Not the Best is Good Enough

They say (who knows who they are) a good team will scratch out a win when they do not play their best. Yesterday's game is living proof of that. Leo's would have liked nothing better than beating us to get into the pennant race while we were off but succumbed to some timely hitting, generally good defense and very good pitching to fall 13-8 to the Crows.

Several of us had off games at the plate as we hit almost a hundred points below our previous season low. But Anthony, Charlie, and Lamont with assists from Clay, Ed and Dandy Don D carried us to victory. Anthony was 4-4  and scored every time up. After we let them take a first inning 4-1 lead, Clay hit a two run blast to get us close in the second, and then Charlie hit the Big Bombiggedy Grand Slam in the third to give us the lead for good. LT followed with a solo shot down the left field line, and later added a two run ninth inning triple that gave us the breathing room we needed heading into the bottom of the last. In the middle Ed had a run scoring triple and Don D started our game winning rally with a double.

With the exception of two dropped third out fly balls by unnamed fielders, we played a really good defensive game. Charlie made a nice catch in left field, and he and Ed made a couple of stops at the bump. And the two of them kept Leo's from getting comfortable at the plate all game.

Good to get the win against a decent team, but we will need to step it up next week against the Hornets in Battle Deuce for first place. The weather forecast does not look good but we'll see.

Another Tuesday, Another BS Win

The SF Forty Niners appear to be by far the most talented team in the NFL this year. Even after a midseason slump when they lost three in a row, they have taken their rightful spot atop the conference standings for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They are currently considered the team with the best chance to win it all this year.

Likewise Team BS sits atop the non-existent standings in the Creaker Winter League. It could be argued that we have the most talented team in the league. It could also be argued that our talent is no better than some or all of the other teams, but we have players that show up, which has been a problem for at least a couple of the other teams. Plus personally I think we have better chemistry. My new mantra - better softball through chemistry.

We were shut out in the first but roared back with 14 runs in the second through fourth, and the outcome was never in doubt, despite giving up a nine run seventh to temporarily allow Team Gray back into the game at 21-16. The final tally was 25-16.

It didn't help that Gray's second and third pitchers walked five in those three innings. Even though it is slow pitch softball, good teams take advantage of the free pass - it is called being unselfish, let the next man or woman be the hero with an additional baserunner to try to get home and runners moved up. Case in point, in the third, Darren Bobrosky took a bases loaded walk and Art Miner followed with a bases clearing triple.

David Peterson was the hero in those innings with two two run doubles, and Leo Kay closed out the second with a two run single, as we scored five with no outs. In the seventh we again plated five, this time with seven straight hits with one out, the big blow again delivered by who else, Miner with a two run triple. It was a good thing too, as Gray followed with their nine run inning which drew them temporarily close.

We salted away the game with four runs added on in the eighth, featuring clutch two run hits by Kay and Captain Dave Rose.

There were several defensive plays of note. Miner fired a bullet to rover Gerry Dasey to nail a runner at second on a clean 'hit' in the second. 2B Curt Wade got dirty to corral a grounder and flipped to second for the third out in the fourth. Dave DeWitt stopped a rocket off the bat of the new Creaker Glen Shipley and fired to first in the fifth, and his partner in crime 2B Sandy Camp followed with a nice stop for the subsequent out. In the sixth, Dasey made a nice stop on a ball up the middle, and Camp caught a liner in right field to keep Gray scoreless that inning.

The other theme of the game was that Gray's baserunning and third base coaching kept gifting us outs. The game highlight play occurred when a runner ill advisedly tested 2B and cutoff Wade's arm on a hit to right. Curt fired to third to get the guy by two steps. And of course followed that up by snaring a line drive to his right for the last out.

Miner of course led us with six RBIs on three hits, but Kay was right behind with five also on three hits. Peterson was a perfect 4-4 and leadoff batter Brian Black also had four hits. Dan May was welcomed back (even though he nearly suffered the same hand injury on an identical ball hit his way at 3b) with his three hits, and Camp broke out of her slump with three hits as well.

One more to go to close out the 2023 part of the schedule undefeated!

The Crows Muddy the Cats, 18-8

Check out this sequence. $5 to the one who can tell me what it is:

0,1,0,2,1,3,2.

No, it is not a complicated Fibonacci sequence. No, it is not a sophisticated combination to code state secrets. As far as I know, it has never appeared in a puzzle book.

Do you give up? It is the number of strikeouts we have had in our first seven games. Good to see we got our quota Wednesday, Charlie joining the ranks of the whiffers and Clay tying Mark for first place with two for the season so far. This race is more exciting than watching the other teams flailing at trying to score runs against us after the third inning. Still in site (no jinx), the first team in slow pitch softball history to win a title averaging more than 1 K per game (1.29 right now).

We toyed with the Mudcats, letting take a brief lead 4-3 in the first after Barry hit a three run absolute bomb in the top half. The next homer, a slicing gapper to right center leading off the third by Dave B put us up again but it wasn't until the fifth that we went ahead to stay. It again was started by Barry with another gapper, this time for a triple, and it was punctuated by my slice down the third base line past an old man who couldn't bend over to make it 9-7.

The Mudcats were having trouble throwing strikes - both pitchers, and we are the kind of patient hitters to take advantage, well, some of us. In the decisive sixth, three of four of our walks scored. But in between there was a two run triple by Randy, a backward K to Charlie, and a two run double by Dave B. We never looked back, although we also added on with a four spot in the eighth on six singles.

Clay had a couple of nice catches including racing out after being initially fooled by a blast in the middle innings when it was still close. Charlie had a number of nice plays as a last minute replacement for the missing Lee at SS.

But the defensive player of the game was the venerable Don Clay on the mound. It was I think the third or fourth inning. He speared a hot shot line drive going at his head, which completely messed up the runner at first, who had taken off instantly knowing the ball was headed to the center field gap. He hadn't even stopped to turn around when Don got the ball to first. After that, I told him he could tie a major league record making all three outs, and sure enough he induced a dribbler off the mound, that he pounced on like the proverbial cat, and tossed to me at first for the last out. Technically, a putout and two assists, but who's counting.

Randy and Dave B led the way with four hits, and Barry and Dave split the RBI honors with five apiece.

Next up is Leo's, who aren't dead yet. They came from behind to beat the Wolfpack on the other field. My sources tell me the Pack were ahead until the ninth inning when one of my former teammates made an egregious error to open the floodgates. Let's be like the 49ers and just take them one at a time. It's worked pretty well so far!

Black Blasts Purple in the Heart, 24-16

There are several story lines to Team BS' 24-16 victory over Purple Tuesday. The game started with Purple missing four of their top hitters including a couple of starting outfielders. We could hardly tell because of the thick fog - who could see who was out there?

After a shutdown top of the first, Brian Black made them pay on the leadoff Black Shirt AB. He sent a ball over the left fielder for a round tripper, and the race was on (in his second AB, Black hit a triple, causing this writer to wonder if anyone had ever hit for the cycle in reverse order).

The first half could be called the Roger Gawne Game. He came up in the third and the fifth with three runs already in, and sent all four remaining runs home with a single and a double. He also started a 5-11-3 double play in the second that Gerry Dasey at rover was in the middle of and yours truly picked the quick throw out of the dirt.

The score was but 8-6 after Purple put up six in the fourth, and then Black (the pitcher) got a strike three looking. And this welcomed in the Sandy Camp Show. In the sixth Camp moved to rover and turned a rover unassisted to first double play. She moved to catcher in the seventh, and snared a foul tip just over the batter's head for one out and then received a throw from the outfield from Art Miner to SS Steve Rousso to home to nail a would be scorer. In the next inning she moved to first base and finished the run off by corralling a foul pop up. The curtain was dropping on Team Purple.

This was because Team Black Shirts put up five spots in the fifth, seventh, and eighth. In the fifth it was the top of the order, Black, Dave DeWitt, Darren Bobrosky, Miner, and Dasey with consecutive hits. In the seventh, the big blow was a Miner home run, and in the eighth it was doubles by Curt Wade, Greg Mathers, Rousso, and Leo Kay. Kay also had a home run and tied Gawne with a team leading four RBIs.

Purple made a valiant rally in the ninth, putting up a touchdown to close to the final score but it came up short by another touchdown and a two point conversion. All in all, three BS players had four hits and six more had three and everyone had at least one.

Black Shirts Continue Streaking, 20-18 over Blue

For the fifth consecutive game, Team Black Shirts was tied or was within a single run of the opponent in the eighth inning or later. Whether by shear luck or by talent, Team BS has been able to close out games, and emerged victorious once again Tuesday over Team Blue, 20-18.

Harking back to the controversial end of the first game between these two clubs in October, Wilbur Williams volunteered to umpire the first batter. On the first pitch, he immediately gave pitcher Greg Mathers a warning to get behind the screen after releasing the ball. Both benches emptied, and a brawl ensued. Wait - that last part was just in my head. In reality, Mathers just shook it off and there were no further related incidents the rest of the game. New York is still debating whether Greg actually was not behind the screen.

It was a back and forth game. Blue led 5-2 in the third, Black 12-6 after six, Blue closed to 15-14 in the top of the eighth, Black answered with a five spot, and finally Blue's ninth inning rally ended up two runs short.

The play of the game was a throw on a hit to right center to Dave DeWitt to cutoff man David Peterson at shortstop who threw a strike to third to nail a runner.

The offense got stronger the longer the game went, as BS scored five in two of the last four innings. Hitting stars started with Art Miner, 4-5 with five RBIs , and whose two run homer put us ahead to stay. Peterson was also 4-5 with three doubles, and Mathers was 4-4 plus a sac fly, and tied Miner for the team leading five RBIs. That's right, the two of them drove in half our runs. Roger Gawne and Steve Rousso added three hits, and Gawne corralled a self preservation stab of a smash to him at third.

He was playing third because in the first inning, Dan May had another hot shot hit at him, and he accidentally got his throwing hand in the way, after which he was bleeding profusely in the dugout, and had to rush to the hospital where he got five stitches! Dan is a gamer! The injury report is that he is out ten days, get back soon!

Up next, Mighty Purple, who leads the league in runs scored. Bring it on!

BS Turns Green Green, 23-21.

I am sure there is a special fee to be paid back by Team BS for the games thus far. Once again yesterday's game was tied late - not in the ninth but 20-20 after seven. It was a back and forth game that ended with us up 23-21. Great game!

Team Green jumped ahead 5-2 after two. We allowed one more in the third and then our bats woke up. We poured out innings of five, four and five again to take a commanding lead 16-8 going into the sixth. But we were once again very generous in the field and gave up six in the next two innings to give back all the lead and then some. Team Green, and all these teams have just too much talent to not make every play you can. When we weren't throwing to the wrong base they would hit gappers with the extra out.

Trailing 20-16, we did rally with four in the bottom of the seventh to gain the tie after seven. Then starter and closer extraordinaire Greg Mathers came back in, and held the Green to one run in the last two innings while we scored three eighth inning runs to end up with the final 23-21 tally.

In the third we scored five on six straight hits. In the fourth, the big hit was David Peterson's booming triple nearly to field six (from HF4). In the sixth, seven of eight hits to get five.

But we saved the best for last. In the seventh, Darren Bobrosky had a two run single to get us close and Leo Kay had the game tying clutch double. In the decisive eighth, it was once again Roger Gawne who had the clutch hit. This time (for the second time in the game!) he hit a two run double to untie the affair. All that was left was Mather's mastery in the ninth.

Our pitching (Mathers and Brian Black) was so good really that there were mostly routine outs. Art Miner made two catches looking straight into the sun in the sixth to save runs. Dave DeWitt made a nice running catch in right center in the fifth. The play of the game was 2B Curt Wade taking a cutoff throw from right field, and realizing the base runners had dared to start to take an extra base executed the run down play flawlessly. He ran straight at the runner between home and third and made him commit. A lob to Frank Coppa and subsequent throw home to Sandy Camp at home plate told Green "not on our watch!"

Gawne (two 2B, four RBIs) and Miner (five RBIs) were 4-4. DeWitt was 4-5, and Bobrosky had four RBIs on three hits. Kay, Mathers, Peterson, Black, and Dave Rose contributed three hits.

Sadly, Team BS now has to weather two weeks off with the Bye and Thanksgiving coming up. But we will be back, fat, dumb, and Gobble Gobble! Happy Holiday!

Spirits of the Game - Team BS Walks Off Gray 17-16

It was Halloween, but there were no Ghosts, Goblins or Ghouls. There was a bunny hopping along (and literally after Sandy Camp got hit on the bases by an errant throw). There were some long dreadlocks but in the end it was not deadlocked. And that is no BS.

In one of the closest games of the year, Team Black Shirts walked off on a Roger Gawne single to left that plated David Peterson for a 17-16 win over Team Gray..

The first third of the game was all BS. After a solo homer by Gray's amazing Kenji Kishimoto in the top half, Black Shirts scored three in the first and four in the third for a strong if not commanding 7-1 lead. Greg Mathers collected a swinging strikeout along the way, and David DeWitt was able to throw out the speedy Ron Schwab at second on a single, another of those now I've seen everything moments. The big blows were back to back triples by DeWitt and Darren Bobrosky in the third.

Our defense decided to take the fourth inning off and Gray woke up. They stormed back to take 12-7 and 14-11 leads in the fifth and sixth innings. Black turned to Black Magic and kept it close thanks to two double plays from Peterson to Helen Kostoff to heffe. We rallied for four in the seventh. Gray moved ahead once again in the top eighth, but on a sac fly we tied it, snd for the second game in a row, we entered the ninth even (16 all).

Starter and closer Mathers made sure Gray didn't score in the top of the ninth, and that made all the difference. Peterson and Steve Rousso singled, Coach Dave Rose moved Peterson along to third and Gawne made good with the line drive to left.

Other defensive highlights included Gawne going up high to snare a line drive at 3B in the eighth and Leo Kay making a pair of nice catches in right field in the seventh to keep Gray scoreless that inning.

DeWitt had the biggest game with a double and a triple and four RBIs among four hits. Right behind him was Kostoff with a perfect 3-3 after having bad luck finding the green grass on her liners the first couple of games. Brian Black and Gawne joined her with three hits.

Team BS swept the first four games, and I am sure there may be some grumblings but the scores entering the ninth the last three games were 16-16, 19-19 and 15-14. Close games are the most fun!

Black Shirts Overcome the Purple People Eaters, 23-19

Team BS set a record today.

Helen Kostoff (with my assist) poured a record number of her whiskey/schnapps/OJ/bacon shots in the postgame celebration. Unfortunately the Guinness record people weren't there to count officially but I think it may ahve been north of 12 and was spread out over I swear half the bleacher front row. Bottoms up!

We had much to celebrate, because we survived some bad defense and kept the Purple Whitenecks at bay for a final score of 23-19. The game was close throughout, and Purple just wouldn't go away, tying it at 19 to end the eighth. Art Miner was the hitting star as he went 4-4 with two triples, and one of those started off our four run ninth that put the game away.

Purple still was not done, but with the tying run at the plate we turned a slick 6-4-3 (Dave DeWitt to Kostoff to Heffe) double play to end it.

Curt Wade continued his hot hitting, also going 4-4 with a double. Heffe (the usual 3-3 Dinkers) and Frank Coppa (2-2 plus two BBs) rounded out the perfect at the plate. Brian Black and David Peterson were 3-4 in the BS cause.

Miner made a couple of noteworthy catches as did DeWitt in RC and Darren Bobrosky in left. Coppa dug one out at first in the first, and DeWitt lunged to catch a line drive at SS in the third. But 3B Dan May owned the fourth - first he leapt high for a line shot ticketed for left field, then on the next play he cut off a shot toward the 5-6 hole and flung it to Rover Kostoff to get the second out.

I heard that winter will start in earnest next week as it is supposed to get colder, but we will try to stay hot. That's no BS.

Black Turns Blue Blue, 19-15

I am going to start with an apology. This is to Gary Tryhorn. I am sorry for what I am about to write. My past history calls me out to report the facts and the things that stand out though.

If you live long enough, maybe it is true that you do see everything. Things that you thought you would never see. And today we saw Gary hit a pop foul ball with two and a half strikes and it goes down as a strikeout.

As we know, Gary is an all world player, literally in the National Softball Hall of Fame, and if he has ever done that before I am sure in the thousands of games he has played, he can count those on one hand. Gary, after all, has better bat control than anyone I for one have ever seen. So we did get to see history today.

There was a game too. It was a back and forth affair with five lead changes. Early on, Team BS was missing on offense and had a few problems on defense. But we persevered.

In the first, even though we started with two outs Darren Bobrosky came up and smashed a ball that turned out to be our only home run of the game.

We gave up the lead in the second, but in the third with two outs and no one on, we hammered eight straight hits (with only one extra base hit, a double by David DeWitt), and when the dust cleared we had our five for a 7-5 lead.

Blue answered with five the next inning and the seesaw was on. In the fifth, Curt Wade hit the first of two RBI doubles and eventually we scratched back to 10-10 in the sixth, but Blue jumped out with four more. Not to be outclassed, we answered with a five run seventh. Leo Kay started it with a double and later Brian Black matched that. In between Heffe had a two run single and DeWitt cleaned it up with another one.

Starter and Closer Greg Mathers came back in and pretty much shut the Blues down. In the open inning we added four, punctuated  by Wade's two run two bagger.

As it was a Creaker game, we had to have controversy and in the bottom of the ninth there was a play by pitcher Mathers where he came from behind or not from behind the screen and the punishment was or wasn't a warning or the batter was or was not awarded first base, and the play stood or didn't stand, to make the last out. There was an argument and a rule look up and in the end the argument fizzled out when everyone decided this was getting in the way of the post game beverages. Game over.

The play of the game came in the seventh with Black on the mound. There was a short popup up the first base line with the bases loaded, and Black lunged to get it. He got a glove on it and it bounded into foul territory. Catcher/manager Dave Rose hustled over for it and raced back to the plate to get the third out and preserve our one run lead at the time.

DeWitt made a couple of nice running catches in right center. We turned one double play - 2B Steve Rousso to Rover Gerry Dasey to heffe digging it out of the dirt. Mathers went deep in the 3-4 hole on a grounder and 2B Sandy Camp and 1B Dasey made good plays to keep Blue from getting much of a rally going in the open ninth.

On offense no one was perfect but Black, DeWitt, Art Miner, Mathers, Rousso, and Roger Gawne led the way with three hits.

Just another day in Paradise, world events be damned!

ND Cuervo shows up, 21-8 Over Orange

Where to start in a game like this. We should start at the beginning but I will start at the end: Team Cuervo, the most schizophrenic team in the league, put it all together and won over Orange going away, 21-8, avenging two earlier defeats at Orange's hands.

But back to the beginning: It started with defense. SS Tom Sciarrino had perhaps his best game since joining Gold. In top of the first, he dove for a grounder for one out. Not sure if it was still in the first, but on a hot shot that 3B Andy Steinberg knocked down Sciarrino hustled to third base to take the throw to get the lead runner. Tom served notice to Orange - we were here to play on this day.

After dispatching Orange, Willie Hollis led off with a blast over the left fielder's head for a triple. Dan DeClercq drew a walk, and Dick Stanley drove in the first run. Up stepped Jay Edwards. Jay had missed the last three games playing Tom Sawyer on the Mississippi River. He had led the team in RBIs before he left. He deposited a line drive into right center and we jumped to a 3-0 lead. It's like he never left.

Orange came back to take a 5-3 lead after 3, but Woody Whitlatch came in to pitch, and shut them down for two innings. Woody pitched brilliantly, painting the inside corner on the Orange dead pull hitters and getting two strikeouts on foul balls.

Still it was a game as we stalled a little on offense. Then in the fourth consecutive hits by Kravin, DeClercq, Stanley, Charlie Uhlman, Edwards, and Helen Kostoff plated three. The last one sadly struck a base runner so the rally stalled at three runs. But it was a sign of things to come.

In the mean time, DeClercq made a running catch in right and then Stanley repeated an almost identical diving catch that he made last week. He's a beast.

In the fifth, the bottom of the order decided to take over the game. Whitlatch, Sciarrino, Chuck Howlett, Dale Browne, Donn King, Malia Frey, and Steve Bedrick (with an assist by Hollis at the top to finish it off) singled in succession as we scored five without an out being made. Eight straight hits.

Not to be outdone, Kravin started the next inning with a booming double over John Banker's head. Hits by DeClercq, Uhlman, Edwards, Steinberg, and Sciarrino and we had another five.

Well that just laid down the gauntlet for the bottom half of the order. Howlett, Browne, King, Frey, and Bedrick again had consecutive hits, and Hollis, Kravin and DeClercq added on to complete another five run inning without making an out.

So that's three innings, 20 for 25, including 13 hits in a row. Fifteen runs. Outstanding. All in all the top six were 16-19 but the bottom seven were each 2-3 and they drove in nine of the 21 runs.

In the mean time, Bedrick came back in to close it out and did not allow a run in the last three innings. Frey made a great running catch in right, and then Steinberg did his best Stanley impression, catching a ball in left just off his shoelaces, and easily doubled off the runner at second who had no idea how Andy caught that ball.

All that was left was Orange flip flopped after the seventh. Game over, 21-8.

If we can catch this magic in the playoffs, the rest of the league is on notice.

Power Outage, Gold Falls to Purple 15-14

PG&E has it out for me. Well, not just me, all of Central Lafayette, south of Mt. Diablo Blvd. Somehow if there is a small power outage in the area, it always strikes us. This is the second time in less than two weeks, and it wasn't even hot. I think it is a plot to get me to buy only 'smart' clocks that are connected to the Internet, so I won't have to reset them every time.

Similarly, Gold has been experiencing a power outage over the last several games. Although Dick Stanley did crush a blast to left for a triple and Chuck Howlett did hit the right center gap for two doubles. And Wille Hollis and Dale Browne also hit two baggers.

Even with our lack of power and falling behind 10-4 after 5, we scratched and clawed and fought our way back to tie it in the seventh and even take a one run lead into the bottom of the eighth. But then the game turned on one single at bat. After Purple tied it, a bases loaded two out walk brought in the lead run, and it opened up the door for a Mike Natali gap triple and suddenly the game flipped on its ear. We rallied in the ninth, but left the bases loaded with the tying run on third and the lead runners behind him, and that was all she wrote, whoever 'she' is.

No one can fault us for effort, as we have been playing without our power hitters so many games this season.

Howlett had a game, 3-3 with two doubles and team leading 4 RBIs. Also with three hits were Wille Hollis, Stanley, Charlie Uhlman, Woody Whitlatch swinging off one good leg, and Browne.

Web gems were turned in by Tom Sciarrino at SS (3) including starting a 6-11-3 double play, Andy Steinberg charging a dribbler at 3B, Howlett with his once a game at least gem, and heffe at 1B on a hot shot by Rick Evans. And finally Malia Frey made a great running catch in right field in her Gold debut. Welcome Malia!

Before getting to the game...

There is a point to this story but only the brave or bored will read down...

I had to sit out last week's games because of the following facts:

1. I like to cook.

2. I don't like to cut my finger.

But somehow they don't go together. I sliced an onion AND my finger a week ago Monday night. I went to emergency; it was a pretty deep cut. I did not try the Ronnie Lott method of wounded fingertip athletic treatment. The ER doc decided I did not need stitches and glued it shut. He said don't play until it is stable. Whatever that means.

Tuesday morning I decided that meant I was alive and breathing. I decided to gut it out, it was just a little weepy. I wrapped it up and took BP - no problem. I decided that I will just catch the ball in the pocket and I will be fine. Well, the first ball is a grounder to SS and the fielder has to fire it hard to get the runner. It came in low and I did not have time to get it in the pocket and of course it struck me through the leather right on the fourth finger, the one in question, slightly breaking the cut open again.

I took this as a sign ("You DORK" the sign said). so I skipped the rest of the week's games. After wrapping up it poorly earlier this week, I finally got to the pharmacy yesterday to get the right tape and bandage material.

And then I saw it - a box of "Finger Cots". And there on the box is a picture of what could be my hand and a finger with this rubber or plastic covering on it, and it says "...perfect for abrasions and cuts, temporarily helps to protect fingers while healing"

Well Golly! Great!

But here's the thing. As I rolled it over my finger this morning, I thought, why is this called a finger "cot". Where I am from, a cot is something you sleep on, perhaps at camp, or perhaps when your parents are too cheap to get the kids a separate room, so they get a rollaway cot.

Why not call it what it is: a finger CONDOM, or rubber, or if you prefer a prophylactic. Depending on how well you know me.

But all of you who were on the field with me this morning, rejoice in the fact that I was wearing protection and you were all safe!

I do have to add a humorous side story. My partner Julia has been out of country for six weeks, so I had to deal with it on my own. I grabbed some ice, and threw it in a ziploc bag so it would stanch the bleeding and I wouldn't get blood all over the car, and managed to drive to ER this way. When I got there luckily there was no one in line, I went to the receptionist and told her that I cut my finger and I threw it in a bag of ice. The next thing I know all the RNs and Interns are running around yelling "Amputation, Amputation!" I got into triage real quick, before I could tell them I didn't mean the WHOLE FINGER. Now you know how to get their attention!

A Star in the Middle of the Gold Meltdown

It's pretty tough to write up a game when your team doesn't perform to their talent and desire to play well.

I wanted to skip telling about how we hit into three double plays etc.

So I won't. Anymore than that.

However, I do want to recognize a player that played well. Dick Stanley, gardener extraordinaire, has been our most consistent player all season. And he does it quietly. He's hitting .765 and has a team leading 26 RBIs in 11 games.

Oh sure, Andy Steinberg had a very good game at 3B. And each of the other outfielders, Charlie Uhlman, Willie Hollis and Dan DeClercq made fine running catches.

But, Dick made perhaps the catch of the year Thursday. He came sprinting in on a sinking line drive and just like a 25 year old professional went tumbling to the ground and came up with the ball in his glove. I couldn't believe it.

Oh and by the way, with Helen Kostoff, they were the only Cuervo players with three hits on a day when we hit .467 as a team.

If we all gave the effort Dick does, who knows?

The Stars Aligned, and There Was No Gold (Navy 17-9)

Sometimes the baseball gods are just too cruel. Twenty four hours before game time, we were supposed to have 13 players available. Yeah we would be without our power hitter Jim Alexander and also Andy Steinberg, who has been a tough out lately, but 13 was manageable.

Within those 24 hours, I heard from three players. One player informed me that he had had minor surgery in two places, and wasn't sure he would be able to run today, since one was on his foot. A second player's wife, returning from vacation had a medical emergency and was in the ER in Reno. At game time today he was on a train through the Sierra to go rescue her. Luckily it is not life threatening and she will be all right. And to top it off at 2:30 am I heard that our primary SS had the flu, He was going to try to gut it out but it was just not possible.

No excuses, even though I just named a few! And I won't even mention one aching hamstring and one Achilles and the player recovering from Covid.

No Excuses! Shut Up!

We decided we would just go out and have some fun. That's what senior softball is all about right?

And so we did. We started out close, but then gave up two five run innings, and fell behind 12-1. We came back a little and had it at 12-7 but then withered, and eventually went down 17-9 in a heat shortened seven inning affair.

Chuck Howlett manning the hot corner had one inning where he stopped three shots ticketed for the left field line. LF Dan DeClercq and LC Willie Hollis tracked down tough chances, but the play of the game was an all out dive by RC Dick Stanley, sore foot and all. The ball never touched the green grass.

Hollis was hot, going 5-5, Pitcher Steve Bedrick 4-4. The Coach, DeClercq, Stanley, and Dale Browne chipped in three hits each.

I am just left wondering what kind of damage this team could actually do if we all showed up in the same game. Hopefully in the playoffs.

Gold Sinks toward the Bottom, Falls 19-23 to Gray.

Gold made crucial mistakes at the important time in the game, and fell to Gray 23-19. It was close until Howard the Giant Killer put one over the outfield in the eighth to salt away a win for Gray.

There were seven lead changes through the first six innings, and we had every chance to add on after taking a 14-12 after five. Instead Gray got hot and we went cold despite the hot weather and they won going away.

There were, ahem, some questionable calls, as there always are, but we made two of them on our own base runners.

The lower middle of the order actually carried us along. Between Tom Sciarrino (3-3, with a booming double), Andy Steinberg (4-4 with 3 RBIs, Woody Whitlatch (3-3 plus a bases loaded walk for 3 RBIs), and Donn King (3-4 with the final team leading 3 RBIs) we had a solid 13-14 in that part of the order.

Dick Stanley had another great game, going 4-5 with two doubles, and Willie Hollis and the number two hitter hitter chipped in with three knocks. Everyone had at least one hit, and almost everyone had an RBI.

On defense, the only plays I can remember are a great catch of a sinking liner at second by Chuck Howlett, and a nifty 6-11-3 double play we turned. Perhaps that says it all, we made too many blunders on defense to win the game.

A TC Classic in Concord

I'll get to today's ND game in a bit, but I wanted to mention a classic comeback in yesterday's TC game at Baldwin Park. Pleasant Hill visited the Concord guys in this match-up. These two teams do not get much press here, but should as many of the players overlap into Creaker land.

Pleasant Hill gave it up last week to the Lamorinda Lasers, giving them their first win in a couple of years, in one of the poetic justice games of all time. It is noted elsewhere.

Yesterday it looked to be more of the same. Concord came out hitting and it was not because we were down to our fourth string pitcher or our defense - they were just crushing the ball. After five innings, the score was 16-8 and it seemed like a forgone conclusion who would win.

Then it happened. We just started unloading up and down the lineup. Before the Concord Blue could blink, we batted around and tied it at 16 by catch up rule, and then held them to zero in the bottom half.

All of the sudden we believed. It was now a three inning game. In those innings PH outscored Concord 19-8 (in all 27-8 the last four innings) and won going away, 35-24. They were shellshocked.

I won't go into who had the best games because it was truly up and down the lineup. The guilty were Tom Thares, Mike Byrnes, Paul Lisi, Terry Estrada, Art Estrada, Bob Eddy, Pete Cordova, Michael George Brown, Neal Popp, Nelson Low, Greg Ennis, Jim Heinrich (in his season debut off injured reserve) and yours truly. Tony Sherpa coached excellently. Art in particular had a great game in relief of Pete who was pressed into duty since our two other pitchers were missing, and Art cannot get to games until a couple of innings in.

We even had a near brawl, which I will not go into. Fun Times!

Team Cuervo lays the Golden Egg, losing to Lt. Blue 20-13

These days, there is a trend toward very lengthy descriptions of our games.

Well, today, taking a suggestion from Helen Kostoff, Rover extraordinaire, I have but two words:

We sucked.

All right, as much as I would like to leave it at that, I will go on some. There were some highlights.

First of all the game was decided mainly because we just stopped hitting. We were ahead 10-7 after four, and only trailed 15-13 after seven. But you can't score one run in the last four innings and expect to win against a competitive team like Light Blue.

Some hitters had fine games. Leadoff Willie Hollis hit four line drive singles in four ABs. As did Dan DeClercq with his including two doubles, and Charlie Uhlman with one two bagger. Dick Stanley was 2-3 but led the way with 4 RBIs. The Manager and Andy Steinberg had three hits each. But outside of a four run third and a five run fourth, we just couldn't string together hits.

There were a few defensive highlights: In the first we recorded three outstanding putouts, DeClercq made a fine running catch for out number one. Pitcher Steve Bedrick snared a hot shot up the middle for out number two and Steinberg jumped sideways to snag the third out on another line drive. If you had asked me at that point I would have said this game is going to go our way.

In the third SS Tom Sciarrino took care of a line drive and then fired to third to nail a runner who had drifted off the bag. Kostoff made a nice over the shoulder catch of a popup in shallow left in the fourth. Following that Dale Browne knocked down a tough in between hop grounder and managed to scramble after it and fire to first to get the out.

But that was about it as the defense kind of fell apart along with the offense late. We will just have to regroup and come back strong after the break.

It's Not a Cuervo Game Until Chuck Gets Dirty, Cuervo Over B-Y, 20-18

My dirty co-manager-HOF announcer Chuck Howlett, subject of this article's title, dubbed our team Cuervo Gold at the beginning of the season. Around the sixth inning, our team realized we did not know the meaning of "Cuervo." Of course as good consumers of the liquor of Calisco, we all know the alcohol brand. But what does it mean?

Charlie Uhlman looked it up when we were in the dugout. As it turns out, it means large black bird, i.e. raven or crow (do NOT start with the Ravin Kravin jokes). We are the Golden Ravens as it turns out, which does not make much sense but there you have it (Note: According to the Internet, which never lies, ravens are known as extremely smart birds, on a par with chimpanzees and dolphins in the brains department. So you can think of us a smart as chimps).

There was a game in between looking up interesting facts on the internet. After blasting out of the gate with a five run first, we spent the rest of the game fending off the curse of the first. We had leads of 7-3, 12-7, 14-8, 17-13. We kept adding on, but B-Y refused to give in, and just kept coming back. After a scoreless sixth, they answered our three with five in the seventh, and it was 20-18. By this time, it was 11:34 and the eighth had to be the open inning.

As often happens, the game came down to the bottom of the order. In the fourth, for example our bottom started with three straight hits. Sadly, in that case the top did not capitalize and we only scored two. But both teams had the bottom half coming up in the open eighth.

B-Y second baseman Bob Vitro picked that time to keep up with our Dale Browne. Browne had made all three outs in the bottom of the sixth. Now Vitro returned the favor snagging three straight ground balls.

We were facing the very bottom of the B-Y lineup. Looming large was Greg Mathers, who by virtue of arriving late was batting last, or fourth that inning. If he came up with runner(s) on, we were in world of hurt. But Steve Bedrick, our bedrock, bore down and induced a pop fly to third, an easy grounder and a second pop fly to set them down in order and the 20-18 score stuck,

As noted, Howlett got dirty a few times. He grabbed a couple of grounders that no one else gets to. He corralled a smash to third, but couldn't quite get a speedy runner one inning.  He also leapt high to get a line drive out in his inning subbing for Helen Kostoff at SS in the fourth. He made a brilliant play in the first - Kostoff took a grounder to SS and flipped to him at second and he fired a throw to nail a runner trying to come home from third. Catcher Jay Edwards made a nice pickup of the one hopper.

On offense it was the middle of the order that carried us. Jim Alexander completed his coming out as a force to be reckoned with. He hit three bombs - a triple in the first, a double in the second. The third time up as soon as I saw the hit, I realized he needed to be urged on to go all the way. I started yelling "Run, Jim, Run" and he hustled all the way around the diamond. Dick Stanley (who had his usual 4-4 day) was running in front of him. "Run, Dick, Run! Run, Jim, Run! See Dick Run! See Jim Run." it was like a first grade reader.

Alexander had six RBis all told. Not to be outdone, Uhlman was also 4-4, with two doubles and a triple, and managed to get three RBIs despite the fact that Alexander mostly cleared the bases in front of him. Of course, Charlie leads the league in 'stolen' bases, as he took extra bases on three of his hits. The coach could not scold him this game because he got away with it every time. You can't coach speed, and daring.

Edwards went 3-4, and Donn King, Bedrock, and Howlett were a combined 6-8, proving my mantra, the bottom of the order hits, we win.

It was a fun competitive game, even though they say the the ND is not about competition. Two evenly matched teams, in a close game. There's nothing better in softball than that.

A Day Late, A Wilbur Leap Short, Orange Over Gold, 20-16

Today, I woke up and the internet was out and my laptop was nowhere to be found. It was a 2020s cultural crisis! The laptop was actually missing because, wait for it, I got a new laptop! It was busy getting a data dump from my old laptop, and I was forced to actually read a book today.

My old one was almost as old as my Creaker career is long. From now on, my articles will be faster, smarter, and streamlined, And I will also run faster, jump higher, and hit the ball harder! And I will be able to bend over to get those grounders I used to get to with no problem (unlike in Thursday's loss to Orange). I will play like it's 2011!

Yes, dreams and fantasies are good.

But the reality is that Team Cuervo coughed it up to the tough Orange Crush with some dubious defense in the middle innings and let them get away with a four run win.

Elsewhere, the esteemed Clay Kallam documented the crucial play of the game - a leaping Wilbur catch/robbery on Steve Bedrick's no out, bases loaded line shot seemingly destined for the right field line to score two to bring the tying run to first and the leading run to the plate in the last inning. Sure we will never know if we would actually have caught Orange, or if we would have gotten them out in the home half of the inning. But we know that the DP burst the balloon and we went down 20-16.

I am here mostly to recognize the players who made the Cuervo Highlight reel. Chuck Howlett and Helen Kostoff had stellar defensive games, Howlett had his usual dives at second base for outs a couple of times. Kostoff, who was playing out of position at SS on a strained Achilles, and had played a doubleheader until 10 pm Wednesday night, went deep into the hole and backhanded a grounder, fired to Howlett who relayed to first for a DP in the sixth.

Woody Whitlatch made a fine running catch in left in the seventh, and Charlie Uhlman had one likewise earlier in the game in right.

We gave it our best shot - yes missing some key players, but there are no excuses in softball. We scored 15 runs in the first four innings, but ran out of gas and could never get the big hit in the last four frames.

Uhlman led the offense with a 4-4, two double game. Kostoff, Heffe, and Dan DeClercq all had three hits and three RBIs at the top of the lineup. Jay Edwards joined them with three hits. Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit.

This week we should be at full strength and we'll see how much that helps.

Fool's Gold, Purple over Team Cuervo, 21-14

I take the blame for this one. I texted Helen Kostoff that I would not be bringing the bacon Thursday for her fabulous 'shots' (for the uninitiated it's Irish Whiskey/Butterscotch Schnapps with a chaser of OJ and a chaser chaser of a piece of bacon). I bring the bacon (so to speak). The ultimate post-game celebratory pickup.

This left Team Cuervo with no postgame incentive and after taking a 14-9 lead in the sixth inning we were outscored 10-0 the rest of the way to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. It was rumored that several teammates were wandering about between innings looking under the bleachers and searching all the way to the Dog Park for said comestibles. 

We had some defensive highlights - Charlie Uhlman making a great catch on a hot drive to left in the first, turning a SS Jim Alexander - to R Kostoff to 1B the bacon whiffer double play in the second, and 2B Chuck Howlett diving to his left to rob a Purpler on a line drive in the eighth (one of several great Howlett plays as usual).

Alexander (4-4, 2 doubles) and Howlett had great games at the plate (3-3). Uhlman was right behind them with a 3-4 day. Everyone had at least one knock and nearly everyone drove in a run.

But too many hitters were 2-4 and TC could only muster five hits in the last three innings. Could it have anything to do with the fact the Mike Howard came in to ice the game?

The Revue

This is as close as I ever got to Tina Turner.

Sidebar - she was actually born Anna Mae Bullock and lived much of her childhood and then the beginning of her career with Ike Turner in St. Louis, MO, my home town. And my family and extended family had a 'cleaning lady' named Anna Mae Williams (she worked for my aunt and my baba too) , a very buxom black woman who essentially was my after school care, when my suburban mother went wherever suburban housewives went with their friends in the afternoon, which was usually shopping.

But I digress.

Years later in my twenties, I drove a cab nights in San Francisco while supporting myself in years 3-5 of being a Senior at UC Berkeley. One rainy night in January, I picked up an African American couple right in front of the ACT Theater, which was the cornerstone of San Francisco's theater district. They wanted to go to Bay View, which was a very sketchy part of town. Bay View was interesting in that it was just up the hill from Hunters' Point, which was one of the few East Coast type housing projects in SF. Interesting in that it looked  harmless enough - modern apartment buildings that were not rundown looking at all. But it was just as dangerous as Hunter's Point, appearances aside.

So the couple gets in my cab, but she (who was a very heavyset woman) gets in the back and immediately passes out all over the seat. In the meantime the man gets in the passenger seat next to me. I am terrified by now, but I was so naïve that I only once of twice ever refused to take a fare to a destination.

He starts to tell me how he was the bass player in Ike and Tina Turners' band. And he wants to sing "Rollin' Down the River" and he wants me to join in.

So there I am shaking in my boots and singing at the top of my lungs "I left a good job in the city,

Working for the man every night and day..." and driving the five miles or so to Bay View. We get to the designated street, which has to be the narrowest street in SF, and has parked cars wall to wall up and down the street, and he suddenly says "Pull in here" into a driveway. By now it's raining. He says, he has to run in to get the money for the ride. Ok, then. Now I am waiting, and waiting and suddenly a car comes down the street and stops right behind me on the street. I'm totally boxed in. I am sure that this is part of the setup and I can see the headlines - "College Kid Destroyed in Bay View While Rolling Down the River."

But the car eventually moves on. Whew. I am debating should I just chalk it up to naivety and move on with my health intact? And then he re-emerges. He comes to the driver's side window. "Roll it down so I can talk to you." I am not about to expose any more than absolutely necessary. I roll it down the tiniest crack. "I need $20 in change so I can give my friend change for a twenty to give you." (the fare was $5 or $6 and something in change). I weigh this in my mind. On the one hand, $20. On the other, my life. Hmm, not much of a debate, and I slide the money through the sliver of open window. It really didn't even make any sense, but what the hell, I am beyond logic at this point. He disappears into the house again, and then quickly comes back out, but instead of returning to the cab, he turns right and disappears between two houses down the street. Well, I guess he got his fix, on me.

Now I have the woman in the back of my cab. I figure well, if she is still alive, I maybe could get the fare from her. But I am not about to wake her up, and make a beeline to the nearest known police station. I go into the precinct, and tell them my story. They are sympathetic and go out and roust her out of my cab. She struggles into the station and they take her to the other side of the room. The cop comes over to me and says, "she has no money on her." So that is that, I did escape with my life, $20 lighter. He tells me that she has a rap sheet as long as my arm, including felony armed robbery and multiple assaults with a deadly weapon. And that is just her. He asks if I want to press charges. I say, "no need really, I am not about to confront her in court." but he says I don't have to show up, but it least she will have to (or just add to the long list?) I say sure, whatever. He looks at me quizzically, and says, "I don't know who has the worse job, you or me," and I answer, "You do", I can drive away now.

All is Golden - Team Cuervo 18, Maroon 17

For the second week in a row, Team Cuervo played mostly great defense and had timely hitting and put away the Maroons 18-17. It was a back and forth game with five lead changes. They were up 3-1, we came back to lead 7-4 in the third, they roared back with a five run fourth to go back up 11-7. We traded three run innings in the sixth and zeroes in the scoreless seventh. But Gold dug deep with a five run eighth and three run ninth, and held off Maroon in the ninth with the tying and winning runs on base.

We only had eleven players, and infielders Donn King, Andy Steinberg, Tom Sciarrino, Jeff Kravin, and Chuck Howlett each made at least one great play. We turned a double play on Mike Piscotty on a hot shot to shortstop.

Play of the game was a grounder to the substitute Rover's right, and being left handed he caught it on his forehand side but didn't have time to turn to throw back to second. At the last second I saw that 2B Howlett was getting to second slower than I thought, so I kind of lunged and flung a backhanded wild throw. I swear Chuck, who might be all of 5'5", elongated like a cartoon character and snagged the ball (before it got out to right field) for the force out. Bravo Chuck!

However, the best infielder might have been Jay Edwards, who caught most of the game. Twice there were dribblers in front of the plate, and he pounced on them like a cat. On the first one he fired to King at first. Then he outdid himself in the ninth with the game on the line and got a force out on the lead runner by throwing to Steinberg at 3B. It's a rarity for a Creaker catcher to jump out and get one out in a game much less two on balls hit like that.

Outfielders Charlie Uhlman, Willie Hollis, Dick Stanley, and Dan Declercq were solid all game.

Woody Whitlatch was pressed into duty to pitch the whole game. He had some relapses after missing two games but when it counted in the ninth he managed to set down the very good Maroon lineup before they could tie it up.

Oh the offense. Stanley was 5-5 with two doubles and a home run, and still didn't lead the team in RBIs. Declercq was 2-3 with two walks and both his hits were triples, and he didn't lead the team in RBIs. I was 4-4 with two doubles and a walk, and Uhlman was 3-5, likewise with two doubles. Neither of us led the team In RBIs.

That's because we have Mr. Clutch, catcher Edwards, who just seems to thrive when there are runners on base. He also went 4-4 with a double plus a sac fly, and drove in a run in each of his five plate appearances. He leads the team with 17 RBIs on the season.

We were missing some talent today, but everyone stepped up and Cuervo came out on top in what was the most entertaining game of the season thus far. Salud!

Dr. Jekyll Gold 18, You're in the Navy Now 7

Maybe I am delusional but it seems like I am managing two teams. Today the Dr. Jekyll half performed surgery on the Navy bunch and dominated them 18-7 and evened our record at 3-3. Hope the Doc figures out a way for his alter ego Mr. Hyde to stay out of sight.

Navy jumped to a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the third. Chuck Howlett led off with a single and Willie Mays Hayes Hollis sent his pinch runner to third with a double. After a fly out, Dan the Man Declercq tied the game with a two run single. Up to the plate strode Big Jim Alexander and did what Big Jims everywhere should do, he pounded a rocket launch into the far reaches of Field 5, and by the time the dust cleared he stood on third base. Charlie Ohlman brought him home with a line drive single, and with the score at 6-4, we never looked back.

That's because we brought in the new secret weapon, a pitcher named Steve Bedrick. This is a Creaker rookie in his first appearance on the Farm of Heather, but it's clear he has plenty of experience getting batters out in slow pitch softball. Bedrick mixed up short and deep, high and low and in and out, and the Navy batters for the most part were off balance all the rest of the game. For four innings we played good defense behind him, and Navy put up four zeroes. They finally touched him for three runs in the top of the eighth, but they were all unearned - we made at least four or five errors. By that point the game was out of reach and he set them down in order in the ninth for the win.

It was out of reach because our bats came alive this time around. Declercq, Charlie Uhlman, and Coach Heffe were all 5-5. Alexander hit another bomb for a double to go with his triple and had the mini-cycle with three hits. Jay Edwards was also perfect with 4-4 and a team leading four RBIs. He has made a habit of hitting in the clutch all year and is tied with the team lead in RBIs despite hitting lower in the order. Besides Alexander, Helen Kostoff, Donn King and Howlett also had three knocks, and everyone had at least one and nearly everyone knocked in one or more runs.

There were a couple of good plays to note. On a shot up the middle  Howlett, who started the game, managed to deflect the ball just enough that SS Tom Sciarrino could grab it and get a force at second. Alexander took a bases loaded hard grounder to third and performed the textbook step-on-third-throw-home double play in one of the later innings. And Donn King, nailed a guy trying to stretch a hit to right into a double.

But (butt?) the play of the day was by Willie Mays Hays Hollis on a medium deep fly to center, casually sticking up his glove to snare the ball (what, two hands? 150 years of baseball fundamentals? bah!). Next week, I expect a snatch catch a la Rickey Henderson. Oops, did I say that out loud?

It's the Shoes! Team Cuervo over Blue-Yellow, 25-18

Last week Team Cuervo donned our gleaming new yellow uniforms but it didn't help us in the game as we were missing so many key players.

This week my Co-Manager Chuck Howlett took all the rag tag shirts we had been wearing and exchanged them for new shoes - the brand name is Hitting Shoes.

And so, we came out slugging and didn't stop until the game was nearly out of reach. We scored five spots in the first, second, and fourth and fifth after taking a break in the third, and before Blue-Yellow could blink, we were up 20-8. Give them credit, they came roaring back in the top of the seventh with eight runs to narrow the margin to 23-17, but we tacked on two more in the eighth, and it was too steep a hill to climb in the open ninth inning, and the final score was 25-18.

Hitting heroes abounded, which is obvious when I tell you Gold hit .722 in the game. Dick Stanley continued his rampage through the league going 5-5 with four RBIs. Jim Alexander was right with him with a 5-5 day. Dan DeClercq was 4-5 with a triple and a double, and tied Stanley with team leading four RBis. Helen Kostoff was also perfect with a 4-4 game including three RBIs. Charlie Uhlman smashed some line drives and scored three and was also 4-5. Lead off hitter Willie Hollis and Dale Browne and Howlett all had three dingers, and all but one player had at least two, and that guy walked twice including one with the bases loaded for an RBI.

There were some spectacular plays on defense. Howlett set the tone for the day with a diving two out grab in the first to end B-Y's threat. We turned three double plays with Kostoff as the pivot in her rover position. Kostoff robbed Leslie Lafredo on a hot shot down the line in the fourth when she subbed for Alexander at 3B in his one inning out. Likewise Jay Edwards made a great play on a ball up the middle that inning when he replaced Helen at rover.

It was very encouraging how well Gold played when almost the whole team was present. Henceforth all vacations and tournaments are canceled for Team Cuervo players. Sorry, guys and gal.

Well We Looked Good in Losing - Orange over Gold 23-10

The long promised brand new Golden shirts finally arrived in Creakerland in time for our game with Orange Thursday, but the magic just wasn't in them as Cuervo Gold went down to the powerful Orange team 23-10. Only a late two run rally got us to double digits.

It is tough to write up a game where the team wasn't really in it from the beginning, but I wanted to single out some of our standouts' play. We were down 13-3 by the third inning and never got close than 15-7.

We actually didn't hit badly - the team batting average was above .500, and we had six extra base hits but we just didn't string together enough of them, and hit into too many double plays.

Willie Hollis and Dick Stanley led the way with four hits each, and each hit a double. Charlie Uhlman was right behind with three hits including a triple, and tied Stanley and Jay Edwards with three RBIs. Newcomer Tom Sciarrino also had three knocks and played an impeccable SS.

But the play of the game (possibly for both teams) was Uhlman ranging far to his right in left field to rob the new powerful rightie on Orange, to snag a hard liner that probably was destined for the fence. It proved my own personal adage - "Stick out your glove you never know what might happen."

As the famous Dodgers saying went (sorry Giants fans for calling up Dodgers lore) "Wait 'til next week!"

Gold's other manager Chuck started referring to our team as Team Cuervo, as in Cuervo Gold. It sounded like a cool name, summed up the ballers in us with a favorite post game treat. But then the new day glo Golden uniforms we were promised never showed up, even though by now we were supposed to be in Week 6. Last week, we tried being the psychedelic rainbow team, and it didn't work out so well. So this week we tried to each find anything that had Gold or Yellow in it. Since it ended in a narrow victory over the vaunted Purple Team (18-17 officially*, more on that later), I have made a unilateral decision - we will now be referred to as Zippy Josh and the Rag Tag Band, borrowed from a music group from around the turn of the century that had an album called Stupidville.

Oh the game - it was a tautly played back and forth chess match. Both teams had some great defense and some timely hits, and there were four or five lead changes.

We jumped out to an 8-2 lead after two. There were a bunch of clutch hits, Dick Stanley having the most clutch, a two run single for runs six and seven.

But it was defense that allowed us to keep the early lead. Chuck Howlett made a fine catch of a line drive in the first followed by Donn King claiming an errant throw in the dirt at first. In the second with a couple on and one out, Andy Steinberg snared a hot line drive and had the wherewithal to immediately fire to rover Helen Kostoff on the bag at second. Inning over.

Purple came roaring back to overtake us and go up 11-9 after five. We plated two in the sixth to tie it, and five in the 7th to go ahead where we stayed the rest of the game. The big hits were Steinberg's two run single, Stanley's double that pushed our five run seventh along, and Howlett's clutch single for the fifth run that inning.

Adding on when you have a lead is very important and in the eighth Dan DeClercq hit a two run triple to right and when he scored we took a four run lead to the bottom of the eighth.

Purple was somewhat bitten by the time limit rule. In the eighth I had to tell Manager Sloat that since it was 11:41 going into the bottom half, we would not have an open inning (unless we finished the inning in less than four minutes) because we could not by rule start an inning after 11:45. As it turned out it didn't matter because even if we had declared the eighth the open inning each team scored three, and when the last Purple player lined into Steinberg's glove it was game over.

Woody Whitlatch, who pitched the whole game, mostly got outs when they counted (many of the runs were unearned in Purple's big sixth inning six run comeback). He gets the game ball.

The hitting stars were Charlie Uhlman with four hits and three RBIs, Willie Hollis, Kostoff, Stanley, Heffe, Whitlatch, and Howlett, all with three hits.

Comic Relief Play of the Game was by yours truly for ending inning five with a backward K for the third out. It was my second straight Creaker game doing that as I finished the Winter league that way and missed Gold's first game last week. That must be some kind of record. Deep bow, thank you very much.

*When I got home, I discovered that we neglected to post one of our runs on the scoreboard, so the game should have been 19-17. That would have hurt if we had tied or Purple had finished their  comeback to beat us by a run. C'est la Vie.

Ignominy

There are certain words I love to find the opportunity to use in my blog. As I am want to do (which is also such a phrase), I will lead with a subplot involving me. One such word is: Ignominious. As in, "Heffe ignominiously looked at a called third strike to end the at bat, the inning, the game and the season!"

Yesterday, Team Black Shirts seemed to play out the game like we were looking forward to the post game Helen's Shots and Dave's Margaritas more than the actual game. We stood in first place in the non-existent standings and Team Four seemed intent on winning to tie us to end the season, and tip your cap, they brought it to the field, resulting in a 24-15 drubbing. Every time we threatened to make it a game they piled on five more runs.

I took on the job as Winter Coordinator (and one man Placement Committee) with one main goal and one selfish goal. The main goal was, of course to get the most balanced in the teams' talent I could.  If you look at the results in the non-existent standings, you would have to say I did a pretty good job. Just look at the talent we faced yesterday - their lineup is pretty daunting.

But selfishly, my goal was not to load my team but to create a team with the best chemistry I could find. And our winning games was largely a product of that. As Dave said in his season ending email, "We had a good defense, a strong lineup, a great attitude and a post game that was the envy of the league."

An interesting stat: We had only two players that missed more than two games in the rain shortened season, and they both had injury problems. Now maybe it's because we have no other life in retirement or just love the game, sometimes it's hard to tell. But we have a team full of gamers who liked to play together and simply put, showed up. At least one of the other teams could barely field a team yesterday.

In the game, we trailed early (9-2 after three) and then managed to mount a comeback to tie the score at 14 in the top of the sixth. But from there it was all Team Blue until they put us down quietly in the eighth and final inning.

Sloat led the way with four RBIs. He and Greg had triples for the big blows of the day. And Helen was one of three players to hit doubles, her first of the season! She was joined by Mike and Marty. Greg, Johnny and Marty each had three hits.

Helen very nearly actually got off the ground to snag a hard line drive up the middle. Steve Rousso made perhaps the catch of the season in a dive in short right center. We turned one double play, David Peterson to Helen to Heffe.

Our best inning was the five run sixth, when after a leadoff walk to Coach Dave, we had six straight hits including Sloat's triple and Helen's double.

Marty nosed out Dave for the team batting title, .818 to .791, both pretty impressive. Mike knocked in 33 runs, way ahead of the runner up. Kenji led us with eight doubles, and in only six games. Brian made the most of leading off to score 24 runs.

Nine players hit above .700. Not sure if I have ever been on a team with that kind of performance.

A note about the standings, in case Dave Kinkead ever mentions it: Yes they tied us at 7-4 but they fell short in runs scored and in run differential which are usually the tiebreakers.

Overall, Black Shirts was a really fun team and the season was very successful. Wish we could keep this team together!

And Now, For Something Completely Different

A Loss. Try that one on for size. Albeit, it was a one run, 25-24 loss, fun game between two very evenly matched teams.

Not that this is all about me, but trailing 25-17, we put on a tremendous rally with nine straight hits in the ninth, getting the tying and leading runs on with one out.

I had gone to the eye doctor and picked up my new glasses the other day. I blame my year long slump to stumbling around half-blind. Today, I hit an actual legit double. But in the ninth, mighty heffe stepped to the plate, and hit a Screamer up the middle and Billy E made the stab of his life to get me out. I have no doubt it was going through, the rally would have continued, we would have batted around again, and held them to zero runs in their half, and won the game going away.

And Brock Purdy is going to lead the 49ers into the Super Bowl in a couple of weeks too...

We did have a couple of defensive lapses and that really was the difference.

Oh the rest of the game. Johnny G went 4-4. Wait - that was last week. There was a lot of grumbling that there was no blog last week - it's nice to be loved for my words if not my personality! But JG gets his kudos!

Back to this week, Steve made a highlight reel catch in right center when he gunned down a runner trying to advance a base. Not on that arm! Jerry made a number of running catches in right field saving innings from getting the five run limit. Chuck made a diving stop at second to get a force out late in the game.

What a game! The lead changed nine times and that's not including one tie. Both teams scored in every frame until the bottom of the sixth, and then both teams took an inning off. Unfortunately we took three off, only scoring one run in the sixth, seventh and eighth combined. That set up the flip flop and the seven run ninth that just fell short.

Mike led the way going 5-5 and ended January 9-9. He leads the team with 31 RBIs. Brian, Greg, Kenji, and Johnny all were 4-5. Dave was 3-4 and led the team with six RBIS, and is your batting leader at an even .800. Everyone had at least one hit, and Sandy was the other person robbed by a great fielding play (by Vince F in left field on a smashed sinking liner).

In the three run fifth, we had four hits, all doubles by Kenji, Steve, Mike (!) and Heffe (!), and we had 11 for the game, a season high. Really we hit enough to win, but had one bad inning in the field, and that was the difference.

Here's your props for last week: David P 5-5, Greg, Jerry, Johnny, Dave, and Mike four hits and Kenji 3-3.

Only two weeks left - we are still in first place in the non-existent standings but let’s get back on a roll next week!