Tuesday, June 24, 2025

6/22/25 GGP

 A great game! We had 12-13-14-15-16-17-18

A great game.  I almost died, again.

A great game? Greg got bean-balled and only because it also hit his ear did he avoid major damage.

It was some kind of ball game.  

Carter gets the "Great to see you, Don't rush back" award for pitching like a maniac and almost killing Greg. :) 

Sean pitched a masterful game but didn't get the breaks he needed, and we had a few choice hits.  I started and was throwing efficiency ball— that is slightly above batting practice speed, and praying they swing and don't get it square.  It works.

Until it doesn't.  Phelps, arriving later than usual, was batting for the visitors and absolutely destroyed one that was a heat-seeking missile headed for my sternum.  Time slowed; I could see the red threads rotating.  Reflexes took over and I caught it.  Then I took a long walk around the mound to collect myself and resist the urge to ugly cry.

We scored some runs thanks to the fact that we had Mitch and Powell on the same team, which is also the best defensive team you can ask for.  Mitch Mitched a few people, Powell provided some sure outs.  Nice pitching to defense.

I don't think we ever lost the lead, but the visitors started to wake up in the middle innings, and by the time I bowed out after 6, the score was 8-4.  Powell came in for two innings and they scored 2.  We still felt confident, but then Carter started his berserker routine and we got gun shy.  We called on Mitch to close it out and he was masterful to the end.  The visitors scored one, and had runners threatening on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs.  

No problem, game over. 

Homers 8-7

Highlights:

* Glad we all lived through another Sunday, I used to not think that way after games.

* Mitch made a long run into foul grounds from third to track down a foul ball

* Greg is ok!  

* Adam made a sno-cone snare on a foul ball at first

* I caught a infield pop up off the mound after calling "Oh shit, I guess that is me."

* Ana had the hard luck award hitting three drives that went straight to people

* Phelps had a pretty great triple. Asshole.

* Sean was hitting double-doubles

* Thanks to the guy in the stands that made it 9 on 9 and also hit a long drive

* Erasto was feeling pretty down on himself for a couple of errors, but it didn't keep him from getting 3 RBIs and 2 hits

* Lynch was also stinging the ball

* We had successful look them back at third—get the out at first.

Friday, June 6, 2025

6/1/25 GGP

We had a lot of players, that much is true.  The day was sunny, though not warm in the traditional sense. We were on the eastern diamond, away from the throngs of the Olde Tyme league game.

Sean started for the homers, and HR for the visitors.  The first three innings took roughly 4 hours to complete, the 3rd inning in particular was more than a little painful.  HR looked good in the beginning, but faced some challenges with strikes as the game went on.  

Sean was efficient, as he often is. His defense had his back as well, and we hit right into it.  Our defense wasn't terrible, but we did have that inning.  We also had about 5 balls overthrown at first that resulted in automatic doubles.

Charlie came out to keep the old man company, and play some 2nd base, which he did great, to the tune of 4 putouts and an assist.  He almost laced a single to left, but well-known bully Don was playing in just the right place to catch it.

Satch came in after HR and we moved into a quicker game.  The run-scoring, on the other hand, started to get out of control.  I had a working curveball but my challenge fastball wasn't challenging anyone.  By the time the middle innings were behind us, the score was somewhere in the 8-2 region.

Liam came in for the homers after that, in case our throats weren't properly being stepped on, and that was about it.  Since becoming a collegiate standout, he has improved a lot as a pitcher, and we went from little chance to no chance.

In the 9th we showed a little ginger, and Liam showed his lack of understanding on how one leaves the pitcher mindset and throws an easy pitch to an 11 year old.  Charlie took a ball to the forearm, and showed a lot of character by staying in, and taking first.  I followed with a first pitch swing and blooped one in to center. I was thrown out at 2nd on a fielders choice and base-coached Charlie in for our first score since the 3rd inning.  

That's how you turn a negative into a positive! We scored another but that was it.  

Final, 12(?)-4, Homers.

Highlights:

* Thanks to the 20+ that played, weird to think that we had 11 people 2 weeks ago

* Jesse did a fine job behind the dish, as did Nick, Greg and John McG

* Liam hit the hardest line drive over first base that I have seen in awhile

* Gabe hit one back at me that I am going to see in my nightmares for a while.  I didn't even attempt to catch it

* Chris and Zach collided in the outfield, luckily no one was hurt.  Gotta communicate out there, people!

* Django was doing it all

* Alex has proven that he is the fastest player we have seen in while

* Mitch was a human vacuum cleaner in the infield

* We're coming up fast for the double header, which by my reckoning will be July 6th.


Monday, May 19, 2025

Player Profile- Rick Kvoriak

It was brought to my attention that I have never given Rick the respect of a MBC player profile.  I apologize profusely for this oversight.  

Rick was there before I was.  I am not sure how long, but possible from the very early times, in the 90s. When I first started, there was another Kvoriak on the email chain, which apparently is Rick's brother, but I have never met him.  

When I showed up, Rick was in the midst of raising young'uns, twins, and that definitely affected his ability to get away for games on a regular basis.  It was cute when they came out to cheer on their dad, but he was pretty distracted when they came out, something I came to know much more about a few years later.

When he come out, he was known as one of the bigger bats especially if he got out in front and pulled the ball, it could go a long way.  Like, really a long way.  I gave up a hit to him once at the Marina that landed in the softball field in left.  Roughly here.


His bat was wicked fast, and while he wasn't breaking any records on the bases, he was sure footed and knew what he was doing.  The same with his defense, mostly infield, but he could do anything.  I remember him pitching too, I think.  

So we had a Rick hiatus for about 15 years, and then about a year ago, he started coming out again, and his bat is just as lethal as it always was.  The twins are now adults and following the family tradition of being in several bands.  Rick is a prolific musician, plays all kinds of things, and has been in several bands with another MBC legend, Johnny Bartlett.


Rick is another MBC player who started life in Ohio, and agrees that it is a great place to leave.  Lesser known fact that Rick likes to bring up is that Ohio is the only state that has a baseball pennant as the state flag.  

In 2011, a friend of Duane's did a Nike spec shot with our team, and in it you see Rick swing and miss for strike 3 on a inside change up.  How do I know?  Cuz' I threw it, and it was one of the few times I got him out, and it got filmed.  Enjoy:

Three cheers for Rick Kvoriak, a modern day Roy Hobbs, back to prove that age is just a number and power never goes out of style. Cap tip!

5/18/25 GGP

Well, a beautiful day, and a shitty turnout.  

At 3pm there was ten of us.  The best we could muster up was 3-3-3 with Greg as all-time catcher and Sean and I pitching two innings in a row then swapping.  The same thing that we did a few weeks back, but this time Sean didn't get hosed on at bats.

Greg was the rock, catching Top, Middle and Bottom of the innings, cap tip.

The game was all over the place, and when you only have 3 batters, you get ghost runners etc.  The team of HR, Mitch, and Rick was the clear winner, from the beginning. They were a team of doubles.

Django showed up, and was teamed with Sean and Tim, then me and Tim, then Don and Tim, and me and Sean, then me and Sean and Tim.  

Lynch, Nadolny, and Nick Smith were the last team, and also a team of big hits. Cap tip to Mike for playing through a shredded kneecap that occurred on a weird play at 2nd.  Hope it's ok.

Final score was something like 3-8-5.

Highlights:

* Amazing day, plenty of parking, and in case it scared anyone off, let it be stated once and for all that Bay to Breakers does not interfere with the game in GGP.

* Mitch gets MVP for his offensive and defensive skills

* Sean had a triple

* Double play from the defense in a must get an out situation was awesome

* Greg almost caught 3-4 pop up foul balls

* Sean also had an amazing play at 3rd, spearing a ball down the line, keeping the runner at 3rd, and getting the out at 1st

* Don showed up and made it better....and worse

* We asked everyone with a glove in the park to play, and got nowhere until the end of the game

* Rick showed off the lumber

* Greg was still blocking like a champ after his 12th inning in a row

* Roll call of the faithful: Greg, Lynch, Mike N, Mitch, HR, Satch, Sean, Tim, Don (0.5), Nick S, Rick K, Django, Rando Guy

* We had several near misses with foul balls, including a guy that looked to be intently watching our game, but who was clueless when a ball came down right next to him.  

* In other park news, we had a gaggle of 5 year old girls in center field that we stopped play to politely usher out of the way, and the dad told us he would handle it and then threw in the aside that he "hadn't seen any one hit it out there all day, anyway."  Sean took umbrage and asked why he felt the need to be a dick when we were just trying to keep the kids safe.  Dad didn't like that.  The general consensus is that guy was pissed about something else, and we ended up getting the misplaced rage.  Next time we'll just deal with the kids, since they obviously will be more mature than the grown ups.

Monday, May 5, 2025

5/4/25 Cop Field

One of the most amazing days, on a field that is normally a foggy wind chasm.  Once again, field issues abound.  This time it was a playoff game, that was supposed to be at Swampy, but was moved to our field, because there was another game already in progress.  So we get there, and there are easily 100 people watching the game.  How are we supposed to ruin that?  So we start to walk to Swampy, only to see guys setting up a pitching machine on that diamond.  

Welp, that ain't going to work either.

Luckily, the playoff game guys were super cool, and they finished up quick and handed off the field.  We had 16 at our high point, and the game was, well, not pretty.  As Greg says, maybe I need to examine that these recent shit show games have one common denominator, me.  I will be the first to admit that I did not have it yesterday.  The mound was terrible, my arm was sore from little league, and I never felt totally in control of my pitches.  Mike Lattig took the bump for the visiting team, and he was throwing every kind of dipsy doodle curveball that he could, and it was so tempting to swing at, but never good contact.  Needless to say, he had us in the palm of his hand.

The first two innings of the game took roughly 4 hours to play it felt like, and when the smoke cleared it was still only 4-2.  I thought to myself, that wasn't so bad.  But we could not make the plays. I settled down and we got more efficient but the score just kept going up: 7-2, 8-2, 11-2.  

A low point of the game for our team was getting the first two outs of an inning via the infield fly rule. In both instances, our players dropped the pop up too. We literally had to legislate the game to get an out.  It was also a good learning situation, as we were educated on the infield fly rule calls the batter out, but the ball remains live. Runners can still advance at their own risk, just like on any other fly ball.

That was the game, and we all had fun, but I don't know that I would call it a fun game.  John McG pitched two good innings, and Nick W took over for Lattig and then Aiden came in and blew us away in rapid succession in what we called the bottom of the 9th (it was the 7th and we were losing players).

Final- 11-2, visitors

Highlights

* The visitors had a good game

* Poor Gabe, such a mighty swing, neutralized by the softest of breaking balls

* The visitors defense was superb, 3 double plays?

* We did have a great play at the plate to nab Aiden, excellent throw by Alex and Gabe

* JT played 6 outs of defense in a row in right field

* Kenball had a good game at the plate, lacing line drives

* Aiden's fastball is more fun to see now that it is a strike and not at your liver

* Greg, who has been clutch of late, killed our bases loaded rally with a pop up to the pitcher

* Lattig hit three gork balls to left field that all landed in the exact same place

* Gaspar using a wooden bat and driving the ball up the middle!

* Naldony with a heads up play at 2nd to tag the runner and then get the double play

* Not a single foul ball that threatened a car!

Monday, April 28, 2025

4/27/25 West sunset again, with a permit

Well, I guess the CYO team don't play "every Sunday", cuz they weren't there when I got there.

Of course that was 28 minutes late, because I had Little league stuff I had to do, and then the bridge was kind of fucked, and West Sunset is basically driving to the ocean.  But I made it!

And so did 21 other individuals, for a glorious day of baseball.  

For the home team anyway. 

I am not going to sugar coat it, we, the visiting team, got the shit kicked out of us. Like we stopped counting the runs at one point in the inning, and then settled on a score that wouldn't be too depressing but still was woefully undercounting the actual number of runs scored.

 And we all had a great time.  That's the beauty of Mission baseball.

We really celebrated when we scored a 2nd run, it was the high tide for our game. 

We finished early enough that we played an extra inning, just because we could.  

For the love of the game.  

Thanks to everyone that made it out, a good time was had by all.

Highlights:

* Great game caught by Arson, who has become an elite level player.

* Greg had to leave early for some birthday party he got roped into, we've lost a lot of good players that way, be safe out there

* Mitch made several amazing plays in outfield, our entire team was Mitched.

* Sean also provided some razzle dazzle in the outfield after a solid start on the mound

* Brian Phelps also had a great start on the bump and then made the awkward-est 6-4-3 lefty double play I have ever seen

* Jesse killed the ball all day, including a line drive to right center that smacked high on the wall.

* I got to be the pitcher of record for one of the more run-heavy innings of all time. The lineup never got easier.

* Ana had a nice hit and a play in the outfield

* Pitchers for the day: Sean, Satch / Phelps, Sonny, HR

* Gabe had some big hits, but kept getting Mitched

* Chris Powell also had some stellar pickups at SS

* I hit some poor new guy with a fastball, which really sucks.  I gave him a big marshmallow to hit as a gesture.  And hit it he did.

* Let Adam's experience be a learning one everyone: Call time out if you are dealing with a medical issue and you don't have your glove on.

* The Presley's play at first when we needed an out was nice to have

* Sean also took on the Gaspar flex in his absence, sending roughly 8 foul balls in a row behind third base

* Right side of the field, anything in the air was real tough to track with the sun

* Mission Baseball!

Monday, April 14, 2025

4/13/25 West Sunset #1...no...#2

 



Apparently the CYO baseball league has a lock on the West Sunset field for Sundays in perpetuity.  They play every week.  It is inconceivable that they would not have a permit.  The problem with that is we had a permit that clearly listed us as having the field yesterday.

If we ever needed a clear indication as to why the majority of us should not be professional negotiators, this was it.  Most of us instantly got red-assed and started chirping amongst ourselves as to what was going to happen at 3:30 when the permit took effect and the CYO game was not over yet.  Cuz that's our field, and those kids need to learn the RULES!

Luckily, we are captained by a person with infinitely more patience and panache, Greg, who took the high road, and also managed to insert some venomous verbal barbs to the grumpy CYO guy while he was offering resolution.  It was pretty amazing to see. CYO guy was so sure he was in the right, but he didn't gather his evidence first.  He knew they had a permit, because they ALWAYS have the permit.  This particular strategy has been used several times on us, and they are always wrong.  Greg offered to move us down to the other field, and we did, while the guy was fumble-fucking with his phone to download the permit that he KNEW they had.  Turns out they had a permit for the field....next week. Wah wah.  

In his defense, he was categorically apologetic and made a special trip down to acknowledge the error.  I don't think any of us would mind if CYO paid for our permit at some point, as a goodwill gesture.  Let me also say that Greg was right from the start, when he tried to get us to go down to the other field immediately, and none of us would because we are all a bunch of playground tough guys that want to push around some kids.

The weather was absolutely amazing, the sun was a bit of a bear, but the roar of the ocean and the warm temperatures made it one of the nicest games I have ever been a part of.  Game time was late in starting with all the bureaucracy, but we did get going by about 3:45, and the teams looked a little wonky.  Sean was pitching for the homers and Satch for the visitors.  We drew first blood to the tune of two runs and when I saw the lineup for the homers, I got a little worried.  Powell, Sean, Lynch, Adam, Nick W to start off.  As far as I am concerned that's 3 doubles and 4 stolen bases every time around.  My defense came to my rescue though, and we managed to quash the impending slaughter a few times.

The extra gleam in everyone's eyes was due to the left field fence, which we rarely have and even more rarely is it a mere 286 feet from home plate.  I went to bat the first time with a cheater bat--avoided getting hit even though Greg put in the order-- and then grounded out to Powell.  That was about how my day at the plate went.  Others fared much better, especially lefties.  Elon hit 3 doubles, Lynch had an almost in the park homer, Sean was masterful as usual, and Phelps, well, he had a bad toe.

I threw 5 innings, was helped by two double plays by my defense, and exited the game with the score 6-2.  Felt good, the mound was nice.  John McG pitched another great inning, then HR came in for two strong, though the homers did start to mount a comeback, and New Guy Ben closed the door after some fireworks.  Sean threw the bulk of the game, and Greg came in for the final 2, which felt like the first time in a while.

I have to say that the home team was on wrong end of several close plays.  I was not in the position to question some of the calls, but I have to say there were a lot, and none of them went their way.  Maybe our defense was that sharp, but I think more than that, our defense was really sure of being in the right.  Maybe the CYO guy energy was rubbing off on us.  Specifically Lynch's almost-homerun and Adam's put out at third in the 9th inning.  They were the difference in the game, unfortunately.  Maybe our defense was that good?  Either way, the homers were raging in the comeback, from 8-4 they quickly made it a close game and we were all a bit worried in the bottom of the 9th, with the tying run on 2nd.  However, the comeback was not to be.

The icing on the day was Ben hitting a legitimate homerun in the 9th inning, a towering blast that cleared the fence by 20 feet and probably would have been about 340 feet had it not slammed the concrete wall of the upper deck arena.  Nice to see something like that.

Most people had a hard stop at 6pm, but we managed to get the full 9 innings in, another glorious game in the books.  

Final, 8-7, Visitors.

Highlights:

* Such a mighty wallop.  I know it says 299, but that thing was still going up when it hit the wall.


* Elon does really well at everything, considering he comes out twice a year

* Greg, Gaspar, McG, Phelps and Sean all did great behind the dish.  Two lefty catchers has to be a MBC record

* Kenball with the diving catch in left field!

* Elon with the diving catch in right field!

* Gaspar once again showing his level of surgical aptitude, dropping a hit perfectly in between all fielders in left

* Ana with a nice hit to right, with an RBI

* Lynch with the down the line triple, I tried to coach him from third but he didn't listen

* Brian had a hell of a throw to third to get Adam (if he was truly got).

* Greg scaled a 15 foot fence to get our baseballs back.  He's like Spiderman and Thurgood Marshall rolled into one

* Ben doing it all, including a fine pick from the mound for the final out

* Good to see Tony out, even if he wasn't playing, hopefully his glorious return is not too far off

* Tim helping his brother out of a jam with a pressure play at 2nd

* The sun on the ocean made for pretty blinding conditions in the latter part of the game

* Two double plays is a nice thing to lean on when you are pitching

Monday, March 31, 2025

3/30/25 Cop Field

Can't win them all.  We get comfortable with having enough players and then this happens.  

We had 11 people show up, comprised of those who didn't make other plans because of the impending rainstorm...that didn't happen.

And Bob came out!  He was in town and ready to play.

So we came up with 3-3-3 with alternating pitchers and catchers.  Satch and Sean.  It was something, but it wasn't our best game.  Nick W came to hit, to the tune of several singles and doubles, an RBI machine.  Sean got cheated out of an at bat or two as I didn't swap with him as regular as I should have.

Bob swung at the first pitch on his first three at bats.  The first one was a knuckleball and he might see that one in his nightmares for a while.  Ana, Tim, Gaspar, McG, Mike N all had some nice hits, JT scorched a line drive over third, Sean put one about 400 feet in right field, I popped up and grounded out most of the day.

Greg caught most of the game, sacrificing himself for the good of the club as usual.  I had a more efficient time on the mound than Sean, we pitched 6 outs, and then swapped.  We had way too many close calls on foul balls hitting cars in the police station.

The final was 1-7-5, I think.

Highlights

* Gaspar beat the Gaspar shift, putting the ball perfectly in between LF, SS, 3rd.

* I botched a play to the right side, not covering first

* Bob caught the ball consistently in the outfield in high winds

* Nick was hammering the ball to left

* Hope everyone shows up next week.


Monday, March 24, 2025

3/23/25 GGP

 What an amazing day.  It is not hyperbole that it was a perfect day for a game.  We also had 24 players show up, which makes it even better, no running around covering positions, though we did have to remind a few that you can't sit out every inning...

The only issue I had with the day was the breakdown of the 2 squads, for lack of a better word, they were uneven.  The home team was without gaps, it was one big hitter after another.  The general rule has always been that you shouldn't have Powell and Mitch on the same team.  

Well, Mitch led off and Powell was 2nd.  That was what we were facing. Then it got worse.

Satch started for the visitors and Nick W for the homers.  The score wasn't terrible at the beginning of the game, though I don't think we ever held the lead.  The difference in the game seemed to be Tim Presley who put on a clinic at 3rd base, to the tune of 8-9 put outs.  He was everywhere, doing everything.  It was awesome.  Nick threw well and kept us in check, then handed it over to John McG for one inning, who put up a 4-pitch dazzler and then on to Sonny who shut us down completely.  His knuckleball in particular, was super funky.

After 6 innings of facing crusher after crusher I handed the ball off to Dave for an inning and then Sean, who took it the rest of the way.  Sean faced the same conundrum as I had, how can you celebrate getting an out, when the next hitter up is another potential double.  

The score started to get lopsided by the 8th inning, which I think was when we lost track of how many runs had actually been scored.  There was a bases loaded rally with 2 outs that seemed to go on forever.  John McG tattooed a ball.

New guy Ben came in to close the door and threw well, he has a sneaky fastball and a good curve.  

Final of game- 13(?)-3, homers.

Since we had extra time and players, we did a one inning exhibition and we managed to win that 4-1, so a little respect, though most of our team went home, so we only had about 6 players left.

Highlights:

* Everyone on the home team

* New Guy Alex and New Guy Ben were raking all day.

* Greg waited on a changeup and hammered it down the line

* Kenball almost had an amazing sliding catch in left field

* We did get an out at home, on a sliding play, thrown in from right field.  That was a bright spot.

* Alejandro had a big fly as well

* Great to see Stoner out

* Two line drives, one to me and one to Tim, that nearly took our gloves off

* Adam made some life saving plays at 1st base

* Someone almost hit the right fielder in the other game on the fly.

* Tim had an inning that he was responsible for every put out, great day!

* Sean ripped a couple of balls, but we couldn't consistently pick him up.

* Mike N did a great job blocking the dish in the latter part of the game

* Ana had a nice hit and scored a run

* Let's remember this team, so we can stop it if it happens again: Mitch, Powell, Alex, Ana, McG, Greg, Alejandro, Nick W, Sonny, Ben, Don, Rick

* Sorry to relate the news that skateboarding has claimed another victim from the MBC, get well soon Tony Rojas!

Monday, March 10, 2025

3/9/25- GGP

It's been a while since I got a chance to play.  Various family things, weekend sports commitments, rain, it all happens.  So it felt great to have a chance to play ball.  What wasn't great was trying to find a fucking parking space.  I arrived early and drove around for 25 minutes, watching the team every time I drove by.  Finally I gave up on anything close and went to the no man's land of Lincoln and 12th. There is always a spot, but the walk sucks.

We were at full bars plus extras for the day, the final may have been 12-12.  Sean started for the visitors and Nick W for the homers, but Nick didn't last too long, something in his shoulder went awry and he brought Mitch in immediately.  Mitch did great, and so did Sean, working 7 strong.  Both pitchers did a good job of controlling the game, and most of the hits were singles.  Dave came in to relieve Mitch, he also threw well, working on his knuckler, and then Satch got the last 3 innings.  Erasto took the last 2 innings from Sean, and got the 2-inning save, aided by the most deceptive release point in the game.

It seemed like everyone was getting hits, and not too many cheap ones.  The new guy Alex, who lives at 7th Ave and saw us from his front window, was killing the ball all day, to the tune of triple, double, single.  He scored 2 or 3 of the runs we managed to get.

Sean, McG, Lynch, Erasto, Alex, all were hammering the ball, it seemed like the homers managed to escape mostly unscathed, but there were a lot of runners every inning.

The crowd actually applauded a few times, more interaction than we have seen in a long time at GGP.  Probably helped by the aforementioned big bats. The game was close, by the time I came in we were only down one run, 5-4.  Well, I coughed up an extra run, and we never could get our come back to materialize, and the final was 6-4, Visitors.

Highlights:

* Beautiful day, full rosters, great game

* Thanks to Greg, McG for catching

* We had a lot of interest in the game, when it rains it pours

* Marcos made several great catches in left, blinded in the sun

* I K'd McG on one of the nastiest knuckleballs I have every thrown

* I owe both my hits to the Tree Trunk, one off the end that only works if your bat is 35" and one on the hands if your bat is thicker at the hands than most barrels.

* Johnny Bartlett and Rick Kvoriak were out, what is it 2004 all over again?

* We tried to play it safe and not test the arm of Gabe from left, and still had the guy thrown out trying to go back to 3rd.

* We had Mike N dead to rights at home, but I was the cutoff and couldn't get the ball out of my glove.

* Heads up play from Dave to get the lead runner at 3rd, in a 6-4-3 situation.  It was the right play.

Friday, January 17, 2025

Late Edition: Footage of The Catch

For those following, Charlie made a fantastic diving catch to rob JT of a sure-fire hit at the Fourth of July Doubleheader.  

As JT and I both hail from a time before computers, it took 7 months but we finally figured out how technology works for transferring large files and I was able to collect the much vaunted footage.  

Enjoy, and great catch kid!  You make your old man proud.





Monday, January 13, 2025

1/12/25 GGP

 I talk about it a lot but it really is true that the most amazing games we have tend to be smack dab in the middle of winter.  It was glorious outside, 66 degrees, hot in the sun, and we had about 27 people show up to play.  They all came out of the woodwork, other than Don, who must have known that we were overstaffed, and was absent from his usual late arrival.  

Sean started for the homers and I started for the visitors.  I felt good, the sun was hot at times, and it had been a minute since I had pitched.  Note, I said I felt good, but I sure wasn't pitching good.  I think that every person on the home team had at least a single off of me.  I don't know how the score stayed as low as it did, because I was getting teed off on.  Gabe counted his first and second career hits off of me, and everyone else just added to their pile.  I guess it was the day, as Sean also was giving up some hits, and the game was really evenly matched.  So much so, that the score was either tied or with a one run differential all the way to the extra inning that we had to play. 

I started to bear down a little more as I warmed up, and with the help of some stellar defense from infield and outfield, I was able to stymie the attack.  I bowed out after 5 innings, with the score knotted at 4-4.  Mitch came in and did a great job of pitching the remainder of the game.  I sat out at least 3 innings, which probably also helped my team's defense.  Sean stayed in a bit longer, and then handed the game to HR, who looked like he has been working on his curveball and his form, both looked excellent.  Greg came in for the final inning and well, tough luck.

We played through 9 innings and were left with a tie ball game 6-6, so into extra innings we went.  We were able to score 2 runs on the mighty wallop of Stoner, who smoked a ball into the gap and eventually also came around to score. The homers seemed to deflate a bit in the bottom of the 10th, and were quickly extinguished.

Final score: 8-6, visitors.

Highlights:

* Thanks to everyone that came out

* Nice hitting Gabe!

* Powell accounted for several of our runs

* In honor of the Man of Steal, Mitch completed a perfect Ricky run: single, take 3rd on play at first, score.

* Johnny Bartlett came out, this looks to be the beginning of the next chapter of Johnny's baseball career, and I am here for it!

* Javier made several important catches in the outfield, he didn't look confident doing it, but he did it

* Play of the game may have been Zach's diving grab in left field, amazing!

* I knew I was in for it, when lead off batter Tony lined my first pitch down the right field line for a easy hit

* Gabe's throws from SS rival those of Shawon Dunston, and its little unnerving not knowing if the 1st baseman is going to catch the ball, or if it is going to take your head off

* Greg almost took off my foot with a solid comebacker, I got my shoe and my glove out of the way....

* Lynch made a snare on a line drive that would have taken his head off if he hadn't caught it, instead, a much needed double play

* Gaspar was smoking the ball

* Stoner treated us all to the patented Stoner Slide Catch.

* I will have to go back into the archives to find the last time I struck out Lattig.

* Anna had a nice hit that turned into a double and eventually a run scored.

* I got into a pitch Sean left up in my first at bat and hit it to the right center gap, and rounding 1st I saw HR fumble it and thought, What the hell.  I made it to 2nd just ahead of the throw, and I had to slide which is never good but miraculously, was safe.  With each play afterwards, there was a bobble or a issue that made my running advancement decision murky.  But, I eventually scored our team's first run.

* Thanks to Greg, McG, Gaspar, Mike N for catching duties

* Two of the strangest ground balls, Lynch had one at third base that went from big hopper to worm burner, and one to Powell that never lost contact with the grass after impact.

* Apologies to Mike N, who I tagged with a 1-2 fastball in the rear parts

* Muchas gracias a Erasto, Santos, y Javier por un gran partido y a Carlos por venir a pasar el rato.

* After years of no contact, we had SF Park Rangers check permits TWICE in one day! Obviously it's part of the new mayor's promise to crack down on....illegal recreation? A bit of a buzz kill to see a guy with belt full of beat-down equipment walking over to you unsolicited on a Sunday afternoon, but, hey, that is why we pay for permits.

* Apologies if I missed any big plays, there were so many people to catch up with, the game became the background for a while.