batteh blog-o-rama

Nice work in a DH split this evening (12-4, 13-25?). The bats were solid all night long and the first game was pretty much flawless in the field. In the second game, they just hit a ton. Nothing much you can do about that. Some highlights: Chris W. throwing a guy out at 3rd and making several nice running catches, Tony working his magic at 2nd base including catching a ball I threw at his ankles from about 5 feet away and nearly turning several DPs, and Jon L. fielding some hard liners.

Here are this week’s points as best I can remember- feel free to self-assess as needed. As always feel free to comment, correct, add, etc. Also, it looks like we have an early game next week so I propose Ben bring some nice beverages. Ben, OK with you?

Ben W. (7) [there were two walks but I propose we forget about them if Ben brings beverages next week]
Ron (6.5)
John B. (4.5)
Jon L. (4.5) [+1 for ground ball in the first game (self-assessed)]
Matt (4.5)
Charlie (2) [+1 for failing to score run from 3rd]
Chris W. (1.5) [-0.5 for throwing runner out at 3rd]
Chaz (0.5)
Dan W. (0.5) [+1 for grounding into DP]
Todd (0)
Jesse (0) [+1 for not finding the bag (self-assessed)]
Pete (-0.5)
Tony (-1)

Good: We scored 18 runs.
Bad: They scored 23 runs.

Good: We kept coming back after they had big innings.
Bad: They had several big innings.

Good: Jesse was hitting BBs, including one ball off an OF in LC. All around there was lots of good hitting.
Bad: I twice made the 3rd out of the inning with runners on base and Jesse up next. Doh!!

Good: Extra innings are free softball.
Bad: It seemed like we had this game in regulation.

Tough loss this week but we’ll be back at it in two weeks. As for this week’s points, I’ve entered the easy ones but I hope others will self-assess as needed. As always feel free to comment, correct, add, etc.

Ben W. (7) [+1 for OF ground ball]
Ron (6.5)
John B. (4.5)
Jon L. (3.5) [-0.5 for awesome start to 5-4-3 DP]
Matt (4.5) [+1 for grounding into DP]
Chris W. (2)
Charlie (1)
Chaz (0.5) [-0.5 for awesome turn on 5-4-3 DP, +1 self-assessed in comments]
Todd (0)
Dan W. (-0.5)
Pete (-0.5)
Jesse (-1) [-0.5 for HR (only 1 this week?)]
Tony (-1) [+1 self-assessed in comments]

Great win this week against the Roys. Final score 11-6. Jesse led the offense with 2 HRs and lots of guys filled the bases in front of him. Gloves were solid too- Jon L. made some nice plays at 3B, Jesse had some good stretched at first, and Tony made a great turn on a 6-4-3 DP. For anyone struggling with the bat, I suggest new batting gloves as the nanotubes apparently don’t slump.

Here are this week’s points. As always feel free to comment, correct, add, etc.

Ron (6.5)
Ben W. (6)
John B. (4.5) [+1 for booted grounder in 1st, -0.5 for 6-4-3 DP]
Jon L. (4)
Matt (3.5)
Chris W. (2) [+2 for K]
Charlie (1) [-1 for 2 Ks]
Todd (0)
Chaz (0)
Dan W. (-0.5) [-0.5 for great diving catch]
Jesse (-0.5) [-1 for 2 HRs (should we limit Jesse so he doesn’t go negative?)]
Pete (-0.5)
Tony (-2) [-0.5 for 6-4-3 DP]

Short blog posts this year due to time constraints (guest bloggers are always welcome). Tough loss this week in our first action- we gave up big innings in the first and last innings so the final score was not really indicative of the game throughout. I certainly felt rusty and hope to shake my new “Rally Killer” moniker. I’m blaming it on the old batting gloves which apparently have no more hits in them. I’ll bust out the new ones next week.

Here is the point update based on last year’s final tally. As always feel free to comment, correct, add, etc.

Ron (6.5)
Ben W. (6) [+1 for getting thrown out at 3rd]
John B. (4) [+1 for failing to score runner from third, i.e. repetitive rally killing]
Jon L. (4)
Matt (3.5)
Jesse (0.5) [-0.5 for HR (did we ever agree on a modified HR rule for Jesse?)]
Dan W. (0)
Todd (0)
Charlie (2) [+1 for walk, +1 for HR]
Chaz (0)
Chris W. (0)
Pete (-0.5)
Tony (-1.5)

The GSHAS post-season gathering at Leopold Bros. was a big success. We celebrated the end of another fine year of softball and also gave Chris D. a big send off. Lots of folks ponied up cold hard cash to get rid of some points and there was much rejoicing!! Here are a few things we learned:

• football traffic doesn’t clear out by 7:30 for a 3:30 football game (my bad) and people stuck in it drive like idiots
• lots of folks go to Leopold Bros. either to watch the football game or hang out until the traffic clears
• bringing in 5 trophies and lining them up in the window gets you some strange glances by passers by on the street and, while impressive to your waitress, cannot be traded with the establishment for free beverages
• Todd is a swell guy for coming out to celebrate with us and watching the Sox beat the Rockies again on a relatively small TV without much sound (though that is a blessing in disguise with Tim McCarver doing the game)
• though lots of folks were dressed in Halloween costumes, Rocky Balboa was the best (in my opinion)
• officers in uniform quickly draw the undivided attention of the local establishment owners (thanks to Chris W. for stopping by)

To commemorate Chris D’s time as a GSHAS, we presented him with a framed version of his final game’s scoresheet with his last K clearly written in large red ink. We also grabbed some photos from some of the past years and glued them, largely unmanipulated (save for the doctored photo of Jon L. looking longingly at Chris D.’s goofy hitting stance), on the mat where we all wrote some good luck wishes. For those of you who couldn’t make it, there are some pictures from the festivities in the link below (check out the softball set for more photos from past events). Also, feel free to use the comments on this post to roast Chris D. one last time as I’m sure it will make him feel loved.

2007 GSHAS Photo Gallery

Softball Set

Here are the final points from this season which we’ll carry over to next. Looks like we’ve got a solid start on next years post-game beverages.

Ron (6.5) [-2 for point payoff]
Ben W. (5)
Jon L. (4)
Matt (3.5)
John B. (3)
Jesse (1)
Dan W. (0)
Todd (0)
Charlie (0) [-7 for point payoff]
Chaz (0) [-7 for point payoff]
Chris W. (0) [-3.5 for point payoff]
Chris D. (0) [-5 for final team debt]
Pete (-0.5)
Tony (-1.5)

Great job this season!! It is now time to officially start counting down the days until spring training next year.

Tremendous work last night in a triple header sweep to round out the fall season. Having enjoyed warm weather throughout the season, we finally got the fall weather that was coming to us as we played three games in the cold and wet. Despite the weather, morale was sky high, and the bats were in fine form as we won 16-6, 19-9, and 26-8. As if the balls weren’t juicy enough, the cold weather made them even harder which in combination with the pock marked IF led to some wicked hops and slightly-frightened IFs. Jesse led the hitting onslaught with 4 HRs, Matt was a machine hitting line drives to LF, Chaz had a ton of hits up the middle and to the right side, Ron burned their LF by hitting a ball over him to the wall, Chris D. and Jesse played pepper with the OF wall on back to back ABs (oh and Chris D. also played pepper with the pitcher who absorbed two hard shots up the middle), Todd hit the ball hard and then outran it multiple times, Jon L. returned to hit leadoff and sparked a bunch of rallies, and Charlie worked both lines like a wily veteran (even hitting 3B once). The gloves were equally solid- Chris D. made a nice sliding catch on a foul fly and then threw the ball back in from his knees, Charlie stabbed some hard hits up the middle after the other team started hitting there (you can blame Chris D. for that one), Chaz made several nice plays on hard grounders to second (including nearly completing a 3-4-1 putout at 1B) and turned a 4U-3 DP, Matt and Chris W. kept their baserunners at bay with nice catching work, and Todd made an outstanding run and full-extension diving catch in deep CF to end the second game. In a dramatic final at bat with GSHAS, Chris D stepped to the plate in the last inning of the final game, took three huge swings and…struck out (fouled out). Outstanding work tonight and all fall season. Also, thanks to our intrepid fan Tershia who decided to come out and cheer for us on the coldest, most miserable night of the fall season- hard core!! With our 8-2 record we finished second in the league and received another huge, garish trophy (I think the eagle has landed again). Jon L. feigned taking it but surreptitiously slipped it into Chaz’s car before he left. Rumor has it that Chaz will let his student’s touch it for good luck on the MEAP and that it will re-emerge for the end of the year team outing (see below).

Since it was the last game of the year and Chris D’s last game with us, I decided to go the extra mile and post some stats. Here are the stats from last night’s games. Curiously, there was no score keeping in the final inning when Chris D recorded his K but I tried to add some stuff by memory and know I didn’t get everything right. So, for what it’s worth here are the batting averages, slugging percentages, runs scored (divided by 10), and total bases (divided by 20). Click on the picture to get a larger version. Note that Jesse’s slugging percentage was off the chart (literally) as I scaled it for readability but it is noted. In case anyone else wants to play around, here are links to the Excel sheet and the raw score sheets (for posterity). Feel free to analyze via the comments.

Here are the final points for the season. I tried taking notes but they were coming fast and furious. Please help me out with additions, modifications, etc. via the comments.

Ron (8.5) [+2 for failing to score runner from 3rd with less than 2 outs]
Charlie (7) [+2 for K, -0.5 for striking out a guy]
Chaz (7) [+1 for wild throw last week (self-assessed), -0.5 for 4U-3 DP]
Chris D. (5) [+2 for K, +1 special assessment for leaving the team]
Ben W. (5)
Jon L. (4)
Chris W. (3.5) [+1 for failing to score runner from 3rd with less than 2 outs]
Matt (3.5) [+2 for failing to score runner from 3rd with less than 2 outs]
John B. (3) [+2 for two errors (at least), +1 for failing to score runner from 3rd with less than 2 outs, -0.5 for LF catch]
Jesse (1) [-2 for 4 HRs (we gotta change this rule for Jesse- maybe every hit that isn’t a HR should accumulate a fraction of a point)]
Dan W. (0)
Todd (0) [+1 for running into out at 3rd, -0.5 for tremendous diving catch in CF]
Pete (-0.5)
Tony (-1.5)

As per the GSHAS bylaws, we’ll be having another post-season get together. This will also serve as the send off for Chris D as he is leaving us for the great heartland (apparently on a Vespa). So, hopefully everyone can come out and we’ll have a good turnout. Leopold Bros on Sat. evening seemed to work well for most people. I’ve proposed Sat. Oct. 27th (home game versus Minnesota) in the poll below so please respond as to your availability (if not that week, we’ll probably try Nov. 10). Also, since we’ve got quite a bit of point accumulation over the fall session, we’ll take this opportunity for some point relief. I’ll start a tab at Leopold Bros, we’ll all order off it, and then whomever wants to get rid of some points can throw in some cash towards the bill (we’ll figure out how to divide up the rest of the bill- I’m sure it won’t be a problem given the number of economists and engineers on the team). I propose $3 per point. Chris D will be required to get back to 0 but everyone else can buy as many points as they want with the rest carrying over to next summer. Also, I propose -0.5 point relief for the person that comes up with a “Jesse Rule” that is fair regarding HRs and points. As always, feel free to comment if you have any suggestions on the get together and point mitigation.

Excellent effort in the 30th Jeremy Rose Tournament this weekend. BGBG made it to the semifinals finishing with a 3-2 record with both losses to the eventual champion Grand Falloon. Dani and Alicia made it back from sunny FL to play in the tournament and it was wonderful to have them back (although they could have left the 90 weather back home). The BGBG squad was solid all weekend. The OF made some tremendous plays with Chris D., Chris W., and Matt making diving catches, Chris D. throwing out several runners at 3B, and Alicia, Kathy, and Megan making some fine running catches. There were some exciting IF plays as well- Michelle did great work around 2B (and Chris D. managed not to throw any balls at her ankle), Jon L. in a patented veteran move faked a throw across the diamond and got a runner out at 2B and also turned a 5U-3 DP, and Dani and Liz did a great job at 1B including nearly getting 3 DPs on throws across the diamond and then home to both Shanthi and Kathy. Brian, in an effort to match leg bruises with Liz, took a hard shot in the shin but managed to shake it off and pitch well in combination with Charlie (including a shutout on Saturday). Solid work!! Jon L. joined the list of walking wounded (Dani and Liz had two good legs between them) on Sunday when he got clocked in the head and semi-concussed by the baserunner when trying to turn a DP. The bats were pretty good too- Matt C. was a line drive machine and the Chris’s repeatedly tested the OFs deep. Jon L. was smoking the ball as was Brian who drove in the game winning run in our last ups in a tie game (I was 5-5 in coin flips). Everyone contributed with the bats up and down the lineup- Shanthi had a big hit to keep a rally going, Dani had some great hits up the middle and down the RF line, and Alicia, Liz, Kathy, Michelle, and Megan all started and sustained rallies. Excellent effort both in the final results and the way in which we played!!

Hope everyone had as much fun playing as we did!! As Liz said yesterday, we really love playing on this team and can’t imagine playing on any other. We truly enjoy the spirit of the Jeremy Rose tournament (softball, fun, food and drink) and feel like our team embodies it (as do most of the others). Hopefully everyone can make it back next year for another run. Thanks to everyone for playing (especially those who made a tremendous effort to do so)!! Also thanks to our intrepid fans who braved heat autumn heat wave to cheer us on- Anne, Ella, and William, the Wooley family, Jennifer, and Chaz who brought us some nice pita wrap sandwiches for lunch. I uploaded the few snapshots to our 2007 BGBG photo gallery. As always, feel free to comment.

Great effort last night in a solid DH sweep!! I can’t recall the exact scores but I think it was 15-2 and then 13-7. The bats and gloves were in fine form. Jesse and Chris W, both went deep (including a Ruthian-like called shot from Chris W.), Matt and Chaz were zinging line drives all over the field, and Todd was outrunning balls like a madman. The gloves were equally solid- Charlie snared a line drive up the middle and turned it into a DP, Tony made a great turn on a 6-4-3 DP and had a great feed on a 4-6-3 twin killing, Chaz had about 234 balls hit to him at 3B and made some snazzy pickups and assists, Chris D. threw a guy out from LF that made a wide turn and lazy return to 2B, and Pete in RF ended the first game by throwing a guy out trying to go from 1B to 3B. Excellent effort and a nice way to forget about the games from 2 weeks ago.

Not too many points to assess this week (only Charlie? no one else got a point?) but it looks like we’ll have folks lined up for the start of the summer season. As always, feel free to comment on corrections, additions, etc.

Chaz (6.5)
Ron (6.5)
Charlie (5.5) [+1 for failing to score runner from 3rd with less than 2 outs, -0.5 for 1U-3 DP]
Ben W. (5)
Jon L. (4)
Jesse (3) [-0.5 for HR]
Chris W. (2.5) [-0.5 for HR, -0.5 for called shot (see vote)]
Chris D. (2) [-0.5 for OF assist]
Matt (1.5)
John B. (0.5) [-1 for 6-4-3 and 4-6-3 DPs]
Dan W. (0)
Todd (-0.5)
Pete (-0.5) [-0.5 for OF assist]
Tony (-1.5) [-1 for 6-4-3 and 4-6-3 DPs]

Thanks to Tony for buying a round for the intrepid four that celebrated the win at Corner Brewery. Next week is the last so I’d propose one last outing to toast the summer/fall.

I’m sorry to have missed the games on Wednesday due to my car incident (I’ll fill you in on the details in person but I am doing fine after what was a pretty scary accident that could have been far worse). Charlie’s summary is below- sounds like a pretty awful couple of games against some classless competition. Feel free to comment on anything Charlie left out as I’m anxious to hear the details.

We lost both games tonight. The first was 19-7 5-inning mercy loss, and a pretty unpleasant experience. Our opponents had several guys with very little class. They made a big fuss and asked the home plate umpire for help in the top half of the first, when they thought Chaz’s throw had pulled Jesse off the bag. Stuff like yelling out the wrong base from the bench when we’re on the field, “Country” (remember him from a few falls ago) yelling from 2B as I delivered a 3-0 pitch, etc. (Unfortunately, I didn’t expect it and the pitch was ball 4). We had same umpire that we had in the game that Brian pitched — the guy who thinks the rim is 13 feet in the air, so I was throwing BP. One small highlight was that I curved a 2-strike pitch over the inside corner and the umpire rung up their #3 hitter. That was the second out, and they went on to score 7 with two outs, so it was a very small highlight.

Second game was, well, weird. After three innings we trailed 12-4. In the top of the fourth, again a called strike on a curve that dropped over the inside corner. Same batter, we think. This time it was only strike 2. He grounded a 2-strike pitch lamely to Jesse, and then swore. He said he was talking to himself, but he was close enough that the umpire tossed him. Of course he complained about that call. The umpire then said that, since they had no one to replace him, they lost by forfeit. They were batting 11, so they had 10 left — I thought the ump got the rule wrong, but fortunately this is a scenario I’ve never had to worry about. The other team complained, Ed took out the rulebook, and no one could find a rule justifying a forfeit. This must have taken at least 10 minutes. Ed said we should resume play. A couple of our guys said “I’m outta here”, so we technically lost by forfeit. But the “forfeit” just forestalled another mercy loss.

I had Pete, ChrisD, Jesse, and ChrisW with three hits. If I remember right, both Chris D and Chris W nearly hit home runs. Despite the fact that they went with five infielders, the rest of us had trouble all night hitting the gaps.

I will definitely be buying beer — two walks (but one very enjoyable called strikeout), a gross throwing error, and I think 6 home runs allowed. Country hit three, but the guys around him also hit well enough that it wouldn’t have served any purpose to walk him. I will send out an email asking guys to report their own points. I don’t think there were many — the Polish Buffalos just hit a boat load of line drives. Our guys handled the whole thing just as you’d expect them to. Two of the guys on the other team were from Roundtree - Winnie and Billy. They’re good guys.

Here are the self-assessed points for this week- feel free to comment on any additions, deletions, etc.:

Chaz (6.5) [+1 for swinging at illegal pitch and getting out, +1 for failing to score runner from 3rd w/ less than two outs]
Ron (6.5)
Charlie (5) [+4 for walks, error, HRs, -0.5 for K, -0.5 for knowing the rules]
Ben W. (5)
Jon L. (4)
Jesse (3.5) [+2 for error and throwing error (self-assessed at team meeting)]
Chris W. (3.5) [+1 for passed ball at catcher (see comment)]
Chris D. (2.5)
Matt (1.5)
John B. (1.5) [+1 for 12 hours notice for missing the games]
Dan W. (0)
Todd (-0.5)
Tony (-0.5)

After last week, I think a “mandatory” team meeting is in order. Since we are off and several people are in the beverage zone, let’s try and get together on Wed. Here is this week’s poll regarding our team meeting. Feel free to leave a comment on location/time preference, etc.

Great effort in a 16-4 win last night!! Actually the real score was 18-4 but we decided (after they complained and wanted to fight Chaz) to take two runs off the board so that we could bat again in the bottom of the 6th and mercy them again. Serves ‘em right for being a bit annoying all night (I love them yelling “look what I found” on Tony’s play at 2B where he got in front of a hard hit grounder, especially ironic given the number of IF errors they made)!! The bats were solid up and down- Todd led off with some nice hits and managed to outrun the ball several times to turn singles into doubles, Chris D. hit one of the base of the wall in LF, Jesse was stinging line drives to LF, and Chris W. had several nice hits and hobbled around the bases (though the throws from catcher back to the pitcher need a bit of work). The gloves were excellent as usual- we turned a 6-4-3 DP with Tony making quick work around the bag, Charlie started a 1-6-3 DP, Tony snagged a hard grounder in between first and second to end an inning, Todd made a nice running catch in the first inning on a hard hit ball to RC, Jesse made a nice pick and throw from 1B to force a runner at second on a hard grounder, and Chris D. nearly threw out a guy at 2B who had made a wide turn. Excellent work!! Post game, the IF (Chaz, Tony, and I) had a strong showing at the Corner Brewery- must be the wicked ground balls!! It was my first time there and we enjoyed some fine beverages about 5 minutes away from the field (thanks to Chaz for buying the first round).

Not too many points to assess this week (Ben, your point last week for not scoring a runner from 3rd with less than 2 outs was confirmed by others). Here are the ones I can remember- feel free to comment to edit, correct, add, etc. Also, check out the poll for a team referendum on a points rule. Regarding beverages for the fall, I don’t get the sense that hanging around the parking lot at the fields is a good idea. Instead, I suggest that we head to Corner Brewery for postgame drinks where we can work out a system for paying team debts. Since we’ve got a late DH next week, perhaps we’ll plan on Oct. 3rd (early DH)? Let me know if you think you can make it. If we run out of weeks or people can’t make it, we’ll simply carry forward points to the summer (except for Chris D.- we’ll make him pay up before he leaves).

Ron (6.5) [+2 for grounding into 2 5U-3 DPs]
Ben W. (5)
Chaz (4.5)
Jon L. (4)
Chris W. (2.5)
Chris D. (2.5)
Matt (1.5)
Jesse (1.5)
Charlie (2) [+1 for not scoring runner from 3rd w/ less than 2 outs, -0.5 for 1-6-3 DP]
John B. (0.5) [+1 for booted grounder, -1 for 1-6-3 and 6-4-3 DPs]
Dan W. (0)
Todd (-0.5) [-0.5 for outrunning the ball multiple times to turn singles into doubles]
Tony (-0.5) [-0.5 for 6-4-3 DP]

Here is this week’s poll.

The fall league started last week with…a forfeit. So, not much to write about the first game. This evening we swept a DH by the scores of 14-7 and 34-2 (yup, not a typo- that was the score). Obviously the bats were going strong this evening- Pete made a triumphant return to GSHAS and provided a spark at the top of the lineup (and when he wasn’t getting hits he was hitting Ben in the “privates” with a foul liner down the third base line), Chris W. hit one deep in the LF corner, Chris D. had a grand slam to RC and also nearly killed the third baseman with some line drive ropes, everyone had lots of hits up and down the roster. Though the score was lopsided, I think we made a good effort not to show them up- they just couldn’t make plays. We even had some baserunning blunders that didn’t result in outs. The gloves were pretty solid too- Tony made a great turn on a 6-4-3 DP, Brian started a 1-6-3 DP, Jason made several fine picks on low throws to get outs and save me points (thanks!!), Chaz made a fine play on a slow roller that he charged and fired to first to end the game, and Chris W. made some fine running catches including nearly throwing a guy out at home. Solid work all around and a great way to start the fall season!!

Even though we were excellent, there were still some points to assess. I managed to boot several balls and, since we were so good with the bats, lots of folks failed to score runners from third. Here are the ones I can remember- feel free to comment to edit, correct, add, etc.

Ben W. (5) [+1 for failing to score runner from third with less than 2 outs]
Ron (4.5)
Chaz (4.5) [+1 for failing to score runner from third with less than 2 outs]
Jon L. (4)
Chris W. (2.5)
Matt (1.5)
Jesse (1.5)
Charlie (1.5)
Chris D. (2.5) [+1 for not scoring runner from 3rd w/ less than 2 outs (tough luck on the liner to 3B), +1 for wild throw home, -0.5 for grand slam]
John B. (0.5) [+2 for booted grounders, -1 for 2 DPs]
Tony (0) [-0.5 for 4-6-3 DP]
Todd (0)
Dan W. (0)

Here are this week’s polls.

Thanks to Jon for hosting the BGBG/GSHAS Postseason BBQ on Saturday. The weather looked gloomy in the morning but cleared nicely for a wonderful afternoon of eating, drinking, and socializing. Jon and Todd did a stellar job manning the grill, and Jon cleaned up the remnants from the previous night’s storms so that we could swim in the pool. The water was a bit chilly but many intrepid souls braved the cold. A competitive game of pool basketball “HORSE” left Jon the last one standing (home pool advantage), but Chaz stole the show with his patented “go under water in the deep end, push off the bottom, come up and shoot the ball from 20 feet out with your eyes closed” shot. Not only was this shot completely ridiculous but Chaz made it 3 times in a row!! Luckily Will was manning the outside of the pool to help us collect the many shots that were missed (badly).

Thanks to everyone who attended and brought yummy food to share!! In case anyone was wondering, the cake was supposed to read “Congratulations GSHAS and BGBG” instead of simply “BG BG” (no slight intended to GSHAS- even though BGBG won both the regular season and tournament championships in an undefeated season, that isn’t a requirement to get on the cake). For some pictures from the event, check out the updated BGBG 2007 Photo Gallery. As always, feel free to comment.

Congratulations to both teams on wonderful summer seasons. As far as I’m concerned, there is no better group of softball teammates than those on these two teams, current and past. Thanks for carrying on the tradition!! Special thanks to Charlie and Liz for handling the managerial tasks!! GSHAS will be in action in the fall league starting this week while BGBG is off until the Jeremy Rose Tournament Oct. 6-7. We’ll try and plan another gathering following the fall season.

The 2nd annual Madden Tournament was held on Saturday. Tony, Jon L., Chaz, and I all showcased our Madden skills (or lack thereof) and Tony was crowned Madden champion (despite being handicapped by the differences between the PS2 and Xbox controls)!! Tony brought a solid deep passing attack that proved too much for my West Coast offense (which is less an attack and more an attempt not to get passes picked off). Tony’s only weakness was in special teams as he seemed susceptible to having kicks returned for TDs (maybe try kicking it out of bounds like me?). Chaz garnered the rookie of the year award in his first ever attempt at playing Madden (despite getting screwed on some questionable calls in his first game against Jon L.)- I was certainly impressed. Following the individual matchups, the Jo(h)ns took on Tony/Chaz in two highly-contested games pitting the Patriots against the Colts. The Jo(h)ns managed to win the first game in a high-scoring affair (I think Tony scored two TDs in less than 2 minutes). The quick-strike Colts were unstoppable as Tony/Chaz kept hitting deep passes with Reggie Wayne (175 yds, 3 TDs) and Anthony Gonzalez (electronic AG was ridiculous), but the Patriots managed a couple of nice scoring drives balancing the run and pass, including a RB screen that went the distance along with some deep throws to Randy Moss. In the grudge match the defenses caught up big time and the game was close throughout. Tied 7-7 going into the fourth quarter, Chaz guided his Colts methodically down the field, eating up nearly the entire quarter before kicking the clutch game-winning field goal with 6 seconds left. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!!

Thanks to everyone who played. I’d definitely be up for doing it again (I think we’ve got Chaz hooked).

Good effort in the interleague tournament this weekend. We simply ran into some teams that were hitting the ball better than we did. The first game was a 12-8 loss to the Appalachian State Mountaineers (the Th. night league winner) and then a 14-2 loss to Fenders in the second. We were definitely in the first game right until the end but just couldn’t scrape together enough hits. I was surprised by the lopsided score in the second game- I actually thought it was much closer than that. Fenders had a couple of big innings- everything they hit seemed to drop (both the shots and the flares) while all of our line drives were caught. Overall the bats weren’t bad- Todd and Jon L. had a bunch of hits at the top of the lineup while the middle of our order got us going in the first game (Matt, Chaz, Danny, Tony, etc.). We hit into some bad luck- Chris W. hit a screaming liner at 3B with the bases loaded and no one out that was caught, Matt also was robbed of a hit on a liner to 3B. We just couldn’t quite string enough hits together, especially in the second game (I can’t remember the last time we had bases loaded no outs and didn’t score). The gloves were pretty much outstanding all day- our OF got lots of work as these teams didn’t hit many IF grounders. Tony was a DP machine and had a hand in all 4 DPs- first stabbing a line drive in the hole between first and second and then tossing to Chaz who made a nice pick to double the runner off first, then a 6-4-3 followed by a 4-6-3 and then another 6-4-3 twin killing. Jon L made a nice tag at 3B on an OF assist, and Chaz and Tony nearly made a great play on a short pop up the 1B line that Chaz fielded on a hop and then fired to Tony who was covering the bag (the ump called the ball foul though it seemed fair to those who had a good view). Though it would have been nice to make a little tournament run, it was good to get out there again and play (FYI- in the next game, Fenders took revenge on the Navigators and advanced to the finals against the Mountaineers. Word is they lost in the first game 6-4). Thanks to all for a great season- I had a blast playing with everyone!!

Charlie provided the fine beverages which we enjoyed after the game. It was a hot one and the beverages were just right!! As best I can remember, here are the updated points- I didn’t invoke the team point for only scoring 2 runs in the last game- let me know what you think via the comments and perhaps we can reconsider. As always, let me know if I missed anything or got something wrong.

Ron (4.5) [+1 for grounding into DP]
Ben W. (4)
Jon L. (4) [+1 for grounding into DP]
Chaz (3.5) [-0.5 for assist on DP]
Chris W. (2.5) [+1 for not scoring runner from 3rd w/ less than 2 outs (tough luck on the liner to 3B)]
Matt (1.5)
Jesse (1.5)
Charlie (1.5) [+1 for walk, -5 for beverages]
Chris D. (1)
Tony (0.5) [-2 for 4 DPs, no points for tripping over orange bag running to first?]
Todd (0)
Dan W. (0)
John B. (-0.5) [+1 for booted grounder, -1.5 for 3 DPs]

Here is the last poll for the summer season.

A couple of post season items:
• Don’t forget about our two upcoming events- the Madden party on Aug. 18th and the post-season BBQ on Aug. 25th. You should have received evites for both events- please respond so that we can get an accurate attendee count. Hope to see you there.
• As you know, our fall league has collapsed. We are currently looking into a new one- the most likely candidate is Tues. night in Ypsi. Please respond to Charlie regarding your availability.

Tremendous work tonight in winning the intraleague tournament and completing a perfect 12-0 season. It was a tough pair of games as our bats were a bit cold though we hit when we needed it. We really started slow against the Puppies as they jumped on us early taking a 4-0 lead. We chipped away at the lead and then, down 5-2, had a big 7 run bottom of the 6th to take a 9-5 lead that held. Clutch hitting and solid defense really saved us in both games. The second game was also a tough one against the blue Cubs team. We eventually won 11-5 though they also jumped on us early before our bats warmed up. We got a couple of runs and then exploded in the mid innings. There were so many great plays throughout the game- both with the bats and the gloves. Amy had several key hits, Megan and Cara kept hitting the ball up the middle, Liz smoked a ball down the third base line, Matt got hits to both the right and left side, Ron had his usual line drive shots, Charlie worked both lines, and Jon L had a nice hit in the RC gap. The middle and bottom of the order started our rallies throughout the night until the top finally broke through- that is certainly a way to have a big inning. Tremendous work!! The gloves were outstanding- perhaps some of the best defense we’ve played all year. Jon L. made a nice pick on a short hop, Liz fielded a ton of balls at second base, nearly made a sweet turn on a potential DP, and had a strong cutoff throw to hold a runner at third, Charlie stabbed a hard line drive up the middle, Megan ran down everything in RF as did Matt in RC (including playing through cramps in both calves), all the OFers made strong throws to keep runners in check, and Cara was making all the plays at first including getting beat up on throws from the IFers, making a tag on a wild throw from me (and getting stepped on in the ankle by the runner), fielding several hot shot grounders, and catching several line drives (not to mention the ones that were just off her glove). Wow- the two teams really tried to work the right side to no avail.

Wonderful work both tonight and all season long. Congrats on a great season!! Thanks to our superfan Tershia for coming out to support us!! Following the game we distributed the spoils of our labor- two sets of T-shirts (regular season and tourney champs) plus we got two trophies that will need to be distributed accordingly. Those that were there got their shirts and we’ve got others for our subs and recently-relocated teammates. Check out the updated BGBG 2007 flickr gallery for some photos of our spoils.

Now that the season has come to an end, we look forward to the Jeremy Rose tournament on Oct. 6-7. Hopefully everyone can make it. Also, we were thinking that it would be fun to have a few post-season outings- perhaps both a dinner/drinks outing (maybe on a Tuesday or Friday) and then Jon volunteered to host a pool party for us out in Albion. Let’s try and schedule the pool party first. Please post a comment with your availability on Sat. Aug. 11th and 25th. I’ll cross check with Jon and we’ll finalize a date and send it out to everyone officially.

GSHAS took the intraleague tournament last night with wins over Triple Play (13-5) and a comeback win against Ten Guys Named Roy (10-8). Both games were extremely well-played with perhaps some of the best defense we’ve played all season. We hit a ton in the first game and then had a nice comeback in the second game after being down 4-0 following the top of the 1st. The bats were solid- Jesse managed to hit one of the mush balls out for a HR, Jon L. hit into bad luck as our opponents turned in some all star plays, Chris W. had a ground rule double under the fence, and we really wore out the holes in the IF with well placed hits (Matt, Danny, etc.). Going into the bottom of the 6th against Roys, the game was tied 8-8. With one out, Todd got a hit and was forced at second on a hard hit grounder by Matt B. Then the big two out hits started. Tony got a hit to put runners at first and second. Danny then drove in the winning run with a liner over second base. Charlie continued the two-out rally with another hit to give us our final two run cushion. Our gloves game up big in the top of the 7th as we nearly turned a 4-6-3 DP (the runner at first was clearly out and was actually head back to the bench) but with runners on 2nd and 3rd, Tony made a sweet diving play to get an out at first (I thought the guy was safe but that makes up for the flown DP call). Also, thanks to everyone for welcoming Matt B. as a visiting member of GSHAS!!

The defense was truly outstanding- Charlie snagged a hard liner up the middle, Jesse made a nice stop of a hard ground ball down the line and then threw to Charlie covering, Jon L. made a sweet play on a hard hit grounder with Jesse making a nice pick at first in addition to starting a 5-4-3 DP (and nearly another one), Tony made some super quick turns at second base on the 5-4-3 plays, made some excellent stabs on line drives up the middle, and also made a tremendous diving play on his glove side and scrambled to his feet to get the last out of the game at first. The OF defense was stellar as well- Matt C. made some nice running catches as did Matt B. who ran a long way for a few balls, including one that he caught in shallow RF and then doubled up a guy at first. Wow- nice work with the leather!!

With the win last night, we’ll be in the interleague tournament on Sunday Aug. 5th. I know we are missing a bunch of guys, but we’ll cobble something together and make a run at it. Also, for those who won’t make it, excellent work in the summer season and we’ll be back at it in the fall. One last note- Tony has volunteered to host the post-season get together at their new place. Tentatively, we are looking at Aug. 18th so save the date (even better, leave a comment as to your availability on that date)- details will be forthcoming.

Here are this week’s points- as always, feel free to correct/comment. It seemed like there should be more assessments, but you’ll have to help me out. Looks like the HRs put Charlie over the top so he’ll will be providing beverages for us following the interleague tournament.

Charlie (5.5) [+1 for HRs (we’ll ignore the walk as I think it was a smart play}]
Chaz (4)
Ben W. (4)
Ron (3.5)
Jon L. (3) [-0.5 for 5-4-3 DP, +1 for grounding into DP]
Tony (2.5) [-1 for 5-4-3 DP and for awesome catch on line drives, diving in the hole, etc.]
Jesse (1.5) [-0.5 for HR]
Chris W. (1.5)
Matt (1.5)
Chris D. (1)
John B. (0)
Todd (0)
Dan W. (0)

There are two polls for this week.

Tough luck in a 12-11 loss to the Cubs team this evening. It was a strange, back and forth affair- the Cubs definitely found their up the middle swings and got a ton of hits that way. They took a 4-0 lead, Jesse made it 4-2 with a HR, then it was 6-2 before our 7 run inning made it 9-6. It was truly a strange game as we had some baserunning miscues and were on the short end of a rule misinterpretation on the play where Tony and Chaz were both near 3rd, Tony retreated, got in a rundown between second and third and was tagged out while Chaz scored. The umpire ruled that as soon as two runners occupy the same base, the second runner is out and the play dead. All of us thought that was incorrect and verified it after the game. Cost us a run in a bit of a frustrating day. But there were some highlights with the gloves and the bats. Chaz made a nice play at 3rd on a ball that hopped up on him (and had a nasty bruise on his chest to show for it), Todd made a strong throw home that led to a rundown between 2nd and 3rd that was too hard to score (Todd was involved and I think made the tag out), Matthew made a strong throw from RF for a 10-6 force out at second base, and Tony made a great snag on a hard line drive. The bats were pretty good too- Jesse had 2 HRs including a monster second shot that was way gone in a hurry, Todd legged out a ground ball to 2B in an incredible show of speed, Matthew had a nice liner up the middle that cashed a few runs, and Chris D. had several shots down the 3B line (including one that nearly hit Matt C). I sure wish I had given Chris and Jesse another shot in the top of the 7th. Oh well. Thanks to everyone for welcoming little brother (figuratively) for a guest spot with the GSHAS. In a semi-ironic turn of events, we apparently received a second place trophy which I’ll be trying to pawn off on someone. That was the last game of the regular season so we’ll get ready for the intraleague playoffs next week (and there is a chance we’ll be playing the Cubs team again).

After the game, we needed some beverages as I fulfilled my obligation. It looks like no one is up next week though someone could make a preemptive beverage strike if they want so that we have something following the intraleague tournament. Here are this week’s points- as always, feel free to correct/comment.

Charlie (4.5)
Chaz (4)
Ben W. (4) [+1 for walk, +1 for not scoring run from 3rd with less than 2 outs]
Ron (3.5)
Tony (3.5) [+1 for overaggressive base running]
Jesse (2) [-1 for 2 HRs]
Jon L. (2)
Chris W. (1.5)
Matt (1.5)
Chris D. (1) [+1 for being called out at 3rd (even though you were safe and it was a makeup call]
John B. (0) [-5 for beverages]
Todd (0)
Dan W. (0)

Now for this week’s poll.

Nice work in completing an undefeated season with a 15-3 win over the Activists!! Solid in all phases of the game. The bats were clicking- Matt was a triples machine, no one wanted to pitch to Ron as he walked 3 times and Liz made them pay with several hits, and both Meghan and Meghan had nice hits as did Cara and Amy who legged out an IF single. The gloves were solid too- Cara made several nice plays at 1B on throws from all the IFers, Liz and Jon made some great plays at 3B, Jon nearly turned a DP at 2B, Charlie bare handed two balls and made the plays at 1B, Cara and Amy nearly made a nice putout at home on a 5-4-2 play, and Matt had an awesome catch running from RC to deep RF. Excellent work tonight and all season long.

Great work tonight in a DH sweep via mercy over Triple Play 18-6 and a fine 11-6 win over Cubs AC. Lots of hitting by everyone- Chaz had a walk-off single in the first game, Jesse had two HRs including a grand slam, Chris W. hit a ball to the wall, and Matt C. was his usual machine self including a nice triple that split the two LF OFs. The gloves were solid too- we had one bad inning but otherwise the plays were outstanding. Chris D. had a great sliding catch in the OF and nearly threw a guy out at home, Todd had a nice OF assist at 3B and also made a nice sliding catch, and Chaz had some nice plays at 2B. Brian and Charlie both did a nice job of keeping some good hitters off balance. Excellent work!!

There were some points assessed this week- please leave additions/edits via the comments. Thanks to Todd for the excellent beverages this week. I’m up next week so be sure to stick around after the game.

John B. (5) [+1 for misplayed line drive]
Charlie (4.5) [+1 for walk]
Chaz (4) [+2 for throw and misplay (self assessed)]
Ron (3.5)
Jesse (3) [-1 for 2 HRs]
Jon L. (3) [+1 for grounder (self assessed)]
Tony (2.5) [+1 for poor base coaching in getting Jesse thrown out at home]
Ben W. (2)
Chris W. (1.5)
Matt (1.5) [+1 for making two outs in the same inning (ironically the only ones he made all night)]
Chris D. (0) [-0.5 for sliding catch]
Todd (0) [-5 for beverages, -0.5 for OF assist]
Dan W. (0)

Now, for this week’s poll.

The post-Dani-and-Alicia era began with a nice 11-6 win over Narcoleptic Puppies. We jumped out to an early 10-1 lead but the bats went a bit cold in the middle innings. The defense was solid throughout- Liz had a great turn on a 6-4-3 DP, Cara made some nice catches and stretches at 1B, Ron tracked down a shallow fly to LF, and Charlie did a nice job keeping their big hitters off balance, including a K on their dead-pull lefty. Lots of hits up and down the lineup- Jon L. and Liz managed to hit several hard balls right at people, Amy had a great opposite field swing going and hit the ball well each time, Cara had several hits as did the Meg(h)ans. Nice work!! Thanks to Chris for coming out and keeping score.  Enjoy the off week and the 4th!!

Here is this week’s poll.