Mini Coneheads Sweep Away

Haze has been hot. How hot is he? He swept into the team lead in bases on balls in the nightcap tonight, with three straight walks. They just don't want to pitch to him, that's what it is. As it is he is hitting .647 for the season so far.

And Joe caught looking caught D for the team lead in Ks at one. Guess who's bringing beer next week?

And Chuck that old dog hobbled out there and got the save in both games and was the only perfect hitter, going 2-2.

But these weren't really the stories of the games. The story in the headlines is we rode Corona into the ground, shutting them out 14-0. Joe was masterful, and Chuck protected the shutout, and the defense was stout.

And in the daycap (it was still well over 90 degrees), the score ended up 17-13 over Who's On First, but it wasn't that close. We jumped on them for a 3-0 lead in the first but they answered with four. It looked like we might be in for a rough ride. But then the walking fools took over. Heffe, Haze and Joe all walked to start the winning rally, turning the lineup over and the top of the lineup did the rest, as Lefty, Sting, Chris and D all had RBI at bats after that. I always say, if the bottom of the order walks, we win!

Who's On First had a mini-rally in the last inning to close the gap but never really threatened to catch us. A Lefty to Chris to Chopper throw out ended the game on a play when they got their last two runs.

That's the sweep part. We had a lot of contributions from hitters but a few were really hot, and got mini-cycles. Haze in the first game hit the mini-cycle before the trifecta of walks in the second. And Ol' G and Chris replicated the feat in the second game.

Chris and G put on a hitting clinic, hitting gappers this way and that. Chris had four RBIs in the second game and G and Chopper were the two hitters with three hits in each game. Derek had an odd game two - he went 1-3 but had five RBIs. His hit was a bases loaded and bases clearing double (off the top of the fence to the opposite field), and he hit a sac fly that plated two runs. Sting and Charlie seemed to hit line drives every time up and ended up with five hits each for the day.

The defense was solid all day long. Chris was a vacuum sweeper at SS as was Charlie at rover. Heffe made a nice snag on a hot line drive. And each of the outfielders - Gene, Skip, Sting, Lefty, and Chopper all had at least one good grab. Gene, Skip and Sting in particular did well fighting off the tough Field 3 sun.

And then the Throw that ended it, the runner had no business testing Chris' gun still trailing by four runs. But he did and Chris did not disappoint, and Chopper stood his ground to end it.

We came within one half game of the division lead with the sweep, but Advance also swept their doubleheader to stay even with us. So next week goes a long way to determining who's in first and will settle tiebreaker issues with Advance. Should be fun.

Have a Night Kapsch

Well, now we've done it. We worked so hard to get into a position to get to the lower division, and now this.

We played an all around solid game with a somewhat depleted lineup (Warriors take note), and beat arch-rivals SOP 15-12.

The game had a little of everything. The defensive gem highlight, Nick gunning down a runner by inches at the plate with a laser throw (and Ump Hamilton actually got it right, unlike his high and low pitch calls), that was old school. And Rene did a great job picking the one hopper up.

Solid D all around. Gregg made a galloping catch in short left on a blooper. Bo and Nick made some running catches in the center fields. B placed himself perfectly on one batter in short left - and the hitter obliged by hitting the ball right to him. Bert and Coop made plays at third and second, not their normal positions. Heffe dropped a hard liner right in his glove but had the presence of mind to get a force at second for the all important first out with the bases loaded in the last inning. And even Tom got a putout at first without throwing the ball away.

The impressive thing about our hitting was we beat SOP without going to the long ball. There were a lot of sharp line drives. Bert, Cage and Bo each had four, and Bo's double was our only extra base hit. Nick drove in five with his hits and Bert four, and Bo and Nick led the way in scoring, three times each.

We even had some comic relief (some might say bonehead), with B "I can score from anywhere, any time" trying to steal home when the first baseman already had an overthrow in his glove. Out by six feet. At least.

But the difference may have been the bottom of the order. Coop, JT and Heffe all had two hit games (6 for 10), and my mantra is, "the bottom of the order hits, we win." And Rene had the base running highlight, somehow getting safely to second on my shallow liner to center with the center fielder practically standing next to second base. Even though we had just taken the lead, it opened the flood gates for the top of the order, who did their job and we never looked back, going up 12-5 at the time, after the eight run inning.

Finally, give Tom credit for keeping the formidable SOP lineup somewhat off balance. He walked a couple uncharacteristically, but it was because he was mixing his pitches up enough that they took a lot of awkward swings. And don't forget he was dealing with Mark Hamilton's 8-10 feet strike zone.

Oh well. Now we might as well keep playing better and get into the playoffs and win some cotton. If you insist. Maybe we will have a full squad one of these games too. One can dream.

Coneheads in Reverse, Backing It Up

You're 0-2 with a walk, albeit it was a bases loaded walk for an RBI. Everyone around you is hitting the crap out of the ball, or getting bloopers that fall in and bounders that bleed through, or getting a Conehead double on an error.

You could just keep doing what you're doing, the odds are that you'll get a line drive or something.

Instead if you're lefty Bruce, you go out of the box, literally in this case, to bat in the other box, right handed. And you smash the ball all the way to the left center fence.

That's how this game went from beginning to end, and the final score was 28-7, in four innings. We just ran out of time to do even more damage.

After taking a commanding 13-4 lead after three we nearly batted around twice in the fourth as we plated 15 runs. It kind of took out whatever drama there was to that point, he wrote understatedly.

WE HAD 18 STRAIGHT HITS in the frame. Is that how you spell RUST?

Haze had two doubles his first three times up and didn't even lead the team in doubles, because Randy had four in his first four ABs, 5-5 altogether and lead the team with 4 RBIs. Chris wasn't satisfied with his swing tonight. He was only 3-4 plus a sac fly. Sting was 4-4 with a double and a sac fly and only missed a second double or maybe a triple because we were going base to base in his last at bat when he split the center fielders. Chopper, Lefty, Haze were also all 4-4, Gene, Heffe and Johnny were all 3-4, and Charlie had a couple of hits and pitched a great game. Bruce was oh Bruce with his one lonely right handed hit, but he gave me my lead, so thanks!

Along the way there was some stellar defense. Gene set the tone with a great catch on a blast in the first inning, preventing the Polar Bears from denting the 5-0 lead we took our first time up. Charlie got a swinging K in the third inning. Randy hard charged a slow bouncer in the last inning and fired a bullet that nearly crossed up Heffe at first but he managed to hang on. Earlier someone had thrown a ball into foul territory over the first base bag and Heffe managed to drag his foot on the bag as he crossed into foul territory to catch it. And perhaps the play of the game was the last one - Johnny getting a great jump on a smash ticketed for right center and leaping to snag it for the last out.

And so we reversed the slowest start in the JFT version of the Coneheads that I can remember. We are now in a three way tie for second place, believe it or not, at 2-3. On the website it has us in second because thanks to this game we have the best run differential. In my tallying we are actually in third by tie-breakers but it doesn't matter - the league site states in plain English that all four teams will be in the playoffs. We can relax and just enjoy the games like we did tonight, and look what happens, because WE ARE THE CONEHEADS.

Scarlet Fever Overcomes Maroon, 18-6

No one is watching the scoreboard (!) but with one game left in the first half, Scarlet overwhelmed Maroon with great defense and timely hitting, 18-6, and stayed in first place.

In a cursed first we got four of our five runs with two outs, the biggest hit Charlie Uhlman's two run single. After that, we were shut down for three innings, but held off Maroon so it was just 5-1 after four. Then we put up another five spot in the fifth, the big hits a 19 hopper up the middle by the manager good for two runs, followed by Chip Sharpe's two run triple. The 10-1 lead was too much to overcome and we salted it away with another five run inning in the eighth.

Sharpe and Raymond Aguilera held off the Maroon hitters with plenty of help from our defense. Gary Namanny and Paul Lisi made great running catches, and Sharpe turned a single to right center into a fielder's choice out at second with a bullet throw to Gerry Dasey. Sharpe made a great play at the mound by knocking down a line drive past the net, and getting a force out at third base. Tony Gorgone and Bob Shipley corralled a couple of hot shots at second base. And that doesn't include a couple of double plays, one from Dasey to rover Gary Booth to Mike Nichols at first base.

On offense there were a couple of stellar efforts as we again spread around the joy of hitting. Booth went 4-4 with four RBIs and hit a two run bomb over the left fielder's head into a breeze. Namanny hit another gapper-homer in the sixth. Namanny, Dasey and Uhlman stroked three hits apiece, and Sharpe had a double and a triple.

I hear Green came back to win to stave off elimination from the first half pennant race, so it comes down to who can execute next week. We are looking forward to it!

Scarlet Sinks Navy 15-11, unless it was 12.

Insert Steve Suchon's military metaphors, here:

In a tight defensive battle, Scarlet prevailed on the wings of a five run seventh to best Navy 15 to something (more later).

We put up a five run first and the way things were going, a 10-4 lead seemed significant if not safe going into the sixth. But this is senior softball, and there is too much talent to keep these teams at bay for long. The bottom of Navy's order kept getting us and they scratched and clawed their way back to 10-9 or 10-10 going into the fateful bottom of the seventh. Then after a couple of hits and walks and runs, Tony Gorgone came up and hit a two out gapper for a three run double to give us the five run limit.

The defense and Chip Sharpe's pitching took over after that. Even though the bottom of Navy's order loaded the bases with no outs, we held them to just one or two in the ninth and it was over.

Gary Namanny had a monster offensive game last week. Today he had a couple of bloop hits but his defense in right center turned away the opponent time and time again. Even when he didn't catch flies, he cut off the balls off before they could become gappers. And he threw out a guy trying to get back to second for an inning ending double play.

Bob Shipway had a couple of nice plays as well. In left he was positioned perfectly for a Mike Saindon smash that came straight to him. Tough catch because it was hit so hard and right at him, they can be the toughest. Then he outdid that by catching a sinking
liner running full speed toward left center. He also turned a hard shot up the middle into an 11-3 putout.

Roc Lumley had perhaps the catch of the game on a line drive headed to right field that he caught - rumor was that there was a gap at least the size of a credit card between him and the ground. Helen Kostoff and Gerry Dasey made nifty plays at the hot corner in the first and third innings. In the ninth, the first baseman turned the tide by getting over to the fence to catch a popup for the first out.

Hitting stars were Namanny with four hits, Gary Booth (3-3) with a two run bomb, and Sharpe with a 3-4 game.

Of course there couldn't be a Creaker game without some controversy. and there was a rules question that would determine whether the game was 15-12 or 15-11. But since I couldn't find the answer in the SSA rule book,  and it didn't ultimately affect the final result, I will post it separately. Please chime in. Anyone.

All Things Must Pass, and Green Passed Scarlet, 32-25

Despite a good start by the Scarlet lineup, Green pushed back relentlessly to knock Scarlet out of first place, 32-25.

It was anyone's game as Scarlet jumped out to leads in the tops of first three innings. But Green responded each time, and it was anyone's game as Green led by the slimmest of margins after five, 21-20.

The only thing that kept Green just a little in check were two double plays. One was a 4-6-3 (Tony Gorgone-Raul Delgado-Roc Lumley) grounder.

The other was slicker, a nice catch by Garry Namanny in right center who fired to cut-off SS Delgado to Helen Kostoff at third to get the tagging up runner by a step.

Normally, 25 runs would be enough to win but Green proved too good and our usual one inning defensive lapse turned into a couple today.

Still on the offensive side we had a few players that shined. Gary Namanny won the battle of the brothers (if not the war) with two blasted home runs to left and center and a double to account for six of our RBIs.

Chip Sharpe found his power stroke with another blast over the left fielder's head good for a three run homer. Gary Booth had a quietly clutch game. He was 4-4, and two of his hits started rallies, and a third was a two out RBI hit.

Gerry Dasey and Gorgone made no outs as usual, each going 3-3 with a walk, and Dasey threw in a perfectly placed slicing line drive down the right field line for a triple. Mike Nichols, who is proving to be our secret weapon, had the mini-cycle with a single, double and triple good for three RBIs. Others with three hits were Art Miner and Paul Lisi. Bob Shipway and Charlie Uhlman each had two hits including a two out clutch RBI single. Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit.

So much for going undefeated - kudos to Green for just plain outplaying us today.

Scarlet Juices the Orange, 19-10

I was just making my afternoon espresso (actually a double iced latte since after all it is 90 degrees outside). I was lost in a reverie thinking about my two line drive doubles today, and wondering if I should mention them in my write-up. You know, be humble and all that. Sometimes, when you hit the ball exactly as you wanted to, this game is beautiful. Some guys do this all the time; the rest of us learn to really appreciate and be proud when we make solid contact.

And then I suddenly noticed that the coffee was about to spill over the lip of the espresso container while I was lost in my dream, and barely stopped it from overflowing. Thank God for the overflow tray.

So much for humility.

Today Scarlet remained humble but confident and convincingly defeated the Orange 19-10. After a 0-0 start in the first Scarlet put up four and five and five in the second through fourth and Orange could never really come back from the early 14-2 deficit.

We had balanced hitting throughout the lineup but it was our defense that was the difference maker. Except for a clunker in the fifth inning when we gave them about six outs, the defense was stout and the pitching was stingy on the mound. Chip Sharpe allowed but one run in pitching the first through third and eighth and ninth, thus earning the win and the save. Raymond Aguilera was nearly as good but had to weather the bad defensive inning in the middle.

We turned three double plays. Two were garden variety 6-11-3 and 1-11-3 DPs involving Raul Delgado, Sharpe, Gary Booth, Gerry Dasey, and Kravin. The other one shut down the Orange in the first. Paul Lisi caught a fly and heaved the ball to third to nail Brian Black trying to advance from second. Tony Gorgone made the play work, catching a high awkward bounce and keeping his foot on the bag. Bob Shipley and Charlie Uhlman also made good catches in left field.

Art Miner was the primary offensive hero, He went 4-4 with two triples and a double. He was thrown out at home on one of the triples when his foot was inches from coming to the ground as the ball arrived. On more inch and he would have hit for the cycle. Such is baseball. As it was he led the team with four RBIs.

Sharpe was also perfect at 4-4 setting the table as a leadoff hitter should. Delgado had three knocks including a triple following Miner getting tossed out at the plate. Kravin had the two doubles, and everyone else in the lineup had one or two hits.

Scarlet is on fire!