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