were some nice catches in the outfield along the way by Sloat, Brian Black and Mark Edelstone.

The whole lineup hit well, but we were led by Wilson, Ron Schwab, and Garcia, who were all 4-4, and Mike Saindon, Tanaka, Bob Carver, Art Oller, and the coach who all had three knocks. Garcia led the way with 4 RBIs.

It was a long road but Team Orange got to .500 with the win.

I coulda had a V8

Or been anywhere else when the Coneheads got hammered by Advance Construction Sunday. One of the Advance Construction team members is on my Creaker team this year. He's always telling me how they have dominated the league the last few years. And looking at yesterday's game, you might be inclined to believe him.

14-2. Not pretty.

So I had to look it up. Covid has stretched out our concept of time. In 2019, indeed they were 10-4 and we were a distant third at 6-7-1. And in 2018 they were 12-1 and we were in third at 8-5-1. But that year we tore through the playoffs, and took down Big Feet and them. Before that of course we ended the season in first place four straight years.

Not exactly Advance dominance, but judging from Sunday afternoon the torch may have been passed.

We are in a period of transition - coaching change, Joe retired. And we added a lot of talent but talent takes a while to gel. That's where we are today.

We started off well enough. Loaded the bases in the first with no outs, D got us on the board with a hit. And then - two popups and a ground out. Advance didn't start any better, only scoring once in the first two innings. We took our first (and last) lead in the second. It was a Chopper special - he doubled and when Gene grounded out to third, he just kept running, drew a throw that should have been the faux pas third out at third, and of course they airmailed it to get him off the hook.

But unfortunately that was it for our scoring - Advance shut us out the rest of the way. 

Defensive highlights included a 6U-3 double play by Randy, the new Joe's first Conehead K, and Gene and Pope making tough catches with the Field 3 sun in their eyes in the 6th.

Hopefully we will start hitting next week.

The Orange Purple People Eater. 25-22

"Well I saw the thing comin' out of the sky

It had the twelve long horns, and twelve big Orange eyes

I commenced to shakin' and I said "Ooh-eee"

It looks like a purple people eater to me

It was a twelve-eyed, twelve-horned, flyin' Orange purple people eater

(Twelve-eyed, Twelve-horned, flyin' Orange purple people eater)

A Twelve-eyed, Twelve-horned, flyin' Orange purple people eater

Sure looks strange to me (one eye?)"

(If you remember this tune, you are probably even more ancient than me)

This is now Frank Coppa's nightmare.

The short handed Orange Monster came out of the sky and ate up the Purple People, 25-22 on field 4 today.

We only had 11 1/2 players, but sometimes having fewer in the lineup just keeps everyone hot and that we were, up and down the lineup.

We dominated the early going. Mark Narciso held the powerful Purple lineup to seven runs in the first five innings. Twice he set down the top of the order - that includes Chip Sharpe, Mark Pitzlin, Gary Tryhorn and Raul Delgado - with zero or one run.

In the top of the first, Mike Saindon made two of his patented great stops at third base to get outs. In the bottom half, Mark Edelstone hit a gapper triple to score a hobbling Kevin Hopkins. Mark ended the day with the 'mini-cycle', a homer, triple, double, and a walk. Gabe Tanaka finished the scoring with a shot down the left field line past the speedy Sharpe and only stopped at second because the fifth run had scored.

In the second we traded four run innings. In the third, Tryhorn smashed a deep fly to dead center that Edelstone tracked down after a long run, and squeezed his glove when the ball rattled around for a while. Then Mark Narciso induced a comebacker from Delgado and made a nice play to get the third out. 

In the fifth we turned over the lineup with six straight hits sandwiched around a bases loaded RBI walk (look it up Frank) to yours truly - the capper being a left center gapper by Hopkins that plated the last two.

There we stood with a commanding 19-7 lead, but we knew the Purple people would make a comeback. And sure enough they did, scoring 12 in the next two frames to tighten the game to 20-19, Suddenly it was anyone's game. 

But in the bottom of the seventh, we answered with five. The game turned on a two out grand slam by Edelstone - again down the left field line. It turned a one run inning into five just like that. Have a game Mark!

In the eighth we traded zeroes - the only time they held us scoreless. It was the right side of the infield's time to shine. The first baseman fell/dove (and then even managed to get up and run to first!) to steal a hit away from one Purple Player, and then Tanaka ranged far to his left to rob another and get the third out.

In the top of the ninth, Delgado did his thing and mashed his second home run, but it was too little too late, and we walked off with the 25-22 win. Purple is undefeated no more! Yum Yum, Eat 'em up!

Brian Black was a perfect 5-5, Art Oller was also perfection at 4-4, Saindon was 4-5, Edelstone led the way with six RBIs.

I voted three MVPs - Edelstone on offense, Tanaka on defense (he also caught a troublesome popup) and Narciso on the mound for making the Purple People look largely ordinary.

Orange 28 Crushes Scarlet 16

There are lots of new players in the American Division this year (and from last) making their debuts this season. So every team is loaded with hitters. No one notices the defense, except when we give the other teams five or six outs in an inning.

In the battle today of the winless Orange and Scarlet, Orange finally put together a few innings of good defense and the very solid pitching of Ike Garcia to soundly defeat Scarlet 28-16. Putting up 28 runs didn't hurt either.

The game was a lot closer than that in the middle innings. The Orange Crush went 1-2-3 in the top of the first but then tallied ten in the next three innings to take a commanding 10-2 lead. The offensive highlight was two run shot over the right center fielder's head by Greg Wilson who touched them all. The defensive highlights were snag/putouts at rover by Mark Narciso and Mike Saindon at third in the fourth and just a crazy good catch in left by Brian Black, on a ball that was seemingly smashed over his head until he reached up and snared it.

In the third we scored five runs on five two out hits by the Coach, Black, Mark Edelstone, Kevin Hopkins, and Vince Francesco. We were on our way.

Ike was dealing and shut out the tough Scarlet lineup for three innings. But Scarlet pecked away with two in the fifth and when we had a defensive relapse in the sixth, they scored six to narrow our lead to 12-10. Our only runs in the middle were on a booming run scoring triple by Saindon, who then also scored on a sac fly by Steve Sloat.

Unlike last week though, this week we were determined to keep our lead. We tallied five in the seventh and four in the eighth punctuated by a triple to left by Narciso. In the ninth we put it away when we batted around with nine of the first ten batters reaching base. We netted seven in the open inning and the 28-16 lead held in the bottom of the ninth.

Francesco was a perfect 5-5, Wilson and Gabe Tanaka had four hits, and Black, Hopkins, Edleston, Saindon, Garcia, Narciso, and Kravin all had three hits to lead the offense.

Smashed Pumpkins 12, Royalty 17 at Rudgear

Last week and throughout the practice games, Team Orange was the Smashing Pumpkins on offense, but played defense like we were all Orange globs.

Today we had some good signs - our defense was greatly improved, holding the monster Royal lineup to 17 is a feat in itself. We played from behind the whole game but it was 3-2 through one, 9-8 through five, and 12-9 through six. We lapsed in the seventh and Royal took advantage to post the only five spot in the game. We heroically held them scoreless in the ninth, and had hopes for a miracle home ninth. But a badly timed double play put us behind the eight ball and we could only muster two runs, and lost 17-12.

Several Orange defensive highlights: Greg Wilson made a diving, tumbling catch in right center to rob the batter of a hit, probably extra bases. Mike Saindon made two diving stops on drilled one hoppers at the hot corner for outs. Brian Black's pitching was actually lights out, and his highlight was a strike three looking on a very good hitter. He also ran down a potential gapper when he went to the outfield. Steve Sloat and Bob Carver made great stops up the middle on a liner and a one hop smash, respectively. The first baseman nearly made a circus catch on a little bloop over his head, but even when he dropped it he managed to get a force out at second.

We had our issues on offense, hitting a lot of grounders right at the Royal infielders. But give Doug Uchikura and his brain trust credit - they were in good position on a lot of our hitters.

There were a few good hits. Art Oller led the way with three line drive hits, and he was joined by Vince Franceschi and Bob Carver. Kevin Hopkins had the best hit - an opposite field double over the left fielder's head. Mark Edlestone also burned the left fielder for a leadoff triple in the fourth.

One of these weeks we will put it all together and then watch out for the Smashing Pumpkins!

From Under the Bus, It's Orange 26 - Green 28

You're not supposed to throw your teammates under the bus in these write-ups. Accentuate the positive, skip the bad. Happy, happy joy joy.

Well...I've never been one to hold back.

The good news is I don't have to name names, because the list is long, and it is crowded here under the bus. Maybe not everyone had an error, but nearly everyone did and it cost us dearly and was the difference in a 28-26 loss to Green.

The other good news is that we are an exciting hitting team. Greg Wilson and Vince Franceschi led the way with four hit perfect games. With three were Brian Black, Mark Edelstone, Ron Schwab, Mike Sainden, Bob Carver, Gabe Tanaka, Kevin Hopkins and yours truly. That's ten out of 14 with at least three hits.

Franceschi had a home run and a triple in his pocket, although his teammates had to practically go out on the field and beg him to keep running on the homer. Vince drove in seven runs to lead the team. Sainden crushed one to Field 6 hobbling on one leg and limped all the way to third base. Hopkins and Ike Garcia also added triples.

I'm hoping next week we discover that we actually own gloves AND know how to use them. There's always hope right?