What a day

The afternoon didn't start well.....

2:30pm - First came the realization that the Parks Department had inadvertantly made a clerical error and given our 7pm North Meadow Permit to another applicant....

That was followed by 1 1/2 hours of the commissioner begging and pleading for Parks to "make things right" and find us another field to play on (the toughest part, of course, was holding emotions in-check and not telling them what a bunch of incompetent a$$-holes they all are)......to their credit, they scoured the schedule for the entire island of Manhattan, even going so far as to call the heads of other leagues to see if they were using all of the fields they had permits for.

4:00pm - When they finally secured a field (Riverside #4 @ 103rd Street), the commish had to scramble to inform his own team (GA) , opponent (RRA/DBB) and umpires of the last-minute switch.....luckily all had the "go-with-the-flow" attitude and took the change in stride.

6:30pm - Upon arrival at the field, however, the teams were confronted with the prospect of breaking up a MASSIVE pick-up soccer game that was taking place in the outfield. Despite the best diplomatic efforts, the horde of incongruent players refused to vacate the premises....

Perhaps driven by the frustration of the previous 5 hours, the tension was ratcheted-up a bit when the commissioner decided to start taking batting practice with the soccer game still going on in the outfield.....a line-drive to centerfield that struck one of the footballers in the back did nothing to calm things down....as more and more players took their swings, the situation appeared to be headed in an ugly, downwardly-spiraling direction....

Meanwhile, our calm-headed ump (Louie) had the foresight to call the NYPD....a short time later two officers arrived and diffused the situation.....within a few minutes of their arrival the field was cleared. Let's play ball !!!

7:15pm - Fortunately the delayed start didn't have an effect on the Gensler bats as they jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first inning.......taking advantage of the short porches in both left and right fields, there were homeruns and ground-rule-doubles galore. The offensive outburst was complemented by solid defense and pitching (no-hitter thru the first three innings). It all came to an end after five innings, and a 15-1 final score.

9:15pm - Recapping a Gensler route over pitchers of beer at Broadway Dive, just like old times .....the frustrations from earlier in the day seemed like a distant memory......It turned out to be a good day after all.

HMA/RAMSA SHUTS OUT POLSHEK IN 12-0 ROMP

The formula that had worked 7 times previously this season, seemed to hold true on the Great Lawn #3 yet again: HMA/RAMSA put up 4 runs in the first inning (now 22 runs in the first inning of 9 games) and never looked back in a 12-0 blowout victory over Polshek. Now at 8-1 on the season , HMA/RAMSA has all but locked up a first round bye in the playoffs—assuming there isn’t a colossal meltdown in the final two games of the season.

Jon Fukutomi led off the game with a double, and was quickly brought home on a single by SCF Pete Garofalo. Eric Hofmann and Brian Barney also joined in the hit parade as the top 4 batters each got on base and scored in the first inning. After a quiet second inning on both sides, the middle of the order was at it yet again as two more runs came across to score on a Brian Barney single (and help from the defense) to extend the lead to 6-0. As impressive as the offense has been this season for HMA/RAMSA, the defense (particularly in the outfield) has been not good, but great--lockdown, mistake-free great—and this game proved to be no different in the first shutout of the season. In nine games this season, HMA/RAMSA has allowed 25 runs, and only once have they allowed more than 4 runs in any one game. More impressively (and to a certain pitcher’s delight) is the fact that only 4 times in 61 innings of softball this season has the opposition scored more than one run in the inning. But I digress.

The final dagger in this game came in the 6th inning as 10 batters came to the plate and 6 came back across to score. Final score, 12-0.

Next victim on the schedule….The Philips Group coming off a very controversial victory two week ago. I assure you, TPG, LeBron and Kobe aren’t available today (trust me, I tried). This should be quite a test for the vaunted defense/pitching as TPG is the second-highest scoring team in the SLAM league with 9.6 runs per game. Something’s gotta give.

GAME BALLS:

Pete Garofalo: 3-4 on the day with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI; not in the stat sheet were a juggling catch in the outfield and a brilliant hustle play in the 6th where he beat out a play at second base on a groundball to 3B and then continued over to third when no one was covering the bag.

Brian Barney: 2-4, 2 runs scored and 2 RBI (and just the usual brilliant play in CF)

TPG Wins Nailbiter over Lebron James and PEA

Lebron James is apparently playing first base for PEA. You might think that the story line here would be how TPG won a nailbiter with two runs in the bottom of the 7th for a final score of 8-7. As exciting as this game was, the action on the field was overshadowed by a pair of "tricks" and one jaw-dropping display of poor sportsmenship by PEA.

The first trick occurred in the bottom of the 6th with PEA nursing a one run lead. As TPG came to bat PEA replaced their SS and LF with the two best players from the team in a different league waiting to play a 7pm game. Obviously these guys weren't on the PEA roster so this "trick" was not allowed.

The second trick occurred in the top of the 7th as PEA's pitcher ripped a single and was immediately replaced by a courtesy runner who was not announced before the game. Apparently the pitcher "twisted his ankle" coming out of the batter's box (although there were no obvious signs of discomfort when he pitched the bottom of the 7th), and the courtesy runner was allowed.

For the final act, PEA's first baseman (let's just call him "Lebron"), stormed off the field after TPG's game winning run scored, throwing his glove into the fence and quite obviously avoiding the traditional SLAM post game handshake. In 7 years of playing in this league, with over 80 games in the books, this manager has never witnessed such a blatant disregard for league sportsmanship. The funny thing is that Lebron actually hit the "Drive of the Game" with a monster HR blast to left center field. Maybe he was just throwing his glove at one of those famous central park "wombats", and maybe he had to go to the bathroom so bad he ran off after the game. Maybe.

Oh yeah, the game. There were lead changes, clutch defensive plays, and some really ugly-but-fun-to-watch slides. Game ball has to go to TPG SS Len Emanuel, who got the game tying hit with two outs in the bottom of the 7th.

ppa 7, ga 12

losing team usually doesn't post but this was a nice write-up for our office:


The Polshek Daily Misleader


Issue 7: Late Mourning Edition

Editor-In-Thief: Adam “Well That’s Over My Head” Mead

It’s definitely a “The Glass is Half Full” moment, as Polshek comes up short against Last Year’s Champs

The Omens were there before we even got to the A train, a lonely cab parked on West 13th, driver hunched at his door, left ajar, shaking his head, in what seemed to be his obvious bewilderment at Team Polshek, but as we passed the passenger side, we all caught full glimpse of his true task, for there, cast in the late afternoon shadows of mighty Gotham was a glass half full, yellow as the cab. Now we all know there is the saying, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, well, this cabby had other plans. We tried desperately to shake off the blurry visions even Dante would have found troubling. As we came up from the 96th street stop, the sun was kind enough to wash our brains, collectively, clear of the horrors of west 13th. We walked, we stretched, we threw the balls back n forth, our worthy opponents, Gensler, stood clad in red, unaware of what they were about to face. We came to the plate after limiting their first swings to nothing but outs, 3 to be precise. We sent Steve to the plate first, he did his worst, in the end the first inning had us up 4-0, maybe it was written in the stars, today, team Polshek would leave behind those west 13th street visual scares. Big Red Gensler came charging back quickly with 3 runs of their own, leaving us feeling rather sickly. There were several innings of no score, but the guy selling water & juice all over the north lawn would make certain it wasn’t a bore. Gensler began to creep into the lead, damn that balls over my head, where’s my trusty steed? We fought like champs, well at least we were playing the champs, for in the end it was not to be, it was not team Polshek who would be jumping with glee, we just didn’t have what it took, if you looked at the score card, one look was all it took, 12-7 is how we lost. Steve said we weren’t playing within ourselves, but I was beside myself, and if I could have played head and shoulders above the rest maybe I could have gotten to that ball, you see these words are just one big stall. Well we left the field only to be greeted by several of our wayward Polshekians, come to see us play, Marketing, well that is where they stay. They had come too late for this game of defeat, but just in time to witness our greatest feat, pitchers and wings at McAleer’s. You see, this is all it takes to quell any and all of our fears. Thanks for the effort Marketing!

We now find ourselves with the water just under our noses, at 3-4 our record poses, come out to cheer us on at our next game, hey maybe you’ll even get to see that Cabby, and complain.

ORANGE & BLUE (7-1) DEFEAT ORANGE & BLACK (4-2)--FINAL SCORE, 9-2

Just days after fireworks poured over the Hudson River on July 4th, HMA/RAMSA celebrated its independence atop the SLAM standings with a convincing 9-2 victory over the once-mighty triumvirate that is SSC in a battle for orange supremacy. For coach David Solomon, perhaps his best move of the day was letting pitcher David Solomon bat (3-3 with 4 RBI) in the #6 spot rather than DH for the senior member of the team as he had for 3 of the previous 4 games.

The first inning has proved to be very fruitful for the Orange Crush as they scored 4 runs in the top of the inning to take an early lead they would never relinquish. On the season, HMA/RAMSA has now scored in each of its 8 games in the first inning with 18 runs total in those innings. After scoring the first run of the game with a walk to SS Doug Houstoun, David Solomon singled to left field with the bases loaded to plate 2 more runners. Another run would come to score on a fielder’s choice by 2B Cara Graf.

A couple innings later, that same duo of Solomon and Graf would single home 2 more runs with base hits up the middle to bring the lead to 6-0. SSC was shutdown in the early part of the game as the first 9 hitters that came to the plate were retired in order. In the bottom of the fourth, SSC broke up the perfect game with a few hits and errors and forged a threat of their own. With a run already in and the bases loaded, that rally was quickly squashed on a hard smash to the left side of the infield. Third baseman Jon Fukutomi fielded the hotshot cleanly, stepped on the bag and threw over to first to get 3B Hugo Corvalan, who was doing his best Pete Rose impersonation with a headfirst slide into first base. “A” for effort, Hugo….

HMA/RAMSA was able to add another pair of runs in the 5th inning, and yet another in the 6th inning to extend the lead to 9-2 which is where the game ended shortly before 8PM. Now 7-1 on the season, the Orange Crush has a couple of weeks off to prepare for its next challenge against Polshek on July 20th.

GAME BALLS:

Cara Graf – 2-2 with 2 RBI

David Solomon – 7 well-pitched innings and more impressively 3-3 with 4 RBI on the day

PPA 12, TPG 8

Editor –In-Thief: Adam “Slippity Slide” Mead

July 8, 2009

A Little Mascara, and a Dose of Thunder Push Polshek Through


I am not sure what was in our blood last night, but maybe it was the shoes…we started earlier and often again The Phillips Group. Even a whirling Dervish would’ve been amazed at how we seemed to score at will, all the while looking as if we had no idea what we were doing. We went backwards, then forwards, we almost ran the bases twice just for kicks. The sun was in our eyes, and it came as no surprise that TPG would not give up but we kept TPG at bay, each time they crept closer we answered with 2 or 3 or 4 runs. David “Thunder Pants” Coxson ran the bases like he had, well thunder in his pants, Graeme “I am going to spin myself into the ground” Reed almost ran over Monica Yuki, in his mad dash to home plate. In the end 12-8 was the score, the minutiae and minor facts were a bore, but as usual we pushed our victory farther as we entered the halls of McAleer’s Pub, the cold pitchers kept a-coming, and at their side the Chicken Wings were dead & done running. We even met an over-sized friendly giant at the bar, he came from the east, he told us that was far. Some left early, some stayed late, but in the end, both our victories, on the field and at the bar, were great!

KPF Defeats Gruzen Samton 16-0 with Perfect Game

Monday - July 6, 2009
Central Park - Great Lawn #3

Coming off a tough shorthanded loss against TPG last week, KPF had a strong & full team finally show up for a game against Gruzen Samton. With our playoff hopes starting to fade slightly, we needed a big win to help us jumpstart the push for the post-season.

With our all-star pitcher Tiffany not in attendance due to a deadline, our other pitcher had to step up. Luckily Michael Linx was more than up for the challenge. To try and match Tiffany’s performance against HM/RAMSA Michael had to take his pitching to a whole other level. Luckily he was up for the challenge and pitched a perfect game before the mercy rule kicked in. With 3.5 innings pitched no walks, no hits, and no errors by the KPF defense, it was a memorable performance.

Starting off against a shorthanded Gruzen Samton team that played 3 outfielders, we had scored 1 run in the first inning from a blast off the bat of Michael Bentley (his first of two Homeruns). This would prove to be a standard for our team later in the game. The second inning saw an offensive explosion coupled with a defensive implosion from the Gruzen Samton team. In the 12 run second inning, KPF had batted around with a solid lineup that had the whole team contributing well. KPF also had a string of 3 consecutive homeruns in the third inning by Keisuke Hiei, Li Min Ching and Michael Bentley.
With the season about half over, KPF looks to try and put together a winning streak.

Other Notable stats:
Hitting:
Keisuke ’Optimus’ Hiei – 1 HR
Li Min ’Old School’ Ching – 1 HR
Michael ’Auto’ Bentley – 2 HR’s
Michael ’Cy’ Linx – 1 HR
David ’D’ Niles- 1 HR

Pitching: Michael ’Cy Young’ Linx – 3.5 innings, 0H, 0BB, 2K