Life, The Universe and Everything

I couldn't stand the thought of Will Goodin getting up Saturday morning, putting on his robe, pouring his coffee and then finding out there were no stats to check out.  So instead, to aid in Will's detox and purify my soul, here's the wrap up edition.

Now, when I say 'wrap up' it applies to the season only.  There will be a post AGM and post Banquet edition in all likelihood.  So stay tuned but they'll be few and far between. 

Now before we get to the actual BLOG, events and stories therein, allow me to do my own personal thank-you's. 

First and foremost to Rob Farah who has put with my moods, compulsions and borderline certifiable behaviour for yet another year.  What people don't know about me and Rob is that he's the sane one.  Why he's permitting me coming back for a 6th year as co-captain and 7th year as a Grisslies defies logic.

Here's the rest of the Thank-you's, get your coffee. 

   
QUICK NOTE:  You'll see that I'll add things to this as the week goes on.  Its already changed twice since 6am Saturday morning when it was posted, and its only 8:10!!

To Steve Ross who allows me to do what I love doing without getting hung up on process and protocol.  While I try my best to 'ask first' there may be the occasional gap.  Steve's leadership has been fantastic, allowing my room to opine while (hopefully) not pushing things too far.  There are times when I can only say "poor Steve".  I know no short emails.  I don't have quick conversations.  I don't open small cans of worms.  Steve has been infinitely patient.  Thank you sir! 

To Al Bales and Dave Fleming.  People's initial reaction would be that this is about subbing, but it isn't.  The three of us teamed up to work as a make-shift grounds crew on Tuesday nights that would have made any minor league team proud.  Clearing the fields and getting games in is one thing.  Avoiding three game weeks and double headers by saving 16 games over the course of the season was great!  Now, while the pump (donated by Dave) was running, there was downtime that usually involved coffee or a coke and a chat.  Those 1/2 periods with the water flowing and shooting the breeze where some of my favourite memories of this season.  Thanks guys, you made this effort fun and completely worthwhile. 

Ryan Feehely came into the league as rookie with a bit of rep for playing ball.  That turned out to be true.  What we didn't know was that Ryan, as rookie, had all the spirit and respect for this league that the true veterans do.  Additionally he sponsored a team and hosted the Grisslie / Draft Kings team party in spectacular fashion.  We were treated like gold that night and literally every time one of us has wandered into the Rusty.  Thank you Ryan, the 2015 Grisslies are sure to be back and we'll encourage other teams to do likewise. 

Bo & Rod.  I'm sorry to see you two leave as captains.  I'm the first to admit that this is totally selfish on my part and if you're ready to just play, I sort of get it.  But I will miss having two captains who play the game the right way, don't get hung up on calls within the game and always find a way to leave the night with a smile on their faces and more importantly, smiles on their players faces.  Outside of the game, some of the best work that we've done as a league has involved these two.  They've been on committees from time to time but they always provide a voice of reason in the captain's meetings when a person (usually wearing grey with red lettering) goes off half-cocked.  There are other good captains in the league and other good ones will come, but you two set a high bar.  Thank you Rod & Bo. 

Carol-Ann.  You brought a freshness, spirit and joy to the Sliders games.  Your enthusiasm didn't stop with your team, you also rooted for friends on other squads.  And the Sliders, with you handling much of the communications, were one of the easiest teams to book reschedule dates with.  It was great having you in your semi-official role, thank you!

Peter Hayward.  You have become a 'go-to' guy when it comes to a number o things around signs and engraving.  It didn't happen by accident.  You have volunteered consistently and surprised people by jumping in where it was never expected.  Good things come to good people.  Thanks Peter. 

Stats geeks.  There's the obvious ones:  Peters, Boston, Keogh, Doyle.  Then there's all the others that I find out through conversation read this stuff regularly.  I think that's kind of cool.  Bales, Barlow, Piellusch, DeLand, DeLand, Beechey, Barry, Brown, Lahey, Argue, Kolsen, Ross, Presenza, Goodin, McCarron, Koolhaas and Hager....you are officially called out as geeks (except Kolsen, because he's big and could probably hurt me if he wanted to).  Thanks for the interest in the stats lads.

Roman Dasek.  Your humour, ability to talk ball and talk life and assess the 15 squads strengyhs, weaknesses and (the biggest one) their potential is huge value add to the league.  Its probably a much bigger deal to me.  Thanks for all you do on the field, conversationally and with all the juggling of umps for rescheduling games and making sure we're covered. 

Dodge City Rounders, Tap Masters, Brew Jays.  I swear to god, if you guys were the only teams in the league I would NEVER have to buy a beer.  I'm thinking I wasn't alone in the invitations to your tables with great regularity.  You guys run great squads that are inclusive of your players, subs and whoever happens to be wandering by.  Of course, you're also the reason for my strict weigh loss program over the winter.

The Rookies:  The Rookies on the Grisslies (Ford and Williams) were simply awesome.  They played along with all of our shenanigans and had a spectacular season.  But they weren't alone.  The league won the lottery this year on rookies.  Some of them had big baseball seasons.  Some of them made new friends.  All of them found a league that warmly welcomed them and can't wait for them to be sophomores.  Mike Iacoucci, Jeff Behan, Victor Dermott, Art Lord-Stafford, Joel Hodge, Tom Hollmann, Steve Lamb, Darren Ford, David Potocki, Ryan Feehely, Stephen Booth, Micah Williams, Greg Aucoin, Kevin Cavalier, Jeremy Westover, Kevin Bryan, Mike Cook, Chris Synder and Chuck Vanya.  Thanks lads, see you in the spring.        

Pully.  For no good reason other than I had a great year talking ball at the water cooler with Pully.  There were many 'a night that Pully and I would be at the legion on nights where neither of us played.  It was just to see what was going on...making sure we didn't miss an event or story.  Truth be told, Pully wasn't a big fan of the BLOG in its infancy, for reasons I now appreciate.  He probably still doesn't read it which is cool, its not everyone's cup of tea.  But someone needs to tap into this guy's brain.  As much as there's a repository of data from the past several years here online, Pully has some awesome stories from the 'ago'.  Also Pully had the best line of the playoffs.  I had subbed for the Cleats a number of times this season and he came up to me on the sunday and said, "Dougie, I've got a problem.  They guys voted you most improved on the team."  Thanks for the chats, I'm looking forward to next year!

August Tournament volunteer coaches:  Every year we have our submitted teams that vary between 2 and 4 teams.  This year it was 4 teams with Steve DeLand, James Taylor, John Harrett and Larry Turner submitting teams. From the rest of the league we try to piece together as many teams as we can and assign captains to run the squads.  The captains aren't 'chosen' by accident.  And this year's contingent of Dave Fleming, Laurier Plante, Peter Hayward and Will Goodin did a tremendous job!  Thanks to all the captains, you made managing this division of the tournament really smooth. 

The Grisslies.  I won with the Grisslies in 2011.  Rob won then and in 2005.  I honestly thought that the comrodery that was felt in 2011 only came from the experience of winning.  Not true.  I would take this team back in a heart beat, but I would probably make a couple of strategic changes to get us through to another game on Sunday.  Like maybe sit myself to prevent an 0/3 in the quarter final....ugh...its going to be a long winter.  Thank you Rob, Cal, Cam, Craig, Dan, Danny, Darren, Geoff, Lenny, Micah and Tom. 

The DeLands.  The "Good DeLand" Vs. The "Other DeLand" was good fodder this season.  Any time I saw Doug or Steve one of them would mention it.  I would hear teammates yelling, "who's the good DeLand now"....I love that stuff!  Thanks for playing along guys, great season for you both.  Maybe we'll settle this next year.  :)

The Grisslieland regulars.  Those that graced us at Grisslieland on most Friday nights for a conversation about baseball.  It turns out we were all wrong, but the convos were still a blast.  To Farah, McCarron, Banks, Casullo, Fleming, Piellusch, Presenza, Escott, Keogh, Bales, Cudnick, Routledge, Schrank and Conforti.  Thanks for the debates, ideas and suggestions for healing Doris's various injuries. 

So here's the plan.  I kind of go through edition by edition of the BLOG, give a brief synopsis and provide a link if its something you want to read more about. 

Here we go..... 

Rookie Night

Before the season started, we had rookie night.  We've done this every year I've been in the league and I know it predated me.  Its kind of a big deal.  The league's elected executive, many captains and a few choice existing players host all of the 1st year players at the legion.  We go over the league rules that are unique from other leagues.  But we spend a good amount of time speaking about the league's character.  All of those involved in running it (Paul Piellusch headed it up this season) do a tremendous service in getting our rookies on board. 

I wrote a BLOG on all the different team's rookie initiations.  This is one of them below.   

For this edition click HERE

The Draft

The draft is our second "kind of a big deal" event of the season.  This is where teams are picked from a blind draw.  This was run primarily by Steve Ross, Chris Ross and Jamie McLean (if memory serves) and how successfully it is run continues to astound me.  The draft is complicated.  Teams can't draft in certain rounds because its their rating number, we have father son combos, we have pitchers to contend with and yet we get through 180 drafted players in under an hour.  3 per minute by my count.  Fantastic job. 

Below you'll see the "All-Bald" team.  Sadly they got split up. 

For this edition, click HERE

The predictions

Yes, every season I run a predictions BLOG.  Its started out as me and Mark Doyle and over the years we've added Kevin Boston, Geoff Keogh and Scott Peters.   We try and break down who is likely to finish in the 'top 6'.  The top 6 sort of matters a little bit because of the home games in the playoffs.  In the round robin places 1-3 get four home games and 4-6 get three home games.  The other 9 teams get either 2, 1 or 0.  Many people think the home games don't matter, but this year 5 of the top 6 saw Sunday while only 3 of the bottom 9 did.  Regardless....that's what we attempt to do.   

Other than Rader who got 4 of the 6, the rest of us sucked.  Particularly me.  Although I'll give myself one minor out.  I pick the Rebels every god forsaken year and they never get into the top 6.  I didn't take them on purpose this season to give them luck and look what happens?  Top 6 and win the whole friggin thing.  I promise I won't take the Woody's next year. 

So we look at historical batting averages of the players and we look at positioning.  Mark is the savant of the group and can recall what Bob Pearce hit at 8:15 games at Keogh Park with runners on base in the 5th inning and later.  He definitely has an advantage.  The rest of us are more driven by gut feel and a little bit of logic.

And you can see how much logic there is, eh?  2/5 picks for the Tap Masters and 0/6 for the Dog Catchers.  Swell. 

For this edition click HERE

The Woodys Arm Wrestle

 

I forget what this was about.  But I do remember that someone talked Ed and I into having an arm wrestle as a joke and they were taking a picture (strikes me that Chiasson may have been behind this).  I also remember that I said to Ed, "We'll do a before and after, one setting up; then you pretend to wipe me out and we'll get another shot".  Ed's reply was, "I won't have to pretend". 

 

Nope, he didn't.

 

For this edition click HERE

Gina and Bill Switch Leagues

I didn't do many of the 'classic' made up stories this year.  It was a strange season for that.  I kind of lost my mojo.  A combination of somethings going sideways and Will shaving his beard.  I had a good one partially written and then I see Will and NO FRIGGIN BEARD!!!  Ugh. 

 

So this one was born out of Bill's legitimate attempt to play in the ladies league.  The ladies however have a clause stipulating that you must actually be a woman which is probably there for expressly this purpose.  The men have no such clause so I fully expect Gina to sign up in the spring (if we don't add something this year at the AGM). 

For this edition click HERE

Rebooting The Season.

I'm sure many of you have forgotten by now, but the first 3 weeks of the season damn near killed me.  There were so many games lost that it was determined that the only way to get back on track was to reboot.  So we started the season over much like a Pam Ewing dream.  We still had to contend with our town doing nothing about he lights.  This is an election year, right?  You might want to remember that. 

 

This edition had different reboot examples. 

 

For this edition click HERE

License Contest

So....I've tried to run a contest the past few years to drum up interest for our tournaments.  The only thing I've learned is that it gets Karen Turner to a tournament!  In a shocking development, Karen would finish 3rd in this contest (which still got her a beer) behind Paul Piellusch and Steve Ross.  The gist was to figure out who in the league owned each personalize plate.  The one below belonged to Roman.  Get it?  Roman, centurion? 

For this edition click HERE

Dave McKendrick Night

The Grisslies are known to have a couple of theme nights over the course of a season.  The goal in this is to find people who are good natured and unsuspecting; then make up a random, yet suspiciously appropriate theme night for them.  Dave McKendrick fit that bill perfectly.  We had a celebration for Dave's 500th career walk.  We even had a special guest give him the awards.  FANTASTIC!!!

For this edition click HERE

Grisslieland vs. Graceland Vs. Disneyland

For any of you who don't know....Grisslieland (the sponsor of the Grisslies) is where the Farah's live.  We've built it up over the last 5 or 6 years with its own mystique.  We refer to it has a theme park complete with rides, concessions and games of chance.  Its not really all that (there's no games) but its a place where we all have a couple of pints or coffee or donini and talk baseball on a Friday night. 

The graph below shows the merits of Grisslieland over Graceland or Disneyland. 

For this edition click HERE

Beer Cup goes West. 

The Sons Of Pitches took the Beer Cup to a new level.  As I'm sure you know by now, the Beer Cup changes hands all years and you get to keep it as long as your winning.  When it was in the SOP's possession they rocked the boat and won a $50.00 charity bet for Help The Kids by sending it across the country.  This pic is from Vancouver.  Nice work!

For this edition click HERE

Hot Tub Woody's Hot Start. 

In addition to not picking the Woody's next year, I'll also not write about them.  Damit.  I really thought that this was going to be their year.  They were 5 games over .500 at 6-1 when I wrote the mock expose on how the Woody's season was off to an amazingly good start.  Since this edition they went 5 games under .500 at 5-10 and another 0-4 in the playoffs.  I feel partially responsible. 

For this edition click HERE

Grisslie Rookie Night

The Grisslie Rookie Night has been in play for the past several years.  We pick a game in the first half of the season, after the rookies have gotten a little comfortable and we pick that night for a little mild 'initiation'.  We typically partner with another team to share the laughs.  This year it was with the Sons Of Pitches who, unfortunately didn't have a rookie!  So, we saluted our two rookies and the most veteran player on either squad, Bones.  It was a fun night for all!

For this edition click HERE

Mason Turns To The Dark Side.

Well that was only a matter of time wasn't it?  Kidding.  This was a good tale about Scott Mason as the young apprentice behind short-stop-Jedi-Master, Geoff Keogh.  Could have been written better, but I liked the premise. 

For this edition click HERE

The All Star Game.

Not really an all star game report, but an all star team selection report.  Chuck and Stike employed a slightly different selection criteria than in past years.  Hind sight is 20/20, but I know virtually everyone loved the team going in.  No sweat, we'll get 'em next year.  We always do.  And next season Hugh and Don get to lead the charge. 

For this edition click HERE

Fan Appreciation Night

Despite losing by a run to the Rusty Rebels on this night, this was probably my favourite night of the year.  Through the efforts of the Grisslies, Sons Of Pitches, Rusty Nail, The Draft Kings, Dave Fleming, The Hot Tub Woody's and Beer Bros., we were able to raise $1000.00 for the Justin Keogh fund and have a truely awesome community and league spirit night.  I admire you all for your contributions and I apologize profusely to those not mentioned.  (although some not mentioned are by design because they don't want any credit - thank you all the same! but you can probably find their names if you click the link below because I haven't changed the original edition)

For this edition click HERE

The Grisslies Finally Beat The Brew Jays. 

This was the "things that can't happen edition of the BLOG.  To understand it you need to understand the Grisslies history with the Brew Jays.  It isn't good.  In fact, it was tragic.  The Brew Jays had beaten us in every regular season meeting in their first four years in existence and their 3-8-1 record coming into this game gave me no hope for a change in the pattern.  I had a BLOG written about how we never beat them and then had to change it when we defied all logic and got a win. 

For this edition click HERE

Explaining The Draft Kings Winning Streak. 

After my Hot Tub Woody's article caused their demise, I thought I'd try my luck on the Draft Kings.  It didn't work.  They had a great season, making it to Sunday which is the first goal of every team.  This had interviews with all of the Draft Kings players.  Well....okay....not really, but it made for some good fun. 

For this edition click HERE

What The Grisslies Did With The Beer Cup....Sort Of.  

The Grisslies took a page out of the Sons Of Pitches play book and tried to come up with some fancy travel shots of our brief time as owners of the Beer Cup.  The key difference, of course, being that the Sons Of Pitches pictures were real and ours were fake.  Or were they????

For this edition click HERE

Good Sportsmanship

This one came at a particularly down stretch for me during the season, which was weird because the team was playing awesome.  It was inspired by a very kind note that I received from Lou Conforti and reminded me of one the most amazing baseball stories that I ever heard about.  You can read the details by clicking the link below.

For this edition click HERE

Blog Disney Vacation

Well, it wasn't really a vacation BLOG.  It was a much needed break and the 1st time in at least 3 years that we didn't have Saturday stats!  And you know what?  The world didn't end.  Don't get me wrong.  It slowed down considerably and it did damned near did stop...but it continued.  Praise the sweet baby Jesus.  Thanks to Scott Peters, The Beechey and Scott Mason for keeping me in the loop via txt. 

 

 Until the banquet my friends!

 

The Finals

In 2006 Italy won the world cup.  Barry Bonds broke Babe Ruth's career home run record.  Pluto got down graded from a planet to a "dwarf planet".  Nintendo released the Wii. 

And in 2006, two new teams entered the Tottenham Oldtimers.

The Dog Catchers formed by Larry Turner and Randy Hipkin were joined by another entry; the Rusty Rebels put together by Hugh Armstrong and Don Booth. 

In their inaugural season the Rusty Rebels would win the regular season and make it all the way to the playoff finals where they would play their expansion cousins.  The Dog Catchers would prevail in the final making for a great season for both new teams. 

In the intervening eight years, The Banshees, Predators, Lucky Stiffs, Recycled, Red Dogs, Saints, Wild, Torn Ligaments, Two Dogs, Hole Asses, Dislocated Joints and Grumpy Old J's all have disappeared from the league. 

And still there, with the same captains were the Rusty Rebels and Dog Catchers. 

The Dog Catchers had an epic season.  Their team of Bill Brown, Bob Candy, Brett Mabee, David Potocki, Emeil Edwards, Harley Sherman, Larry Turner, Laurier Plante, Mike Candy, Randy Hipkin, Rick Hjelholt and Steve Lahey entered the season with optimism and some questions.  Was there too many guys at the same position?  What would Laurier look like in year #2?  Who was this Potocki guy?  Would there be any offense after Lahey?

They would answer some questions early.  They would open the season with a 21-3 beat down of the Rebels and then get blown out themselves falling 30-13 to the Beer Bros.  The Tap Masters would double them 18-9 in their next game dropping their record to 1-2.  Then they took off.  Four wins in a row by more than 10 runs over the Draft Kings, Dusty Cleats, Sons Of Pitches and Hurtin' Units.  The Sliders kept them close losing and the Woody's joined the blow out list.  The Brew Jays would earn a tie and the Blues Brothers a one run win before they dismantled the Rounders by 20 and Devils by 10. 

The Dog Catchers offense was established as the best bats in the league.  And Lahey might have been the straw that stirred the offensive drink, but they were all part of the cocktail.  Brett Mabee who missed six games for work was the only person on the squad who didn't average a run per game.  And he still scored 19 runs.  11 guys scored 22 or more.  7 scored 30 or more.  4 scored 40 or more.  2 scored over 50.  No team (in the record keeping that I've seen) has scored at the rate of the Dog Catchers. 

They would run into a little swoon tying the Grisslies, losing to the Rebels and Beer Bros.  They would dispatch the Cleats by 10 before losing to the Tap Masters by one and get into the playoff stretch.  They would beat the Sons Of Pitches 12-11; Hurtin' Units 32-11; Blues Brothers 22-7 and Hot Tub Woody's 24-12 on the last day of the season.  They would finish tied in points (30) with the Tap Masters and lost the regular season championship on a tie breaker. 

They were in fine shape for the playoffs.  They opened the Round Robin against the Gruesome Devils where they were shocked 14-9.  After a rain out they moved to Coventry to play host to the Dusty Cleats.  The Cleats who had found new playoff energy took care of the Dog Catchers 18-12.  Two games in and an 0-2 record, from no on, every playoff game would be an elimination for them.  Next up were the Hot Tub Woody's who kept it close but would fall 18-11.  The Dog Catchers were still alive at 1-2.  At 3pm on Saturday they played what many thought would be their last game when they met the 3-0 Draft Kings.  They were not ready to go home yet and defeated the Kings 11-6. 

The 2-2 round robin record earned them a trip to the elimination game where they would face the league's 3rd best team in the Dodge City Rounders.  The Rounders would be no match in this one losing to the Dog Catchers 24-13.  Moving to the quarter finals the Dog Catchers faced the Grisslies.  They would win that one with the 12-11 with the game ending with the bases loaded and two out and a line drive to short.  Heading to the semi's they faced the Gruesome Devils.  They would win their 5th consecutive elimination game, this time 9-8.  Again, unbelievably, they would win leaving the bases loaded in the 7th inning. 

And the Dog Catchers earned their berth to the finals. 

The Rusty Rebels season was vastly different from the Dog Catchers.  Where the Dog Catchers pretty much knew what they had but didn't know if it would work; the Rusty Rebels didn't really know what they had or if it would work at all!  Injuries, work schedules, players moving, new players introduced, subs seemingly every game, there was lot going on. 

The roster that finished the year:  Andy Gee, Cliff Tucker, Dave Miller, Don Booth, Hugh Armstrong, John Stiff, Mark Banks, Martin Ranby, Peter Hollmann, Stephen Booth, Steve Ross and Victor Dermott is missing the name of Randy Rose who played a substantial number of games before moving to Atlantic Canada. 

The Rebels, by their own admission had a terrible start.  Losing 21-3 to the Dog Catchers; 27-19 to the Woody's and 28-15 to the Blues Brothers before getting their first win 18-11 over the Sons Of Pitches.  It didn't stay good news for long.  The Tap Masters would undress them 19-5 and they bounced back to beat the Cleats 15-7.  The Draft Kings beat them 7-6 and they bounced back to beat Dodge 15-10 and finally strung some wins together beating the Units 24-18; Grisslies 12-11; Beer Bros. 15-7 and Brew Jays 13-9.  Then another crash, dripping a 25-6 decision to the Sliders.  Again, a bounce back.  They would square their record with the Draft Kings defeating them 14-11; beat the Sons Of Pitches 18-15 and the Blues Brothers 31-11.  Loses to the Cleats and Draft kings by 22-13 and 13-8 scores had them heading the wrong way with the playoffs nearing and only 4 games left. 

They would go 3-1 in that stretch.  A split with the Devils 18-15 & 5-23 and wins over the Units and Sliders  17-16 and 22-15.  When it was all said and done, the Rebels had 26 points which was good enough for 6th place.  However they had the 6th worse +/- in the league.  The defense was a question mark. 

Entering the Round Robin portion of the playoffs, the Rebels opened with the Sliders and defeated them 18-10.  Their second game was against the 1st place, league champion Tap Masters and they rolled over them to the tune of 22-7 leaving no doubt that they were here to play.  They were also in the very fortunate position of just needing to win one of their last two games to reach Sunday.  The Rusty Rebels too no risks when they met the 2-0 Sons Of Pitches on Friday and defeated them in an epic defensive game, 5-1.  Now assured of a spot on Sunday they went out and took care of the Hurtin' Units 7-2 to finish 4-0 with a +23.  And the also answered the "can they play well enough defensively" as they averaged giving up only 5 runs per game in the round robin. 

In the quarter finals the Rusty Rebels played the surprising Dusty Cleats.  The Cleats made this a competitive game and it was tied through 5 innings before the Rebels gained a little separation and eventually won 17-11.  The semi final was equally entertaining as the Tap Masters provided the opposition.  Still stinging from the round robin defeat the Tap Masters were determined to keep it close.  And they did, but ultimately fell 7-4 in the sixth consecutive spectacular game on Sunday. 

The Rusty Rebels had earned their berth to the finals. 

What follows is a detailed play by play of the championship final game to the best of my recollection.  This is the only time that I actually mention outs as part of a game report.  Its not meant to embarrass anyone, its simply to give an accurate recording. 

1st Inning

 

DOG CATCHERS:  Emeil Edwards lead off single.  Harley Sherman hits into fielders choice, safe at first, Edwards out at second.  Larry Turner hits into fielders choice, safe at first, Sherman out at second.  Steve Lahey flies out to second base.   

RUSTY REBELS:  Steve Ross grounds out to Short.  Victor Dermott grounds out to Short.  Andy Gee singles to center.  Peter Hollmann doubles to center, Gee to 3rd.  Hugh Armstrong doubles to right, Gee scores.  Hollmann scores.  Stephen Booth lines out to short.

SCORE.  Rusty Rebels 2, Dog Catchers 0.

 

2nd Inning

 

DOG CATCHERS:  Randy Hipkin singles to left.  Rick Hjelholt singles to centre, Hipkin to 3rd.  David Potocki singles to center.  Hipkin scores, Hjelholt to 2nd.  Mike Candy grounds into fielders choice.  Hjelholt out at 3rd, Potocki to 2nd, Candy safe at 1st.  Brett Mabee singles to centre.  Potocki scores, Candy moves to 3rd and Mabee moves to 2nd on the throw. Bob Candy grounds out to short. Mike Candy scores.  Bill Brown singles to centre.  Mabee scores.  Emeil Edwards grounds out to 1st.       

RUSTY REBELS:  Don Booth singles to right.  Martin Ranby flies out to Short.  Cliff Tucker flies out to center.  Dave Miller flies out to left.  

SCORE.  Rusty Rebels 2, Dog Catchers 4.

3rd Inning

DOG CATCHERS:  Harley Sherman lines to pitcher, ball is tipped and caught by Short.  Larry Turner hits to 1st, ball deflected to 2nd baseman, Turner out at 1st with the pitcher covering.  Steve Lahey flies out to the warning track in right.   

RUSTY REBELS:  John Stiff single down the 1st base line.  Steve Ross doubles to left, Stiff to 3rd.  Victor Dermott doubles to center.  Stiff scores.  Ross scores. Andy Gee singles to left.  Dermott scores. Peter Hollmann singles to left, Gee to 3rd.  Hugh Armstrong singles to right.  Gee scores.  Hollmann to 3rd.  Stephen Booth single to center.  Hollmann scores.  Armstrong to 3rd.  Don Booth lines out to pitcher.  Martin Ranby grounds into fielders choice.  Armstrong scores.  Booth out at 2nd.  Ranby safe at 1st.  Cliff Tucker singles to left, Ranby to 2nd.  Dave Miller single to center.  Ranby to 3rd, Tuker to 1st.  John Stiff grounds into fielders choice.     

SCORE.  Rusty Rebels 8, Dog Catchers 4.

 

4th Inning

 

DOG CATCHERS:  Randy Hipkin flies out to left.  Rick Hjelholt singles to center.  David Potocki hits into fielders choice.  Hjelholt out at 2nd.  Potocki moves to 2nd on a throwing error.  Mike Candy singles to left.  Potocki scores. Brett Mabee hits into a fielders choice.     

RUSTY REBELS:  Steve Ross singles to left.  Victor Dermott triples to right.  Ross scores.  Andy Gee hits sacrafice fly to centre.  Dermott scores. Peter Hollmann triples to left.  Stephen both grounds out but ends up on 3rd after 2 errors.  Hollmann scores.  Don Booth flies out to center.    

SCORE.  Rusty Rebels 11, Dog Catchers 5.

 

5th Inning

 

DOG CATCHERS:  Bob Candy flies out to center.  Bill Brown grounds out to 3rd.  Emeil Edwards grounds out to 2nd.     

RUSTY REBELS:  Martin Ranby flies out to center.  Cliff Tucker grounds out to pitcher.  Dave Miller grounds out to short.  

SCORE.  Rusty Rebels 11, Dog Catchers 5.

 

6th Inning

 

DOG CATCHERS:  Harley Sherman singles (is out on the bases - how is undetermined).  Steve Lahey walks.  Larry Turner flies out to pitcher.  Randy Hipken singles. Lahey to 3rd.  Hjelholt singles.  Lahey scores.  Hipkin to 3rd.  David Potocki strikes out.   

RUSTY REBELS:  John Stiff lines out to center.  Steve Ross doubles to right.  Victor Dermott singles to center, Ross to 3rd.  Andy Gee hits sacrafice fly to center.  Ross scores.  Hollmann strikes out.   

SCORE.  Rusty Rebels 12, Dog Catchers 6.

 

7th Inning

 

DOG CATCHERS:  Mike Candy grounds to short.  Brett Mabee lines out to 3rd.  Bob Candy flies out to center.     

RUSTY REBELS:  Not required. .

SCORE.  Rusty Rebels 12, Dog Catchers 6.

 

 

Playoffs 2014, Day 4 - All In

All in!  Everyone now has skin in the game.  Every teams has finally played at least a game.  We only have one mathematically elimination thus far, (Sliders 0-3, -21) but no one has secured a spot yet.  We've had 5 upsets so far in our 14 games courtesy of the 4th seeded Gruesome Devils (#11 overall), twice from the 5th seeded Dusty Cleats (#14 overall); the 2nd seeded Rusty Rebels (#6 overall) and the 4th seeded Beer Bros. (#10 overall).  One upset in pools A & C and 3 in pool B.  Its going to be a great last 3 days

Games

Rusty Rebels Vs. Tap Masters
This game started close to the vest.  The Rebels found themselves down 2-0 after one and 3-1 after two before squaring the game at 3-3 after 3 innings.  From there on the Rebels offense took off.  6 in the 4th, 4 in the 5th, 2 in the 6th and 6 more in the 7th to upset the regular season champs 22-7.  Everyone on the Rebels scored at least a run in a very balanced attack and Hugh Armstrong and Dave Miller led the way with 4/4 nights while scoring twice. 

Dusty Cleats Vs. Dog Catchers
Geez, who saw this coming???  Me.  The playoff primer edition had this line in it about the Cleats "With everyone seemingly healthy, with a fleet outfield and responsible defense, this team will contend.  See you on Sunday."  The Dog Catchers got their customary 4 runs in the 1st and led 4-0 after 1, 4-1 after 2 and 9-6 after 3.  However the Cleats 5 run 3rd gave them life and let everyone know they were here to play.  As much as Steve Lamb's 4/4 night with 4 runs was the offensive standout on the evening, it was the Cleats defense that was the difference maker.  Brian Richards run saving catch on the dead run.  Jim Rouleau reaching to the sky for a screaming liner over short.  Cal Steeves horizontal to the ground on a beautiful diving catch.  
Hot Tub Woody's Vs. Draft Kings
For the second game in a row the Draft Kings could only manage 11 runs.  For the second game in a row they won.  The Draft Kings got nearly half of their runs with a 5 run 2nd innings and Woody's, while close throughout, never had a sniff of the lead.  Steve Wynnyk, Eric Hipkin and Bob Vienneau were all 4/4 in the Kings victory. 

Sliders Vs. Sons Of Pitches
The battle of the rookie teams turned out to be not much of a battle at all.  The Sons Of Pitches carried the momentum from their stirring comeback win against the Hurin' Units into this one and quickly shook off the Sliders 3-2 lead after one inning and asserted control of the game with their bats and solid "D".  Jamie Allan stood out once again as he has pretty much all season.  In this game he was 5/5 with 4 runs scored.  The SOP's sit at 2-0 and in full control of their own destiny.  The Slider are 0-3 with a tragic +/- that removes all hope of an elimination game. 

Brew Jays Vs.  Dodge City Rounders
The Brew Jays were the last team to get a game in, and it figures it would be against the #1 seeded Dodge City Rounders.  The Jays were ready for this one.  In a very well played defensive game on both sides, they Brew Jays found themselves in the very enviable position of owning a 7-6 lead over Dodge City after 5 innings.  The Jays couldn't count anything in the 6th while the Rounders smashed in 5 runs to take and 11-7 lead.  With their last call in the 7th the Brew Jays send 7 men to the plate but only managed 2 runs.  As is often the case with the game over, the home team had no trouble getting their 7 run max in the bottom of the inning. 

Beer Bros. Vs. Grisslies
The Beer Bros. opened with 3 in the 1st.  The Grisslies answered with 3.  The Beer Bros. were held of the board in the 2nd and the Grisslies got 1.  The Beer Bros exploded for 6 in the 3rd.  The Grisslies responded with 7.  Nothing for the Beer Bros in the 4th, the Grisslies got 2.  A four run lead for the Grisslies after four innings with an offense that had scored 46 runs in their last 11 innings.  Things looked bright.  The Beer Bros. would score 5 runs over the final 3 innings and the Grisslies would count zero.  The Bros. were led by Brad Young's 4/4, 2 run night, but the moment of the night belonged to John Barlow for another shining example of sportsmanship.  John had inadvertently interfered with a Grisslie base runner.  A play that was unnoticed by the umpire who was busily tracking a fair/foul call on the other side of the diamond.  John, without prompting, declared the interference on himself allowing the Grisslie runner to advance a base, putting runners at 2nd and 3rd and removing the force out.  It was a critical point of the game but doing the right thing was the right thing to do.  Good on you John.  Good on the Beer Bros for accepting their teammate's decision without any grumbling and good on the Beer Bros for their inspired come back win. 

Standings

Playoff 2014, Day 3 - Rain Delay

We spent most of the summer dodging mother nature.  On Wednesday, mother nature won. 

Lets call it even and finish this out. 

Because the webmaster for the league site is unavailable for a day or two, I'm posting our revised schedule here so people have a spot to find everything until the update is done.  Its been communicated to all captains

All remaining round robin games are listed below. The 6 games impacted by tonight's rain outs are in bold. 

Games are all on for Thursday.  If anyone is free during the day to help get the fields ready, please let me know! 

Playoff 2014, Day 2 - On Deck

Playoffs Day 1 Results, click HERE
Season ending stats, click HERE

Games

For a while it was looking like Tuesday was going to be upset night.  The Gruesome Devils were playing great defense again holding the Draft Kings to only 11 runs.  The Beer Bros. got out to a quick 4-1 lead over Dodge.   The Hurtin' Units had a 17-12 lead over the Sons Of Pitches with two out in the bottom of the 7th.  The Sliders were in a 5-3 games with the Rusty Rebels through 3 innings.  The Hot Tub Woody's were getting clobbered 14-2 by the Dusty Cleats after 2 innings and the Blues Brothers would score 26 runs against the Grisslies. 

How did it all end?

Gruesome Devils Vs. Draft Kings
The Devils, riding high after their opening night win against the Dog Catchers scored 2 to open the game while the Draft Kings countered with one of their own. The Gruesome Devils would get 3 more in the 2nd inning and have a 5-3 lead through two.  But the Devils would only send 4 men to the plate in the 3rd and 3 in the fourth counting not runs.  In the 5th they got two quick outs and then 3 singles to load the bases before the inning ended, again with no runs.  The 6th was for batters and no runs.  Meanwhile the Draft Kings would score 3 in the 3rd and 4 in the 4th to take a 10 - 5 lead through six.  The Devils made it interesting scoring 4 in the 7th but they'd ultimately fall 11-9. 

Beer Bros. Vs. Dodge City Rounders
The quick 4-1 start for the Beer Bros. after the 1st inning was pretty much the highlight in this one.  Dodge, who had all 12 guys sent 10 of them to the plate and scored 7 in the the 2nd.  From there on it was gravy.  The Beer Bros. would only score in the 1st (4 runs) and 4th innings (3 runs) and count 7 runs on the night.  Dodge scored 18 with Adrian Barry's 4 for 4 night with 4 runs leading the way. 

Hurtin' Units Vs. Sons Of Pitches
I've seen comeback.  But not like this.  The Units led 5-2 after 1.  Were tied at 7's after 2.  Led 11-9 after 3; 12-9 after 4; 12-11 after 5; and 14-12 after 6.  In the Hurtin' Units 7th inning they would score three for the largest lead of night going ahead 17-12. 

Queue the bottom the 7th and death star music.  The inning begins with a hit that immediately erased on a double play.  2 out.  Nobody on.  Down 5.  Single, single, single, single, home run by Chris Parsons (The Whale).  Tie game at 17's. 

That should be enough right?  Nope.  Single, single, single, single, single, double, double, single.  Sons of Pitches not only win but get their +7 and all with two out.  Best comeback I've seen. 

Sliders Vs. Rusty Rebels
The Sliders counted nothing in their first two innings but only trialed 5-3 after 3 complete.  However, the wheels would fall off with Peter Hollmann inflicting the bulk of the damage for the Rusty Rebels going 4/4 and scoring 4 runs.  The Rebels would score 7 in the 4th inning, 2 more in the 5th and 4 more in the 6th.  They wouldn't need to hit in the 7th as they already secured their +7 winning this one 18-10

Dusty Cleats Vs. Hot Tub Woody's
Another underdog that looked good early.  The Cleats led 7-1 after one and 14-2 after 2.  That's pretty safe in many people's books, but there's still 7 innings of ball left to play.  The Hot Tub Woody's took advantage.  The Woody's would score in every inning, 5 in the 3rd, 1 in the 4th and 5th and then 7 in the 6th.  The Hot Tub Woody's would narrow the gap to 20-16 after 6 complete.  In the Dusty Cleats half of the 7th they would get 3 runs.  One of those runs was scored by Matt Foerster who had a typical playoff game going 5/5 and scoring 5.  No surprise.  23-16, bottom of 7.  The Woody's would score 3 runs and get the tying run on deck before running out of steam and dropping this one 23-19. 

Blues Brothers Vs. Grisslies
The Grisslies had their worst defensive game of the year allowing 26 runs.  Bob McCullough for the Blues Brothers was 7 for 7 and scored 4 runs.  Neil Pendlebury was 6/6 and scored 5.  However the Grisslies opened the game scoring 6 runs, then got 7 in the 2nd and 7 more in the 3rd.  Despite the Grisslies worst offensive inning of the night being a 2 run 6th, this game was never safe and we're fortunate to have escaped with a 33-26 win.  Lots of impressive nights for the Grisslies with the bats.  Micah William's and Geoff Keogh's home runs were big.  Craig Escott hitting the wall 3 times and going 5/5 while scoring 3 was big.  Darren Ford and Geoff Keogh going  5/5 while scoring 4 each was big. Dan Routledge and Cam Clark going 5/6 and scoring 5 was big.  But Dan Chiasson's 5/5 with 5 runs was a fantastic line! 

Standings

These are UNOFFICIAL!  But I think they're pretty accurate.  Official stuff is only found on the league website, just to be clear. 

The tie breakers in the pool work as such:

1.  Points.
2.  Plus/Minus
3.  Runs against
4.  Runs for
5.  Head to head results.
6.  Regular season standings

Playoffs 2014, Day 1 - The First Pitch

Games

Its said that the playoffs don't 'really' start until there's an upset.  I guess its "Game On", now!

Sliders Vs. Tap Master
The Sliders came into this game having a bit of a leg up and some confindence with respect to the #1 seeded Tap Masters.  The Sliders had wins of 15-14 and 15-12 over the league champs. 

The game started well with the Sliders scoring in each of the first 3 innings (2, 3, 1) and found themselves with a 6-4 lead after 3 complete.  The Tap Masters were just getting warmed up it would seem.  The counted 7 in the 4th and tacked on 2 runs in the 6th and single in the 7th.  The Sliders didn't score again and dropped a 14-6 decision. 


Gruesome Devils Vs. Dog Catchers
The Dog Catchers and Gruesome Devils met only once this season and it ended like many Dog Catchers games did this year.  A 24-14 beat down of the opposition. The general consensus (or maybe just mine) was that the Gruesome Devils would have to beat you with their bats because their 13th ranked defense wouldn't hold up; especially against the league's best offensive team. 

The Dog Catchers didn't have their usual gusto but they still scored in each of the 1st 5 innings (3,1,2,2,1) and held a 9-7 after 5 complete.  The Devils 7th ranked offense was holding its own and they were hanging around late enough to be dangerous.  And dangerous they were, counting 4 in the 6th and 2 in the 7th.  But the real story was the Devils sending the Dog Catchers packing with a 3 up 3 down 6th and a 3 up 3 down 7th. 

Standings

STATS - Final

The Playoffs are hours away, but first we need to clean up the regular season.  Here are your final stats

TEAM

Your final season standings.

 

Every team's order of finish in the 1st half of the season.

Every teams order of finish in the 2nd half of the season.

The final power rankings.  Everyone held form with the exception of the Dog Catchers who moved into a 1st place tie. 

Our quick hit offenses.  Only 4 teams were lower than last season's average team.  This season's overall average is 2.12. 

 The Dog Catchers not only finished an unbelievable 43 points higher than the 2nd place Blues Brothers, but they finished 63 points above the league average of .650 and 98 points ahead of the last place Hurtin' Units.

INDIVIDUAL

Congratulations to the 14 gentlemen who hit in all 22 games.

 

And big congratulations to Steve Brooks who is the only player in the league to score a run in every game.  Well done!

The top 10 in average is a little more strenuous than our league stats.  It requires 3 at bats per game as opposed to our official league stats that only look for 2 ABs per game.  Either way, Lahey captures his 1st batting title!  Congrats Steve. 

 

Congrats to Kevin on winning the 1st quarter.

Congrats to Rick on winning the 2nd quarter.

Congrats to Keith on winning the 3rd quarter.

Congrats to Steve on winning the 4th quarter. 

Lahey's attack Doucet's run record fell a little short.  However, with two less games played this season, Steve scored 2.68 runs per game to Terry's 2.54.  No matter how you cut it, a great season! We had 5 players crack the 50 mark and 12 players average at least 2 runs a game. 

Congrats to Kevin on scoring the most runs in the first quarter.

Congrats to Laurier and Steve for scoring the most runs in the second quarter.

Congrats to Steve on scoring the most runs in the third quarter

Congrats to Steve on scoring the most runs in the fourth quarter.

 

Congrats to Jeff Behan who delivered the best rookie average on the season!  Well done Jeff. 

 

Congrats to Chris Nyers on scoring the best average amongst Sophomores.

 

Congrats to Steve on the best Junior average.  Beating this group of players by over a 100 points is mind boggling.  

 

Congrats to Adrian Barry who enjoyed a great season and let the league in At Bats. 

Steve also managed to lead the league in hits.  He only made 11 outs on the entire season.  3 of those outs were in his first game so he's only made 8 ours in the last 21 games.  Wow.  He's tough on pitchers!

As usual, here is the complete list of all players who saw their averages go up this year.  A hearty congrats to Jeff Dancey who had the largest improvement of any player at .219 points!  Congrats too to Steve "the good" DeLand who trounced big brother Doug's 150 point increase by another 34 points.