We played The Shocker for the 2nd time this season.  Both times it was a 6:10 game.  Both times we started late because one team didn’t have enough players at game time (us the 1st meeting and The Shocker on this game).  And both times The Shocker started off with a huge 1st inning rally.  The 1st time we played them they had a 1-9 lead.  This time it wasn’t as bad going 2-7.  No one scored in the 2nd…(and by the way Dave, I left runners on 1st and 2nd and not bases loaded as you tried to rub in my face.  :-)  In the 3rd we held them to zero and scored 1.  In the 4th we wend down 1-2-3 but again held them to zero.  In the 5th we held them to zero for the 4th straight inning and this time ralled for 3 runs…  By the way Dave made the 3rd out with…  you guessed it…  runners on 1st and 2nd.  :-)  I will say this.  Even though we both hit to the 2nd baseman, mine was a lame pathedic dribbler for an easy out and Dave’s was a line drive that the 2nd baseman either made a diving catch or according to Tom R. he caught the ball and then dove.  Perhaps that’s how Tom saw it after several beers, which by the way he was generous to buy for all of us.  Thanks Tom!!! 

So were was I???  Oh, I remember…  6th inning, we’re down 1 run and the ump had just announced it would be the last inning.  I think this was the inning we had a chance for a double play.  German got the guy and 2nd and got run into.  They said German wasn’t on the base and we said it should have been a double play since the runner didn’t slide or get out of the way.  I guess the ump compromised and called him out but not interference.  They got a few more hits and that allowed them to get 1 insurance run.  Thanks a lot Blue.  :-( 

So we’re at the bottom of the 6th and down 6-8.  2 to tie and 3 to win.  Greg was our lead off and was 0-2 so far.  He got a double to start us off.  He got moved to 3rd after our 1st out.  Anthony was up next and he was 0-2 so far.  He got a hit to score a run and bring us within 1.  David C. was next up and going into the at bat he was also 0-2.  He got a single.  Rob then came up and he was…  that’s right… 0-2.  He got a hit to tie the game.  Now it’s Walt’s turn  He pitched a great game especially only allowing 1 run from the 2nd to 6th inning.  Could he help himself out?  He wasn’t 0-2 but he didn’t have a hit yet since he walked his 1st 2 at bats.  But that was OK because his 3rd plate appearance he got his hit and drove in the winning run.  Final Score:  WPFF  9    The Shocker  8.

Great defense.  We really settled down after the 1st inning and played some of our best defense all season.  Great last inning rally on Offense.  And great attitude the entire game.  From the 1st inning until Walt’s hit we were behind.

We still have only clinched 3rd but 1 more win will clinch 1st for the regular season.  Also, we know who the playoff team are besides ourselves:  The Shocker and Shortbus.  Let’s fire up and clinch it next week.

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Everyone showed up on time again.  Thanks…  We played the 4th place Slop and their record and team name turned out to be very appropriate.  We started with 14 plate appearances and 10 runs to their 0.  The 2nd inning was my favorite.  We stared off with 2 pokes to shallow LC.  Normally that should have been 2 base hits.  However their shortstop made a couple of great plays to run down the bloop fly balls.  With 2 outs and no one on we repeated our 1st inning performance with 14 plate appearances and another 10 runs.  We even held them to 0 again.  In the 3rd we settled down scoring only 6 and giving up 2 runs (but most of us moved to different fielding postions at this point).  In the 4th we scored 8 and knowing it was going to be a 4th inning mercy rule we took it easy on defense and let them score another 2 runs.  Final Score:  WPFF  34   Slop  4.

Great game.  It locked us into the playoffs having a 6-1 record through 7 games.  Slop and K1MW can’t catch us so we’ve at least clinched 3rd place.  Next week we play The Shocker who is the only team to have beaten us.  They are 5-2 and in 2nd place.  If we lose we’ll move into 2nd place since they will have head-to-head against us.  For us to take back the head-to-head advantage over them we need to beat them by 7 runs.

Thanks to Tom R., Dave, German and Ken for joining me after the game.  We had a great time.  It’s always fun to be with friends who arrive and the 1st thing they do is steal your beer.  Then when the pitcher is low they pour themselves a beer and reach over me to pour the guy next to me the remainder of the beer.  Of course when the guy who finished the beer notices it he feels bad for me and lets me know it by stabbing me in the leg.  Good times…  Good times.

Next week is an early game so we’ll go to Avenue #3 after.  Hopefully they’ll serve plactic forks to avoid further leg injuries.

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We went into the game with a 1/2 game lead over Shortbus.  All 11 were there and warmed up well before the game.  Thanks to all of you for that and it showed.  We held them 1 on on defense and scored 5 on offense.  In the 2nd they had a huge inning scoring 7 but we fought back and minimized the damage scoring 5 of them back.  We outscored them in the 3rd 3-1 and in the 4th and 5th we duplicated the results each inning outscoring them 4-0 both times.  In the 6th we ran out of time so it was their last chance to get the lead back.  They scored 1 run but that was way less than they needed so we didn’t need to come to bat in the bottom of the inning.  Final Score:  WPFF  21    Shortbus  10.

This was an uneventful game and I loved it.  Everyone showed up on time.  Everyone has now paid their league fee…  finally…  :-).  Everyone played great offense and great defense.   And for the most part, everyone was supportive of each other.  Way to go!!!  I wish every game had all these elements win or lose.  Again, thanks to all of you.

With our 5th win, we locked at least 4th place.  Next week we play the 4th place team and a win over Slop will lock us into a playoff spot.  Dean and Ken B. are out and Rob is a maybe.  Please call if you can’t make the game.

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Of the 11 that planned on being there we had 12 at game time.  :-)  We started off well by batting around and scoring 7 which would be our biggest inning.  They answered back with 2 to keep it close.  In the 2nd we outscored them 3-0 and 3-2 in the 3rd.  Neither team scored in the 4th and we each scored 1 in the 5th.  In the 6th the ump announced it would be the last inning.  We scored 2 to take an 11 run lead.  They got a few when the runner on 1st slide much too hard to break up a double play.  At least I think it was too hard considering we’re in the “Beginner” league and they are 0-4 going into the game and down by 11.  After several errors we almost let them back into the game but were able to hold them off for the win.  There were no printed stats and their web site hasn’t been updated so I’m not sure how much they got.  So…  Final Score:  WPFF 16    KM1W  10ish.

The ump really sucked.  After the game he decided to give his philosophy on how we should have acted.  What a dweeb.  Hopefully we won’t get him again.

Enjoy the week off, have a great 4th of July and we’ll see everyone on 7/8…

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What a crazy few hours before the game.  Greg calls at the last minute to say he can’t make the game, Tom R. get’s rear ended on the 10 freeway, Rob gets stuck on the 91 and we don’t know if Charlie is coming or not.  So we started with 5 regulars and 3 subs.  We got a run and they answered back with 9.  In the 2nd we got our 9th and 10th player.  Although we didn’t score we did hold them to only 1.  In the 3rd we reversed it outscoring them 1-0.  In the 4th we narrowed the margin outscoring them 3-1  In the 5th they got an insurance run outscoring us 2-3.  They called the 6th as our last inning since we had to spend most of the 1st 10 minutes of the game waiting for the 8th player to arrive.  We did score a run but not enough to overcome the 1st inning deficit.  Final Score:  WPFF  8     The Shocker  14.

Thanks so much to the 10 that came out and busted their ass to make the game.  6:10 games are a bitch to get to on any Thursday let along game 7 of the NBA Finals.  Speaking of that, we all had a great time at Avenue #3 watching the Lakers come from behind and at the same time enjoying good food, drinks and ammonia.

We’re 3-1 and tied for 1st place.  With 6 games left in the regular season, we’re in a good place to make the playoffs

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All 12 of us were there by the 8:40 PM game start.  The only trouble is…  It was an 8:20 PM start.  Just kidding Tom.  I can relate to working 50-60+ hour weeks.  At least when you did show up you didn’t flake out… Like the coach…

So at game time we expected 10 regulars but we were all honored and glad that there were 11.  This player ranks 3rd in all time seasons with the team.  With his appearence last night it made it his 40th season with us.  He has great overall stats but I’ve got to bust his “chain” and remind everyone the one lifetime stat he holds against everyone else is KO’s at 31.  :-)  That’s right, it was none other than Glenn Eddins.  He did great picking up where he left off playing great at 2nd base and hitting 2 jacks deep to right field.  One for a triple (perhaps it was a home run back in his youth).

So Slop was our opponent.  Eddie and Troy Malonzo are on their team and are both former WPFF players.  They got 1 run in the top of the 1st but we batted around and scored our biggest inning of game with 9 runs.  In the 2nd we outscored them 1-0 but they outscored us 2-0 in the 3rd.  In the 4th we did good outscoring them 0-6 and in the 5th neither team scored.  We were up 13 in the 6th and for the 3rd inning in a row and 4 out of 6 innings we held them to 0 runs.  We had 1 out when we go our 2nd run across.  That’s all that was needed to win y a mercy rule.  Final Score:  WPFF  18    Slop  3.

Great game.  Slop was the best defensive team holding their opponent to under 4 runs per game.  We not only scored 18 but we could have scored much more had the mercy rule not kicked in.  In addition it was us who shined on defense holding the only other undefeated team to only 3 runs.

Next week we have the dreaded 6:10 early game.  Ken B. may or may not be there depending on his sprained ankle.  So far everything should be there.  Please let me know if you can’t make the game.

Have a great w/e and Go CSUF Titans in the college baseball super regionals and Go Lakers… Please!!!

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Thanks to Ken for helping to get a sub.  Charlie got his friend and let Ken know he’d play if his friend couldn’t.  Sounded like a good plan.  Too bad the reality was neither of them showed up.  So 9 brave team mates set out for battle against the other 1-0 team.  One would stand victorious and keep their record perfect.  OK so I tried to make it sound great when in fact we’re in the beginner league.  Just trying to do the silver lining thing.

We started off with 6 to their 1 run.  In the 2nd we outscored them 4-2.  In the 3rd we both played defense and neither scored.  In the 4th we jumped on them 10-0 and were 3 outs away from our 2nd straight mercy rule.  However in the 5th they held us to no runs and scored 9 of their own to cut the lead to 8.  In the 6th we scored 2 to bring our lead back to double digits.  Bottom of the 6th and time ran out.  We needed 3 outs to hold off their comeback.  They did rally again but only with 4 runs.  Final Score:  WPFF  22   Shortbus  16.

Although many of us were in unfamiliar defensive positions and with only 3 fielders I’m glad to say that figuratively we didn’t run out of gas even though literally, Greg’s car ran out of gas on the freeway.  Thanks to Dave B. for picking up Greg and escorting him to the game.

Enjoy the bye week off.

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It was great to see everyone again for another season.  We played a new team KM1W.  I have no idea what that means.  Let me know if I’m missing something obvious.  In the 1st we held them and scored 1 to take an early lead.  The quickly took the lead back in the 2nd scoring 4.  In the bottom of the 2nd something happened that we haven’t seen since the last decade…   21 plate appearances and 18 runs in 1 inning.  In the 3rd we held them to 0 and scored 2 more.  In the 4th we they scored 2 runs.  We answered back with 5 which was enough to qualify for the 20 run after 4 innings mercy rule.  But a funny thing happened…  They had us continue the game.  So with 2 outs and a 20 run lead yours truly comes up to bat.  I hit into a fielders choice to end the inning and they immediately called a mercy rule to end the game.  It seemed like poor officiating until I realized it was poor scorekeeping.  They had us with a 19 run lead instead of 20.  No biggie…  except for my stats.  :-)  Final Score:  WPFF  25    KM1W  6.

So it’s fun to win but obviously MLS wasn’t thinking when they moved us from the middle to the lower league.  What is really funny is that they add insult to injury by calling our league the beginner league.  We would actually have to continue to play really well if we hope to someday move up to the next higher league which is called the “Lower League”.  That’s right, we’re 1 level below the lower league.  Either way, let’s keep to the team motto:  Have Fun, Try your best, Celebrate after win or lose and finally and least important…  Win.

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We played with 11 of the expected 12 so we only had 4 players on defense playing out of their normal spots.  Although we started out well with 3 runs, the 76ers answered back with 5.  The good news is, the next 4 innings we held them to 2, 0, 2 and 2 runs respectively.  The bad news is we went scoreless those 4 innings.  Down 8 we had our best inning in the 6th scoring 6 and batting around.  We held them to only 1 to put us right back in it.  In the 7th we needed 3 to tie and 4 to go ahead into the bottom of the inning.  We started off with 2 on and the tieing run at the plate.  A sac fly got 1 run in, another hit put the tieing run on 1st with 1 out.  An infield ground ball gave us our 2nd out but scored another run and put the tieing run at 2nd.  However that was how far we would get got our 3rd and final out.  Final Score:  WPFF  11   76ers  12.

What a close game.  Our defense keep it close until our bats finally woke up.  There was great sportsmanship throughout and no one gave up.  We may not have ended a rough season with a win but in my opinion we ended it on a great note with momentun for our next season.

Rest up and we’ll see you at the end of the month for the summer league.

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For the 2nd game in a row we played The Garage.  Although they beat up on us the last time we only had 8 regulars.  I’m glad to say that at game time we had the 11 we expected.

We started off great holding them on defense to 0 and scoring 2 to take an early lead.  In the 2nd they took the lead back scoring 3 but we batted around in the bottom of the 2nd to score 8 and get the lead right back.  In the 3rd they had their biggest inning scoring 6 and they held us to 0.  THey scored another 3 in the 4th and again held us to 0 to take the lead back.  In the 5th they started the inning with 3 to up their lead to 5.  Then something happened that we haven’t seen as a team all season.  WPFF Offense.  It’s as if we saved up all our runs for this inning.  We started with 12 up and 12 in.  It wasn’t until our 13th plated appearance that we got our 1st out.  We had 19 plate appearances before our 3rd out scoring an amazing 15 runs.  They got 4 runs in the 6th and as we came up to bat with 2 minutes left in the game the umpire had seen enough and called it.  Final Score:  WPFF  25   The Garage  19.

Wow.  Great turnaround from our last game 2 weeks ago.  Thanks to Gary for subbing and to Gary, Tom, Ken and German for joining me at BJ’s after.

It may have taken us 9 games to get our 1st win but it was a great one.  We’ve struggled this season on both offense and defense and sometimes both in the same game.  But when all was said and done we dusted ourselves off and did great.  Let’s take that momentum into the season finale and keep the winning steak alive into the summer season.

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