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!

• Brian - "Material Girl"
• Kristen - "Thunderstruck"
• Karen S - "Eye of the Tiger" - If you watch any of these videos, watch this one. This features Brian in a wig playing lead tambourine.
  
• Lindsey - "Shipping Up to Boston"
• Pitts - "Super Mario Brothers Theme"
  

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:

• Smoking jackets were in fact intended to prevent the "sensitive and delicate nostrils of ladies" from being "assailed by the pungent fumes of tobacco clinging to everyday clothing." That's good work Lindsey. According to Cigar Afficionado, smoking jackets are an "all-purpose, at-home entertaining jacket." I don't know... this article was published 9 years ago and I still haven't met anyone rocking a smoking jacket at a social gathering.
  

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...