GAME 15 - Good Riddance (time of your life)

BLOG ADDENDA

Normally, once The BLOG is posted, that's "all she wrote".  However the numerous trade requests demanded a response from the Captains and we take that stuff seriously!!!  An open letter from Rob and Doug to The Grisslies:

Dear team:

Rob and I have been working on a complicated 14 team multi-player deal for the balance of the day. We should have done this together, but it’s so hard to get hold of Randy Hipken (who is strongly considering getting a land line) that we had to work independently.


As it turns out, and this was really emotionally tough to do, we were able to move Tim to the Lucky Stiffs for Andy Gee and a dozen slightly scuffed balls.

Then being suddenly deep a pitching we moved Andy to the Red Dogs for the Down Town Billy Brown.

But even DTBB can’t take the starting catching job from our MVP, so we sent Billy to the Rusty Rebels for Roger Burton.

Okay, we totally forgot about Rogers sliced up thumb and we had to get rid of him before the physical so we quickly packed him and one of the balls out of the box from the Luck Stiffs to the Wild for Chuck Cragg.

What seemed like a good deal initially, quickly turned sour when Cragg failed to report and demanded a trade, so we sent him to Torn Ligaments for Luc Schryer and a bag of ear plugs.

Realizing we were already deep in the outfield, we packaged Luc and the earplugs (they go where he goes) to the Hurtin’ Units for Jens Lepa.

Chris Ross refused to sanction the trade and gave us 11 minutes to either move him or he’d reverse it. Jens was quickly moved to the Dusty Cleats for Paul Hargreaves.

This was approved, but some attitude issues came up during our initial meeting with Paul so we traded him and another one of the scuffed balls from the Lucky Stiffs to the Hot Tub Woody’s for Steve Wynnyk.

That gave us Steve and six other guys who can play second base so we put Steve on Waivers. He was claimed by the Dog Catchers and we reclaimed him.  However the Dog Catchers offered us Murray Saunders and two blank lineup sheets as compensation for the rights to Wynnyk. Obvioulsy, we accepted.

With Radar, Dave, Danny and Cal all able to center field we quickly moved Murray to Dodge City for Cliff Stacey.

Not realizing the league by-law on the number of East Coaster that one team can have, we were forced to move Cliff to the Dislocated Joints for Dave Muirhead and a rain coat. Rob called me to tell me the news about of the latest deal and I said “Dave? I thought we were going after JERRY Muirhead, I already have another team that want’s him but can’t work a trade with Bo!”.

So we traded Dave Muirhead to the Brew Jays for Jerry Muirhead and now having Jerry we immediately flipped him for Jim Mannell and a pitcher (the kind you drink).

Finally done, we met with Jim and drank the pitcher and Jim expressed how happy he was to be a Grisslie. As we discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the team, it came up that the only thing we were really missing was better team speed. So Rob got up and called Clayton Campbell and traded Jim Mannell for Tim Osmond.

After an exceptionally busy day, we’ve greatly improved our team speed, acquired 10 slightly scuffed balls, two blank line up sheets and a rain coat.

That’s why we’re captains.  Go Grisslies!!

 Poll Info


Before we get into this edition of The BLOG, lets look at the results of the last poll, shall we? The question posed was, "What was your favourite part of the HTKP Tournament?". Here are the final results:

The Pig Roast 5%
The All Star Game 52%
Live Music 42%
The Alumni Game 4%
The Beer Garden 26%

Now, the first question is, why doesn't it add up to 100%. The reason is that this particular vote was setup so that people could make 2 picks. The second question is how many people responded, and the answer is 19. While that isn't a huge number, its probably a descent sample size.

This was being absolutely positive that the beer garden would win and the curiosity was to see what would finish second. Shockingly, the all-star game and the live music both beat out the beer garden! Maybe all the voters thought the beer was a 'given' so they better vote for what they liked to do WITH beer which is obviously listening to music and watching good quality baseball! Hopefully we can use this bit of informal data for next year's HTKP weekend!
INTRO

We're more than half way through the season now and as promised I wanted to do a mid season report card.  To be completely candid here, Rob and I have been arguing about doing this for several weeks.  I completely understand where Rob is coming from on this, because he doesn't want me to give an unfair advantage to other teams by revealing our team's straight and weaknesses. 

While I understand that, its still a fun league, right?  No one would take advantage of another team willingness to do a fair and honest evaluation would they?  I just don't see it.  Besides, I don't think players on other teams actually read The BLOG anyway, so what is the real harm here?  None.

So here is the breakdown.

Dave Argue – He’s played at third base, short stop and center field. Failure is a word we don’t just “throw around”, but this may be an exception. If I were playing against the Grisslies, I'd instruct my hitters to "hit it to Dave", you can’t really go wrong with that strategy. Also, try to hit it, if at all possible, to his glove side, he’s less sure on that side due to the eye issues. Further, his arm is pretty much gone. If you hit a routine two hopper to Dave, don’t knock yourself out going to first base. Save your energy to go 1st to 3rd on the next hit.
C-

Danny - The season long strategy of hitting to the off-field is finally starting to pay off with solid hits to the left-center gap for extra bases. We’re seeing that reflected in his average which keeps going up and up and up! If you want to get him out, I would pitch him middle-in, he tends to hit a lazy fly ball to center. His throwing arm is coming around, or maybe I’m just getting accustomed to that high looping throw. If you have near average speed, I would challenge this arm ALL DAY!
B+

Brett - insists on playing short stop which is a bit of a liability. We spend a lot of time trying to convince him that he's hurt so he'll spend a few innings per game at 1st base. When he manages to stay awake at first, it doesn’t hurt us nearly as much. Then of course that puts Dave at short stop and we have pray for balls being hit to his right. Damned if you do; damned if you don’t. There’s been some questions around the league about how much and how quickly he’s bulked up, but I don’t think there’s anything to it.
D

Calvin - Great wheels but a really weak glove, an easy target for opposing hitters. Instead of the funky shorts and hat, he should just wear a bulls-eye! The more directly you hit it to him, the better the odds of a hit for your team. Strictly a singles hitter. You may as well put all four outfielders in dead centre field a couple of feet apart.
C+

Kevin - leads the team with 7 home runs, one every other game. The average is down a little bit, but with that kind of power, who cares! He sat out last game in protest of the home run hitting contest being canceled at the HTKP tournament, so next game should be a 2 dinger affair! (Note to self: Make sure we bring extra balls).
A-

Simon - Speed kills. Enough said.
A

Doug - Even though teams continue to play him to pull, he consistently and pig headedly yanks the ball hard between 3rd and short. Personally I would have the second baseman on the shortstop side of second base, go with 3 outfielders in left and put the right fielder in shallow center. Then I'd pitch him away and watch him dribble one to 3rd when he tries to pull it. But hey, that's me.
C+

Ingo - You don't even really need an outfield with Ingo at bat. He ALWAYS hits it on the ground; the problem is it could go anywhere. I would consider bringing in my left fielder and having 5 across the infield. I would probably also have my 3 outfielders come to the edge of the grass just in case one of Ingo’s predictable ground balls sneak through. Maybe I’m being unfair, but I would have thought that a former major leaguer would have a little more game.
D-

Rob - This one is almost too easy. Rob has a mental block with throwing a 3rd strike. When he gets two strikes on you, you've got him where you want him. If I was desperate for base runners, I tell my team to swing and miss on purpose twice and then wait for the walk, because you KNOW it’s coming! At least he gets the odd single!
C-

Tim – Probably the Rookie of the year for the league this year. Don’t let the batting average throw you off. When people go over the wall to bring back what would have been multiple home runs at Coventry; well…that can get in your head. Like every rookie, he’s got a couple of warts. One is that he’s hard to get along with. A bit of a primadona to be sure, but when you’re THAT good, who’s gonna complain???? The second is the lack of hustle. Rumour has it that the guys on the bench call him “1st gear Timmy”.
A-

Greg – Greg?…Greg?…Greg?…hmmm…tough to recall. Oh, THAT Greg! I always thought his name was Claude Rains (he played the invisible man, work with me people). From what I hear Greg is quite athletic, fairly tall and has very nice hair. Not Starsky nice, but you know what I mean. Oh yeah, NEVER run on his arm. EVER!!! I saw one game where his throw actually tore the glove off of the cutoff man.
D

Piero – M-V-P; M-V-P; M-V-P; M-V-P…obviously he is getting robbed statistically because I can’t remember the last time he didn’t go 3 for 4. Actually he wouldn’t be hitting nearly that well if guys would just go back to the fence and wait for the ball. Everything is warning track with him. Also fields flawlessly at the most important defensive position on the diamond!
A+

The SPEECH

An interesting choice by Mr. Farah this evening.  Its a simple song with a very simple message.  The message, of course, is that these games don't count (we knew that), that its all about fun (we knew that), staying healthy (knew that too) and winning in September (that part is new!).   After a horrible May, a so-so June and a July that has looked like a Raptors playoff drive; rumour has it that August will be the month of The Grisslies!  You heard it here first!!!

Everyone knows this song!!!  Click on the title for the music.

Good Riddance,

More commonly known as

Time of Your Life by Greenday

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
The league grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable, but its only practise, right?
The playoffs will be the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames on the BLOG
Heal the hammys and bruises they'll be better in good time
Wins and loses really don't matter in July
For what it's worth its in September that we'll really try

It's something unpredictable, but its only practise, right?
The playoffs will be the time of your life.

The Game

Sure.  It looks easy from the outside. You look at me and you see, good looking, charming, self assured.  Sure, ladies love me, girls adore me, I mean even the ones who never saw like, the way that I rhyme at a show, the reason why man?  I don't know!

But setting that aside, even I am human.  We lost to the Brew Jays last night by a 9-6 count and I can trace(y) the difference to me. 

An easy ground ball missed. 

Circling the bases on fly ball with one out. 

Not having a coach at 1st that ended up costing us an out. 

Going 3 for 3 but forcing our a runner twice. 

Not bringing orange slices for the 4th inning stretch.

Playing an Carpenters song to inspire the team before the game. 

If I touched it last night it went BAD!  The game started in what has become our fashion lately with Rob, me (legitimately) and Dave all reaching in the first inning and all of us scoring on a succession of hits. A three nothing lead after a half inning against the second place team in the league. 

We made up for that lead by giving up 4 in the bottom of the 1st and from there on (obviously) were outscored 5-3 for the balance of the game. 

We certainly had our shots though. Three critical base running errors that resulted in outs hurt.  A handful of plays that should have been made but weren't were at least as costly. 

For the first half of the season we started brutally and chipped away to make it close.  Now we seem to start well but stumble. 

Let me say it again just for the record.  We're close!!!

Wins are coming, I think Tuesday. 

All other pages will but updated by noon tomorrow, the three stars, grisslie radio...etc...etc...etc...

Still looking for help for BLOGs 21 & 22.  After reading today's you might understand why!

Cheers and good luck to those who are tournamenting this weekend.

DD  (ps. if its troubling you, the "ladies love me girls adore me" line from above is from It Takes Two by Rob Base and DJ Easy Rock - I know it was Killing Simon)