29ers Win Game; Beers Win Hearts and Minds

What else is there to say about playing the Beers other than, "fuck yes".  There's nothing like a good reminder of what's really important in the PCHL, nay, life, than when your team has the privilege of stepping on the field with the Beers.  Playing the Beers is, for me, like traveling back through time to visit my adolescent self playing baseball out front, using a car bumper as the right field pole and the tree across the street as the left, with the kids from my block literally the entire fucking day, albeit with considerably more booze and... uhhh... PED's(?) nowadays.    Baseball is fucking fun, man, at it's core, I mean.  Sometimes we all have a tendency to get caught up in the bullshit behind the scenes stuff; who should play where, what another team is doing, (over)analyzing the numbers, etc.  That's not to say thinking about the game in several dimensions doesn't add a depth to the game that makes it less boring than otherwise; I like that side of it a lot (if you couldn't tell).  At the end of the day we're out there playing some fucking baseball on the goddamn weekend with our buddies, and that's cool no matter how you slice it.  A Saturday with the Beers is a good sorta 'reset' on what we're all doing, why we show up, what good sportsmanship is really like, and a general reminder that although we may be on separate teams, we're all on this broader team of outcasts that is the PCHL, together.

I think I can safely speak for everyone on the 29ers when I say you guys are a class fucking act, and it's a genuine pleasure to get out there and compete with you guys every time.

Fuck yeah, Beers.  God bless each one of your mothers for birthing you.



GAME RECAP | 29ers 15 - Beers 1

I'm not going to spin my wheels too much on this one by going over each play-- I'll summarize the main points.  We won.  It was absolutely necessary to walk away with the "W" and we executed.  Good work, gents.

According to the book we scored 15 runs, although, for whatever reason, I thought we'd only scored 13(?)  Naturally, I'll defer to 15.  The Beers were held to one late inning run.  I'm told that run differential won't come into play for the post-season, but wanting to leave nothing to chance, we wanted to make sure and pad the differential.  Hopefully any perception of running up the score can be excused as a result-- we're in crunch time over here after all.

Miles was on the bump in this one and pitched really well; just a couple of walks(!)  I think he beaned James twice, but, ummm, sometimes you gotta bean someone?  James made sure to show us his lumps after the game; two big ones on his right arm.  Other than that, I don't know, it's hard to poke holes when someone pitches seven innings of one run ball.  Good job, Miles.  I don't know whether I'm more impressed with his pitching line or the fact that he walked twice, and once on a 3-2 count!  I just looked at Miles' stats for the year and he's third on the team in walks!?!  When in the fuck did that happen?  Bravo, young man, bravo.

DJ came in and did his thing for the final 2 innings, pitching great and not letting up a run.  DJ is really becoming a phenom of a relief pitcher, not to mention winning the hearts and minds of several long-time 29ers (I've heard two well respected players mention this).  There's something about a player who's willing to take in a teammates advice and implement it with positive results that puts a smile on everyone's face.  Like I said, I've talked about it with more than one person, and we all see it.  Keep it up, dude, people are paying attention even when it doesn't seem like it.  Also, dude hit another sac fly! #sacflysmatter

On the other side of the spectrum...

Hustle.  Please just hustle.  Not that anyone should hustle any less when the game is on the line-- you shouldn't-- but when we've got a blowout(?) and we're not giving 100% running down the line, even if it's a for sure out (it never is, btw), it's a super bad look to, essentially, tell the other team (or your teammates, for that matter) that, "nah, we're good, no need to get down the line".  I'm not calling anyone out because that's not a direction I want to take this thing, but there was at least one guy that made a couple of us in the dugout go, "damn... someone doesn't want PT".  Remember, people are paying attention, even when you think they're not.  Don't ever let yourself get in the routine of not running things out because it may just manifest itself unintentionally when it really does matter if you make it a habit.  It's one of the easiest things to control in your game no matter your skill level.  Be somebody that hustles.  Please?

Defensively the team was on-point.  Rickey and Ray deserve some love because they turned at least a couple double-plays (3-4?)  There was a 3-6-4 double-play that had me salivating from behind the plate.  The play started with a quick shot to Mike at first who finessed the ball over to Rickey at second like he was delivering baby Jesus to the apostles.  From second, Rickey turned what was once a baby into a man, and threw the Jesus-ball through the heavens, subsequently turning the Jesus-ball into what can only be described at this point in the play as God, before reaching Ray who was aggressively getting to and covering first as if it were the Virgin Mary waiting to become just "Mary", perfectly executing the holy trinity that is the 3-6-4 double play.  Well done, gents, well done... I'm certainly a believer now.

That analogy started off well-intentioned.  I'm sorry(?)

As for a Drive of the Game, it'd have to go to BC who roped a 2RBI double.  I wasn't watching when it was hit, so unfortunately I didn't get a good look at it, but as our only extra-base hit of the game, DotG definitely goes to him.

Defensive Play of the Game definitely goes to Rickey, Ray, and Mike for that savory 3-6-4 double-play I raved about a couple paragraphs up.

Impressive Line of the Game(?) would have to go to Zack, who put up another 'ho-hum' day, going 4-5 with 2 runs.  For those not paying attention to the stats, first off, get with it, but secondly, Zack has strung together a handful of games for what may be the quickest ascent up the stat-ladder we've ever seen.


DIGGING DEEPER ("Some Moneyball Bullshit" -Rickey Rein):

In this one we had our highest hit total of the season with 21 hits.  The previous high was 17 against the Cleaners in week 7, which surprised me.  Our walk total was the second highest of the year with 11, which is just under our season high from last week at 13.  First and foremost, good work to everyone on those two fronts.  The last two games we have been especially good in both the H and BB categories.  This is a trend I like to see, obviously, but the concept I want to reiterate from last week is the value of each H/BB...

If you remember (nobody reads this, I know) I talked about the value of each H/BB being ~0.5 runs.  We had a combined 32 H/BB's this week and scored 15 runs, which roughly works out to that number of ~0.5 runs per H/BB.  This just reinforces the approach we all need to have at the plate; your focus is to get on base, you can think of it as scoring a half run each time you do.  To raise the chance of getting on base you need to work the count and see some pitches.  Math doesn't lie as an aggregate.

I'll leave it at that for now.  You guys have been beat over the head with metrics for the last couple weeks and I don't want to get anyone off their game for tomorrow.  The underlying principle is, make your at-bats count.  There's nothing worse than the opposing pitcher throwing less than 10 pitches per inning.  We want to get deep on their starter this weekend.  We all know what's coming-- they're going to pitch their ringer.  Don't let that get you off this trending approach we've had the last couple games.  It will work, no matter how enticing that first pitch fastball looks.

Tomorrow is another must-win game.  We're used to this position, and we seem to thrive in this position, but it's a do or die for them as well (pending finishing their game vs. the Dealers).  They're going to bring it just a much.  We need to run our best out there and if you're on the bench for a majority of the game, don't get discouraged-- it's just as important to keep the vibes up on the bench.  Keep your collective heads in the game for those dreaded middle innings.  Don't let off the gas until the final out.  Every pitch/at-bat/defensive play matters tomorrow.  Don't try to do too much or be a hero.  Our defense is solid.  Don't do do them any favors.

Let's get it, boys.  Last game of the regular season and I want to prax on Wednesday!

BE SOMEBODY!!!

-Scott

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