1/27/13 West Sunset

It was a great day out in the sunny yet frigid field of West Sunset.  If one were to take and examine a picture of the day, it would have appeared to be July, except everyone had four layers of clothing on.  We had 18 brave souls out for what proved to be a pretty damned exciting game.  Johnny and Carter started out hurling, with Doc behind the dish giving out the balls and strikes.  The teams seemed fairly well matched, we certainly had enough versatility on each team so no one got stuck having to play any one position the whole game.

The crispness of the day lent itself to the bats, and line drives were the main course.  The wind was curiously strong (and cold) and anything that got up into the air was pushed all over the place, and sometimes straight down.  So we made do with short drives and ground balls.  After 4 innings of work, Johnny gave up the bump to Satch, who was ready and willing to throw as many as anyone would let me.  And as it turned out, that was a lot.  I ended up going the rest of the game and into legitimate extra innings.  Phelps came in for the visitors and then the mop up artist, G. Snyder.

The game itself was pretty amazing, not a particularly high scoring affair by MBC standards, but the way that we went back and forth, each team had the lead, lost the lead, tied it up, ahead, behind, tied.  It was a true see-saw battle.  There were more than a few judgement calls on foul/fair, out/safe that we didn't realize would play a major part of the outcome later.  

By the end of regulation play, we were deadlocked at 6-6. 

An inning of nothing.  

Then the visitors came alive and pounced on the homers for three runs and that seemed like all it would take to finally end this thrilling (and chilling) spectacle.  But sure enough, we homers were not about to go down with out a fight, and we managed to thread together a rally of our own, and tie the game up again, turned away from the victory at the last moment by a well caught fly ball.  

9-9.  

We debated playing more, but we had already lost a few players, everyone was done, and the real cold was descending rapidly, so we reserved the right to play it out a later date, called it a tie and hustled to our cars to turn on the heat.

Highlights:

* I bought a Shoeless Joe Jackson Model bat at WC Sports, and it is awesome.  I hit the ball hard all day, and it has one of the best sounds when it connects

* Sean made some great stretch plays at 1st

* Mitch got to some of those aforementioned fly balls that died in the wind, that no one else would have

* Maybe the hardest hit ball I had all day, died in the wind and Tony moved three feet and caught it

* Bob is officially a baseball magnet, he was HBP x2, HBFoul, almost HBFoul again

* Adam owned me all day, every time I thought I had him, he'd get a hit

* I owe Doc an apology for pissing and moaning a bit on the mound.  But some of those pitches were preeeeettttttttty good.

* Loren's gf bought out a blanket this time, smart girl

* Mike Gaspar managed to confound a pitcher enough that he eventually took his free pass

* Ed played while his two boys circled him in the outfield

* The line drive double play was a big sigh of relief

* Bob hit a ball so hard it refused to be pushed down by the wind

* Phelps did too

* A foul ball that Johnny was after at 3rd, almost was pushed fair by the wind!

* Both teams (especially the visitors) had a number of bases loaded, and only one or no-one scored innings, so many killed rallies. All the defense work of the game was pretty stellar!

* Next week is 11 am start, in deference of that other thing.  Just remember:

1/13/13- Camp Swampy

Finally a game, and what a game!  With the icy winds and cold snap, it was a toss up to see if anyone was going to show, but sure enough, the MBC came out in droves to the tune of 26 palyers for Sunday's match.  First we had to kick some league guys off, who said they had a permit, but the "guy" who "had" it was mysteriously not there.  "He" never is, it seems.  So they took off, after some stalling.  And Camp Swampy ws ours.  The field is in great shape, by the way, hardly can be called Swampy anymore.

It took a little back and forth to figure out who was on what team, but I think we managed to figure it out by the middle innings.  Satch started for the homers, having been itching for a start in quite some time.  My tardiness of late has kept me from being the guy on the bump, relegated to right field without warm ups.  Well, I got to warm up on Sunday, and it felt good.  The three layers of shirts felt good too.  It was warm in the sun, but that was the only place it was warm.  The first inning saw an anomaly, as Chris Powell made 3 errors at SS, more than he has made in the last four years!  Our team was definitely shaking out the cobwebs, and before we knew it, we had given them about 6 outs, and the visitors had scored 3 runs.

Will started for the visitors, but a nagging shoulder kept him from a long stretch, but he kept us close. We got a hit or two, got on the board and the game was away.  Trying to remember who needed to sit out and who was on who's team was a constant conversation, but the atmosphere was light, everyone happy to be playing ball in the new year.

The game saw a lot of back and forth, Phelps came in for Will, then Daniel, then Mitch.  I lasted 6 innings before giving the pearl over to Johnny, and felt really good the whole time.  The fastball was moving, the knuckleball was filthy, the gravity ball was doing its job.  I even managed to get Gaspar out on three pitches, something that I don't think has ever happened before.

Somewhere in the 5th I mentioned that I had not been on the winning team in quite some time, and lamented that it wasn't looking good for us, as we were currently in a 7-3 deficit.  Snyder chided me (rightfully so), and by the next inning, we were only down by two.  Eventually, the bats for the homers woke up and we took the lead and never looked back.  We played an extra inning to make up for the extra people, but it was fairly uneventful.  And it was getting cold(er).  Final 10-7.

Highlights:

* Good to see a big group come out, thanks to Bob and Greg for keeping us legal in Parks and Rec.  Give them money when you see them....

* Return of Robin, who managed at least one hit, twice on base and a run scored! Keep coming out!

* Daniel almost made an amazing full out diving catch in left

* I threw a knuckleball to JT that I wish I could frame and hang in my living room....

* Bob didn't get hit until the 10th, but hit he did get.

* Greg and Tony each had some real nice hits

* Loren got onto the ballot for 2013 AOY for 2 things!  1.) Hitting the runner, Robin, with a thrown ball from center to third.  Unintentionally, we hope. 2.) Forcing his girlfriend to sit and watch the whole game, while she slowly froze to death.

* I managed to 3 hits that all went between 3rd and SS.

* Jay might have had a 1.00 OBP for the day

* The sun by the end of the game made it impossible to see anything from anywhere

* Double (triple) play!  We got a flyball catch, to 2nd for the no tag up, then to first.  Unfortunately, there was already one out.  Still pretty awesome though.  We got another double play of the 4-6-3 variety!

* There was almost a collision at first between me and Robin.  No one wants that.

* Ed's family showed up, Theo resplendent in the awesomest Seals Tball jersey ever made.  We all want one.

* Jon Mcg made a great play in the hole at SS

* John Nero muscled up a long drive to left center, as did Adam and Bob

* Defensive Gem of the Game- Johnny, from the bump, tracking a pop up in the infield, in no man's land behind the mound, goes full over the shoulder snare, with a flourish.

Great game.

S. Paige.

12/30/12- Camp Swampy

Here with the last game of the 2012 season is Mike "All 9" Gaspar

Well the rain finally let up enough to get a game in.  I was a little concerned though as we were playing at good old 'camp swampy'. But much to my surprise, the field was in good shape (the outfield was a bit mushy).  We started out eight on eight and by the second inning we were eight on nine.

Brian Phelps started for the homers.  He got tagged for an early run but was able to hold the line until Johnny B. came in somewhere in the middle innings and went the rest of the way.  The visitors countered with the Rockwell bros., joining the Perry's, the Martinez's, the Niekro’s and others in the brother pitching combo.  The homer's answered back with a run of their own in the early innings then tacked on a few more along the way It was 4-1 homers going into the ninth when the visitors made a valiant comeback.  In fact the tying run was on second with two down and Adam at the plate. Adam it a hard shot to short which Daniel played cleanly made the throw and the game was over. 

All agreed that it was a great game and a good way to wrap up the 2012 MBC campaign.

Highlights:

-John Carey made an appearance.  Enjoying his holiday break from prep school

As with most teenagers he was not fully awake at 1:00pm which may have

accounted for some defensive lapses.

-We had a member of the Brooklyn crew playing with us.  Kirin, a friend of

Dave J's played well.  It was his first game since hurricane sandy wreaked

havoc on Gotham.

-Brian Phelps hit a monster shot to right for a triple which plated a run.

-Bob argued a called strike from doc.  Then said no, no that's the call

we have to honor it.  Then on the next pitch, same location, ripped one

into left center for a double.