Gold Melted Down by Orange 31-13

After generously giving Orange the Curse of the First, Gold fell behind 12-3 and then 21-9. We were channeling last week's comeback win over Purple. This time nine runs wasn't enough of a challenge for a comeback, let's so make it twelve! Only we failed to score in the sixth. OK, how about sixteen runs? Nope, double play rally killer. And so on. Orange gave us an old fashioned whooping, 31-13. They piled on 19 runs in the last four innings. In the meantime, Gold hit under .500 as a team for the first time all year. We are humbled, and never mind the talk of tanking. No one tanks when there are four teams within a half game in the standings. It's just not the Creaker Way.

A few players had a good game. Tom Gonzales was 4-4 again, and is 11-13 since being placed in the lead off spot while Hugh Vasquez recovers from his sore legs. Bob Fulgham not so quietly went 3-4 with two doubles and a team leading four RBIs. Gary Namanny (triple) and Rob Katzer joined him with three hits. Yours truly had two doubles in three trips to the plate, but that was it for extra base hits on the team. It just wasn't our day.

On defense the only thing of note was Stan Bielecki tied an all time record with three assists in the fourth inning. Not much else to talk about as Orange sprayed the ball all over the place, and when they hit it to us we found a way to drop it.

Next week will be better. It has to be.

There's Gas in the Tank: Gold Comeback Win Over Purple 22-21

They were clamoring for the Gold players all over Heather Farm the last few weeks. "We'll take Namanny!" "We want Katzer!" "We need Hugh!" "Break up Gold!"

We thought, we gotta tank a game. And there were the Powerful Purple People Eaters next on our schedule. Perfect! How do you spell Tank? G-O-L-D.

And before I could explain to the rest of the team how to make it look like we were trying, but actually play like the 1919 Black Sox (I did show by example by letting an easy ground ball elude me), we did just that without any purposeful effort - played bad defense, didn't hit, left runners on base. And to boot, we had the curse of the first, when we scored five on seven singles and a walk without making an out.

It was all going swimmingly well, we were down 21-9 going into the top of the eighth. I heard Dasey yelling over from Field three, "Are you enjoying the tanking?"

And then...

Four straight hits started us on our way, and a critical error turned the lineup over, and we didn't stop until we had tied it up. Big hits from Jeff Merten and Rob Katzer (doubles) and Steve Mastronarde (triple) highlighted the comeback. By the time I came up, we had batted around, and with the tying run on third, all I had to do was hit a grounder through the gaping hole they gave me at shortstop and it was all knotted up.

There was still the matter of getting the Purples out for two innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Merten went out to right field, and made two tough catches to keep them scoreless. Bear in mind that he had been beaned last week running to second base on a grounder, and was playing on day seven of a recommended nine day layoff. And he tripped on the second base bag earlier in the game and thumped his head pretty good again. But he gutted it out and helped save the day.

In the ninth, we scratched out a run on two hits and what amounted to a bunt when Steve Bedrock hit a grounder to first to advance the runners to second and third. And who was up - of course Merten, who got the hit to put us ahead.

It wasn't much, but in the bottom half the first baseman dug one errant throw out of the dirt, and he ran in to catch a pop fly in foul territory on the next batter. Then pitcher Tom Gonzales coaxed a third pop up in the inning, and when it settled in shortstop Hugh Vasquez' glove, it was all over. Fun game.

It was a total team game. Every single hitter drove in at least one run. All but one scored at least one. Katzer had a monster game, 5-5, four RBIs, double, triple. Right behind him, Steve Alvarez knocked in five runs on three hits. Four hits by Gonzales, Mastronarde, Doug Carlson, and Vasquez. Three by Bob Fugham, Namanny, Alvarez, and Joy Dardin.

Besides the late inning heroics, we turned a 5-11-3 double play from Carlson to Fulgham to first in the second, and on a pop fly to Vasquez in shallow left, he fired to second to double up a runner that wandered too far off the base.

As it turned out, Gold had some gas left in the tank!

ND Gold Sinks the Navy 25-22

On a beautiful day on the turf at Heather One, relentless offense and clutch defense enabled Team Gold to top a stubborn Navy team 25-22.

We could get used to playing on the Field 1 - in fact we are 3-0 on the turf the last three games. Sadly we are not there again until June.

The game started off simply enough. The talented top of Blue's lineup avoided the curse of the first, scoring four. But Gold would not be denied and with two runs in and two outs scored three times more, punctuated by a triple to left by Doug Carlson, who came back from a few weeks off with a groin pull. Welcome back Doug!

It was the first of six triples, and the power barrage included four home runs (yet nary a double). In the third Gary Namanny slammed a three run homer, but we weren't done as Steve Alvarez blasted another and Jeff Mertens a triple and scored the fifth run on Steve Mastronarde's single. In the fourth the bottom of the order did their part, scoring on a leadoff single by Jeff Kravin (that went about 50 feet), another hit by Carlson and then a triple by Stan Bielecki.

In the top of the fifth, Navy refused to give in and using the catch up rule tied it up at 13. In the bottom half though, the relief pitcher could not find the strike zone and a couple of walks and hits brought in two with the bases loaded and two outs. The starter came back in but Kravin hit one of his patented liners to the opposite field from his past life that eluded the left fielder and cleared the bases.

Navy still would not cry uncle but Anthony Puccio brought in two more with a two out single in the bottom of the sixth, making it 20-14. A six run lead in this game was nothing. Navy closed to 20-18, but Gold would not be denied. Back to back Jacks by Namanny and Rob Katzer brought up Alvarez who planted yet another bomb over the outfield. He ran out of gas, stopping at third, and left it up to Mertens to bring him home. After a forceout, Heffe came up with run number five again on first, and made the Navy pay for playing too shallow one more time, blasting it over the right fielder for a second triple in three innings, making it 25-18.

Tom Gonzales came back in to pitch, and although the Navy brought in four more in the final two frames to make it interesting, Gold had a big enough lead at that point to weather the storm.

The defense had just as many highlights as the offensive barrage. Mertens made two outstanding swipes at high line drives playing 2B, and smothered a hot shot there in the eighth, and he also had a great catch in right field in the ninth for the all important first out in the open inning. Namanny added two shoestring catches in left center robbing guys of good hits - we don't take him for granted but he does this every week. Pitcher Gonzales, when he went to the outfield, robbed Ah-rahm don't call me Airum on a blast deep to left in the third inning. Pooch made what in senior ball is about the toughest catch there is - a pop up behind home plate in the sixth. And on a throw in the dirt up the line (er I mean turf), the first baseman twisted himself into a pretzel and snagged the errant toss laying on the ground while toe tapping the bag.

Overall:

Gonzales 3-3+BB

Bob Fulgham, quietly also 3-3+BB, 4 Runs

Namanny 3-4 2 HR, 6 RBI

Katzer 1-4 HR

Batman 3-4, 3B, HR

Mertens 2-2+2 BB, 3B

Maestro 2-3+BB, 3 RBIs

Heffe 4-4, 2 3B, 4 RBIs

Carlson 3-4, 3B

Bielecki 2-4 3B

Joy Dardin, 2-3

Steve Bedrick (Bedrock) 1-4

Pooch 2-3

On a beautiful day on the turf at Heather One, relentless offense and clutch defense enabled Team Gold to top a stubborn Navy team 25-22.

We could get used to playing on the Field 1 - in fact we are 3-0 on the turf the last three games. Sadly we are not there again until June.

The game started off simply enough. The talented top of Blue's lineup avoided the curse of the first, scoring four. But Gold would not be denied and with two runs in and two outs scored three times more, punctuated by a triple to left by Doug Carlson, who came back from a few weeks off with a groin pull. Welcome back Doug!

It was the first of six triples, and the power barrage included four home runs (yet nary a double). In the third Gary Namanny slammed a three run homer, but we weren't done as Steve Alvarez blasted another and Jeff Mertens a triple and scored the fifth run on Steve Mastronarde's single. In the fourth the bottom of the order did their part, scoring on a leadoff single by Jeff Kravin (that went about 50 feet), another hit by Carlson and then a triple by Stan Bielecki.

In the top of the fifth, Navy refused to give in and using the catch up rule tied it up at 13. In the bottom half though, the relief pitcher could not find the strike zone and a couple of walks and hits brought in two with the bases loaded and two outs. The starter came back in but Kravin hit one of his patented liners to the opposite field from his past life that eluded the left fielder and cleared the bases. 

Navy still would not cry uncle but Anthony Puccio brought in two more with a two out single in the bottom of the sixth, making it 20-14. A six run lead in this game was nothing. Navy closed to 20-18, but Gold would not be denied. Back to back Jacks by Namanny and Rob Katzer brought up Alvarez who planted yet another bomb over the outfield. He ran out of gas, stopping at third, and left it up to Mertens to bring him home. After a forceout, Heffe came up with run number five on first, and made the Navy pay for playing too shallow yet again, blasting it over the right fielder for a second triple in three innings, making it 25-18.

Tom Gonzales came back in to pitch, and although the Navy brought in four more in the final two frames to make it interesting, we had a big enough lead at that point to weather the storm.

The defense had just as many highlights as the offensive barrage. Mertens made two outstanding swipes at high line drives playing 2B, and smothered a hot shot there in the eighth, and he also had a great catch in right field in the ninth for the all important first out in the open inning. Namanny added two shoestring catches in left center robbing guys of good hits - we don't take him for granted but he does this every week. Gonzales, when he went to the outfield, robbed Ah-rahm don't call me Airum on a blast deep to left in the third inning. Pooch made what in senior ball is about the toughest catch there is - a pop up behind home plate in the sixth. And on a throw in the dirt up the line (er I mean turf), the first baseman twisted himself into a pretzel and snagged the errant toss laying on the ground toe tapping the bag.

Overall:

Gonzales 3-3+BB

Bob Fulgham, quietly also 3-3+BB

Namanny 3-4 2 HR, 6 RBI

Katzer 1-4 HR

Batman 3-4, 3B, HR

Mertens 2-2+2 BB, 3B

Maestro 2-3+BB, 3 RBIs

Heffe 4-4, 2 3B, 4 RBIs

Carlson 3-4, 3B

Bielecki 2-4 3B

Joy Dardin, 2-3

Steve Bedrick (Bedrock) 1-4

Pooch 2-3

Gold Gives Blue the Blues, 18-16

In a tense and competitive game on the artificial turf of Heather 1, Gold may have given themselves a Curse with five runs to open up. After building up a 13-6 lead, Blue made a mighty comeback in the fourth inning to tie it up. But they couldn't overcome Gold's five run seventh. Defense and pitching took over in the final two scoreless innings, and Gold prevailed 18-16. 

Gold's lineup at the top put the pressure on by scoring all 18 runs in four frames. Rob Katzer led the way with a 4-4 day including a three run bomb in the first and a two run triple in the fifth. He finished with six RBIs.

Steve Mastronarde was right behind him, also 4-4 with a triple and four RBIs. Gary Namanny set the table for them also 4-4 and he was joined by Hugh Vasquez (4-5), Bob Fulgham (3-4 plus BB), and Tom Gonzales, also 3-4 .

Namanny made several dashes to rob Blue players of hits in LC. Katzer in RC had a couple as well. But the play of the day was a towering fly to left in the third that was carrying over Mastronarde's head in the bright high sun, when he threw his glove (hand) up and snatched it out of the sky. Then he fired a strike to SS Vasquez, who threw a strike home and Gold had an innning ending double play on the tag up.

A lot of good teams in the league this season, so this was just a win in round one, not a definitive statement. I tip my hat to Blue, they are a talented bunch.

Two Pair, Seven Triplets, and Bam! Gold over Red, 20-7

My mom played mahjong in her little circle when I was growing up. I had no idea what was going on, but they were always saying stuff like "Crak, Bam, Dots, Mahjong!" I was clueless but they were very excited about those tiles.

Today, it was Two Pair, Seven Trips and Bam! Team Gold smoked Cardinal Red 20-7.

Two pair - Any spokt reader in the last year or so had to endure Steve Mastronarde's lectures about playing the sun at Heather - "It's simple," he'd say, "just wear about four sets of welder's goggles over your sunglasses and the ball remains in sight" (paraphrasing here).

Well, in the top of the seventh, Maestro made an incredible catch for the third out in the bright sun in left field to squelch a Red rally and keep them to just four runs through seven innings. He kept his head high considering all the lenses over his eyes. At the time we had just scored our fourth inning of four or more to go up 20-2.

Seven triplets - Gold had seven players with three hits: Bob Fulgham, Garry Namanny, Steve Alvarez, Jeff Mertens, Curt Wade, the Maestro, and yours truly. The seven to ten hitters (the last four in the list) went 12-12. And Hugh Vazquez, Rob Katzer, Tom Gonzales, and Steve "Bedrock" Bedrick (who hit a gapper between the two center fielders!) had two each.

It's not like we were hitting the ball out of the park. In the first inning Vazquez, Fulgham, Namanny, Alvarez, Gonzales, Mertens, Wade, and the Maestro, sandwiched singles around a forceout in the middle to get our first five runs. In the third it was more of the same, but Maestro ended the rally with a double this time (I became the leadoff hitter my first two times up behind him). In the fifth, Gonzales and Wade knocked in the last three with back to back doubles.

We hit .714 as a team, and the only things that may have been better than our offense were our pitching and defense. Gonzales and Bedrock served up, mixing up short and deep in and out and high and low to keep the Red hitters off balance (I think they had but one walk) and the defense behind them was just about impeccable.

Mertens had a couple of innings - he played 2B most of the game, and one inning he snagged a hard grounder to his right, and also a line drive headed to right. Vazquez made a leaping catch and corraled a couple of hot shots, but in his inning out, Mertens filled in and made two great plays, one a lineout he climbed high for and another a running catch on a pop up. In Merten's great inning at 2B, Kravin also snaggged a high line drive at first to make a perfect 3 for 3 Jeff inning, and snagged a couple of one hop errant throws off the turf.

Namanny made his usual assortment of running catches in LC, and threw out a runner at 2B on a 'single'. Alvarez made a tough catch in RF as well.

Overall it was about as close to perfection as a Creaker game for old men can possibly be. I can't wait to see if we can repeat this over and over.

Gold Glides to a win over Orange, 25-17

What a perfect day for the opening of the Creaker season at Rudgear Park! About 65 degrees and sunny as can be with a slight breeze.

Still, both teams had a little rust from the long winter. 

Gold jumped out to a 4-0 lead (narrowly avoiding the Curse of the First), scoring all the runs with two outs. Back-to-back doubles by Curt Wade (two runs) and Tom Gonzales (one) got us going and Steve Mastronarde finished up the rally with a single.

Orange answered with two two run innings and eventually took a 10-9 lead after four. But consecutive five run innings while Steve Bedrick and the defense allowed just two put the Oranges on their heels and they never really recovered from the 19-12 deficit and came up short at 25-17.

Stan Bielecki at rover (on grounders) and LC Gary Namanny (running catches) each made two early plays to keep Orange's rallies from getting out of hand. Joy Dardin also made a great catch on a pop up in the second inning.

But the get dirty play of the game was yours truly stretching to all 5'7" and scooping an errant throw in the eighth inning and poking my toe back to catch the corner of the bag before the runner arrived. Momma always said I have big feet. Or was that a big mouth? You'll never know and I'll never tell.

Gold didn't quite hit on all cylinders, but quite a few players had good games. Everyone had at least one hit. Bob Fulgham was 4-4, scoring three times. Wade did one better, 4-4 with four runs and two doubles. Steve Alvarez was 3-4 and led the way with five RBIs. Namanny was 2-3, including a double and unselfishly took a walk with the bases loaded that put us ahead to stay in the fifth. Rob Katzer had only one hit, but it was a bases loaded, bases clearing double to give us the five run inning after Namanny's walk. Gonzales, Mastronarde, and rookie Doug Carlson (in his Creaker debut) all added three hits.

A good start!