The Lantern is Lit, Green 19 - Scarlet 8

Sometimes you play a nearly perfect game. Today Green did as close as a bunch of old men can come to doing that. We made but one error and it was in the first or second inning, on our way to routing Scarlet O'Hara ("Frankly Frank, I don't give a damn") by a score of 19-8.

Scarlet's lineup is intimidating. We managed to get out of the first and score four of our own before they came up with five in the top of the second. But after that, Mark Narciso and Chris Nielsen and our defense allowed but one run in innings 3-8. We scored our only five spot in the fourth to go up 11-6 and never looked back. Scarlet finally broke through in the ninth for two runs, but Nielsen had shut them out against him until then in four straight innings.

The defense was tremendous and unrelenting. We made all the routine plays and then a few turned in spectacular ones as well. Lamont Thompson caught a line drive on the first play of the game at first base. When he moved to rover in the fifth, he came in on a ball in no man's land between the mound and second and snared a soft liner. In the next inning playing catcher, he hustled out toward third base to catch a popup that is usually a back breaker when it drops. Very few Creakers make that play.

Matt Meredith is a revelation at 2B. He leapt high in the seventh (OK in Creakerland 'leap' is a relative term) to snag a shot ticketed to right center field. On another tough grounder with a runner on second in the fourth, after catching a one hopper, he moved toward him to freeze him on the bag, and then fired to first for the out on the batter. Textbook. He made two of the outs that inning. Mike Nagy at third made his usual couple of plays on hard hit grounders trying to get to left field, including getting the speedy Lee Namanny for the third out with runners on in the third to keep Scarlet scoreless in that frame. Darren Bobosky made a great running catch in the sixth in deep left center. And Nielsen shut out the heart of Scarlet on four pitches in the eighth.

Let's face it, Scarlet turned even redder many times in the game as they gave us gift after gift when we were hitting. But we made the most of them. Bobrosky, Greg Wilson and Nielsen were each 4-4. Darren scored four times, and Wilson drove in a single run in every at bat to lead the team with four. How's that shift working for our opponents?

We hit .630 as a team, and everyone with one unnotable exception (not mentioning any names) had at least one knock. Tim Orr, Tony Gorgone, Angelo Rizzuto, Nagy, Nielsen and Meredith had long balls and although none were home runs, all but Orr's leadoff double in the first produced runs.

The Green Lantern is Lit!

Comeback of the Year (So Far), Green 15 - White 13

Once in a very long while, you play in a game that is just the perfect feel good game. Sometimes it is just because you simply dominated the other team, and pummeled them to death. You all feel pretty good about yourselves.

But the games you really take pride in are the ones where you come back against all odds and walk away with the opposition stunned, and smiles all around on your team. I mean really all Creakers are just happy to be enjoying the sunshine and playing a boys' game but the sun is brighter (and the refreshments taste better) after a win.

Today, Green spotted the tough White lineup a ten nothing lead after two innings. Every ball they hit was between us or we botched it, and every ball we hit was a line drive right at someone or one of their very good outfielders was making a great running catch.

We could have been as down in spirit as the score indicated. Indeed, our manager tends to dwell on the negative too much. But we have the ultimate cheerleader in Mike Nagy. He never lets us get down and no matter how dire the situation is, he always thinks we can come back. He led the cheers as we chipped away at the lead, even though we did not catch up until the ninth inning.

And come back we did. We held that fearsome White lineup to three more runs the rest of the game - that's seven innings. Our pitching kicked in (Chris Nielsen is the best closer around). Our fielding came around. And we chipped away with two in the third, four in the fourth, one in the sixth, three in the seventh, and suddenly we went into the open inning just down three runs at 13-10.

Coach Heffe led off the winning rally with a hit. Tim Orr and Darren Bobrosky followed suit, and it was bases loaded, no one out and the heart of the order up. But then two groundouts left us at 13-11, and we hung by a thread with two outs. Lamont Thompson strode up and hit a line shot into the outfield, and on a bobble Greg Wilson scored all the way from first and we were tied. And LT, a speedster in his youth I hear, against all odds rumbled to second base to get in scoring position as the lead run. He would have been fined if he was out, but that guy has the best instincts, and not only was the throw dropped but I think he actually beat it. Paul Lisi and Kevin Fisher came up with two more clutch two out hits, and we took a precarious 15-13 lead into the bottom of the ninth.

The first batter hit a screaming AND knuckling line drive toward right center but second baseman Tony Gorgone said no way and snagged it. The first out is huge when protecting a lead in the last inning, and that just made the White hitters tighter. After a hit, the next batter hit a blooper into shallow center - early in the game that would have fallen in - but center fielder Orr was just as determined and dove and caught it. Two outs. The runner on first took off on contact and I am sure if Tim hadn't had to dive he would have ended the game right there on a double play but couldn't make a throw from the ground. No problem, as the next batter made a routine out, and it was a win in the Green corner 15-13.

Other defensive gems were a running catch near the foul line and in the sun by left fielder Bobrosky in the fourth, and a slick runner gunned out at home play from Orr to shortstop Angie Rizzato to David Partridge in the fifth. Third baseman Nagy turned a bases loaded popup in a tricky wind in foul territory into an out in the sixth. That set up a Matt Meredith (2B) to Wilson (Rover) to Heffe double play to end the inning with no runs, and it was a momentum changer.

In the seventh, Nielsen went to his knees to snag a shot up the middle, and got the out with a throw from the ground. In the eighth Green turned an unlikely SS (Rizzato) to 3B (Nagy) to second double play to end the inning.

As you can see defense wins games.

Our hitters took a while to come around, but we hit when it counted. Wilson had a hustle double among his three hits. LT duplicated that hustle as noted already and had two hits and a Sac fly. Meredith had a clutch two run two out double in the third.

But it was pitching and defense that was the difference in this game - and the Nagy Never Say Die Attitude.

As James Brown famously sang (sing along Mike)-

Whoa! I feel good, I knew that I would, now

I feel good, I knew that I would, now

So good, so good, I got you

Momma Told Me Don't Be Green With Envy, Orange 30-Green 17

My momma told me if I don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

So I will be brief (for me).

Orange outplayed Green in all facets of the game Tuesday, and came out on top 30-17, We gave up five in the top of the first (what happened to the Curse?) and five more in the third but actually kept it close for a few innings - we trailed only 12-10 after four innings.

However, the relentless Orange Crush kept after us and scored five in the sixth, seventh and eighth to turn Green into Vomit. We had a few defensive lapses, but really I tip my hat to their hitting.

Lamont Thompson drove in six runs on three hits including two doubles. Val Hornstein was a doubles machine - three of his four hits were doubles as he ran aggressively. Greg Wilson had an opposite field triple and double to beat the extreme shift Orange put on him. And then made the loudest out of the game when he sent one nearly to the trees in right center - right where the outfielder was playing. It was that kind of day for the Mean Green.

David Partridge also had three hits and Matt Meredith drove in four and each had a triple. Matt also made a couple of fine plays at second base.

Well, the cliche after a game like this is "It's early in the season". Right Mom?

Practice Schmactice...

My dad modified the well known cliche, saying, "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you win!"

And I created a corollary, "It's not whether you win or lose, it's just a hell of a lot more fun to win!"

And so, Team Green put a win in our pocket for this practice season today, 17-13 over Royal.

We did it some very significant individual and team contributions in ways that really count.

Great defense:

• In the first, Angie started a SS to Phil at Rover to LT at first, who scooped a low throw. The top of the Royal lineup is excellent, and this play set the tone for the game.
• In the second, David made a great running catch in LF. Angie stabbed a one hop hot shot in the 5-6 hole and snapped a perfect throw to first. And to finish the trifecta in the inning, Mike grabbed a grounder on the third base line before it could go foul and heffe corralled his low throw.
• In the fourth, with the potential fifth run on third, Darren caught the second out and threw a perfect one hopper to LT at home to nail the runner. By the way, I have never seen a Creaker who plays the left sun fields at Heather Farm better than Darren. 
• David made another nice catch running in playing right field later in the game.
• Matt had a stellar game at 2B, he made a number of plays including a hot shot to his abdomen in the last inning that he turned into an out.

And as I think will become the norm this season, excellent pitching by Mark and Chris, which is part of great defense. Royal's top of the order got four in the ninth, but before that we held a potent lineup to nine runs in eight innings.

Phil was the hitting star with two triples in his three ABs.

Two significant notes on the offense. The ability to "add on" is extremely important in softball with the high scoring games we see. When Royal scored seven runs in the fourth and fifth innings, we responded with four in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth. That gave us a dominating 14-7 lead, and we cruised onward.

Second was that the fifth inning rally came with two outs and no one on. Mike had opened with a single and then LT sent a laser shot to right center that the fielder caught after a bobble. Mike went for second and was nailed out. But then, Paul, Mark, Greg, Tony, Chris and David put together consecutive two out singles to plate four runs. That's huge.

Four times we strung together four, five, or six straight hits to generate run scoring rallies. That's huge.

Phil had the two triples, Darren had a perfect 4-4 day, and LT, Greg and Phil led the way with three RBIs each. Everyone had at least one hit.

It's how you win!

The Frozen Tundra of Danville

In a game played barely over freezing at game time, The WolfPack's pitching and defense dominated the Crows in a must win game to make the playoffs, winning by 10-2.

JP was spot on for the most part for his innings, allowing just one run. But then Chris came in, and he dominated the Crows for six innings of shutout ball, really seven as they scored a measly single run in the open ninth. He had four, count them one, two, three, four Ks looking. He was living at 11 feet plus, but not over 12 and hitting front, back, and every corner of the plate.

He had some help on defense. There were outstanding plays by Wilbur at second base on a liner, and Marc on a great stretch at second to get a force on a shot up the middle to Les to nail the speedy Crow Anthony. Johnny G caught a slashed liner at third and Paul made a great running catch in right field in the eighth.

The big hits were in the third and the sixth. In the third, there was a close play at second where our umpire, who was screened from the play, called our runner out going to second base. But LT the Crow rover played the honesty card and gave up the out because he was off the bag. After much confusion our runner was ruled safe and when we subsequently loaded the bases, Kevin hit a bases clearing double and it went from 3-1 to 6-1. A big lead on a day when everyone was basically freezing and the wind was blowing in hard from left.

In the sixth, we needed to add on as the score had stagnated for three innings. After a hard luck double play by Selwyn (he hit a hard grounder right to the second base bag), we punched out five straight hits by Ladd, Kevin, Les, Marc and Johnny G. The last one was a twisting triple that eluded the right fielder, and even though we couldn't get him home, it gave us a 10-1 lead which on this day was dominant.

Even though we tried to end the game in the rules mandated time limit, Don Clay insisted on playing all nine, but the Crows were barely able to get one more run, and we walked off with the 10-2 win.

This victory was essentially an elimination game for us. But with this one in our pocket, it opens a bunch of scenarios for the end of the season, many of which land us in the playoffs. We are 3-2 in our last five games and each of the losses are by one run to the two teams tied for first.

You just never know what will happen when the temperature drops to nearly freezing. The Scared Crows freeze and the Wolves Howl!

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!