NOBOBY PUTS SKIDMORE/SWANKE/COOPER IN THE CORNER

Throughout the history of this great land, from its small towns to its big cities, the people have been sustained - through good times and bad, by their national pastime. Through world wars, natural disasters, economic turmoil and personal heartbreak - a couple hours at the ballpark has been a tonic and an elixir for generations - a welcome escape and distraction from the world around. And so it was again this year, when jobs were lost, businesses disappeared and a troubled and desperate people looked for answers and a reason to cheer and believe. And under these gray clouds, he appeared - promising to turn the old-world order upside down and piling victory on top of victory until the momentum seemed unstoppable and change - inevitable. The people were impressed and many inspired as they awaited the changing of the guard and the birth of something new! But alas, David Solomon and the perennial bride's maids of RAMSA would ultimately fail to live up to the dream (and their hype).

After an impressive regular season, in which they led the league in most runs scored and fewest allowed, first place RAMSA would once again leave the playoffs without the big prize. Instead, it was Skidmore/Swanke/Cooper, the darlings of the league, who took their 9-2 record and their devil-may-care attitude into the playoffs and found a little redemption - beating the only two teams who'd blemished their season. The Semi-Final series against defending champs, Gensler, was one for the ages and as for RAMSA, well, let's just say that it seemed like only yesterday that David Solomon had blogged about his team's "convincing 9-2 (regular season) victory over the once-mighty triumvirate that is, SSC... ." But the "diss heard 'round the world" would soon come back to haunt Solomon - like the bare-chested ghost of Patrick Swayze at his pottery wheel.

Just as Taylor Swift knows that revenge is a dish best served cold, SSC laid low until the Finals, clinching the best of three series with two back-breaking one-run victories. And in the deciding game, it was nothing less than a dramatic 7-6 come-from-behind extra-inning win in which Steve Vargas' 2 homeruns and 4 runs batted in, gave the champs their fourth SLAM championship in the past seven years and placed them back atop the NYC architecture softball heap.

Is it too soon to anoint them the "SLAM Team of the Decade"?
Maybe.....................Nah.

EIGHT IS ENOUGH: HMA/RAMSA HOLDS ON TO WIN GAME ONE, 8-7

On the eve of the 2009 SLAM League Finals, Commissioner Robert Fuller was kind enough to pull some strings down at 350 Fifth Avenue to light up the New York City skyline to honor the all-orange match featuring the Orange & Black of SSC vs. the Orange & Blue of HMA/RAMSA. No joke, it really was orange ...

For five strong innings, SSC was able to quiet the mighty bats of the league's top scoring team thanks in part to some stellar defense and stiffling pitching by Scott Habjan. Much like the previous playoff series against FxFowle, HMA/RAMSA was silenced for much of the game; unlike that first series however, HMA/RAMSA did not wait until the 7th inning to rise to the occasion. For the thousands in attendance, it was a 6th inning rally that leaves HMA/RAMSA only one game away from the championship.

SSC jumped on the board quickly in the first inning with a pair of runs to take an early 2-0. Things could have been much worse in the inning but 2B Addie Suchorab turned a nifty doubleplay on a hard-hit line drive that helped minimize the damage. The pitchers exchanged empty frames for a couple of innings but SSC struck again in the top of the 4th with another run for a 3-0 lead. The score remained that way until the bottom of the 6th when HMA/RAMSA mounted another historic rally.

After Cara Statile and Josh Barkan got on base to start the 6th, Doug Houstoun - limited all season long by a series of injuries to his old body - delivered a rope of a single up the middle to score the first run of the game for HMA/RAMSA. After another single by Seth Burney, leadoff hitter Jon Fukutomi lined a single down the left field line to score 2 runs as HMA/RAMSA tied the game at 3-3 with one out in the inning. After a base hit by Pete Garofalo, Eric Hofmann stepped to the plate with the bases loaded.

With the second-longest tenure on the team, Hofmann recalled the "lean years" when the team regularly recorded more errors than runs scored in a game. With anger in his bat, Hofmann lined a double into the leftcenter field gap to clear the bases as HMA/RAMSA took a 6-3 lead. The inning would not end there however as Doug Neri and Mike "The Rookie" Sargent tacked on another pair of runs as the lead grew to 8-3. The 8th run seemed so innocent at that time, but proved to be all-important in the top of the 7th.

Not going down without a fight, SSC mounted a rally of their own in their final at bat. After the first batter of the inning was retired, SSC strung together 4-5 consecutive hits to cut the lead to 8-7 with two outs in the inning. HMA/RAMSA shut the door, however, to take the first game of this best of three series.

Weather permitting, Game #2 of this series resumes tomorrow (Thursday) on the Great Lawn #4 at 5:30 PM, where HMA/RAMSA will try to secure for their first-ever SLAM League title.

HMA/RAMSA RALLIES TO REACH ITS FIRST SLAM FINALS

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

--George Santayana, Spanish philosopher, essayist, fan of SLAM League softball

* * * * * * * * * *

The 2009 playoffs…..SLAM-tastic!

(Great Lawn, Central Park) A season ago, HMA/RAMSA finished the regular season at 10-1 and were promptly eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. On Tuesday evening in Central Park, a mere 20 hours after winning Game #1 in their best of three battle with Fox+Fowle, they were faced with a very similar and very disappointing fate. That is, until the rally began. . .

With all due respect to the equally epic battle between Skidmore/Swanke/Cooper and Gensler, it is hard for this reporter to imagine a series having more drama, more comebacks, more controversy and more SLAM-tastic play than the FxFowle vs. HMA/RAMSA series, which saw all three games decided by a single run.

Under the bright lights of DeWitt Clinton Field #1, Game One of this series started off very shaky for the #1 seed as three batters into the game, SS Mike “The Phantom Menace” Ryan was ejected for attempting a phantom tag at 3B—an ominous start for sure. After falling behind 3-0 in the top of the first, HMA/RAMSA responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning, followed by 3 scoreless innings in the field. In the bottom of the 4th, HMA/RAMSA rallied with their own 3-run inning. The lead however was short-lived as FxF tied the game in the top of 5th at 4-4. The score remained the tied until the bottom of the 7th inning when firstbaseman Josh Barkan stepped into the batter’s box with runners on the corners and 1 out. Barkan delivered a hard groundball to first that was good enough to score the winning run. (HMA/RAMSA, 5-4)

A day later, the setting was moved to the Great Lawn #3—site of the historic doubleheader between SSC/GA just 24 hours earlier. The fields might have changed for these two teams but the game was much of the same—a close game throughout, dominated by stellar defense and very little offense (both teams combined for 12 hits in Game #2).

For the first time all season long, HMA/RAMSA did not score a run in the first inning; and for the second time all season (and in this series) Fox+Fowle jumped out to an early lead with a run in the bottom of the first. HMA/RAMSA chipped away with a run in the top of the 2nd and 4th innings for a 2-1 lead, which again, was short-lived. Helped by some shaky defense and timely hitting, Fox+Fowle scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 4th to take a 4-2 lead and control of the game. HMA/RAMSA scored one run in the top of the 7th inning, and had the tying run on 2nd base but were unable to mount a rally in this game. (FxF, 4-3)

Just 4 minutes after Game#2 wrapped up, the third and deciding game of the series began at 6:45 PM as the Great Lawn prepared to host its second ESPN Classic-worthy ending in two nights. As the sun disappeared below the tree lines, the tired pitchers exchanged zeroes for the first two innings. For the third consecutive game, FxFowle struck first with a run in the 3rd inning and then another in the 4th for a 2-0 lead. The air was clearly coming out of the sails of the SLAM's #1 seed as those in attendance wondered where this vaunted HMA/RAMSA offense, which scored a league best 125 runs in the regular season, had gone. After cutting the lead to 2-1 in the 5th, FxF tacked on another key run in the 6th for a 3-1 lead as the game headed into the bottom of the 7th inning.

For their efforts in the regular season as the #1 seed, HMA/RAMSA had earned the right to home field advantage throughout the playoffs—and in this series it proved all the difference in the world. In what I can only describe as “shades of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series” the demons from a season ago were exorcised with a comeback rally for the ages. Like Game 6 for the Mets, HMA/RAMSA entered their final at bats down two runs.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-video/648619/83279/Relive-this-exciting-ending-to-Game-6-of-the-1986

Rightfielder Doug Neri, who led the team in hits for the regular season, began the inning with a double to left. After a groundball out to the shortstop by Eric Hofmann (which advanced the runner to 3rd), The Phantom Menace - looking to redeem himself for Monday night’s blunder - delivered a single up the middle. That hit was followed by a single to left by an admittedly exhausted David Solomon, who was given an all-important courtesy runner in Eric Hofmann. Rookie Mike Sargent proceeded to tie the game with yet another base hit to left field which brought runners on first and second in a tie game.

After a fly ball out to left field, Game One hero, Josh Barkan once again stepped into the batter’s box to channel his inner Mookie Wilson. From there, I cannot really tell you what happened as I was admittedly too sick to my stomach to watch. But I’m told Josh hit a ground ball to the right side of the infield, which was fielded and bobbled slightly by the shifted infield, causing a somewhat errant throw to first base which was dropped (or maybe brought the firstbaseman off the bag—I couldn’t see with a towel over my head). In any event as Josh hit first base and the umpire screamed “SAFE”, Eric Hofmann—who never stopped running from second base—screamed his way home to win the game on a ball that never left the infield. GAME OVER, SERIES OVER….HMA/RAMSA wins, 4-3 with 3 runs in the inning.

Thankfully there are no more permits available for this week as we all could use a little rest this Labor Day Weekend. But if The Slam Finals are anything like the Championship Series, do yourself a favor and come out and watch SSC and HMA/RAMSA battle next week.

SKIDMORE/SWANKE/COOPER BACK IN FINALS

".....picking up the broad-tipped charcoal pencil, he drew a sweeping ellipse across the center of the great park. This, he said, will be the grand living room of the city, where the ordinary will be ennobled and the extraordinary - rendered immortal"

-from "Frederick Law Olmstead: Landscape Dude"

****

Not since 80's pop icon, Prince, debuted his ass-less pants at a free concert in the park, has the Great Lawn been so abuzz. The semi-final match-up, between defending SLAM champions, Gensler and their arch-rival Skidmore/Swanke/Cooper, pitted the winners of the last 6 titles against each other with a trip the Championship Series on the line.

Last week's uncharacteristically high-scoring Game 1 had put SSC one win from the Finals, but alas Art Gensler's crew would not go gentle into that good night that is the off-season. A classic defensive struggle led to a come from behind 3-2 victory for the defending champs and with that intangible pendulum, that is momentum, swung to their side, the decisive Game 3 began.

As the three remaining trees, in Central Park, cast their long shadows across the field, a game for the ages began unremarkably enough - no hits, no runs - a scoreless frame. But as the innings went by and the scoreboard got crowded with "zeros", the hushed spectators began to realize that they were witnessing one of the great games of the genre (if you consider "nyc architecture league modified fast-pitch softball" a genre). After 7 scoreless, gut-wrenching innings of nearly flawless play on both sides of the diamond, SSC suddenly rallied for a 3 spot in the first frame of extra-innings and held on to win the battle 3-0.

At a short ceremony following the game, Parks Commissioner, Adrian Beneppe spoke these words about the contest; "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."

PLAYOFF TEAMS ESTABLISHED...

Polshek's (PP) 13-2 win over RRA/DBB last night gave them a final record of 6-5 and locked them into the 6th and final playoff position. (Despite the possibility of also finishing 6-5, both KPF and TPG have been eliminated since they lost their head-to-head match ups with PP.)

The other five playoff teams (HM/RAMSA, SSC, GA, FXF, PCF/HH) will now be jockeying for playoff positioning. HM/RAMSA can secure the #1 seed by winning one of their final two games, however seeds #2 thru #5 are up for grabs. It should be interesting to see how it plays out.

Congrats to all the playoff teams. We will begin scheduling playoff games as soon as the seedings are established.

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

TPG Crushes KPF 16-5 in 3 1/2 Innings

Today was TPG's "bring your son to the game" day on Central Park's North Meadow 11, and in honor of last Sunday's father's day, I guess the dad's had to show off a little. TPG dads Justin Aharoni, Len Emmanuel, and Josh Ginsburg went a combined 7-8 with 5 RBI's and 6 Runs Scored.



This was another 3 1/2 inning game for TPG as we scored 6 in the first and 10 in the third to beat KPF 16-5. After seeing what KPF's all star pitcher did to the offensive juggernaut that is HM/RAMSA (holding them to only 2 runs in a 3-2 victory), TPG came to the field early for extra BP against nothing but High Arc pitches (KPF pitcher's area of expertise).

The drive of the game was hit by reigning Big Bat Award winner Justin "I don't like to stop running" Aharoni, as he scorched a home run blast to deep left center. With all the recent rain the outfield played like the rough at Bethpage Black, and Justin's HR ball stopped dead only a few feet after landing resulting in a close play at the plate. Honorable mention goes to newcomer Bryan "I'm sprinting 30 feet past first on a ground ball" Rice who went 2-2 with 2 RBI's, and a hamstring pull dive into home for TPG's 15th run of the game.

Game ball goes to Justin Aharoni (3-3, HR, 4 RBI, 2 R)

STYLIN' and PROFILIN'

It was an epic steel cage match on the Great Lawn last evening as Ric Flair and the HMA/RAMSA crew defeated the PCF/HH Hulkamaniacs 8-6 in seven draining innings. It's not often that a much-anticipated battle can live up to the billing, but this one actually did.

A more complete wrap-up will be posted later in the week. With the victory, HMA/RAMSA (6-1 on the season) returns to the top of the SLAM standings with a well-deserved 2 week hiatus; for PCF/HH, the schedule doesn't lend any time to sulk as they have two games next week against 3-1 FxFowle and 4-2 Gensler.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

PCF/HH to meet the REAL Hulk on the Great Lawn

Mr. PCF/HH, don't make us angry...

...you wouldn't like us when we're angry!

WWF Call Out and A Softball Link

[fade in: Dwidson Metayer in an open gold vest, oiled chest, and spandex shorts, Brian Ferry in a head dress with war paint]

BF:

So, HM/RAMSA. The time has come.

YOU GUYS SEEM TO THINK that Divine Intervention allowed you to play on Tuesday and deliver a spanking to the Commissioners over at Gensler. YOU GUYS SEEM TO THINK that you can run up the score on anybody, anywhere. YOU GUYS SEEM TO THINK that you've got us stymied because of last season's 5-4 win over The Black and Red.

But we know better. SummerSlam has got nothing on the hurtin' you're about to receive. And you'd better hope that God makes the Great Lawn unplayable on Monday. Because if if he don't bring the rain, we're gonna bring the pain!

DM [nodding]:

THAT'S RIGHT! You know orange is my favorite color. All I'm gonna see next week is blood orange!

BF:

You know it, Mean Gene. My friends, The Black and Red are ready to make HMA/RAMSA black and blue. We're talking to you, "Nature Boy" David Solomon! We're talking to you Eddie "Playboy" Kung! You can run, but you can't hide! We swept you from the playoffs in '07. We're gonna mop the floor with you in '09. We're gonna Hulk Up! The Orange Crush is gonna get juiced this week! Go ahead and bring your friends. Because everyone's going to want to see this. MONDAY NIGHT! GREAT LAWN 3! We're comin' for YOU!

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As a side note, in case no one has seen this already, Joe Buck did a promo for his new HBO show by attending and playing in a Central Park softball game at the Hecksher ballfields. He chose to play with the theater league because he can't hang with the All Stars of the S.L.A.M. League.

To see his video, click the link below. When it loads, click on "Buckshot with Joe" in the video navigation window and then click on "Buckshot: The Big Show."

http://www.hbo.com/joebucklive/video/

SEEING RED: HMA/RAMSA TAKES DOWN GENSLER 10-3 ON NORTH MEADOW #11

Though it seems like it’s been raining for 2 weeks straight, the heavens parted on Tuesday evening to allow Gensler and HMA/RAMSA renew their rivalry on the softball field—in fact, some have even suggested that God himself parted the clouds to watch two of the elite teams in the SLAM League. A year ago, HMA/RAMSA defeated Gensler 7-6 to start the season but infamously fell short in the playoffs while Gensler went on to repeat as league champions. As the great philosopher Ric Flair famously proclaims: “In order to be the man, you must beat the man…..WOOOOOOO!”

HMA/RAMSA scored yet again in the first inning—their 12th first inning run of the season—to take an early 1-0 lead as Pete Garofalo came around to score the first of his three runs on the day. After getting retired 1-2-3 in the first inning, Gensler struck back in the second with a couple of hits and a sacrifice fly to knot the game at 1-1. The floodgates were opened in the 3rd inning as HMA/RAMSA scored three unearned runs on a pair of groundball errors by normally sure-handed 3B Robert Fuller to take a 4-1 lead.

From that point in the game, HMA/RAMSA never looked back as they tacked on 3 more runs in each the 4th and 5th innings. Doug “I Used To Play SS” Houstoun, in his second game back from a wrist injury, doubled in the 4th inning to drive in his first 2 runs of the season. In the 5th inning, Gensler pitcher Joe Sopiak, who had fallen behind hitters all day long, struggled to find the plate as he walked the first two hitters of the inning. Those baserunners eventually came around to score on a rope by LF Eric Hofmann, who bloodied his knee earlier in the game sliding into third base. (It took that long for a bloody knee?) Gensler added a run in the 4th and 7th inning to bring the final score to 10-3.

It was the third consecutive win for the Orange Crush who have now moved their record to 5-1 on the season. The schedule doesn’t get any easier for HMA/RAMSA with upcoming games—weather permitting of course—against the first place and only undefeated team remaining in the SLAM League, PCF/HH (3-0) and then belated fireworks on July 6th against the mighty warriors of SSC.

GAME BALLS…..We can’t single out any 2 people who contributed to the win so we’re handing one out to the entire team for timely hitting, excellent defense and just enough pitching to quiet the Gensler bats for one evening in Central Park.

Until we meet again, Big Red….perhaps this year in the playoffs

Polshek Partnership write-ups

here are excerpts from game write-ups of PPA's last four games...

The Polshek Breeze
Substitute-Editor: David "Stretch" Coxson
Mid-Day Edition
Team Polshek Back on Track:
Return of ‘His n’ Hers Flood Pants’ Chang Emboldens Group for Victory
The seas were angry last night, my friends. Well, at least the skies were. But luckily the showdown between Team Polshek and Team Mitchell Giurgula went off without a hitch and ended without a hitch. (It did end an inning early, but none seemed too displeased to head to their respective après-softball locales before reaching the seventh inning).
Playing shorthanded with only 9 players in the field, Team Polshek looked sharp in the field and aggressive at times at the plate. Newcomer Frank "G$" Guittard had a nice base-knock down the right field line— as he ran down to first, I couldn’t help but think that those short shorts could be slightly longer…but they do make him look like a 7-footer rather than 6’-8". So, I guess for intimidation purposes, keep wearing those in the future, Frank. In other standout play, Natasha is now hitting the ball hard and straight rather than hard and backwards—which is good.

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The Polshek Gazette
Rainy Days and Mondays Edition
Editor-In-Boxers or Briefs: Adam Mead
They came quick and they came often, before team Polshek new what hit them, we were facedown on the matt sucking wind, 6 quick runs came flying from Pei Cobb Freed/Hart Howerton something like the fists of Sonny Liston. Our heads were spinning, if it weren’t for losing, we’d be winning. Well I’ll make this short and sweet, we got one big hit, in the end it didn’t matter one bit, but it kept our heads from falling, you see here I’m stalling. Standing side by side it was obvious our opponents were on steroids. By the end of the game I couldn’t even tell if I had any deltoids. One thing became clear, if it weren’t for the beer, my memory of the game would be clear. As we left the field, we knew at 16-6, we had been forced to yield. Losers or winners, it’s all the same, for in this game our real talents are shown later, when we take pints of beer, and continue to show such great balance without a once of fear. Here’s hoping we get some more cheerleaders next game, you can all look on as I personally take on a wild lion, with one challenge, to tame!
See you then, same Bat time, same Bat channel!

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Polshek Post
Late-Afternoon Pre-Holiday Rendition
Volume 1 of 1
Substitute Editor- David "Gimpy" Coxson
The Polshek bats came alive against local foe Gruzen Samton on a sunny, warm Thursday evening- an evening that brought out our first fans of the year! Under the shadow of Foster’s Hearst building, the marketing team and a few other good souls from the office came out to cheer on team Polshek with wild, reckless, raucous abandon. Oh, and they brought cookies and Fritos—nutritious and still delicious. What they saw was softball at its finest—base hit after base hit, great outfield snags, some gutsy pitching, and Matt(ingly) Dionne’s throw from the outfield that hit a wandering spectator on top of the head. Good aim!
Gruzen’s one and only run came after a routine pop-fly somehow made it beyond our left-fielder’s (*name withheld for embarrassment purposes (Dionne)) field of vision. But after that, it was all Polshek! Like the good sportsmen we are, we ran up the score and refused to enact the ‘Mercy’ rule, winning 13-1. In fact, there really wasn’t anything clumsy or overly embarrassing that I can relay…hmmm, well except for Graeme falling down again and doing some sort of roll in centerfield and Hillary’s catch-and-throw routine (she’s lefty and played with a righty’s glove). That’s really it…well, except for Dionne’s trip and tumble at home plate with all of his catcher’s gear on. But seriously, that’s it. (Steve is still wearing his flood pants).
We fought like titans and played fundamentally-sound softball in unbearably bright and hot conditions—conditions that made us run for the local bar where we were called sinners by some suits and had some good, cold beer and snacks—a general merriment of mingling Polshekians reveling after a good win.
For this year, the elevator bragging rights belong to us...

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Polshek Post
Earlier-Afternoon Rendition
Volume 1 of 1
Substitute Editor- David "Button-Down" Coxson
Polshek’s Rally Comes Up Short (or tall) Against SOM/SHCA/CooperRobertson.
Wow! It was a thrilling (at times) first game of the 2009 season. Donning our digitally-charged new jerseys, Team Polshek stormed the Central Park field against one of the league’s perennial powerhouses in SSC on a beautiful, sunny day—a day when all walks of life decided to plop down to sunbathe, chant in unison, read, have a picnic smack dab in the middle of our outfield. In fact one group of semi-clad soccer jugglers decided to practice their trade directly in front of Adam Sheraden (our new left fielder). Seemingly excited, he didn’t protest but actually joined in on the fun causing our manager Steve Chang to ruffle his flood pants.
As the game went on, SSC amassed a 6-0 lead by the 6th inning. We looked lethargic, rusty, just trying our best to shake the hibernation fog…then…it happened! We started to hit, run, slide, cheer, fall down all in one inning! The score was suddenly 6-4 as yours truly came to bat with 2 men on and 2 outs. I hit the ball as far as I think I could hit anything, but the SSC center fielder (all 6’-9" of him) wheeled back, pirouetting as he did, tripped on some Frisbee players and sno-coned the ball to cut the rally short. Gimme a break!
We played our Polshek hearts out and saw great strides of progress already in just one game. Our after-game celebration started the season off right as well: 7 pitchers of the finest lager and 6 platters of hot wings. Not bad.

HMA/RAMSA MOVES TO 4-1 ON THE SEASON WITH A 12-3 VICTORY OVER PERKINS EASTMAN

Though the final score of 12-3 would indicate otherwise, nothing came easy for HMA/RAMSA (4-1) against Perkins Eastman -- especially for pitcher David Solomon who struggled mightily to find the strike zone all game long.

As they had done in 3 of their first 4 games of the season, HMA/RAMSA jumped on the board early with a manufactured run with a little hustle and a deep sacrifice fly by Brian Barney to take a 1-0 in the top of the first inning. Perkins Eastman threatened in the bottom of the inning with a base hit and walk (the first of a career high 5 walks by Solomon); but some solid defense and well-positioned fielders bailed out the pitcher on many occasions on this night. HMA/RAMSA turned a double in the first inning as 3B Jon Fukutomi snagged a hard ground ball stepped on third base and threw out the runner at first base. Another double play was turned in the 3rd inning to end yet another threat as The Cannon, Pete Garofalo caught a line drive in shallow center and threw out the runner at first base, leaving the score deadlocked at 1-1 heading to the fourth inning.

Mike Ryan and Brian Barney each reached base via error to lead off the inning. They were followed by a single by last game’s hero Mike Periolat and then a pair of walks which gave HMA/RAMSA a 3-1 lead. After PEA turned a nifty double play of their own, Doug Neri singled up the middle to continue the two-out rally and score 2 more runs. When the dust had settled in the inning, all 11 batters came to the plate and 7 runs crossed to break open the game to 8-1.

From there, the HMA/RAMSA pitcher had serious control problems on the day as PEA threatened in each of the next three innings with 2 or 3 runners on base in each inning. When he did get the ball over the plate, Solomon was hit very hard by PEA with some very deep outs to well-placed outfielders. One has to wonder if there was added pressure on Solomon as his 21 month old son was in attendance on the afternoon.

HMA/RAMSA tacked on 4 more runs in the top of the inning to extend to a 12-3 lead, the final two runs coming on a 2-run HR by cleanup hitter Brian Barney to complete what was clearly his best day at the plate this season. HMA/RAMSA has now scored in their final at bat in each of the first 5 games.

The offense certainly came alive this afternoon with the 12 run output but with two-time defending champions Gensler next up on the schedule, the HMA/RAMSA pitcher had better get his location issues resolved before next Tuesday.

GAME BALLS:
Pete Garofalo – 2 for 4 on the day, 2 runs scored and 2 RBI; equally impressive were his two outfield assists (4 total on the season) -- one to double up a runner at 1st and another to nail a runner at 3rd base.

Brian Barney – 2 for 4, 2 runs scored, HR, 3 RBI -- maybe all that waffle ball did help?

13 Runs in 3 Innings

45 Minutes was all it took for team TPG to dispatch GSA 13-1 in three and a half innings last night. Rain threatened all day, but the force was with us as the sun came out in blinding fashion. The game was held on Great Lawn 4 which (as any veteran of the SLAM league knows) means direct sun in the batter's eye. Unaffected we were, with TPG scoring 5 in the 1st on 6 consecutive hits to lead off the game.

This would not be a close game, as TPG tacked on 5 in the second and 3 in the third before winning via the mercy rule after GSA batted in the top of the fourth. TPG's "sun don't bother us" power included a two home run day by SS Len Emmanuel (2 run HR in the 2nd, and 3 run HR in the 3rd), and a 3-3 night by 3B Jigar Patel (now leading the team with an otherworldly .818 avg). Not to be overlooked was another outstanding game by TPG pitcher Derrick Blocker (1 Run, 0 BB, 3 K) as he held GSA to only a couple of bloop singles.

Game Balls go to:
Len Emmanuel (3-3, 2 HR, 5 RBI)
Jigar Patel (3-3, 3B)
Derrick Blocker (3 K, 0 BB, 1 ER)

PCF/HH Vaults Polshek In HR Derby

Pei Cobb Freed/Hart Howerton and Polshek Partnership traded big innings and home runs last Thursday, but the potent PCF/HH offense would prove to be too much as S.L.A.M.'s only undefeated team remained so with a convincing 16-6 victory at the Hecksher ballfields.

PCF/HH's Juan Monahan, Mike Copeland, and Carlos Sagastume all homered and Polshek's Loren Supp contributed a booming 3-run shot of his own (that nearly hit a batter at the plate on the opposite field) in what proved to be an exciting offensive performance.

PCF/HH batters pulled their weight at the plate, hitting for average and, many, for extra bases. J. Strong was a perfect 4-for-4 on the day with a double, 3 runs, and 1 RBI. Mark Maljanian tripled in his second at-bat, going 2-for-3 with 3 runs and 1 RBI. Yusuke Okabayashi was 1-for-2 with a 2-RBI double, and Cate Foster finished 3-for-4 with an RBI. Aside from his homer, Copeland walked in each of his other three plate appearances.

For Polshek, left fielder Graeme Reed and right fielder Adam Sheraden led the way. Both batted 2-for-3 with Reed contributing a walk and 2 runs scored, while Sheraden added an RBI. Natasha Skogerboe finished 1-for-2 with a walk and shortstop Andre Soto displayed skill in both sides of the field, going 1-for-3 with 1 walk and 2 runs scored while robbing PCF/HH's Maljanian on a line drive in his only unsuccessful at-bat, as well as getting underneath a number of fly balls.

PCF/HH led Polshek 4-2 after one and took a 10-2 lead into the bottom of the third before Supp's interplanetary jolt and another Polshek fielder's-choice RBI closed the gap to 10-6. But PCF/HH held Polshek to just 4 more hits through the final three innings while piling on 6 additional runs of their own.

The victory extended PCF/HH's record to 3-0 while Polshek dropped to 1-2 with the loss.

PCF/HH Game Balls goes to Cate Foster, Juan Monahan, and J. Strong. Foster helped round out the bottom third of the order with a very respectable showing for all S.L.A.M. females at 3-for-4, Monahan had an average day on the mound but could have beat Polshek on his own by contributing 7 RBI, and Strong continues to be a rock in the heart of the lineup.

BAKER'S DOZEN

For 90 minutes last night, the big city bore witness to a revival so moving and true to the original that one felt transported all the way back to 2006. No, we're not talking about "Legally Blonde: The Musical" returning to the Great White Way, we're talkin' the return of Skidmore, Swanke, Cooper softball - the way it used to be - brash, physical, unapologetic, and just a little bit vulnerable.

The swagger was back and the unfortunate recipients of the nostalgic 13-2 thrashing were the unsuspecting and undeserving kids of Perkins Eastman Kodak. Where the timely hitting and solid defense came from -no one was sure, but it felt like old times. Has the once feared (yet loveable) three-headed monster that once menaced the SLAM league recaptured it's signature form? Probably not, but for one night in early June, it sure felt that way.

TPG Beats RRA/DBB 12-8

The afternoon looked bleak for TPG as 3 all-star starters called in unavailable for the game. But once we got to the field, and soaked up the 70 degree sunshine, things changed for the better. TPG scored 4 in the first, and 5 in the second en route to a 12-8 victory over RRA/DBB.

TPG led of the game with four straight hits by David Beauchamp (3-4, RBI), Jigar Patel (3-4, 2B, RBI), Omar Cevallos (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI) and Justin Aharoni (2-2, 2 2B, BB). RRA/DBB fought back with 2 in the bottom of the first keeping the game close.



The second inning proved to be the turning point of the game when TPG EH Ron Alalouf (2-3, 2B, 3B, 4 RBI) came to bat with two outs and the bases loaded. Ron ripped a line drive to right field clearing the bases before he was thrown out at the plate trying to get TPG's first Grand Slam of the season (see video highlight below for replay of the bang-bang play at the plate where Ron was questionably called out).



TPG Pitcher Derrick Blocker had two key strikeouts of the number four and five hitters for RRA/DBB as he notched his first win of the season. RRA/DBB made it interesting as they scored 4 runs in the 6th, and time constraints kept the game from going into the 7th.

Game ball goes to Ron Alalouf for his 4 RBI performance.

PCF/HH Guts Out 6-5 Win Over PEA

On a dreary Thursday that saw just enough constant rain to cause problems in the field, Pei Cobb Freed/Hart Howerton and Perkins Eastman Architects traded big innings in a batter's duel en route to a come-from-behind victory in a battle of the two remaining undefeated S.L.A.M. teams.

It's not enough for a pair of teams to boast an "undefeated" 1-0 record in an amateur softball league, so I'm going to build on that by saying only in the S.L.A.M. league can the same teams play error-free softball in sloppy field conditions, particularly since this official scorer hasn't awarded any team an error in more than three years of managing.

But I digress. Cy Young certainly turned over in his grave last night, as he couldn't bare to watch the slugfest between the Black and Red of PCF/HH and the grey of Perkins Eastman. Still, PCF/HH pitcher Juan Monahan made up for his 17 hits allowed (a number of which weren't on his shoulders) by driving in three crucial runs for his home team. Monahan drove in two in the bottom of the first after three consecutive singles by Mark Maljanian, Yusuke Okabayashi, and J. Strong. Carlos Sagastume added a sacrifice fly to left field to help PCF/HH to a 3-0 lead after one.

Perkins Eastman followed up with some key two-out hits of their own, including a big two-run triple by left fielder Eric Brodfuehrer and an RBI single from pitcher Steve O'Reilly to knot the game at 3. PCF/HH narrowly escaped more damage by eliciting a fly ball out with the bases loaded to end the top of the second. After blanking the Black and Red in the bottom of the second, PEA pulled together some more clutch two-out softball, including four consecutive singles and Melissa Schroeder's 2 RBI to take a 5-3 lead.

Neither team scored in the fourth as the sprinkling of rain filled out to a constant drizzle. But in the bottom of the fifth, with time starting to become a factor and the top of their lineup coming to bat, the Black and Red took advantage of what may have been their final opportunity. Alternating singles and fielder's choices, PCF/HH found themselves down 5-4 with two outs. With Okabayashi on first as a courtesy runner for Strong, the tandem of Monahan and Sagastume teamed up again. Monahan boomed an RBI triple to right-centerfield to score Okabayashi and tie the game at 5, before Sagastume hatcheted a single over the heads of the infield to score Monahan and give PCF/HH their second lead of the game, which they would not relinquish.

Defensively, in spite of the sludge, both shortstops made particularly interesting plays to keep their teams in the game. PEA shortstop Mike Bruno pulled off a legitimate SportsCenter Web Gem of a diving catch to rob PCF/HH leadoff hitter Mike Copeland at the top of the first. Bruno received compliments from both teams on the play. Déjà vu struck in the bottom of the second, as Bruno again made a lunging stop to rob Teresa Parziale of a single up the middle.

Not to be outdone, Maljanian anchored two double plays. The first came on a line-drive out in the third inning that he threw to first to double off the base runner. His next one came in the top of the fourth, also on a line-drive catch, followed by a diving tag to catch the runner at second.

The PCF/HH Game Ball goes to two players. Juan Monahan for his clutch hits and 3 RBI to lead the team offensively and to Mark Maljanian (who'd tell you he had a crappy game if you asked) for his 2-for-3 and 2 runs scored at the plate, as well as his two double plays to lead the team defensively.

The PEA Game Ball, in my mind, has to go to Mike Bruno, who added a perfect 3-for-3 batting average to complement his two outstanding plays in the field. If Christine doesn't agree with my call for her Game Ball, she can duke it out with me and the peanut gallery in the comments section.

May is in the books....

After stumbling out of the gates in April and early May, the season seems to be hitting stride as we head into the heart of the schedule in June. The first month of the season is in the books and we've already seen some unbelievable games. It appears as though, at a minimum, the top 6-8 teams are as evenly matched as ever.....which should make it interesting come playoff time with the new 6-team format. Here are a few early-season facts:

• of the 17 games played so far, 8 have been decided by 2-runs or less...while 5 have been decided by 10-runs or more...
• PCF/HH is the league's only remaining unbeaten team at 2-0...
• 7 teams are right behind with only 1 loss...
• 9 of the 12 teams have a record of .500 or better...although only 5 teams actually have winning records...
• HM/RAMSA is leading the league offensively, scoring an average of 11 runs per game so far...
• FXF is leading defensively, giving up an average of just 2.3 runs per game...

Let's hope the exciting games continue. Good luck to everyone the rest of the way!

HMA/RAMSA GRINDS OUT A 4-2 VICTORY OVER FXFOWLE

If you love watching architectural league softball with electric offense and spectacular defense then this was definitely not the game for you. After two blowout victories to start the season, HMA/RAMSA was once again locked in a pitching duel--only this time they weren't on the short end of the stick.

FXFowle got on the board first in the top of the second inning as Mike Cosentino led off the inning with a double and came around to score on an opposite field single by pitcher Manny Morales for an early 1-0 lead. Equally potent with his arm, Manny also shut down the Orange Crush for the first 4-2/3 innings of no hit ball. After retiring the first two batters of the bottom of the 5th inning, Megan Fullagar hit a well-placed ball into the hole between 3rd and short for a (generous) base hit. Josh Barkan followed with a single to put runners on 1st and 2nd as DH Mike Periolat stepped up with the biggest at bat of the young season. Mike lined a double into the gap in left center to score two runs--the second of which by fleet-o-foot Josh Barkan who tripped halfway between 3rd and home and fell flat on his face. Were it not for the errant throw home, Josh probably was dead at home; but as it stands his aggressive base running gave HMA/RAMSA a lead they would never relinquish. (How we don’t have video of this moment is the biggest disappoint of the entire game. It would have been a classic blooper for generations.) HMA/RAMSA tacked on another run that inning with another opposite field single to right field by RF Cale Sadowski for a 3-1 lead.

After giving up a run in the second inning, pitcher David Solomon retired the next 11 batters and didn’t allow a base runner until the top of the sixth inning. FXFowle threatened in the 6th with a leadoff error, followed by a couple of singles in the inning, which brought 3B Nate Rupcich to the plate with the bases loaded. Nate smoked a line drive to a well-positioned Mike Ryan at shortstop for the last out of the inning to end the would-be rally

HMA/RAMSA added another insurance run in the bottom of the 6th inning thanks in part to terrific hustle by Pete Garofalo who went from 1st to 3rd on a groundball out to the shortstop. Replay footage shows that Pete may have been tagged out but since SLAM has yet to officially institute replay in 2009, the ruling on the field stood. Mike Ryan brought the runner home from 3rd with a single up the middle for a 4-1 heading to the 7th.

Things got very interesting in the last inning as FXFowle once again threatened with a leadoff single, followed by two miscommunications on routine infield bloops that led to a bases loaded jam. Manny Morales then singled to center to score 1 run, leaving the bases loaded with 1 out in a 4-2 game. With a little gas left in the ol' tank, Solomon struck out the next batter and got the final out of the game on a comeback ground ball to secure the 3rd victory of the season.

After scoring 38 runs in their first 2 games, HMA/RAMSA has now only scored 6 runs combined in their next two. One has to wonder where has the offense gone? Or have they just been up against great pitching? Either way, the bats must come alive if this team is to contend for the 2009 title.

GAME BALLS: Mike and Mike

• Mike Ryan—for his solid defense at SS filling in for injured Doug Houstoun (hopefully expected back for the next game on June 8th) and, for his big RBI in the 7th for an insurance run.



• Mike Periolat—clutch double in the 5th to drive home 2 runs.
  

KPF Defeats Holzman Moss / Robert A.M. Stern 3-2

Central Park, New York – May 18th, 2009

With last year’s playoff victory against HM/RAMSA still fresh in everyone’s mind (and the basis for an offseason playoff rule change), the KPF team knew that the HM/RAMSA team would be seeking revenge.
Unable to field a complete team due to deadlines and 2 injuries the previous week, KPF was missing one player in the field and an important bat in the lineup (our usual cleanup hitter). The HM/RAMSA team had outscored their previous 2 opponents by a combined score of 38-6 and were ready to bolster their offensive stat total. Luckily, a strong KPF defensive team was ready to play even if we had one less fielder than was allowed.

In a cold 55 degree May evening and in anticipation for our showdown, we had our 2008 team MVP Tiffany Broyles starting next to our third baseman Keisuke Hiei (3 time team MVP and 2 time league defensive player of the year).

What followed was, according to the HM/RAMSA captain and pitcher David Solomon, ”… one of the most dominant pitching performances I’ve ever seen.” Of course, I’m sure David was speaking of corporate coed softball in the SLAM league but nonetheless, Tiffany had allowed 5 total base runners with 4 singles and a walk. There was not one defensive error to let someone on 1B either. Not to take anything away from the opposing team, (they were hitting the ball) but the KPF squad had their gloves oiled and positions well patrolled.

Trailing 0-1, KPF scored it’s first run in the 5th inning to tie it at 1-1. Nick Wallin lead the rally by hitting a line drive single. Following Nick was Allison Young who hit another single to advance Nick to second base. Next up, Brian Ballok followed with an RBI single and drove Nick home. This small-ball approach worked out just right for the game since the opposing pitcher was mixing it up and keeping us on our toes.

In addition to his usual smooth fielding and clutch hitting, Keisuke ran the bases with natural baseball instinct. In the top of the 7th (last) inning and KPF leading 2-1, Keisuke stretched what seemed like a single into a double by sliding headfirst under the tag. Next was a sharp single by David Niles (who KPF welcomes back as former captain after 9 years away) that scored Keisuke as an important insurance run. HM/RAMSA scored in the bottom of the 7th to make it a 1 run game, however Tiffany Broyles pitched out of the jam to secure another KPF win.

The intensity of the game was apparent early on when the opposing HM/RAMSA left fielder Eric Hofman was airborne horizontally and made what was the best diving catch I have ever seen in 11 years of this league. This catch robbed us of at least 1 run and ended our rally in the 4th inning.

In softball, it is rare to have a pitchers duel, and this was a game well played by both teams.

Other Notable stats:
Keisuke Hiei – 2-2, 2BB (1 intentional), 1 run scored
Nick Wallin - 3-3, 1 RBI, 1 run scored
Tiffany Broyles – 7 innings pitched, 4 hits allowed, 1BB, 2 runs allowed

Nail-Biter

On a night that saw six (6) playoff teams from a year ago face-off at the Great Lawn, GA and SSC staged yet another epic battle in what has become the norm in this hotly-contested, evenly-matched rivalry.

In keeping with the 1st-inning woes that have plagued GA in each of their first two games, SSC struck early and often….tallying three runs on several solid hits up the middle. GA struck back in the bottom of the inning when Commissioner “Can I call you Bobby” Fuller drove in Co-Commissioner Roger “New Daddy” Lee….unfortunately Fuller, who obviously thought he was 10 years younger and faster, tried to stretch his RBI-triple into a 2RBI-homerun only to be tagged out at home plate by fellow old-timer Scott “I can’t believe you’re sliding head-first in the third game of the season” Habjan.

The GA defense tightened after the 1st inning, allowing just one more run (on a MONSTER homerun by Scott “He does that to us every year” Rosenbloom) the rest of the way. Aided by the motivation of potential BLOG ridicule for his belly-flop slide into home, Fuller rallied (more liked begged) the GA team to come back. GA slowly chipped away at the lead…3-1 after one…..3-2 after two….4-2 after four….4-3 after five…..until the bottom of the 6th, when the bottom of the GA order pushed across two runs, finally taking a 5-4 lead on Kris “DH” Gregerson’s two-out single. The GA defense held in the top of the 7th as they escaped with their second straight 1-run victory.

HMA/RAMSA MOVES TO 2-0 WITH CONVINCING VICTORY

Fresh off the heels of a 21-2 victory in their season opener, HMA/RAMSA came out with revenge on their minds against RRA/DBB—the team that ended our perfect season a year ago. Grey rain clouds were threatening this game all day long, but HMA/RAMSA provided some thunder with their bats as the game ended in a 17-4 romp.


As was the case in their first game, HMA/RAMSA jumped out to an early lead with 3 runs in the top of the first inning and another 4 in the top of the third inning to take a 7-0 lead. RRA/DBB responded in the bottom of the third inning with a pair of runs of their own to make it 7-2. The inning could have been more prolific were it not for the deadly right arm of SCF Pete “The Cannon” Garofalo who threw out the first of two would-be runners at 3B in the bottom of the third (see below video).

The lead was extended to 8-2 in the 4th and HMA/RAMSA was finally able to break the game wide open in the 6th inning as the first four batters of the inning got on base and eventually scored. With the bases loaded and no outs, newcomer Mike Sargent stepped to the plate for a memorable first AB in the SLAM League. The Sarge hit a screaming bomb into the left-centerfield gap for a legit grand slam. Welcome to the team, Mike!

HMA/RAMSA tacked on another 4 runs in the top of the 7th while RRA/DBB added a pair of runs of their own in the 6th and 7th innings to bring the final score to 17 – 4. Though early in the season, HMA/RAMSA has now outscored its first two opponents 38-6. Perhaps lost in the shuffle of defensive gems and grand slams was pitcher David Solomon’s career high 8 K’s.

GAME BALLS go to:

• Mike Sargent—any time a guy begins his career with a legit grand slam, he gets a game ball in my book; 2 for 2 on the day with 4 RBI's.


• Pete “The Cannon” Garofalo—2 hits, 2 runs scored and 2 runners gunned down from the OF trying to get to 3B.

Next up for HMA/RAMSA, another revenge match: Kohn Pedersen Fox—the team that knocked HMA/RAMSA out of the 2008 playoffs and ended their hopes and dreams.

Better get your popcorn ready!

HOG-WILD

When, at last, the rains had ceased and the skies had cleared - softball returned to the great park. And for the better part of the game, it seemed that a 3-run first for Skidmore/Swanke/Cooper might just be enough against a Polshek team with many base-runners, but nothing to show for it.

Then in the bottom of the fifth ,trailing 5-0 with time running out, the Polshek dirty tricks crew unleashed, into the SSC dugout, a coughing pig in a sombrero - unnerving the hometown favorites and allowing Polshek to sneak back into the game with a 3-run inning of their own. With some quick thinking and a couple of phone calls, SSC determined that the pig in question was in fact not some flu-ridden swine from Mexico, but instead - Boris, the lovable asthmatic porker from the Piscataway Petting Zoo in New Jersey. Pignapped the night before by some heartless pranksters and deprived of his fast-acting inhaler, Boris thankfully recovered in time to lead the cheers as SSC regrouped to escape with a 6-4 victory over a shameless Polshek team that will seemingly stop at nothing for a win.

PCF/HH Downs KPF For First Win

Mark Maljanian was 3-for-3 with 1 RBI, a walk, and 3 runs scored and Mike Copeland hit a bases-clearing double as part of a 5-run third inning, as PCF/HH opened their season with a 9-5 victory over KPF on Great Lawn, Field 4, last night. The win was PCF/HH's first game of the season, after torrential rain postponed their first two matches of the 2009 S.L.A.M. season.

Despite winning the coin toss to be the home team, luck was initially on KPF's side, as they opened a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. The Black and Red of PCF/HH responded in the bottom of the inning, including a pair of patient walks and some timely hitting, to tie the game at 3-apiece.

After a scoreless second, PCF/HH batters used the bottom of the third to distance themselves from the competition, loading the bases once and scoring 5 runs to open up an 8-3 lead. KPF tried to immediately mount a comeback in the top of the fourth, leading off with consecutive base hits from the top of their order. But No. 1 hitter Keisuke Hiei was caught trying to stretch from first to third on captain Li-Min Ching's single by PCF/HH centerfielder Eron Ashley, who loaded his howitzer of a right arm and threw Hiei out at third.

PCF/HH would tack on another run in the sixth before KPF added 2 runs of their own with two out in the top of the seventh. Both teams were able to field their complete turnout, including PCF/HH substitutes and pinch-hitters Dwidson Metayer, Tony (A-Rod) Rodriguez, and Rich Haskell, as well as PCF rookie Michael Stewart.

The loss was adding insult to injury for KPF, as they lost shortstop Dan Treinen to a torn calf muscle and second baseman Adam Zimmerman, who had a fingernail torn off during a fielding play. In spite of all this, there was a silver lining for Hiei, who went 3-for-3 with 2 runs scored, as well as left centerfielder Michael Bentley who contributed 2 hits, 1 RBI, and 1 run scored for KPF.

Now, one month into the season, PCF/HH sits at 1-0 while KPF carries a record of 1-2.

The PCF/HH Game Ball goes to shortstop Mark Maljanian, who had a huge impact in his first game back after a season-long injury sidelined him for all of 2008.

nytimes article on publishing sball league

interesting article... click on title to view.

Rainy Days & Blogging

The rain has fallen hard this week as all 10 teams who thought they had a game spent a late afternoon working instead of playing softball. You have to feel especially bad for PCF/HH and PEA who have each had 2 rainouts and 0 games four weeks into the season. I guess the commissioner's failure to post the remaining season schedule as promised by 4/20 was foresight not laziness - now the remaining schedule can take into account rainouts so we can even up the number of games each team has played. Of course this assumes the schedule is posted promptly now that the worst of the weather is over (if not we are looking at laziness again as the motif).

So far a few teams have posted some great writeups on the Blog, and let's hope it continues. As a general guideline, the winning team should be responsible for doing the writeup, but the losing team should feel free to post their side of the story (either as a new post or a comment on an existing post). If you are too busy for an elaborate writeup, then a simple sentence inlcuding the final score and players of the game would be awesome. One other note on the writeup, please use "labels" when posting - in particular the abbreviations for both teams involved. This gives readers the ability to search for posts relating to a specific team (example - try clicking on the label TPG in the right hand nav).

HMA/RAMSA ROUTS MGA 21-2 IN SEASON OPENER

They heard the whispers all off-season: Could HMA/RAMSA could rebound from the heartbreak of last season’s crushing playoff loss to KPF?

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Those whispers were quickly silenced as HMA/RAMSA took care of business in Game #1 with a 21-2 rout of Mitchell Guirgola Architects. While nothing could replace the sting of falling short last season, this was clearly a statement game by HMA/RAMSA that they remain a contender in 2009

Shortstop Mike Ryan rips his third hit of the game in the 6th inning

It was a bumpy spring training for HMA/RAMSA too with 2 rained-out practices followed by the news that starting All-Star shortstop, Doug Houstoun would be sidelined for the first 4 weeks of the season with a broken bone in his right hand. Nevertheless, the fireworks began early and often in the top of the first inning as the first five batters reached base and eventually scored en route to a 6-run inning which saw all 11 batters come to the plate. In the bottom half of the inning, the team flashed some equally impressive leather as they ended the inning on a nifty double play turned by back-up SS, Mike Ryan and 2B Cara Graf.

The hit parade continued in the 2nd inning as first 3 batters reached base and 4 more runners crossed the plate highlighted by David "Wheels" Solomon's 3-run "homerun" (admittedly it was generous scoring). For Solomon, it was rumored to be his first HR since 1986 and reportedly the farthest he had run in two years. Taking a 10-0 lead into the bottom of the 2nd, Solomon appeared to be somewhat winded as the leadoff hitter hit over the head of RF, Eddie Kung for an apparent homerun. Always looking to help out his team in any way possible, LF Eric Hofmann noticed that the runner failed to touch 3B as he rounded the bases--the appeal was made to the umpire and the shutout remained intact.

The Orange Crush tacked on 2 more runs in the 3rd inning and another 3 in the 4th as the lead was extended to 15-0 in a sloppy four innings. Though technically the game could have been called by the 11-run rule, both teams agreed to continue playing another two innings as it was the first game of the young season. MGA finally broke through for 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning as the shutout was lost. For HMA/RAMSA the 21 runs scored were a team record as 8 of the 11 batters scored at least twice.
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Game Balls were handed out to Mike Ryan (3 hits, 3 runs and 2 RBI), Eric Hofmann (4 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBI) and David Solomon (6 IP, 3 hits and 5 RBI).

NOT SO FAST, PHILLIPS GROUP!

With the Phillips Group flying high after stealing a victory from defending champs, Gensler on opening day, the stage seemed set for another upset as they faced off against a Skidmore/Swanke/Cooper team emerging from hibernation to play their first game of the season amid talk of off-season controversies, clubhouse turmoil and rumors that their best days are behind them. But, after a double-play and strike-out quashed a first inning TPG rally, SSC put up a shiny 4 spot in their half of the frame. Unimpressed, TPG hit the mute button on their opponent's offense and slowly chipped away at the lead. By the time the two teams reached the final inning, they were knotted at 6 and a hush fell across the great park.


Throngs of spectators (mostly German tourists) and small woodland creatures (mostly squirrels)held their collective breath as the tension mounted, and after holding TPG in the top of the frame, SSC put two runners on base. But with two outs, and the game poised for extra innings, it was centerfielder, Steve Vargas who knocked in the winning run, capping a day when his bat and glove atoned for a myriad of his teammates' sins in the field, on the mound and at the post-game pub crawl.

The Bigger They Come, The Harder They Fall

After a long and patient off-season, the season finally opened. And for team TPG, it opened with a bang as they beat Gensler for the first time in at least 5 years with a final score of 11-10. It was a hard fought battle with 6 lead changes and a walk-off win for TPG in the bottom of the 7th. With bad weather all spring, and no official practice permits, the rust was thick. It was obvious that this was the first game of the season, and errors for both teams were plentiful. The top of the first was ugly as TPG pitcher Ron Alalouf walked the first two batters, and with a couple of hits Gensler easily scored 2 quick runs and was threatening for many more. TPG got out of the inning with some decent defense including a running catch by RCF and recent new dad Josh Ginsburg.

It looked like this would be a long afternoon for team TPG. But our offense came back in the bottom of the first with a lead-off walk by SS Len Emmanuel (arguably the fastest runner in the league), who came all the way around to score on an RBI single by last year's team MVP Omar Cevallos (4-4, 4 Runs, 3 RBI). With Omar on first, last year's SLAM Big Bat award winner Justin Aharoni (2-3, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB) belted a 2 run home run deep into right center field, and TPG took the lead 3-2.

Pitching and defense marked the second inning as both teams were held scoreless. Gensler scored 1 in the top of the 3rd, and the game was tied again. TPG put together a string of walks and singles scoring 3 before ending the inning with bases loaded. TPG now leads 6-3. In the top of the 4th, Gensler scored two runs on a few good hits, and a overthrow error by Josh. Gensler's defense shut down TPG in the bottom of the 4th including an outstanding 6-6-3 double play by All Star SS (and another recent new dad) Roger Lee, sending the teams to the 5th with TPG up 6-5. TPG held Gensler scoreless in the top of the 5th, and then added two more on Justin's second home run of the game. 5 innings in the books, and TPG leading 8-5.

The 6th inning would prove to be near-fatal for team TPG. Gensler had the biggest rally of the night for either team and put a big five-spot on the board. It would have been more if not for a stellar defensive 2-3 play by Catcher Princess Salvacion. TPG went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 6th and we headed to the 7th with Gensler leading 10-8.

TPG has always played Gensler close in the regular season (one run losses in both 2007 and 2008), and this game was no exception. After all was said and done, this game came down to a coin flip won by TPG giving them home field advantage and crucial last licks. Catcher Princess led of the inning with a walk, before SS Len hit into what appeared to be a 6-4-3 double play. But they couldn't catch Len, as he beat the bang-bang throw from Roger. A quick single by 2B Adam Woods, followed by an RBI single by Omar (his fourth hit of the game as he tries to outdo his unreal .700 batting average from last season), and TPG had 1st and second, one out, down 10-9 with Justin coming to the plate. A quick thinking substitution by Manager Josh brought in fleet footed Shyam Kumar as the tying run on second. Justin popped up his next at bat just over second base when normally sure handed Roger dropped it. since the runners were holding, Roger had a play to 3B Robert Fuller in a "commish to commish" play that would decide the game. Roger's throw was good, but with 3rd Base Coach Derrick Blocker managing the baserunners, Speedy Shyam slid in safe under the tag as Robert bobbled the relay. Now it was bases loaded, one out, and 1B Mike Stevick at the plate. Would it be a dramatic game ending walk-off hit? Not quite. He ripped a ground ball to Roger who stepped on second for one, and did his best to turn two at first and end the game. But not this time, as Roger (who in past years had singlehandly shut down TPG with his trademark double plays) threw wild by the 1B, and two runs came in to end the game on what will go down in the books as a FC, RBI, and an E-6. Not the cleanest game ever, but only the final score counts. What a great way to start the season.

Game Balls go to Omar Cevallos and Justin Aharoni for their outstanding hitting.