Playoffs Day One Can Be Found Here ====>
DAY 1 Playoffs Day Two Can Be Found Here ====>
DAY 2 Playoffs Day Three Can Be Found Here ====>
DAY 3Playoffs Day Four Can Be Found Here ====>
DAY 4Playoffs Day Five Can Be Found Here ====>
DAY 5Playoffs Final Stats ====>
STATsGAMES (round robin):
Grisslies (15) Vs. Hot Tub Woody's (6): The Grisslies were facing elimination in this game and come out with their best performance of the year stealing and 11-5 win. The game was without controversy or incident because the (always) exceptional character and sportsmanship shown by the Woody's. The Grissles were short players due to an early morning cancelation and a scheduling error. The Woody's graciously allowed Wayne Caldwell to sub for us and then allowed our late player to enter the game in Wayne's spot in the 3rd inning. Well handled and much appreciated.
Player of the Game: Doug Dwyer. Yep, I'm doing it. I don't get too many 4 for 4 games. And I never get a 4 for 4 game with 4 runs scored and a Home Run.
Red Dogs (14) Vs. Gruesome Devils (5): Like the Grisslies, the Red Dogs were one loss from elimination heading into this one. They found themselves down 7-3 after two innings and were in a perfect position to 'mail it in'. They didn't. The fought back to 10-8 after 4 and took and 11-9 lead after 5. They would shutdown the top of the Gruesome Devils order in the bottom of the 7th to preserve a 13-10 win and stave off elimination.
Player of the Game: Bob Candy. Bob was 3/3 in the game scored a run. The run he scored was the Red Dogs game winner.
Dusty Cleats (11) Vs. Dodge City Rounders (8): The Dusty Cleats followed the trend of trying to buck elimination by trying to stay ahead of the Rounders. It wouldn't be easy. The Cleats found themselves only scoring 2 runs through the first 4 innings while Dodge City through up 10 and were seemingly rolling. Seemingly. Dodge would only score one more the rest of the way and the Cleats bats got hot. They would get 2 in the 5th, 5 in the 6th and 3 in the 7th to pull out a 12-11 victory.
Player of the Game: Pully. Is it captain's day for the player of the game? Pully had a great game shutting down Dodge's attack, but was also 3 for 3 at the plate with two runs scored. And like Bob, he scored the game winner.
Hurtin' Units (13) Vs. Blues Brothers (10): For a change, both teams were very much alive heading into this one. The Hurtin' Units exploded out of the gate counting 4 in the 1st and getting their 7 in the 2nd. After 4 innings the had 12 runs in the bank. Meanwhile the Blues Brothers just couldn't get rolling. After their first 4 innings they were getting shut out and had sent only 15 men to the plate. They would count one in the 5th and 4 in the 7th but it was way too little and way too late. Make the final Hurtin' Units 13; Blues Brothers 5.
Player of the Game: Daryl Hager. Batting lead off once Daryl was 4/4 with a triple and 2 runs scored.
Tap Masters (9) Vs. Brew Jays (3): The Brew Jays entered this game knowing they were done. All bus accident and food poisoning scenarios had been exhausted and they were just playing out the string. The Tap Masters knew they were advancing one way or another. So the game mattered, but only sort of. The Brew Jays gave up 3 in the 1st inning and nothing the rest of the way. The defense wasn't a problem. But on offense, they had nothing through 4. But like they have all year, they can make scoring nothing really exciting!. They had their chances and fair number of baserunners. They would finally cash two in each of the 5th and 6th and got the insurance in the 7th to lock down a 5-3 and avoid and no-win playoff.
Player of the Game: Laurier Plante. Laurier was 3/3 on the day with the Brew Jays first run scored. Good game and really nice season Laurier!
Beer Bros. (7) Vs. Draft Kings (1): With the Grisslie's win against the Woody's, this game got really interesting. A decisive win by the Draft Kings would not only give them 1st place in the pool, but put the Grisslies in a position to finish second in the pool. A decisive win by the Beer Bros. would put them in a position to win the pool outright. Lots on the line and the game lived up to it. The Beer Bros. brought their "A" game scoring 12 against the leagues best defense and they only allowed 7 Draft Kings to cross the plate in upsetting the #1 seed and winning the pool.
Player of the Game: Rob McCarron. Rob was patient, walking 3 times in the game and was 4 for 4 overall with 2 runs scored.
Grisslies (15) Vs. Rusty Rebels (12): The Rebels were done at 0-3 and the Grisslies faced a 'win and your in' game. The Grisslies would score 4 through 4 innings in tight defensive affair. The Grisslies played with fire leaving 2 Rebesl stranded in the 1st, 2 more in the 2nd and one more in each of the 3rd, 4th and 5th. The Rebels broke through for 3 in the 6th and iced the game with 9 in the open 7th inning to win 12-5. The Rusty Rebels averted an 0-4 record with the win.
Player of the Game: Piero Del Greco. Stop me if you've heard this one before. Pie-man was 3 for 3 (only 3 players perfect at the plate on either team) and scored twice. He also drove in the winning run in the 7th innings.
Red Dogs (14) Vs. Dusty Cleats (11): Both clubs were 1-2 heading into this one, with the winner being 'virtually' assured of at least an elimination game. This game was like two different ones mashed together. Through 5 innings it was 5 - 4 game in favour of the Cleats in what was proving to be defensive struggle. Then it went a little nuts. The Red Dogs would get one int he top of the 6th to tie it at 5. Then the Gruesome Devils would be the first team to score more than two runs in an inning with a 4 run 6th and a 9-5 lead that looked really safe considering that runs were so hard to come by. Then the Red Dogs would come up in the 7th and send 13 batters to the plate scoring 8 and giving a 13-9 lead. That would hold up s the shell shocked Cleats had no answer in the bottom of the inning.
Player of the Game: Peter Hollmann: Pete was 4/4 in this game with 2 runs scored.
Gruesome Devils (5) Vs. Dislocated Joints (2): I'd call this one kind of epic. The winner goes Sunday. The loser to the elimination game. The Devils came out flying scoring 10 over the first two innings. The Joints got 4 in the 1st but only one in the 2nd to tail 10-5 after 2. The Dislocated Joints offense was flailing and they managed to only count 7 runs through five. Meanwhile the Devils slowed down a bit offensively, but after the fifth they have mustered 14 runs to lead 14-7. The Joints 6th was epic....The first 3 batters reached and scored. Then with one out, the next 4 batters reached and scored to tie the game at 7s. The Gruesome Devils managed to score a runs in the top of the 7th to retake the lead at 15-14. The Joints could find no rally in their half of the inning gong 3 up ; 3 down.
Player of the Game: Gary Basso. Gary was 3 for 3 with a single, double and triple and 3 runs scored.
Hurtin' Units (13) Vs. Dog Catchers (4): The Dog Catchers made short work of the Units in this one. 5 in the 1st, 3 in the 2nd, 1 in the 3rd and 6 in the 4th. 15 runs after 4. The Hurtin' Units would be at 4 thru four innings and couldn't muster a come back. The Dog Catchers kept piling on and would score 21 without needing the bottom of the 7th.
: Jim Smith. 5 Dog Catchers were 4/4 on this night making picking this one difficult. However it goes to Jim on the strength of his single, two doubles and a triple, four runs scored and an RBI. Well done!
Final Pool STANDINGS:Here is how everything looked after the round robin.
GOING HOME (1):(15)Dusty Cleats: Yeah. The Cleats were my prediction to win their pool. Apparently that wasn't such a good call. The Dusty Cleats were led in the playoffs by Emeil Edward and Brad Smith who hit .846 and .750 respectively. Denis Short was their runs leader with 8.
(14)Brew Jays: Bo called this the 'group of death'. Tough to argue that one. This was the hardest possible combination of teams for the Brew Jays to match up against. I was kind of hoping they'd find a way to limp in the elimination game because their record outside the pool was much better. Laurier Plante (.889), Steve Johnston (.857), Tim Osmond (.846), Rod Duggan (.813), Jon Hardy (.769) and Bo Neiderhuber (.750) all hit .750 or better. The runs leader was Bob McCullough who plated 8 times.
(13)Grisslies: The 3 win team from the regular season managed two things of note. 1. They improved their rank in the playoffs. 2. Played meaningful games to the end. The Grisslies Roger Gaudet and Doug Dwyer hitting .750 & Dwyer also had 10 runs scored.
(12)Rusty Rebels: The Rusty Rebels finished 12th in the season and 12th in the playoffs. This was one of the few picks I got right. They got off to a great start and looked like they were going to knock off the Draft Kings in game one. But that close loss was tough to recover from. They Rebels were led by Andy Gee (.933), Hugh Armstrong (.867) and Anicette Goncalves (.750). Anicette and Robin Dickson both scored 9 runs for the Rebels.
(11)Hot Tub Woody's: So this is the reason why we say that going 2-2 'virtually' assures a playoff spot. We've always known that this math "could" happen, but the Woody's are the first team to be victimized by it. Will Goodin (.917), Lance Horgan (.833) and Blaine Richards (.800) all hit over .750 while Blaine and Will were joined by Geoff Keogh and Jeff Dancey in scoring 8 runs.
Elimination GAMES:
Blues Brothers Vs. Red Dogs The Red Dogs (14) were certainly the Cinderella team thus far in the playoffs. They were 0-2 before righting the ship and earning the elimination berth. Not many expected much from them in this game. It started with the Red Dogs pounding out 6 runs in the 1st with runs from the Whale (Parsons), Candy, Hollmann, Presenza, Barry, and Chiavaroli.
One would think that would be a big statement. It was for a minute I suppose. In the Blues Brothers half of the 1st Argue, Mason, Radar, Clark, Red, Barlow, MacDonald and Bickford all answered to take a 7-6 lead.
Then the Red Dogs scored 7. Then the Blues Brothers scored 4. And back and forth it went with the Red Dogs holding a 26-21 leading heading to the 7th. They'd get to more in the top and the Blues Brothers could only manage one in their half to drop a 28-22 decision. Cinderella lives!
Player of the Game: Mike Candy. There's usually lots of options when you have 28 runs scored. Mike's line stood out going 4 for 5 with 4 runs scored on the night.
Hurtin' Units Vs. Dislocated Joints: The Hurtin' Units were the decided underdog against the Dislocated Joints. The finished 2 and 13 in the regular season and it looked like a bit of a mis match.
When the Units scored 3 through 4 against the Joints 10 runs, it sure looked like we were right about the mismatch. Then the Units bats woke up and the gloves came out.
In the 5th they got some fight and Cox, Glecoff, McClean, Chiasson and Jamicki scored (5) to get within 2 runs, trailing 10-8. The Joints would send 5 batters to the plate in their half of the 5th, but not count a run.
The Unit's 6th was impressive with Hager, Cox, Cudnik and Lyon all scoring to come all the way back and take a 12-10 lead.
The bottom of 6 started with Doucet leading off with a double, followed by a Burton triple, followed by a Foerster home run. The flood gates were open and the Dislocated Joints go their 7 and retook the lead 17-12.
In the top of 7, the Hurtin' Units tried mightily to fight back but could only count 2, losing this one 17-14.
Player of the Game: Matt Foerster. Both Foersters were 4 for 4. both scored thrice. But Matty gets it with the big game changing homer.
: This team was loaded with power and good ball players but struggled with injuries all season. Their 13th place finish was a bit of surprise to most, but they showed their character in jumping up to 8th overall in the playoffs. A very good showing. The Units leading hitter for the playoffs was Vince Basacchi who clocked in at .737. Mid season additions, rookie Hal Jamicki let the way with 10 runs scored.
2 comments:
Interesting that your choice for game mvp seems based purely on batting yet the author of this blog preaches TOT defense wins games. Haven't read that here.
Dear Anonymous....
The author is a bit of a study in conflicted theories. Yes, I think defense is paramount in this league, the last three Champs were 1st, 4th and 1st in "D".
The P.O.G. was something new that I added this year. With games happening at the same time and often in different parks, the only games I saw from inning 1 to inning 7 were the ones I played in (4); 2 quarter final games; 1 semi and the final. So 8 of the 39 games played. The P.O.G. was based entirely on the game sheets diligently provided by captains & score keepers throughout the playoffs. There are no defensive stats keep and really no way for me to tell from a game sheet who contributed with the gloves. I suppose that I could 'interview' and ask, but there is already such a volume of work and such a short turn around time that adding more seems impossible right now.
However, in the game where I selfishly awarded myself P.O.G. against the Woody's, my defense was SPECTACULAR!
Please understand that this is just meant to highlight some accomplishments within games and not to cast anyone aside. Until the final when I give a full recounting of every at bat I never even mention outs that are made.
Hopefully you'll see the intent to enjoy the good parts of the playoff experience and not focus on the gaps in the BLOGs reporting. Admittedly there are many gaps. Just doing what I can.
Cheers.
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