-- THURSDAY GAME WRAPS: The Fall Session
Fenton Championship Hangs in the Balance on Thursday Night, September 28th
Final Battle vs. Domain Roofing / Wolk Insurance (names not as cool as
LagerSluggers)
Having the same overall record and having split with DRWI last week - a slight advantage rested with the DRWI guys due to the run differential of our loss vs our win. The Sluggers came out focused and with Limpert/MSTBWG anchoring the left side of the diamond on defense. Commish had the angles and the down wind currents working in his favor tonight on the mini-pitcher's mound. Working quickly and effectively Commish was only touched on for a single run in the opener. Meanwhile on the offensive side the Sluggers followed a cookie cutter pattern. Top of the order bats - 5 runs score - Johnny Wamps ends the inning. Bottom of the order bats - no runs score. This happened eerily enough twice. With the Sluggers up 10-1 batting in the bottom of the fifth, Limpert took a pitch up & out for a two run jack to put the contest into mercy territory. Good guys take game one 12-1 and swung the run differential in their favor (+4). With the win in our pocket, we wanted to win the league outright instead of relying on someone else's ability to tabulate numbers.
Game two was a defensive struggle and both team clawed and slashed at the pitcher for hits. After two innings the score stood at 2-1 good guys. In the third we scored two runs, they scored two runs. Thanks to some stellar defense by Limpert and Dolley we managed to hold off any prolonged rallies by DRWI. A few innings later, the score was 10-5 LagerSluggers. When DRWI cut it to 10-6 the Sluggers answered by pushing the advantage to 14-5. DRWI scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to make the score stand as it would at the end of playing on this day. 14-6 good guys clinch the win and the league championship. A single prop to Evan for filling in for Eazy who had his nuts treated for freezer burn earlier in the day after leaving them in the freezer too long. Solid dogged play by Bo at first base, making several fundamentally sound plays in the crucial innings. Smart play by our outfielders keeping balls in front of them (except Evan on a couple of balls) and making the throws to the right bases. Tater patrol on the night courtesy of Courtesy Diner -- Dolley, Limpert and MSTBWG. Also of note was Dolley foul tipping balls on three straight AB's tonight. Never seen that before in softball - never. Next up on Thursdays: The Offseason. Excellent year guys.
Sluggers Split with Domain Roofing / Wolk Insurance on Sept 21st - Thursday late games
-- Setup Showdown with Domain Roofing / Wollf Insurance for first place - both squads 7-3
Game one was a classic struggle for footing in the bunker known as the batter's box. Wayne of Fenton Park - if you're listening (or reading) - this is unacceptable! Even Walter (yes he's a canine/K9) thought this crater next to home plate was too large to store his extensive bone collection. Team DRWI (Domain Roofing / Wolk Insurance) came into these contests with the same record as the LagerSluggers.org - 6-2. Game one went a little see then a little saw. We as a team had a mental lapse midway through the action and gave up 5-6 runs to fall behind briefly only to be outdone by DRWI's suspect D that allowed 6 runs to the good guys. Each team fought hard. Punching and clawing their way through. The Lagers hit a kidney punch. The DRWI hit a low blow and the fight continued. Since we began the night as the home team we controlled our destiny a bit. All things came down to the top of the seventh when the DRWI's batted, down 14-11 with two runners on and two outs when their final batter flew out to right center. Most of the offensive punch was provided by MSTBWG, Dolley and Big Dawg as Commish and the Freak challenged each other to a corn hitting contest that I think ended in a pitiful tie.
Game two in contrast to the first game was methodical until a point. Leading team DRWI 6-2 heading into the bottom of the fourth, our defense fell on our collective sword repeatedly. A gash, a slash and a tink! The inning from HELL ran into infinity. The only thing that stopped the inning from continuing was when I figured out how to time travel for a split second and jumped back into time when we had only given up 15 runs and stopped the bleeding then. If only I could have figured out how to go farther back in time. Would I have stopped the onslaught? Possibly but my priority would have been to go back to the gas station and buy a Powerball ticket with the knowledge from before the event happened. Then possibly stop the 15 run bloodletting. And also world peace. Where was I? Oh yeah...
When the carnage finally ended, we came to bat trailing 17-6. We needed two runs to continue playing. MSTBWG did his part by lining off on one for a solo tater. That made
the score 17-7. We still needed one more run to keep playing when Bo grounded out with the Freak on third for the third a final out of the night. Bad guys win 17-7 and set up a winner take all showdown next week. If one team can sweep they will claim the league. If we split then it will come down to a tiebreaker I imagine.
Thursday Sept 14th early vs THE MILK MEN AKA TTT (Trash Talking Team)
Pardon the loose and vague nature of the recap you're about to read. I was in Las Vegas having a miserable time and have only some sketchy information provided to me by individuals who may or may not have been drunk at the time the events in question transpired. We had played these dudes previously - winning both games of that doubleheader. I'll start with the facts and weave in some mental pictures. Commish hit the fence on three consecutive AB's. Gus hit a tater but was (HRO) out before he touched first base. Bo slid into a base. Jeff Ritrovato punched a gopher. Dolley threw up in an elderly woman's cleavage. Big Dawg nearly had to have mouth-to-mouth resuscitation due to having his airway blocked by having two bags of sunflower seeds in his mouth at once. Eazy hid in the bushes behind the tennis courts. Johnny Wamp admitted he prefers Skittles to M&M's. Big John Turley tried to saw a man in half with a line drive. The Sluggers short-gamed The Milk Men twice in blowouts.
The sky was a shade of blue quite difficult to describe and the wind was wafting much like it does in other parts of the country. Commish heaved the spheroid making it dance like a 10 year old girl who's blindfolded and had a bit too much to drink. Their hitters tried feebly to keep pace with the juggernaut that is The LagerSluggers.org. Whether it be baserunning, moving runners along, field and throw or sliding catches in the outfield - The Milk Men paled in comparison to what our guys can do in their sleep much less fully awake and concentrating on softball! Or so I'm told. The team, our team went out and did what needed to be done (READ: KICK SOME A$$!). Nice job fellas. I'll catch you on the rewind. Yeah I'm tired and I'm not going to proofread this. You do it, you're reading it after all unless you're illiterate and just staring at the pretty screen with no means of comprehension. Which means I can insult you right to your face and you'll probably sit there with a retarded grin on your face with a little drool hanging off it while you scratch yourself. Bug nosed, sister loving, finger sniffing, tire chaser with crazy dandruff! Take care, BYE BYE NOW!!
A week after the false start at Fenton Park when the Sluggers came out kicking arse only to get sloshed away by torrential downpour before any games could become official- the Sluggers got to play week one opponent Trophy Room again. Much like the first meeting of the clubs, the Sluggers came to score runs and drink beer. The Sluggers followed that formula except in the 3rd & 5th innings when they didn't score any runs and couldn't drink much beer because of it - vicious cycle. The other four innings we got to play resulted in many indentions of home plate. In the first inning, a surprise HR by Commish made his swing off for the rest of the first game. Gus was 1 for 1 with three walks as their pitcher (they started a journeyman lefty) had trouble finding the plate, the carpet behind the plate or the area that wasn't behind our hitters. In the field, MSTBWG and Limpert made for a nice left side of the infield. Wampler celebrating his birthday on this night contributed a couple of hits and a base on balls. Game one ended in mercy fashion on a two run double by the Freak 20-10 in six innings.
Game number two on The Ocho was not as pleasant or as watch-able. Many defensive miscues in the contest cost the Sluggers a chance to sweep the doubleheader. The first three innings were quite close with the Sluggers holding favor (as the visiting team) 4-3 after one. 5-4 after two. 8-6 after three. Especially impressive was Commish working out of danger in the 2nd inning with the bases loaded one run in and no one out and no further runs scored on grab tag a bag (third) and toss home to Big Dawg to tag out the third out. The wheels on our happy bus came off a bit in the bottom of the fourth with the good guys leading 9-6. A bloop, a bleeder, a smash, etc, etc and the snowball kept gaining momentum until five total runs crossed the plate for the bad guys to put us in the hole for the first time since the first half inning of the first game (1-0). In the top of the fifth inning (to be the last due to time constraints per the assfaced umpire) the Sluggers answered the five runs given in the previous inning with five of their own to retake a three run advantage with the bottom of the inning to determine the winner. After the first hitter got a flair hit and the next hitter reached safely, things looked ominous. A handful of batters later the game was tied and the winning run was in scoring position. With the outfield pulled in and the bases loaded, the last batter of the game dropped single in front of Turley for the game winner even though it was only 10:20 PM. Our hour allotted for the second game was done even though the first game took less than an hour to complete - the umpire seemed disinterested at best and anxious to depart for parts unknown (read GAY BAR HOPPING). Sluggers tripped up 15-14 in five innings. Good effort by the group, just a few mental lapses in the field opened the flood gates on us and took away some of our steam. Next week the Sluggers play early on Thursday minus the Freak who will be on a plane to Vegas so Commish will probably give a colorful game recap if not the final scores.
Greetings and thanks for dropping by. You are probably interested to read and digest the results of Thursday Night's games at Fenton Park. I don't have an official schedule (thanks Wayne) to accurately put names with some of these ruffians we play so I'll give them cute little descriptive names to vividly as possible draw a picture in your mind of our opponents. Understand? Oh well I tried...
In the late games of August 24th at Fenton Park (same diamond as last week) the Lagersluggers squared off against a little team I like to call: Trash Talking Team with a lot of faces I recognize from playing tournaments but I'll just call them TTT for short. After a solid first inning as the visitors (us) in which we pushed across two runs, TTT displayed a little tournament style offense by hitting holes in the infield and exploiting line drive technology as they plated seven runs. In the top of the second we were still tense about the last half inning and were set down 1-2-3. TTT bashed away for four more tallies but the damage was more controlled this time. In the top of the third Freddie sparked our offense for a three spot that was answered in the bottom half of the inning by TTT. So after three full innings things seemed bleak with the Lagersluggers in the hole to the tune of 14-5. In the top of the fourth, Bo got us started with one out. The inning was highlighted by a two-run triple by the Freak and a two-run double by Turley as the good guys rebounded for 7 runs. Flashing some leather in the bottom half of the inning, we held them scoreless to preserve our momentum. In the top of the fifth, we again went 1-2-3 and were tripped up for three more in the TTT column. Running low on time, the crabinacious man behind the plate in green (the umpire if you will) said this was the last inning. Again Freddie ignited our offense and MSTBWG smashed a 3-run tater to bring us to within 17-15. Five consecutive hits later (back-to-back doubles by Dolley & Turley followed by three straight singles by Commish, Big Dawg and Jeff ) we took the lead and Freddie finished the scoring for us with an RBI single before the Freak flied out deep to center with two runners on. Now the weight shifted squarely to TTT's collective shoulders to answer our 8 run outburst. Commish & Co dug in went after the "W". After the first two batters were retired by ground out and fly out, the next batter singled only to be stranded as the final out was gloved. Considering how battered we were (read: DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS) in the first two innings and how much trash TTT talked to us and the umpire - this was a very, very satisfying turn of events for our guys.
In the get-a-way game, the Sluggers assumed the mantle of power known as THE HAMMER or being the home team in layman's terms. Still reeling from their collapse at the end of last game, the TTT squad only managed 1 run in the first two innings. We ourselves plated three in our half of the first - on the strength of a Dolley RBI triple, super-fast crazy Turley running and subsequent two RBI rip by Big Dawg. The third and fourth innings the numbers on the imaginary scoreboard changed and knotted up again. In the top of the third, TTT gained a little confidence and score twice. This time with Freak playing the role of rally starter the good guys scored six times with notable extrabase hits going to Gus (2B), MSTBWG (3B), and the Ritrovato Brothers (2B each). Not to be outdone, TTT also put up a scrappy 6 runs. Holding our composure we came back in the bottom of the fourth once again started by the Freak followed by another Gus double (deja vu all over again) and an emphatic bomb by MSTBWG. Good guys up 12-9 after four. After a completely scoreless fifth inning, we again held TTT scoreless in the top of the sixth. Commish was prowling the sideline and could be heard to say "They're Done. Let's put up 7 runs and go home!" So with our mission before us, the first four hitters of the inning reached by hit or walk to plate a run, and this is starting to sound like a (good) broken record but MSTBWG launched the spheroid beyond the catchable playing field and GRAND SALAMI TIME brought us within two runs of mercy shortening this game. Dolley and Turley did their jobs respectively and reached for a two run walk off single from Commish thanks in part to some uber-crazy speed by Turley scoring from first base after the ball was not fielded cleanly. Knockout punch delivered without TTT recording an out in the sixth inning - 19-9 LAGERSLUGGERS WIN!
These were two of the most fun games I can remember in recent history mostly due to the incentive given by TTT as they did not show proper respect to us, the umpire, themselves and even the game of softball itself a few times. I'm not saying these were bad guys (OK maybe I am a little for a snappy comment that one of their players directed at Freak Plus for applauding a solid play at third by the Freak) but it seemed they had a big foamy head of ego and not enough team beer. Next up for us is a date in Forest Park at 6:30 on Sunday for the City Tournament and the Thursday Sluggers return to action next Thursday with early games. See you there...
Thursday, Thursday, Thursday! Finally the Sluggers had edged their way into the friendly atmosphere of Fenton Park. With a batter's box resembling a climbing wall, loose top soil 6 inches deep on the infield and gentle warm breezes swaying the trees - this was a good night for softball. I don't know for sure the name of the opposing team but several of their players were wearing t-shirts that read "Trophy Room" so I'll refer to them as Trophy Room. At first glance, the Trophy Boys seemed like a ragtag bunch that would be easy pickings. However, we soon found out that was not the case - except for their right fielder who seemed clueless all night. Powered by MSTBWG the offense accumulated 14 total runs for the game. On the legs of a strong defense behind Commish, we only surrendered 4 total runs. So logically one would deduce that we won 14-4. Correct. You get a gold star.
In the first game we were able to sustain rallies and play solid defense. But due to injury MSTBWG had to move from shortstop to third base and this would prove costly as the Freak made two costly errors in one inning to allow three runs to cross. Normally in the course of a softball game, three runs can be easily overcome. In this game that was a tall task. Our steady offense from the first game gave way to routine hoppers to their shortstop and corn to their outfielders. After an early 2-0 lead for the Sluggers evaporated in the course of events from the above inning, the Sluggers trailed 3-2 and later on 5-2 heading to the seventh inning. Down to our last swings, MSTBWG nailed a solo home run with two outs but that was as close as we could pull ourselves. Final 5-3 bad guys with the win.
Next up for the Thursday Sluggers: 8:30 pm start on August 24th - opposition TBD.