Pics from 4th of July Doubleheader

Thanks again to Jay for taking all the pics.

7/22/12 Big Rec

Nice to get out to the ball yard again, even if it took a long time to actually get out there.  Seriously, why are the metering lights on if there is no traffic, it just creates traffic?

But I digress.  It is officially the summer doldrums, we could only muster 13 MBC guys out there, and before I and a few others showed up late, it was more like 9.  So the team took it upon themselves to do some serious recruiting, and lo and behold, we found ourselves with 6 Korean dudes, some of which it was painfully apparent, had not studied the game.  But we needed warm bodies and that's what they were.

Johnny and Greg started on the bump, and the game was a woeful back and forth of who's defense was going to crack the most. At one point we had an entire outfield comprised of players who could not catch a call to save their lives.  They also took the wrong route to the ball each time, ensuring that it would roll past them  But hey, I didn't see any of you out there, so what the hell.

It is too much to describe, but the game did actually see saw back and forth pretty well, each team having a few innings of "Dear God what is this hot mess?"  Satch took over for Johnny in the 6th and Mitch pitched the last two for Greg.  It ended up being a save opportunity for Mitch, strangely, as we closed the gap to 2 runs.  Final Score: A very soft 18-16.

Highlights:

* John Nero had a nice hit and caught the first 2/3 of the game, with a nice foul ball catch

* Some new guy named Joe ripped a grand slam off me, first pitch knuckleball, you live by it, you die by it, he was due

* Elvin put on a clinic of outfielding, including a long running catch for the final out, as well as a clinic of what not to do at SS, one inning.

* Some great bunts!

* Satch had a inning where all three batters fouled out to the infield and tallied five or six foul outs for the game, that has to be some kind of record


* Adam had some great digs at first, including a falling play where he kept his toe on the corner


* Loren and Tim showed up late, and drunk, worst day at the plate that Loren has ever had, 2-3K's?


* Daniel had a new wood bat, and it made some noise


* Adam had a triple, Joe Grand Slam, and several others with extra base hits, three doubles in a row at one point


* Scott showed up out of the blue and played a good game


* Carter was hit by Greg for the 19th time


* One of the new guys hit the ball and then watched the play unfold while he walked, stopped, started towards first base


* Tim also had 2 nice foul ball plays


* Mitch caught the first part of the game, one might wonder what the score would have been if he had played outfield instead?


Of all the games that have been played, this one was by far the most recent.

S. Paige

7/8/12- West Sunset- 4th of July Doubleheader

Sorry it has taken so long, I can't seem to find enough time to write it up properly.

The important stuff.  Tony was by far the MVP of the day, getting the game winning RBI in the first game, and pitching a complete game for the win in the 2nd!  Hats off to Mr Rojas.  Daniel Dotterrer won Most Improved/Rookie of The Year trophy, and laid out full tilt for a great catch, defensive gem of the day.  Lots of good food and great people, the sun never came out, but it was still awesome.

Special thanks to Jay for the photos, everyone who brought food and drink and equipment to make the day, Brian Phelps for fashioning the strongest pinata in the history of pinatas, and Allie, Theo and Milo for watching Lil' Satch and allowing me to play the 2nd game.

Lots more happened, but maybe you just had to be there.

Our 2012 AOY goes to Robert Carey, for obvious reasons

JT Tiemann gets the MBC service award for his special commitment to making the MBC as enjoyable and static free as possible.

In a new category, Duane Harris gets the HSCS (Horseshit Cocksucker) award for equipment destruction and general malfeasance.

"You think I need your shitty award to be an asshole?"

7/1/12 Big Rec

Not 12 hours after arriving home and I was on the ball filed, ready to catch up on the last three weeks I had missed.  Unfortunately the English weather followed me to SF, as we experienced one of the more foggy, windy, grim Sundays in recent history.  There would be occasional warm up spots and then the chill breeze would start to blow again and all the humidity turned into cold.  Muggy, cold, never actually saw the sun, but you knew it was up there somewhere.


We were a solid 16, but it felt like every time you sat down, it was either time to relieve the defense or time to take the field again.  Or maybe it was just me, feeling lazy and bloated.  Sean started for the homers and from the offset did not have his good stuff.  It probably had to do with the 9 innings he had pitched the week before at SQ, however, it was a rare thing to have the visitors jump on him for 5 runs in the first inning, but jump we did.

Phelps started for the visitors, and looked good once he settled his arm angle down and got into a good 3/4 rhythm.  Brian held the homers strangled for the first five frames, helped by some outstanding defense, especially from Daniel, who I think gets the defensive MVP for the day.  In the first 3 innings, Daniel had about 7 put outs.

Sean gave way to Greg after 5 and Phelps handed the ball to Satch around the same time.  By that time the score was something like 12-1, and between my lack of warming up and the knowledge that blowouts become miserable quickly, I tried my best to make sure I got some fat strikes across the plate.  The homers started their weary climb out of the pit and with a sudden burst of scoring, reduced the deficit considerably.  Greg was cheered on by the rablle of drunken revelers that had established a zone on the opposite bench, cheering him on and supporting the homers as they tried to come back.

I was going to throw 3 innings, but by the ninth, it seemed easier to throw one more than to have someone go through warming up.  I should have just stuck with the plan, I got the first out , and then facing McGrath, I caught my spike in the hole in front of the rubber, and then inexplicably, comepletely lost everything: control, velocity, confidence, accuracy.  Rather than risk major damage to my arm, or bean McG in front of his adoring family, I decided to take myself off the bump in the middle of the 9th inning.  Daniel volunteered to pitch, and had his MBC debut on the rubber, threw strikes and after a little warming up was looking good.

The homers didn't comeback, but they never lost their ginger.  The final score- 14-6?  I don't think we could have talked anyone into playing extra innings if we had paid them in gold.

Highlights:

* Daniel, great with the glove, had a nice rip and pitching debut!

* JT thanked the infield collectively after the first inning which featured three picture perfect throws to 1st.

* Liam and Aiden both had legitimate hits

* John Nero broke his Sean curse to the tune of two monster hits

* Noah was presented with a beer from the rabble, in the fifth, after a nice play.

* John Carey was out again, played well, and once again Bob threw him out on a steal attempt.  As Sean said, " Bob always saves one great throw for his kid."

* Jay had a long bomb in his first at bat.

* I ended up with a 1.000 OBP, and was 5-6.  That felt good, after being worried that my timing was going to be all screwed up.

* A new guy Don, came out and seemed to know what he was doing, hit well, caught the ball.

* Elvin was defensively strong, despite his refusal to catch the ball with two hands.

* Catchers did a good job of blocking the ball, since we have to at Big Rec.

* Phelps had two parts of a AOY triple crown for throwing out Aiden at first and then picking him off third

* JT had what was described as a "Gasparian" at bat, which featured about 6 foul balls to the left side

* At one point during a long rally, I offered to try and get out, Greg told me to stuff it, they didn't need my pity.  That's MBC pride.

* One of the passers by almost walked off with one of our foul balls, where did they think they were?

* Phelps' casual underhand toss to first after a nice spinning play, almost died before it got there.

* Bob was 0-6, but was on base at least twice.

* Noah and I had a rare off day in the battery, I think I shook off the first pitch 90% of the time.  Which is a lot, usually I only shake off 75% of the time, right Greg?.....

See you at the Double header.

S. Paige

6/23-24/12- Big Rec and SQ

There was a game played on Sunday at Big Rec and a San Quentin game the day before.  Until a formal write up, I can say that:

Sean pitched 9, it was a close game,and the inmates won in a walk off single.  Mario also pitched 9, and had 15 strikeouts and 15 walks.  Johnny Badass has been transferred to another prison after a beef with a Hispanic gang, there were A LOT more inmate spectators, Bob made his first prison appearance ( as a guest anyway...), the MBC mustered up one extra base hit, Kent Philpott stole all the SQ equipment, Ed slipped on the metal plate that houses the softball peg thus denying MBC the go ahead run, Adam supermanned into the catcher at a play a the plate, and Ke was there, but not playing.


S. Paige

6/17/12- Crocker Amazon

Thanks to Mike "The Shift" Gaspar for writing up this short review of the mess that occurred on Sunday a few weeks ago.  Sorry I wasn't there to make it a Havana 12 game.

The only reason I’m writing anything up is for the sake of integrity.

 A wind swept, foggy crocker amazon field with the most gopher holes seen outside of bushwood country club.  Not sure if it was the weather, the fact it was father's day or everyone wanted to watch the final round of the u.s. open.  

But we only had eleven players.  

We started to do batting practice and that quickly morphed into a four on four on three game.  The only things worth mentioning were that Elvin pitched and Allie played right field.  Oh, and no one broke their ankle in the outfield.  Other than that, just a bunch of guys running around in the fog trying to feign enthusiasm.  I guess there's always next Sunday.

S Paige

6/10/12- West Sunset

Sounds like it was a great little game, lots of new guys, some heroics, some spills, thrills, and one temper tantrum ( a new [Pink] bat would be a nice gesture.)  I will miss the next three games as I hop the pond for a 90th birthday, left to get my sport watching EURO2012 surrounded by a bunch of headbutting, pint-swilling yobbos.  Here with the recaps are Brian "Lefty" Phelps and Richie "Leadoff Man" Garcia:

PHELPS:

Oh man. Where do I start. It was an amazingly hot summer day. Felt like October.

Phelps started for the homers and Carter for the visitors. I had a no-hitter after 4 complete. But there were runners. I walked Cater 3 times in one AB and a couple of errors squeaked through. Then Adam said it out loud. It was 5-0 until the 5th happened. About 80 pitches later it was 6-5. Eventually 10-5. Not sure what the final was. But Greg came in to relieve me and was fabulous. Striking out a few and even getting some comebackers. He was an out machine. Cater crushed it going all 9 innings.

I didn't pay alot of attention to the details of the game.

Highlights:

1. John McG had a ball go through his legs but made up for it with back to back great plays.
2. Daniel and someone ran into each other, the ball popped up and Daniel got vertical (as he loves to do) and caught it!
3. Carter was fabulous. Complete game with a bunch of Ks 
4. Phelps played first base right handed for 4 inning. One missed ball.
5. Bob didn't get hit.
6. Daniel brought a 12er of High Life
7. Richie was racking it.
8. Cater had a ton of comebackers. I didn't have any which is unusual.
9. Tons of regulars missing. It was a quiet game.

Low lights. 

This is a big one and needs to be said. Don't throw equipment. Especially equipment that isnt yours. Especially bats. Especially wood bats. Especially special Mother's Day pink wood bats. With that said, after striking out, Duane launched The Pink bat against the back stop and shattered it. Game over. Instant AOY contender.

GARCIA:

Highlights:

-Brian Phelps held the visitors hitless for four innings.

-John McGrath made a nice, sliding scoop behind second base flipping to Elvin for a force out at second.

-Bob threw me (Richie) out at first from right field! And I was sprinting out of the box.

-Daniel made a great catch diving catch in left, after volleying the ball to himself.

-Carter probably set a record for put-outs by a pitcher nine innings.

-Elvin made a great diving catch at second which probably saved a run.

-Duane finally put an end to the pink Mother's Day bat by slinging it against the concrete back stop after a strike out.

-Bob laid down a nice bunt when a ball that was thrown behind him inexplicably hit his bat and rolled fair. I have never seen that happen in a game anywhere ever.

-Carter got the complete game win.


LATE EDITION, DUANE RESPONDS

Yo, to set the record straight:

The bat was MINE and I threw it WAY more out of frustration of someone CRACKING it and not telling me. I realized during the at-bat it was cracked and got instantly pissed off.

Why I got pissed off, you may ask? Well, because it was only the 2nd game I brought it out to (Ed has a pink bat too) and I gave a heads up to several people that I wasn't too into it being used as it's my last wood bat I own right now and have had people crack my wood bats before by using them.

ANYWAYS thats why. I have no problem with people using any of my gear, including my metal bat but I am going to start being stingy about my woods. Sorry.

Bring on the AOY award.

So, when you break something, admit to it, I know no one likes to spend money on a broken bat, but no one likes to have their bat broken either.  Maybe we can start a bat pool to buy some general all purpose wood bats for the team to enjoy?  


Enjoy the sun while its here.

S. Paige

6/3/12 West Sunset

Another beautiful day for a ball game, and I was astonished that all of helpful tasks throughout the week allowed me to join the MBC for a final hurrah before jetting off to the land of cricket and gin.  We had 20 for most of the game and then the addition of Daniel and Robin by the middle innings gave us a littel extra rest for those who needed it.

Satch and Sean squared off in a classic pitchers duel, and for 6 innings we puffed and passed the game back and forth, neither wanting to let up.  Sean, pitching for the home squad, was back from an absence and looking good.  However, did not have overpowering stuff as we have seen in his returning games of the past, but still managed to K a few.  It was a warm and lazy day and Satch threw just like that, lots of junk, about 70% speed, and had good luck to the tune of 5 more K's.  Both pitchers worked out of some real jams, it is nice to have a tight ball game sometimes.

We were locked at 1-1 for a time, and then visitors took the lead, 2-1 and there it remained for Satch and Sean.  We bowed out to make sure the sitting time was fair to all and Will and Phelps came in, the game changed, the defenses changed, the homers exploded for 5 runs!  It proved to be a day of chipping though, and the visitors worked through the innings, a RBI situation here, a run turned into a couple and then a couple more, and before we knew it we had retaken the lead, and the score stood 7-6.  There is remained once more, with new pitchers John Carey and DJ Greg closing the door and mopping up.

We managed one extra, to take in the sun, but the momentum of the game had slowed to a grinding halt around the 8th, and we took it as a sign to enjoy the time we had spent and not try to extend beyond.

Highlights:

* The tension of a close game was fun to be a part of

* We were happy to welcome John Carey back from his first year of Cowboy boarding school, rumor has it he threw a complete game shut out, congrats!  He had an excellent bunt in his first at bat that was only foiled by a chance perfect throw

* Robin got her first legit MBC hit, a solid up the middle single.  Nice work Robosox!

* I killed the ball to left again, not sure why I have all of a sudden been able to pull the ball, except of course with John Carey, who I opp'oed.

* Tony Rojas became Willie Mays for the day, snaring flies all over the outfield

* Phelps was ruined by the 4 inch rule, as in, he was 4 inches away from catching about 5 fly balls, really gave his all though

* Greg put one in his classic spot, right behind the third baseman

* There were a lot of doubles, Sean, Adam, Jay, Satch, Lattig, Johnny, Nick, Phelps, who else?

* Ed was robbed of a RBI situation, again

* DJ Greg brought out some sort of hollow cheater wood stick, glad to see the eye is better.

* The defense really made the game, both sides had a nice spread of quality plays

* Jay ran over Will at third, which is not acceptable, on a steal attempt where the ball was 3 seconds ahead of the runner.  Slide or slow down and take the tag.  This is the gentleman's game, not football.

* Chris Powell made a great catch in short left, standard over the shoulder play we call the Powell Special

* Hit and Run for the visitors worked perfectly, twice!

* Bob was hit in the foot early, official, and then almost hit again by his own kid!

* Sean likes to pick off from the wind up, just so you know

* You know you have a good defense when Mitch ends up in right field

* Phelps took home on a pass ball for the go ahead, which was awesome

* Decision of those present:  Try for double header on July 8th, if not, we may have to do it on the Wednesday, July 4th.  Please email me or Bob with pressing concerns about this.

Summer time.

S. Paige

Cup of Coffee Players

Here's a nice little article on those who lived the dream for one game, or in some cases, three defensive outs.

http://www.theawl.com/2012/05/cup-of-coffee-baseball-players

You know we just don't recognize the most significant moments of our lives while they're happening. Back then I thought, well, there'll be other days. I didn't realize that that was the only day.

Archibald "Moonlight" Graham- W.P. Kinsella "Shoeless Joe"

S. Paige

5/27/12 West Sunset

Happy 75th Anniversary to the Golden Gate!

We were pleasantly surprised to find that the weather predictions were dead wrong, and not only as it clear, it was almost hot out in the Sunset!  The numbers were somewhere in the 10-11 range, and Johnny started for the wily home squad, Satch, raring to go for the visitors.  The arm sure felt good, after a long layoff, but the first inning proved to be an early Waterloo, as the homers ran up a impressive tally of runs, some earned, some not so much.

Richie on the first at bat lined a clean single to center and everyone else followed suit.  Triples were also a popular option.  Johnny once again proved his prowess with a number of shut down innings that gave no succor to the visiting squad.  Defensively, the teams had their moments, some amazing, some lucky, some standard.  Both sides benefited from good scoops and plays at first from Duane and Adam.

Eventually, Satch got his rhythm down and even struck out the side, 3 of 6 K's for the day.  It all was crackling along well, and then I twisted my ankle coming out of the batters box and that was the end of my pitching for the day.  Oh well, I went out on a high note.  Snyder came in for the visiting squad but could not find the dish, and after hitting a few and almost winging a few more, he walked off in the middle of his second inning and handed the ball off to Tony.  Tony took us the rest of the way and got the job done efficiently.

Johnny stayed in, did his job and handed off to Mitch, who had not gotten a chance to do much hurling in the past few months, he did well.  The homers kept tacking on runs, and the visitors kept missing opportunities, eventually the game turned into a laugher, somewhere in the neighborhood of 14-3?  We started a 3 inning exhibition game after the regular 9, as we had gone so quietly through the game that we still had time, but couldn't manage to win that one either.

Highlights


* Johnny pitched stellar ball all game, getting out unscathed from a bases loaded jam at one point!

* We had the pleasure of Robin for the second week in a row, made a great catch in left and got her first MBC RBI.

* Daniel had the baddest ass headfirst slide into home I have seen in a while, and then ripped his pants on a later home slide....Aiden ribbed him for it for the rest of the game.

* Richie and Tony both made great delayed plays at SS to get the runner just in time

* Jay had some quick snares at 3rd, and hit a double (triple with an error), all the time cursing his rotten luck.  Thanks also for the contribution of new shinguards to the MBC kit.

* Bob was hitting stingers all day, as lead off hitter

* John McG had a big extra base hit

* Loren had a rare off day, striking out twice!  Wish I knew Johnny's secret.

* Satch had several hits, exclusively to the left side infield.

* Loren got caught in a pickle at third, after ignoring the "Nonononononononononono" sign.  He scored eventually on fielder's interference, remember if you don't have the ball, you can't be in the base path.

* Gaspar caught my only well hit fly ball of the day, he was camped out in left like he knew where it was going to go

* Gaspar also had a clean drive up the middle, in defiance of the shift

* Daniel made a full extension diving catch at second, play of the game!

* Mitch hit one left handed to the gap!

* Bob caught several in center and announced that the batter had been Bobbed!

* Let's all remember to be civil, and courteous out there, arguing with strikes and balls and other calls is petty, we are there to hit, play and for EVERYONE to have a good time and enjoy themselves.

* Remember the rules, both written and unwritten.  In case you don't know, I found this.  Obviously, some of them don't apply, but others are very cogent:

UNWRITTEN RULES OF BASEBALL

1. Never put the tying or go-ahead run on base.

2. Play for the tie at home, go for the victory on the road.

3. Don't hit and run with an 0-2 count.

4. Don't play the infield in early in the game.

5. Never make the first or third out at third.

6. Never steal when you're two or more runs down.

7. Don't steal when you're well ahead.

8. Don't steal third with two outs.

9. Don't bunt for a hit when you need a sacrifice.

10. Never throw behind the runner.

11. Left and right fielders concede everything to center fielder.

12. Never give up a home run on an 0-2 count.

13. Never let the score influence the way you manage.

14. Don't go against the percentages.

15. Take a strike when your club is behind in a ballgame.

16. Leadoff hitter must be a base stealer. Designated hitter must be a power hitter.

17. Never give an intentional walk if first base is occupied.

18. With runners in scoring position and first base open, walk the number eight hitter to get to the pitcher.

19. In rundown situations, always run the runner back toward the base from which he came.

20. If you play for one run, that's all you get.

21. Don't bunt with a power hitter up.

22. Don't take the bat out of your best hitter's hands by sacrificing in front of him.

23. Only use your bullpen stopper in late-inning situations.

24. Don't use your stopper in a tie game—only when you're ahead.

25. Hit behind the runner at first base.

26. If one of your players gets knocked down by a pitch, retaliate.

27. Hit the ball where it's pitched.

28. A manager should remain detached from his players.

29. Never mention a no-hitter while it's in progress.

30. With a right-hander on the mound, don't walk a right-handed hitter to pitch to a left-handed hitter.

31: MBC specific: Don't swing when runner is stealing


Don't look Back,

S. Paige

5/20/12- Big Rec

Well, at least I was somewhere in the woods not catching fish this weekend, rather than just slogging through home repairs and dreaming of legging out a double.  Here with the recap are three MBC stalwarts: Mike "The Shift" Gaspar, Mike "Hitting .890" Lattig, and John "Surf to Live, Live to Surf" McGrath.

GASPAR:

awesome day to play ball not too hot not too cold.

-plenty of parking despite bay to breakers crowd.

-we started out 7 on 8.  a few more players trickled in and by the

3rd inning we were 10 on 10.

-carter started (and finished) for the visitors.  Greg and tony split

the pitching duties for the homers.

- we had our first female player in a long time.  robin (a friend of

  Daniel’s) played a great game. caught a ball in the outfield, showed

  off a strong arm and got herself an infield hit.

- it was a see-saw affair most of the game and the score stood at 5-3

  visitors in the bottom of the eighth. then the homers sent 11 men

  to the plate and a bunch of them scored.

- the visitors mounted a spirited rally in the top of the ninth but it

  fell short. final 10-7.

- individual highlights:

  mike latting had some loud hits

  mitch fooled the defense and hit a shot down the right field line that

  plated a couple of runs.

  ed caught all eight for the visitors.  gamer.

  jesse, back from a long absence, had a couple of nice hits and played

  a solid infield.

  chris tagged up on caught foul pop.

  tony had a great suicide squeeze that worked brilliantly

LATTIG:

'twas a glorious day in Golden Gate park, the field bathed in sun and dotted with Bay to Breakers stragglers. One of those was our very own Daniel, who brought two friends into the fray with him - which put us right at 10 vs. 10. And one of whom represented the first 9-inning MBC game by a woman in the last few years (Ed. Note: Since Dani Leone picked and moved to the Big Easy, and started playing football) and certainly the first one that started barefoot and in a silver-sequined top. Needless to say, she backed up the flash with a strong arm, good glove and solid swing. Even taunting Greg that he needed to throw it harder her second time up....

On to the heart of the matter, where the aforementioned Mr. Snyder, fresh from Paris, took to the bump. No cheese and wine hangover here, as he held the visiting squad (which appeared to be a powerhouse of pull hitters) to a mere three runs over 6 or 7 innings. (my old memory, as I mentioned, often doesn't serve)

I'd like to think we had a solid old-timer defense behind him to help. Adam at the 2, Nick Smith 3, Me 4, Richie 6, Will and Tony switching out 5 and Gaspar patrolling the outfield. We even turned a nice, clean 1-4-3 double play on Dennis to stymie a rally. Oh, and got Chris' friend Elias out about three different times before finally stranding him at third. (ok, maybe he was safe two of the three times... but barely!)

On the other side, Carter carried on the strong pitching legacy of the Rockwell boys (did I get that right?) for the visitors, holding the home side to 2 runs throughout most of the game. One produced on a line drive by yours truly that almost took his arm with it into center field, and got on Mitch so fast that I thought Richie was DOA at the plate. Luckily, the throw was fumbled and the run was scored. And I once again feel like it is possible to hit a ball hard. Nice feeling to have back!

On to the 8th, where Tony picked up where he left off on the mound - tossing an array of pitches and arm angles at the visitors that had them baffled from start to finish. Then, in the bottom half, Carter's dominance waned just as the moon began it's trip across the sun, casting an eerie pall over the field. Seriously - the light got funky! I think that must have been what happened. Because all the sudden a few hard hit and well placed balls, combined with a few errors by the normally flawless SS Chris Powell opened the floodgates - leaving us somewhere in the 12-3 vicinity.

The 9th got a little adventurous, with the bases being loaded and us scrambling to actually figure out when and if it was possible for the tying run to come up. But Tony tightened up in time to buckle down the win. And we all lingered for a little while looking through the pinholes in our caps (and our cups) at the eclipse. My guess is that was the only place in America where a game-used cup was used to cast the shadow of the eclipse. So... we should be proud I guess.

Have fun this weekend folks. I'll be on a little road trip up Oregon way. See you in two weeks!

MCGRATH:

It was pretty grand outing with the bay to breakers and the eclipse.  Greg could have been the Connecticut Yankee as a few of us were completely in the dark about the forthcoming eclipse.  A friend of Daniel's named Robin played right in a gold sequined top and borrowed spikes from the gear bag.  She was a very good player.  I hope someone got a photo.

Greg, back from Paris, pitched for the homers, and pitched well, mixing in the curve ball with some good fast balls.  Carter took the bump for the visitors and was killing it for the first 7 innings.  In 8th the score was 5-3 in favor of the visitors, then the homers batted around and the ugly inning saw them get about 6 across the dish in classic MBC fashion, some good hits, some dinkers, some bad luck and some bad D.  I don't think Chris Powell could have gotten more bad hops in the same inning. The homers hit it hard that inning and the infield dirt was totally unforgiving.  He must have woken up the next day with about 4 or 5 bruises.

In the final frame, Tony relieved Greg, got the first two outs pretty quickly, but then the homers started making a run at it with a 2 out rally and all of sudden it was getting interesting.  Then yours truly got in the box with Ed's pink bat with runners in scoring position.  Greg who was catching at that point stated that it was "a pink bat moment", but it was Will's moment.  He was too much for the pink bat.  He made a great play at SS to pull down the pink-bat-missile that was sailing toward the OF just to the left of second.  Damn him.  My only hard hit ball on a 0 for 5 day.

Ed caught for the visitors and Adam caught all but one inning for the homers

After the game we monitored the eclipse vis-a-vis a "cup-ology" shadow casting technique pioneered by Greg.  Bob's cup from 1983 seemed to toss the best shadow.  I think I had one of those back in high school.  It sort of looked like the Jason mask from Friday the 13th.  Nick got some photos of the crescent sun.  I hope they end up in the blog.

5/13/12- West Sunset

I dream in fastballs with movement, inside out sliders and tumbling knuckleballs....sigh.....here with the recap so far, is John McG, Esq. and Jay "Shutterbug" Cellini.


John

Since I did not arrive until the 4th, I can give only a few:

• 7 on 7, McG made it 7 on 8.
• Adam, Vic and Loren handled the catching.
• Johnny, Will, Carter and Tony pitched.
• Loren got at least 2 very nice opposite field basehits, both liners to the OF.
• I heard that Lattig got some nice hits too. Lattig complimented Loren on a very nice oppo hit, and Loren said "You were the one putting the clinic."
• Johnny made a dandy play at SS to get a fast runner.
• Mitch's centerfield play continued to remind everyone how hard it is to get a hit out of a ball hit to the OF (other than a liner) when he is out there.
• Duane was in the house.
• Both Johnny and Tony caught loud and dangerous liners hit right back at them.
• Carter hit a home run early on and when Will later pitched to him he only threw him breaking stuff and got him out on a weak grounder.  Smart.
• The ever gentlemanly JT passed out a few Giants tickets to a lucky few to see the Cards game on Weds.  Very nice seats from a very nice guy.

 Jay

Well the consensus was that everyone was surprised that the day turned out as beautifully as it did.  The sun came out, the air warmed up and it was a beautiful day although there was a hell of a wind blowing up top.  It must have been something in the air but it was a strange day at the baseball diamond.  There were at least four wicked comebackers and I believe three were caught with one knocked down -- credit self-preservation.  What made it stranger still was that night on the news a kid in Petaluma got hit square in the forehead by a comebacker with serious results.  

Batting highlights:  

Duane and Carter hit home runs, Duane going to center and Carter going to left with the ball rolling onto the softball diamond.  JT got his weekly workout chasing that one.  

Hit batsman:

If memory serves correctly there must have been about five hit batsmen, with Jay getting hit squarely on the elbow bone (which hurts like hell), and what made it "funny" was the stitches on the ball tattooed his elbow with seven little spots which are still there on Tuesday.  Grrrr.  From now on, Jay recommends wearing an elbow protector.  

Scoring:  

Johnny's team, lost something like 10 to  1.  Tony pitched a good game.  That sidearm pitch takes a little getting used to especially when he throws inside.  Johnny had a hard day on the mound, not his fault, and in spite of his classic 1970 vintage Catfish Hunter uniform, he went seven innings and must have thrown over a hundred pitches.  His patience amazed me.  Will came in for late relief and in spite of some control problems finished off the game.  Kudos to Will, he's definitely working on his pitching and his arm stamina showed it.  Everyone had a good time.

5/6/12 Big Rec

Again I wished I could have been there, especially since it was the hottest nicest day of all time.....thanks to everyone who did play, and to Phelps, Elvin and John McG for cataloging the what have you's for the write up.  Dammit, sounds like it was a epic game!!!!

Phelps

Tons of regulars missing on one of the best days of the year. We started at 7 on 6 and recruited one of the players from the 1800's league, who promptly showed that he's not used to wearing a glove. Phelps did his Bob impression and hit some infield seeds. Then grabbed the bump for the homers as we only had known 3 arms available for both sides. With Ed behind the dish we were set to go. Lattig started the game off by saying he was going to ground out weakly. Which he did... all day. Perfect first frame and it was the visitors' turn. Will was gassed up and ready to go. He had a perfect three innings and mowed us down all day.

The home team got on the board early and often. Guess a burrito isn't a great game time meal, but it was f-ing good. During one stressful inning, Phelps was sweating more than normal, until the sounds of an organ started playing from the stands. The homers managed to score a couple of runs and the score was 8-2. With no bullpen in sight, Phelps went a career high 7 innings and under the hot sun was fully baked.

For the 8th inning, an unlikely hero stepped up to take over the pitching duties. Jimmy "Watch It" Killard made his rookie debut. He went 1-2-3 and shut down the homers. After that Chris Powell came in to close out the 9th for the visitors, for his sophomore appearance on the bump, and went 1-error-2-3. Carter came in for the visitors to make this blowout official.

Highlights:

* No Bob, Greg, Aaron, Johnny, Tony, Sean, Adam, Jonathan, Dustin, Noah, Jay or Dennis.

* Maybe that's why there were so many errors.

* There was more than one pickle!

* Did I mention we had a fan playing the organ?

* A red tail hawk landed on the backstop fence and stared down Mitch. Mitch must have robbed him a while ago.

* Will bunted twice, the first time successfully, for the first base runner and the first run of the game (Ed. note: Will had to contact me to correct the error that he bunted twice unsuccessfully.  Pay attention PHELPS!)

* The second bunt turned into a web gem by Phelps who dove and caught it near home plate. Will was surprised when he sprinted to 1st and there was no throw. None needed.

* Carter hit a homerun, which got by Oliver and rolled through the other infield.

* Carter hit a triple to deep center

* Nero smoked one. His glove betrayed him, but made a sweet scoop at first. Adam would be proud.

* Jimmy continued to kill it at the plate

* Mitch didn't Mitch anyone, but made every play.

* Lattig had 4 groundouts and a weak pop out. Claiming Phelps owns him. Phelps claims nothing.

* Richie made a bunch of good plays at SS

* Ed was 110% hustle all day

* Thanks to Ed for catching all 9. And to Mike and Mitch for getting the other 9.

* Gaspar pulled a ball for a hit

* Elvin keeps swinging at balls over his head. "I like them" he replied

* Nick once again was the JT Snow of 1st base.

* Gaspar nailed Phelps in the spine on a passed ball throw to third. To my defense, I slowed down b/c I didn't think he'd throw it. He threw it. Last week it was the ear hole.

* Bob didn't get hit and his replacement didn't either.

* Powell coming off a double header the day before, was not his usual self, but was still on base causing havoc.

* Oliver stole 2nd and 3rd.

* Doc was there and recruited a well needed body from the crowd.

* Phelps pitched the entire 7th inning without throwing a fastball... sliders and curves baby!

* John McG made a great catch on a foul ball while filling in at 3rd for the homers

* To anyone I missed, your memories were washed down with several needed beers post game.

Elvin

* Carter had a two run HR, hard triple, and closed the game. The home run was hit into the infield of the neighboring field. 

* Will pitched a strong 8 innings.

* Jimmy had a hard hit RBI triple and a sliding catch to rob an outfield single.

* Brian Phelps showed some speed when he did a sliding catch to a pop up bunt from Will.

* Oliver had two nice opposite field hitting at the end of the game for singles.  Stealing third to put pressure on the visitors.

John McG

Highlights:

* Big day for the brothers:

Will pitched 8 strong innings, and when not being "Wild Will on the Hill" (which was only some of the time) pitched very, very well.  He badly fooled Chris Powell with a changeup, which either struck him out or helped end the AB with a pop up.  In this author's opinion, fooling Chris Powell like that is an ACHIEVEMENT.    

* Carter, played a great 3rd sack, got at least 4 hits, 3 of em toward a cycle, homer, triple and single, and closed out the game with some fierce fast balls in the 9th.

 * All catchers worked their asses off in the heat, Gaspar, Ed & Mitch.  Not sure if Ed relieved someone or if he was not relieved.

 * John Nero made some "Adam like" digs at first, and one case saved this author from an E-6 throwing error to get the very fleet of foot Richie.

 * Jimmy drilled at least 2 blast off liners to left and made sliding, "Sean like" catch in center.

 * Brian pitched about 7 innings for the visitors, mixing up speeds and spins, then Jimmy pitched a frame (3 up, 3 down) and Chris Powell closed it out.

* Phelps had at least 2 if not 3 extra base hits, all of which were liners, and hit one of the highest pop ups to short that I ever seen at an MBC game, seriously testing this author's ability to stay under it and not have his legs turn into cement as it was dropping, dropping, and dropping.

 * Elvin made a hell of a great play at 2nd on an up the middle ground ball.

 * Lattig made a great full-speed-ahead running forward catch in center.

 * Oliver didn't look so hot at the plate is first 3 ups, but in his 4th up, he got plunked on the forearm by hard throwing Will and then got an opposite field base hit to right side, which he repeated at his next AB.  He also very craftily stole 3rd.

* Doc was watching and enjoying the sun.

 * All in all a solid game, with good hitting, good D and good pitching.



And now, some footage...

4/29/12 Big Rec

Satch is out with new house-related anxiety issues, not sure when I will be able to make it out again, bu know that my heart is there every Sunday at 3.  Thanks to JT Tiemann, for this weeks write up!

It was a rare perfect day at Big Rec -- like last week, but without the fog.  The throwback teams that had the field before us finished their game in time for us to warm up, and we started eight-on-eight.  Bob and Wilson showed up in the top of the first, so we were a perfect 18.  Greg took the bump for the homers, and Sean twirled for the visitors.  Greg started the game with a bang, bouncing the first pitch off Richie's helmet.  Richie answered with a base hit, and we plated a classic Garcia run, plus one more, to go ahead 2-0 after half an inning. 

Sean started strong, and after about three we were ahead 3-1.  Defense was pretty solid on both sides most of the day, and the visitors inched a little further ahead before the home team rallied back on a line drive just outside my limited reach, followed by a popup just outside that same reach, followed by an E-3 on a throw from Richie at short.  Sean just smiled and dealt, however, and limited the damage to two, with a little help from questionable base running.

Dennis made his appearance around the fifth inning, but that was more or less all right because at least one home team player had to leave around then, so the sides stayed at nine.  About that time one of the spectators started asking about the game, and when Johnny had to leave, he came into the game.  All we know about him is that he might or might not be Dutch, and he showed off a pretty good arm from right field.  In his only at bat, though, Sean jammed him and I was able to redeem myself a little bit by catching his foul popup.  We'll forgive him for playing in plaid shorts, though -- he didn't know he'd be playing, and Lattig wasn't there anyway.

Sean and Greg continued to swap frames, and by the top of the ninth the visitors were ahead, 6-3.  Top 9 was one of THOSE innings, this time for Greg.  We batted around, and the only thing that kept me from making the last out two innings in a row was that I came to bat with only one down.  We sent 10 to the plate, scored five, and left two.  Sean finished his complete game with a flourish, and we ended 11-3.

Highlights -

* Sean and Greg each pitched a complete game

* Both pitchers had a bunch of strikeouts

* Every time I came to bat Greg really needed an out - and he got it

* Pretty solid defense all around, especially in the outfield

* We turned two lineout double plays, one on a catch by Daniel at second and the other on a catch by Wilson in right.

* Thanks to Adam, Bob, Gaspar, and Ed, who caught

* Note to baserunners:  if you're on third with one out and the infield is back, you're scoring on a ground ball to the right side.  You owe Nick an RBI.

* After lobbing rainbows from third during between-innings warmups all afternoon, in live action John Nero picked up a slow roller and fired a perfect strike to me at first to nab a fast runner.

* There were at least two triples, including one by Sean that might've been a repeat of his previous mom-powered performance if we’d have been at West Sunset.

Here with a late addition is Mike "The Shift" Gaspar, thanks Mike!

  It was a great day for baseball at 7th and Lincoln.  The old tyme players were just finishing up when the MBC started trickling in.  Although they were drinking beer from aluminum cans kept cold in plastic coolers. How authentic is that?

  After a quick warm up we were ready to start with eight players aside. Bob and Wilson came after an inning making it a good old 9-9 game till Dennis showed up in the middle innings.  Greg S.  took the hill for the home team and Sean Paul for the visitors.  And that was only hurlers for the day as both went the distance.  How’s that for old school?

  Richie, the first batter, set the tone for the day as he got hit in the head by the very first pitch.  But he shook it off and got a base hit again, how's that for old school?  After yours truly got an infield hit, there were a few more knocks (not sure by whom) and the visitors tallied two runs. 

    Meanwhile Sean, although he did not have his best stuff, managed to keep the homers at bay using his defense (Ed in left, john n. at 3rd) and some timely strikeouts to keep he homers at bay.  The visitors tacked on few more.  And somewhere in the middle innings the score was 5-0. The homers broke through, but Sean and his defense kept them from having a big inning. 

  It was a tight game as both pitchers settled in.  The score was 5-3 going into the top of 8th. Then the visitors erupted for 5 runs, and is often the case a few "harmless" errors led to a big inning with Sean and Brian Phelps providing the big blasts.  Needless to say the homers were deflated and went easy in the bottom frame save greg's two out double.  Final 10-3. 

* Daniel’s collision at home with Adam.   Again, old school!  We’re just as tough as those old tymies.

Same time, same place next week.

4/22/12- Big Rec

Parking wasn't especially horrible but it as enough to allow for a trickle in effect.  I was late, but not because of parking, just cuz I barely got permission to leave.  Mrs. Paige runs a tight schedule sometimes....

We had 22 by the time the latecomers arrived, and Brian Phelps was on the mound, dealing.  His mother was in the crowd, so I guess we know where that extra 3 mph and tricky movement was coming from.  Hey, who among us doesn't want to impress his mother with his baseball skills?  To her credit, she stayed for the whole game,which was steeped in fog and wind, a classic SF summer day.  Snyder started for the homers and continued his headhunting ways, beaning Carter in the middle of the spine early in the game.

On paper, the homers were a formidable team, but our play lacked cohesiveness.  We started out neck and neck with the visiting squad, trading runs for runs, we were down 3-1, then came back and tied it up, and then, in true MBC style, the roof caved in.  Greg had pitched a brilliant 4 innings, and Tony came in for relief, but was cut short by a knee injury on the slightly embarrassing error on the basepaths (hope it feels better and your Hawaiian surf trip is not affected!).  So in comes Satch, still not quite warm, but ready to go.  And it felt good, the weather was very conducive to the knuckleball, being heavy air and all.

The problem was, with the loss of Tony, the natural flow of our defense was all out of whack.  We had outfielders playing infield, infielders playing other infield positions than their own, and a general lack of confidence in what we were doing.  Cue the pop fly.  We dropped several.  Cue the throw around, we threw several.  Cue the triple.  The visitors had a few.  After celebrating that we finally had gotten an out after about 20 minutes, we started to settle down, and eventually the inning came to an end.  The damage, however, had been done to the tune of 7 runs.  Yikes.

We had come back once, so there was no reason we couldn't do it again, except of course, this time.  Phelps stayed locked in and never let up.  Johnny came in for relief, and then Carter, and we fared no better against them.  I wanted to keep playing, since it was to be my final game as a SF resident, but eventually, everyone just wanted to go home.  So we did.  Final score: 12-3?

Highlights:


* Brian Phelps, big time pitching, big time hitting (moonshots), great game.  Your mom was heckling us the whole time, that's why we lost....

* Richie and Jay had the big hits and started to signal our doom

* Carter is officially the new Bob, having amassed some really impressive HBP's in the last few months.  Congrats!

* Adam had a number of real hard luck pop up attempts but he finally caught one at the end

* Wilson, Bob's new guy, came out and looked like an athletic Brian Girgus.  He seemed to know what he was doing, and how to back up a play (I will preempt the expected peanut gallery commentary and say Yes, I should take lessons)

* Duane made a flub play at short, and then threw the guy out at first with an impressive hurry up throw (hope the arm is ok)

* Twice we bench coached for our base runners to stop, and twice they ignored us and did alright.  Maybe we should reevaluate our decision tree?

* Bob got hosed at the plate, with the help of a great relay from JT, to Tony to Adam, it was a thing of beauty.  I didn't think we had a chance to get him, but got him we did.

* The grass was so thick in the infield, it really threw off the normal ground ball

* Chris Powell played second base, which was a first, his excuse was that he played a double header on Saturday....

* It is decided that Milo needs to start playing baseball ASAP, so he can start falling on something soft like grass and dirt for a change.  Hope he feels better.

* The pink bat got a lot of use and a lot of hits

* The catchers did a good job of blocking the ball, not many passed balls

* The knuckle ball laid waste to a lot of hitters, could be considered a knuckle outing

* Tony had some nasty hops off the lip of the infield

* A case could be made for me loafing to second, however, with Carter's clean fielding of the ground ball at SS, I was pretty sure that if I pushed it, I would have been injured and out, as opposed to just out.  But I hear ya, not my best moment, especially following my one hard hit of the day

Make sure to give Greg some money, he has been funding the permits for the last few weeks.

S. Paige

4/15/12- West Sunset

I will not dwell on the fact of how frustrated I was yesterday, all I wanted to do was get to the game, my first in quite a while.  Bay Bridge, no problem.  Construction diversion at Fremont St, no problem.  Getting the 3.5 miles from my apartment to the field, big problem....Usually the Sunday road closure thing is not an issue, but I guess the once a month when they shut down everything, including the Great Highway, it really cluster fucks everything.

In any case, by the time I got to the game it was the 6th inning, and apparently one of the most defensively strong games of all time.  Sean and Johnny had been battling, trading great innings, the score stood tied 4-4.

I ended up on the home team, and was warming up in the infield while DJ Greg started his warm ups on the mound.  At some point in the tosses, Bob threw one back while Greg was looking elsewhere, and it popped him right in the left eye.  He laid face down for a while, but luckily, it was a glancing blow, and once he took a second to recognize he was alright, we got him resting comfortably.  Always available as the short term solution, I took the mound and did the rest of my warming up there.  The nice part about being gone for a month, is that the arm has a some real fastballs in it for a while, so I took advantage and threw some heat to offset the melted ice cream ball.

Phelps came in for the visitors, and threw well, but we still managed to advance a few and break the tie, we went up 7-4.  We stayed there for the next few innings, and turned away the rally in the 9th to secure the win, that is to say, the win if we were going to stop at 9, which of course we weren't.  The sun was shining, we had extra players, and no where else that we wanted to be.

Regulation Score 7-4, home team.

I think we played 5 extra innings, but I could be wrong.  I know I bowed out after giving up a huge rally to the visitors, who all of sudden were driving my fastball all over the place.  So in theory, I managed to win and lose the game, its always nice to be involved....the defense stayed pretty good for the whole game, although the chaotic in play throw around started to be a little more common.

Greg Snyder came in to escort the homers through the end of the game, and Will pitched for the visitors, both did great at shutting down the hitting, with a few exceptions.  By the 13th?, we were starting to lose more players, so we begged the visitors to give us our finals ups, but not too much came of it, and we ended our day of baseball in the waning light of a sunny, hazy day.

Final Final Score, 13-8, visitors.

Highlights (from the 6th on)

* Bob got hit right after I got there, making it official

* A lot of people in general got hit with the ball, the backstop was sending balls caroming back at hitter and catcher alike

* We had a number of plays that would have been great if the throw was on, or the ball was caught

* Richie rifled one right back at me in the midst of the big rally, scoring two

* Jay had a nice day at the plate, line drives, as well as catching my line drive at 3rd, dammit!  Now if we can just get him to stop cursing his bad luck after he hits a single.

* Rich sent one into the greenery in center field, and after a short debate, was awarded a home run, longest ball I have seen hit in a while

* Adam hit lefty and scorched one, unfortunately, I was in right field, and running blindly towards the shadow I thought was the ball.  It turned out it was and I snared it.

* Jimmy had a good all around game as well, including two short porch grabs running backwards

* Sean had another dazzler play off the mound

* I was happy that my first at bat resulted in a long fly double (that Mitch almost caught....) and not an embarrassing K

* Almost had a legendary play, Bob hit a grounder and hustled his way to first.  The ball was bobbled, but they still had time, the throw was off line, yet, Mitch, who was catching, had been tracking Bob down the line and almost had the ball and the tag!

* Theo and Milo were our fan squad for the whole game, urged on by Ed

* Thanks to Bob, Noah, Ed, Mitch, Adam and Greg for catching the extra long game

* Will struck out Carter (or vice versa.....) in dominant fashion

* Ed was picked off at third, and it was not pretty

* The Homers were playing hazy pretty much the whole game

* Back to back doubles really cemented the visitors rally

* Short porch hits were the key to getting through the defense in the later innings

* Thanks to everyone who made it out and stayed!

S. Paige

4/8/12- West Sunset

Well, it looked like a good game, and I sure wish I had been able to play.  I knew the odds were stacked against it, but a guy has to hope, and with the rain and the missed games, I was raring to get whatever I could.  That ended up being me and the lil' guy watching a few innings and then disappointing my team by bailing.  It was the first weekend that Mrs. Paige had left me alone with Kid Satch, we had made plans to meet at the ballpark, but at some point, she came to her senses and realized she didn't want the family reunion to immediately become watching me play baseball after being gone all weekend....in theory, I can't say I blame her....in theory.

Highlights (that I witnessed):

* Duane made a dandy play at first

* Nick attempted to make a dandy play at first but missed Mitch

* DJ Greg and Sean were pitching

* Scott had a nice rip for a double

* Sean made an amazing falling off the mound play, that got the out, and managed to not hurt himself in the process of falling, landing, twisting and throwing

* Nice to see Elvin, Hank, Scott, Jeff, Richie, Lattig, Daniel (who unfortunately went to Cop Field first) out after a long absence

* Happy Birthday to Nick Smith, who turned 84, 48,  68, 58? this week!  Amazing that he is still faster than all of us!

And then I had to leave.

4/1/12 St Mary's

The good news is that I now own a house, or at least a mortgage.  The bad news is, now I got to move.  Sorry to have missed the game, but I was putting sealing grout in the patio to keep the rain out of the garage, and don't get me started on the fire break code stuff....in any case, I was thinking of the game often on Sunday, and here's what happened, recapped by those who were lucky enough to be there:

BRIAN “LEFTY” PHELPS

The Grand Marshall sent the troops to St. Mary's where only some minor field prep was needed for the 16 that made it. Johnny quickly grabbed the mound and was ready to toss a gem. The homers were shut down by Johnny. Phelps started for the visitors and was wild from the get go, but was able to get out of the third down 1-0. Will took the bump in the fourth and dominated the mound with inside heat, keeping the visitors to 3 runs for the 6 inning bullpen win. Greg and Tony came in for relief in a close game but a few runs came in for a 7-4 visitor win.

Highlights:

• Bob didn't get hit, but Dennis and a handful of others did

• Jimmy was a magnet and made a killing at second.

• Johnny was dazzling on the bump

• Rich showed up in the 4th

• 4 ground balls tossed into the dugout by the visitors

• More than usual third out Ks

• Phelps had 2 sac flies with Mitch on 3rd (the wind saved one from being a deep shot)

• Tony tracked down a deep fly

• Mitch Mitched his own team

• Carter had an epic long AB along with an amazing back hand at 3rd

• Scott laid out for a grounder at short. Got the glove on it, but couldn't get a throw off. Way to get dirty.

• Dennis snagged a line drive and doubled off Phelps at 2nd

• Nick manned a mean 1st base

• Did I mention Bob didn't get hit?

• Thanks to Greg, Bob, Ed, Mike for catching

• Johnny also gets Gold Glove for cat-like reflexes on the mound, on two comebackers

• Two close plays at the plate. One out, one safe.

• Mitch hit a deep shot 

• Bob went oppo and got a triple

• The hard wall behind home prevented a lot of free bases on passed balls

GREG SNYDER

* While Bob didn't get hit, Carter did, 3 or 4 times.

* Mcgrath did the field check. even though he couldn't make the game.

* Phelps threw his glove in disgust.

PHELPS

* Please add that, especially equipment throwing. Not tolerated in Mission baseball and we should point out those a-holes that do. Although it should be noted that Phelps did do this in disgust of himself and it was not directed at any other player. 

ED SIDAWI

Early word was Big Rec was a no go. Both Bob and Brian scouted it and saw too many puddles to overcome. John McG took a look at St. Mary’s and gave it a thumbs up and we all headed there instead. 16 of us got there to tend the grounds (moving water off the back of the mound and scraping up home plate.  (If Rich had been to St Mary’s earlier  and not relying on GPS or some such nonsense, he would have been on time too, but he was there by the 4th and we were grateful.)

It was a classic Johnny v Brian match up early on, the homers  getting on and Johnny holding on to that for four innings or so, stranding Bob at third after an oppo triple (yeah, really) and less than 2 outs. The homers added a couple before the visitors struck back for three. It was knotted there for a couple innings until the visitors added one, then four. The homers came back a little and had a miny rally in the 9th, but ultimately came up short final score either 9-4 or 8-4. Greg and Tony relieved for the homers and ill came in to relieve.

Highlights:

*Greg went for it and purchased a new catcher’s glove from Pinkard, it’s pretty cool and I expect it to be broken in by winter.

*Carter was hit 3 times by Greg and Johnny, he also mashed a double with his new bat.

*I thought as the catcher I caught a rebound off Bob’s back, but he said it didn’t hit him. I am not sure I believe him

*Tony threw the best curveball of his life to Bob, which buckled the batter, yet was right down the middle.

*Mitch threw me out at home from left, Bob blocked the plate well.

*Whoever told Adam that he had plenty of room when tracking a popup near the first base dugout was not necessarily lying, just very very wrong. Its for the best anyway, a sore shoulder from running into a fence without slowing is better than trying to make a catch over the razor wire and tearing up your forearm.

*Dennis slowed down a little, be must be between cycles.