Beaver Times 2009 Edition 7

Let's just cut right to the chase, the Beavers were able to score 17 runs in each game last night. Some of the offense funk seems to have lifted with the humidity.

The opponent was "Scared Hitless". As game time approached, many of us wondered if they were going to be able to field a team. At just about 8:00 we counted 5 players wandering around their bench. It was a late arriving team and by the time the ump said "Play Ball" they had their 10.

The Beavers were home for game 1 and we trotted out a little different defense with the absence of Kid and Jake. Dupper took the call at SS and Belle moved over to LF. Scared Hitless put a couple of runners on thanks in part to the ump missing two calls at first base. The first was grounder to 3rd where Sabo nabbed the hitter by a step - "SAFE", then as the Beavers tried to turn a double play another throw beats the hitter to first - "SAFE". Are you seeing a trend here? Seems that the Beavers get the short end of many calls. Last game it was Tanner, this time it was our defense. All in all, we escaped with no runs as Keith (new nickname to be debuted later) K'd their shortstop to end the inning.

The Beavers started the climb to their 17 run game with a nice 6-spot in the first as they batted around. We need to get a promotion with Mobil On The Run and those horrible TV and radio commercials that says "When the Beavers score six runs in an inning, win or lose, you get a fountain drink for only $0.25 the next day at Mobil On the Run". Now I have that stupid song in my head...I digress.

Belle led off with a double and Rake singled him in. After a dupper force out, Big John walked (#1). Mobilly doubled in Dup and Sonoma singled in Big John and Mobile (yes, that is singled, not homered). Rage capped the first inning scoring with a 2-RBI single. An impressive start to the evening.

Have you ever gone out to field grounders on pavement with a little sand sprinkled on top? If so, you know how the infield played last night. Huge hops! Most of the D was on their heals playing the bad hop...and it hurt us. In the second Scared Hitless came out swinging...lining a couple over the infield, chopping several on the ground only to elude the Beavers' mitts. When the inning mercifully came to an end, the score was tied. In the bottom of the second the too of the order was up again for the Beavers...this time to be retired 1-2-3...Allanis-style.

In the third we held them to no runs and Big John led off the bottom of the 3rd with a walk (#2). Mobilly singled and Sonoma tripled - Sabo singled him in - three quick runs before the bottom of the order fizzled the attack. Beavers were up 9-6 and the top of the order was set to lead off again in the 4th.

Scared Hitless chipped away with one run in the 4th. The umpire was quite proud to know the score...and mentioned it many times during each inning. I had never seen this before. Usually the ump just records the score, he does not keep it. Maybe he should have paid less attention to the number tallying and more to the plays at first. Also, the umpire was obsessed with announcing that the "Infield Fly Is In Effect". I think that maybe he just learned about this rule in his umpiring class last week and he was eager to use the term at every opportunity...and he did.

For the bottom of the 4th it started very similar to the 1st. Belle and Rake on base, Dup with a force out, Big John with a walk (#3), Mobilly with a hit. Sonoma then hit a Sacrifice Fly and Tanner drove in 2 runs with a single. A nice 5-run inning to stretch the lead to 14-7.

Just as Scared Hitless did after the Beavers exploded for 6 in the first, they exploded again after the Beavers hung 5 on the board. Again, shotty defense, well placed line drives and a BOMB by their shortstop to leftfield (this is the same guy who look terrible in the first on a strikeout...we got hustled!). Beavers' new lead was down to a thin 2 runs.

Keith led off the 5th with a walk and Jimmy-D popped out to the pitcher. Belle liked that pop up so much that he tried to emulate it and popped up to the 2nd baseman. Rake walked before Dupper doubled in 2 on what is labeled in the score book as "weak RBI". Big John then walked (#4) then the inning came to a close with a vintage Mobilly grunt...however this grunt was well after he weakly hit a grounder back to the mound. I hope that grunt made him feel better about that swing.

The game continued on into the 6th. Another 3 runs for Scared Hitless. This team was not going to give in. They were sensing blood and they were circling for the kill. The Beavers mounted a small attack in the bottom, but were unable to get a runner home from second. Beavers 16, Scared Hitless 15.

The 7th started off innocently enough. Two outs with no runs having scored. Then, like they had been doing all game, they started hitting with 2 outs. 3 runs scored to put them up by 2 going into the bottom of the 7th.

Jimmy-D, the leadoff hitter once everyone else has batted, grounded a single through the right side - a great start to this important inning. Belle singled and it was 1st and 2nd, no one out for Rake. Rake lifted a flyball to leftfield. Deep enough to move Jimmy-D up to 3rd, but not deep enough to score him. Dupper then did the same thing, a Sac fly scoring Jimmy-D. Now there there 2 outs and Belle was at 3rd with the tying run. Big John came up and...walked (#5). The game was in Mobilly's bat...it was not to be. A ground out to end the game. Beavers 17 Scared Hitless 18. It was the 3rd loss of the season for the Beavers and one that did not sit well. If you can award a Beaver of the game in a loss, it would go to Big John. I have never seen anyone take 5 walks in a game. Actually, I am not sure why you would want to actually, especially when you are the cleanup hitter. So he gets this award for two reasons 1) just because of the oddity of it 2) because if he would have swung the damn bat once we might have scored 18 or 19 instead of 17.

Quote of the game goes to the 1-2 punch of Belle and Dupper. Belle yelling at Rage to "Don't Get Mad", brought on the response from Dupper "Get Glad". Send endorsement checks to the blog...

Big John not only amazed us with his batting eye, he was also on with his humor. Every time a fielder would get ate-up by a ball, Big John was quick on the "you need me to play ____ position for you?". He also was trying to convince Jimmy-D that he had the ability to hit a bases empty grand slam.

Game two started up right away and we rolled the lineup over giving the leadoff duties to Sonoma. He singled (yes, again no homer), Sabo reached on an error and Tanner ripped a double to right scoring both. Rage then singled in Tanner and the Beavers were off to a 3-0 start. Nothing for Scared Hitless in the first, and again nothing for the Beavers in their half of the second. As I look closer at the book Belle, Rake and Dupper were a combined o-fer in the 2nd innings this night. Just an interesting observation.

Scared Hitless got on the board in the 2nd with 2 of their own, cutting the lead to 3-2. The bats came alive again in the top of the 3rd. Big John walked (#6), Mobilly singled, Sabo singled, Tanner tripled in 2 more runs, Rage singled, Keith singled then Jimmy-D tripled over a drawn in left-center fielder. This triple caused the crowd to erupt. Bi-State Meat was hanging around to watch the action and they were quite impressed with Jimmy's sudden power. You see, Jimmy was not looking like the athlete for these games (with the exception of his Webster Softball Championship t-shirt from many years ago). Along with the t-shirt (sleeves cut off), he was wearing camo shorts and a bucket hat. Add to this his scruffy beard and he looked like a better fit for Survivor than Clayton softball fields. Another reason why the bench jumped on the Jimmy-D bandwagon is that he had just grounded into a doubleplay in the first inning and did not run it out. He was the underdog, he was down on his luck...they were pulling for him. He answered.

In typical Scared Hitless style, they answered our big inning with one of their own. Plating 4 runs, including another blast from their shortstop who played opossum with us in the first at bat in the first game. Beavers were up 9-6.

In the 4th the Beavers started hitting again. Big John led off and was hearing it from the crowd about this lack of swinging the bat. The pitcher laid a fat pitch about chest high and VaJohnna crushed it. Refusing to be outdone by their power hitter or called out by the team watching from the Bleachers, Big John stopped his walk streak at 6 and went yard. A bunch of singles, doubles and walks followed and the Beavers added 4 more runs.

Scared Hitless stayed close with 3 runs of their own in the 4th. Through 4 it was Beavers 14 Scared Hitless 9. The Beavers kept hitting in the 5th. Dupper got in on the action with a double, Mobilly tripled, Sonoma reached on an error, Sabo walked and Tanner hit a sac fly that scored Sonoma from 2nd. The Beavers were able to shut down Scared Hitless in the bottom of the 5th. As the Beavers were coming up to hit in the 6th the ump called the game. Beavers Win! Beavers 17, Scared Hitless 9.

Beaver of the game goes to Tanner. Tanner went 3-3 with 2 doubles, a triple and a sac fly. He had 7 total RBI to show for those at bats.

Sitting around after the game we found out that some of the crowd/fans/hecklers were commenting about the way the number "00" looks on the back of Keith's jersey. I believe the quote was something to the effect of "that's what they would call prison tits". Keith, I hate to say it, but Prison Tits or PT might just be the winner.

In other Beaver news. There was a Gee sighting at Kilkennys before the game. He assured us that his retirement is only temporary. No timetable is set yet for his return. Also, as this season is winding down, we are looking into possible venues for summer/fall ball. The leader so far is Fenton on Wednesday nights. Stay tuned.

Next games are July 8 at 6pm & 7pm.