Comic Relief

You're up 12-1 against a team that plays like the Keystone Kops and hasn't won a game all season. So what to do to entertain the troops...oh that's it, trot your overweight, out of shape, out of breath self out to right field. In your first inning (the fifth) they don't figure it out and hit the ball elsewhere. There is a reason Vintage is in the cellar.

In my second inning (the sixth) they still don't figure it out. In the seventh we trot out JP, who, sorry John, has knees so bad off that he makes me look like a speed skater. They still don't figure it out, instead hitting a routine grounder to 1B Johnny G, and making catcher Dave look like Buster Posey on a pop up.

But in the eighth, the Vintage big lefties were coming up. They had been hitting to left all day, both of them, but now they sensed blood. Boom! Deep fly! High Fly! I ran, and ran (slowly), and looked up, and there was nothing but a very bright yellow ball, and it was not the one with stitches, which completely disappeared. You have to give me credit, I got there, but I had no idea where the ball was at that point and threw up my glove hoping for a miracle. There was a miracle - it didn't hit me in the head and knock me out as it passed within a foot of my head and my glove.

Then the lefty with real power came up and hit a couple to foul territory to torture me, including one all the way to the concrete border of the field - because, really, well, why give me the advantage of not being all tuckered out from chasing them down. And then he put the next one over my head, again directly in the sun.

Somehow after that we managed to get out of the inning without giving up our entire eighteen run lead. So I punished poor Kevin and strongly suggested (begged) him to change places, with him taking the sun in right field and me moving to right center. And guess what - Vintage figured that one out and hit four balls in my direction in the last inning. Two were hits in front of me, but two were in the air and I had to make running catches - I'm sure Selwyn or Ladd would have made them look routine, but at least I got them, including the last out. I'm sure everyone had some good laughs watching me flail about, and I am here but to entertain.

And as I sit here slapping the keys on my laptop which sits on my coffee table as I sit on the couch, visualize this - I probably will sleep on the couch, because my legs are jello, and I can't really feel them. I only hope they return to me tomorrow.

Believe it or not there was a game before my flip flop angst. Granted Vintage is pretty hapless but we played good defense and had lots of timely hitting. In the first, with two outs, Marc, Billy, Johnny G, Paul and John L all had two out run scoring hits. In the second, Steve gapped the middle for a triple and not to be outdone, Dave gapped the right side and came all the way around for a homer, our only of the game.

In the third, after three hits and a walk Billy hit a twisting inside out liner to right that eluded the fielder and rolled nearly to Alamo, and Billy hobbled to first, and then to second, and then to third before finally succumbing to exhaustion. Johhny G brought home his pinch runner with a single for our fifth run of that inning. That gave us our 12-1 lead aforementioned. 

In our last ups, we had the nearly perfect inning. We needed to plate nine batters to get everyone three at bats, and that is exactly what we did, with eight of nine hitting safely, and the fifth run scoring on Frank's blast over the left fielder. 

On defense Johnny G threw a laser to second to get a force out on a 'single' in front of him in RF. On an errant throw from second, yours truly scooped and stuck a tough throw on the turf, before I made a fool of myself on the outfield. Ladd and Paul made some good catches on the left side of the outfield. Marc and JP kept the Vintage hitters off-balance through the first seven innings, and Billy threw well and just suffered from some, ahem, marginal defense to close the game.

Marc, Billy and Johnny G were 3-3 and Marc led the way with four RBIs.

Overall we did what we expected to do. Sadly the Crows won their game and it will take a miracle to get us into the playoffs. But only one miracle happened in right field today, so perhaps there are more  still to come.

Relax And Have Fun

I know - Vintage hasn't won a single game. Even though in the Year Everyone Improved, they also are better, basically they are the only team that can't compete in the Danville Winter League.

Nonetheless, the Wolfpack routed them 18-8, and it wasn't that close, as we relaxed in the ninth after we were up 18-4, and gave up four gift runs. It's easy to say, but we played relaxed and with confidence. It would be good if we played this way against the better teams, as we seem to press too much in those games.

Lots of players had great hitting games - Selwyn (solo home run), Paul D, and Marc were all 4-5 and rapped line drives all over the field. Heffe was 2-2 with two walks, and John L, Paul L, Steve and JP all had multi-hit games.

But the game belonged to Ladd. He was merely 4-4 plus a walk, with two home runs and five RBIs. And his three run gapper that rolled forever in the third inning put us ahead 5-3 for the game winning RBI and we never looked back.

That was necessary to put us ahead because we had had a defensive meltdown in the bottom of the second when we gave away three or four outs. But the Vintage could only capitalize on our gifts by plating a mere two runs out of the rally. And so we trailed only 3-2 going into the third.

After that, we played one of the most solid defensive games we've had in a while. There were several highlight reel plays: Dave made a spectacular catch in the first on a smashed line drive to right that appeared to still be rising when he snatched it out of the air. Heffe ranged far (for an old guy) into foul territory beyond first to snag a pop fly in the third. In the fifth Paul D grabbed a hot line drive up the middle at rover, and the other Paul (L) ranged far to catch a fly with the sun in his eyes in left. And then the pitchers got into the action. In the sixth, pitcher Chris stuck his glove out from behind the screen to spear a crushed line drive. Not to be outdone, a couple innings later JP did the same - the ball dropped out of his glove however, but he still calmly got the ball to first in plenty of time to get the out.

Overall one of our better all around games. granted, the weak opponent. But now is the test - we trail the last playoff spot by a half a game to the Crows, who we play in the coming week. We are only two games out of second place. Now would be a good time to get on a run, and build momentum for the stretch drive. One at a time, but this is one that we want!

Something Strange in Danville

We should have known how weird the game was going to be when, in the bottom of the second, Dave hit the right center field gap and the fielder kicked the ball all the way to foul territory. I think he was trying to kick it into the soccer goal out there in right field, so he could claim it was a ground rule double as Dave was racing around the bases. Never you mind it was a three run homer, and settled our lead at 6-2 after two.

We scored at least two in each of the first five innings to build an 18-7 lead. In the fifth, none other than Wolfpack owner/GM JP led off with a smash down the left field line. It was hit so hard that the Vintage left fielder watched it and neglected to go after it. John didn't know quite what to do. And then everyone started yelling "Run, John, Run!" and he hobbled past second, and third and all the way home. These were two of only three extra base hits we had all game, and whoda thunk it would be Dave and John?

Along the way we experienced one of the strangest plays I have ever seen, and seemingly could only happen in senior softball. It was so strange I made a mess of it in the scorebook and I am not even sure who was at bat but I think it was Dave who hit a bases loaded popup near second base. As soon as he hit it I remember thinking, no one is getting that, and sure enough the Vintage infielders, instead of trying to catch it started yelling "Infield Fly". Well our umpire was having none of that, as it clearly was not a routine play for any of the 65+ infielders. But our runners froze except the one at third, who thankfully did score. So ultimately, I'm not sure who came out ahead - we had a run but they put out the runners forced at third and second.

And so we sat pretty at 18-7 after six, and all was well. Except it was a strange day in Danville. Marc came in to close out the game, and Vintage suddenly remembered they knew how to hit. We didn't really make defensive mistakes, they just hit the ball. It took the manager too long to relieve Marc, who really didn't do anything different than our other pitchers, but sometimes you just have to change things up to stop a rally. At long last JP came back in to stop the bleeding, and we still led 18-16.

The mark of a good team is what do you do when faced with adversity. I have been in games like this one and the team that is ahead just loses all the momentum and never recovers. But not Wednesday in Danville. We responded with our third five spot. JP start this rally too, and six of the next seven batters hit singles to plate the five.

JP came back in, and he couldn't close out the game. But Chris, who had started, managed to finish the 23-19 win.

There was some great defense along the way. Selwyn made a couple of running catches, including a one of the shoestring variety. Ditto Paul L in left and then he moved to right center and nabbed another tough chance. But the play of the day was a grounder (to second?) and Johnny G stretched all the way out to cut down a hitter in the late innings after the score was tight.

Johnny G drove in a run every time up for a total of five, and ended two of the five run innings with a hit as he went 4-4. Similarly, Marc was 4-4 and drove in runs on three of his hits. Paul D rounded out the trio of four hit batters, had the only double in our lineup, and drove in three. Paul L, Chris, and Nick had three hits apiece.

Maybe it was the odd warm temperature. Maybe it was the 12:00 game. Let's just say we are 1-0 in bizarro games.

Emptying the Hornets' Nest

First they were the Renegades. When they played over 50 Rec League in Pleasanton they were Boomer's Bangers, then Ritt's Boys. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, they held pickup games, the Spartans against the Trojans.

Whatever their name, they were a bunch of tournament players that slummed in the Rec Leagues and they usually won and had our number especially.

But not today.

Our relentless hitting up and down the lineup including I don't know how many two out hits, and very good defense save one really really bad inning, and pitchers that re-discovered the strike zone just in time, put them on their heels and kept them there until they just ran out of time to come back. And as it turned out, there was a screw up and we only batted seven times ourselves.

So to say the score was 25-15 and it wasn't that close is quite an understatement.

I can't help myself, here is a list: Four two out hits in the third. Three in the fourth. Five in the fifth. Seven in the sixth. Four in the seventh. The Hornets should feel lucky that we didn't get or need our open inning - we would probably still be batting!

On defense, Ladd and Selwyn were running all over the place on the left side of the outfield, catching this and that. Wilbur was, as usual, a vacuum cleaner at second. Heffe made a falling down scoop at a key moment at first base. Les somehow placed himself right where line drives up the middle went to die, including on the past out. As did Marc at SS a couple of times.

Yeah they were hurting but I don't care who was missing on their side - we dominated after spotting them a 7-2 lead in the second inning.

Billy hit perhaps the slowest home run in the history of Danville, a two run job in the sixth. Selwyn managed to get on base three times in the beginning of the game on what we would call 'errors' but there aren't such things in senior ball so we call them 'hits'. But he earned them by hitting a grand slam gapper in the seventh that put the final nail in the Hornet's Nest.

Marc joined Billy with a 5-5 day. John Look matched Selwyn with four hits, a perfect 4-4. Ladd, Paul and Heffe all had three hits. Everyone else had at least a hit.

Keep this up while I am enjoying Mezcal in Oaxaca next week. Beat Leo's!

Orange Comeback Tuesday: 13-12 Royal Walk-off and 18-14 White-Wash

Each game was a microcosm of our year so far. In the first game against Royal, we charged out to an 11-2 lead after four, and Royal was on their heels. Then in the top of the fifth, The men in Blue charged all the way back, thanks to the hitting they are capable of combined with a one inning defensive meltdown by the Orange. Then they got the shutdown inning they needed. In the sixth, we had more shaky defense but Royal could only plate a single run. In the bottom half it looked grim when the first two hitters made outs. But the top of the order, Ron Schwab, Mark Edelstone, Mike Saindon, and Greg Wilson smacked four straight hits, and we walked off with two runs.

Edelstone had three hits with a double and a triple, Saindon had three including a triple and Wilson had three including a double. The top four had 10 of our 13 RBIs.

Schwab, Jay Chafetz and the Coach had two hits apiece. Chafetz made any number of great catches in LF and Edelstone robbed Helen Kostoff in shallow LC Willie Mays style on a sinking line drive. The first baseman scooped one in the dirt backhanded to steal an out in the same inning, and Howard Davis, who pitched all 12 innings today, made a great play on the third out that inning.

In the day cap, Orange scored three in the top of the first then went to sleep for three innings. Going into the top of the fifth we trailed 8-4. But we batted around in the fifth to take a one run lead 9-8, and after a shutdown bottom half, batted 15 hitters and more or less put the game away as we went ahead 18-9. White's sharpshooters came back with six runs, but in the end they had dug too big a hole. Final was 18-14.

A word about Davis. He pitched lights out all day, He had batters off balance in both games, and I think he had but one walk in the doubleheader. He started the season fourth on the depth chart of Orange pitchers, but worked his way up the ladder, and today with all the other pitchers missing, he really came through for us. And to boot, after we came back against White in the fifth, in the bottom half, he stabbed a shot up the middle and started a 1-11-3 double play to essentially take them out of the game.

Against White, Vince Franceschi was 4-4, and Chafetz and Lamont "LT" Thompson were each 3-3 with a sac fly each and co-led the team with four RBIs. Schwab also had three hits including two doubles, and Kravin rounded out those with three hits. Everyone else had two hits except Saindon and he had a sac fly and a walk and a hit. Great team effort on offense and defense.

It comes down to next week - we need some help from Scarlet and Royal, and it starts with going up against the juggernaut Purple - but we know and they know we have beaten them three of four so far this year. Fun fun fun!

Orange Squeezes Purple 17-15

Bottom of the seventh (in a game shortened from the beginning by agreement), two outs, 17-15, Mark Pitzlin on second and Paul Lisi on first as the tying run. Gary Tryhorn up as the winning run. Raul Delgado on deck. A gapper ties it, and the Delgado wins it for Purple with a long ball.

That's the way the script reads, except that's not the way real life worked out. You know Orange is doing something right, or living right, or just got lucky, but Tryhorn flied out to Mark Edelstone in left center and it was game over.

What we did right is what Edelstone did. Catch the routine ones. The outfield - Brian Black, Edelstone, Jay Chafetz, and Vince Franceschi made every catch that was catchable, and hustled in to hold the mostly speedy Purple to one base at a time.

Due to a makeshift infield, the game started off rough. We started out with a solid three run first but  defensive lapses and the usual good hitting by Purple propelled them to a 10-4 lead through three innings. It was getting ugly.

But we settled down on defense. Mark Narciso pretty much held Purple down. Except for a four run outburst in the sixth, they only scored two runs he rest of the way.

And so the table was set for a comeback. We burst open in the fifth. After a leadoff double by Steve Sloat, we made two outs. Then with two outs and our backs against the wall, we got consecutive hits from Mike Saindon, Greg Wilson, Narciso, Franceschi, Chafetz, the Coach, and finally a bomb by Lamont Thompson to tie it up at 10.

We followed that with a one out rally in the sixth, again started by Sloat. This time the big hit was a two run triple over the left fielder's head by Edelstone. Purple answered with four to re-take a lead at 15-13, but we answered right back with another two out rally to plate four in the last inning, again all with two outs. Clutch hits came from Art Oller, Sloat (again), Black and Edelstone.

Sloat stood out with a 4-4 day. Chafetz, Edelstone, Franceschi, Saindon and Wilson all had three knocks. Multiple hit games were enjoyed by Black, Kravin, and Narciso. Everyone had at least one hit. Everyone but Kravin scored a run, and ironically everyone drove in at least one run except Wilson, who has been our RBI leader all season.

There were no webgems on defense, but kudos to Wilson for filling in well at 3B and Saindon, Sloat and Thompson (who had not played together in today's positions all season) as they worked out their early problems and got more solid up the middle as the game went on.

It was a meaningless game, except for the fact that we have given Purple three of the four losses they've had all season. Coppa and company have something to think about with the playoffs coming. I just hope we are both in it when we play them in our last game of the playoffs October 5th. Maybe it will matter, maybe not, all there is left is the play the games!

The Cliff of Lake George

Last week my Creaker Team Orange, which enjoys good team camaraderie, talked about holding a team barbeque at the end of the season to celebrate our time together.

Then last night, in our weekly zoom, my good friends from back east decided, somewhat in jest, that we should meet for a road trip to stay in the last remaining Howard Johnson's Lodge, which is in the resort town of Lake George in upstate New York (one of the participants lives in nearby Albany, NY).

So my dream combined the two themes. Here it goes:

Team Orange signed up to play in a tournament in Lake George and stayed at Ho Jos. While we were in between games, we walked into a park which overlooked the lake, and we stood atop a very high cliff. Our pitcher, Mark, who in the dream was from Lake George, offered $300 to anyone that would jump into the lake from on top of the cliff; he said it was a local rite of passage growing up in Lake George. He said he would also give out $10 to anyone that would even go into the lake, because it was very cold (this took place in early spring). There was a path down to the lake from where we stood. A couple of my teammates took Mark up on this. There was one player, a woman, who was seriously considering jumping. I tried to talk her out of it. I said, "One small movement in the wrong direction, you could land awkwardly, and break your neck! Not something you want to do at our age!"

We finally talked her out of it, and then Mark declared he was only joking, and would have called her off if she decided to jump. He said no one had ever jumped from that height.

The next day, we played in the finals of the tournament. In the championship game, we took a one run lead in the top of the seventh. In the bottom half, with two outs, the other team had the tying run on third, and the winning run on second. With two and a half strikes (in softball you get one foul ball with two strikes and then on the next foul ball you can strike out), the batter hit a pop fly up the first base line, which bounced and then started behaving oddly (note - in the dream the dimensions were distorted, and the first baseman had no chance to get the ball. And normally I would be playing first but in the dream I was watching this from the third base dugout). The ball rolled foul, and almost stopped and our team started celebrating. But then out of nowhere, it improbably took a sharp right turn into fair territory and the other team commenced whooping it up, because by that time both runners had crossed the plate, having run with two outs on contact, and the batter had gotten to first base safely. Then the ball, not quite stopped, turned left again and started rolling into foul territory again, and the whole celebration started again on our side of the field. For some reason, in the dream you weren't allowed to pick up the ball before it settled in foul territory, which you would in real life. In any event this process repeated itself again and again, with players from both sides crowding around the ball to see what it would do. Finally, after about the third or fourth cycle zigging this way and zagging that, the ball settled down for good in foul ground, and we had our victory. What a bizarre way to win a championship!

That's all there was to the dream, and I am not sure if there are any life lessons from it, but there you have it. Maybe just that we should all visit Ho Jo's on all you can eat clam strip night, and go from there.