2/24/13 West Sunset

It was Mrs. Paige's birthday on Sunday, and we had a great time, brunch at the world famous Hick'ery Pit in the Creek, followed by some leisurely walking and then home for a garden cake and wine soiree with some friends.  A good time was had by all, and while I would be lying if I said that I didn't think once about baseball, it was a great alternative and an awesome way to spend a Sunday.  Happy Birthday Sadie!

Some people, however, did make it to the game, and here with the quick and dirty is Ed "Theo and Milo's Pop" Sidawi.


We were 17. Mitch went six for the homers, Noah all nine for the visitors.

Errors doomed the visitors early. A spate of unearned runs kept them from threatening the lead even when they did score. After 6, it was 9-5, about the closest it would be.

Johnny came in for the Homers. Final was 13-7 or so.

Highlights

*West Sunset sun was bright and always seemed to be in the wrong place.

*Bob was HBP, but it only grazed his uniform, so he and I agreed that the ball was still in play. I'll take the passed ball, sorry Mitch.

*Theis hit a HR to center. He even went home without a base coach. We don't need no stinking base coaches.

*New guy Andrew blasted a triple that could have been a HR if there was a base coach. The long line drive may or may not have been why he was hit square in the back in his next AB.

*It has been decided by me that we need a PA for the BBQ. And one of us needs to announce the batters. Make this happen, I have no means of skills in the area.  Ed. Note: Done and Done.

*Johnny showed up with a box of shirts. Black. He wants 10 bones for them. Get them while the getting is good.

2/17/13 West Sunset

A beautiful February day, warmer than it should have been, but not really warm.  We recruited two guys who were out playing catch and some late stragglers showed up and all of a sudden we had a game of 19.  The teams were divided up and some might say it was not exactly a fair split (Vic and Mitch should never be on the same team).  I got traded to the visitors while watching lil' Satch and waiting for Mrs. Paige to show up to relieve me.  I guess that is what happens if you aren't ready to go in the 1st.  

Tony started for the homers, fresh from his victory last week, and raring to give it another go.  He and Greg were the unstoppable battery once again, helped by Mitch in center and Stretch Presley at 1st.  Carter started for the visitors and it quickly became apparent that our defense was more of the 6-outs-an-inning genus.  Doc showed up around the 2nd and umpired the game, which seemed to hurt our chances more, as our paint the blacks and corner strikes became balls.  Once it got ugly, Satch was sent in for the visitors and Snyder got the opportunity to squander the homer's lead, which he didn't do!

But c'est la livre as the surrender monkeys say.

We scored two runs early on, one of them on a sliding play at home by Gaspar, who scored and didn't dislocated his shoulder a real win win.  And that was about it for us.  

The homers on the other hand were scoring more than the town floozy on pay day.  And I don't want to say that it was all due to errors, they had their fair share of hits, singles, doubles, triples, doubles, singles.  The homers may have forgotten they had the lead, as they continued to steal bases for most of the game.  They even tried a squeeze play with a 6 run lead!  Didn't work out and we had a little discussion about why that might not be the right call.  Then I hit Tony in the knee with a slider on the next pitch.  By Accident.  But it made for some good theater.

We played an extra inning at the end to try and get some runs back, and all it did was exacerbate the situation, as the homers scored about 8 runs in the bottom of the 9th.  There was about 6 legit hits in a row.  

We went down meekly in our final at bats, but the homers took pity on us with only 6 of our team members left, they gave us 6 outs and so we all got a final chance to hit.

Final Score: A kind 17-3.

Highlights:

* Everyone on the homers seemed to have a good game

* Thanks to Greg, Tim, Gaspar, Vic for catching

* Had one K but it was well needed to stop the bleeding

* JT played the sun drenched right field all day, and by the end, stood helplessly blind, while a ball sailed 30 feet to his left.

* One of the new guys almost robbed his buddy of a great hit.  Almost.

* Jay cursed his bad luck every at bat, to the tune of a 4-5 game.  Maybe I should start complaining as soon as I hit the ball, I could be hitting .850 soon.

* The homers defense was strong all day

* John McG risked life and limb to get a glove and ball out of a tree.  It was impressive, and he didn't die.

* Will ran through a Stop, Stop, Stop chorus from the bench, for the third out, when we could have used a big rally.  We got to start using third base coaches, or yell louder.

* Mitch hit a 3-2 curve to right for a triple, a pitch that was purposely a foot off the plate.

* Our only sure out of the game was a infield fly rule, that no one called until well after it was caught

* Carter and Bob were both HBP

Same time, same place.

S. Paige

2/10/13 West Sunset

Thanks to Mike “12 pitch minimum” Gaspar, we have an excellent recap of Sunday’s game.  Sounds like it was a real barn burner!

It was another sunny, warm winter day at west sunset.  We started the game 8 on 9 and by the third inning or so it was 10 on 10. Tony Rojas started for the home team.  He had the full arsenal working plus a changeup that Greg had taught him during warm ups.  Talk about a fast learner. Starting for the visitors was Will Rockwell.

The visitors grabbed an early 1-0 lead on and rbi single by j.t. who had just gotten back from fantasy camp, and had plenty of tips to share. It could have been 2-0 but will was cut down at home trying to score on a sac. fly (if you were scoring at home it went 8 to 1 to 2).

Somewhere in middle innings the homers started to flex their muscles and took a 5-1 lead. but the visitors scrapped back with a two spot. Tony gave way to Johnny and the homer's bats really woke up to the tune of five runs and  then added a few more along the way. Carter Rockwell came in to relieve his brother and managed to slow the bleeding a bit.

Fast forward to the top of ninth.  The visitors refused to go down without a fight.  Greg had come in for Johnny and got the first two outs.  Then yours truly started the rally with a solid single.  More hits and some shoddy defense followed and the visitors had some life.  Carter crushed one to deep center that just nicked off of Tony’s glove and we thought we had a chance.  but alas the rally fell short. but we were glad we went down fighting. 

Final score:  13-10

 Highlights:

* J.t. had some nice plays in right

* Loren hit a bomb to right center

* Stoner had a triple

* Bob did not get hit. 

* But Will Erickson did.  Three times.  Twice in one a.b.

2/3/13 West Sunset

Here with the recap is Ed "Mr. RBI" Sidawi, Esq.:

A couple of weeks ago, for some unknown reason, the powers that be decided to start the game at 11 AM. I suppose it was because the sun wouldn't be at such a terrible angle in the late innings, or something. Turnout seemed light anyway, maybe people were hung over? I can’t imagine a good reason not to play baseball on such a beautiful day, around 65, sun shining for a change, soft breeze.

                Eventually we had 14 and sides were taken. Greg started for both teams. Well, a Greg. New Greg returned, he works Sunday afternoons and the early start allowed him to make it to the first 8 innings. New Greg went a few, then Sean and eventually Johnny for the visitors. Greg pitched all nine, naturally.

                With 7 on 7, the players for both teams took a position and pretty much stuck to it the whole game. The familiarity with one spot did nothing to improve the defense. Neither team could hold a lead. Mission style. Seriously, every time one team got a few gift runs, they would be re-gifted in the next half inning.

                By the 9th, the homers were up 12-9 (I think), but a late surge had the go-ahead run either at the plate or on first for the visitors. At that point Tim hit a gapper to right center that John McG ran down to end the game.    

           

                We called it a day after 8 ½ because the game was official and since you assholes thought that nachos and bud light were more important than a baseball game, we each got 8 at bats and that was cool for us.

Final 12-11. (Or so)

*Aiden and Liam handled right field duties for the homers. Hitting cutoffs (take note everyone) and running down everything hit their way.

*Aiden almost ended the game on a high pop up that went in and out of his glove.

*Duane, the second batter of the game hit an inside the park HR to center.

*Jimmy “two-times” hit 6 doubles (plus or minus) and almost took one of Greg’s feet into centerfield on a line drive up the middle.

*John McG made a highlight catch in center and a few other routine plays there. We will make him an outfielder yet.

*The pink bat succumbed to a Johnny Bartlett inside fastball. I have no idea what I am going to use now. YOU ARE NOW ON NOTICE, I WILL BE USING YOUR BAT.

*Will was prompt and worried that he got the time and field wrong because apparently none of us can be trusted to be on time before 1 PM.