Game 5 & 6 - The Blues Brothers & Gruesome Devils

INTRO

Normally I'd do two editions of the BLOG for 2 game weeks, but with the games being back to back it was a little bit too much.  So this will cover the two games. 

So, what is Grisslieland?  A question I'm often asked.  My answer is usually that its a combination of Graceland and Disneyland.  Tickets for Graceland are $72.00 for one day admission and Disneyland is $99.00 for a single pass.  Grisslieland has recently gone up to $96.00, but its still a good deal when you consider what you get.  I threw a little graph together to make it easier. 

You can see by the chart that, while you have to give Disneyland and Graceland their just due, Grisslieland is definitely your best value entertainment. 

We have some notable regulars, existing and former Grisslies, neighbours, captains of other clubs and players from around the league.  I'll generally get a txt from Dave Fleming later on Friday night depending on when he gets Home Hardware closed.  The txt typically reads, "are the rides still open?"

If you're not a regular you probably don't know about the rides.  Grisslieland estates have many rides on the premises and they're all covered under you admission fee.  In what should be considered normal Grisslie Fashion, the rides all have something to do with the league.  Here are a few of them. 


The Terry Doucet Carousel:  After scoring a whopping 61 runs last year, Rob decided to rename the Neil Pendlebury ride after Terry because it just keeps going round and round and round; like Terry around the bases. 

The Down Town Billy Brown Ride: This frightening ride features dinosaurs taking swipes at people as the tumble through on their roller coaster ride.  Named after Bill as he helped design it; being the only person with first hand knowledge of dinosaurs. 

The Blues Brothers Ride:  Get ready for a wet and wonderful ride!  You'll get soaked on this one and it always has a line up on hot Friday nights!  It's of course named after the Blues Brothers because they led the league in rain outs last year.  (NOTE:  Does not open until 9:30)

The Rocket Man: Very obviously named after Rob McCarron and his propensity to shoot rockets in the air day or night.  In fact, Grisslieland isn't considered to be officially open until McCarron says, "this would be a good time for a rocket!".  The ride goes straight up helix style and has no end.  The wind determines where it ends up when its off the track. 

 

The Dave McKendrick:  Aptly named after Dave because its a walking tour.

 

 

The Randy Rose:  This speed car roller coaster ride isn't named for Randy because of his car.  Its because it leaves the park with great regularity.

The Cal Russell: This water based ride has everyone looking like Cal at the end of a baseball game.  Drenched. 

The Steve Brooks Tower Of Terror:  All the pitchers know this ride is named after the moon shots hit by Brooksie.  They go as high as they do far. 

The Doris Casullo:  Unfortunately, this ride is closed for repair.

THE GAMES

Grisslies Vs. Blues Brothers

The Grisslies did something that hasn't happened in my entire time with the club.  We opened the game with back to back 7 run innings, while shutting out the opposition. 

 

I could handle a few more games like that. 

 

The final of this one was 19-12 and while our offense did quite down, the Blues Brothers were full value for their comeback.  Doug DeLand (I guess he heard his little bro hit 2 doubles and a triple) hit an inside the park home run and Tom Ball hid a two run inside shot as well.  The Blues Brothers struggled early offensively but found their stride by the halfway mark of the game. 

 

The wind played havoc for the first three innings of this one and Len Wercholoz, making his first start of the season seemed to work through it with ease.  The outfielder in right and right center had ball sailing on them while the fielders in left and left center had seemingly routine ball drop fast.

 

Strange night.  By the time we got used to the wind, it stopped. 

 

Tom Ball and bob McCullough both had 3 run games in the defeat. 

 

The Grisslies had fine nights all around.  Dan Routledge, Geoff Keogh and Cal Russel all scored 3 times and Craig (Dude) Escott was 4/4 with a triple and a homerun while scoring twice. 

 

Great night Grisslies.  Can we follow it up?

 

Grisslies Vs. Gruesome Devils

 

Ummmm.  Nope. 

Everything we did right the night before, we managed to do wrong tonight. 

The game started well enough by getting the Gruesome Devils without getting a run in the 1st.  The Grisslies would send 7 batters up in the 1st and score 4. 

The Devils rolled for 7 runs in the 3rd, but the Grisslies still held an 8-7 lead after 3.  But the wheels fell off defensively and the Gruesome Devils piled on 21 runs to the Grisslies 14. 

Not pretty.

But no one got hurt (badly). 

Skippy and Steve DeLand were perfect on the night while Cam Clark and Danny Chiasson were perfect for the Grisslies.