We're going steaking!
Man, is it tough going back to blog about a game that happened two weeks ago. Fortunately I started a couple thoughts before I took a hiatus, so hopefully we can pull together a vague outline of the day's events.
We played Game 3 against the Pioneer Red Stox. I don't get their name, but they probably would say the same about ours. The day was a hot one but apparently not hot enough for the woman who offered us firewood. Now, to go off on a bit of a tangent here, do you think there will ever be a day in your life, where you're in your backyard, and you see a group of 30 year old people getting ready to play softball, on a day that is 95 degrees and humid, and you offer them firewood? I'm guessing she might have been a few logs short of a campfire, if you get my drift.
Okay, back from the tangent. Because of the deplorable condition our field was in, we shifted over to a field that was more of a little league field than an adult softball field, and featured a yellow iron pole conveniently in right center field, supplemented by a telephone pole of some sort in right field. OSHA would have had a field day, if they decided to focus on making our recreational lives safer.
Anyhow... back to the game, as I look at the rumpled piece of paper that is our scoresheet, I'm reminded that I forgot the clipboard of power and had to borrow mooch a scoresheet from the other team. By the way, my use of "clipboard of power" is sort of an experiment, as currently there are only 8 results for this when you search for it (with quotes) on Google. Let's see how this blog does in the company of such sites as kivetonkatapultz.co.uk, dooyoo.co.uk, and six blog sites. Apparently only the English and bloggers would think to string those three words together. But I digress, yet again.
Looking at the rumpled piece of paper that is our scoresheet, I'm reminded that we ended a couple streaks on that fateful day. The first was the end of our 2-game streak without a home run, as Eagle and Pitts both homered in the top first, although Pitts was a bit more legitimate of a home run, as Eags might have benefited from prodigious base running and not so prodigious throwing by the Stox. So the game started out strong for the thirds, with five runs getting knocked in on 6 hits and a walk. We finished the bottom first with a 1-2-3 inning on five pitches, and rolled into the second with a strong 5-0 lead.
The top of the second was also decent with two runs scored on two doubles and what appeared initially to be a dead mosquito on the scoresheet, but upon closer inspection was a triple by Sean where he was left stranded on base. The Stox scored one on a semi-close play where the third base coach sent a runner home by yelling "We need the runs!" So it was 7-1 exiting the second, but I'm guessing either my foreshadowing or your memories will tell you how the game played out.
We fell apart offensively in the top third, with two walks, a strikeout and two fly-outs. And that's when the Stox began their offensive march, bringing it to 7-5. The Stox held us to an automatic out-2-3 inning in the top fourth, but added two runs to their tally to bring it to 7-7. We would score but once more in the game, and would lose by at least five runs, as that's the point when the scorekeeping for the other team stops.
In case you're wondering about the other streak that ended, I ended a 22-month streak without a hamstring injury resulting from softball. So more of a personal streak, and a rather specific one at that, but a streak is a streak.
On the bright side, we're now at a 2-game losing streak.
There were some other bright spots during the game, including an outfield assist from Sean in left to Ryan at third for an out. Lindsey also took one for the team, taking a hard slide into second and getting rewarded with a bloody ankle for her efforts.
And there were the areas of improvement, such as seeing Brian round second and have to ask the base coach mid-stride "What am I doing?!" I got a pretty good view of that one, given that I was standing by the bag, "coaching third."
Anyhow... so there it is. A delayed, rambling post. Hope you enjoyed it.
Discusson Question:
- Is this image real or Photoshopped? Nevermind. I really don't want to know.
Fun Fact:
- The frozen confection that Brian and Ryan were debating the name of is called a screwball. Yippee.
Update: I can't believe it. We're DEAD LAST in the Google ranking for "clipboard of power." We're even behind the curlerchik knits and Yarn Harlot blogs. Double-you tee eff.
Rule of the Week - The Infield Fly Rule
So this didn't happen in this week's game, but it seems to be the most commonly cited arcane baseball rule. So here we go:
The Infield Fly Rule
When less than two outs
Force at third, fly to infield
Ump calls batter out
- Recap: N/A
- Explanation: Rule 6.05(e) with a definition in Section 2.00. I'll use the Wikipedia summary here:
The infield fly rule applies only when there are fewer than two outs, and there is a force play at third (runners on first and second base, or bases loaded). In these situations, if a fair fly ball is hit that, in the umpire's judgment, is catchable by an infielder with ordinary effort, the batter is out regardless of whether the ball is actually caught in flight. The rule states that the umpire is supposed to announce, "Infield fly, if fair." If the ball will be almost certainly fair, the umpire will likely yell, "Infield fly, batter's out!" or just "Batter's out!" Umpires also typically raise one arm straight up to signal to everyone that the rule is in effect.
- Enforceable: N/A - I'm not sure how you could mess this up, since the ump is going to call it. Perhaps the ump owes a pitcher if he messed this up?
Eye of the Liger?
Despair.com hit the nail right on the head with this one. I'm pretty sure they were talking about The Idiots, but figured they'd find more of a market tailoring it to the corporate world.
Plus, there's really not much in the way of photographic evidence of any of the more idiotic things we've done. The closest I could come up with comes from the Hot Dog Eating Contest of 2006, in which Ryan and I ate six Spike's Hot Dogs and got a t-shirt and our picture on the wall for our efforts. Derek wisely stopped after four and Sean couldn't get the last 1/8 of his hot dog down. And we all suffered meat strokes/hangovers after. So that could make a passable poster...
But I digress... for those that missed the drink-up, this topic came up, which is why this is the lead-in to this week's recap.
Speaking of the recap (nice segue, eh?), we played but five innings out in Wayland, as apparently each team going through the batting order and drawing walks every inning takes a while. The IGMW bats opened big in the first inning--no, that's not entirely true. We recorded four singles and four walks in the first inning, with a sacrifice fly (Sean), a fielder's choice, and an automatic out to end the inning. This gave their starting pitcher a staggering 8.00 WHIP, 35.00 ERA. Brian's 18.20 ERA outing for the day looks magical. And yes Brian, I already deducted runs for errors.
Going back to the top of the first, we saw a very delayed example of tagging up when Eagle waited until the ball was on it's way back from the center fielder to start running from third. But he made it to home safe for the first run. And that's all for the top first.
The Electric Mayhem came back strong in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 5-5. The Thirds continued their mix of singles and walks in the second, until Mayhem brought in a relief pitcher who notched a fielder's choice and a fly out to end the inning, ending the Third's four-run inning.
Again, the Electric Mayhem came back and tied the game at 9-9, then got the go-ahead runs before the top third when the umpire assessed the missing women penalty. Fortunately, IGMW scored two in the top three to again tie the game. We then held them to a 1-2-3 inning featuring Pitts on a nice 6-3, Pitts again on a fly out, and then unfortunately Brian selfishly notched the 1-3 out to prevent Pitts from having an All-Pitts Inning. However, Mayhem retired our side just as easily in the top fourth. They scored 6 runs to give them 17-11 lead going into the top 5th, where we left two stranded to end the game.
Although we did have a couple of errors in this game, it seemed that Mayhem really knew just where--and how--to hit it. When we played at normal depth, they bombed it over our heads; when we played deep they dropped it in front of us. So perhaps this game was not to be.
So a couple other tidbits from the game:
- Sean went 0-for-0 in three plate appearances, recording two walks and a sacrifice fly, for an infinite batting average! Okay that's not really true, the limit of his batting average is infinity as his At Bats approach zero. Baseball and Math Geeks unite!
- There were no extra base hits; the Thirds are now strangely riding a two game streak without a home run.
We also had a further discussion on At Bat Songs at the drink-up... below are the latest additions/updates to the current lineup of songs. The general rule is that you're free to suggest a song you might like to hear as you're stepping from the on-deck circle to the batter's box. We're free to choose a more appropriate song, should we think of one. I know you're saying that we've often talked about this without getting it together, but there's one factor that could make it work this year... Brian has a boombox!
Okay, this is a rather long write-up so time to call it quits. Also, in case you didn't notice it, I also posted the first Rule of the Week. I'm a blogging machine.
Oh, I guess you might be wondering about the title of today's blog. More likely you forgot, but I'll let that slide, it's a long post. So the title ("Eye of the Liger", on the off-chance you forgot) popped into my head sorta randomly, and then proving what a wonderful thing the Internet is, I found a YouTube video of the same name. This is also worth watching. It's shot using the gritty documentary-style camera work of the Blair Witch Project. I like that the actors decided to not sacrifice their artistic integrity, even if it meant posting a video that will be truly embarrassing in five years time. Stick around for the rocking song during the end credits.
Fun fact:
Rule of the Week - The Ryan Rule
So by popular demand at today's drink-up, we're adding a new feature to this here blog... the Rule of the Week. Hopefully it'll highlight a rule that came in to play during that week's game. Or it might just be a completely arcane rule. Who knows. And since we all love haikus, the rule will first be stated in haiku form, followed by bullet-point details, since I love bullet points.
I would like to propose that those rules deemed to be "enforceable" get added to the list of violations that result in owing the team a pitcher, the others being a strikeout and base running errors. Can I get a second? Thank you. All in favor? Motion carries.
Without further ado, I present "The Ryan Rule." I realizing this is sort of like naming a disease after the person who discovered it, but whatever.
The Ryan Rule
When catching flyballs
Running off the field of play
Advances runners
- Recap: Ryan caught a pop-fly and his momentum carried him out of the area designated in play; the runners on first and second advanced.
- Explanation: This is the result of 7.04(c) - "If the fielder or catcher, after having made a legal catch, should fall into a stand or among spectators or into the dugout after making a legal catch, or fall while in the dugout after making a legal catch, the ball is dead and runners advance one base without liability to be put out."
- Enforceable: No. This seems a bit much to enforce it in D league softball.
Stay tuned for the regular recap, sometime later this week...
Worst. Write-up. Ever.
Okay... the first post of the 2008 season. You're going to need to bear with me here, I've got a couple factors working against me: first, it's been a week since the game I'm about to blog about, and second, I'm hungover. I'm used to playing this way, but not blogging. Let's see how it goes.
Looking at the scorecard, we won 8-7 over the TBD's, with Brian pitching the complete game victory (1-0, 4.00 ERA). I'm arbitrarily knocking a few runs off for Brian's ERA to account for a few errors that occurred during the game. More on that later. I'm also arbitrarily electing to state that all plays happened in the second inning for convenience reasons.
Only one game ball is being awarded this week, and it goes to Shannon who was optioned off of Class A Boston to help fill gaps in our lineup. Shannon played a solid first base, including making a nice stretch for the ball to record the second out in the bottom 2nd. At the plate, she went 3 for 3 with a walk. Nice job.
Overall, it wasn't our strongest showing defensively. There were a number of missed grounders, including double misses when both the fielder and their backup(s) missed the ball. Our middle infield had trouble converting double plays, or even single plays for that matter. To be perfectly fair, it was more with one side of the middle infield than the other, but I don't want to point fingers at anyone, not even Mario.
At the plate a few people had trouble adjusting to the 1-1 starting count and the umpire's pitcher-friendly strike zone. As one of those people, I owe a pitcher at our next drink up for striking out. What else... Sean went 4 for 4... I don't think anyone got a home run... Briggs did her best Kevin Youkilis impression, drawing two walks for 0.500 OBP... Pitts was called out for stepping out of the batter's box in an attempt to protect the strike zone. That's sort of all I remember/can come up with from the scorecard.
Moving on, there was the umpire. Nice, friendly guy, pleasant demeanor. All words you wouldn't use to describe him. Interesting, perhaps. Crotchety, certainly. He did threaten to keep us for fielding practice after witnessing Mario's the middle infield's meltdown. And then he marched out to the field and appeared to offer their middle infield tips on turning a double play. This was after berating them in the 2nd for switching positions while our batter was in the box.
It was unusually quiet during the game, as Ryan wasn't there to provide his brand of infield chatter, commenting on Brian's pitching, passing clouds that look like ducks, what he had for breakfast (Hot Pockets), etc. Even though our infield was quiet, we were a team. The same can't be said for the TBD's, whose pitcher threw a hissy fit in the second and refused to throw to first after a failed 1-3 play. Stay classy, TBD second-string pitcher.
Well, that brings us to the end of the inaugural post. Hopefully the next post will go a little smoother.
Fun facts:
- The lead guitarist for Cracker, who resurfaced from well, I don't know where, to play at Earth Fest on Saturday, is named Johnny Hickman.
- Also performing at Earth Fest were the BoDeans who sang the song "Good Things" and Cake who gained fame in the 70s with their hit song "I Will Survive." Or perhaps the 90s by covering someone else's song. Whatever.
Discussion questions:
- Is it strange that the purported hick from the first fun fact is wearing a "got root" t-shirt? Does this imply that he is not truly a hick, or does it imply that he is some sort of hick-geek hybrid?
- Remember back in college, you thought it was so unique that your school had a capella groups and chalk drawings on sidewalks and blue lights? What a crock.
Gillette Way @42.610520, -71.163810
P&G Field sits in the middle of a rather industrial area, with trains rumbling by every so often, and industrial-type announcements and sirens blaring somewhat regularly. The infield is covered in light growth, but the outfield is neatly mowed, with patches of brown indicating a shortage of recent precipitation.
This is not what makes the field noteworthy; what makes it noteworthy is a fence around the outfield, at a distance of about 280 feet from the plate. It is over this fence that Brian crushed a ball. That it was a girl's ball didn't matter. Nor did it matter that the ball was pitched by Lindsey; what matters is that it was out of the park. Lindsey was pitching only because the heat and sun had reduced the previous pitcher to lurching around after softballs on the ground, as if Frankenstein's monster took to the field. That pitcher was Eagle.
This was not a game, this was batting practice. The game had been called as we were one person short of being able to play.
To borrow from last year, when we borrowed from TS Eliot:
This is the way the season ends
This is the way the season ends
This is the way the season ends
Not with a game but a forfeit.
Signing off for the last time,
El Capitan
Doo doo doo doo, doo-doo, do-wah!
Sunday saw the Thirds in a bit of jam, as always. No, Mario did show up. He was actually on time. Early, even. But we were down 5-4 in the bottom 6th, and needed a big win to keep in the Silver playoff bracket. Would the Thirds/Teals/Sapphires hold on? Or would they be demoted to the Bronze bracket? Stay tuned for the dramatic conclusion of July 22nd Sunday D-League Coed Softball... but first, we start at the beginning!
Most of the team got there surprisingly early, which meant they were all in time to watch the dismal display that was the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment. What's supposed to happen is that when you put Footos, err Mentos, in a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke, you get a big geyser that looks like this, or maybe even this. But not when we tried at Cabot field. Perhaps it was the lack of goggles and a lab coat.
We saw a lot of unusual happenings in this game. In no particular order, they are:
- The use of the word "ergo" to explain to the other team why a dropped ball was foul... Ump: "The fielder was in fair territory, the ball was in foul territory, ergo foul ball."
- A lack of errors by the Thirds
- A game ball apparently awarded to me by Sean. I think this was a split decision between me and Ryan, who should receive some sort of film award for treating us to the first live slow-motion instant replay in the history of Sunday D-League Coed Softball, as he rounded the bases on his dinger in the bottom of the 4th
Now, back to our recap. The score was 4-4 going into the fifth, including the two penalty runs assessed for our one girl shortage that were awarded to whatever BSSC Indies team we were playing. The Indies went up by one in their half of the inning, with the bottom of the Thirds order, cemented by Basil-Mario-Automatic Out, going oh-fer. But we held the Indies scoreless in the top of the 6th which brought us to...
The bottom of the 6th...
Obviously.
Eagle stepped up to the plate and kicked off the inning with a single. Three batters later, we had tied it up and had the bases juiced. We ended up keeping the bases loaded, scoring six before the Indies recorded the third out, and managed to keep them scoring in the top 7 to end the game. Not to say we were flawless. We almost ended the rally in Yakety-Sax fashion (though we still would have won) when I was following Karen S around the bases and ran through an apparent stop sign by Eagle as I turned second. When I realized he was trying to hold us, I turned back towards second--to many screams of "Go back!"--to see the ball being thrown to third. Which is when I reached second and saw that Karen had left the safety of third and was also heading back to second. But fortunately the gods of comic relief had induced plenty of throwing and fielding errors for the Indies, and we both ended up safely on base.
So yes, we won. An astute reader would have realized we won due to the awarding of game balls several paragraphs up. Sorry if I ruined the cliffhanger. Jen took the victory, giving up just one earned run (1.17 ERA), while Brian gave up two runs in the first inning (0.00 ERA, according to Brian's scoring rules).
At the end of the regular season, our record stands at 4-4, which it would have been last year except for the two games we tied because of two-run penalties. And now, we move on to the Silver playoffs...
Not-so-fun fact:
- The reasons behind why Diet Coke shoots in the air when Mentos get dumped in are many, but boring. I won't recap them here.
Fun, but debatable fact:
Rain Delay!
So, I told Basil I'd blog the game he missed. I don't know if that game was before or after the game Basil blogged about below, as I don't really remember many details.
I know we had a brief rain delay. We discussed playing in the rain, but the team was split. But we ended up playing.
Dave made a really great falling/diving catch (this isn't meant to be a slight, I really forget) and then promptly hit an opposite field homer onto the little league field in right.
I'm giving myself the good sport award for yelling at Sean and threatening to quit, in the middle of the game. Which we were winning. Stay classy, Ryan.
Finally, there was a play where a girl from the other team was running to third and half slid / half barreled into me that resulted in the two of us being tangled up in a borderline inappropriate position, involving my arm between her legs. I've spent a lot of time trying to forget.
This, no joke, is all I remember from this game. And I only just remembered the girl who humped my arm this morning, and that may not have been from this game. I suck.
