9/17/23- Camp Swampy

It was nice to get back to Camp Swampy.  I don't know when was the last time we played, but it has been a while!  We had 19 brave souls out to play, with a nice visit from the expecting MBCer Marcie.  I had brought the kids out as well, and we had a rando guy show up who said he saw us on the internet, but as far as we know, we don't advertise.  Is there a leak?  My sleuthing led me to a unsecure internet site, but I can't view it.

The game started out pretty good, Nick W was pitching for the visitors and Sean for the homers.  We scored a few, and then they scored a few, but it was all in a reasonable fashion.  Then the homers exploded in the 4th, thanks to some big hits and missed opportunities, and all if a sudden it was 9-2.  Ouch!  We of the visitors had pretty much written off the game, but it goes to show that you can never tell in our game. 

Sean came out, and Tony came in, Nick came out and Mike N came in.  Our fortunes started to shift.  The new guy left, and Lil Satch was traded to the homers.  We got a few hits and enjoyed a little bad defense ourselves.  By the 6th the score was 10-5.  Then we started picking on JT in left field.  When we weren't doing that, we had bases loaded singles 3 times in a row.  And then, Nick W. hammers one down the line, and was off to the races!  First round tripper we have seen in a while, for 3 runs, and with that mighty wallop, we took the lead for the first time, 12-10!

Satch comes in to secure the victory, the homers get one back in the 8th, and the tension is getting high.  HR comes in for the homers to lock us down, and we don't score any more runs.  It will have to be a close one.  

Our half of the 9th is quiet, and its hard to say if we can hold this lead, but in the 9th we are blessed with the amazing glove of Mike Gaspar in left field, who catches the first out coming in towards 2nd, and then for the 3rd out, makes the long run to the left field line, going full out, dives and.....makes the catch!  

12-11, Visitors!

Highlights:

* Great game all around

* The chances were there but we managed to not have anyone take a ball in the face, which is the curse of Camp Swampy

* Lil' Satch and Lil' Josh Gibson both got hits, and made some good plays.

* Bob caught a line drive at 1st that was destined for extra bases

* I had one cheater stick double, and one tree trunk double, a good day, if not only for the fact that I could run to 2nd.

* Greg took one right in the tricep, from Nick.  Hard times getting hit when you got no meat on your bones

* In addition to Gaspar, Sean and Mitch both made great catches in the outfield

* Thanks to everyone that took something off when pitching to my kids, their greatest fear--and mine--is that they are going to get hit in the head.  For those who did not take something off, well, at least you for sure struck out that 12 year old....

* Anna broke a bat, then Nick broke it again over his knee

*It was an extra base hit kind of day, I agree with Mitch's assessment, that you see the ball really well on this field

* Sean tattooed a triple that was almost a home run

* HR was gunned down at 3rd, after a weird play.  I am starting to think baserunning might not be his strong suit....

* Speaking of, I also forgot how many outs there were, and almost got out at 3rd, after I stopped running, thinking that the inning was over.

* Bob was throwing warm ups underhanded with a weird spin at 1st.  I asked him if his arm was hurt.  His response: "No, I am just being a dick."  *Cap tip*

9/9/23 SQ Giants vs. MBC

 The Saturday games are always so much more enjoyable.  No time limits, more people around, the sun rather than the encroaching fog.  The newly re-formed SQ Giants looked resplendent in their new uniforms, courtesy of Murph, also known as Mike Murphy, the recently retired SF Giants equipment manager.  There are also a lot of new faces on the team, especially in the pitching department, and man oh man, do we miss the days when Kool-Aid when come in and walk in 4 runs.  Every pitcher we face now throws gas, along with a variety of off speed and breaking balls, and throws them all for strikes.  

This game was no different, though it stayed closer than most for a bit.  I got the start, and it is always a pleasure to throw on the SQ mound, it is perfectly manicured, and they got the good dirt.  The same umpire was behind the dish, Ol' Shorty Low Ball.  Seriously, this guy calls low strikes like he is paid to do it.  No one is exempt, including me, who's knees are about 6 inches higher than everyone else.  Not that it mattered too much, the young lefty that we have seen before was on fire.  He hammered us with fastballs for the first 4 innings and then switched to the off speed stuff and hammered us some more.  Then he started mixing in a forkball that was devastating.  

The game got off to a good start, they scored one, and we answered back.  1-1 for a few innings, then 2-1, then 4-1.  Even then, it still felt like we were playing good ball.  Our defense made some great plays, including a play at the plate to get a tagging up runner.  Not surprisingly, the throw was courtesy of Gabriel, a SQ player we borrowed to make up our sub-9 numbers. 

I finished after 6 and handed off to Mike N, who was pitching well, but his strikes were jumped on by the SQ team, and they racked up 6 runs on us.  HR came in for the 8th, and also threw well.  

At least everyone knew that the Giants were going to win, so they could relax, right?  Nope, they put in another gas-throwing lefty to finish us off in the 9th; this guy threw harder than the first.  We folded like a 7-2 off suit in the 9th and that was it.

Final, 11-1, SQ Giants.

Highlights:

* Congrats to the pitcher of the Giants, he has got everything.

* Powell and I combined for 6 strikeouts on the day, but also combined for the only run that our team scored.

* The play at the plate was awesome, the throw, Greg perfectly placed, the tag, it was a thing of beauty.

* There were remarkably few error filled innings

* The tactic of the Giants is that every single will become a triple.  They steal 2nd and 3rd as soon as possible.  We tried pitchouts and still didn't get them.

* Steve, the coach of the Giants, played 1st for us, but opted out of hitting

* Nick W made at least 2 dynamite catches in the outfield, as did HR

* John McG was responsible for at least 5 outs at 2nd, he was the defensive anchor.

* Shorty Low Ball stopped calling low strikes for an inning, and then went back to it

* HR got picked off, after we told him to be careful about getting picked off

* Mike N had the defensive play of the game, catching a line drive that would have taken his head off had he not caught it.

A few more games left in the prison season, hope we can at least score more than 1 run.

S Paige

9/3/23 GGP

Greg sent out the panic email for Labor Day weekend, not knowing if there would be enough people to field a game, after last weeks embarrassment of 10 players game against the Old Tyme guys.  Well, we were treated to the true heart and soul of the MBC, with a 24-player game!  Noice!

Sean started for the visitors and Nick W for the homers, with a wide variety of talent on both teams, and more showing up over the first few frames.  I was lucky enough to be on a team with Sean for once, and we also had John, Arson, and Arson's friend, who were all serious ballers.  I forgot what it looks like when you see 16 year-old baseball players in their ascendency running, and hitting and catching.  It's impressive.  And we also had "Lucky" Luciano, who is 10, and was a serious asset to our team this week. He made 3 putouts, and scored a run!

The homers had a lot of MBC juice, with Greg, Tony, Lattig, Gaspar, HR, Dan, Don.  They decided to throw a potpourri game, with each pitcher going 2 innings.  It made for a fun game, with different stuff about every at bat.

We jumped to a lead in the game, thanks to the aforementioned youngsters, and some other timely hitting and a few well placed errors, and we were out front 4-1.  Sean was dealing his usual filth, and kept the homers from stringing together anything too big.

I came in for the 5th and the long save.  We had expanded out lead to 6-2 by that point, and while I did give up two runs, my pitch count by the inning was: 7, 7, 8, 6.  Yep, 4 innings, 28 pitches.  Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-ficiency.

In addition to an amazing catch in left field in a important situation, Lucky also made two outs at 2nd, and almost made a third but Brian Phelps gave him the juke and avoided the tag.  I thought he may have gone out of the baseline, and said so.  Brian trotted off the field.  Greg and Tony asked me what the fuck I was doing, and why it was my business calling the game from left field.  Brian trotted back on.  

*Shrug*

Homers- 6-4, final.

Highlights:

* Pitchers for the homers: Nick W, HR, Dave,  Tony, Greg

* Dan had a deep drive to left center

* It was great to see Tim out after a long hiatus.  His excuse: he doesn't live in the Bay Area anymore....

* We had the slowest outfield on record at one point: From Left to Right: Satch, Bob, JT

* I successfully caught a ball coming off the mound

* We scored at least a few runs on weird-after-the-play errors

* Bob was a hitting machine.

* My only decent hit off the bat went to deep left, right where the outfielder was....

* Greg predicted a no-force double play that I would hit into, right before I hit in to it!

* No band today, but they deserve the day off

* Thank you to everyone that showed up, it was great to have a real game!

* Thank you to all the Labor unions that fought to get us all the things we take for granted

S. Paige