This year's allstar game was a pitcher's duel that ended in 1-1 tie after 9 innings. I pitched 3 innings and gave up the lone run for my team. As far as I was concerned the real story of the game was not the pitchers duel but the way we scored our run.
"Nails" is the catcher for the Mustangs. If I were to choose a nail that "Nails" most resembles I think it would be a 1" roofing nail. He's a little vertically challenged but is as tough as they come. Like most catchers, Nails is not a particularly fast runner.
Miracle #1: Nails was the lead off batter in the 7th or 8th inning. We had had also no success at all against the other team's pitchers. Maybe 2 hits up to this point. Nails hits a dribbler down the 3rd base line that is just far enough away from the pitcher and the 3rd baseman that he's able to beat it out for a hit.
Miracle #2: The catcher for the other team is G-Rock. He's one of the best over 30 catchers I've seen. Nothing gets by him and he has an accurate cannon for an arm and a quick release that is virtually suicide to run on for all but the fastest runners. There's no way Nails can steal on him - impossible. One or two pitches into the next at bat Nails takes off for second - awful jump. Maybe a missed hit-and-run or a delayed steal? In any case, everyone is shocked including G-Rock who throws high and late. Nails is safe at second!
Miracle #3: A ball get past G-Rock (a wild pitch I think) and Nails moves up to 3rd.
Miracle #4: We make a couple of outs and a batter walks so we've got 1st and 3rd with two outs. The infielders huddle around the mound discussing what to do if the runner on first tries to steal. On the bench a few of us are discussing whether or not the runner on first should try to steal. I think he shouldn't. We've got a good hitter up (2nd or 3rd in the line up I think) and a hit ties the game. It's not worth risking getting thrown out at 2nd (especially with G-Rock catching). 1st or 2nd pitch the runner at first takes off. The pitch is outside a little so G-Rock has to go out to get it. He releases his usual quick, laser beam throw to second but it's off line to the right and gets by the second baseman. Nails scores from 3rd (and I'm off the hook for the loss)!
Nails gets my vote for MVP of the 2009 PVOTB Allstar game.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Update & Run Support (or lack thereof)
Ok. It's been a while so first a quick update on games since my last post.
June 13: 3-0 loss to the Knights - 8 innings pitched (CG)
June 17: 3-2 loss to the Dirt Dogs - 8 innings pitched (CG)
June 23: 2-1 win over the Barons - 9 innings pitched (CG) Tieing run on 3rd with no outs in the bottom of the 8th - K, pop out, ground out.
June 27: 1 -0 loss to the Valley Cats (meow) 9IP (CG)
June 28th 16-5 loss to the Saxtons River Pirates - Only pitched 1.33 innings but got shelled - 10 runs mostly earned. Probably shouldn't have been pitching but my arm felt fine.
June 30: Rained out after 4 1/3 innings. Losing 5-0 to Knights when the game was called. The game shouldn't even have been started. I took the mound with lightening all around.
July 3: 13-2 loss to the Pittsfield Elms. 8IP (CG)They hit the ball hard but we also made a lot of errors. Maybe half of their runs were earned
July 7: Mustangs/Rebels game postponed because of not enough players for Mustangs. The game on the adjoining field wasn't played either because of rain/lightening and wet field.
July 8: Mustangs/Rebels game postponed again (while we were on the way to the field) because the field was in use by another league.
So to sum this up, in 37 2/3 innings pitched I have had a total run support of 6 runs. The good news is I've been pitching well (I choose to ignore the 1 inning shelling against Saxtons River's 20 year olds) and I've got almost 6 days rest since my last start.
July 9: Putney Fossils (1 -7) at Saxtons River Pirates (8-1)
I got an email from the manager of the Pirates a day or two before our game: "Bring any players you want to add any younger pitchers to your team for the game against us on Thursday." Clearly he didn't proofread his email but his message was crystal clear - Your old pitchers don't stand a chance against my young hitters. Needless to say I took that as a challenge.
1st inning: We score a run on a double followed by a single. Their first batter reaches on an error but I get the next three. 1-0 Fossils after 1.
2nd inning: Fossils and Pirates go down 1-2-3.
3rd inning: Fossils go down P5, single, double play. The first 2 Pirates go down easy but 2 singles (top of the order) followed by 2 errors (dropped pop up to 3rd and booted ground ball) followed by a single and a K lead to 3 Pirate runs (all unearned) 3-1 Pirates after 3.
4th inning: Fossil go down 1-3, single, double play. Pirates score 4 more unearned runs. This is starting to look like another ugly loss. What should be a 1-0 lead is a 7-1 deficit.
5th inning: The Pirates bring in a new pitcher who's had control trouble in the past and is hittable when he's throwing strikes. Definitely not overpowering. Our first batter reaches on an error, the next batter walks and the 3rd reaches on a error. Bases loaded, no outs. Brian Benjamin singles in 2 runs and another walk loads up the bases again. A pop to short is the first out. The following batter lines a 1 hopper back to the pitcher who throw to second to start the double play but nobody is covering second. The ball is caught but everyone is safe and another run is in. Keith Hazard follows with an RBI walk. 4 runs in, bases loaded, one out and top of the order up. Danny Lichtenfeld, our lead off hitter, took a hard hit ground ball off his throwing hand and has been icing it for a couple of innings. He doesn't think he can swing the bat. I'm on deck and he tells me he may have to bunt. I tell him just make sure it's away far enough away from the plate and the pitcher that they can't turn a double play. Danny hits a 2 run double but Keith is throw out at 3rd. I fly out for the final out of the inning but we've tied the game.
I head to the mound with renewed vigor and K the first batter, give up a single, then K the next 2.
After 5 innings: Fossils 7 Pirates 7
6th inning: Fossils and Pirates both go in order.
Top of the 7th inning (This is scheduled to be a 7 inning game): The Fossils start off with 3 singles (the 3rd on an infield single) to load the bases with no outs. Guillermo hits a ball back to the pitcher who throws home for the first out but the catcher's throw to first for the attempt at a double play tips off the first basemans mitt and gets far enough away that the runner now on 3rd scores. 1 run lead. Kevin Fry singles in a second run. Runners on the corners with one out - 2 run lead. Keith Hazard walks again to load the bases. Danny's up again with the bases loaded again. The first pitch is in the dirt and gets away from the catcher. The runner on 3rd starts then stops - he never would have made it. The ball wasn't far enough away - but Keith has his head down and is almost to second before he realizes it's already occupied. He's an easy out. Danny singles in the two remaining runners and takes second on the throw home. 4 run lead. I'm up thinking it would be nice to have that 5 run, grand slam proof lead. The count works to 1-2 and I take a ball way inside and low - definitely not a strike - for strike 3. Oh well, I guess the ump wants to go home. The light is getting dim.
Bottom of the 7th: Single, K, 4 pitch walk (what the heck?), single (one run scores). Runners on 1st and 2nd - still no worries. The next batter K's. 2 outs but they're back to the top of the lineup. Single to left scores another and should leave runners on 1st and 2nd again but the leftfielder overruns the ball and they both move up a base. Now they have the tieing run on 2nd. It's amazing how fast a safe lead can evaporate. Their 2nd batter already has 2 hits and has scored a couple of runs. He swings at the first pitch (if my memory is correct), a slider, and pops it up to first for the final out.
Final score: Fossils 11 Pirates 9 . It's nice to have run support!
June 13: 3-0 loss to the Knights - 8 innings pitched (CG)
June 17: 3-2 loss to the Dirt Dogs - 8 innings pitched (CG)
June 23: 2-1 win over the Barons - 9 innings pitched (CG) Tieing run on 3rd with no outs in the bottom of the 8th - K, pop out, ground out.
June 27: 1 -0 loss to the Valley Cats (meow) 9IP (CG)
June 28th 16-5 loss to the Saxtons River Pirates - Only pitched 1.33 innings but got shelled - 10 runs mostly earned. Probably shouldn't have been pitching but my arm felt fine.
June 30: Rained out after 4 1/3 innings. Losing 5-0 to Knights when the game was called. The game shouldn't even have been started. I took the mound with lightening all around.
July 3: 13-2 loss to the Pittsfield Elms. 8IP (CG)They hit the ball hard but we also made a lot of errors. Maybe half of their runs were earned
July 7: Mustangs/Rebels game postponed because of not enough players for Mustangs. The game on the adjoining field wasn't played either because of rain/lightening and wet field.
July 8: Mustangs/Rebels game postponed again (while we were on the way to the field) because the field was in use by another league.
So to sum this up, in 37 2/3 innings pitched I have had a total run support of 6 runs. The good news is I've been pitching well (I choose to ignore the 1 inning shelling against Saxtons River's 20 year olds) and I've got almost 6 days rest since my last start.
July 9: Putney Fossils (1 -7) at Saxtons River Pirates (8-1)
I got an email from the manager of the Pirates a day or two before our game: "Bring any players you want to add any younger pitchers to your team for the game against us on Thursday." Clearly he didn't proofread his email but his message was crystal clear - Your old pitchers don't stand a chance against my young hitters. Needless to say I took that as a challenge.
1st inning: We score a run on a double followed by a single. Their first batter reaches on an error but I get the next three. 1-0 Fossils after 1.
2nd inning: Fossils and Pirates go down 1-2-3.
3rd inning: Fossils go down P5, single, double play. The first 2 Pirates go down easy but 2 singles (top of the order) followed by 2 errors (dropped pop up to 3rd and booted ground ball) followed by a single and a K lead to 3 Pirate runs (all unearned) 3-1 Pirates after 3.
4th inning: Fossil go down 1-3, single, double play. Pirates score 4 more unearned runs. This is starting to look like another ugly loss. What should be a 1-0 lead is a 7-1 deficit.
5th inning: The Pirates bring in a new pitcher who's had control trouble in the past and is hittable when he's throwing strikes. Definitely not overpowering. Our first batter reaches on an error, the next batter walks and the 3rd reaches on a error. Bases loaded, no outs. Brian Benjamin singles in 2 runs and another walk loads up the bases again. A pop to short is the first out. The following batter lines a 1 hopper back to the pitcher who throw to second to start the double play but nobody is covering second. The ball is caught but everyone is safe and another run is in. Keith Hazard follows with an RBI walk. 4 runs in, bases loaded, one out and top of the order up. Danny Lichtenfeld, our lead off hitter, took a hard hit ground ball off his throwing hand and has been icing it for a couple of innings. He doesn't think he can swing the bat. I'm on deck and he tells me he may have to bunt. I tell him just make sure it's away far enough away from the plate and the pitcher that they can't turn a double play. Danny hits a 2 run double but Keith is throw out at 3rd. I fly out for the final out of the inning but we've tied the game.
I head to the mound with renewed vigor and K the first batter, give up a single, then K the next 2.
After 5 innings: Fossils 7 Pirates 7
6th inning: Fossils and Pirates both go in order.
Top of the 7th inning (This is scheduled to be a 7 inning game): The Fossils start off with 3 singles (the 3rd on an infield single) to load the bases with no outs. Guillermo hits a ball back to the pitcher who throws home for the first out but the catcher's throw to first for the attempt at a double play tips off the first basemans mitt and gets far enough away that the runner now on 3rd scores. 1 run lead. Kevin Fry singles in a second run. Runners on the corners with one out - 2 run lead. Keith Hazard walks again to load the bases. Danny's up again with the bases loaded again. The first pitch is in the dirt and gets away from the catcher. The runner on 3rd starts then stops - he never would have made it. The ball wasn't far enough away - but Keith has his head down and is almost to second before he realizes it's already occupied. He's an easy out. Danny singles in the two remaining runners and takes second on the throw home. 4 run lead. I'm up thinking it would be nice to have that 5 run, grand slam proof lead. The count works to 1-2 and I take a ball way inside and low - definitely not a strike - for strike 3. Oh well, I guess the ump wants to go home. The light is getting dim.
Bottom of the 7th: Single, K, 4 pitch walk (what the heck?), single (one run scores). Runners on 1st and 2nd - still no worries. The next batter K's. 2 outs but they're back to the top of the lineup. Single to left scores another and should leave runners on 1st and 2nd again but the leftfielder overruns the ball and they both move up a base. Now they have the tieing run on 2nd. It's amazing how fast a safe lead can evaporate. Their 2nd batter already has 2 hits and has scored a couple of runs. He swings at the first pitch (if my memory is correct), a slider, and pops it up to first for the final out.
Final score: Fossils 11 Pirates 9 . It's nice to have run support!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
June 7th - Westfield Wheelmen at Whately Pioneers
The main reason I originally had reservations about playing vintage base ball is that I was concerned about not having a "real" glove to protect myself from a line drive hit back at me while pitching. Since in vintage base ball the pitcher is even closer than in modern baseball there is even less reaction time. Over the years I been hit a number of times by line drives. It is a fact of life if you are a pitcher, especially if you throw as many innings as I do. Every now and again someone hits a shot right at you. It is for this reason that I no longer play in leagues that allow aluminum bats. The reaction time for a pitcher is not long enough given the speed that a ball comes of those new bats.
In the season and a half of vintage ball I've played so far I've only had one ball hit really hard directly back at me while pitching. That was in the Vintage World Series playoffs last season. A one hop line drive was hit right at me and I went to field it with both hands but it got by them and I actually caught it between my legs. I thought it was pretty funny to stop a ball that way and remember smiling as I threw the batter out at first.
Today my number came up for real. In the second inning an absolute rocket was hit directly back at me and was headed for my face. I got my glove hand up and blocked it with the heal of my hand. For those not familiar with vintage base ball gloves they are essentially leather gardening gloves. Good protection against thorns but no protection against a baseball traveling at 90+ mph. I found the ball and tried to throw the batter out but instead threw it wildly into foul territory and out of play.
With play stopped everyone came running to assess the damage to my hand. Buck, the team captain, almost immediately suggest perhaps I should take third base rather than keep pitching. My first thought was "That's really not much safer than the mound" and fortunately Spider mentioned this so that I didn't have to myself. My hand was definitely throbbing but nothing seemed broken so I figured I'd rather keep pitching. After taking a minute or two to get used to the pain I took a few warm up pitches and finished the inning. After the inning Buck suggest I go to centerfield which I took him up on it. I later moved to second base which seem like the best place for me. I wasn't confident I would be able to catch a fly ball with my throbbing hand.
The Wheelmen jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first 3 innings but we fought back to make it 6-3 in the middle innings. They eventually added 2 runs in the 7th and the final scored was 8-3.
In the season and a half of vintage ball I've played so far I've only had one ball hit really hard directly back at me while pitching. That was in the Vintage World Series playoffs last season. A one hop line drive was hit right at me and I went to field it with both hands but it got by them and I actually caught it between my legs. I thought it was pretty funny to stop a ball that way and remember smiling as I threw the batter out at first.
Today my number came up for real. In the second inning an absolute rocket was hit directly back at me and was headed for my face. I got my glove hand up and blocked it with the heal of my hand. For those not familiar with vintage base ball gloves they are essentially leather gardening gloves. Good protection against thorns but no protection against a baseball traveling at 90+ mph. I found the ball and tried to throw the batter out but instead threw it wildly into foul territory and out of play.
With play stopped everyone came running to assess the damage to my hand. Buck, the team captain, almost immediately suggest perhaps I should take third base rather than keep pitching. My first thought was "That's really not much safer than the mound" and fortunately Spider mentioned this so that I didn't have to myself. My hand was definitely throbbing but nothing seemed broken so I figured I'd rather keep pitching. After taking a minute or two to get used to the pain I took a few warm up pitches and finished the inning. After the inning Buck suggest I go to centerfield which I took him up on it. I later moved to second base which seem like the best place for me. I wasn't confident I would be able to catch a fly ball with my throbbing hand.
The Wheelmen jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first 3 innings but we fought back to make it 6-3 in the middle innings. They eventually added 2 runs in the 7th and the final scored was 8-3.
June 6th - Barons vs Mustangs
Today the Mustangs have 7 players - none in blue jeans - so we're borrowing a couple of players from the Barons who have agreed to let them bat for us as well as field. Very sporting of them and truely appreciated by all the Mustangs.
Two days ago I couldn't throw my fastball for a strike so today my biggest concern is fixing that. I've decided I'm probably striding a little too long so I'll try to consciously shorten my stride a little so that I stay more on top of the ball. That should keep it from sailing up and in so much. I work on this some warming up on the side and again on the mound before the game starts. It seems to be doing the trick.
I can't remember much of the details of this game but we lost - again. I felt very good despite having pitched 6 innings two days before. My slider was working particularly well. What I do remember is one inning in which I got the first 3 batters to hit what should have been routine ground balls directly at infielders but the grass was so thick that two ended up being infield hits. The 3rd was hit to the third baseman who threw a little off line to first. The first baseman made a sweep tag and the umpire called "Out on the tag!". The first base coach immediately complained that he missed the tag and the ump immediately changed his call. It seems to me that a coach complaining about a call isn't evidence that the call was wrong but that's what was ruled. Our first baseman said he got him - just barely - on the belt.
At the plate I had four at bats and got pitches I should have hit well in each one but popped them all up - 2 to the outfield and two to the infield. I need more bp. After facing that fireballer on Thursday today's pitchers seemed like a walk in the park.
After pitching 6 innings I notice I'm developing a blood blister on my middle finger. I get this sometimes from throwing a lot of sliders. The seams of the ball roll off the inside of the tip of my middle finger causing this. I figure I'd better let Max finish the game so the blister doesn't get any worse. I have to pitch again tomorrow against the Wheelmen in a Vintage game.
Two days ago I couldn't throw my fastball for a strike so today my biggest concern is fixing that. I've decided I'm probably striding a little too long so I'll try to consciously shorten my stride a little so that I stay more on top of the ball. That should keep it from sailing up and in so much. I work on this some warming up on the side and again on the mound before the game starts. It seems to be doing the trick.
I can't remember much of the details of this game but we lost - again. I felt very good despite having pitched 6 innings two days before. My slider was working particularly well. What I do remember is one inning in which I got the first 3 batters to hit what should have been routine ground balls directly at infielders but the grass was so thick that two ended up being infield hits. The 3rd was hit to the third baseman who threw a little off line to first. The first baseman made a sweep tag and the umpire called "Out on the tag!". The first base coach immediately complained that he missed the tag and the ump immediately changed his call. It seems to me that a coach complaining about a call isn't evidence that the call was wrong but that's what was ruled. Our first baseman said he got him - just barely - on the belt.
At the plate I had four at bats and got pitches I should have hit well in each one but popped them all up - 2 to the outfield and two to the infield. I need more bp. After facing that fireballer on Thursday today's pitchers seemed like a walk in the park.
After pitching 6 innings I notice I'm developing a blood blister on my middle finger. I get this sometimes from throwing a lot of sliders. The seams of the ball roll off the inside of the tip of my middle finger causing this. I figure I'd better let Max finish the game so the blister doesn't get any worse. I have to pitch again tomorrow against the Wheelmen in a Vintage game.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
June 4th - Putney Fossils v Saxton's River Pirates (at Kurn Hattin)
The Kurn Hattin baseball field is a gem that is well hidden in plain sight. It can't be seen from either of the two roads near it and can't even be seen from the parking area. You approach the field from above and don't see it until you come to the edge of the plateau above it. The top of the steep hill on the first base side of the field provides an excellent perch to watch a game from.
The field has no fence and the outfield is huge: 420' to straightaway center, 390' down the left field line, and 376' down the right field line. This field is were home runs go to die. The CRVBL used Kurn Hattin as its 2nd field in 2004, the year the league expanded from 4 to 6 teams. The last few years we have used it only occasional when other fields were unavailable. The infield grass is a little rough but the infield dirt, which was upgraded to surepack in 2004, holds up well and is a great improvement over the mostly sand that was there previously.
Tonight's game is against a team of mostly 20 to 25 year olds. As I come over the crest of the hill I can seem them warming up in the outfield. A lot of young, strong arms on this team.
We are short on players tonight so we've borrowed a couple of players from Saxton's River. They've got plenty to spare. They are the home team tonight so after they take a very crisp infield and we take a our slightly less crisp (but effective) version they take the field. They have Dave Bronw pitching tonight. He was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 1989 and played a season in short season single A. (I learned after the game that this is his first time pitching in 17 years.) He is throwing hard - probably low to mid eighties at least. I'm the lead off batter tonight so I head to the plate to see what if I can handle his heater.
First pitch: Fast ball, strike one, outside corner at the knees
Second pitch: Fast ball, strike two, outside corner below the knees. I thought it was too low for a strike.
3rd pitch: Fast ball, outside corner at the knees. I swing at it trying to at least foul if off and hit it pretty solidly down the right field line, foul.
4th pitch: Outside. ball one.
5th and 6th pitches: ball 2 & 3. I think one was an attempt at a curve that was above my head. Full count.
7th pitch: I'm looking fastball (Duh!) and get it. It's over the inside 3rd of the plate and I take a mighty swing, and a miss for strike 3. (Photo below)
Our half of the first (and most other innings) went fairly quickly. We got a few walks and some hits and they made and error or two and we scratched out 3 runs over the course of 7 innings. Not bad all things considered.
Their hitters faired better. The first 3 reach on hits and it was quickly 1-0 with runners on first and third. I think I struck out the 4th batter for the first out. The 3rd base coach gave a flurry of signs (which he hadn't done for the previous batter) so I figured he had the runner on first stealing. I did my first and third move which worked perfectly - runner on 3rd was caught about 20 feet down the line in a run down. Benjamin our 3rd baseman has the ball and runs him about 1/2 way down the line then throw to our catcher, Q. Meanwhile I'm getting in position behind Q for the next throw if necessary. Q runs him back a little ways but suddenly things don't look so good. Benjamin is too close and just getting out of the baseline so Q opts to throw to our shortstop who is not yet in position. He's still on his way over from short. Somehow he catches the throw on the run but the baserunner sees things are getting screwed up and makes a break for the plate. Our shortstop tries to throw me the ball on the run but the throw is way wide and the ball goes out of play. Both runners score. The next batter pops up and the following batter flies out. What should have been a one run inning is a three run inning.
We ended up losing 7-3 which wasn't bad but it could have been a lot closer. In addition to the 1st and 3rd screw up I was having throwing my fastball for strikes. It usually tails in some but tonight it was way inside and I couldn't get it over the plate at all. I hit 3 batters (I think they all ended up scoring) and finally decided I had to stay away from my fastball because I felt like I would have to throw a bp fastball to put it over the plate. I can usually make corrections to my mechanics in the middle of a game to fix problems like this but tonight I'm not able to. I'll have to work on this before my next game.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
June 4th - Game tonight - Fossils vs Saxton's River Pirates
Tonight's game is against the NEW Saxton's River Pirates. The CRVBL has had a SR Pirates team since the beginning (now named the Chester Pirates) and most of those guys had played for the original Saxton's River Pirates that played for years in the old Northern League and then played in various collegiate type leagues for a number of years.
Tonight's team is new this season but is organized by Dave Moore who ran the original Saxton's River Pirates. He has reclaimed the name which is only fair since they are based in Saxton's River. I'm told tonight's starting pitcher for the Pirates will be Dave Brown who is 42 now but when he was younger played for the original SR Pirates, was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles and played a season for Erie in the New York Penn League. Supposedly he throws really hard. I'll be optimistic and point out that since he only played one season for Erie he must be beatable. I'm looking forward to the challenge.
OK. Here's the deal. I just googled Dave Brown and found his stats for the 1989 Erie Orioles.
0-3 21.2IP 8.31ERA 25H 31BB 21K 11WP
It looks like he throws hard but is wild. It could be an interesting game.
Tonight's team is new this season but is organized by Dave Moore who ran the original Saxton's River Pirates. He has reclaimed the name which is only fair since they are based in Saxton's River. I'm told tonight's starting pitcher for the Pirates will be Dave Brown who is 42 now but when he was younger played for the original SR Pirates, was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles and played a season for Erie in the New York Penn League. Supposedly he throws really hard. I'll be optimistic and point out that since he only played one season for Erie he must be beatable. I'm looking forward to the challenge.
OK. Here's the deal. I just googled Dave Brown and found his stats for the 1989 Erie Orioles.
0-3 21.2IP 8.31ERA 25H 31BB 21K 11WP
It looks like he throws hard but is wild. It could be an interesting game.
Monday, June 1, 2009
May 31st Pioneers at Simsbury Taverneers
Today's game has become a media event because Jim Bouton, former New York Yankee and author of "Ball Four", will be playing for us today. Buck is pretty much a nervous wreck on the ride down, worrying about whether all our players will make it and whether his defensive plan make sense. We've got 12 players today if everyone shows so he's spent a lot of time figure out who will be playing where. He didn't get much sleep last night and he's eating his breakfast - oatmeal - out of the pot in the front seat as we pull out of his driveway. Spider is driving so Buck can focus on his breakfast - and worrying.
The basic game plan is to have Bouton pitch the first 3 innings, then have me come in for the next 3 followed by an inning of Slappie and closing with 2 innings of Turk. Buck was hoping to have Bullet close but he's not playing today. Buck also has me playing 2 innings in rightfield - based on my having played a couple of innings in centerfield against Hartford where I made a sliding catch on a sinking line drive.
We arrive at the field at about 9:15 for a 10:00 game which is just about right. Hammer & Nails are already in the parking lot and Albie pulls in just after us. Buck is starting to relax a little since we didn't get lost and other players are showing up too.
We unload the gear box - a huge plastic storage box that must weigh 80+ lbs - and carry it to our dugout. Some Simsbury players are already there working on the field. Simsbury's field is very nice and is totally enclosed with fences. Left center is about 390, right center is a little more reasonable - 360ish. The dugouts are the best I've seen anywhere -really spacious, with 3 steps up to the field the length of the dugout and no fence to obscure your view of the game. We get our cleats on and start warming up.
With about 15 minutes to game time everyone has arrived except Turk and Bouton. Turk, who was in New York on Saturday at a Mets game, comes running in followed by Bouton who appears to be in no hurry what-so-ever. As soon as the Taveneers finish taking infield we head out to take ours. I head to right which feels really weird. Bouton is getting dressed then starts warming up on the side with Nails. I get 3 fly balls hit to me during infield and two are over my head - one to each side. I catch all 3 - the ones behind me with over the shoulder catches. Not bad for a pitcher. It reminds me of playing home run derby in the back yard with Isaac using a tennis ball and no glove.
After taking my fly balls I head in and while the infielders go through their paces I watch Bouton warming up. I'm watching from behind Nails and a little to one side and he's throwing knuckle ball after knuckleball. There is almost no spin to any of them but they don't seem to be moving around a lot - a little drop maybe but not much else, at least not that I can see. Still it's really impressive to see how he can just throw one after the next like it's nothing.
After Buck wins the coin toss (again!) we take the field. In addition to the Taveneer's usual photographer (Susan D'Apice) there is a camera man from the local Fox TV station there filming the game. Bouton also has his own publicity guy there. They are filming and taking photos from wherever they please and seem not to be concerned at all about the fact that we are actually playing a baseball game.
Bouton starts off fine getting the first batter out on a pop up to 3rd but after that thing start don't go so well. The next batter hits a shot on the first pitch just to the second base side of short and it looks like Spider will catch it but it's been hit too hard and he can't handle it. (After the game Spider showed me the black and blue spot on his throwing hand where the ball hit it.) The next few batter seem to not have much problem with Bouton's knuckler and between that and some defensive misplays the Taverneers score 4 in the first.
We go quickly in the bottom of the first. The Taverneer's hurler is throwing fairly hard but, more importantly, he is quick pitching a lot. I head out to right for the 2nd inning and despite my 3 catches earlier I'm not really comfortable out there. It's such a long way from the plate it's really quite a different game from out there. Nothing is hit to me but the Taveneers do get another run.
I'm up second in the bottom of the second inning and come up with one out. From what I've seen so far it looks like the Taverneer's pitcher throws pretty straight and counts on the quick pitch to get batters out. I decide I'm going to look fastball on the first pitch and I get it and hit it pretty hard to short and just start running. Anything can happen in Vintage and appartently it does because I reach first safely. I never did find out what happened but I see in the book later it was put down as a hit so I leave it at that. I don't score that inning so we head to the 3rd.
The 3rd inning is when the combination of the Taveneer's hitting Bouton fairly well and some very poor defensive plays behind him put 7 runs on the board for the Taveneers. I'm sitting again this inning and keeping the book and it's not pretty. If my memory is correct there were at least 3 errors and possibly as many as 5 including an overthrow of third from left field that hit the Taverneers photographer's camera squarely on the end of her telephoto lense. That was scary but fortunately the lense absorbed the blow and was shattered but she was unhurt. Finally we get out of the inning but we're now down 12-0. I always say if your going to get down big make sure you get down big early. At least we have that going for us.
In the bottom of the 3rd we scoring a couple of runs so at least we're on the board. By the end of the inning i'm really itching to get on the mound but I have a feeling Buck hasn't let Bouton know he's only going 3 so I check with Buck first before taking the mound. He goes to Bouton and says "Do you want one go one more?" to which Bouton of course replies "Yes" so I'm sitting another inning. It was either that or go to 1st instead of Buck and I wasn't up for that.
In the top of the 4th the Taveneer's go quickly without scoring a run and we're back to the top of our order for the bottom of the inning. We score 3 (I think) in the bottom of the inning. I drive in one with a single with runners on first and third, steal second and score when the first baseman can't handle a low throw with two outs.
After 4 innings the score is 12-5 Taverneers and I've finally got the ball. After seeing Bouton's knuckleball my fastball must look extra fast so I have an easy inning and we're back up. I don't remember whether we scored or not that half inning but I now I gave up two in the 6th.
In the 7th the lead off batter for the Taverneers reach, stole second and went to 3rd on a wild pitch. Runner on third, no outs. I struck out the next two batters and the third out was a great catch by Murph on a pop up behind the plate almost to the backstop. It's hard enough to get there but then to catch it with that glove is awesome.
In the bottom of the 7th we score a bunch of runs on hits and errors. I drove in two more when their pitcher tried to quick pitch me but it backfired because I hit a line drive past their first baseman who wasn't looking. It turns out he was quick pitched. (Come to think of it this must have happened in the previous inning because by the 7th inning the quick pitcher was no longer pitching.) In any case, after 7 innings the score was Taverneers 14 Pioneers 13 and I handed off the ball to Slappie and headed back out to right.
Unfortunately Slappie walked the lead off hitter (which is hard to do given it takes 7 balls) and ended up give up 4 runs in his inning. We didn't get any back in the bottom of the 8th and heading into the 9th we were down by 5. Turk also walked the first batter he faced in the 9th but worked out of the inning. In the bottom of the 9th we couldn't get anything going and ended up losing 18-13.
The most best aspect of today's game was the amount of interest Bouton's appearance was able to generate from the local press. For us bush leaguer's who play because we love it (and secretly hope there's still a chance we'll be picked up by a major leauge team despite being several decades too old) it's really cool to have our entire game filmed just like in the bigs. It was also great to see Jim out on the mound at the age of 70 still throwing a damn good knuckle ball. If he'd been pitching into a slight headwind instead of with a tail wind I think he would have made the Taverneers look silly.
Here's the 3 hour game compressed into 2 minutes and 47 seconds courtesy of Fox61:
The basic game plan is to have Bouton pitch the first 3 innings, then have me come in for the next 3 followed by an inning of Slappie and closing with 2 innings of Turk. Buck was hoping to have Bullet close but he's not playing today. Buck also has me playing 2 innings in rightfield - based on my having played a couple of innings in centerfield against Hartford where I made a sliding catch on a sinking line drive.
We arrive at the field at about 9:15 for a 10:00 game which is just about right. Hammer & Nails are already in the parking lot and Albie pulls in just after us. Buck is starting to relax a little since we didn't get lost and other players are showing up too.
We unload the gear box - a huge plastic storage box that must weigh 80+ lbs - and carry it to our dugout. Some Simsbury players are already there working on the field. Simsbury's field is very nice and is totally enclosed with fences. Left center is about 390, right center is a little more reasonable - 360ish. The dugouts are the best I've seen anywhere -really spacious, with 3 steps up to the field the length of the dugout and no fence to obscure your view of the game. We get our cleats on and start warming up.
With about 15 minutes to game time everyone has arrived except Turk and Bouton. Turk, who was in New York on Saturday at a Mets game, comes running in followed by Bouton who appears to be in no hurry what-so-ever. As soon as the Taveneers finish taking infield we head out to take ours. I head to right which feels really weird. Bouton is getting dressed then starts warming up on the side with Nails. I get 3 fly balls hit to me during infield and two are over my head - one to each side. I catch all 3 - the ones behind me with over the shoulder catches. Not bad for a pitcher. It reminds me of playing home run derby in the back yard with Isaac using a tennis ball and no glove.
After taking my fly balls I head in and while the infielders go through their paces I watch Bouton warming up. I'm watching from behind Nails and a little to one side and he's throwing knuckle ball after knuckleball. There is almost no spin to any of them but they don't seem to be moving around a lot - a little drop maybe but not much else, at least not that I can see. Still it's really impressive to see how he can just throw one after the next like it's nothing.
After Buck wins the coin toss (again!) we take the field. In addition to the Taveneer's usual photographer (Susan D'Apice) there is a camera man from the local Fox TV station there filming the game. Bouton also has his own publicity guy there. They are filming and taking photos from wherever they please and seem not to be concerned at all about the fact that we are actually playing a baseball game.
Bouton starts off fine getting the first batter out on a pop up to 3rd but after that thing start don't go so well. The next batter hits a shot on the first pitch just to the second base side of short and it looks like Spider will catch it but it's been hit too hard and he can't handle it. (After the game Spider showed me the black and blue spot on his throwing hand where the ball hit it.) The next few batter seem to not have much problem with Bouton's knuckler and between that and some defensive misplays the Taverneers score 4 in the first.
We go quickly in the bottom of the first. The Taverneer's hurler is throwing fairly hard but, more importantly, he is quick pitching a lot. I head out to right for the 2nd inning and despite my 3 catches earlier I'm not really comfortable out there. It's such a long way from the plate it's really quite a different game from out there. Nothing is hit to me but the Taveneers do get another run.
I'm up second in the bottom of the second inning and come up with one out. From what I've seen so far it looks like the Taverneer's pitcher throws pretty straight and counts on the quick pitch to get batters out. I decide I'm going to look fastball on the first pitch and I get it and hit it pretty hard to short and just start running. Anything can happen in Vintage and appartently it does because I reach first safely. I never did find out what happened but I see in the book later it was put down as a hit so I leave it at that. I don't score that inning so we head to the 3rd.
The 3rd inning is when the combination of the Taveneer's hitting Bouton fairly well and some very poor defensive plays behind him put 7 runs on the board for the Taveneers. I'm sitting again this inning and keeping the book and it's not pretty. If my memory is correct there were at least 3 errors and possibly as many as 5 including an overthrow of third from left field that hit the Taverneers photographer's camera squarely on the end of her telephoto lense. That was scary but fortunately the lense absorbed the blow and was shattered but she was unhurt. Finally we get out of the inning but we're now down 12-0. I always say if your going to get down big make sure you get down big early. At least we have that going for us.
In the bottom of the 3rd we scoring a couple of runs so at least we're on the board. By the end of the inning i'm really itching to get on the mound but I have a feeling Buck hasn't let Bouton know he's only going 3 so I check with Buck first before taking the mound. He goes to Bouton and says "Do you want one go one more?" to which Bouton of course replies "Yes" so I'm sitting another inning. It was either that or go to 1st instead of Buck and I wasn't up for that.
In the top of the 4th the Taveneer's go quickly without scoring a run and we're back to the top of our order for the bottom of the inning. We score 3 (I think) in the bottom of the inning. I drive in one with a single with runners on first and third, steal second and score when the first baseman can't handle a low throw with two outs.
After 4 innings the score is 12-5 Taverneers and I've finally got the ball. After seeing Bouton's knuckleball my fastball must look extra fast so I have an easy inning and we're back up. I don't remember whether we scored or not that half inning but I now I gave up two in the 6th.
In the 7th the lead off batter for the Taverneers reach, stole second and went to 3rd on a wild pitch. Runner on third, no outs. I struck out the next two batters and the third out was a great catch by Murph on a pop up behind the plate almost to the backstop. It's hard enough to get there but then to catch it with that glove is awesome.
In the bottom of the 7th we score a bunch of runs on hits and errors. I drove in two more when their pitcher tried to quick pitch me but it backfired because I hit a line drive past their first baseman who wasn't looking. It turns out he was quick pitched. (Come to think of it this must have happened in the previous inning because by the 7th inning the quick pitcher was no longer pitching.) In any case, after 7 innings the score was Taverneers 14 Pioneers 13 and I handed off the ball to Slappie and headed back out to right.
Unfortunately Slappie walked the lead off hitter (which is hard to do given it takes 7 balls) and ended up give up 4 runs in his inning. We didn't get any back in the bottom of the 8th and heading into the 9th we were down by 5. Turk also walked the first batter he faced in the 9th but worked out of the inning. In the bottom of the 9th we couldn't get anything going and ended up losing 18-13.
The most best aspect of today's game was the amount of interest Bouton's appearance was able to generate from the local press. For us bush leaguer's who play because we love it (and secretly hope there's still a chance we'll be picked up by a major leauge team despite being several decades too old) it's really cool to have our entire game filmed just like in the bigs. It was also great to see Jim out on the mound at the age of 70 still throwing a damn good knuckle ball. If he'd been pitching into a slight headwind instead of with a tail wind I think he would have made the Taverneers look silly.
Here's the 3 hour game compressed into 2 minutes and 47 seconds courtesy of Fox61:
Sunday, May 31, 2009
May 30th Mustangs V Rebels
When your 8th players is wearing blue jeans and tennis sneakers and your 9th player is a no show and thus an automatic out you can pretty much figure how your day is going to go. That's how we started our game today. Meanwhile the Rebels have all of their hitters today and they've come to hit.
We scored a run in the top of the first but had the chance to score a lot more, leaving the bases loaded. The Rebels scored one in the bottom of the inning to tie it up.
After going easily in the top of the second we gave the Rebels two gift runs when a ground ball to second that should have been the third out went through the second baseman's legs. By the 3rd inning our 9th player showed up - ANOTHER guy in blue jeans and tennis shoes. You've got to be kidding me!? We send him to left for the 3rd inning.
Between our left and right fielders (the blues brothers) playing deep and tentative and our infield that made 3 errors, we gave up another 4 runs (3 unearned)in the 3rd inning. Their only earned run that inning came when their 3rd batter of the inning couldn't get a bunt down with runners on 1st and 2nd (both by erroros) and no outs. With an 1-2 count he hit a bomb to center on a hanging slider and scored on a single by the next batter (Brian "Crazy legs" Benjamin I believe).
After the fifth inning, with the game well out of hand and the chances unlikely for improvement, I decided to give up the ball to Max to finish out the game so I could save my arm for Sunday when I know I'll at least have players with matching uniforms behind me.
Max did a fine job only allowing 2 more runs. We lost 12-2.
We scored a run in the top of the first but had the chance to score a lot more, leaving the bases loaded. The Rebels scored one in the bottom of the inning to tie it up.
After going easily in the top of the second we gave the Rebels two gift runs when a ground ball to second that should have been the third out went through the second baseman's legs. By the 3rd inning our 9th player showed up - ANOTHER guy in blue jeans and tennis shoes. You've got to be kidding me!? We send him to left for the 3rd inning.
Between our left and right fielders (the blues brothers) playing deep and tentative and our infield that made 3 errors, we gave up another 4 runs (3 unearned)in the 3rd inning. Their only earned run that inning came when their 3rd batter of the inning couldn't get a bunt down with runners on 1st and 2nd (both by erroros) and no outs. With an 1-2 count he hit a bomb to center on a hanging slider and scored on a single by the next batter (Brian "Crazy legs" Benjamin I believe).
After the fifth inning, with the game well out of hand and the chances unlikely for improvement, I decided to give up the ball to Max to finish out the game so I could save my arm for Sunday when I know I'll at least have players with matching uniforms behind me.
Max did a fine job only allowing 2 more runs. We lost 12-2.
Friday, May 29, 2009
May 26th Knights vs Mustangs
We have a skelton crew tonight - just 9 players - with Hammer playing second since Richie Bryan has an injury and has to play first.
The Knights lead off batter is Matt "Matches" Avery. He's always hit me well. I can remember several bombs to left center. I tell Big O, who's playing 3rd, not to worry about the bunt. I'm sure Matches won't be bunting - he likes to hit the ball hard. The count works to something like 2-1 and I throw an inside fastball and Matches hits a pretty hard grounder to 3rd... that gets by a diving Big O who's playing in on the grass a couple of steps for the bunt. If he'd been playing back he would have had a chance for it. I said to him "I told you he wouldn't be bunting" and he said "Hammer told me to play in for the bunt. " I guess I should have check his positioning.
That was pretty much the story of the night. The outfield was playing way too deep which is pretty standard for outfielders who are not confident in their ability. They don't feel comfortable going back on the ball so they play deep enough that they will never have to go back. All night long balls were being hit in front of the outfielders. I miss Tony Barber (who just had his first child May 7th) in centerfield. He would play as shallow as I wanted him to and was still able to get back on the occasional ball hit behind him.
Tonight the game was pretty much over in the first inning. They scored 4 runs on several hits and a couple of errors. Darrel Sinclair & Matches shut us down for 7 innings (aided by a couple more base running errors on our part). We lost 9-0. Not very encouraging. (The Knights have won their last 3 games by shut out: 9-0, 5-0, 9-0).
I felt pretty good pitching and worked on throwing more forkballs. I held Matches and Supe to 1 for 4 each. Supe broke his bat on a fastball down the pipe that he should have hit over the trees. After his hit in the first Matches hit too VERY high infield pop ups and struck out looking on a forkball that cut over the inside corner.
We play the Rebels Saturday and the Pioneers (with Jim Bouton) are at Simsbury, CT Sunday. It should be a fun weekend.
The Knights lead off batter is Matt "Matches" Avery. He's always hit me well. I can remember several bombs to left center. I tell Big O, who's playing 3rd, not to worry about the bunt. I'm sure Matches won't be bunting - he likes to hit the ball hard. The count works to something like 2-1 and I throw an inside fastball and Matches hits a pretty hard grounder to 3rd... that gets by a diving Big O who's playing in on the grass a couple of steps for the bunt. If he'd been playing back he would have had a chance for it. I said to him "I told you he wouldn't be bunting" and he said "Hammer told me to play in for the bunt. " I guess I should have check his positioning.
That was pretty much the story of the night. The outfield was playing way too deep which is pretty standard for outfielders who are not confident in their ability. They don't feel comfortable going back on the ball so they play deep enough that they will never have to go back. All night long balls were being hit in front of the outfielders. I miss Tony Barber (who just had his first child May 7th) in centerfield. He would play as shallow as I wanted him to and was still able to get back on the occasional ball hit behind him.
Tonight the game was pretty much over in the first inning. They scored 4 runs on several hits and a couple of errors. Darrel Sinclair & Matches shut us down for 7 innings (aided by a couple more base running errors on our part). We lost 9-0. Not very encouraging. (The Knights have won their last 3 games by shut out: 9-0, 5-0, 9-0).
I felt pretty good pitching and worked on throwing more forkballs. I held Matches and Supe to 1 for 4 each. Supe broke his bat on a fastball down the pipe that he should have hit over the trees. After his hit in the first Matches hit too VERY high infield pop ups and struck out looking on a forkball that cut over the inside corner.
We play the Rebels Saturday and the Pioneers (with Jim Bouton) are at Simsbury, CT Sunday. It should be a fun weekend.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
May 23 Mustangs v Valley Cats (Doubleheader)
Game 1:
Chris pitched the first game and did an excellent job - the best I've seen her pitch. She went all 9 innings and with the exception of the 6th inning it was smooth sailing the whole way. We won 9-4.
Game 2:
I started game 2 and felt great. All my pitches are working well and my arm feels awesome. Good location too. We get a run in the 3rd (?) inning to take a 1-0 lead but in the next half inning I hang a curve to Kenny and he crushes it for a lead off double and scores when the next batter singles.
The score stays ties until the bottom of the 6th when we score 2 runs when the Cat's pitcher gets a little wild. Several walks, a hit or two and one run walked in and we've got a 3-1 lead going into the 7th. I shut down the cats in the top of the 7th but we don't add to our lead in the bottom of the inning.
In the top of the 8th the wheels come off the bus (or at least the second baseman). Te lead off batter singles and with a 1-2 count I DRILL the second batter right in the center of his back with a fastball (ouch). 1st and 2nd no outs. The next batter hit a ground ball to second that looks like a double play ball for sure but our 2nd baseman boots it and can't even get a handle on it to get one out. Bases loaded no outs. The next batter hit another double play ball to the second baseman. This time he fields it cleanly and makes an underhanded toss to the shortstop covering second...that is so far off line that the ball rolls out outward left field. 2 runs score, 1st and 3rd no outs. The next batter bunts straight back to me for an easy out at first. The runner at 3rd holds. 2nd and 3rd, 1 out. A short fly ball to right is a diving catch by the right fielder. His throw home is a one hopper that is in time but isn't handled by the catcher. 4-3 Cats, 2 outs. I strike out the next hitter for the 3rd out.
The cats had brought in the Dentist to pitch the last 3 innings and he does a great job - nobody gets drilled and he holds us scoreless.
Tough loss. We had 3 runners picked off base in the second game (and two in the first game). I struck out 12 batters and really controlled them the entire game. Very frustrating. We should have won this game.
Chris pitched the first game and did an excellent job - the best I've seen her pitch. She went all 9 innings and with the exception of the 6th inning it was smooth sailing the whole way. We won 9-4.
Game 2:
I started game 2 and felt great. All my pitches are working well and my arm feels awesome. Good location too. We get a run in the 3rd (?) inning to take a 1-0 lead but in the next half inning I hang a curve to Kenny and he crushes it for a lead off double and scores when the next batter singles.
The score stays ties until the bottom of the 6th when we score 2 runs when the Cat's pitcher gets a little wild. Several walks, a hit or two and one run walked in and we've got a 3-1 lead going into the 7th. I shut down the cats in the top of the 7th but we don't add to our lead in the bottom of the inning.
In the top of the 8th the wheels come off the bus (or at least the second baseman). Te lead off batter singles and with a 1-2 count I DRILL the second batter right in the center of his back with a fastball (ouch). 1st and 2nd no outs. The next batter hit a ground ball to second that looks like a double play ball for sure but our 2nd baseman boots it and can't even get a handle on it to get one out. Bases loaded no outs. The next batter hit another double play ball to the second baseman. This time he fields it cleanly and makes an underhanded toss to the shortstop covering second...that is so far off line that the ball rolls out outward left field. 2 runs score, 1st and 3rd no outs. The next batter bunts straight back to me for an easy out at first. The runner at 3rd holds. 2nd and 3rd, 1 out. A short fly ball to right is a diving catch by the right fielder. His throw home is a one hopper that is in time but isn't handled by the catcher. 4-3 Cats, 2 outs. I strike out the next hitter for the 3rd out.
The cats had brought in the Dentist to pitch the last 3 innings and he does a great job - nobody gets drilled and he holds us scoreless.
Tough loss. We had 3 runners picked off base in the second game (and two in the first game). I struck out 12 batters and really controlled them the entire game. Very frustrating. We should have won this game.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Doubleheaders
Tomorrow the Mustangs have a doubleheader against the Valley Cats. We are making up a game that we missed earlier because of a rescheduled high school game that took priority over us. The first game starts at 9:00 am.
I used to play for a team in Nashua, NH (Nashua Cubs) that played all its home games at 9:00am. We would take bp before the game so I had to get there at 8:00 which meant leaving my house around 6:00 am. I would stop at a McDonalds in Nashua on the way over to pick up some breakfast and use the bathroom and stop there again for lunch on the way home. I would often have another game in Vermont at about 3:00pm. That was before I formed the CRVBL so it was the Putney Fossils vs Landmark College. Eventually a team from Brattleboro formed to play Landmark as well as the Fossils. I would end up putting on a few McDonalds pounds over the course of the season.
At the end of the 2001 season it seemed like nobody wanted to run the Nashua Cubs and it looked likely that there would not be a Cubs team in 2002. It was because of that that I decided to form the CRVBL. We already have 2 teams (Fossils & Brattleboro) and it seemed likely we could get 2 more teams. It's easy for me to remember the date of the last game I played for the Nashua Cubs because it was Sunday, September 9, 2001 - 2 days before 9/11.
I used to play for a team in Nashua, NH (Nashua Cubs) that played all its home games at 9:00am. We would take bp before the game so I had to get there at 8:00 which meant leaving my house around 6:00 am. I would stop at a McDonalds in Nashua on the way over to pick up some breakfast and use the bathroom and stop there again for lunch on the way home. I would often have another game in Vermont at about 3:00pm. That was before I formed the CRVBL so it was the Putney Fossils vs Landmark College. Eventually a team from Brattleboro formed to play Landmark as well as the Fossils. I would end up putting on a few McDonalds pounds over the course of the season.
At the end of the 2001 season it seemed like nobody wanted to run the Nashua Cubs and it looked likely that there would not be a Cubs team in 2002. It was because of that that I decided to form the CRVBL. We already have 2 teams (Fossils & Brattleboro) and it seemed likely we could get 2 more teams. It's easy for me to remember the date of the last game I played for the Nashua Cubs because it was Sunday, September 9, 2001 - 2 days before 9/11.
Monday, May 18, 2009
May 18 - Mustangs at Barons
My arm actually felt pretty good so I threw some easy bp in the cage before the game.
Max was supposed to start but he's just arriving about 5 minutes before game time so Ski gets the ball. The first batter hits the first pitch to first base and Ski forgets to cover first so the batter reaches, steals second, goes to third on a 4-3 ground out and scores when I make a bad throw from 3rd on a ground ball. I looked the runner back, then looked him back again and rushed the throw. In the process I've discovered that my arm is not feeling fine but is actually hanging pretty bad. No surprise really.
The Barons score 2 in the first and another 3 in the second. Max comes in to pitch in the 3rd inning and is really on. He holds them to 1 unearned run in the 4th(?) and another run in the bottom of the 7th.
Meanwhile their pitcher (don't know his name) is throwing a gem. The ump has a rather low strike zone tonight and he is hitting the corners at the bottom of the strike zone and we can't do much against him. We do score a couple of runs on walks and errors but don't get a hit until the 7th inning when Ski lines a solid single to right. With the no hitter broken up they send out a new pitcher for the 8th and we hit some solid line drives - right at people for 3 quick outs.
In the top of the 9th we finally string together some hits and score 3 runs but with a runner on Ski makes the final out leaving me in the on deck circle. I'm sure I would have parked one to give us the lead if only I'd gotten the chance. Final score Mustangs 5 Barons 7.
I'm looking forward to four days of rest for my arm. Our next game isn't until Saturday.
Max was supposed to start but he's just arriving about 5 minutes before game time so Ski gets the ball. The first batter hits the first pitch to first base and Ski forgets to cover first so the batter reaches, steals second, goes to third on a 4-3 ground out and scores when I make a bad throw from 3rd on a ground ball. I looked the runner back, then looked him back again and rushed the throw. In the process I've discovered that my arm is not feeling fine but is actually hanging pretty bad. No surprise really.
The Barons score 2 in the first and another 3 in the second. Max comes in to pitch in the 3rd inning and is really on. He holds them to 1 unearned run in the 4th(?) and another run in the bottom of the 7th.
Meanwhile their pitcher (don't know his name) is throwing a gem. The ump has a rather low strike zone tonight and he is hitting the corners at the bottom of the strike zone and we can't do much against him. We do score a couple of runs on walks and errors but don't get a hit until the 7th inning when Ski lines a solid single to right. With the no hitter broken up they send out a new pitcher for the 8th and we hit some solid line drives - right at people for 3 quick outs.
In the top of the 9th we finally string together some hits and score 3 runs but with a runner on Ski makes the final out leaving me in the on deck circle. I'm sure I would have parked one to give us the lead if only I'd gotten the chance. Final score Mustangs 5 Barons 7.
I'm looking forward to four days of rest for my arm. Our next game isn't until Saturday.
May 17 Pioneers at Meddowe (Longmeadow, MA)
Today we're playing in Longmeadow, MA. The Meddowe team likes to play some of their games with 1860 rules (basically softball rules only even more boring) and we've agreed to play a doubleheader - one 7 inning 1886 rules game and one 7 inning 1860 rules.
The first game is a closely played game. They get up by a couple of runs and we come back with 3 to take the lead and then extend it to a 4-2 lead going into the top of the 7th. (We're the home team again thanks to Buck's magnificient streak of winning coin tosses). Turk pitched the first 2 innings and Slappie the next 2 and I'm supposed to close it out.
My first two innings went fine except my arm is hanging a little - nothing too bad though and the adrenaline is getting me through it ok. The first batter in the top of the 7th leads off with a well hit ball to left. Unfortunately our left fielder took a step or two in before realizing how well hit it was so it sailed over his head for a double. The relay throw back in gets by the second baseman and the runner advances to third. Oh well. We have a two run lead so forget about him and get three outs. The next batter is a lefty who I struck out two innings earlier on a forkball. He was a pretty tough out that inning and after a bunch of sliders and fastballs I'd finally gotten him. This time I start him with a slider and he rips it deep down the right field line for a triple.
Now the tieing run is on 3rd with no outs. We bring the infield in looking to keep him from scoring. About 3 pitches later I through him a high inside fastball that gets by the catcher and he scores. We almost had him at the plate but the throw from the catcher was a little to the first base side of home. A perfect throw might have had him (or he would have broken my hand sliding into it).
Tie game now but at least the bases are empty. Not for long though. They eventually score 2 more runs, this time due to errors: A near collision between short and centerfield that results in the centerfielder dropping the ball and my own drop of a pop up between the mound and home. There may have been another error as well - I can remember. It was definitely not our best display of fielding.
Bottom line- we lose 6-4. I get the blown save and loss and my arm is really hanging now.
Game 2:
We are not up for the 1860 rules game at all after blowing the lead in the previous game. The basic rules are:
Underhand pitching with no balls or strikes called. Just lay it in there for the hitter.
Batted balls caught in the air or on one bounce are outs.
No gloves at all. Just bare hands.
The ball is softer and more bouncy than a regular baseball.
One step "gentlemen's" leads.
The results of these rules is that most balls can be caught pretty easily on one bounce. Basically any fly ball to the outfield is an out unless it's really a gapper and even then it has to be a line drive.
We give up 5 runs quickly in the first before we've really recovered mentally from the first game. After that inning the game went very quickly and we eventually decided to play a full 9 inning game. It probably didn't take much more than an hour. We lost 7-1. If you throw out the first inning where we were getting our bearings it was a 2-1 game. Not bad, but we all (The Pioneers) vow never to play 1860 rules again. It might as well be softball which is definately NOT baseball.
The first game is a closely played game. They get up by a couple of runs and we come back with 3 to take the lead and then extend it to a 4-2 lead going into the top of the 7th. (We're the home team again thanks to Buck's magnificient streak of winning coin tosses). Turk pitched the first 2 innings and Slappie the next 2 and I'm supposed to close it out.
My first two innings went fine except my arm is hanging a little - nothing too bad though and the adrenaline is getting me through it ok. The first batter in the top of the 7th leads off with a well hit ball to left. Unfortunately our left fielder took a step or two in before realizing how well hit it was so it sailed over his head for a double. The relay throw back in gets by the second baseman and the runner advances to third. Oh well. We have a two run lead so forget about him and get three outs. The next batter is a lefty who I struck out two innings earlier on a forkball. He was a pretty tough out that inning and after a bunch of sliders and fastballs I'd finally gotten him. This time I start him with a slider and he rips it deep down the right field line for a triple.
Now the tieing run is on 3rd with no outs. We bring the infield in looking to keep him from scoring. About 3 pitches later I through him a high inside fastball that gets by the catcher and he scores. We almost had him at the plate but the throw from the catcher was a little to the first base side of home. A perfect throw might have had him (or he would have broken my hand sliding into it).
Tie game now but at least the bases are empty. Not for long though. They eventually score 2 more runs, this time due to errors: A near collision between short and centerfield that results in the centerfielder dropping the ball and my own drop of a pop up between the mound and home. There may have been another error as well - I can remember. It was definitely not our best display of fielding.
Bottom line- we lose 6-4. I get the blown save and loss and my arm is really hanging now.
Game 2:
We are not up for the 1860 rules game at all after blowing the lead in the previous game. The basic rules are:
Underhand pitching with no balls or strikes called. Just lay it in there for the hitter.
Batted balls caught in the air or on one bounce are outs.
No gloves at all. Just bare hands.
The ball is softer and more bouncy than a regular baseball.
One step "gentlemen's" leads.
The results of these rules is that most balls can be caught pretty easily on one bounce. Basically any fly ball to the outfield is an out unless it's really a gapper and even then it has to be a line drive.
We give up 5 runs quickly in the first before we've really recovered mentally from the first game. After that inning the game went very quickly and we eventually decided to play a full 9 inning game. It probably didn't take much more than an hour. We lost 7-1. If you throw out the first inning where we were getting our bearings it was a 2-1 game. Not bad, but we all (The Pioneers) vow never to play 1860 rules again. It might as well be softball which is definately NOT baseball.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
May 16 - Dirt Dogs at Mustangs
What a beautiful day for baseball! It rained pretty hard last night and was cloudy early this morning but it had cleared off to blue skies by the time I arrived at Pioneer HS at 9:15. Both fields are impeccably groomed, as usual, along with foul lines and batters boxes and freshly mowed grass. It doesn't get any better than this.
This is our first game against the Dirt Dogs this year. They were very good last year so I know it's going to be a tough game.
After getting through the first with no damage we give up 4 runs in the second on some good hits and a couple of errors. They are dropping in a lot of hits in front of the outfielders. Duse is playing a very shallow center but even so there just isn't enough hang time on them for him to be able to catch them.
We hold them at 4 for the next few innings and finally get on the board in perhaps the 4th with 1 run. I came up with the bases loaded and one out and popped up the first pitch to short. Very frustrating. Despite reminding myself to be patient I wasn't.
In the 5th (?) we get a bunch of runs on a few hits, some walks, a hit batter and an error or two. The Dirt Dogs are pretty much melting down. I drove in 2 with a very well hit double over the left fielder's head. Perhaps the best hit I've had in several years. After 5 inings we lead 6-4.
They get one back in the top of the 6th to make it 6-5 and then get 2 more in the 7th to make it 7-6. Their final run is driven in by Tim Conway who, with 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd, lays a perfect punt down the 3rd baseline and beats it out.
In the bottom of the 7th I come up with a runner on 3rd and two outs and walk then steal second a couple of pitches later. The pitcher throws a ball in the dirt and it gets by the catcher so the runner on 3rd scores and I move to 3rd. Nails is up now and I think the count gets to one and one. The pitcher shakes off the catcher and I'm pretty sure he's going to throw a curve. As soon as he throws it I can see it's going to be in the dirty so I start towards the plate. The catcher does a pretty good job of blocking it but it is off to the 1st base side of the circle around home and with my good jump I'm able to score. 8-7 Mustangs after 7.
The problem now is that Omar has already left leaving us with only 9 players and Big O needs to leave in about 15 minutes. We get throught he top of the 8th but don't get past either Omar's or Big O's spot in the order. Big O has to go leaving us with 8 players and 2 automatic outs for the bottom of the 9th.
We borrow a right fielder for the top of the 9th. I get up on the first batter 1-2 then hit him. Runner on first and nobody out. Time to Termie up! I strike out the next 3 to end the game. A very nice come from behind win for the Mustangs. We're now 2-2.
Tomorrow is a vintage games in Longmeadow then Monday night it's the Mustangs against the Barons. I'd better go home and ice my arm.
This is our first game against the Dirt Dogs this year. They were very good last year so I know it's going to be a tough game.
After getting through the first with no damage we give up 4 runs in the second on some good hits and a couple of errors. They are dropping in a lot of hits in front of the outfielders. Duse is playing a very shallow center but even so there just isn't enough hang time on them for him to be able to catch them.
We hold them at 4 for the next few innings and finally get on the board in perhaps the 4th with 1 run. I came up with the bases loaded and one out and popped up the first pitch to short. Very frustrating. Despite reminding myself to be patient I wasn't.
In the 5th (?) we get a bunch of runs on a few hits, some walks, a hit batter and an error or two. The Dirt Dogs are pretty much melting down. I drove in 2 with a very well hit double over the left fielder's head. Perhaps the best hit I've had in several years. After 5 inings we lead 6-4.
They get one back in the top of the 6th to make it 6-5 and then get 2 more in the 7th to make it 7-6. Their final run is driven in by Tim Conway who, with 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd, lays a perfect punt down the 3rd baseline and beats it out.
In the bottom of the 7th I come up with a runner on 3rd and two outs and walk then steal second a couple of pitches later. The pitcher throws a ball in the dirt and it gets by the catcher so the runner on 3rd scores and I move to 3rd. Nails is up now and I think the count gets to one and one. The pitcher shakes off the catcher and I'm pretty sure he's going to throw a curve. As soon as he throws it I can see it's going to be in the dirty so I start towards the plate. The catcher does a pretty good job of blocking it but it is off to the 1st base side of the circle around home and with my good jump I'm able to score. 8-7 Mustangs after 7.
The problem now is that Omar has already left leaving us with only 9 players and Big O needs to leave in about 15 minutes. We get throught he top of the 8th but don't get past either Omar's or Big O's spot in the order. Big O has to go leaving us with 8 players and 2 automatic outs for the bottom of the 9th.
We borrow a right fielder for the top of the 9th. I get up on the first batter 1-2 then hit him. Runner on first and nobody out. Time to Termie up! I strike out the next 3 to end the game. A very nice come from behind win for the Mustangs. We're now 2-2.
Tomorrow is a vintage games in Longmeadow then Monday night it's the Mustangs against the Barons. I'd better go home and ice my arm.
Monday, May 11, 2009
May 11 - Rebels at Mustangs under the lights
I got an early birthday present tonight (my birthday is tomorrow) - phenominal run support. 7 runs in the bottom of the first and another 7 in the bottom of the 2nd. After 2 innings we had a 14-2 lead. But big leads early can be tricky. Do you stop stealing with a 12 runs lead that early in the game. As it turns out the answer should have been no.
Through timely hitting and some poor fielding on our part (including my own) the Rebels fought back to make it 14-8. It could have gotten really interesting if Smoke had hit the ball about 5-10 feet farther in the 7th (?) inning. With runners on 1st and 2nd and two outs he worked the count full then hit a long high fly ball that Max, playing deep left, saw off the bat then lost above the lights then picked up again just in time to make the catch backed up against the fence.
In the bottom of the 7th we loaded the bases for Omar who christened the new outfield fence with a grand slam. Final score Mustangs 21 Rebels 10(?)
My arm felt fine tonight which was a relief. I had played catch with my daughter on Thursday and my arm felt bad. Painful to throw. A little thrown out. It was a good thing I was forced to miss games on Saturday and Sunday because of family committments. I haven't had arm pain in probably two years and I believe the last time was also early in the season after several back to back games.
Through timely hitting and some poor fielding on our part (including my own) the Rebels fought back to make it 14-8. It could have gotten really interesting if Smoke had hit the ball about 5-10 feet farther in the 7th (?) inning. With runners on 1st and 2nd and two outs he worked the count full then hit a long high fly ball that Max, playing deep left, saw off the bat then lost above the lights then picked up again just in time to make the catch backed up against the fence.
In the bottom of the 7th we loaded the bases for Omar who christened the new outfield fence with a grand slam. Final score Mustangs 21 Rebels 10(?)
My arm felt fine tonight which was a relief. I had played catch with my daughter on Thursday and my arm felt bad. Painful to throw. A little thrown out. It was a good thing I was forced to miss games on Saturday and Sunday because of family committments. I haven't had arm pain in probably two years and I believe the last time was also early in the season after several back to back games.
May 3 - Fossils vs River Rats
I throw a little bp in the cage to warm up and my arm is not feeling good. I'll be hitting lead off today but won't play in the field until the 6th inning which is fine with me. We've got plenty of players (16 in the batting order) and I've played plenty of baseball already this weekend.
Travis starts and after a shaky start (3 consecutive hits to lead off the game) settles down an it's 3-2 Rats going into the bottom of the 7th. Dave Guadeloupe relieves Travis and Brattleboro scores 2 in the 7th and 4 in the 8th to win 9-2.
My arm is killing me. I made 2 or 3 throws in the field and that was more than enough. A little too much too early I think. I've got a week off to recover so I should be ok.
Travis starts and after a shaky start (3 consecutive hits to lead off the game) settles down an it's 3-2 Rats going into the bottom of the 7th. Dave Guadeloupe relieves Travis and Brattleboro scores 2 in the 7th and 4 in the 8th to win 9-2.
My arm is killing me. I made 2 or 3 throws in the field and that was more than enough. A little too much too early I think. I've got a week off to recover so I should be ok.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
May 2 - Baron's at Mustangs (PVOTB)
We (The Mustangs) have lost our 2 through 4 hitters this winter to various life events (having a baby, running for mayor (!?), etc.) and we were already short on players last season so now we're really short. Today we only have 8 players so we have to borrow a player from the Barons for defense and take an automatic out in our batting order on offense. Our infield is pretty solid but our centerfielder is usually an infielder and our borrowed right fielder clearly looks like he hasn't played in a while (maybe 30 years). Both of them are playing very deep which is typical for inexperienced outfielders - they'd rather come in on the ball than have it hit over their heads. The problem with this is that a lot of routine or poorly hit fly balls end up dropping in. Not exactly a prescription for a good start. I always like to have my outfield play on the shallow side. If the occasional ball is hit over their heads that's my fault but they can get to all the other balls hit and there are generally a lot more of them.
We are home team and start off with a quick top of the first turning a nice double play to end the inning. Our second baseman is left handed so he make a full turn on the pivot to first. It really shows why lefties shouldn't play second but he turns it never the less.
We go quietly in the bottom of the first and they score a couple in the second to take the early lead. We get one back on an errant throw to third (with 1 out and the automatic out on deck they'd have been out of the inning) to make it 2-1 and it stays like that for a few innings until they score 2 more. We can't get much going and that automatic out really hurts. Somewhere along the line we get another run to make it 4-2.
I don't have my curve working early (I really haven't had it working well since sometime last season) and it's clear I need to get it back so I'm only throwing curves while warming up between innings. In perhaps the 4th innning I finally regain it and this is a big help.
In about the 7th inning the outfield playing deep (along with a couple of errors in the infield) ends up costing us several runs as the Barons drop several what could be routine fly balls in front of the outfielders. We end up losing pretty badly (I don't know the final score) and it's not too encouraging. We really need to pick up a few more players at least so we don't have that automatic out in our lineup.
On the bright side I did get my curve working again for the first time in quite a while and I felt quite strong pitching all 9 innings with a bunch of "K"s. 0 for 4 at the plate wasn't much of a help though.
We are home team and start off with a quick top of the first turning a nice double play to end the inning. Our second baseman is left handed so he make a full turn on the pivot to first. It really shows why lefties shouldn't play second but he turns it never the less.
We go quietly in the bottom of the first and they score a couple in the second to take the early lead. We get one back on an errant throw to third (with 1 out and the automatic out on deck they'd have been out of the inning) to make it 2-1 and it stays like that for a few innings until they score 2 more. We can't get much going and that automatic out really hurts. Somewhere along the line we get another run to make it 4-2.
I don't have my curve working early (I really haven't had it working well since sometime last season) and it's clear I need to get it back so I'm only throwing curves while warming up between innings. In perhaps the 4th innning I finally regain it and this is a big help.
In about the 7th inning the outfield playing deep (along with a couple of errors in the infield) ends up costing us several runs as the Barons drop several what could be routine fly balls in front of the outfielders. We end up losing pretty badly (I don't know the final score) and it's not too encouraging. We really need to pick up a few more players at least so we don't have that automatic out in our lineup.
On the bright side I did get my curve working again for the first time in quite a while and I felt quite strong pitching all 9 innings with a bunch of "K"s. 0 for 4 at the plate wasn't much of a help though.
Friday, May 1, 2009
May 1 - Chicopee Skipmucks at Whately Pioneers
The real season starts this weekend with a Pioneers game Friday evening, a Mustangs (pvotb) game Saturday morning and a Fossils (crvbl) game Sunday morning. I pitch on all 3 teams and I used to think I should pace myself on weekends like this when I have a lot of games. Perhaps not pitch as much as I could in the first game or two so I'd have something left for the 3rd game. However at some point I decided the heck with that. I play one game at a time and do whatever it takes to win that game. I'll worry about tomorrow's game tomorrow.
The weather this weekend is kind of unsettled. Rain was called for Thursday night and Friday into Friday night but it didn't really materialize. We got a little rain Thursay night but it was just cloudy all day Friday with no rain.
I had a stiff neck and back of my pitching shoulder all day Friday. Not feeling that great. Probably from falling asleep on the couch last night watching the Red Sox game. I find it hard to get up for a game when I'm working all day and unsure until late in the afternoon if the game might be called off. I use the ride to the field (about 40 minutes for me today) to get up for the game.
I get to the field at about 5:10 (for a 6:00 game) and Albie and Spider were already there just starting to take BP. I hit after Spider then threw bp to Albie, Hammer, Nails and Pops. Throwing bp is a good way to warm up for a vintage game. It's a little hard warming up playing catch with someone because you don't really feel like it's ok to throw as hard as you might want to. You don't want to hurt someone warming up before the game. When throwing bp you can throw as hard as you want without worry about that. My arm felt loose and ready to go after bp. (I'd taken a couple of Advil at about 4:30 - a little early then I normally would have - to help l00sen up my neck and shoulder).
The game started on time and we were home team again. Buck claims this is the 5th coin toss in a row that he has won. My arm feels great and we get through the top of the first without giving up a run then score 2 in the bottom of the inning. A good start.
The rest of the game goes pretty much like the first inning. The team is hitting and fielding well and we keep tacking on few runs an inning while keep the Skipmucks scoreless until the 4th inning when they scratched out a run. Albie makes a couple of good plays at 2nd on some hard hit grounders and Spider and Hammer combine on a fantastic play on a slow hit ball to short that's dieing in the grass. Spider runs in, bare hands it and throws a seed to Hammer who stretches towards it and catches it one handed (remember he's only got a leather gardening glove on) to get the runner by half a step.
Murph is hitting the ball really well. He showed up in the bottom of the first and was inserted in the 5th spot in the batting order, stepping up to the plate 5 minutes, at most, after arriving and hits a bomb over the centerfielder's head for an rbi double. He rips another ball to left in a later at bat.
I ended up pitching 5 innings. Slappie pitched a 1,2,3 6th and the game was over. Skipmucks 4 Pioneers 11. Awesome steamed hotdogs and rolls courtesy of the Skipmucks and beer, chips and mango salsa courtesy of the Pioneers afterwards.
Tomorrow's Mustang's game is at 10:00am against the Barons. I can't wait.
The weather this weekend is kind of unsettled. Rain was called for Thursday night and Friday into Friday night but it didn't really materialize. We got a little rain Thursay night but it was just cloudy all day Friday with no rain.
I had a stiff neck and back of my pitching shoulder all day Friday. Not feeling that great. Probably from falling asleep on the couch last night watching the Red Sox game. I find it hard to get up for a game when I'm working all day and unsure until late in the afternoon if the game might be called off. I use the ride to the field (about 40 minutes for me today) to get up for the game.
I get to the field at about 5:10 (for a 6:00 game) and Albie and Spider were already there just starting to take BP. I hit after Spider then threw bp to Albie, Hammer, Nails and Pops. Throwing bp is a good way to warm up for a vintage game. It's a little hard warming up playing catch with someone because you don't really feel like it's ok to throw as hard as you might want to. You don't want to hurt someone warming up before the game. When throwing bp you can throw as hard as you want without worry about that. My arm felt loose and ready to go after bp. (I'd taken a couple of Advil at about 4:30 - a little early then I normally would have - to help l00sen up my neck and shoulder).
The game started on time and we were home team again. Buck claims this is the 5th coin toss in a row that he has won. My arm feels great and we get through the top of the first without giving up a run then score 2 in the bottom of the inning. A good start.
The rest of the game goes pretty much like the first inning. The team is hitting and fielding well and we keep tacking on few runs an inning while keep the Skipmucks scoreless until the 4th inning when they scratched out a run. Albie makes a couple of good plays at 2nd on some hard hit grounders and Spider and Hammer combine on a fantastic play on a slow hit ball to short that's dieing in the grass. Spider runs in, bare hands it and throws a seed to Hammer who stretches towards it and catches it one handed (remember he's only got a leather gardening glove on) to get the runner by half a step.
Murph is hitting the ball really well. He showed up in the bottom of the first and was inserted in the 5th spot in the batting order, stepping up to the plate 5 minutes, at most, after arriving and hits a bomb over the centerfielder's head for an rbi double. He rips another ball to left in a later at bat.
I ended up pitching 5 innings. Slappie pitched a 1,2,3 6th and the game was over. Skipmucks 4 Pioneers 11. Awesome steamed hotdogs and rolls courtesy of the Skipmucks and beer, chips and mango salsa courtesy of the Pioneers afterwards.
Tomorrow's Mustang's game is at 10:00am against the Barons. I can't wait.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
At Hartford Senators
Yesterday's game was played at the Hartford Senator's new field which is at the location where Hartford's last minor league team ( The Hartford Laurels) last played a game in 1952. Our game was to be the first base ball game at that location since 1952.
The field is just that - a field. No infield dirt, no mound, no backstop, not a true hop anywhere. This is really going to be old school base ball. The Friends of Vintage Base Ball are there helping to lay out the field for the game. They've set up a clothes line on stakes approximately where a backstop might be but when I asked about ground rules they say everything is in play. Cranks (fans) and players are sitting on the field side of the clothes line so I'm not sure what the point of it was.
The game started just like last week. Buck won the toss again (?!) and we took the field. The first striker (batter) hit a routine daisy cutter (ground ball) to short and the ball was muffed (misplayed) and the striker reached safely.
The temperature was in the 80's for the first time since last fall sometime and everyone is wilting a little in the heat but it is nice not to have to put a warm up jacket between innings. Hartford scored 3 in the top of the first but we came back with 2 in the bottom and then 3 more in the bottom of the second to take a 2 run lead but Hartford tallied 2 in the top of the 3rd and we were tied again. In the bottom of the 4th we scored 4 runs to take what seem to me like a comfortable lead but Hartford came charging back again in the top of the 5th with 4 runs of their own - 3 of them coming on a home run. We were tied again at 9.
After 5 innings I was done hurling and gave way to Bullet. Unfortunately the Senators weren't done hitting. They tallied 6 runs in the top of the 6th to take a commanding lead and never looked back scoring 4 more in the final 3 innings. We were able score a few more to make the final score a respectable 19-14.
In our defense, we were without 3 key players (Turk, Pops and Connie) and had only 9 players on a hot day. We've got another game against the Senators on May 24th. It should be a good one.
The field is just that - a field. No infield dirt, no mound, no backstop, not a true hop anywhere. This is really going to be old school base ball. The Friends of Vintage Base Ball are there helping to lay out the field for the game. They've set up a clothes line on stakes approximately where a backstop might be but when I asked about ground rules they say everything is in play. Cranks (fans) and players are sitting on the field side of the clothes line so I'm not sure what the point of it was.
The game started just like last week. Buck won the toss again (?!) and we took the field. The first striker (batter) hit a routine daisy cutter (ground ball) to short and the ball was muffed (misplayed) and the striker reached safely.
The temperature was in the 80's for the first time since last fall sometime and everyone is wilting a little in the heat but it is nice not to have to put a warm up jacket between innings. Hartford scored 3 in the top of the first but we came back with 2 in the bottom and then 3 more in the bottom of the second to take a 2 run lead but Hartford tallied 2 in the top of the 3rd and we were tied again. In the bottom of the 4th we scored 4 runs to take what seem to me like a comfortable lead but Hartford came charging back again in the top of the 5th with 4 runs of their own - 3 of them coming on a home run. We were tied again at 9.
After 5 innings I was done hurling and gave way to Bullet. Unfortunately the Senators weren't done hitting. They tallied 6 runs in the top of the 6th to take a commanding lead and never looked back scoring 4 more in the final 3 innings. We were able score a few more to make the final score a respectable 19-14.
In our defense, we were without 3 key players (Turk, Pops and Connie) and had only 9 players on a hot day. We've got another game against the Senators on May 24th. It should be a good one.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Baseball memories
I grew up in New York City but my parents bought a 2nd home in Vermont when I was 3 that we would drive to almost every weekend when I was little. On the drive south when going through Hartford, CT there was a lighted baseball field that the elevated highway went right by. I loved looking out at that field and the players as we drove by on a spring night. Today's game is on a field ajacent to that field.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Hartford Senators at Whately Pioneers
Yesterday was opening day for the 2009 outdoor season. The field was in beautiful shape, groomed and lined to perfection by Buck (the Pioneers' captain) who started at 8:00 in the morning to have it ready by 11:30 for warm ups. The weather was a little chilly but not bad - mid to high 50's(?) with a north wind (blowing out to left). Cloudy with a chance of a few sprinkles late in the afternoon. Not bad for April 19th.
In Vintage base ball the home team is decided by a coin toss and Buck, who lost almost every call he made last season, was giddy after winning the coin toss. Was this a good omen?
Buck informed me I was to be the starting hurler (the vintage term for pitcher) and would go 4 innings, Slappy would go the next 2 and Bullet would go the last 3. Sounded sensible to me although my first thought was I'd rather go 5. I didn't tell Buck this. Modern baseball rules state the starting pitcher must go 5 innings in order to qualify for the win.
Since we were the home team we were in the field first. I went out a took my warm up pitches.
I've been playing all winter but this is the first "real" game of 2009. During the winter I play with about 20 other players in one of those inflated domes. We pick new teams every 2 or 3 weeks but I'm always facing more or less the same batters so I get to know how to pitch everyone pretty well. This only my second season playing vintage so I don't know many of the players on other teams. Position in the batting order tells me a little about a player but not a lot. The 1 and 2 hitter are usually pretty fast runners and generally hit for a high average or at least are good at getting on base. Numbers 3, 4 and 5 are usually the power hitters. Numbers 6 on down are generally declining in average as you work your way down.
Another way I try to get a clue about hitters is taking a look at their practice swings when they're on deck or when they take a swing or two before they get into the batter's box. I figure when you take swings when you're on deck you are swinging at your ideal pitch. Is it a long swing (probably likes the ball out over the plate), a short compact swing (could be good at hitting inside pitches), a golf swing (likes the ball low)?
Anyway, I don't have much to go on with the Senator hitters. I'll just have to pitch my game and see what I can figure out as I go along. The first batter hit a fairly routine grounder to short but nothing is routine in vintage. The ball was bobbled and then dropped and the runner was on. He stole second a pitch or two later and eventually scored. 1-0 Senators going into the bottom of the first.
Our lead off batter, Turk, hit a long double and in our jubilation we forgot the first rule of baserunning in vintage baseball: always know were the ball is. While we were celebrating on the bench and Turk's back was turned the shortstop put the ball in his back pocket. The hurler took his position in the hurler's box and prepared for the next batter. Turk took his lead off second base and the shortstop calmly walked over, took the ball out of his pocket and tagged out Turk. All perfectly legal in vintage. Always know where the ball is. With the wind taken out of our sails we went down fairly easily in the first without scoring.
My 3rd inning of pitching was a long one. I believe we had a 4-3 lead going into the 3rd but an error to start the inning and few hits and another error later led to 4 Senator runs and a lot of pitches for me. Foul balls count as nothing in vintage - not a ball, not a strike - unless they are caught. Essentially they are a "do over". A batter who can foul off a lot of pitches can really wear a pitcher down. There we a lot of foul balls in the 3rd inning. Finally we got the 3rd out after the final batter had fouled of perhaps 8 or 10 pitches. He hit a ball to short that was thrown low to first but, miraculously, Hammer dug it out of the dirt. Picks like that in vintage are very dangerous - a good way to break a finger.
As I walked off the field after the 3rd inning Buck came up to me and I thought he was going to say he was going to bring Slappie in an inning early or remind me that I had only one more inning to pitch but instead he told me I'd be going 5 innings rather than 4. Be careful what you wish for! Of course I said "fine".
We scored a bunch of runs in the 4th and 5th innings and only gave up only 1 more. My last 2 innings went pretty easily and I handed the ball over to Slappie with an 11-7 lead and the chance to pick up a win. Slappie pitched a good 6th and Bullet came on to finish the job. The final score was 15-11 Pioneers.
The first game of the 2009 season is in the books but the Pioneeers will be visiting Hartford next Saturday and I'm sure they'll be looking to avenge the loss. I'm looking forward to it.
Please pass the Advil.
In Vintage base ball the home team is decided by a coin toss and Buck, who lost almost every call he made last season, was giddy after winning the coin toss. Was this a good omen?
Buck informed me I was to be the starting hurler (the vintage term for pitcher) and would go 4 innings, Slappy would go the next 2 and Bullet would go the last 3. Sounded sensible to me although my first thought was I'd rather go 5. I didn't tell Buck this. Modern baseball rules state the starting pitcher must go 5 innings in order to qualify for the win.
Since we were the home team we were in the field first. I went out a took my warm up pitches.
I've been playing all winter but this is the first "real" game of 2009. During the winter I play with about 20 other players in one of those inflated domes. We pick new teams every 2 or 3 weeks but I'm always facing more or less the same batters so I get to know how to pitch everyone pretty well. This only my second season playing vintage so I don't know many of the players on other teams. Position in the batting order tells me a little about a player but not a lot. The 1 and 2 hitter are usually pretty fast runners and generally hit for a high average or at least are good at getting on base. Numbers 3, 4 and 5 are usually the power hitters. Numbers 6 on down are generally declining in average as you work your way down.
Another way I try to get a clue about hitters is taking a look at their practice swings when they're on deck or when they take a swing or two before they get into the batter's box. I figure when you take swings when you're on deck you are swinging at your ideal pitch. Is it a long swing (probably likes the ball out over the plate), a short compact swing (could be good at hitting inside pitches), a golf swing (likes the ball low)?
Anyway, I don't have much to go on with the Senator hitters. I'll just have to pitch my game and see what I can figure out as I go along. The first batter hit a fairly routine grounder to short but nothing is routine in vintage. The ball was bobbled and then dropped and the runner was on. He stole second a pitch or two later and eventually scored. 1-0 Senators going into the bottom of the first.
Our lead off batter, Turk, hit a long double and in our jubilation we forgot the first rule of baserunning in vintage baseball: always know were the ball is. While we were celebrating on the bench and Turk's back was turned the shortstop put the ball in his back pocket. The hurler took his position in the hurler's box and prepared for the next batter. Turk took his lead off second base and the shortstop calmly walked over, took the ball out of his pocket and tagged out Turk. All perfectly legal in vintage. Always know where the ball is. With the wind taken out of our sails we went down fairly easily in the first without scoring.
My 3rd inning of pitching was a long one. I believe we had a 4-3 lead going into the 3rd but an error to start the inning and few hits and another error later led to 4 Senator runs and a lot of pitches for me. Foul balls count as nothing in vintage - not a ball, not a strike - unless they are caught. Essentially they are a "do over". A batter who can foul off a lot of pitches can really wear a pitcher down. There we a lot of foul balls in the 3rd inning. Finally we got the 3rd out after the final batter had fouled of perhaps 8 or 10 pitches. He hit a ball to short that was thrown low to first but, miraculously, Hammer dug it out of the dirt. Picks like that in vintage are very dangerous - a good way to break a finger.
As I walked off the field after the 3rd inning Buck came up to me and I thought he was going to say he was going to bring Slappie in an inning early or remind me that I had only one more inning to pitch but instead he told me I'd be going 5 innings rather than 4. Be careful what you wish for! Of course I said "fine".
We scored a bunch of runs in the 4th and 5th innings and only gave up only 1 more. My last 2 innings went pretty easily and I handed the ball over to Slappie with an 11-7 lead and the chance to pick up a win. Slappie pitched a good 6th and Bullet came on to finish the job. The final score was 15-11 Pioneers.
The first game of the 2009 season is in the books but the Pioneeers will be visiting Hartford next Saturday and I'm sure they'll be looking to avenge the loss. I'm looking forward to it.
Please pass the Advil.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Anticipation
The first outside game of the 2009 season is tomorrow. We (The Whately Pioneers) are playing the Hartford (CT) Senators. The Pioneers are a Vintage base ball team which means we play according to a set of rules that approximates rules that were in use in 1886.
The rules for pitching in Vintage makes pitching in these games very different from pitching in modern baseball. Rather than 4 balls and 3 strikes there are 7 balls, and 3 strikes. However, foul balls are not strikes so the batter could foul of the first 3 (or 20) pitches and the count would still be 0-0. This makes for very high pitch counts.
If the rule changes stopped here I'd say the advantage goes to the batter but there are more changes. The pitcher throws from a box that is 6 feet long and 4 feet wide with the front of the box at 50 feet from home plate. Since you must be in the box when you throw the ball this amounts to about 56 feet from the rubber (except there isn't one) to the plate. That's 4'6" closer than in modern baseball. In addition if the batter foul tips the ball and the catcher catches it it's an out. Also all check swings are strikes. Another hugh rule is that a pitch that hits a batter is just a ball. The batter is not awarded first, the ball is dead and no runners may advance. Ouch!
If that isn't enough changes for you try this: it's almost impossible to balk. The only balk is when the pitcher starts to pitch to the batter then stops and makes a pick off throw to a base. Anything else is allowed -fake a throw to a base then throw to the plate, quick pitch, hidden ball trick while in the pitching box and pretending to have the ball. No set position require, just throw the ball however you want whenever you want after doing pretty much whatever you want. It's pretty wild!
The hard part is making the transition from Vintage pitching to modern pitching. Since I pitch in both modern and Vintage games every week I really have to remind myself of which rules I'm playing by.
The other main difference between Vintage and modern baseball is that in Vintage the fielders use gloves that resemble leather work gloves - basically a leather work glove with an extra layer of leather in a few spots, with no webbing. The catcher's glove is a little bit larger and has a little bit more padding but still no webbing. And the catcher gets no shin guards - just a mask and a chest protector.
If you ever get the chance watch (or, better yet, play in) a vintage game don't pass it up. It's a whole different game and yet exactly the same.
The rules for pitching in Vintage makes pitching in these games very different from pitching in modern baseball. Rather than 4 balls and 3 strikes there are 7 balls, and 3 strikes. However, foul balls are not strikes so the batter could foul of the first 3 (or 20) pitches and the count would still be 0-0. This makes for very high pitch counts.
If the rule changes stopped here I'd say the advantage goes to the batter but there are more changes. The pitcher throws from a box that is 6 feet long and 4 feet wide with the front of the box at 50 feet from home plate. Since you must be in the box when you throw the ball this amounts to about 56 feet from the rubber (except there isn't one) to the plate. That's 4'6" closer than in modern baseball. In addition if the batter foul tips the ball and the catcher catches it it's an out. Also all check swings are strikes. Another hugh rule is that a pitch that hits a batter is just a ball. The batter is not awarded first, the ball is dead and no runners may advance. Ouch!
If that isn't enough changes for you try this: it's almost impossible to balk. The only balk is when the pitcher starts to pitch to the batter then stops and makes a pick off throw to a base. Anything else is allowed -fake a throw to a base then throw to the plate, quick pitch, hidden ball trick while in the pitching box and pretending to have the ball. No set position require, just throw the ball however you want whenever you want after doing pretty much whatever you want. It's pretty wild!
The hard part is making the transition from Vintage pitching to modern pitching. Since I pitch in both modern and Vintage games every week I really have to remind myself of which rules I'm playing by.
The other main difference between Vintage and modern baseball is that in Vintage the fielders use gloves that resemble leather work gloves - basically a leather work glove with an extra layer of leather in a few spots, with no webbing. The catcher's glove is a little bit larger and has a little bit more padding but still no webbing. And the catcher gets no shin guards - just a mask and a chest protector.
If you ever get the chance watch (or, better yet, play in) a vintage game don't pass it up. It's a whole different game and yet exactly the same.
Monday, April 13, 2009
About Terminator
Terminator has been pitching in adult baseball leagues in Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire since 1995. Since 2003, when an indoor baseball league was formed in Bernardston, MA., he has played year round. It was while pitching in this league that Terminator earned his nickname. Terminator has a rubber arm. In 2008 he pitched for 3 teams during the outdoor season in addition to playing indoor baseball during the winter months and racked up 314 1/3 innings. Terminator's won/lost record since 1999 (when he started keeping track) is 125 - 82 with 1623 2/3 innings pitched. During the 2008-09 winter season Terminator pitched 54 innings giving up only 3 earned runs for an era of 0.50.
For the 2009 outdoor season Terminator will again playing on 3 teams in 3 leagues: The Mustangs of the PVOTB, The Fossils of the CRVBL and the Whately Pioneers a vintage base ball club. This blog will follow Terminator throughout the season.
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