TPG Beats Ennead 11-0

Team TPG took the field yesterday against Ennead.  When Polshelk Parnership changed their name to Ennead, the meaning had something to do with the "power of 9".  Unfortunately for Ennead, last night they only showed up with a "power of 8" - as in 8 players to take the field.  TPG led off the game, and our first nine batters scored before we even had an out.  Two innings later, a 2-run HR by SS Tommy "Guns" Anderson, and that was all the  scoring we needed, as TPG won via the mercy rule 11-0 after 4 innings of play.

We were lucky enough to have TPG's official team photographer Vu Tran tag along, so we took the educational opportunity to illustrate what to do, and what not to do on the softball field.  For example, here's a breakdown of the correct batting stance vs. the incorrect batting stance:

Tommy "Guns" Anderson demonstrating the correct way to swing a bat

Simon "Muscle Ninja" Yeung showing us the, uh, not so correct way to swing a bat

We also learned that jumping in the air while swinging was not very effective:

Josh "Shufflefoot" Ginsburg teaching us the "jump-swing" technique

And anger can be a powerful tool, the more you grimace, the harder you hit:

Derrick "The Mouth" Blocker

Princess "Peanut" Salvacion

Sara "All Star" Laurence

Tony "Married to the Firm" Franzese

You can see all of the pictures from the game here:  https://plus.google.com/photos/109111179680946945239/albums/5737579785253901553?authkey=CIOVkdzk94qCPQ

Our next game is against 2-time defending champion, HMB/RAMSA.  We look forward to the challenge.

Game balls go to Derrick Blocker for pitching a shut out, Tommy Anderson for another monster HR, and Vu Tran for all the awesome photos.

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?

History and Spring elevator battles of Epic proportions

Spring is in full swing and we haven’t had the chance to catch up with the S.L.A.M blog. So, in order to do so we will cover a battle of epic, deity proportions and a historic win. Let us start with the epic one:

It is undoubtedly good when victory happens 2 years in a row against the same team, and it is especially good (in epic, Egyptian mythology proportions) when our opponent’s new name signifies the presence of 9 deities. That would be the newly Christened “Ennead Architects”, our downstairs neighbor. One would think that Gruzen Samton would succumb to the wrath of the so-called Gods, right? Well no, the story went more along the Greek-pop mythology of Perseus in Clash of the Titans: The deities succumbed to the power of their opponent. It was a close, well-fought battle that ended up in a 10-9 Gruzen Samton victory over Ennead.

However, the best part was that coveted “elevator bragging rights” title. The following day, those rights were fully embraced (yet again) by adding some life to the elevator of our building in the form of celebratory street art; the type that would make Banksy recoil with envy.

We wish Ennead good luck for the rest of their season and look forward to future matches in this now classic rivalry that can only be compared to that of the NY Yankees against the Boston Red Sox (only really, really small in comparison).

And now, on to the historic one:

After our victory last night against Gensler I later found out at the bar that Gruzen had never beaten Gensler before; and to that historic effect many names should be highlighted through the game coverage:

- Starting with 2 runs in the first inning we intended to get an early advantage over our opponents.
- On the second inning, our secret British weapon; Simon Smith, crushes a ball deep in between left and center field for a home-run with 2 RBI.
- The offensive attack continued in the 3rd inning with the help of Vickie Vigil taking a walk to load the bases. Then, our newcomer Diane Moseley (at her second time batting ever!) grounds a ball for a 1 RBI, followed by Jeff Gillers for a single with 1 RBI.

All in all it was a good battle, with Gensler having a comeback of 4 runs in the last 2 innings backed up by one of the better pitchers of the league. However, the defensive game of Gruzen Samton was in full swing with great plays by Jeff DeLong in 1st base (with great backwards fly-ball catches and on double duty at home plate for a nail-biting out); Joe Illuzzi with several clean plays as well as good plays by Vickie and Anthony Colella on 2nd and Shortstop respectively. Adding to that, several struck-outs by our pitcher Jeff Gillers and a good outfield defensive game (by Robert Lucas, Ed Bolivar, illich Mujica and the secret British weapon) ensured that one of the better teams fell short of a victory. In the end Gruzen Samton won 6-5 over Gensler.

It is Spring, and our 9th button of the elevator trumps any group of 9 deities.  
It is good to press that button. Everyday.

TPG Wins Game 1 vs PP 10-2

Team Photo (front row left to right: Derrick Blocker, Ron Alalouf, Omar Cevallos, Princess Salvacion; back row left to right: Alison Laudat, Ngai Luong, Tony Franzese, Mike Stevick, Alison Hopke, Justin Aharoni, Katie Burns, David Beauchamp, Steve Yavrouian, Omar Bustamante, Joe Omole, Josh Ginsburg, Adam Woods, Fredmy Mejias)

It was the first game of the season for team TPG, and we wanted to make a strong impression. This started with almost the entire team showing up and enthusiastically cheering us on (so we took this opportunity for a team photo). But the real first impression was made by our 3B Omar Cevallos (2-2, BB, HR, 3R) who took advantage of the quirky field conditions at North Meadow #2 and led off the game for us with a Home Run over the short proch in left field.

After Omar's HR, we never looked back as the next batter was newcomer SS Tony Franzese (3-3, HR, 3B, 1B, 3R) and he followed up with a rocket triple scoring on an ill-advised overthrow to 3rd. 2 Runs were in, the bases were empty, and there were no outs. But Polshek held tight, gave up only one more run in the first and got out of the first inning down 3-1.

Steller defense by team TPG hed PP to only one more run the rest of the game. TPG Pitcher Ron Alalouf (2K's, 0BB) threw nothing but strikes and surprised everyone with his cat-like reflexes on the mound including the front end of a 1-6-3 inning ending double play.

Game Ball goes to Tony Franzese, because anytime a player gets a HR and a Triple in his first two at bats with a new team, he's gonna get the game ball. Honorable mention goes to Maddeline who convinced her husband Tony to play for us this year.