Another Day, Another Walk Off, ND Gold over Purple 11-10

Gold tried something radical today, to try to avoid our usual get a lead, give up a lead, and hopefully get it back by the end of the game.

We swapped our starting pitcher Tom Gonzales and our middle innings pitcher Steve Bedrick. It was going really well, we held the fearsome top of the Pirple lineup in the first to one run and we scored the max five runs in the first and third. Bedrock was dealing and throwing strikes. It was going oh so well. And then, sure enough we stopped hitting, and they scored six runs in the fifth and sixth, and they tied it up 10-10. So the more things change the more they remain the same.

But it's ok we had the top of the lineup in the bottom of the sixth (well, 2-3-4). We would score five again and they would cry uncle. Then BOOM, as great as they have been all season, 1-2-3 and out.

It came down to the seventh and final and open inning (shortened ahead of time because of the heat). They had their top and we had our middle. They got a couple on but Gonzales induced a couple of easy outs, and we at least had a tie.

Gonzales started the bottom half with a single, and we put in all world sprinter Gary Namanny to run for him. Batman Steve Alvarez finished a perfect day at the plate (3-3) with a single to right center, and Namanny was off to the races. Purple got it in quickly so he stopped at third. Curt Wade came up and played the hero with a slicing off field line drive to left field and we had our fourth one run and second walk off win, 11-10.

On defense, Gonzales had one strikeout looking and made a nice play on a comebacker and a shoestring catch on a little pop up that never got over six feet tall in front of the mound. Hugh Vasquez was a vacuum cleaner at SS, he must have had 10 putouts.

The heat really took it out of the hitters on both teams. We didn't even make it through the lineup three times. Alvarez and Wade had three hits, Vasquez, Namanny (2B and 3B, our only extra base hits), Gonzales, and Steve Mastronarde were 2-2, and yours truly had one and a walk in two trips to the plate (undoubtably Howard Davis was afraid to throw me a strike).

One thing about Gold, we will give you an entertaining close game more often than not!

Diablos Tease Cardinal Again, 22-17

The TC Diablos took a page out of the notebook of this author's Creaker team, and pulled out a convincing 22-17 victory. Get an early lead (12-4), put them on the ropes (17-8 after seven), then give it all back at once (17-17), but in the end rally to put them away (five run eighth).

Of course it helps to have hitters like Jim Krochka in your lineup. All he did was hit two home runs and a triple in a 4-4 day at the plate. His first hit, a mere single, put us ahead in the first after Ed Hendrickson and our defense shut down the Cardinal in the first without a run. His second hit, a two run homer, made it 11-4 in the third. His third hit was a triple leading off a three run sixth, and his last hit was a three run bomb that came in the eighth when they had tied us at 17. Game over.

The defense played great. The weekly highlight reel featured Mark Childress making a tumbling catch in left center in the first that preserved the no run start to the game. Unfortunately, the note taker failed to get any other highlights, but I seem to remember Bill Hoffman making a nice grab on a hot shot liner to third base. And I think we turned one double play.

But it was the hitting this game. The middle bottom of the order, Jeff Kravin, Jeff Mertens, Howard Davis, and Bill Hoffman were a combined 9-10. You know what I say, if the middle bottom of the order hits, we win!

And the top did their usual, Krochka with his near cycle and six RBIs, Mark Childress playing set up following him with three hits, Tom Caldwell 3-4 with a double, Brian Goldufsky 3-4 with a triple and five RBIs, and Greg Lagomarsino 2-3 with a double.

And in the middle of all that, in his Diablo TC debut, Alan Vargo smashed a two run bomb to right in his very first at bat to finish the five run first inning. Earning him the Game Ball.

Another great day at the office for the Diablos, winners of five of the last six, and six of eight.

Diablos Clipped 23-18

In a game we started amazingly well, the Diablos ultimately succumbed to the dreaded Clippers, 23-18.

It's hard to write about this type of loss, because we had the opposition on the ropes - early on, and then late in the game. But we let it slip away.

We started with some fabulous defense. In the first Mark Childress made a diving catch on a sinking line drive headed to the gap. Brian Goldufsky followed that up with two putouts, one of which was quite athletic to shut down the powerful top of the Clipper lineup. In the second, it was more of the same. This time it was Mike Daley making a one out running catch in right field with runner on first and second. The runner on first tagged up but the lead runner took off. There was a lot of confusion but Goldufsky made sure he was heard and we easily doubled off the errant runner going from second. Inning over.

In the third, Jim Krotchka made a fabulous backhaded stab in the 5-6 hole and whirled to throw a strike to first to get the Hall of Famer Gary Tryhorn. And Childress followed that with another running catch. Finally in the fifth, Tom Caldwell got in on the action in left field on a deep fly for the first out. That was just a prelude to a grounder to first baseman Greg Lagomarsino, who perfected a 3-11-3 double play by hustlng back to first to catch Goldufsky's relay.

In the meantime, we built a 10-0 lead after three. Dan Roach led us off with a triple to the right center gap. After Ed Hendrickson brought him home with a sacrifice fly, with two outs, Caldwell hit a two run blast and Lagomarsino and Don Devencenzi sandwiched a single by Goldufsky to produce the rest of our five runs. In the second the bottom half produced two runs and in the third Krochka's two run bomb highlighted a three run add on inning.

In the fourth, the Clippers showed why they are nearly undefeated the last couple of years as they put up eight to close the gap, and added six more in the next two innings to take their first lead at 14-12. Give us credit, though, there is no quit, and the middle and bottom of the order, Bob Vitro, Jeff Mertens, Heffe, Bill Hoffman, Willie Hollis, and Steve Shapiro all singled and when leadoff hitter Roach stroked a two run single we had our own five to re-take the lead at 17-14.

We shut them down in the seventh, and added one in our half on a Lagomarsino double, but then the offense and defense kind of went to sleep - and they poured on nine runs in the last two innings to win going away.

However, we proved to them and to ourselves that we will not be a pushover to the Clippers or anyone else, and we will put them away one of these times.

Mertens led the way with a 4-4 day. Clocking in with three hits were Hendrickson, Krotchka, Caldwell, Lagomarsino, Devencenzi, Hoffman, Hollis, and Shapiro. Everyione else had at least one knock and all but two (or their proxy) scored a run.

Diablos Turn Cardinal Red With Envy, Prevail 20-15

Ed Hendrickson pitched a hell of a game, limiting the Cardinal to 15 runs and when we answered their five in the first inning with our own five, you just had a feeling that we were going to win in the end. We have come to expect the Big Guy will shut the opponent down when it counts, and that he did as they only scored another ten the rest of the game.

But - I may have acted in haste in giving him the game ball. It really belonged to Brian Goldusky. All he did was go 3-4, with a three run homer, a two run triple that would have been a homer had not the fifth run been on first, a two run single and even an RBI ground out. That's right EIGHT of our 20 RBIs belonged to Brian. Good move by the coach to move him to third with leadoff hitter Dan Roach returning from vacation.

Mark Childress did his best, well, Mark Childress imitation with two fabulous catches. The one in the first only temporarily stopped the Cardinal five run opening outburst. Depending on who you talk to, his stumble, er tumble afterwards was either a fine ballet like move or as someone stated, "Zero style points".

But the one in the late innings (was it the ninth?), when the Cardinal still had hopes for a comeback, shut down a rally right when it started and sent them to defeat after a few more outs. He also nearly made a leaping catch on one of the few Cardinal blasts over our outfielders' heads.

The infield highlights came all in the scoreless top of the fifth. Jeff Mertens grabbed a shot to his right and falling down shoveled it over to first where the first baseman likewise crawled in the dirt to ensure the out. Then after a hit, shortstop Jim Krochka made a nice back handed stop in the 5-6 hole and whirled to throw to Goldufsky waiting at second base. And then third baseman Bill Hoffman knocked down a hot shot at the hot corner and calmly tossed to second to close out the inning.

Roach lead all hitters with a perfect 4-4. Hendrickson, Goldufsky, Krochka, Childress, Tom Caldwell, and Bob Vitro all were 3-4. Everyone else had one or two hits.

That's four wins in a row if you count the forfeit earlier in the day (and we do). And five of six, the only blemish being the one run loss to Gold when we had the game in our grasp in the ninth. Pretty damn good, and we are jelling as a team. The defense has been great and we have enough great hitters and the rest are all good enough such that there are no easy outs in the lineup. Good combination. If we play like this next week, we will give the Clippers everything they can handle and hopefully more. Bring 'em on!

Gold Ends First Half Winning Another Close One, 16-13 Over Green

Typical Gold win. Get a big lead, give it up, and hold off the opponent with some clutch defense.

We pecked away at Terry Karp's team early, scoring 2, 4, 5, 3, and 3 runs, while good defense held Green to three in the first five frames. Stan Bielecki was a defensive star in the early innings - turning a grounder to third, step on the bag and throw home double play with the bases loaded to hold Green to one run in the second. On the play, catcher Anthony Puccio (Pooch) scooped up a low throw. And Bielecki made a great stop in the next frame on a hard grounder playing rover, and flipped to Hugh Vasquez, who ranged a long way to cover second to get the force.

In the fourth, Steve Bedrick, who threw nothing but strikes in the middle innings, got a strikeout looking. And we turned a short to rover to first double play to hold them scoreless.

Somewhere in there the first baseman ranged far into foul territory to catch a pop fly. No one could believe how far he ran. Steve Alvarez made a couple of nice catches - one a mile high pop up playing second, which is always tough, and one on a long ball to right field.

A 15-3 lead is safe right? Not in Creaker ball. We were outscored 10-1 in the next three innngs, and Green got their hopes up, closing to 16-13. And Gold failed to score the last two times up. We were holding on to the hopes of having the home team last ups advantage. But in the eighth, with some of the best Green hitters coming up, Gary Namanny corralled a liner to center and fired to second to double up Karp (who was not sure whether the ball would be caught) with the bases loaded, effectively ending the rally. It was a close play, the throw only beat him by inches but umpire Steve Goulet made an honest call, exhibiting the best Creaker sportsmanship. No one argued. We went quietly in the last two innings, but starter and closer Tom Gonzales induced some easy outs in the ninth and we did not have to perform any bottom of the ninth heroics.

Steve Mastronarde had a quiet 4-4 day to take over the team batting average lead. Bob Fulgham came back from two weeks in Croatia and must have received some good batting tips there as he went 3-3 with two doubles and a walk. Rob Katzer matched that 3-3 plus a sac fly and led the team with three RBIs. Alvarez and Jeff Kravin also added three hits and everyone in the lineup had at least one.

First place remains Gold territory, which is pretty impressive considering we are fourth in run differential, third in runs scored, and tied for fourth in runs allowed. It's called team chemistry - we relentlessly harass each other to keep it loose.

Practice Makes Not Quite Perfect, Diablos over Lasers 19-7

So, OK, we weren't perfect on defense two weeks in a row. We didn't have to be, because, after all, it was the Lasers, and they were shorthanded to boot.

Instead we did it with our bats, hitting .788 as a team! I can't remember a team average that high in a game. Everyone, all sixteen in the lineup, had at least one hit, and most only batted twice. Brian started us off with a bomb, and Jim K matched him in the third with a two run blast. Jim K, Greg, the two Bobs, Don, Heffe, and Willie were all 2-2. Howard, power hitter extraordinaire, had the only triple, aided by a proxy runner after he split the outfielders.

On defense, we weren't at our sharpest as we built an insurmountable 19-2 lead after five innings. In the sixth, we had a combination of bad hops and fluke hits and a few bobbles, and gave up five but it was way too late for the Lasers as we flip flopped early and shut them out in the seventh. The game was shortened as one of the double headers in the new schedule.

However, Mark, who has been aching all season to make an incredible play in left center field, made not one (early on that could have made it a game as it was the third out and I believe bases were loaded), not two, but three great running catches. For this and everything he contributed (2-3 himself), he got the game ball.

A winning streak! Two in a row and three of four and we should have won the other one. The Diablos are coming for you, TriCity. Starting with Team Gray at Rudgear next week.

Gold Backs in to First Place, Tying Light Blue 25 Apiece

I won't kiss Gerry Dasey. I won't, I won't, I won't.

Maybe if my sister were in town, I would kiss her, because that is what you do when you tie a game.

But I won't kiss Gerry, the Light Blue manager, no matter how long I have known him. I won't, I won't...I won't.

We've all heard of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Well, today Gold gave it up to Light Blue, but they were polite enough to stop tied up in the open ninth inning, and when we didn't respond, it ended in a 25-25 tie. So we snatched a tie from the jaws of victory.

We had leads of 12-2 after three, and after giving up an eight run fourth, we built a 25-18 lead into the ninth. And then blew that. Everything Lt. B hit found a hole and every time we touched the ball we bobbled it.

There are two ways to look at the game. If you are Lt. Blue, down so much of the game, a tie is a win. If you are Gold, not so much. Maybe there is a third - if you play as badly as we did, we are lucky to have gotten away with a tie.

There weren't many defensive plays of note. Tom Gonzales got a strikeout looking in the second. The outfielders made some good running catches, especially Steve Mastronarde and Gary Namanny. That's about it.

The Maestro (Mastronarde - we have too many Steves) had a mini-cycle, going 5-5. That's a single, double, and a triple. Gonzales duplicated the feat.

Namanny hit a three run bomb in the second, but that was it for the power hitters. The Batman (Steve #2, Alvarez) had a double, and Jeff Mertens had two. His last was a bases loaded, bases clearer to give us a five run seventh.

Doug Carlson went 4-5. Bedrock (Steve #3, Bedrick) and Pooch Puccio stayed hot and were a combined 7-8 at the bottom of the order, which usually is a sign of a win. Not today.

We played sloppy enough to lose but by tying, we backed right into first place alone, as Navy was upset by Gray up the road. I've never been as disappointed going into first place before.