Opening Day - will the Mayans be Right?

2012.  The year the world is supposed to end.  Well if it's gonna end, TPG wants to be on top.  And the first game of the season gave us just a little bit of hope.  Squaring off against MGA, the team who narrowly beat us last year (and effectively ended our postseason aspirations), TPG had some revenge in mind.  It was Hecksher field, a sunny day, and TPG came out in full force ready to play.  Although the game got off to a late start (ump was "caught in traffic"), when the first pitch was thrown we were ready, scoring 3 runs in the top of the first.  Hopeful, excited, it was time to play some defense. 

And then we got a bit nervous.  MGA's leadoff batter hit an opposite field home run to start the game.  And the next two batters got hits.  Oh,oh, would the TPG lead quickly vanish?  NO.  Stellar defense all around, and TPG held MGA to only that one run, and at the end of the first it was 3-1 TPG.

Top second, and the first two TPG batters made outs.  Guh.Ugh.  Looking like a long game.  But... then an historic 2-out rally that saw 12 batters, and 9 runs.  Included in that barrage was a HR blast by new SS Tommy "Guns" Anderson that bounced and hit the fence on the opposite side of the park (beast mode = on).

No one scored after that rally, and the game ended via the mercy rule with only 4 innings played, final score 12-1.

top row: Dave Beauchamp, Ray Dominguez, Lynee Hastings, Tony Franzese, Tommy Anderson, Omar Bustamante, Sara Laurence, Alessandra Belfiore.  bottom row: Alison Hopke, Shyam Kumar, Derrick Blocker, Princess Salvacion, Josh Ginsburg, Simon Yeung

Game balls go to Tommy "Guns" Anderson for his monster HR, Josh "Shufflefoot" Ginsburg and Dave "Speedy" Beauchamp for each going a perfect 3-3 on the day.  And honorable mention goes to Tony "Married to the Firm" Franzese for introducing us to his old childhood buddy Tommy.

Could this be our year?  Maybe the Mayans are right.  Because if TPG did win it all this year, many of the other teams would indeed think the end is near.  Fine, it's only one game, but we can dream, right?

First Game Blues

Ennead Gazzette

Late Afternoon Edition Vol 1, Version 2.0

Out of the Bush and into the Briar

Editor-Back in Relief: Adam “don’t ask me” Mead

2012 Season Premiere.

The wind was rustling the newly bloomed leaves, as Team Ennead, with its newly crowned team en-tow walked across Central Park West. The Sphere of Polshek’s past leered menacingly from across the street as we disappeared behind dipping branches, over yonder, under that tree, on a bench, some woman was eating a sandwich. We were bringing fresh faces to the field, but the question to ponder was, would our talent hold up again Gensler, or yield? We were held together in a mismatched array of t-shirts and sneakers. Have I ever mentioned I always like that character on the Muppets, his named was Beeker. Now as luck would have it, we lost the coin toss, we would bat first, but I tell you it would be Gensler’s great loss. We swung our bats, it was 1, 2, 3, and before I could even blink we were in the field down 0-11 in utter disbelief, without an ounce of leftover glee. We looked around to one another in dismay, and wondered aloud if this was merely not our day. The score kept creeping to the wrong side of the scoreboard. Now I know it might sound blasphemous, but even 1 day after Easter Jesus would have let out an “Oh Lord!?!” It was somewhere near the end, when our wee bitty legs were about to bend, but, before the break, Aaron Raymound, came from far afield, caught two miraculous balls, and had us thinking of a re-written end. He took his bat, and like Casey hit it hard, it flew far and over head, as he ran the bases his lungs sounded quite dead. But it was to be a day of extremes and his was a homer, 1 run to their 17, well, what can I say it was a bummer. Now I don’t need to remind most of you how last year ended, it was long and drawn out, our hope completely up ended. So we begin this year, like we ended the last, sitting at the bar with Beer and Wings having a blast.

0-1 & nowhere to go. Will we rise up, reborn, or stay static on the Hospital table, flat-lined, barely able? You guess is as good as mine. Next Game 4/23/12 Great Lawn #4 vs Perkins Eastman Kodak @6:45 pm. Come check us out, or merely watch as it turns into a rout.

Thanks to All the new Players this year. We fought hard for such a lopsided game, and let it be known to all, that laughter, it’s part of the game!