PLAYOFFS, Day 4 - White Knuckles

PRE INTRO

A grievous, inexcusable and simply unacceptable error occurred in last night's edition of the Playoff Update BLOG.  Scott Mason (a fine hitter who was second on the Dodge City Rounders in hitting by 1/10,000th of a point) was erroneously listed as going 3/4 and lost his 1.000 batting average.  After a careful review of the score sheet, we here at The BLOG have found that Scott was in fact 4/4 on the night and the stat scroll above now reflects his rightful place among our games elite players. 

Its probably small consolation, but we've have to fire two of our screeners and one of our fact-checkers over this.  We don't take statistical errors lightly.  Hopefully everything is in order now!

AND.....

For those of you who are still wondering whether its worth the trip up to coventry to see two 2-0 teams square off for ownership of their pool.........be advised that the Beer Garden and BBQ will be open!!!  See you there. 

INTRO

One of my favourite things to do on a game day is to watch Rob take 45 minutes to get his cleats on.  Its the little things in life that matter most.  Most guys, just put on their cleats, lace them up and take off.  Not Rob.  For Rob its a process.

1) Find the Cleats.  Sometimes this is quick because they're often right where he tripped over them going to work in the morning.  Sometimes its harder though.  One might have been kicked under the couch in the sun room or become a chew toy for the psycho cat.
2)  Have a smoke.  This is a critical component to putting on the cleats.  This helps get Rob in the right frame of mind to lace up.
3)  Undo the laces.  Again, for most people, this had been done after the last game.  Not so much with Rob.  What you have to understand is that when Rob isn't playing baseball (about 315 days a year), he's wearing slippers or "Putt-Putts" as he likes to call them.  He's a slip on, slip off kind of guy.  So he has to unlace from the previous game to get his shoes back on.
4) Pour a Glass of Wine.  After the drama of finding the cleats and the painstaking chore of loosening the laces which often have knots in them, its time to kick back on one of the Donini Deck rockers and sip a little of Italy's finest red wine.
5) Put on the right cleat.  I've been searching for meaning behind the right shoe being first.  I'm sure there is something sane and rational behind it, but I haven't figured it out yet.
6)  Have a smoke.  This smoke isn't a 'mood' thing.  This one is 'ritual' by nature.  Its about maintaining the sequence of doing the same thing every time.  I'm not saying that Rob is superstitious, but his palm reader might disagree.
7)  Tie up the right cleat.  Here we go.  This is when you know that Rob now means business and we're sure within a half hour of leaving.
8)  The witty repartee.  You can tell at this point with one shoe on and one shoe off and half a glass of wine gone that the stress of the game is starting to loom with our hero Robert.  Rob is usually on the Donini Deck and Sue is usually somewhere in the house.  Rob:  Sue!;  Sue:  What?  Rob:  Where's my ball bag?  Sue:  Where you left it!  Rob:  Sue!  Sue:  What!?!?  Rob:  Where did I leave it?  Sue:  Under the rocking chair on the Donini Deck.  Rob:  Sue!  Sue:  WHAT?!?!  Rob:  The rocking chair I'm sitting on or the one beside me?  Sue:  Are you kidding me?  Look down!  Rob:  Never mind I've found it.  ON MY OWN!  Hey Sue?  Sue:  WHAT NOW?!?!?!  Rob:  What's for dinner?  Sue:  WE ATE AN HOUR AGO!
9) Top up wine:  Rob is adamant about not having a second glass of wine before a game, but he's not adverse to topping up the first one from time to time.
10)  Put on the left cleat - This task is arduous to say the least.  He's usually pretty exhausted from the trip to get the wine from driving Sue nuts.
11)  Lace up the left Cleat.  By this time I'm usually getting nervous and start asking if he's running on McCarron time, but finally he finishes, springs up and says something along the lines of, "aren't you ready?  We need to get going!"

Welcome to my world. 

GAMES
(4) Rusty Rebels @ (3) Lucky Stiffs - A strange game when you look at the score cared between these two clubs.  The Stiffs scored in each of the first 5 innings.  The Rebels scored in innings two, three, four, five and six.  Normally that would lead to two high scores, but this game ended 17-9 for the Lucky Stiffs.  The Rusty Rebels had a lot of base runners but couldn't seem to count that one big break through hit.  The Lucky Stiffs had a perfect night from Andy Gee who was 4/4 with 3 runs scored.  The Rusty Rebels had Roger Burton's big bat working with a 4/4 night with a run.

(3) Tap Masters @ (2) Beer Bros. - The Tap Masters keep down the hard hitting Beer Bros. through 5 innings allowing them only 5 runs.  The problem was they only scored one of their own.  However they were certainly within striking distance until the Bros. rolled a 6 in the sixth inning and then watched Peter Holmann launch a walk off shot to provide the 7 run buffer in the bottom of the 7th inning which gave the Beer Bros a 13-6 victory.  The Tap Masters had another hot night from Paul Doyle who was again 4/4 with a run scored.  The Beer Bros. were led by Peter Holmann's 4/4 and one run night and Al Bales who set the tone going 3/3.

(5) Dog Catchers @ (1) Dislocated Joints -The Dog Catchers were looking to build on the success of their opening night victory and counted one in the 1st.  The Dislocated Joints smashed their way back with 5 runs in their half of the 1st and wouldn't be threatened again in the contest, winning by a 14-4 score.  Leading the way for the Dog Catchers were Don Curran and Phil Glecoff who were both 3/3.  Phil also scored 2 runs.  The Dislocated Joints had no perfect nights at the plate in a pretty balanced attack, but they did have Doris Casullo score three runs.

(3) Gruesome Devils @ (2) Grisslies - The Grisslies won the rubber match with the Gruesome Devils by the count of 19-12 in a well played game full of bad hops on both sides.  As usual, good sportsmanship on both sides made this a fun game to play in.  The Devils had a number of solid performances, but none better than Gord Tanner's 3/3 night with a run scored.  The Grisslies were once again led by Art Sagert's second consecutive 5/5 evening with 2 runs and Bob Vienneau and Dave Argue both broke out with 4/4 nights.  Bob scored two runs and Dave counted a single. 

STANDINGS

A quick note about standings:

• I've included the scores underneath the standings as a reference point.
• Remember that +/- will not necessarily equal the runs scored minus runs against as there is a maximum of 7 per game. This is why the scores are included so you can see how we got there.
• Tie breaker sequence is: (1) Total Points (2 for win, 1 for tie), (2) +/-, (3) Least Runs Against, (4) Most Runs Scored, (5) Head To Head, (6) Regular Season Standings
• As always, these standings are a 'service' and my best effort. Apologies in advance if any errors are made.

 
ON DECK

Again, we have 3 out of 4 games featuring teams next to each other in the pools.  And all eight teams on this night are playing their 3rd game of the round robin.  This is a big night and potentially make or break for many of these teams.

The Grisslies (2-0) visit the Brew Jays (0-2) whom they've never beaten in a regular season game. EVER.  However they are 1-0 career against them in the playoffs. A win for the Grisslies assures a bye, a win for the Brew Jays keeps them very much in the race for an elimination game. 

The Hurtin' Units (1-1) play against the Gruesome Devils (1-1) who they split with losing the first game 16-8 before coming back to win the rematch 19-17.  The winner of this game will be no worse than second place in the pool pending the outcome of the Grisslies / Brew Jays game.  A loss won't necessarily spell gloom and doom as +/-'s are still reasonable. 

The Dodge City Rounders (2-0) face the Dislocated Joints (2-0) in a match up of #2 Vs. #1.  In the Regular season the Dodge City Rounders dropped a close 9-7 decision.  The winner will be assured a bye.  The losing team will still be in a strong position for the second free pass to Sunday but will likely need to win their last game to guarantee it. 

Finally, the Tap Masters (0-1-1) meet the Red Dogs (0-1).  They too only faced off once this year and that game saw the Red Dogs win a 9-7.  Everyone in this pool is looking up at the Beer Bros. and Banshees right now and they've yet to square off.  The winner here will have the best chance of catching one of them.  For the loser it could be tough sledding.