SPECIAL REPORT

The SCENE

If you build it they will come.... Last night in downtown Tottenham, players from across the league were drawn to Keogh park like flies to bug lights.

Like W.P. Kinsella's classic book, Field of Dreams, this game was one part baseball and one part everykid's dream. There were 8-10 players of other teams as well as a number of supporters for both The Wild and Recycled in the stands last night. They were treated to one of the best games of the year.

It was a playoff, party atmosphere as the sun went down (surprisingly in the west again, I beat Tito on a 5 dollar bet) the lights started to take effect. Everyone knew this game had a lot riding on it. Not the least of which was first place in the league. The Wild had held the first place mark for much of the season before starting to skid a little bit. The Recycled were in 1st place by one point entering the game ahead of the surging Wild who are tied with the Red Dogs. Recycled had a game in hand over both teams. Aside from the teams, there was also the batting race.

I know its an OBA race, but I prefer to call it a batting race. I'll get to that in a minute.
Rob, Doris, Fonzie and Brett, 4 of thousands doing the WAVE at Keogh park last night

Overall, the game lived up to the hype. It was just a few innings too short. There were a few times when the game looked over and out of reach and one team or the other would roll a 7 and get right back in it. There weren't too many freebies out there and the bulk of the hits were clean.
DENNIS SHORT SNARES ONE, JOHN TESSIER QUOTED AS SAYING, "FINALLY"!

Dennis, having traded in his floral print shirt to play 3rd base last night continued to encourage players to hit the ball lower and lower. The picture is a little decieving, but eye witness accounts indicate that he got a full 3 inches off the ground.

Then we have Steve Brooks. The batting details will come out shortly, but Jamie McClean hit a little hump back liner to Brooks that Steve juggled all the way to the Legion parking lot (where he had his Whitney Houston CDs alphabetized in the car) before he finally secured it. Brooks took his defense to the "next level" when the infield throw around sailed passed him into left field. Its hard to do that and still look cool, but Steve pulled it off.

This might have something to do with the MONSTER blast that he it just right of dead centre. The Grisslies are thinking of changing their fielding strategy against him now. Instead of 4 guys in right field, we might go 3 in right and one in the tennis court.

The Batting Race

So entering the game, Doyle was leading the league with a staggering .803 average and McClean was second and still insight (with a game in hand) at .786.

Doyle had honors with first ups and hit into a very routine fielders choice. 1/1 .805
McClean did the same but with no one on base so he was thrown out. 0/1 .775

Doyle's 2nd threw off the defense with a solid triple the other way. 2/2 .807
McClean 2nd at bat, line drive to Brooks that was eventually caught. 0/2 .763

Clearly, Jamie needed a change of fortune. Everyone wanted to see both guys do well and fight it out and it just seemed like Jamie wasn't getting the breaks. As luck would have it, Jamie had his 3rd ups before Doyle and got an (assisted) single to right making him 1/3 and moving him back up to .767, maybe it was the break he needed. That set the stage for what may have been the play of the game. Doyle hit a rope to dead centre that spit the outfielders. It was 3 bases FOR SURE. That was until the blur came out of nowhere refusing to allow Doyle another hit. BLUR = McCLEAN. 2/3 and back to .797

Doyle's 4th at bat, another hit on what would be an error to 3rd, 3/4 .800
McClean's 4th, single to right under Moon's glove. 2/4 .770

Doyle's 5th, Double to left, 4/5 .802
McClean's 5th, apparently Doyle didn't much appreciate The Blur's catch in center, because Marky picked a slow roller from McCleans bat and gunned him by a 1/2 step. 2/5, .760


NOTES

• The game final was 27-18, but until the last inning actually played much closer.
• Kevin Moon and those ROPES to right field. Trevor could have just put his back to the fence and hoped for the best. Its more like playing goal when that guy hits.
  
• You know how you can tell its a playoff atmosphere? When Tito starts singing soccer (sorry, football) songs from the stands. But Tito, leave the lyric changing to the professionals!
• I was joking around about the Whitney Houston thing with Brooks. At least it WAS a joke until I heard the BodyGuard sound track coming from his backyard. Oh well, it beats the Rankin family.
  
• Jamie McClean was probably responsible for 1/4 of the outs last night in Centre Field. Great game.
  
• There are strong rumors that WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) has been called in to "randomly" test players. One player who looked a lot like Chuck, but claimed to be named Ann Onamus, said, "yeah right, as if you could hit .800 for a whole year".

UPDATED & UNOFFICIAL STANDINGS

		GP	W	L	T	PTS
1	THE WILD	22	13	7	2	28
2	RECYCLED	21	13	7	1	27
3	RED DOGS	21	13	8	0	26
4	DISLOCATED JOINTS	19	12	6	1	25
5	DODGE CITY ROUNDERS	21	11	9	1	23
6	TORN LIGAMENTS	21	11	9	1	23
7	GRISSLIES	21	11	10	0	22
8	DOG CATCHERS	21	8	10	3	19
9	DUSTY CLEATS	21	9	12	0	18
10	BANSHEES	22	9	13	0	18
11	HOT TUB WOODY'S	22	8	13	1	17
12	RUSTY REBELS	21	7	13	1	15
13	LUCKY STIFFS	21	6	14	1	13
		Torn Ligaments				vs	Banshees
		Recycled				vs	The Wild