Donini deck, prior to the game against the Dodge City Rounders
Rob: Are you upset about something?
Doug: What was your 1st clue?
Rob: Well, a number of things. You're unusually quiet, your arms are crossed and you seem more irritable than nor.....
Doug: YES I'M UPSET!
Rob: Oh! Well good for me!
Doug: Good for you?
Rob: Ya. I usually don't pick up on these things, mostly because I don't particularly care. But I nailed this one.
Doug: Great. Good for you.
Rob: Well, I'm going to watch jeopardy.
Doug: What?
Rob: Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want...... to ..... talk?
Doug: I don't know. Maybe.
Rob: Oh My God, I'm on fire tonight!
Doug: Goodie for you. My batting is really discouraging me this ye....., hey. Where are you going?
Rob: Didn't I say I was going to watch Jeopardy?
Doug: Ya, but I though you realized I wanted to talk?
Rob: With me?
Doug: Yes, that was the general idea!
Rob: Oh. I was going to send Sue out. She's kind of the "listener" in the relationship. I'll be honest, I'm the talker. When you're talking I'm not really hearing you. I'm already on to my next clever response.
Doug: Thanks for the support.
Rob: Thats more like it! That's what I'm doing! Supporting you by removing myself from your half Italian, "woe is me", depressing banter and getting Sue who will pretend to listen better than anyone I know.
Doug: You could try Rob, for God sakes, I listen to your rants all the time.
Rob: Okay.
Doug: waiting.
Rob: Okay. Okay. Hey, I like that shirt, where did you get it?
Doug: What? I got it at Giant T....
Rob: Nope, I already don't care.
Doug: Go watch Jeopardy
Rob: What is anything is better than your shirt for 100 Alex?
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The Week In Review
QUICK NOTES:
- We lost another 4 games this week. It sucks. What has sucked more is the loosey goosey cancellation and notification process. This is the fault of no one! We've never really had a set in stone advance notification process. Rest assured, your executive knows where things need to be improved and with the help of our Umpire In Chief we have instituted a new process for handling Coventry Park field issues. You can see it online in on the league website where all meeting minutes are published (under the Captain's Corner tab). Our goal is to get to players as soon as possible. Hopefully you'll see a noticeable difference.
- With losing games and only having 8 games in total to report on this week, the stories around the league tend to get a little thin. However, this week I got a link from Pully that was well worth reporting. He suggests that we install one of these at 1st and 3rd base. I say, why not 2nd too? I couldn't post the exact one he sent me, but I found one similar. Please pay special attention to the bald buy in the forrest....I'm pretty sure its Randy Rose.
- There are only 52 players left who have hit in every game!
- And we're down to the final 16 who have scored in every game, here they are:
Steve DeLand continues to rock the Most Improved list, but sadly didn't get a game in this week due to rain outs.
Doug DeLand? He had an okay week. I guess. If you dig 6/6 with 5 runs scored over 2 games.
Can't wait for the DeLand home run contest!
THE GAMES
Hot Tub Woody's Vs. Beer Bros. - The Woody's were tied for 1st place and riding the crest of a 5 game winning streak coming into this game; while the Beer Bros. early season dominant offense was showing signs of slipping. However, the Bros. defense had been steadily improving and managed to keep the Hot Tub Woody's 10 runs. No small accomplishment. The Beer Bros. had a 5-0 lead after 2 complete innings and were able withstand several Woody's threats. The Tubbers sent 8 men to the plate in the 3rd scoring 4 times. 8 batters in the 5th and 7th innings would only produce 3 runs as the innings ended with multiple stranded base runners. Brad Young was 4/4 with 3 runs and Chris Nyers was 4/4 with 3 runs for the Beer Bros. in their 16-10 win. The Woody's were led by lead off man Art Sagert's 4/4 night with a run.
Grisslies Vs. Hurtin' Units - Boom Goes The Dynamite! The Grisslies defense had been pretty consistent since game one of the year but have struggled to find a consistent winning batting order. Solution? Get Geoff Keogh to do the line up and 27 runs later, over only 5 innings, and the offensive woes are forgotten! At least for now. The Grisslies revamped lineup scored 7 in the 1st inning but the 0-7 Units weren't prepared to lie down. The Hurtin' Units answered with 6 of their own in the bottom of the inning. However with the Grisslies rolled another 7 in the 2nd, that was all she wrote. The final score was 27-10. Keogh was 5/5 with 4 runs and Len Wercholoz was 4/4 with 2 runs. Incidentally, Len has started 2 games and and the Grisslies have not only never trailed, but had an 18-0 lead after 2 and half innings in the first game and a 19-6 lead after 2 and a half innings in the 2nd game. The Hurtin' Units best batting line was Dwyane Comer's 3/4 with 2 runs scored.
Sliders Vs. Blues Brothers - Entering this game the Blues Brothers were 5th in offense, 5th in defense, 5th in +/- and 5th in points. Right on the cusp of being at the top. The Sliders had the same points, a slightly better offense, a slightly worse +/- but were lagging behind in 12th place in team defense. Keeping the Blues Brothers to 18 wasn't going to help the average of 16.6 runs per game allowed. And scoring 12 wasn't going to get to the right side of the win column. Our second rookie team has hit a speed bump. We'll see if they adjust like the Sons Of Pitches and bounce back. The Blues Brothers jumped out for 18 runs over the 1st three innings and had huge lead from which they Sliders couldn't fully recover. The Blues Brothers had perfect nights from Bob McCullough who was 4/4 with 3 runs and Dennis Pendlebury who was 4/4 with 2 runs scored. Brad Smith was 4/4 with 3 runs for the Sliders and Donato Chiavaroli and Jeff Behan were both 3/3 with Donato getting 2 runs and Jeff 1. Make the final 18-12 for the Blues Brothers.
Dodge City Rounders Vs. Dog Catchers - Rained out. Dodge has another game this week, but the Dog Catchers don't and will finish the week at 6-2.
Draft Kings Vs. Dusty Cleats - Rained out. Game rescheduled for July 3rd at 9:30 at Keogh Park. Both clubs have another game this week.
Brew Jays Vs. Sons Of Pitches - Rained out. Neither team have another game this week. The Brew Jays remain at 2-6 and the Sons Of Pitches stay at 4-4. The make up date is scheduled for July 7th at 9:30 at Keogh Park.
Rusty Rebels Vs. Gruesome Devils - Rained out. Game rescheduled for August 18th at 9:30 at Keogh Park. The Rusty Rebels have another game this week, but the Gruesome Devils do not and will finish the week at 3-4.
Beer Bros. Vs. Blues Brothers - Wednesday night was the night to be at Keogh Park! The Beer Bros were trying to retain the Beer Cup and the Blues Brothers were trying to improve upon their second place tie. The game was 2-2 after one inning and 8-6 for the Blues after the 4th inning. The game was close and back and forth until the Blues Brother exploded for 6 in the last inning and were able to hang on for a 15-11 win. Terry Doucet (4/4, 3) was perfect in the loss; while Bob Smith (3/3, 2), Doug Deland (3/3, 2) and Ingo Bartens (3/3, 1) were perfect in the 15-11 win.
Hot Tub Woody's Vs. Draft Kings - The Hot Tub Woody's were trying to rebound from their first loss since May 21st and the Draft Kings were trying to climb back to the .500 mark. The Woody's counted 4 in the first but their lead was short lived as the Draft Kings got 6 of their own in the bottom of the inning. The Woody's kept pecking away and the Draft Kings offense was shut down. At the end of 5 innings the score was 12-6 in favour of the Woody's. The Draft Kings would fight back over the 6th and 7th, scoring six more to count 12 runs in total, but the the Hot Tub Woody's got one in the 6th to escape with a narrow 13-12 win. Chuck Cragg was perfect for the Kings going 4/4 with 2 runs scored; while Pete Hayward led off and went 5/5 with 2 runs for the Woody's. Troy Hope and Grod Robinson were both 4/4 with one run in the Woody's win. Oh, Troy has officially shed the nickname of "there's no". (think about it, you'll get it). So not only did Troy get 4 hits in this one; but he made the game saving catch in this game. Steph Simard led off the 7th with a hit. After two quick outs, Jerry Muirhead would deliver Steph's run bringing the Draft Kings within 2. Stef Kapp would cash Jerry to narrow the gap to a single run and bring Shaun Wolfe and his three hits to the plate. Shaun stung one to the gap and the game was seemingly tied until Troy "needs no" Hope came out of nowhere plug the gap, making the catch on the dead run and saving the game!
Tap Masters Vs. Dusty Cleats - The Cleats in my opinion are an undervalued team right now. They've not had a full roster yet and have been battling injuries. The Tap Masters came into this one 2nd in points and 3rd in the power rankings. The Tap Masters seemingly blew the doors off this one early by scoring 7 in the 1st and 2nd innings. But its become regular fare this year for big early leads to be challenged and the Cleats did not lay down. 4/4 nights from Pully and Steve Lamb, who also scored 4 runs, led the charge to get the Cleats back in striking distance, but they would ultimately lose 20-15. The Tap Masters were led by Steve Brooks who continues to have an excellent season. Steve went 5 for 5 with 3 runs scored.
Grisslies Vs. Dodge City Rounders - The Grisslies had recovered from a 1-3 start to square their record at 4 and 4. Meanwhile the Rounders were sitting at 5-2 and had been hovering near the top of the standings all season. This game was a defensive struggle from the get go. Through 6 innings both clubs had only managed to push runs across in one solitary inning each. The Grisslies broke through with 5 in 2nd and Dodge City answered with 5 of their own in the 3rd. Heading to the 7th, the Grisslies scored 3 in the top to seal the 8-5 win. Adrian Barry, Anicete Goncalves and Rob Rumboldt were all perfect at the plate for the Rounders. The Grisslies had no perfect nights, but Cal Russell was 3/4 and was the only player to score twice in the game. The game featured great pitching from both Rob Farah and Kevin Bryan. Rob had 4 defensive assists to go with 2 strikeouts. Kevin's knuckler was dancing and mystifying to the Grisslies all night as he induced many infield pop ups and yielded only a handful of well struck hits.
Rusty Rebels Vs. Hurtin' Units - After starting the season 0-3, the Rebels have sorted out some defensive issues and have rebounded to go 3-2 over their last 3 games. The Units at 0-8 and obviously in search of their first win and trying avoid setting a record of the quickest to a -100 plus minus. The Rebels opened this game with 7 runs and had the hammer right out of the gate. It wouldn't last. The slugging went back and both and at the end of 5 innings the Hurtin' Units had not only closed the gap, but had taken a 16-15 lead! It looked like the streak might finally end. But the Rusty Rebels exploded for another 7 in the 6th while holding Units off the score sheet. The teams would trade deuces in the 7th and the Rebels would close out a 24-18 win. Cliff Tucker and Mark Banks had stellar nights for the Rusty Rebels. Both were 5/5 with Cliff scoring 3 runs and Mark 4. Don Curran had the best line at Keogh Park on Thursday night going 6/6 with three runs scored for the Units.
The Beer Cup
The Beer Cup is in its 2nd year. Last years champs, the Dodge City Rounders retained the Beer Cup to start the season and defended it twice by beating the Blues Brothers and the Brew Jays. The Sons Of Pitches then defeated Dodge to take it over before losing it to the Rusty Rebels. The Rebels were defeated by the Tap Masters. The Tap Masters, who waited for a year to play for the cup were only able to retain it for a single game as they fell to the Beer Bros. The resilient Beer Bros. beat the 1st place Hot Tub Woody's to become the second team to retain the cup. However, their ownership wouldn't last the week as they fell to the Blues Brothers.
The holders of the Beer Cup at the end of the season receive both the cup and 12 beer tickets at the banquet.
Next week the Blues Brothers will try to defend against the Tap Masters who get their second crack at the cup!
Teams that have held the Beer Cup (5)
- Dodge City Rounders
- Sons Of Pitches
- Rusty Rebels
- Tap Masters
- Beer Bros.
- Blues Brothers
Teams that have defended the Beer Cup (1)
- Dodge City Rounders (2)
- Beer Bros. (1)
Teams that have Played a Beer Cup Game (7)
- Dodge City Rounders (3)
- Blues Brothers (2)
- Brew Jays
- Sons Of Pitches (2)
- Rusty Rebels (2)
- Tap Masters (2)
- Beer Bros.
- Hot Tub Woody's
Teams that have yet to play for the Cup(8)
- Draft Kings.
- Gruesome Devils
- Dog Catcher
- Sliders
- Dusty Cleats
- Grisslies
- Hurtin' Units
The list of different subs continues to grow! This is great for everyone. Remember to contact Rob at Robert.Farah@sympatico.ca and let him know days you're available to play. That will get you to the top of the list on any given day, provided that your ranking is required.
PLEASE, let your captains know when you can't make it to a game. Captains are getting caught short with no shows. This is starting to happen with regularity and makes it difficult on your team and captains.
STATS
Team
These standings are available on the League website www.tottenhamoldtimers.ca
Baseball standings with winning percentage and Games Behind Leader. To figure our GBL (take the Blues Brothers) you subtract Blues Brothers wins from Hot Tub Woody wins (1) and add it to the difference in losses between the two clubs (2) for a total of 3. Divide that by 2, which comes to 1 and 1/2 and that's your games behind leader. Also the Streak column is interesting. Well, it is to me.
Team batting averages have minor variations week to week. The Beer Bros. were the biggest drop and the Hurtin' Units were the biggest gain.
The Grisslies spent all of last year at +3.00, meaning that it took 3 hits on average to score a single run. This is our first appearance under the 2.00 mark. 10 teams are better than last season's league average.
Again, the power ranking changes are subtle with 4 games canceled. Next week will much the same as we'll lose our third Tuesday in a row, this time due to Canada Day. The Tap Masters have reclaimed top spot but the top 5 remains unchanged, just the order they're in. The biggest jump this week was the Grisslies going up 2 spots, primarily due to their 2 wins but also their defense vaulting from 7th to 2nd. No one dropped more than a single rank so its pretty much status quo (which wasn't a bad 80's band).
Magic number....even with cancelled games, the magic number at the top end has dropped from 15 to 13 in a single week. I don't think anyone has any notions of running the table but its interesting to note.
Individual
Again, all full batting averages for each team can be found on the league website www.tottenhamoldtimers.ca This just shows the top 10 plus ties. Matty Foerster has taken a little dip (like .882 is bad) and fallen into a 3rd place tie with Emeil Edwards. Meanwhile Mr. Lahey has vaulted into 2nd with power. The chase of Skip is on!
CLOSED:
The 2nd quarter is all over the place with some teams having played a single game in the quarter and others having played 4!
Neil and Radar have a bit of an advantage having played 10 games, but who cares, they're scoring in bunches! The crowd at 20 and over are all on pace to eclipse the 2012 leaders.
CLOSED;
Boston, Pendlebury and Ball have two games left in the quarter and they're going to have to roll up some numbers because Lahey and Edwards still have 4 to play!
Dennis Pendlebury cracks the top 10 in total hits. Its not enough that he's making hi-lite reel catches? Apparently not. Great season so far Dennis, keep it up!
You'll notice that these guys are predominately lead off hitters. But when you see Dennis, Jim and Tom in the list you know that THEY are playing well and so are their teams.
This is Skip's lead if were to ever stay this way it come down to qualifying at bats. Impressive debuts by Mike and Victor! The rookies in general are off to great starts and making huge contributions to the league!
Hey Darrell, I finally fixed your name! .867 and sailing, but Nyers has been smoking hot too, this should be a good race all year. Watch out, Donato and Banks both found their bats this week and might be ready to make a charge.
Team mates, #1 and #2. Normally that wouldn't bode well for the rest of the league. Excepts there's also team mates at #4 and #5 and #13 and #14. This is a wicked field with 13 guys over .700. But right now .700 doesn't get a sniff with Lahey's .917 start to the season.
For those of you who have asked, Troy hope is .094 points better than last year. Thats awesome but not enough to get on this list. It just seems like he's on all the time. Nice list. A good mix of batting styles and ages. Competing against your own previous season is the great equalizer!
GAMES TO WATCH WEEK 8
Dog Catchers Vs. Hot Tub Woodys: Battle between top 3 teams in every category to open the week This one should be a lot of fun to watch!
Blues Brothers Vs Tap Masters: Blues Brothers are good and a win away from joining the top 3 teams The Tap Masters, being in the top 3, have no interest in making room for them. The Masters #1 defense will be tested by the league's #2 offense!
Gruesome Devils Vs Dodge City Rounders: I forgot the Gruesome Devils were in the league! Acutally, these poor guys haven't played since June 12th! 20 days between games, lets see if they can shake off the rust and give Dodge ago
What you missed
For The BLOG from the Hurtin' Units game, Click HERE
For the BLOG from the Dodge City Rounders game, Click HERE
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