Stats - Week 9

The Beer Cup

Well, well, well...the Beer Cup is moving again.  But I think it might rest here for a while.  Just a feeling.  I'm not sure how many of you remember the pre-season predictions for the top 6 teams.  As of now I have 4 right, Doyle has 5, Radar has 3, Peters has 3, and Keogh 5.

4 isn't great. But I'm the only one of the bunch to have the Brew Jays in my top 6.  Here is what I wrote on April 13th, "For the 'known' content, its a great combination of good character and good athletes.  Beatty's bat is a beast.  Hardy, Sullivan and Osmond are all 'speed and full effort' type guys.  McCullough is a proven tournament pitcher who should adjust well and quickly to pitching regularly in the league.  The captains are good to play with & against, they 'get it'.  Might be a different year for the Jays who are used to contending for 1st, but when this team does gel, and they will, watch out!"

Yep, I'll stand by that.  I remember saying that they'll be a better second half team than first.  Well according to my standings they are nestled nicely into 3rd at the half way point 1 1/4 behind the most Gruesome Devils.  The League standings have them in 2nd place 2 points from the lead.  Either way, nice 1st half of the year!  And to boot, they're now holding the Beer Cup.

Next week the Brew Jays will try to keep the Joints from stealing back the prize!  If they're successful, they'll next defend against the Gruesome Devils on Wednesday.
  

Teams that have held the Beer Cup(6)

• Beer Bros.
• Hot Tub Woody's
• Dislocated Joints
• Dodge City Rounders
• Red Dogs 
• Brew Jays

Teams that have defended the Beer Cup(1)

• Dislocated Joints (4)

Teams that have yet to play for the Cup(6)

• Blues Brothers
• Dog Catchers
• Dusty Cleats
• Draft Kings
• Rusty Rebels
• Tap Masters

The Week That Was

Well it started with a threat of rain that thankfully held off.  The Hurtin' Units and Blues Brothers won game against the Beer Bros. and the Dodge City Rounders.  The teams and opponents were pretty evenly ranked in the standings but the Units were unstoppable scoring machines.  Meanwhile the Jays edged out the Rebels to move 3 games over .500

Tuesday, 5 games, more threats of rain and another bullet thankfully dodged.  If you were to predict games by the standings you would have had the Gruesome Devils over the Tap Masters, but you probably would have expected something closer than 25-2. You probably would have had the Brew Jays over the Red Dogs too, but would have expected a bigger score than 7-3?  The Dusty Cleats over the Beer Bros. probably would have been a coin flip, but the Beer Bros. giving up 50 runs in a the week wouldn't have been in the tea leaves.  Then, the "you're lying if you predicted it" games:  Dislocated Joints over the Draft Kings 14-11 and Grisslies over the Dog Catchers 14-11.

Wednesday saw a well played game between the Hurtin' Units and the Hot Tub Woody's finish 7-6 in favour of the Units. 

Thursday, The Gruesome Devils took ownership of 1st place overall in beating the Rusty Rebels 15-10.  The Blues Brothers and Dusty Cleats were both playing for their second win of the week and they were both playing like they wanted this one.  The Cleats would escape with a 16-15 decision.  The week would end as the Tap Masters would join the Rebels in the 2 loss week category when they dropped a 20-14 game to the Joints to close things out. 

Looking forward quickly to this week, here are some notable game. 

• Brew Jays Vs. Dislocated Joints, Tuesday - Winner moves into tie for 1st
• Hot Tub Woody's Vs. Tap Masters, Tuesday - Game will break a tie in the standings
• Red Dog Vs. Grisslies, Tuesday - The "Toilet Bowl", Loser has sole possession of last place!
• Brew Jays Vs. Gruesome Devils, Wednesday - Potentially a battle for 1st place

Now....who has hit in every game you ask?  The list is dwindling but we still have 38 remaining.  When we get under 20 I'll list them. 

And our list of players who have scored in every games lost Anicete Goncalves, Scott Barton and Terry Doucet. We're now down to the final 3!.

• Brad Young, Dog Catchers (12)
• Chuck Cragg, Draft Kings (11 
• Will Goodin, Hot Tub Woody's (11)

STATS
TeamStats

Oh, lets do my standings first this week.  10 of 15 teams are .500 or better!  How is this possible?  Well, when the bottom two teams account for nearly a 1/4 of the entire leagues losses you're going to see some strange numbers indeed.

Next week we'll break out the 2nd half standings.  Everyone gets a do over.  Put your hand up if you had the Cleats in your top 6?

Well the Grisslies are no longer requiring 4 hits to score a single run.  Thats positive!  But we have 5 clubs scoring each run with les that two hits.  Good coaching?

Speaking of good coaching, can you believe that our Tragic Number didn't fall this week?  I guess that's what happens you win occasionally.  When we hit "0" (it will happen) then I'll start the possible order of finish chart.  Right now, 15 teams could finish in 15 possible positions.

IndividualStats

Five guys over .800.  Blows me away.  Do you realize that the only way these guys can raise their average is go 5 for 5. (something I haven't done since 2011)

Everyone get this now?  As we'll have teams playing the 13th game this week we'll be starting the 3rd quarter rankings next weekend, but the 2nd quarter will remain open until the Blues Brothers get to their 12th game.  Scotty Barton might be looking over his shoulder at "For Those About To Rock....Bill Sallustio". And two Grisslies on the list?  Has hell frozen over?

Well, Brad slipped a bit this week, but his pace still works out to 54 runs.  Doucet and Barton are actually on pace for 55 because they've played fewer games.  Still some pressure to catch last year's big 3!

Remember all the Hot Tub Woody's on this list after laying a 35 run beating on the Grisslies?  Well, Barton, Will Goodin Hunting and Yoke are the last standing.  Only Brad Young, Bo Niederhuber and Steve Lahey can't move up, as they've already played their 12th game. 

Not quite the run away that it used to be. And now the sure fire bet to beat Scotty anymore.  Things are starting to tighten up. 

Again, bunching up and it'll take some effort to reach last years number.

Mikey has enough at bats to stay on this list for couple of more weeks.  We'll hope for a speedy return.  3 words.  Al Freakin' Hayward.

Oh, we're back in my favourite section!  and this week it is a little expanded as you'll see below. Tricky Rickey Greenfield has shot up this list going 16 for his last 18!  This race is getting interesting and we have 5 guys over the .700 mark.

Yeah?  Why not?  So these are all the guys in there second year.  You'll see Hunting (nickname) and Tinkler (not a nickname) on the list because they skipped a year between their rooking and second years. 8 guys over 700 and two knocking on the door!

 Things you may have missed this week. 

For the Grisslies Game twelve BLOG, Beechey Vs. Squirrel click HERE
For the All Star BLOG, click HERE
For the Hurtin' Units BLOG, click HERE
For the Donini 3 stars, click HERE
For the League Website, click HERE

Game 12 - Dog Catchers

INTRO

This spot is usually reserved for some type of Gisslie shenanigan.  Not today.  Today we have a story.  The story is of two sophomore players.  Last year they came into the league on the same team.  One took the reigns of that club as the co-captain.  The other moved on as a free agent.  A hired gun, if you will, to ply his trade to the highest bidder.  We are of course talking about Keith Beechey (AKA, The Beechey) and Scott Mason (AKA, Squirrel).
 

The Beech

 VS.
The Squirrel

 

Now, what you might not know about these guys is how ultra competitive they are.  I'm not talking A-Rod Vs. Jeter competitive, I'm talking more seeking therapy competitive.

Its started in X-man school, of course.  They got in a huge fist fight when The Beechey claimed that his Night Hearing was a more valuable weapon than Super Scott's ability to read Braille.  They had a fight in the dark that lasted until morning.  Then of course they ended up at Cedar Kitchen were they tried to out eat each other in waffles.

Word is The Beechey won the fight and Scott won the waffle contest.

So all season long last year it was a battle to see which rookie would lead in batting.  The Squirrel held off a late charge by The Beechey which earned a full off season of bragging rights.

When the crying was done (around February of this year), The Beechey started to fight back.  After a staring contest (The Beechey won) and tree climbing race (Squirrel won - obviously), The Beechey's verbal assault on poor Scotty became relentless.  He told him that no matter what team he got drafted to this year; that Scott would not only lose, but that The Beechey would out hit him!

Quite understandably, Scott had been living in fear of Monday June 24th.  Dodge City Rounders (The Beechey) Vs. The Blues Brothers (Squirrel).   Dodge City's record going into the game was a less than stellar 4-6.  But they were hardly out of it and only 4 points back of 3rd place.  And to top it off The Beechey was hitting a lofty .744 and 20 of his 29 hits on the season had been home runs.  He was having an absolutely dominant year.

Meanwhile the Blues Brothers were sitting at 3-4-1.   Barley ahead of the Grisslies for god sakes.  Poor guys.  Their season had been disappointing thus far, but they'd played the fewest games due to a series of rain outs.  Its hard to get into a rhythm when you're playing one game every two weeks.  No one was feeling the lack of rhythm more than Scott Mason.  He was more than 100 points under last years average hitting a paltry 697.  Of Scott's 23 hits he had one win aided double and had forced the runner ahead of him 17 times.  The other 5 hits were clean singles.

Despite being an overwhelming underdog, Mason couldn't resist accepting The Beechey's bet.  That's what happens when you're THAT competitive.  It was agreed that the loser would sign up for the Pro Wrestling (1-3 Saturday July 6th - South end of town) that is being held as part of community week.  The winner gets to pick which pair of Cal Steeves shorts that the loser will wrestle in.

So I got to the game, but I was late due to family commitments.  I think it was the second inning.  One of the guys on the Dodge City Rounders said,  "you should have gotten here earlier, The Beechey (yes, his teammates call him 'The Beechey') hit two out already!"

I reply, "What?  Two homers?"

To which the DCR player said, "yeah, one to the left of the foul pole and one to the right".

Seriously?  Then I guess I hit about 4 out a night.  So when I got there The Beechey was 1-1 and it was homer.  Nice start.  Plus he looked loose and comfortable.  It had the look of a "The Beechey" night.  By contrast, Scott looked out of his element.  Nervous.  Edgy.  Mumbling incoherently to himself about fishing derbies and watermelons.

Then, as they say with tequila, the worm turned.  The Beechey slid.  The Squirrel soared.

The game flew by.  At the end of it, the Blues Brothers had prevailed 14-8.  The Beechey was 2 for 4 with one home run and one foul that left the park.  He had 6 errors but playing 1st is tough with the sun (9:30 game).  Beechey scored both times he was on!  Way to go!

Mason, in addition to being on the victorious team was 4 for 5.  Nice.  He went yard TWICE, - and get this:  BOTH WERE FAIR!!!  He scored 3 runs.  He made 18 of the 21 outs.  He rescued a school bus full of orphans in the bottom of the 5th.

 Happy Orphans Thank to Scotty!

Squirrel 1
The Beechey 0

 Please go to community week and check out The Beechey wrestling on the 6th!!!

The rematch of this inspiring match will be on Monday July 8th.  I took the day off, suggest you do too. 

The Donini Deck

Rob:   How are you?
Doug: Okay, you?
Rob:   Miserable.
Doug:  1-9 record got you down?
Rob:   Ya. 
Doug: Things will get better
Rob:   No they won't.
Doug:  Sure they will.  Remember my rookie season?
Rob:   No.
Doug: Remember we started that year 2-8?
Rob:   No.
Doug:  Remember we reeled off 6 wins in a row to get back to .500?
Rob:   No.
Doug: Remember we went from a laughing stock, all the way to the semi-finals against The Wild where we lost 13-8?
Rob:   No. 
Doug:  How do you not remember any of this?
Rob:   I don't remember breakfast this morning.  How are you expecting me to remember when you were a rookie?  Honestly.  I actually thought this was your first season.  Isn't Doris my co-captain?
Doug: He was.  When I was a rookie.
Rob:   Oh.  But he's not now?
Doug:  No
Rob:   And for some reason you are?
Doug: Ya.  For now. But you're kind of whimsical with captains.
Rob:   And we're all all the same team again?
Doug:  Ya. 
Rob:   And this doesn't strike you as unusual?
Doug: No.  We're friends.  Its cool. 
Rob:   Okay, if you say so.  Hey, you know what would be funny?
Doug:  What?
Rob:   If me you and Doris were all on the same team!
Doug: Seriously?
Rob:   Ya!  Wicked eh?
Doug:  Yeah.  Wicked.   We've been talking about that for the last 5 minutes. 
Rob:   With Doris? 
Doug: Good God.  I can't go through it again. 
Rob:   Okay, I'll call Doris over, he'll think its a great idea.  He's a good co-captain. 
Doug:  Was.
Rob:   Was what?
Doug: A good co-captain.  I'm you're co-captain now.
Rob:   Oh.  Well he was the best co-captain. 
Doug:  Now that part you've probably got right. We need to talk about how to approach the rest of the season.
Rob: Why?
Doug:  'Cuz its our job.  We owe it to the guys. 
Rob: Well I thought it was already over
Doug:  Why would you think that?
Rob:  I heard Hugh Armstrong saying we're done, I figured he knew what he was talking about. 
Doug: Well, metaphorically we're done.  But practically we still have games to play.
Rob:  Then I vote we play them, but I'll have to ask Doris. 
Doug: [sigh].  Yes, we'll play them.   Of course we'll play them.  The question is, do we get all serious and win at all cost just to try and get 2 or 3 wins on the year.  Or, do we roll with it and have fun?
Rob:  I vote fun, but I have...
Doug:...to check with Doris.  I know.  Let me put it this way.  Do you have any aspirations for the remainder of the year?
Rob:  Aspirations?
Doug: Ya.
Rob:  Do you have a headache?
Doug:  No.
Rob:  Why do you want to know if I have an aspiration?
Doug: Okay, I have one now. Can you tell me the song:
Rob:Don't have one
Doug: Come on, stop screwing around.  What's the song. 
Rob: Don't have one
Doug: WHY NOT?
Rob: Well....you know how I'm a GREAT song writer?
Doug: Here we go.  Yeah, I know how you're a great song writer.
Rob: And you know how I'm not such a great hitter?
Doug:  Yeah.
Rob: Well, I've decided to invest my song writing time this week into practice hitting.
Doug: Okay, this seriously screws me.  But did you have someone throw to you?  Did you go to a cage?
Rob: Nope.  I watched swinging practices on the youtube.  I think I got it now!
Doug: Fantastic.  This is going to be a very long night

So...No song from Rob.  My options are go with no song or try to write one.  I tried.  This is "The Winner Takes it All".  I think the song might have actually been written about baseball.  Well, probably not, but its a good fit.  Music ===> HERE

"The Winner Takes It All"

I don't wanna talk
About what this teams been through
Though it's hurting me
Now it's history
I've played all my cards
Even hid Rick Greenfield’s shoe
Nothing more to say
13 more games to play

The winner takes it all
The loser's standing small
We’d like a victory
But we’re playing so badly

Our catcher has some charm
Because he still has hair
I figured it made sense
He plays near the fence
He covers up at home
We can make a strong throw there
But I was a fool
Dave doesn’t play by the rules

The gods may throw the dice
Their minds as cold as ice
And somehow we are down here
Losing another game here
The winner takes it all
The loser has to fall
It's simple and it's plain
Why should I complain?

But tell me how does Doris miss?
Fair, we’ve all missed you
Does it feel the same
When Gord calls out your name?
Somewhere deep inside
He must want one straight throw
But what can I say?
Gord, we throw it so blasé

The umpires will decide
The captains will abide
Spectators take in the show
We know the crowds will grow
The game is on again
We need to score at least 10
A big thing or a small
The winner takes it all

I don't wanna talk
The other team makes me feel sad
And I understand
They’ve come to shake my hand
I apologize
If it makes you feel bad
Seeing me so tense
No self-confidence
But you see
The winner takes it all
The winner takes it all...

THE GAME

Well.  A song about losing.  The Donini Deck conversation about losing.  Of course we won.  Obviously!

Its a good thing Rob took the week off to "work on his hitting".  He was 4/4 with four runs scored.  That's a wow night for anyone.

This was more the flavour of the first 7 or eight game when we were losing close games and reasonably competitive.  Sweet Lou and Jim Smith both touched us for 4/4 nights; but we dodged a serious bullet with Brad Young going only 1/4.  Granted the 1 was a home run and he had a couple of deep fly balls, but if you I'll take a one hit night out of Brad ANYTIME!  Fortunately for us there weren't a lot of guys on ahead of Lou and Jim.

The Grisslies got out second 7 run inning of the season (yeah, not of the game - of the season) in the 2nd inning of this one.  10 consecutive batters reached base to count the seven.

With a 12-2 lead through 5 innings we would give up 5 runs in the last 2 innings when two of our outfielders nodded off.  It can happen on a warm night!

Next up for the Grisslies will be the Red Dogs in an epic struggle for last place overall!  No ties. 

Three Stars
Grisslie Schedule

Stats Week 8

The Beer Cup

Hey!  The Beer cup finally got out of the Joints hands!

They dropped their game to the Dodge City Rounders who briefly (2 days) held the cup before getting spanked by the Red Dogs.  Now Candy's Crew of Cantankerous Curmudgeons have not only claimed stake to the trophy that the Grisslies donated; but they've also left us alone in last place.

I used to like Bob.  

Next week the Red Dogs will try to defend against the Brew Jays who get their second crack at the cup / shirt!

Teams that have held the Beer Cup(5)

• Beer Bros.
• Hot Tub Woody's
• Dislocated Joints
• Dodge City Rounders
• Red Dogs

Teams that have defended the Beer Cup(1)

• Dislocated Joints (4)

Teams that have yet to play for the Cup(6)

• Blues Brothers
• Dog Catchers
• Dusty Cleats
• Draft Kings
• Rusty Rebels
• Tap Masters

League Notes

• No Rain!!!  
• We lost 12 more hitters this week. There are only 43 players remaining who have hit safely in every game of the season.    
• And this week Jim Rouleau, and Chris Larkin missed out on scoring runs in a game for the first time this year.  Nice run fellas!  Our list of people who have scored in every game has dwindled to 6.  Here are the 6 players, club and number of games.

• Brad Young, Dog Catchers (11)
• Chuck Cragg, Draft Kings (10)
• Scott Barton, Hot Tub Woody's (10)
• Will Goodin, Hot Tub Woody's (10)
• Anicete Goncalves, Rusty Rebels (10)
• Terry Doucet, Dislocated Joints (9)

STATS
TEAM STATS

In the team sections we have a couple of things this week.  First the non traditional and traditional standings.

Not much difference between the two.  However, the Rusty Rebels have recovered from a horrid start.  After starting 0-5 they have won 4 of 5.  Nice turnaround!

Yeah, I've decided to keep tracking this.  The Rebels and Cleats are the only two teams left that have scored all their runs with their team draft picks.  The Grisslies are getting worse. 

We have 5 teams that score runs with fewer than two hits.  Which means that multiple runs are scoring on single hits which translates to a lot of speed and/or a lot of home runs.  When you look at the top 5 teams I think you'll agree with that assessment.  When you look at the bottom 2 you might also agree.  The odd duck in the whole thing are the Dog Catchers who seem to score buckets of runs but I they take more than the average number of hits to do it.

I don't usually introduce this one until way after the HTKP tournament.  The Grisslies are typically middle of the pack and some other poor team is languishing at the bottom gasping for breath.  This year we're the flailing fish on the dock so I don't feel quite so about it.  The tragic number!

This tells you what combination of your team loses and Draft King wins, will eliminate you from 1st place contention.  Only one team is in single digits.  You guessed it.  So, perspective.  If the Grisslies finish 14-0, the Draft Kings would need to go 9-5 to keep us out of 1st place.  I don't like the odds.

And the last team stat is something that the Grisslies can finally be proud of.  We lead in on stat that isn't negative!

Individual Stats

The top 10 is a pared down version of the top 25 found on the league site (link at the bottom of this page)

Scotty continues to dominate but we now have 6 players over .800!!!  No room for slipping up with this group. 

Total hits is a somewhat different flavour than average.  While there are a lot of repeats, you see guys that are hitting really well AND never miss games; like everyone from Mark Kolsen down.  Mark, Bo, Steve, Anicete, Peter (R) and Mr. Lahey are all having excellent years and would be recognized more glowingly if not for the freaks hitting .800.

I happen to think attendance in this league is pretty important.  Many of the usual suspects are already in this list.  I think the last three years have been Jens, Jerry and me at the top.  Not this year for me, but neither of them seem quite ready to give up their title.  Brad ..... FYI, you don't have to lead EVERY CATEGORY!

Yeah, Brad.  Holy crap.  Brad is on pace for 57 runs.  Scotty Barton for 60.  Mr Lahey for 58.  Doucet for 61, Brian Richards 53, Chuck, Yoke and Neil are all on pace for 48.  Eight guys with last years leaders in their sights.  I can't see them all going cold. 

Last year's leader in average for the 2nd quarter was Kevin Moon.  This years leader in average in the 1st quarter (6 games) of the season was Brad Young.  Remember, this tracks only your team's 7th thru 12th games and you need to be on pace for 18 at bats minimum in that stretch to be considered. So don't look now, but this is starting to look a little like last year and Mason is heating up.  The Beechey better build a good lead or he won't be able to keep the squirrel down!

Much the same as above with no requirement for at bats.  I see that a few of the Hot Tub Woody's are still dining out on the 35 runs they scored against the Grisslies in week 7.  Look out for Mr. Lahey!

3 guys ahead of Roger's pace from last year but its a tough run to maintain.

Fear the Gere!  Wow, top 5 are all stars.  That's gotta bode well!

Well Kevin Clouthier; AKA, K.C.; AKA, K.C. and the Sunshine Band; AKA, Get Down Tonight, has certainly announced his presence with authority!  Could this be the first rookie to hit .800?

Well Micheal....I hope the knee feels better today.  Your ridiculous season will hopefully continue. Al Hayward, +207.  Thank the sweet baby Jesus!

 Things you may have missed this week. 

For the Grisslies Game four BLOG, rehab!, click HERE
For the All Star BLOG, click HERE
For the Hurtin' Units BLOG, click HERE
For the Donini 3 stars, click HERE
For the League Website, click HERE

The All Stars!!!

This edition is dedicated to our league All-Star Team.

INTRO:

This conversation took place on the Donini deck on Tuesday before game time. 

Rob:  I wonder who's on the All Star team?
Doug:   Me too
Rob:  You don't know?
Doug:  If find out tomorrow with everyone else.
Rob:  Really?  How are you gonna write about it in that short a time?
Doug: Don't know.  Maybe I'll get the list early in the day.  Maybe it'll come pre-written. 
Rob:  Perhaps.  Paul and Steve do know quite a few words. 
Doug: They do.
Rob:  And some big ones!
Doug:  Yep. 
Rob:  What's the longest word in the English language?
Doug:  Why?
Rob:  That's not a big word. 
Doug:  What?  No...not "why".  I meant why do you want to know?
Rob:  Oh, because I actually know the answer.  I want to see if you're as smart with words as you pretend to be.
Doug:  Well, I've always been led to believe that its antidisestablishmentarianism. 
Rob:  WHAT???  Is that a word?  What does it mean? 
Doug:   Its actually describes the characteristics of a person who is pro-establishment.
Rob:  Like people who like strip clubs?
Doug:  Huh?
Rob:  Strip clubs.  My brother always called them "Establishments".
Doug: Ya.  Different kind of establishment.
Rob:  Well, anyway, you're wrong.
Doug:  About?
Rob:  Its not the longest word. 
Doug:  So what is the longest word in the English Language?
Rob:  Smiles. 
Doug:  Smiles?  Okay, I'll bite.  Why is smiles the longest word in the English language?
Rob:  Because there's a mile between the first and last letter!
Doug:   Alright, you got me.  I have to go sub for the Dog Catchers, I should take off.  
Rob:  Okay, one more question.
Doug:  Sure. 
Rob: What's the longest sentence in the English language?
Doug:  WoW!  I don't know if that's even answerable!  Okay, I'm sure there's a bunch of variations but I remember reading that James Joyce's Ulysses had a sentence over 4000 words long.
Rob:   No it has nothing to do with Jesse James or Ulysses S. Grant.  Is that really your answer?  By the way, a sentence 4000 words long?  That sounds like something from that BLOG of yours.
Doug:  HaHa.  Funny.  Dick. 
Rob:  Ya, well anyway, you're wrong.
Doug:    Figured.  And what's the longest sentence?
Rob: "I DO"
Doug:   Brilliant. 
Rob:  Some days I make a lot of sense. 
Doug:   That you do. 

 

First a little back ground. For years there has been a "We can take you guys" back and forth between the old timers and the young timers.   Four years ago, the banter escalated to a game. It was decided that the game would become the center-piece of the Help The Kids Play tournament in July. Actually, the center-piece part just happened, it wasn't mandated. The game attracts a lot of spectators and there are serious bragging rights.  We also decided that the previous season's winning old timers captains would select the teams and manage the game.  Last year, with the agreement of the young timers, we introduced a new selection of 2 veteran players who would catch in the game and not hit.

This is year 4 of the game.  The young timers won in 2010 and 2012 with the old timers winning a spirited game in 2011.  This year's edition of the old timers will try to square the affair. 

As playoff champs last year, the captains of the Beer Bros. Paul Piellusch and Steve Ross have the honour of picking and coaching this squad.  Picking this team is no easy feat.  You need to consider a player's historical record, current play, abilities in 'big games' and how they fair when they don't have average players fielding their hits. Its a tough job, but Steve and Paul were on it very early, made some hard calls, sought advice from some trusted colleagues and are ready to announce a terrific lineup!

 

                               Paul Piellusch                                                    Steve Ross:

                               Hockey Nickname: Paulie                                 Hockey Nickname: Stevie

                               Baseball Nickname:  Starsky                             Baseball Nickname:  Gere

                           

 Chuck Cragg

            Hockey Nickname:  Chuckie

            Baseball Nickname:  Chuckles The Dog Faced Boy

            Best Season:  57 / 70 .814

            Strength:  Arm, In-Game Readiness, Base Running

Mark Doyle

            Hockey Nickname:   Marky

            Baseball Nickname:  Marky-Mark & The Funky Bunch

            Best Season:  73 / 93 .785

            Strength:  Gap power, first to third speed against good arms, all star glove

Andy Gee

            Hockey Nickname:  Andy

            Baseball Nickname:  G-Force

            Best Season:  69 / 84 .821

            Strength:  Pitching to defensive strengths, field awareness, on base reliability

Phil Glecoff

            Hockey Nickname:  Phily

            Baseball Nickname:  Turn your head and Gle-coff

            Best Season:  75 / 96 .781

            Strength:  Defensive speed, catching on the run, Aggressive baserunning

Peter Holmann

            Hockey Nickname:  Petey

            Baseball Nickname:  The Holy Mann

            Best Season:  51 / 67 .761

            Strength:  Outfield positioning, Line drive crusher, intelligent base running

Geoff Keogh

            Hockey Nickname:  Geoffy

            Baseball Nickname:  Yoke

            Best Season:  56 / 71 .789

            Strength:  Arm, defensive foot work, reborn power

Steve Lahey

            Hockey Nickname:  Stevie

            Baseball Nickname:  Mr. Lahey

            Best Season:  50 / 69 .725

            Strength:  Lightening quick release, Power to burn, Doesn’t rattle

Kevin Moon

            Hockey Nickname:  Kevie

            Baseball Nickname:  Bad Moon Rising

            Best Season:  53 / 65 .814

            Strength:  Arm, In-Game Readiness, Base Running speed & Smarts

Neil Pendlebury

            Hockey Nickname:  Neilie

            Baseball Nickname:  Neil Before Zod!

            Best Season:  72 / 94 .766

            Strength:  Defensive Speed, Base running speed, Tracking in the gap, extra bases

Scott Peters

            Hockey Nickname:  Scotty

            Baseball Nickname:  Anger Management

            Best Season:  79 / 99 .798

            Strength:  Pre-pitch Positioning, game awareness, batting with a plan, base running intelligence

Brian Richards

            Hockey Nickname:  Bri

            Baseball Nickname:  The Brain

            Best Season:  67 / 89 .753

            Strength:  Complete player defensively, speed, glove, arm, catches on the run. Dangerous on the
            bases, very aggressive. 

Jamie McClean

            Hockey Nickname:  Jamie

            Baseball Nickname:  El Presidente

            Best Season:  68 / 86 .733

            Strength:  Leadership, has a knack for saying the right thing at the right time to keep a squad loose

            or get focused.

CP Pully

            Hockey Nickname:  Pully

            Baseball Nickname: Long Ball

            Best Season:  44 / 72 .611

            Strength:  Unwavering demeanor, same guy during a 20 loss season as during a 20 win season,

            strong defensive awareness of player positioning from the catcher spot.

TEAM

Everyone will have an opinion on this team.  The truth is, that like in previous years, there is debate with probably another 12 fellas that could be selected

The team defense in this year's squad is an upgrade last year.  The power and average are a wash in my view.  The speed is improved particularly in field, but also on the base paths.  Last years game was not lost at the plate.  We scored enough to win but there were just a couple too many balls that we couldn't get to cleanly.

This year's squad seems to me to be the right combination to wrestle back bragging rights.

Good luck gang, you'll have a throng cheering you on!

Grissile Game Notes:

Where to start....

Grisslies lost!  20-7

There’s not much more else to say but allow me to pontificate for a moment.  First off the Draft Kings are clearly pissed that I didn’t pick them as a top 6 team in the pre season poll.  It was just for fun guys, geez!

We did a great job on Chuck holding him to 3 singles which was exactly what our game plan was.  However, he did get a 3 run bomb to go with it so that kind of sucked.  There weren’t too many DK’s that had a bad night offensively.  Another stand out was Jim Rouleau who hit up the middle and through the teeth of a shift all night.  The other guy that really hurt us was Doug “The Good” DeLand.  He lit us up like a neon sign on a peeler joint.  Not that the rest of you did badly, but those three hurt the most.

As for the Grisslies.

Second game in a row giving up 20 or more.

Once again Al Hayward showed up with the game of guy half his age, going 3/3 and making every play in the field.  If every Grisslies was having a season like Al we’d probably be about 7-3 instead of 1-9.  Glen Tinkler has continued to stay hot and Winston Gayle we also on 3 of 4 times. 

Two indicators that the game wasn’t going well:  1) I was in CF from the 2^nd– 5^th innings.  2) I pitched the 6^th.  Our defence hurt us in the 1^st and 6^th innings where the DK’s got 12 of their 20 runs.  A missed double play in the 1^st(me), hard shot that took a bad hop off the 2^nd baseman’s shoulder (also me).  And inning that should have been thwarted produced 7. 

The 6^th, when I was pitching was worse.  We got the 1^sttwo outs on a fly ball and comebacker.  The next fella hit a pretty routine ball that he hustled into a bang-bang call at 1^st.  Could have gone either way but didn’t go ours.  So instead of 3 up 3 down, the Draft Kings took advantage of some solid hits, luck breaks and a couple of errors and scored 5 with 2 out. 

The Grisslies have more than a few bugs to iron out.  But we keep plugging!