Underdog!

There's no need to fear, Underdog is here!

Sing with me...Ooh ah Ooh ah Ooh ah Ooh ah Ooh ah Ooh ah

Speed of Lightning! Roar of Thunder!

Well we certainly Kapsched off a challenging season last night. On April 30th we stood at 0-3-2, the arguably worst start in the 20 years we have played in Pleasanton. Then we totally screwed the pooch - and I am not talking about Underdog yet - by winning three of the last four to greatly reduce the odds of moving down for fall season.

There was only one thing to do. Blow a 13 run lead in our last game, sneak into the last playoff spot (and only by tiebreaker), and then take out the first place and second place teams. And get Cotton, or whatever Polyester they are passing for Cotton these days.

And so it came to pass. Never fear, Underdog is here.

In the first game, we were playing ho-hum, looking like a fourth place team just happy to be here. But the East Bay Long Strokers never took advantage and were only up 7-3 after four innings. And then - The Spark Plug came into the game. Yours truly got a hit! to start the top of the fifth and then eight more guys got singles sandwiched around a Gregg Sac fly and a walk to Rusty and a pop-up, and before you knew it I was up again, and this time I took a bases loaded walk. The other RBIs went to Bert, Pauly, JT, and two to Hama. B followed my walk with a two run single and we were in double digits for the inning. When the smoke cleared we were up 13-8 and never looked back. Up two in the bottom of the seventh, Tom induced a bases loaded pop up to the catcher to end the game.

The defensive highlight of the game was Coop laying out to take away a hit in the first. It held them to one run and kept it from getting away early.

In the Championship round. Tom owned SOP. He was squeezed by ump Ron all night long - the strike zone was about 8-10 feet. Very dangerous with a team like SOP, but somehow Tom kept them from scoring until the fifth inning.

He was greatly aided by our defense, which found its way to reverting to our former stellar defense. B was a vacuum, including ranging far to get three assists in the bottom of the second - he might deserve 'Finals MVP' even without consideration of his 7-8 hitting performance.

Cage turned a potential tag up and go to third fly out into a double play, throwing behind the indecisive runner, and Hama got a quick tag on him. JT turned one way and then adjusted to turn the other way on a twisting blast to right to end the fourth. Tom even got Donny M to strike out when he induced him to yank strike three foul by a mile.

We knew SOP would eventually score, and they put up five in the sixth to make it a one run game. It is our usual nightmare with those guys - they come storming back late and rally fiercely to smother us.

But not last night. Coop started the seventh with a ten foot 'bunt' hit - Donny tried to pounce in it from behind the plate but he had no chance to get the speedy Coop. And then up strode our secret weapon, JT. He blasted a gapper to left center, and Coop flew around the bases and JT ended up on third. The the top of the lineup took over and we added four more runs on hits by B, Gregg and a two run single by Rusty.

In the bottom of the seventh now down six again, SOP had no answer. Tom got a comebacker for out number one, Gregg came in hard to catch a pop fly to shallow left. And even though Donny got on when his ball took a no-hop on Hama, the next batter obliged by giving Hama a do over. This time he fielded it and fire to D at first and it was ballgame, season and thank you for the Maroon shirts!

There were two other keys to success. Albert took over the catching chores in the last inning and was a calming influence on Tom after he had had a wild streak (mostly due to the fucked up strike zone) in the sixth.

The other was Rusty - he came riding in on his white horse and saved the day (night) with his solid defense in right center and outstanding hitting. He only had five official times at bat, but he added two walks and a sac fly, and two of his hits were a double and a triple at key times. The triple led off the second and when he scored it provided the only run in the first three innings by either team. The  double kicked off scoring in the five run fourth that allowed us to take control of the game. Without him, missing Bo in the playoffs would have been a much larger burden.

And special thanks to Hama and Pauly - Hama wanted to bag it because of his "KD" calf injury but allowed me to guilt him into playing, and played great defense and hit like, well like Hama. Pauly had a pretty severe limp from a base running injury but gutted it out to the end.

Very rewarding to win like this - I don't think we ever have before as the four seed, and it was totally unexpected, which makes it twice as sweet. And we sent SOP off into oblivion as they are expected to fold up their tent after this season.

See you in a few weeks. Maybe our next uniforms should be a cape with a "U" on it!

Red Hot Scarlet over Navy 40-20 (!)

Believe it or not, this game was close until the last inning.

There were six lead changes through the first six innings, and Scarlet was up 17-15. We scored five to take a decent lead and shut down Navy in the bottom of the seventh. So, 22-15. We agreed that the eighth would be the open inning.

And then.

In the eighth, we batted around, TWICE. Eighteen runs. With one out on a fielder's choice, our second run scored. Then we scored sixteen more runs with two outs. And Navy didn't really play bad defense, almost every hit was clean and only a few were pop ups. We were just Scarlet-hot. When the smoke cleared, we were at an even 40 runs in eight innings, and each player had six plate appearances. We hit .779 as a team.

I thought I had a pretty good game. 4-5 with a bases loaded triple (should have been a grand slam, this runner is just too slow), a double and a walk, and five RBIs.

But look at this:

Paul Lisi, 6-6, six runs, five RBIs
Ray Aguilera, 6-6, four RBIs
Gary Namanny, 4-4, two HRs, seven RBIs, two sac flies
Gerry Dasey, 5-6, hit for the CYCLE
Chip Sharpe, 4-6, two doubles and a triple while jetlagged
And it goes on: Art Miner, Charlie Uhlman, Helen Kostoff all 5-6.
Mike Nichols, 4-6, triple
Bob Shipway, 3-6 including a clutch two out two run triple early when it was close
Tony Gorgone was the only player who had a bad (for him) game and he still was 2-5 plus a sac fly. And one of his outs was a line shot right at the left fielder.

I'm still out of breath, so I will leave the defense out this game. We had a few good plays and a few bad ones, as usual.

Backing In

The ultimate backing into the playoffs. We blew a 13 run lead, made a comeback, and then allowed them to make a final comeback. Then watched as Sons of Pitches took Livermore out of the last playoff spot.

Just like we drew it up!

Well the way we look at it, we probably have to beat first place East Bay Long Strokers anyway, so it might as well be in the first game. It life imitated art, we would beat them and SOP would beat the Ultimate Warriors to set up a final playoff battle with SOP (rumor is they are folding). We'll see.

Hopefully we have enough bats. The lowlight of the game was the all powerful Heffe striking a blow for all 64 year old weak ass hitters by hitting the pitcher and losing my bat for the rest of my Pleasanton career, however long that lasts. I must say that it looked to me like the guy was trying to make a play on it, but they are changing the definition of 'helpless pitcher' by the hour, so how can you argue with the call?

And Tom lost his bat but at least he recovered it. The guy is getting old.

The best moments of the game came in our seven run rally in the top of the fifth that turned a 6-0 lead into 13-0. Starting with Gregg, we had eight straight singles and then a walk, and when Bo drove in the last run with a sac fly, we were sitting pretty.

Then came the bottom half and entering the Twilight Zone. The Warriors, who had hit seemingly nothing but fly ball outs to that point, adjusted and started hitting line drive singles here there and everywhere, and before we could blink or the manager yanked Tom, they roared all the way back to take a one run lead 14-13. We weren't done; we showed some grit and again stringing a bunch of hits, took back a four run lead. But the Warriors continued their onslaught in the last inning, Ultimately walking off with the 19-18 win.

Bo, Bert, Rusty (two doubles), Paul, and Rene led the way with three hits apiece. Gregg had the only home run, a well timed two run blast in the third.

We will miss our lead off hitter, the youth movement of Bo, but most everyone else will be in, and we can compete with all these teams. Time for a Cotton drive!

Archrival Week

It was arch-rival week for the Coneheads. First there was Advance Construction in a game for the ages Sunday, then an early season match-up with the Old Scouts in Orinda Monday.

After the heartbreak Sunday, the Heads were vulnerable but instead turned in a classic Conehead win.: Stay close early, then have a big inning and blow it open. The score was only 17-10, but the eight run top of the sixth assured the win and that time would run out on the Old Scouts.

We scored four off the bat, but the Scouts countered with four in the first. Charley had a two run double. In the third Chopper hit yet another bomb for three runs and a 7-5 lead. Then the Scouts crept back and by the sixth they had a 10-9 lead.

But in the sixth, pinch hitter Chauncey, Heffe, and Gene loaded the bases at the bottom of the order with singles, and the table was set. Six hits sandwiched around a sac fly and the damage was done. Chauncey got his hit with sandals on - I made him put on shoes when he came up a second time in the inning and he proved he could hit with or without shoes on.

Bruce plead that he isn't a three hitter, and then went out and went 4-4 with two doubles. Sorry dude, looks like you might be stuck there. Charley was also 4-4 with three RBIs batting behind him. And Lefty ("I'm not a leadoff hitter") joined the 4-4 club. Chopper was the bomber with 3-4 and a homer and a double and five RBIs to lead the team. Haze continued his hot year with three hits, and late arriving Gene was also perfect at 3-3 and the perfect 'second leadoff' batting last.

We were lucky Randy was missing from the Scouts lineup, and we know it really only matters in the playoffs against those guys but it still feels good to get a rival game win.

Red Tide Washes Over Green, 20-12

A close battle between Scarlet and Green turned in our favor due to great defense and timely hitting late as Scarlet beat Green 20-12.

Good things seemed to come our way when we got the tough top of the Green line up out with no runs. The play of the game occurred with two outs. The Green hitter got just a piece and the ball went rising straight back. Catcher Mike Nichols managed to bat the ball in the air, juggle it and finally put it away in his glove for out number three.

Then in the bottom Scarlet crushed four extra base hits (Paul Lisi, Gary Namanny, Tony Gorgone, and Charlie Uhlman) to score five with no outs. Things looked good.

Then of course the Green Machine got five right back, and when we didn't answer they tacked on five more. Things were looking good for them now.

Uhlman came in to pitch the fourth, and retired Green on five pitches. The man knows how to seize the moment.We did answer after that and took advantage of some gifts, and it stood at 15-12 after five.

Then a funny thing happened - both teams stopped hitting for 2 1/2 innings. We tacked on three in the eighth and that was all she wrote.

Much of why Green stopped scoring had to do with some great defense. SS Gary Booth had a great game. Early he caught a tough pop up in no man's land in shallow left. In the seventh, he took a relay from Lisi, and fired home to get the first out. Then he started a SS-R-1B double play to end the inning. In the eighth, Lisi again got a runner trying to test his arm - this time he fired a one hop bullet to third and Gorgone made a great catch while hanging on to the base. Bob Shipway at 2B and the first baseman made some good stops too. On one, I showed my great range (not one but TWO steps) and fielded a grounder hit by Wilbur Williams. Then I looked to Raymond Aguilera to see if he was going to cover first, then I made and drank a cup of coffee, and then when I decided neither Ray nor Wilbur were going to get to first, I figured I might as well get the out myself. The other one ended the game.

Hitting was pretty spread out. Namanny, Lisi and Gorgone were all 3-3 with various walks and sac flies thrown in. Art Miner and Nichols joined the three hit club. Eleven of the thirteen players scored at least one run, and eleven also drove in at least one. A true team win.

Last One Batting Wins!

I hate losing. The only thing that keeps me from going overboard on it is that I play so many games, it's always time to move on the the next one, so there is no sulking.

But once in a while you play in a game so great, and so much fun, that if you lose by a run or so, you don't mind. Yeah you could second guess all you want but in the end in a great competitive game it doesn't matter so much in the big picture.

Such was the game yesterday against arch-rival Advance Construction. They overcame a 14-2 early hole with a 22 run onslaught over two innings, but we buckled down and came back from eight down to take a precarious one run lead going into the bottom of the last inning (fourth!). When Charley snagged the hard grounder up the middle with a man on first and no outs, and turned it into a double play, it looked like we just might pull it off. But Advance proved to be resilient as well and pushed across two more with two outs to win it 26-25.

One of their hits was a line drive just over Chris' outstretched glove at SS - that proved the cliche that it truly is a game of inches - a couple of inches lower and it's game over we win. Another was a blooper in shallow center between four guys trying their upmost to get to it.

Chris, D and Chopper had the big blows of the day. Chris hit two monster home runs, which accounted for four if his game high five RBIs. D turned his gappers into two triples - his last one was a beautiful shot to the opposite field to score two. Chopper like Chris was perfect 4-4 including a double and he was good for three RBIs. Gene, Haze and Heffe stayed hot with 3-3 days, the former two included a double three RBIs each as well. Skip joined them in the three hit club. Chauncey managed to go 2-3 on one leg. Chuck had his usual clutch pinch hit in the late rally - he is 3-3 in the last three games pinch hitting for Joe in the late innings.

There wasn't much defense this game - about the only play I remember (besides Charley's last inning heroics) is I dug one out of the dirt early on. We made a couple of unusual mistakes on defense, and they didn't, and ultimately that was the difference.

The good news is we are still only a game and a half out of first and everyone makes the playoffs. This year is lining up to be exciting.

Bo Owns Livermore

Have a game Bo. Bo went 4-5 with two triples and a double to lead the way past Livermore again, putting us in a position to make the playoffs anywhere from a two to four seed. He roamed left field making great catches as well.

He then got greedy to hit for the cycle trying to blast one over the right center fence that fell a little short. But that came in the seventh when we were enjoying our comfortable 16-6 lead which ended up being the final score.

We turned two double plays (started by Pauly and B) including in the seventh to stifle any thought of a comeback by the Livermore guys.

The rest of the hitting was spread around. Tom and JT had perfect 3-3 days plus a walk and a sac fly, respectively. Hama joined them in the three hit club, lacing line drives to all fields. B had RBIs his first three times up to lead the team in that category. Heffe provided the comic relief when he lined a ball right at the pitcher, who then got out two more balls and performed a juggling act before roping it in. Although Coop might have won that prize by hitting a dribbler five feet that ended up bringing home two runs.

This sets up the season finale - we can end up anywhere from second to out of the playoffs, so we might as well win to assure ourselves a spot.