Beaver Times 2009 Edition 4

Maybe you recall last week when I bragged about our defense...maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. Ugh, we started off a little rusty to say the least. Not to take everything away from Bi-State Meat, they also did a great job of lining balls up the middle - just over secondbase. You combine perfectly placed singles and doubles with several fielding errors and you have yourself a bad start to a softball game. And so it was, 6-0 Meatheads before we got a chance to prove what we could do.

The Beaver half started strong with Belle singling, Rake reaching on an error and Kid doing the same - bases were loaded on none out. Sonoma grounded into a fielder's choice - 1 run, 1 out. Dupper lifted a sac fly - 2 runs, 2 outs. That was all there was in the first. In the top of the second the Meatheads again placed some hits up the middle, forcing the Beavers to contemplate using a "short centerfielder" instead of a left center and right center. Beavers answered with nothing in the 2nd, capped by a Jimmy-D K.

The offense started again in the 3rd with a double by Belle, that is labeled in the scorebook "softest double ever" (it looks like Tanners scribbles if you ask me). Rake doubled him in, Kid tripled in Rake...then the center of the lineup went cold again. We just could not sustain a rally. We plated 3 more and trailed this 2-4 team 8-5. Then it got ugly.

Defensive let downs and well-placed hits again tormented the Beavers. Bi-State Meat basically batted around and scored another 5 runs. They were hitting the ball well. Mobilly, making his first start on the mound due to Keith's absence, was not used to the "unlimited arc" rule. His pitches were in the customary 6'-12' arc and they were ready for them. They plated 5 more runs.

On the other side, the lefty going for them knew exactly how to throw a high arc pitch and that 15'-20' arc he was throwing was really bothering the Beavers. He would get 2 strikes on us and had this pitch that seemed to hang in the air forever, then land close enough to the plate/mat that you had to swing. We had a lot of ugly swings - either driving the ball straight into the ground or replicating the arc on a hit - leading to a harmless fly ball. We were stymied.

In the 4th we were able to once again get runners on and in, only to have guys later in the inning strand them. The killer to this inning was a doubleplay ball for Jimmy-D. His frustration was mounting. Leading to the comment, "I don't understand what is going on, I kill the ball at the cages". Jimmy, life cannot be lived in the cages...

In the 5th something happened, something changed. Mobilly began fooling their hitters. Our fielding sharpened. They stopped hitting the ball where we were not fielding. We held them to 1 run for the final 3 innings. Maybe their pre-game BBQ was wearing off, but they lost their energy and their stride. They were up 13-7 going into the bottom of 6th. The Beavers were in trouble still.

Again in the 6th the Beavers started off hot, the first 5 guys reached base - only to be followed by 3 straight outs. As hot as it was at the beginning of the inning with a HR by Mobilly and a couple singles and a couple errors, it was equally as cold at the end of the inning with Rage, Belle and Rake all retiring 1-2-3. Bi-State 13, Beavers 11 after 6.

Bi-State plated one more in the top of the 7th, as Mobilly and the defense behind him effectively shut the door. We entered the bottom of the 7th.

Kid flies out, one down.

Sonoma singles, dupper reaches on an error, Mobilly singles - bases loaded.

Jake reaches on an error plating two. Bi-State 14, Beavers 13

Sabo steps to the dish and comes through...a linedrive to right center dropping in-between 2 of their 3 outfielders (yes, they were playing a man down all game). Sabo touches them all, a game-winning 3 run HR. BEAVERS WIN!

For obvious reasons Sabo picks up his second Beaver of the Game honor. Beavers 16, Bi- State Meat 14. Beavers move to 7-0 and truly earned that victory. It did leave us to wonder though, would the game have turned out differently had the Meatheads had that 4th outfielder? Who cares, we are still undefeated.

Rage, who arrived at the game in the 4th, pointed out that since his arrival we outscored them 11-1. Maybe he is like our good luck charm. We'll continue to watch for trends.

Also, somewhere buried in the game, was another Belle-ism. This time our lovable plumber mistakenly said "Ergonomics" instead of "Economics". Don't ask me why we were talking Econ in the middle of a comeback victory, that is just a glimpse of the odd dugout conversations that take place with the Beavers...it's all about Ergonomics...

In game two we took the role as visiting team and started off with a 3-spot. For those of you not at the games, we "roll over the lineup" for the second game. Meaning that whomever was ondeck when the last play took place in game one, is the lead off hitter for game two. This accomplishes two goals; 1) everyone should get to hit the same amount of times over the course of the night and 2) Rake does not have to labor through mixing up two lineups. Everyone is happy.

Jimmy-D, back to batting left-handed, drove a ball over first and down the line. Even he was able to leg it into a double. I should insert something here about how Jimmy reminds the team that back many years ago (maybe 9 or so), Jimmy raced Mobilly and Lumpy (an ex-Beaver) at Kirkwood Park after a game. Jimmy won the race, but the others both claim that something interfered with their running - beit slipping or whatever. That is Jimmy's claim and he brings it up monthly. He is fast, if only in his own mind.

Back to the game, Belle followed Jimmy's double with an opposite-field triple and Rake followed that with a HR to rightcenter. Not a bad start.

Rage took the hill for game two to see if he could master the +12' arc allowance. He was able to keep Bi-State relatively quiet with the bats allowing one run in each of the first two innings. He would later point out, as is customary for any Beavers pitcher, that both runs were unearned. I think I will give him the benefit of the doubt on one of them. Here's what happened.

With runners on 1st and 2nd a line drive was hit between Sonoma in right and Rake in rightcenter. Sonoma didn't seem to think it was too close to him, so he stayed put. The ball, however, was slicing back to rightfield. Rake tried to cut it off, but took a poor angle at it and it skipped by. The runner on 2nd was going to score on the hit. The runner from 1st tried to score while Rake chased it down. A relay throw from Rake to Jake (2B) to Tanner (C) nailed the second run. Our pitchers would argue that Sonoma or Rake should have dove like superman to catch that ball, thus unearned. I will call it earned.

The Beavers scored another 3 in the second inning. Sonoma launched his 7th HR of the year followed by three straight hits by Mobilly, Jake and Sabo brought in 2 more.

The Meatheads were done at this point. Their bats went cold and Rage did not allow another run (earned or unearned) for the last 3 innings. The Beavers were just starting to get things going again. Their pitcher all by abandoned the extremely high arc pitch and the Beavers jumped on him. Four in the 4th, five in the 5th. In the 4th two triples did the damage; one by Jake the other by Rage. Inbetween, Jimmy-D k'd again. He said his goal was two hits for the night, he was halfway there with the 1st inning double - don't give up yet, Jimmy!

In the 5th Rake led off with his second HR of the game. Basically to the same spot as before - right center. Kid tripled, Mobilly tripled (you do realize that 4-5 years ago this would all have been homeruns...we are getting old and slow). Jake doubled, leaving him only the HR shy of the cycle. The inning ended with another K, this time to Rage, and this one a legit swing-and-a-miss. Before Rage, Jimmy-D came to the plate. He drove a ball between first and second, driving in a run and reaching his target of 2 hits for the night. His first 2-hit game. This could be the beginning of Jimmy-D breaking out of his slump. You are no longer just hitting in the cages my friend.

Another glimpse into the Beavers dugout brings up this quote. Mobilly's triple in the 5th was like putting english on the ball as it hit off the end of his bat, over first base and spinning into foul territory. Jimmy chimes in with our word for the day, "masse' ". I believe the line was "he put some masse' on that ball", or something to that effect.

Beavers win again. Beavers 15, Bi-State Meat 2.
Beaver of the game goes to Rake with 2 HR and an outfield assist.

What has not been documented until now is the beer selection that was brought to the game by Jimmy-D. Let's see if I remember this correctly...Strohs...yep, Olympia...yep, Old Style...yep, Natural Light...yep one 24oz, Bud Light....yep (wait, how did that get in there!?) Let's just say Thursday was not so pleasant. Keith, you have beer duty next week, please make up fo this...

Next games are May 27th at 8pm on the same fields (near the highschool).