LAST GAME RESULTS
29TH ST 29ERS
11
BERKELEY NÜS
7
Here we go again, 29ers. This is when I become the beast of blogden you all so desperately want me to be. I'm . . . I'm okay with that. Hopefully it's a lot like last season, where I made you guys laugh and made the rest of the league despise me/all of us by extension. Looking forward to that!
Apologies for no recaps for the first four games, and just the lump of stats that you'll see at the end instead of the week-by-week ones you (sort of?) deserve. I'll break down a couple things real quickly here:
- Craig's been on a monstrous early season tear, and although statisticians disagree on how to measure "clutchness," if they finally got their shit together and found a way to gauge it, his output so far would be a perfect example. Late-inning big hits, including a season-opening walk-off double to score Zack from first, game-tying bottom of the ninth 2-out, 2-strike single in the second game, a booming run-scoring double on Sunday, others I'm sure I'm forgetting. You have to admit he's been producing like the freak he is in the fifth spot.
- Miles Atkinson, who just recently told me he can't see Brandon's signs due to nearsightedness, has somehow managed to transform his eyes into a FoxTrax or PitchfX box or whatever those annoying calibrated laser strike zone things are. The man seems like he's talking a walk more than half of his PAs and even if the stats don't agree I'll make them agree so I look better. Zack's BB title from last year has some major competition it looks like.
- Zack is being Zack, sort of enough said. What a quiet, humble dude who is just always so relaxed and able to offer advice while never being obnoxious about it, knowing when guys need space after a strike out or frustrating at bat or when they might need some gentle words of encouragement after same. So consistent both on the mound and in the box, we really are lucky to have him and although we all know we love 'em, I'd say he's one of the most undervalued players in the league. Great start to his season so far.
RECAP: You already all know how big every game against the News is. If it's not perfectly clear, here's why: you can never expect them to lose. And we can't rely on any other team to beat them consistently. Because they're really good. So every time we play them, a win is worth one for us, plus a loss for them. I . . . think that means something? Like playing within your division? It's doubly important to win those games?
Anyway, we busted out of the gate, scoring three in the first in a hit parade that featured a Lennen double followed by back-to-back RBI singles by Bobby and Craig, a walk by Zack (go figure), the first of four hits from Miles, and an RBI single from Lunch. All with two outs, and almost all shot through the formidable left side of the News' defense. I wanna say our left side defense is best in the league, but I'm obviously biased. If it's not ours, it's the combination of Will Cornyn and Brian Huey -- they don't let a lot get by. Of course there wasn't much they could do as the hits were all rockets right through that 5.5 hole, but you just don't see stuff get through them. It was great to watch, especially after scoring one run last week.
Then I took the mound, and . . . well, it started out with a hell of a lot of promise. I can't lie, I was nervous, but after striking out the first two News of the game, giving up a single to Raf (no one should ever feel bad about that), then inducing a weak groundball on three straight breaking balls to his brother, I thought I had it. I . . . did not have it. After a stressful second inning where we managed to escape with only one run scoring, I unraveled. Not locating, hitting various Newsboys, it was bad, but I managed to remove myself before I thought it was really gonna get nasty. Zack, bless him, came in with zero warning, inheriting a bases loaded, no out situation, and he wasn't even supposed to be there that day. After a Gordon "Male Model" Papaduik 2-run single, Zack said uh-uh and shut the door, leaving it 6-3.
A string of uncharacteristically awful News defense in the fourth led us to within two of tying, and we had the top of the order up in the fifth. Rickey led off with a single, followed by my vain attempt to get a sacrifice bunt down (did I mention I'm doing bunting practice tonight?) -- Pat hit a line-drive single that put men on first and second. Craig came up and hit a booming, sky-high double to deep left-center that brought both runners in, and we had a tie game. That must have made the News nervous, because they pulled Raf for their fireballing but insanely wild new pitcher, whom Huey had never before seen throw. Which is a good thing because had Brian known just how bad he was at throwing strikes we may have never seen him. 4 walks and a hit batsman later gave us a two-run lead, the rally ending abruptly on a seemingly cunning but extremely ill-advised sneak suicide squeeze attempt.
"Mike" was out after that inning, and now thinking back on it, they gave him two mound visits in that inning. We could have had him pulled then, and I would have been simultaneously lauded for my prowess and ridiculed for my pettiness. Ah well. Next time. I promise I will at least try to pull some crafty manager shenanigans this year, even if just for my own amusement. The seventh saw us facing Kevin (?), a seriously nice guy whom I remember was the first, loudest, and most sincere New to congratulate me after winning Game 3 last season at Potrero. Craig led off with a single and then. . .
The blast. A 2-1 count. Here's one of the main things about Zack's home run at bat: Wario, our completely well-meaning and good-natured but wildly inconsistent home plate umpire, called a strike from which Zack had to spin away. You all know how Zack is in the box. He doesn't spin out of the way of strikes. BUT! I would like to personally thank Wario for calling that a strike, because had the count been 3-0 instead of 2-1, I'm not sure Zack would have been ready to tag the mf'ing life out of that baseball. The pure, unadulterated *thwock* of the bat on ball ringing so loudly; the ball's trajectory so magnificent; the sight of the News' outfielders sprinting back toward the fence, getting smaller and smaller. Man, I love the baseball. And I love The Wiz. Thank you.
That put us up by four, 10-6. The News would add a fielder's choice RBI on our near double play on Huey, but we got the run back in the ninth after Pat's second double and pair of singles from Zack and Miles.
It was a physically and emotionally exhausting game, with a bit of chirpiness from both sides, although it was all pretty harmless. To be honest, I'm glad we don't have to play them for another seven weeks or so -- I couldn't take this too often.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Well, duh. It's both a relief and kind of a backhanded bummer when the PotG is so clear, because it makes my job easier but also doesn't lend itself to any creativity behind picking the player himself. But of course it's Zack. I'm starting to feel like I'm gushing here, and I guess this whole post has been sort of an open love letter to The Wiz, but eff it, so be it. I'm not only personally grateful to him because he came in and cleaned up my mess, going 7 innings while allowing only one run (!) but also 2-3 with the HR, a single, 2 runs scored and 2 walks. Have a frickin day, and stop making the rest of us look like circa '13 Nobles.
DRIVE OF THE GAME: Because we can't let Zack have all the laurels, and because Craig has earned a few of these for games I lazily didn't recap, I'm gonna skip the glory that was the dinger and go with Craig's 2-run double in the fifth. It's not only another example of what he's been doing through the first quarter of the season, it drastically changed the face of the ballgame and gave us some real momentum to keep fighting back. A week after not being able to get that one big hit with guys on base, almost every man in the lineup, and especially Craig in the fifth inning, showed us how it's done.
PLAY OF THE GAME: A couple plays stood out for me on Sunday. With the bases loaded and the infield pulled in early to prevent the game from getting out of hand, Bobby made an adroit play on a grounder by ranging to his left, spinning, and firing home for out. Textbook stuff, still impressive when it actually works in this league.
Ryan McCauley's two lasers to second base to catch News trying to stretch doubles warrant mention. The first one wasn't handled properly by the 29ers incompetent second baseman, but the next throw was an absolute seed right on the bag, so the fielder could catch the ball and barely move his glove to make the tag on the sliding runner . . .(leading to the
MANAGER-BASED EMBARRASSMENT OF THE GAME): all while softly saying "See ya!" while applying said tag, then running off the field and flipping the ball to the mound, looking incredulously around for nonexistent high-fives and glove slaps, until, horrified, understanding there were only two outs and having to run back to his position, glove over face (which matched his uniform color). What's up with that dude?
HANDICAPPED YET STILL EXOTIC ANIMAL SIGHTING OF THE GAME: This guy:
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| LOL (photo credit: Drill Buss) |
Here's the whole deal:
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| "Stern faces, like old-timey baseball players" Oh, okay. |
I have to wait on my updated version of the stat program I use to get those all inputted for you guys so you're gonna have to wait just a wee bit longer on those (should be by later this evening or tomorrow). But here's to the first 25% of the season. Keep it up, boys, coz you can tell we got our work cut out for us.
NEXT GAME
Saturday 18 May
vs
Brians of DC
. . . don't know where yet but you'll know when I know
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