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!