LAST GAME RESULTS
29TH ST 29ERS
11
SUNSET NOBLES
9
RECAP: You may as well get comfy and prepare yourself for disappointment as I had about every member of our squad plus a few morbidly curious Nobles asking me what I was going to write about this game. I'm not sure I can capture the feelings of these games as well as I was, to be honest. Main thing is the post-game drinking session that kind of leaves me scrambling for details when I finally get around to writing the thing. With that in mind . . .
The game itself started out exciting and interesting, with our taking a two-run lead in the first off of Noble bullpen rock Craig "I Don't Slide" Matoes. I broke my hideous 2-17 with a single up the middle off of a signature Matoes slow curve (before letting him, one of the most accessible pitchers in the league, dominate me the rest of the way). Ricky had a single, Bobby followed with an RBI double to score him, and Craig with an RBI single to score Bobby. It seems simple when you write it out like that.
Ryan Gantz started for us and looked sharp through three, but with two outs in the fourth he lost his control and couldn't get out of the inning. Louie came in and mopped up the bases loaded situation and did his best to navigate a tight strike zone by first-time umpire Andrew Gomez, who in my estimation did a great job considering.
By the top of the fifth, we starting stalling a bit, with the Nobles pulling ahead to a 9-4 lead on some timely hits, including an RBI single from .426-hitting Sam Bull, who was coerced into playing RF for them in exchange for ad clicks on his blog. Actually a pretty well played move and no, I don't think I'm above that at all. As part of my policy agreement I'm legally not allowed to talk about ad clicks or even encourage people to click them, so I can't even go there if I wanted to, but really, if you need a stainless steel water bottle or were thinking about going back to school via the Internet, by all means, don't let me stop you.
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| This not even mildy embarrassing photo of Sam Bull in Shane "Jock Jams" Crosby's jersey was the best I could do. I would fire me, too. |
Anyhow, Bull's line drive single into right (which was kind of a beauty in its own right) led that same Matoes from above to come barreling around third and towards home plate as Will fielded the ball cleanly and fired it in to Brandon, who was positioned to catch the ball and unfortunate enough to be in Matoes' way for the second time this season. Again, Matoes crashed into him and sent him tumbling as he daintily stepped on home, but at least this time Brandon didn't have to get walked to General Hospital in the middle of the game to fix his broken nose, and with nary an apology from the guy himself. And as Brandon was collecting himself, the back runner scooted in as well (although that's sorta on Louie for not backing up the play as the pitcher should). Eh, that's baseball, I guess, although it led me into a sort of temporary rage. Out of which, I'll point out, the always affable and LOTR-loving Dave Gardner tried to talk me. I sort of walked away, but it was a cute little moment in an otherwise annoying situation. Sorry (again) Brandon. Nothin' but love for ya, Dave.
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| "I Don't ... Slide" |
Pat added an RBI fielder's choice in the bottom half of that inning to make it 9-5 Nobles.
We come to the bottom of the sixth, where Craig pops up to "Backhand" Bill Sandburg and Bill makes his one error of the day when in general he was out there rewriting the position. Ryan McCauley singles and takes second on a ball that bounces over Gardner's head in left. Louie comes up and hits a deep shot into the right-center gap that somehow centerfielder Charlie got leather on but dropped for a long RBI single and set up one of the most dramatic moments of the season to date.
With the score now 9-6 and runners on the corners, up comes "Big" Mike, with only one game under his belt after a stint on the DL. I think the count was 2-1, but who really gives a shit because when that Matoes soft ball came floating in, Mike absolutely punished that thing over the deep left field fence and into the nearly mature trees growing there. Our bench erupted as we had tied the game and were welcoming back from injury a new sort of folk hero in 29ers' lore. It also led me to talk about this literary device for the next twenty minutes straight:
Thank you, Mike. Thank you for making things right in the universe again.
As I am now a terrible hitter, I ended the rally with Colin and Will on second and first by popping out to ... Craig Matoes. Since I didn't get my own personal sense of justice fulfilled I have to take it out on the blog. Sorry but that's just the way it is. In exchange you get to compare me to a racist Tea Party member if doing that sort of thing makes you feel better.
With the score now knotted at 9-9 coming into the bottom of the seventh, Ricky leads off with a walk and Pat grounds into a fielder's choice that moves Ricky to second. Bobby muscled a go-ahead RBI double into the left field fence to score Ricky that was nearly a homer itself, and we now had the lead, 10-9. Louie kept the newly tamed Nobles at bay the remainder of the way, as we manufactured an insurance run on McCauley's double, me calling for Louie's perfectly executed sacrifice bunt to move him to third, and Mike's sac fly to score him. 11-9, and that would be your final, thank God.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: In case you skipped all that up there (and I don't blame you if you did) the POTG was obviously MIKE. I had to leave myself at least a few choice lines to mention here but I pretty much gushed during the recap itself when I called him a "folk hero" and said he set the universe on its proper course again (before any of you News correct me that the universe is not on a course, I KNOW). Mike went 2-3 with a double, a HR, a Sac Fly, 1 run scored and 5 RBIs. That's gonna be hard to top when I unleash my new "bunt every single time up" strategy next week against The Cleaners.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS!: Ricky Rein (2-2, 2B, 2BB, 3R)
Ryan McCauley (3-4, 2B, 3R)
Bobby Renz (2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI, R)
"Tequila" Bill Buss (2-3)
DRIVE OF THE GAME: Um, the dinger. See above.
PLAY OF THE GAME: You know what I liked? I liked calling for and getting Brandon's gun to second to get one of the Nobles who was taking their typical league-leading lead halfway to third. I love when guys get burned on that after being completely ridiculous with how far they go to the next bag. It also completely killed their building rally, so that was ... cool? Nice throw, bud.
STATS
Trick, no stats yet. I'm working on that now but I wanted to get this posted sooner. I'll be working on them during the Giants game.
NEXT GAME
Sunday, 11 August
vs
The Cleaners From Richmond
(although I wish these guys were playing instead):
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