Saturday, July 31, 2010

Beaver Times 2010 - Edition IX

As the summer regular season comes to a close, the Beavers were able to avoid lightening storms this week and get in two games against the #5 team in the league, Cousin Hugo's.

With two guys out of the lineup, the bench was thin and we were missing our leadoff hitter. Time to juggle the lineup again.

Sabo tried to break the leadoff curse and started the game with a single. Gee, moved up to the #2 hole, did the same. Dupper lifted his first fly ball to the outfield for his 3rd SAC fly of the year. Tanner, BIg John and Santo all singled as well and the Beavers were up 3-0 in the first frame. In the second inning the Beavers witnessed something they had not seen all year, Sabo struck out. He claims he "has never struck out in softball". We will have to look back over the past couple of seasons to see if that is true for his Beavers career at least.

In the 3rd inning the Beavers loaded the bases again and scored only one run on a fielder's choice by Santo. The Beavs were getting plenty of chances, but just not connecting on the RBI hits needed to blow this game open. In the 4th the bottom of the lineup came up big with 2 straight singles and a walk to load the bases yet again. Sabo then singled in Belle, Gee his a SAC fly to score PT. Kid singled to load the bases for Dupper. What transpired was amazing.

Dupper hit a fly ball to left center. It was recorded as a SAC fly again (2nd of game, 4th of season to lead the team). Sabo kept running from 2nd and scored on a fielding error. Kid kept running from 1st and scored after the fielding error and subsequent throwing error. A 3-run SAC fly. The official scorers looked for ways to credit Dup with all 3 RBI for this unique feat, but alas it was just a SAC fly and a few errors. Beavers were now up 9-0.

Just like most Beaver games of late, the offense seems to go into hibernation at some point. Luckily there was a nine-run cushion this time. The Beavers did lead off the 5th with bases loaded again. With Big John on 3rd, Santo on 2nd and Rake on 1st Belle hit a grounder to 3rd. The 3rd baseman threw home to force out Big John. The catcher alertly recognized that Santo was not running, at all, to 3rd and threw back to 3rd for another force out and a double play. That pretty much killed the inning rally.

All this time Cousin Hugos was managing no runs and very few base runners. In the 6th they struck for their lone run. Beavers held onto the victory for a 9-1 win and improved their record to 9-4-2. Still biding for 2nd place overall in the standings.

Beaver of the Game goes to Kid for his 2-3 line and great baserunning to score the 3rd run on the SAC fly by Dupper.
Several Beavers had 2 hits including Sabo, Gee, Tanner, Big John, Santo.

In the second game the Beavers just rolled the lineup which has been a heated bench debate for a few weeks now. Not known to help the sagging offense, it was time to put it to the test again.

Belle and PT started off the bottom of the 1st with singles, all was looking good for a few runs...then two straight outs and Belle called out at 3rd. Inning shut down, no runs, damn 2nd game curse!

Cousin Hugos chased in 2 runs in their half of the 2nd inning and the Beavers answered with 2 hits to open the inning, then 1-2-3 after that. Again, not able to manufacture runs with runners on.

In the 3rd inning, the bats did come alive. Santo doubled and Rake singled him to 3rd. Belle doubled both of them in and PT singled in Belle. Now they were hitting when it counts! Jimmy-D continued his improved hitting and singled. Sabo walked for the 11th time this year Gee hit into a fielder's choice with PT called out at the plate. Kid then tripled in 2 runs. It was a 5-run outburst. It was the 2nd time in the last 9 games that the Beavers had scored five or more runs in the same inning. The other time was the 1st game of the DH. Things might be looking up.

PT's strong pitching and relatively good defense kept Cousin Hugo's off the board for the remainder of the game. Beavers were able to add an insurance run in the 5th inning on a string of 4 straight singles. Beavers win again 6-2. Pushing their season record to 10-4-2.

This record is good enough for 4th place in the standings and a date next week with Sportsman's Park. The Beavers are 1-1 against Sportsman's Park this year. Allowing only 8 runs total to them Winning 8-4 and Losing 4-1. It should be a good match up next week at 8pm on Field #2. Beavers should be able to take this game, we'll see if the offense can step up and take control. For the season the Beavers are averaging 10.5 runs a game. This number is greatly inflated by some early poundings over the FDPD and The Bucks. The Beavs scored 40 runs over 2 games against the FDPD and another 40 runs in 2 games over the Bucks. So, for the other 14 games the Beavers are averaging 6.3 runs a game. There needs to be HUGE improvements.

Beaver of the Game goes to PT for his 3-3 perfecto and his pitching where he allowed 2 runs in the game.
Other lines worth mentioning:
Belle 2-4, 2RBI, 2B - raising his avg to .314
Jimmy-D 2-3 - raising his avg to .349
Gee Lightening 2-3, 1run
Rake 2-3, 1run

Stats are posted to the team site. There are 3 guys hitting sub .400. I think this has a great deal to do with why the Beavers are scoring 6.3 runs a game against formidable opponents.

Fallball starts in 2 weeks in Fenton. Game times TBA.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Beaver Times 2010 - Edition VIII

It was time for a little help with the line-up. Quick on the draw was Mobilly to take his stab at the best combination of Beavers to put a victory on the board. It went a little something like this:
Sabo (3B)
Kid (SS)
Deuce (LC)
Tanner (RC)
Mobilly (P)
Big John
Dupper (LF)
Gee (1B)
Santo (RF)
Rake (2B)
Belle
Jimmy-D (C)

Immediately the peanut gallery questioned the three lefties hitting 2-3-4, but since there was no lefty on the Ivey-Selkirk roster, it didn't seem like a totally bad idea (even if Tony LaRussa wouldn't have been caught dead lining up so many lefties). Sabo fell victim to the leadoff curse immediately and was retired. Kid then followed with one of the ugliest, slowest swings of his fabled Beaver career. When he did make contact it was a slow roller to 2B - two outs. Deuce coaxed a walk and Tanner doubled him to third, but both were stranded.

The 2nd inning was equally flat. The lone hit was Dupper's single. After 2 innings Mobilly had allowed 1 run, and the Beavers had offered no support of their own. In the 3rd Ivey-Selkirk went down without a run and the Beavers started hitting. Rake led off with a single, Belle and Jimmy-D quietly flew out, then came the top of the order.

Sabo walked, Kid singled (scoring Rake), Deuce singled (scoring Sabo), Tanner singled (scoring Kid), Mobilly singled (scoring Deuce). The hitting continued in the 4th. Gee singled, Santo singled, Rake walked, Belle singled (scoring Gee), Jimmy-D became clutch again with another single (scoring Santo and Rake). Beavers score 7 runs in 2 innings. Things were looking good.

Ivey-Selkirk then started their comeback. Scoring 2 in the 5th. As the Beavers took the field in the top of the 7th Mobilly offered the ball to Gee to take over on the mound. Gee told him to finish it out. I think Gee should have listened to Mobilly. Five more runs scored and eventually Gee did come in to stop the bleeding. Beavers were down 1 going into the bottom of the 7th.

Before the game Kid had predicted a tie. It was looking all too possible.

Santo singled with one out, Rake did the same. With two outs Jimmy singled in Santo and Sabo stepped to the plate with the winning run at 2nd. Another single - breaking the tie and the leadoff curse. Beavers win 9-8.

Beaver of the game goes to Jimmy-D with a 2-3 night and 3 clutch RBI.

Impressive stat lines:
Tanner 2-3, 1 RBI, 2B (batting 4th for the first time)
Santo 2-3, 2 runs
Rake 2-2, 3 runs, 1 BB

The Beavs started off hot in the 2nd game. Scoring an early 4 runs on another new lineup, this one compliments of Gee:
Kid
Mobilly
Sabo
Tanner
Dupper
Big John
Deuce
Rake
Belle
Santo
Gee
Jimmy-D

Mobilly singled in the first and Sabo reached on an E-6, then Tanner doubled in Mobilly. Dupper, up to his old tricks, hit a Sac fly for an RBI. Big John then tried to restart the rally with a walk, Deuce reached on an E-7 on a routine play, Rake then reached on an E-6 to score Big John (or should I say, his runner, Dupper). Beavers had exposed some shoddy D and jumped out to a quick lead.

Big John was pitching game two and tried his best to give up the lead in the first. Ivey-Selkirk scored 3 of their own. The Beavers responded with 1 more in the 2nd. Santo led off with a single and Gee belted a deep drive over the left fielder's head. This is no easy feat as the OF was playing very deep all night. Gee rounded the bases and was going for the HR. The ball beat him home and to confuse the catcher Gee went into his head first dive about 12 feet shy of home. Somehow the momentum of his speed carried his slide to home plate. Unfortunately the catcher was able to get the tag down foe the 1st out of the inning. The slide looked something like this:


Ivey came back with 2 of their own. It was 5-5 going into the bottom of the 4th. Ivey then started hitting again. Scoring 4 runs, then plating another 2 in the 5th. Beavers were in a hole.

The Beavs began chipping away at the 6-run deficit in the 6th. Sabo, Tanner and Dupper all reached and scored. It was a 3 run game going into the 7th. There wasn't much quit in the Beavers on this night. They had tasted the tie and were not real happy with the taste. It was time for wins. The first two Beavers went down quickly, then Jimmy-D got his 3rd hit of the night. Kid singled Jimmy-D to 2nd. Mobilly walked. Bases were loaded, two outs, tying run on 1st, winning run at the plate.

Sabo lined a single to right center and Jimmy-D scored easily. Kid, running full steam (for him) chased Jimmy-D home and side stepped the catcher's tag and touched home.

However, the ump completely missed the call. The call that was about 5 feet in front of him. Unobstructed. He simply missed it. Kid was called out on the tag (which never happened, or even came close). Jimmy-D blew up at the ump. Clenching his fists, yelling, stomping. An all-out tantrum. Too bad umps never reverse their call, because if anyone deserved to have it reversed, it was Jimmy-D and his antics.

Beavers were left as losers. 11-9. The 10th runner wrongly called out at home and the tying run standing at 3rd. Tanner was up next and Tanner was 5-6 for the night. As we like to say. "He was due for an out".

What a shame. Definitely chalk that one up to the umpire.

Impressive stat lines:
Tanner 3-3, 2 runs, 1 RBI, 2B
Rake 2-3, 1 RBI and reached on an error
Gee 2-3, 1 RBI, 3B

Next games are the end of the regular season. 6pm against Cousin Hugos. BE THERE!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Beaver Times 2010 - Edition VII

I'm not going to lie. I have been dreading the writing of this Beaver Times Edition. While we did not lose either game in the scorebook, I feel that the Beavers were dealt two more moral losses. It has been an interesting season. One that is completely salvageable, still. But it seems that there is no spark. When I think about it, I liken this season to the Cardinals' season thus far. The Beavers are punchless offensively, especially when runners are on. Defense has been spotty this year compared to some of the previous years.

Not sure what it is going to take to snap out of this. I have tried to juggle the defense (that trick used to work without fail), nope, not this year. We have gone away from "rolling the lineup" for the second game as many players thought this was hampering our chances of scoring more in the second game. Hell, we even had a player bring wine and wine coolers to the games for us to sip on.

If you have suggestions, please send them along in the comments below or email me directly. This manager is struggling to find the key to this ignition.

So with that, I bring you a shortened version of the Beaver Times - mainly because it has been more than 10 days since these games and my memory of the night's events that are not recorded in the scorebook are hazy.

The Beavers were up against the Dogs In A Bathtub, if you don't recall what that means, click here. The Dogs had a record of 6-6, while your Beavers were 7-3.

The first inning was predictable, the Beavers allowed a run in the first then Sabo got on base and was drove in by Dupper. 1-1 after 1. The Beaves held the dogs scoreless in the 2nd and added one more run on singles by Mobilly, Rake and Belle with Mobilly scoring on a SAC fly by Santo. Santo's SAC was actually a foul ball that would have counted as a K, had the rightfielder known the situation and the rules better. He caught the ball, then was late in throwing Mobilly out. This was the first uproar by the Dogs against the ump.

The scoring really began in the 3rd when Dogs plated 4 runs. The Beavers, not to be outdone, came up ready to do some damage of their own. Sabo singled (again), Kid walked, Dupper singled in Sabo, Big John singled as well. At this point, Big John was lifted for a pinch runner (Deuce) as Big John is still suffering from a bum hammy from last week. This irritated the Dogs as they claimed it was BS that we could replace our slowest runner with our fastest. I thought it was about to get heated. Cooler heads prevailed and Rake was able to single in 2 more runs. Beavers still held onto their 1-run lead through 3. In the 5th the Dogs tied the game, only to face the top of the Beaver lineup. Sabo (again) singled, Kid singled then Big John singled as well to chase Sabo home. Two more runs in the 6th for the Dogs and one driven in by Jimmy-D brought the game to an 8-8 tie. Dogs went down quietly in the top of the 7th. It was the Beavers game to win as the top of the order was lined up. Sabo got his 4th single, Kid singled as well, Dupper was intentionally walked to get to Big John with the sacks jammed.

Big John did his best Yadier Molina imitation and grounded out to short. Since Big John has the sore hammy he was easy to double up at first. TIE 8-8.

No Beaver of the game, but let's call out some nice box score lines of the game.
Sabo 3-4 2runs
Kid 2-3
Dupper 2-3 2RBI
Rake 2-3 2RBI
Belle 2-3
Jimmy-D 2-3 1RBI

As you can see, it is more about timely hitting than it is just hitting, we were getting on base...just not prolonging the innings.

The umpire disappeared for about 15 minutes between games - this is the same guy who talks during the game on his phone via his wired head piece. Also the same guy who typically blows calls at 2nd because he is nowhere near being "in position".

After the human rain delay, we began game two. Beavers were visitors and did not start out with much. Actually, let's just skip to the scoring...in the 6th! That's right, the Beavers were once again being shut out in slow pitch, beer league softball.

In the top of the 6th, the Beavers were posting goose eggs, but still in the game. Big John was pitching and holding the Dogs to only 2 runs. Jimmy-D led off the 6th with a single (for those of you keeping track that is 3 hits in one night), Sabo followed with another single (his 5th of the night) and Gee singled as well. Unfortunately this only loaded the bases. Kid delivered 1 RBI on a SAC fly. Dupper did the same. Mobilly and Big John then both singled and the sacks were jammed again. So far, we had 5 singles, only 2 runs to show for it. Rake stepped up with a chance to take the lead and laid another egg. It was 2-2.

The Dogs were not much better as they could not score any runs and in the 7th Deuce led off with a walk. Belle then hit into a DP (that was the 2nd 7th inning DP of the night for the Beavers), Santo ended the Beavers' hopes with the 3rd out. Fortunately for the Beavers nothing happened in the bottom of the 7th either. It was another TIE, this time 2-2. UGH!

Again, no Beaver of the game as I just can't bring myself to award that on a tie.
Interesting box scores:
Sabo 2-2 1run, 1 walk
Santo 2-3
Jimmy-D 1-2

Next game is on July 14 at 8pm vs. Ivey-Selkirk. They are 4-7-1 this season. Here's a quick look at the league standings:

Golden Sombreros 10-2
Sportsman's Park 10-4
CJC Transportation 10-4
Bi-State Meat 8-4
Beavers 7-3-2
Cousin Hugo's 6-5-1
Team USA 6-6
Dogs in a Bathtub 6-6-2
Bottom of the Fifth 5-7
Ivey-Selkirk 4-7-1
The Bucks 3-11
FDPD 0-12