Show no Mercy! TPG beats MGA 20-0

The hour was getting late.  Between deadlines, jury duty, and a frigid forecast team TPG was desperate for a 2nd female player (our league requires at least two female players at all times).  When an emergency email went out to the NY office, a hero was born, and the TPG C for last night was Gal "The Hero" Vaknin.  Whew, with about an hour to spare TPG avoided playing a female short - something our team prides itself on never having had to do.

standings after last night's games

With unseasonably cold weather, team TPG gathered as many coats and sweaters as we could find, and huddled around the backstop of Great Lawn 3 waiting for a close game to finish between GA and FXF (GA would break the tie in a late inning and go on to a 12-8 victory).  Since this was the first "late" (6:45pm start) game of the season, TPG had a huge turnout (among the male players at least) as over 15 people showed ready to play.  As we were itching to take the field, we looked to our right and realized our opponent for the evening - MGA - only had 7 players, the bare minimum to start a game.  As two more MGA players arrived late, the vast majority of the game allowed MGA to field 9, which is only one short of the max allowed in our league.

TPG P Derrick "The Mouth" Blocker took the mound in the top of the first, and never broke a sweat.  Stellar pitching, strong defense, and a diving catch by TPG RCF Simon "Kung Fu Panda" Yeung resulted in the first TPG shutout of the season.

The powerhouse offense of TPG (who came into the game averaging just under 17 runs scored per game) was on display from the very beginning as the first nine batters of the game scored en route to a 12 run inning (16 batters came to the plate), capped off by a monster 2 run HR blast by SS Tommy "Guns" Anderson (3-3, 3 R, 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI).  With 12-0 lead after the first inning, and an 11 run mercy rule (game is over after four innings if a team has an 11 run lead or more), TPG could have chosen to run on auto pilot.  But that is not our style.  After getting three quick MGA outs in the top of the second, TPG put up another rally, this time sending 12 people to the plate and scoring 7.  The highlights of this second inning rally were TPG Rookie DH Norman "Cricket" Ha's (3-4, 3 R, 2B, HR, 3 RBI)  first ever career HR, and Tommy "Guns" Anderson's 2nd monster HR of the game.

One more TPG run would score in the 3rd, and after a fourth consecutive shutout inning, the game was over, and TPG won by a final score of 20-0.

Game balls go to Derrick Blocker, Tommy Anderson, Norman Ha, and Gal Vaknin