The deck was stacked.
First there was, ahem, the little controversy over White's pre-game rituals, which took us out of our game. And left us thirsty. Miss that orange juice. Then we came out and scored five in the top of the first, and in this game the Curse of the First was restored.
All during the game I kept an eye out over on Field 4, and Vegas Gold was giving us the help we needed to gain second place in the overall standings. But in the end, we didn't take care of our own business and fell to Gray, 19-16. They leapfrogged over us and Teal to get the bye next week.
Of course this means we get to play next week, so as far as I am concerned that's all good.
You could say that there were a lot of bloopers and bleeders for Gray, and we hit a lot of line drives right at people, and you'd be telling the truth, but the fact is Gray played exceptional defense at key times (like Randy Crase's catch to end the eighth and Al Munoz' on a pop up to end the game), and had better hitting throughout their lineup.
So despite Barry Gronenberg's 3K performance, we fell, but we had some highlights.
Rich Brown went from the heights to a low in the third. He made an absolute web-gem shoestring catch on a sinking line drive and then the next guy up hit a ball in the exact same spot, which Rich misses by about an inch, and it got past him for a triple.
Dave Partridge had his own gem on a hot shot up the middle, which he turned into a step on second throw to first double play. And he was the middle man in a Mike Saindon to second to first double play in the fourth that kept Gray out of a big inning.
Bruce Spencer turned a shot to third into an out by firing to first. The first baseman made it look like a tough play by falling down as he stretched out and hung onto the ball.
On offense, it was again the Paul Lisi story. Paul had a bases clearing three run triple in the fourth that gave us our last lead at 10-7. And he hit another bases clearing hit, this time a two run double, in the eighth, that gave us a shot at a comeback. He had six RBIs in all.
Dave Rose joined Lisi with four hits, mostly solid line drives down the left field line. And speaking of line drives down the line, Mike Guerrero had the hit of the day. He had two strikes and the next pitch came in low and short and Mike was determined to not strike out, so he reached down and poked the ball on a line past the bewildered third baseman. Everyone gasped.
Gronenberg had three hits including a booming deep fly double on which Kevin Kane nearly robbed him with a great catch, but just managed to get a glove on. Brown was again a thorn in the side of the other team with three singles, a walk and a sac fly. Vince Franceschi and David Partridge each had three hits with an extra base knock included, a triple and a double respectively. Partridge had probably the hardest hit ball all day, but it was a line drive out right at the left center fielder.
The loss ended a good second half for White, and this year the playoffs are anyone's for the taking. We are looking forward to pre and post game celebrations starting next Tuesday!
First there was, ahem, the little controversy over White's pre-game rituals, which took us out of our game. And left us thirsty. Miss that orange juice. Then we came out and scored five in the top of the first, and in this game the Curse of the First was restored.
All during the game I kept an eye out over on Field 4, and Vegas Gold was giving us the help we needed to gain second place in the overall standings. But in the end, we didn't take care of our own business and fell to Gray, 19-16. They leapfrogged over us and Teal to get the bye next week.
Of course this means we get to play next week, so as far as I am concerned that's all good.
You could say that there were a lot of bloopers and bleeders for Gray, and we hit a lot of line drives right at people, and you'd be telling the truth, but the fact is Gray played exceptional defense at key times (like Randy Crase's catch to end the eighth and Al Munoz' on a pop up to end the game), and had better hitting throughout their lineup.
So despite Barry Gronenberg's 3K performance, we fell, but we had some highlights.
Rich Brown went from the heights to a low in the third. He made an absolute web-gem shoestring catch on a sinking line drive and then the next guy up hit a ball in the exact same spot, which Rich misses by about an inch, and it got past him for a triple.
Dave Partridge had his own gem on a hot shot up the middle, which he turned into a step on second throw to first double play. And he was the middle man in a Mike Saindon to second to first double play in the fourth that kept Gray out of a big inning.
Bruce Spencer turned a shot to third into an out by firing to first. The first baseman made it look like a tough play by falling down as he stretched out and hung onto the ball.
On offense, it was again the Paul Lisi story. Paul had a bases clearing three run triple in the fourth that gave us our last lead at 10-7. And he hit another bases clearing hit, this time a two run double, in the eighth, that gave us a shot at a comeback. He had six RBIs in all.
Dave Rose joined Lisi with four hits, mostly solid line drives down the left field line. And speaking of line drives down the line, Mike Guerrero had the hit of the day. He had two strikes and the next pitch came in low and short and Mike was determined to not strike out, so he reached down and poked the ball on a line past the bewildered third baseman. Everyone gasped.
Gronenberg had three hits including a booming deep fly double on which Kevin Kane nearly robbed him with a great catch, but just managed to get a glove on. Brown was again a thorn in the side of the other team with three singles, a walk and a sac fly. Vince Franceschi and David Partridge each had three hits with an extra base knock included, a triple and a double respectively. Partridge had probably the hardest hit ball all day, but it was a line drive out right at the left center fielder.
The loss ended a good second half for White, and this year the playoffs are anyone's for the taking. We are looking forward to pre and post game celebrations starting next Tuesday!
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