All That Glitters Is Not Gold

The Key Takeaway of our demolishing Danville to vault over them into third place: I, Jeff Kravin, am just one off the team lead in triples for the season. More on that later*.

Can we please bottle the defense, offense and all aound game we had Wednesday, and bring it out in the remaining games?

We scored five runs in each of the first three innings, then four, and then 3-3-3. We almost let Gold back in the game with a nine run inning in the fourth to close to 15-13, but held them to three runs the rest of the way as we added on. Final score 28-16. 

We did slow down in the late innings, but I will take scoring at least three in every inning any game. Everyone got at least two hits, everyone scored at least one run, and nearly everyone drove in a run.

We hit a season high .717 as a team. Dave had one of those games: 4-4, two doubles, two homers, six RBIs. He had a sore butt, and almost begged off playing, but he showed what a gamer he is. Dan, leading off, set the table all game, going 5-5. Tom G was also 4-4, and played great defense and other than the nine run fourth held Gold pretty much in check. Mark and Tom W had the other two home runs, as we doubled our season high in a game with four. *I could have joined them, as I understand they had given up on my hit in the RC gap, but my left leg was cramping big time as I dragged it to third base. Don got me home anyway. Brian, Lamont, Mark, Don and I all contributed three hits.

The play of the game was when Kelvin Nelson hit a hot shot up the middle,  Gonzales stabbed it, and Nelson was so surprised he didn't bother to run to first, and Tom threw to Mark at second who relayed to first. Nelson did not even bother to run. I am not sure when it was; my memory is not great, but I like to think it was in the ninth and it ended the game.

Other notable plays, the first baseman ranged far (for him) toward the first base dugout to snatch a foul ball fly on one knee in the first. Dan knocked down a ball at 2B and got a force out at second. Likewise, in the second inning, he deflected one to Mark at rover who fired to first for the second out. Brian made a great catch in LF as well to shut them out in the inning. In the fifth, Tom at 3B and Bob at SS made nice plays to keep the Gold scoreless.

There were other plays that were not noted as we played great defense the whole game.

Oh, and I love irony. Joe noticed that someone had advanced the inning to the seventh on the scoreboard when we were about to go out to the field in the top of the sixth. We decided to wait and see if the other team noticed; we were up 19-13 at the time. They didn't but ironically, no one changed the 8 to a 9 when we started what everyone thought was the ninth. When they went down quietly, someone on their side said hey that was only the eighth, but a teammate incorrectly corrected him and said it was the ninth. At that point they were done anyway. We would have had the heart of the order up in the true eighth, and undoubtedly would have tacked on five more to add to their pain.

Even though we have had a rough time against the top two teams, this win just about clinches third place with three games left. We have the next two against Team Black, who have not won a game, and one more against the Hornets. We are done with Danville Gold (and the Wolfpack) and have taken two of three against them, so we hold any necessary tiebreaker. Their remaining games are all against the Hornets and Wolfpack. Although technically tied, any combination of our wins and their losses equaling three will clinch third place.

It will be pick your poison in the first round of the playoffs. When we are firing on all cylinders, I would venture to say we can compete with the top teams. I hope everyone can make the remaining games and stay healthy.

Thirty One Is the Magic Number

Even though we were missing our leading hitter Darren Bobrosky, Team Black Shirts plated a season high 31 runs and made Tie Dye's shirts bleed, and won our FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON! 31-26.

Obviously the Magic Number is 31 as last week we scored 30 in tying Team Blue 30 all to send the season of losses.

With the addition of Devin Underwood solidifying our defense and providing major pop in the middle of the lineup, we are undefeated in our last two games. I'd put our lineup up against any of the others. But sometimes it's the bottom of the lineup that make the difference. Sandy Camp was 'only 1-2' with a walk and a sac fly, but her hit in the fifth started a five run inning and she drew a walk in the seventh to do the same. And her sac fly in the second drove in the fifth run of that frame. So basically she was the key in all three of our five run innings.

We played from ahead most of the game - we scored at least two in every inning - but when it came to the ninth, we only had a 28-26 lead. Helen Kostoff led off with a single and that turned the lineup over with no outs, which was huge.We only scored three as the rally petered out in the middle of the order, but at least we had a five run lead.

I will admit, I was a little nervous in the ninth when we didn't any more runs,  given the number of games we lost late. It was true that Tie Dye had the bottom of the lineup coming up, but that part of the lineup had destroyed us in the eight run sixth, when they tied it up at 20. However, this time pitcher Brian Black coaxed three relatively easy outs, and we came out ahead. The breakfast shots were all the sweeter this day.

We bombed five home runs in addition to scoring the season high 31 runs. Art Miner led the way with a 4-5 day, two doubles, a home run and a team leading seven RBIs. Behind him, Tony Camillo hit a cycle except he forgot the single - double, triple, homer, walk and a sac fly good for five RBIs. Likewise, David Peterson can't seem to stop at first - he had three doubles and a bomb (4-4). Jeff Leboss matched his 4-4 with a couple of doubles. Brian Black stayed on fire, 4-5 with a solo homer. Even when Manager Dave Rose (also 3-3) bats him seventh, he seems to lead off every inning, in no small part because Mr. Clutch Johnny Gutierrez drove in the fifth rum twice batting ahead of him. And Tim Orr, leading off this game only went 3-3 plus two walks, scored five times and hit our other home run.

There were some notable defensive plays as well, even though we allowed 26 runs (Tie Dye has a pretty massive lineup, especically the forst seven or so). Gutierrez made an incredible sun catch in the first in RC. Underwood ran a long way to catch a potential gapper in the second and a shallow one after that. Kostoff made two great plays - one at 2B (2nd inning) and one at rover (4th). Likewise Tony up the middle in the fourth and Peterson dove for one in his inning at SS in the fifth. LeBoss caught a hard grounder and got the leading runner at second also in the fifth. Steve Rousso, snagged a shot headed to left in his inning at 3B, and got a force at second. In the next inning, Dan May leapt high to catch a liner that may have been the catch of the day. And finally, Leo Kay cut off a potential gapper in RF in the eighth.

Well, dare I say it we have momentum now! Let's keep it going!

When A Tie Is Not Something Around Your Neck

When is a tie a victory? Let me suggest - when you are 0-7, and you're about to lose yet another game in the ninth inning, and you're down by eight with the bottom of the order coming up in the bottom of the ninth, and then you're still down by seven with two outs, and you rally on six straight hits to come all the way back to tie it up. Thirty runs, a season high.

When is a tie like a loss? When a walk then loads the bases and the winning run is on third, but a groundout ends the game. This is no reflection on Helen, and we were all deeply rooting for her to get that game winning hit, but alas, it was not to be.

At least we still have that first win to look forward to.

There were planty of heroes who had monster games. Dan and Brian were both 6-6. Dan drove in a team high (shared with Darren) six RBIs on three doubles and three singles. His shot down the right field line over the first base bag was a thing of beauty as it gave us our first five run inning in the first. He repeated the two run hit for the last runs in the five run sixth. Both came after Team Blue had scored five in the top half.

Brian did not drive in a run on his perfect day at the plate - because he is the leadoff hitter. His leadoff triple in the bottom of the first was a statement to Blue that we were not lying down after they started the game with a five run top half.

Then there were the five hit boys batting four, five and six - Newbie Devin, Darren, and Johnny G. Devin started with a loud out (the only one in the first), and hit it harder and farther every time up with two singles, followed by a double, homer and another double. He scored five times and drove in five in his Team BS debut. Darren knocked in six on his five hits, and Johnny played set up for Dan after they pretty much cleared things on the base paths.

Art had four hits and drove in five, and in between took an oopsie called third strike leading off the eighth. Heffe and Leo contributed three hits apiece.

The game was close throughout and no one led by more than four runs at the and of an inning. When Blue opened up the ninth with six for the eight run lead, it looked unlikely that we would come back. But we showed our character in the bottom half.

It tells you everything you need to know that the powerful Brian Alexander wants to play with us next on his bye week off.

We kept in the game with some excellent defense mostly involving Devin early on. Tim made a nice running catch in the first. Devin made two highlight snags in the second - one a low liner headed to center field and the other ranging far into left field for a pop up. He also started a double play in the fourth. In between we threw out a runner from the deep reaches of left center who dared to tag up from first base. Devin's relay nailed him.

So we still have that first sweet win to look forward to, but our grit paid off in a great comeback...tie.

Discovering Gold in Danville

I could go on about the heroes at the plate in our dominant win over Danville Gold, 25-14. And I will.

Tom went 5-5, with a home run and the play of the game - grabbing a line shot over the screen and tossing to second for the game ending double play when the runner took off.

Mark, who has been tearing it up all season was also 5-5, and had three doubles - including the generous scorekeeper giving him a double on a hit that could/should have been a homer but the fifth run in the inning had scored from third base.

Bob was 3-3 plus two walks and every time he came up it seemed like a clutch situation, and he drove in five runs.

Randy was 4-4 and a walk and scored four times.

Dan was 4-5 and drove in three from the leadoff spot.

Dave was 'only' 3-5 but led the team with six RBIs.

Everyone else had at least two hits, except...

How many people can brag about going 1-4 but having their average go UP??? And also catching a one hop throw with his elbow and ample gut? I will let you guess as a class exercise.

But all that is just individual stats. As well as Bob making some great catches at SS and Howard ranging all over the right side of the infield making plays.

What this game showed is how good we can be when everything clicks. We should play like this every week and we could compete with the Wolfpack and the Hornets. Extra credit if you can figure out how to make this happen.

In the mean time, take a week off and enjoy the victory. Our strange schedule has us against the Wolfpack for the third time in seven games next week. We will need everryone playing like last week.

How Do I Lose Thee? Let Me Count The Ways!

It appears that Team Black's offense is fine. We slipped a little in batting average this week, but we scored 25 runs on two doubles, three triples, and two home runs. That should be enough to win a ball game, even a nine inning senior softball game.

Hence the problem is our defense. We play too tight, too afraid of failing, of losing balls in the sun, trying to make double plays instead of getting the sure out first, etc. It has been suggested that we drink our way to playing loose next week, which everyone may or may not be on board with.

Well, I have the solution.

Bear in mind, I am but the assistant manager here; the call is Dave Rose's. But here goes:

We atart out playing the position with the number of our spot in the batting order. So Tim starts out pitching (1), Brian at catcher (2), Art at first base (3), etc. on through the outfield. And then every inning you move one position up or down one in the numbered field. So Sandy moves to pitcher, Tim to catcher. Brian to first base, and so on. Eventually, everyone sits the same number of innings and gets to improve their game by being exposed to different positions. That is what winter ball is all about, right?

Or you could reverse the rotation - Tim sits out, Brian goes to the mound, Art to catcher, Tony to first base, etc. In this scenario, by about the fourth inning, using the lineup from two games ago, the outfield will be Frank, me, Helen and Sandy. We can't lose! And I promise - I will loosely chase every ball as it sails over my head or by me on either side. It's a win-win. We will be drinking by the fifth inning even if we don't start before the game.

You see, we have to think outside the box. That is because we lost our fourth in a row in the ninth inning. The scores going into the ninth have been 15-18 (tied it and then lost 19-18 on a walk off), 24-21 (led and then lost 25-24 on a walk off), 21-21 (lost 30-27 after allowing nine open inning runs), and again 21-21 (lost 28-25 allowing seven this time). It's quite remarkable.

Even though we gave away way too many runs, we had some good plays too, Tony turned a rover step on second, fire to first double play in the fourth. In the fifth Sandy made a great stop on a blast to her right at 2B but couldn't get an out as no one covered second. The same inning, Dan and Heffe combined on a nice third to first play as Dan charged a ball and threw off balance to first and Heffe picked it up. And in the seventh with the game on the line Darren caught a ball in left field that held Green to a single run, and kept it close.

Everyone had at least one hit on offense. Tony led with 4-5 including a two run home run in the first and five RBIs total. Johnny was right behind, also 4-5 with a beautiful double down the right field line that scored two of his four RBIs. Art and Brian were both 3-5, with a homer and a double respectively. Darren and Dave R also were 3-5.

But only one player did not make an out. Yours truly went 3-3 with two bloopers and a hit off someone's glove and a walk. Perfection!

This week we have a bye to think about what could have gone better, and then it's back at it one more time before Thanksgiving.

Dave - we'll talk.

Crows Give Back in Black a Black Eye, 25-5

In our best season two years ago, we shut out the Diablos 18-0 one game. But since that season, wins have been hard to come by, and especially laughers like we had yesterday.

With two last minute cancellations, we were going to struggle with just ten players, but Don remained optimistic. "We've got the right ten!" (as I smirked back at him)

We start out with a shutout inning on defense in the top of the first. We came in from the field looking at each other, like "What do we do now?

Well, Brian knew what to do, get a base hit to start us off. And with Mark and Aram hitting two run hits, we had a 4-0 lead! Do we know how to play from ahead?

In the second, Mark smashed a two run double to put the exclamation point on our first five run inning of the season, and we duplicated that in the third, this time it was Joe with a two run triple that punctuated the inning.

Finally in the fourth we were held scoreless. Brian was worried, we have a habit of going silent on offense in the middle innings.

But now we have our new weapon on the mound. Tom was dealing, getting easy ground balls and lazy flies the whole game. Back in Black never came closer than 14-3 in the fifth. In the bottom of the sixth we notched a third five run inning, on consecutive hits by LT, Mark, Bob, Aram, Tom and Heffe. Finally we learned how to Add On. We even added four more in the seventh, in a rally featuring a lead off home run by Joe.

I didn't take notes on defense but there were very few errors, and really because of Tom's pitching, most of the outs were routine. Bob had a good game in RC running in on a couple of tough catches. Mark more than made up for an error when on the following play made an all out dive to grab a grounder in the hole and flipped to third for a force out. Lamont crashed in hard on a ball up the middle, and Heffe snagged his off balance throw off the turf, one of two he scooped. Tom made a couple of nice plays on ground balls up the middle ticketed for center field. We did turn one double play, abetted be a brain dead runner at second. LT caught a hard liner right at him at 2B, and the runner took off on contact, and was already halfway to third. LT flipped it to Mark covering for the easy DP.

Apologies to Joe - I was right the first time - he 'only' had four RBIs, so there was a five way tie for the team lead in RBIs: Joe, Dan, Mark, Aram and Heffe. Can't remember that ever happening before. Aram (pronouced 'Ai-ram') led us with a prefect 5-5 day including a double. Brian led the way at lead off with 4-5. Dan (two SF), Joe (triple, homer), Lamont, Mark (double), Bob (triple), Tom, and Heffe all contributed three hits.

This is something we need to contiune!

Nearly Tied Tie Dye But in the End Died on Yet Another Walk Off

I have been playing softball at Heather Farm on and off (mostly on) for about 40 years. I thought I have experienced everything in softball, including in all those games at Heather.

But Tuesday was different. We all know all about our feathered friends that love the sod there for some reason. Well, Tuesday, as I innocently sat in the dugout keeping score, teammate Darren Bobrosky points up to the sky, and says, "the geese are getting ready to drop their load," or some such thought.

I thought no way, we are under a roof in here, they aren't that good. and then suddenly SPLAT! SPLISH! SPLASH! The Red Baron would have been proud!

I'm telling you they got me on the arm, on my outer shirt, on my undershirt, on my LIP, and all over the scorebook. The only parts of me untouched were my underwear and my knee pads, which fortunately I wear under my pants.

I'm a little paranoid about it - my grandfather once was pruning his rosebushes and must have touched some bird shit, and then rubbed his eye, because he contracted a reaction so bad, he was nearly blinded. So I came home and thoroughly fumigated myself. And I am burning the scorebook.

And on top of all that we ended up losing (25-24) on a walk off gapper in a game we had full control of early on. We jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, Brian Black setting the tone with a lead off double, followed by four more hits. In the second we added three more, and in the third, Art Miner led off with a solo homer, and we were on our way building a 15-7 lead after five innings. In the sixth, Miner added a two run triple and after six and a half we were sitting pretty at 20-9. But Tie Dye woke up in the bottom half, and closed to 20-19 before we could blink. We helped them out with a couple of crucial errors, but it's senior softball and they were bound to make a run.

In the top of the eighth, Sandy Camp and Heffe started us off with a couple of walks, but we hit a lineout and a fly out and it looked like the 'rally' would fizzle. But Miner came through once again, this time with a double to complete the cycle, and hits by Bobrosky, Tony Camillo, and Johnny Gutierrez completed a four run inning. We held TD to two in the bottom half, and led 24-21. A few runs added on in the open inning, and we're in business right? But two pop ups to the catcher and a flyout were all we could muster.

And then the curse continued as we made a crucial error in the ninth. With the bases loaded and a run in, up strode Mike Herrera. We had held the slugger in check all game. He had one infield hit when Camp made a great stab on a hot shot grounder in the 3-4 hole, but I couldn't get back to the bag with her errant throw to tag him.

So Herrera was overdue, and showed why he is one of the most feared hitters in Creaker Land. He launched a sizzling liner deep in the RC gap and the runners raced around the infield, and all we could do was get in line to congratulate Tie Dye for coming back.

There were some defensive highlights: In the second Bobrosky made a fine catch in RF, Camillo made one of his sliding catches in shallow RC from his rover position, and Black snagged a shot up the middle for an easy put out at first that all kept TD off the board. In the fourth, Dan May charged a weak grounder at third and threw an awkward one hopper to my right that I managed to hang onto. Helen Kostoff stretched out to catch a high throw from 3B in the fifth. In the next inning, she ranged to shallow right to catch a high popup from 2B. Also that inning Miner fought off the sun to catch the second out.

Miner led the offense with a 4-5 day, and the cycle brought home 5 RBIs to lead the team. Joining him at 4-5 were Bobrosky, Gutierrez and May. Tim Orr and Camillo added three knocks, and Heffe was 2-2 plus two walks for a perfect OB day.

p.s. The next day, playing in Danville, I noticed the Bombers got my softball bag as well, even though it was fifteen feet away outside the dugout. I'm bringing a rifle to the next game.