Dear Kyle, Girgus, Dave J,. Richard B., Pete (2), Richie, Dan, William, Jason, Phil, Eli (actually fuck you Eli),

I hope you can hear this. We need you. Both as a player and as a presence.

Keep in Touch,

S. Paige

Drunk

Yeah, Duane has a blog too, and its about baseball.

http://90feetofperfection.com/

You should all check it out. Expand your mind. Learn what a slider is.

Know what the rule is when it comes to pop fly in the infield, with less than two outs.

Or maybe just have a good time.

S. Paige

5/15/11 Cop Field

Here's a note from one of our legal representatives, Ed Sidawi, on the Sunday game last week. Sorry I had to miss it, but Satch's wife don't like it when baseball takes up the whole weekend. I am not sure why.

A light showing on a beautiful day following a SQ game. A little after 3pm, Mitch
showed up to make 14. After the rejoicing, Johnny took the mound for the Home
team. Sean, after raking the mound pre-game, demanded the ball for the visitors.

The game see-sawed back and forth, with each team leading for a time, and tied
for a time. 3 runs for the visitors in the, in the, well lets call it the 7th
was the last scoring. 11-8 was the final. I think.

We played 8 to 10 innings there was much debate, but as with all seven on seven
games, there is a lot of moving around.

Highlights:

*Johnny pitched his usually complete game, Roy Halladay is the active Career
leader with 62. Johnny should pass him by November.

*Tony pitched 2 innings and I think he didn’t give up a baserunner.

*McJohn’s Cousins or nephew or some kind of relations Josh and Dan came out.
Josh hit the ball very hard, but the advance scouts had the defense played
perfectly. We will miss him this summer as he is playing on a traveling team.

*Sean gutted out 7 or 8 innings.

*I am pretty sure no one got hit (Editors note: Was Bob not there, or just lucky?)

5/14/11- MBC versus SQ A's

We collected outside the gate, in the afternoon, that threatened to rain, but never did. We were entertained by a ornery old gate guard, who had decided he would list out and apply every rule and myth that he could, mostly because the count hadn't finished and he thought we were in need of "learning." Probably good that he reminded people that the tower guards shoot people with blue jackets on in case of trouble. Mental note 1: Don't wear a blue jacket to the game.

He searched each and every bag, made sure that we all memorized the rules about cell phones, food, drinks, and sunflower seeds. The curious thing is that while he listed all of the things that we were not supposed to have, he didn't really stop us from bringing them in, he mostly just wanted to cover his own ass so we could testify to the fact that he had warned us.

Unfortunately something got fucked up, and Dustin was not able to join us inside. He made up for it hanging at the bar in Larkspur, keeping our rep legit. Hopefully we can iron it out so D-Sky can make it inside next time.

In any case, the all clear bell sounded, we made our way in, and got the field just as the inmates were getting the gear and uniforms out of the locked shed. As time was a factor, and we had never gotten a complete game in the afternoon slot, we told the A's we were ready to start, no infield/outfield required.

Ke'Lam started for the A's, back from shoulder surgery, and apparently a pitcher now. He seemed to have taken on the Stretch role of team representative. There were a few other guys that we recognized from Giants game past, and there was no real difference in the play, so I would say that there are two equal teams at SQ now, rather than an A squad and B squad. As the Giants rep, Johnny "Bad Ass" was behind the fence for the beginning of the game, giving a mixture of shit talking and encouragement to the batters. Then he moved out to right field, and kept his thing going from there.

As usual, they jumped to an early lead, and we failed to get a hit for a while. We do think that Jimmy (his first trip inside) got a hit, but the Con-gress (haha) ruled it was an error. Our first couple of innings were not as tragic as past games, where every one catches their own feet and pop flys drop in the middle of seven guys (that came later.) They had some legit hits, and before we got our first hit, the score was 4-0.

One thing that always seems to be an issue for us is base coaching. It is one of those things that we don't practice very often in our games, and usually by the time that we realize we need a coach at third, its too late. My own issue with base coaching in the SQ game came when I was barreling towards third, and realized that Phelps was a little too close inside my trajectory line if I rounded the bag. In my attempt to slow down or in any way not kill Brian, I tripped over the bag, went face first in to the dirt, cut up my hand, sprained my ankle, but managed to cradle the loose bag in a effort to not be called out. It worked. Helpful hint to all, it is in everybody's best interest to stay out of that zone, now referred to as Big Train Alley.

The other issue of the day was the umpires. Now we all know that there is a lean towards the convicts side, and we accept that. The home plate umpire had a big zone, but it seemed to work most of the time both ways. There were a few times when Greg and I had to share a look of disbelief that a ball was not called a strike, and once he had the LATEST strike call I have ever experienced, but luckily we all froze and waited, and waited, and waited, and eventually he did make the call. The field umpire was another story. He must owe some people on the team or just be really stoked for the A's to win. He was missing calls all over the place, called an out at the tail end of a double play that was just wrong, and completely missed a pick off attempt. I think he was overexcited about being able to ring people up, well, more specifically, us.

We finally got in the scoring mood, and once we had that first run, our confidence came back to us, and for a change the other team started making mistakes. We had to beg and plead to get the scoreboard guys to put our runs up though. We kept up the scoring, and made some great defensive plays to keep the game close. They brought in Junkyard to close the game, and we all thought that this was our opportunity. He was no cupcake though, and even though it was a one run game, he looked calm. The frantic final bell time keeping, I think, psyched us out a little though, and we went down 1, 2, 3 in our final at bat, and accepted a 7-6 loss.

Handshakes and thanks all around, and out we went to the world again. The Marin Brewing Company welcomed us with cold beers, a drunk Dustin, and good burgers.

Highlights:

* Lineup for the SQ A's

1. Ke'lam

2. Rahim

3. Jeff

4. Chris

5. Dalton

6. Paul

7. Manning (DH)

8. T Burton

9. Junkyard

10. Donnie

* I managed to hit four guys, all with exceptionally slow changeups or knuckleballs. And most of them on 1-2 counts. Adam said they all reported that they were happy to get hit, so they could get on base.

* We turned a double play of our own to get our of a tight jam!

* No one hit a cheapy to right, but I got within a foot of it.

* Jimmy hit the ball hard all day, and didn't ever look scared.

* I haven't been able to check in with him to see if he is alright, but I hit Greg in the throat with a bouncing knuckleball. Sorry!

* The outfielders were duped a couple of times by the fast outfield, I think we are all used to the slow grass, but SQ is a quick one.

* Chris and Jimmy scored on a double to left center, they had to wait to see if it fell, and by the time they scored, they were almost piggybacking

* Brian Phelps got sent home by an overeager third base coach, and had to do the worm to get around the catcher. Maybe we can pop lock for a run next time.

* Best Pre-game moment: Noah explaining the five gloves in his bag to the old guard why he needed them and how they were different.

* Chris made a great stop at SS, we didn't get the out, but it saved a run.

* We brushed the metal plate on the first base line, so we would know where it was. One of the A's rounded it the next inning, thinking it was the base. They covered it back up.

* The wind made for an interesting game, we had guys running all over the place. The best was a pop fly that looked like it was 2nd base all the way, then, it was 1st, then it was pitcher, then it fell in the middle of all of us, and thankfully rolled foul. Nice play everybody.

* We also had a team wide run down, we should have just surrounded the guy, since 8 of us were running that direction.

* Successfully picked a guy off first, which really sucked 'cuz he was so happy he had gotten a hit. He was scary mad for a little while.

* Their DH laid down a picture perfect bunt for a safety squeeze play. We need to learn that play.

Thanks to all that came out, email me if there are things that I missed that you feel should be included. Also, those who took pictures, send them to me, so I can add them.

Next game is June 2nd, and then June 25.

S. Paige

See you inside.

San Quentin A's versus the Mission Baseball club. 5:05 pm game.

Looks like rain late in the innings, and who knows what new policy is there to bedevil us.

Hope we make a good showing on the Field of Dreams. I also hope we all make it to the parking lot afterwards.

And we are still looking for the ending from the umpire guy who told the story about stealing the monkey out of San Francisco Zoo.

S. Paige

5/8/11- Cop Field

Happy Mother's Day to you all, especially since some of you are the biggest mothers I know....ahahha (Elks lodge joke).

We were a little worried when 3 pm came and went and we were still stranded at 11 guys. But the late shift was fruitful, and by the time we started, it was 8-8, perfect for that extra at bat game. We were greeted by a sunny day, but the wind howled through the entire game, and made for some interesting play.

Sean started after a long absence, and pitched well, but was not his usual dominating self. It was nice for us, because the game actually had some runs scored, and went back and forth, rather than a long drawn out pitchers duel. But he did manage to strike out a few, myself included, and he went 7, so I can't say it was not a a stellar performance ( This is probably the kind of thing Sandy Koufax got tired of, when he got flak for pitching a great game, rather than a no hitter). I think the wind, blowing as it was, was slowing down the fast ball. I figured out early on that I better use the wind to my advantage on the bump, so I took the slow ball approach, and let the wind do my pitching for me. I feel great today, even though I threw 9, but I think it was because I rarely got above batting practice speed with anything. Guile can be a useful tool.

Left field and pop ups in general, ended up being the Waterloo of the whole game, between the sun and wind, it was a real Thunderdome out there. And of course, that is where we had the other team's replacement playing, which probably didn't help things.

The score built slow and steady, 1-0, 1-1. then the homers exploded for four runs, employing the dink tactic that worked so well last week. We got 8 straight dying quails off of Sean, with maybe a muff in there somewhere, but it was mostly wristed flares. But it worked.

The visitors thundered back however, and scored their own brace of runs, bringing the game back to a one run contest. Sean and I held the ground for a while, blanking each others hitters, getting out of tough situations, and praying for strong defense. The homers finally went up for the final time, and the game ended in 8-6 win for the home squad.

Brian Phelps, who had pitched the last inning for the visitors, offered us a final at bat, which none of us refused, but should have, as we went down one two three. And then everyone wanted to go home? The visitors didn't want their chance? I have never seen that before, but as long as no one felt cheated, works for me!

Highlights:

* Thanks to everyone who made it out, and assured that we would have a game. It was a little dicey for a second.

* Thanks to Noah and Greg, who caught the entire game

* A pretty good defensive game, with a few exceptions.

* Chris proved he can steal at will, but he didn't steal home, and that's the one that counts.

* Tony, with his little black dog in tow (Beetie? Dee Dee?) looked great in full Willie Mays gear, celebrating the Say Hey Kid's 80th. True to form, Tony's dog sat in the batters box and watched him until he put a leash on her.

* Jay looked much more solid at second base, and caught a number of hard hit ground balls, nice work.

* Jimmy and Duane came back, and I think they each had some solid hits, thanks for making it guys!

* Elvin, resplendent in his Giants orange, had a well timed couple of RBI's! Way to go, we were disappointed that he fooled us into thinking that he had actually worn the same colored socks.

* Nero and Gaspar are officially on notice, since there was no pre-stated reason for missing the game and we know their mom's don't live around here.

* Adam made some nice plays at 1st, everyone of them was close enough that I had to run towards the bag, but in the end better for him to make the play on his own. But you gots to cover anyway ( Jonathan Sanchez, I am looking in your direction)

* Noah did an awesome tumble over his mask in trying to track a foul ball, which is why they tell you to throw the mask away

* Noah also overcame last week's aversion to hitting and had a hard hit double and dug a knuckleball out of the dirt for a hit

* Brian almost had another one of my hits to center, the key is to get it high enough that the wind takes over, I am good at hitting real high balls, not long, but high

* Duane almost had an amazing bunt, Tony and Greg had the presence of mind to let it go, but it was almost perfect

* Sean also had a suspect hit, I don't think it hit the bag, but Greg did and called it a double...them's the breaks and I shouldn't be complaining

Well, hope everyone enjoyed themselves, wherever you were.

S. Paige

UPDATE: Gaspar reported in that he was at the Giants game, which is a perfectly good excuse.

5/1/11- Camp Swampy

"What a day for a baseball game"- Everybody

It was sunny, clear, the wind was blowing out, and we were all astonished that only 19 people showed. We were expecting dead men in rags to come shuffling out, mumbling about how they have been too busy with family and work stuff.

In any case, we split the teams, Satch starting for the homers, Noah for the visitors. The teams seemed pretty well divided, there was power on both sides, and defense, but the play that defined the day was the gork. By the end of 3 frames, the visitors had run up a healthy total of runs, by employing every dink and drop hit they could muster. And it wasn't that we were dropping the ball, the hits were just very strategically placed.

The homers relied more on good old fashioned hitting and shitty fielding, which is the MBC way. Our luck took a turn for the better when John McG stepped up and hit a 2 iron out to left field that just kept going and going. Mike Lattig was out there, which is usually death for all good hits, but this one stayed on a level course and sailed over his head. Rounding third, John had the look of a man in disbelief, as we all steered him home. An added bonus that his kids were there to see it.

Two innings later, Brian Phelps stepped into the box, after fooling us all earlier with opposite field power, he put one into the rafters in right. Brian, being quicker and younger than most, didn't look as though he needed the O2 when he stepped on the dish for the second home run of the game.

Then it got interesting.

John hit another one to the exact same place in left, only a little further, and Brian hit one into the right center gap that left us all in disbelief, as two people hit 4 home runs in one day! Definitely a first!

We homers had the defense going for us, as we turned a number of double plays, which really helped when we needed to have a quick inning. But for the visitors, the hits just kept on coming. The score obviously was a little higher than usual, as were the players, we tied the game at 6-6 and then again at 9-9. However, the visitors had a little more moxie going for them, and when they brought in Johnny Bartlett, "The Man who knows how to Cool the Bats," we knew that the death knell could not be far behind.

The final score ended up in the 13-9 range, and while there was a bit of fire left in people to keep playing, the sun and the excitement had drained the players. So it was decided that we would go home, while we still had time to have a beer and enjoy the beautiful day.

Highlights:

* Adam and Nick both played a great first sack, making scoops and back handed snares

* Three double plays, and almost a fourth, and we actually successfully completed the 3-6-1 DP!

* A special note from JT," I was glad to see Mitch, until he caught the best ball I have hit all year"

* Bob showed up in the 6th again, and went right to work

* Gaspar and I worked out a bunt/steal play,and it worked great, and we caught Nick unaware, I took third and then home to tie the game! Love that kind of stuff!

* Adam slid hard into second and got a skinned arm for his effort, he doused it in HydroPerox, and slapped some tape on it and kept playing. That's cool.

* Chris once again played a great SS

* A note to all: I was always told that in the MBC that it is uncouth to do the ol' fake catch and tag at second when a guy is stealing and there really isn't a throw. I guess for us, every time we slide, we risk our baseball future. This was also told to me by Richard Baluyut, so one has to take the source into account. But I would say that its a good rule to follow.

* We had a new guy (Daniel?) out, who had a real pretty hit

* I think I was 5-5, was anyone else? I am trying to remember not getting on base, help?

* Tony made one of the prettiest Rojas plays we have seen in a while. The pick, the pump, the set, the double pump, the walk and the throw. Got him!

* I hit Jay (sorry) and then he got a hit off of me. That's even.

* The outfield was really fast, which is really unusual for Camp Swampy. It was like concrete with bumps out there

* I struck Noah out three consecutive times, with three change ups. Someone else made the reference, so here it is: Roy Hobbs versus The Whammer

Not sure where we are next week, but it will be Mother's Day, for all you mothers. So bring your mom out.

S. Paige