Goldi-Locks It Up 22-17

In a Creaker game marked as usual by some great moments and then some not so great ones, Gold prevailed over Orange 22-17.

The game was close through seven innings with six lead changes; we traded five run innings in the first two innings. But ultimately it came down to Orange defensive breakdowns vs. Gold pitching wildness, and the lack of defense gave it up. Gold took a 22-14 lead after scoring ten runs in the seventh and eighth frames and a ninth inning Orange comeback wasn't enough.

In a losing effort, Leo Kay had a career defining game. He hit for the cycle, triple, double, single, homer, and another single for 5-5 with four RBIs. Jeff Waters was perfect at 3-3 plus two walks and had three RBIs. Vic Santini, Nick Lauria, and Mike Elmore joined him with three hits.

Despite the inconsistent defense there were some spectacular moments. We turned a triple play - Steve Rousso at SS swiped at a runner going from second to third, flipped to rover Tony Gorgone, who hesitated at first then realized the batter wasn't running and fired to 1B Lauria. First one on a team I've been on since the nineties!

On Tuesday, Rousso told me he had a plan that if Mark Pitzlin was on second on a ground ball, he was going to fake a throw to first and then tag the speedster out trying for third. In the third inning he even advertised it. On a ground ball to him, with runners on first and second, he tagged out the lead runner. He was off balance from the tag, so his throw to first was in the dirt, but 1B Heffe dug it out, double play. Pitzlin must not have been paying attention, because subsequently he worked his way to second and on the next grounder, Rousso faked the throw and Mark was a dead duck, just as he said he would be. Tagged out and inning over.

Orange will regroup and hope to regain the magic we had for a few weeks.

Birthday Boy Leads the Raiders Over the Wolfpack, 26-19

We didn't know until late in the game that it was Don (don't call me Ho but you can call me Mel) Ott's birthday. His 64th. "When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now", don't you want to hit like Don? Don hit like Mel Ott Tuesday - going into his last at bat, he was 4-4 with a two run homer, two doubles, and a single. That last at bat featured two overthrows by the Wolfpack, and Don ended up on third base. In senior ball scoring, this was a triple, albeit of the little league variety. We initially gave him a double, but when we found out it was his birthday, we gifted him the triple, completing the cycle. Happy Birthday Don!

Oh and by the way that gave him seven RBIs. Have a Birthday Game!

Others had good days too. Todd Evans and Jay Sankey were 4-5, SteveDon Deve Brown, Chris Hernandez, Michael Mooney, and Barry Walter were all 3-4. Gidget Blaquera also had three hits in five official ABs. Brown, Evans, Hernandez, and Walter all drove in three runs.

On defense, Don Devencenzi, playing out of position had a good game at 3B. He snagged a hard liner and started a 5-11-3 double play. He also deflected a hot shot to Ott at SS, and had the wherewithal to get back to 3B and took the throw back from Ott to get the lead runner.

Jeff Kravin made two good plays in the last two innings. He bailed out Devencenzi by scooping an errant throw in the eighth. With two outs in the ninth there was a smash to first, and the ball took one of the worst bad hops I have ever seen, and he reacted and grabbed it, trotted to first and it was game over.

This game showed what the Raiders can do at full strength. Watch out!

Orange Gets the Blues, 15-7

You know when something happens in a game, and you say, well, I have played this game x number of years, and I have never seen that! Well, that happened today in the Orange Blue-Yellow game, only as a senior, by the time the game ended I had forgotten what it was entirely.

But alas, there is poetry and good fortune! I was the last to leave Field 4 after the game. I decided to use the rest room before I left. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a guy who was walking his two dogs tie them up and step into the little building. Well, I followed him in and lo, I heard him playing the harmonica, IN A STALL. I can't say I ever heard that in my life so there you go, there's something new every day. And in case you think I am making this up, as I hurried out, I ran into Creaker Steve Bedrick coming over from Field five where his game had just ended and he can vouch for me! And by the way, he wasn't half bad!

Oh did we have a game today? Orange actually did show up, but you could have fooled me as we just could not get anything going against George Masa. To end the game, for instance, we hit nine straight ground ball outs. Even when Blue brought in their new player/pitcher to relieve Masa for an inning, and he could not find the plate, and we scored three runs when he walked six of seven batters he faced, we didn't get a single hit in the rally.

We started out great with four runs in the first, including our only extra base hit of the game - a two run double by Rick Evans. But those were the only two innings we scored anything!

We had a few good defensive plays. Steve Rousso and Tony Gorgone made a couple of difficult catches in the outfield. SS Jeff Waters made a fantastic stop on a grounder ticketed to left field and got a force at second. There was a popup into no-man's land the eluded the second baseman but the first baseman corralled the bouncing spinning sphere and got it to second in time for an out. Finally, Evans. playing first, came off the bag to gather an errant throw, and stomped on the base in time to get the out.

Although we are still technically tied for first with Purple, we did our part in tightening up the standings. It's a real race - six teams within a game and a half. Shades of the MLB NL Wild card race!

Raiders All Over the Rovers, 18-14

This was three games in one. The Raiders won the first two innings 6-1, the Rovers took the next three 11-3, and the Raiders came back to win the most important last four 9-2 for a final score of 18-14.

Pitcher Chris Hernandez delivered the go ahead blow, a three run home run in the top of the sixth. The Rovers tied it in the bottom half but the momentum was ours. The Raiders pushed two more across in the top of the seventh and then held the Rovers scoreless in the bottom half. We put it away in the top of the eighth on triples by Barry Walter and Hernandez.

Hernandez was 4-4 with two doubles, the triple, and the home run to lead the way with 4 RBIs. Walter also had four hits, and Jay Sankey, Michael Mooney, Don Ott, Ray Oducayen, and Gidget Blaquera chipped in three each.

Blaquera was all over the field in her rover position, making several running catches. Walter and Mooney made great catches in the first to keep the Rovers off the board temporarily. We turned two 5-11-3 double plays, from Oducayen to Blaquera to first, including a hard shot to end the game with the tying run on deck.

Smoke and Mirrors make Green Green, 15-14

I know I just said this a few weeks ago, but I am petitioning the league for another team name change - from Orange to Smoke and Mirrors.

Because once again we tried to gift away a game (nine unearned runs in the seventh and eighth innings) but came through with a three run rally in the ninth on a gap shot by Mike Byrnes to walk off the 15-14 win. We were lucky - Green was missing three starting outfielders - and perhaps we were good too - clutch hits won the game.

The trick was that Patrick Heide and his wife Penny brought a feast for after the game. The team seemed disinterested in the game for oh the first six or seven innings. But I told them that I was taking away the food and drink if we did not snatch victory from Green. Well that was it, suddenly we meant business (p.s. Chester has already defected to our team).

Seriously though, it was a pitchers' duel through six innings. The score stood at 5-4, we were up one. Mike Elmore had continued his magic from last week as he followed Mike Howard by keeping Green off the board in two of three innings. In the mean time, Steve Bedrick was hitting the front of the plate on nearly every pitch, and the rest we were beating into the ground to Ozzie Robelo. Several times we hit nice line drives right at fielders.

Then the Orange flood gates opened in the seventh and eighth, and suddenly Green was up 11-7, which seemed like a mountain in this game. But in the bottom of the eighth, finally we got patient at the plate and three straight walks and a couple of hits (including a Rick Evans triple) gave us five back. The stage was set for a dramatic ninth. Green pushed across a run for a 14-12 lead, and got the first out in the bottom half. But Steve Rousso started the rally with a single, his fourth straight, and Jeff Waters followed with his second double of the game. El Heffe then slapped a hit by the outstanding SS Ozzie R and took second on the throw home trying to keep the tying run from scoring. Byrnes then followed with his heroic blast.

Another one run game - we are perhaps the first Creaker team in first place after 11 games with a negative run differential (-1). But we will take it and pray it can continue.

There were some outstanding plays. Howard got Steve Sloat looking at strike three in the first - always entertaining. We turned a double play on Ozzie on a great turn by Helen Kostoff - no mean feat. Elmo had an inning in the third when he grabbed two hot shots at second base. These followed a swinging bunt where Heide pounced on it and threw a strike to first for the first out. There was a nice stop by Byrnes at second and he threw one in the dirt that the manager scooped up. Finally Tony Gorgone made a nice running catch in RF in the eighth that prevented Green from getting the fifth run, and that proved pivotal.

Rousso went 4-4, and led us with three RBIs, although on one hit he had a nice view of the subsequent play at home when he should have been stretching it into a double. Waters was 3-3 with two doubles and a Sac Fly. Vic Santini also had two doubles, and Michael Callahan was 3-4 with a double leading off.

Raiders Outbattled by the Warriors 18-16

The Raiders and Warriors had at least six lead changes through six innings, but the Dubs broke through with a five spot in the bottom of the seventh, and took command 17-12. The Raiders mounted a comeback in the ninth inning, but fell short and lost 18-16.

Todd Evans led the Raiders with a 5-5 day, including two doubles and five RBIs. Ray Oducayen chipped in four hits and a sac fly and four RBIs himself. And Jim Dietrich showed us the way with three singles. But for the rest of us, even though everyone got at least one hit, there were too many one and two hit games. The Warriors outhit us no doubt.

There were three outstanding plays on defense. On one, Gidget Blaquera fired from deep left center to Evans and he nailed a runner at the plate with a perfect throw. On another play, Evans threw out a runner at first on a hot shot grounder, and first baseman Gino Ilacqua wheeled and fired to 3B Oducayen for an unconventional double play when the runner on second ill-advisedly tried to go to third.

And in the eighth, interim manager Barry Walter, who played just about every position, was catching when there was one of those no-man's-land pop ups in front of the plate. He pounced on it, kept it from going foul and threw a strike to first base. It kept the game within reach at 18-12, but we came up short in the top of the ninth.

It was tough without our leadoff hitter and manager Jay Sankey and SS Don Ott, and we welcome them back next week. Now that Chris Hernandez is back in the fold we'll hopefully be at full strength.

Orange Elmo Too Much For Light Blue, 17-11

Mike "The Orange Elmo" Elmore was the MVP of the game between Orange and Light Blue. With Mike Howard off enjoying the mountain air of Tahoe, Elmo pitched all nine innings and allowed all of two runs in the last six innings. He got a strikeout swinging, and went 3-3 with two RBIs to boot. Game ball!

As we see from his bright Orange hat, Elmore plays with the Creakers incognito. Here is Mike in his day job:

Elmo

As we seem to do, Team Orange came out slowly, making mental and physical errors the first several innings. We did score four in the first, but that was primarily because the Blue pitchers couldn't find the plate. Five walks in the first, and another three in the third came our way. The problem is this leads to swinging at bad pitches, so it took us a while to get our hitting shoes on. We trailed 9-7 going into the sixth, but then broke out with ten runs the next two innings. There were hits up and down the lineup as we went collectively 12-15 with two walks and a sac fly in those two innings and nary an extra base hit, but it included six straight two out hits in the seventh. Vic Santini and Dan Halyard had the fifth run RBIs with two outs.

We coasted from there as the defense stepped up. Elmo made two plays from behind the screen in the eighth and ninth. Slick Rick Evans came off the first base bag to swipe out a runner on an errant throw in the sixth. Halyard made a Willie Mays basket catch playing LC in the eighth (earlier he snagged a rising line drive at rover that no one else would have gotten due to his height). And Elmo had the K in the seventh.

There were two plays (one on defense and one on offense) that vied for the video highlight of the game. In the second with runners on first and second, rover Helen Kostoff caught a grounder up the middle. She stepped on second for the force out but must have figured she wouldn't get the double play at first. However, the runner on second didn't run to third and froze in the base path. Remember when in an earlier game she had yelled to Jeff Waters to "Get out of the Way Jeff!" so she could throw to third for a double play? Well this was the reverse: There was a chorus of at least nine voices yelling "TAG HIM, TAG HIM!" Helen stood around for a while, and then suddenly woke up and applied the tag for the double play.

The other one came in the sixth with the bases loaded. Waters hit one of those 20 foot pop ups between home and third with backspin, so it doesn't roll foul. The catcher ran out to get it and pinch runner Leo Kay came barreling home from third base as he fielded it. He made a mad swipe to try to tag Leo out - forgetting that he had to go back and touch home plate. With his speed Leo probably would have outraced him but still it was another (Senior) Keystone Kops moment.

It was a true team game on offense. Several players had two hits, or one hit and two walks. Santini and Tony Gorgone were perfect at 2-2 plus two walks. Gorgone had the most clutch hit - a bases loaded two run single in our five run seventh. Rich Sanders had the only extra base hit, a double in the fifth. Steve Rousso led the team with three RBIs - without a hit. He drove in runs with a bases loaded walk, a sac fly, and a fielder's choice groundout with a runner on third. Every one of them counted as much as a home run.

Back to a half game behind Maroon - maybe one of these weeks we will start to play before the fifth inning!