Coach's Corner

Updates from his tournament.


By the way, if we beat Jakarta tomorrow we are in the finals on
Saturday. Too bad the game conflicts with SAS. We play--weather
permitting--Saturday at 3:45.

We lost against Manila in the opener. 'Right Out Orihara pitched a
3-hitter; but blew a hig-risk pick-off play that cost us the game. We
were tight and did not hit. Despite 7 hits, we got shut-out.

A barn-burner against Bangkok. We were down 4-3; and Magnet [who played
2B for you] got a single off the wall to drive in 2 in the 5. Kimura
[the Japanese guy who worked the 2-3 innings for you guys] did a Bab
Gibson. Gave up runs early but shut them down; he was throwing harder in
the 6 & 7th than in the first three innings. Singapore 5-Bangkok 4.

Yesterday we scored 4 in the 1st--two dingers. Then my head-case pitcher
tanked. Perth drew even 4-4. I had to bring in Orihara with one-day's
rest. He gave up a run. We were down 5-4 with two outs in the bottom of
the 6th. Then BB, HBP, BB, and a series of doubles and singles. When the
dust cleared; the score was 9-5.

- Coach

New Baseball Movie

Jimmy fallon sucks.....he should stick to SNL
Fever Pitch
Then again, Adam Sandler probably wouldn't be caught dead as a Sox fan, EVEN if he were only "acting"

From the trailer, I think the movie explains alot...I think I will stick my neck out and watch it...


Newsflash : Reports are saying that the Queer Eyes have actually gotten the sox players to shower.

Good article about technolog in Baseball equipment

Read it here

26 March 2005

Ones:
1B: Monk/Princess, 2B: Diana, SS: TH, 3B: Sandman,
LF: TH/Fei, CF: Jason, RF: Princess/Monk

Twos:
1B: Prof Zen, 2B: Horfun, SS: TS/Metro, 3B: Clement,
LF: Fei/TS, CF: Cheetah, RF: TK

Score:
Game 1: Ones 9, Twos 17
Game 2: Ones 7, Twos 8

1) Seems like the twos can do no wrong in the first
game, with the baseball gods smiling over them. To
paraphrase TS, no matter how crappy your hit,
just run to first base, and chances are, you'll get
onto base anyway. For one moment, it seemed as if
the Cheetah's pop up would be caught in the infield, but
well, it dropped, and he got on first base.

2) It rains everytime the twos were at bat. (first
game)

3) Clement strikes out.

4) The Cheetah's balls are Princess's glove homing-- they fly
to nowhere but Princess's open gloves

5) The Tan brothers score homerun after homerun to the
horror of all fielders.

6) Monk and Horfun get clubbed in the head by
balls. Monk gets hit right smack in the forehead
by a throw from TH, who was trying to get Horfun out. The throw was enough to diminish his enthusiasm for playing first base, and he trades
places with Princess (No chance of TH throwing the ball at her head). Horfun gets hit by a warm up throw to second base from Clement who was in third base. Both victims are now marked with ugly bumps on their heads.

7) Sandman forms an acrobatics team with Metro and Clement,
with the trio making spectacular dives to catch the
ball.

8) Metro gets betrayed by his partner-- Monk, who trades him for Fei in the second game.

9) Another metrosexual appears on the scene with white
rimmed glasses-- guess who? (for hints, refer to
previous point)

10) Jason stops Prof Zen's attempt to complete the trilogy
of homeruns with his glove.

11) Diana throws the runner out at first.

posted by Horfun.

Fei

Fei stands tall on the extreme left. Easily the best player in the photo. Maybe more of those guys should come out on Saturday to improve.

Fei's new nickname, The Say Hey Kid, which also happened to be Willie Mays' nickname.

All-Star Friday 25 March 2005

What a great day. Brilliant weather tempered by outstanding play, attended by the few, the proud and the brave.

SAS (Saturday Afternoon Softball) :
Pitch: 3 of Coach's, catch: Coach's allstar, 1st: Beyonce, 2nd: Coach's allstar, 3rd: DT, SS: Coach's allstar, OF: Rube, Sandman, Prof Zen, Jason, Seven, Gunz, Bullpen: Horfun and Diana

SAS (Singapore American School) allstars

First all, much thanks to Coach for organizing this brilliant holiday afternoon baseball session. As usual the hosts were great, providing us with a core of their players to even out the shortage of numbers we had. Pity we could not get batting practice against the pitching machines, as the baseball store was locked for this week's tournament.

Thanks also go out to the few dedicated souls who made the effort to come on and have an all round good time on the ballfield. Especially to those who showed up but didn't get a chance to play the actual game.
Attendance was (according to appearance) : DT, Beyonce, Seven, Prof Zen, Horfun, Jason&Diana, Sandman, Rube, Gunz, TeckPiaw

As we really short of numbers, coach provided us with his starting catcher, pitcher, shortstop and 2nd base. Along the way, coach substituted in 2 other pitchers, traded from the other team.

We took the field first, suprisingly as we were the guest team, with a mighty lefthander leading off the inning for us. Taking barely 12 pitches, it was a 1-2-3 out to end the inning. Coach's imports took up the top 3 bat positions scoring 1, Prof Zen batted 4th (he was smashing the ball during batting practice, hence coach's decision), and got on base. With runners at the corners, DT stepped up to the plate and actually made contact with the ball, hitting a blooper into right field that should've been a single if not for the glovework and legs of the rightfielder, who made a THesque catch. No matter, the runner on third tagged up and scored, giving DT his first career RBI. Score 2-0

Top of second saw us starting a new righthanded pitcher. The first batter got on base, due to an error by Beyonce on first (she dropped the ball from the SS), but she more than made amends for it by making a unassisted double play on a opposite field line drive from the second batter. She leapt high into the air, caught the ball and tagged first to get the runner out. Outstanding play. Sadly, we were unable to get on base this inning to work on a wider lead. Score 2-0

The allstars got back on the scoreboard in the third, with classic offensive baseball, first batter walked, and the next batter bunted him to advance. The next batter hit a terrific linedrive up the middle which led to the Rube's 15secs of shame. Rube was in centerfield, and he ran down the ball but when he was within inches of it, instead of putting his body to the ground and diving for the ball, he stopped short and the ball bounced through his legs and went to the wall. The allstars scored 2. Score 2-2

The allstars came back in the 4th to take a 4-2 lead, but we pulled it back to 4-3 with snappy singles hitting and walks from our batters. Rube narrowly avoided hitting into a double play at the bottom of the fifth, advancing the runner on first and getting himself on base at the same time due to an error by the SS.

The score remained at 3-4 for the next 3 innings, and our imports performed brilliantly to control the middle infield. There was even a 6-4-2 double play to end the fourth till the top of the seventh, when the allstars scored 1 to take a 3-5 lead. As we had never won a baseball game in history, losing by 2 runs was an extremely decent scoreline for us. But we still had a chance at bat. Rallying hard at the bottom of the 7th. Rube and Gunz again hit singles to advance runners and bringing the score to 4-5. Gunz scored the tying run from a hard single from Doug, our imported SS. Victory was not to be however, and we finished the 7th inning at 5 a piece. More importantly, we played hard, hit well (practically everyone made contact with the ball) and enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

Final Score SAS 5 : SAS allstars 5

As it was still light, we took the field for some batting practice with Teck generously pitching for us. (note : Gunz smashed the ball during this session, with 2 hits reaching the wall)

Lost Glove

Jason left his glove on the field 2 weeks back, so if someone picked up a wilson glove, please bring it this weekend.

Thanks.

A Great Friday

We've been invited for our annual Baseball Game against Coach's kids from the American School.

Date : 25 March
Time : 3pm
Place : Singapore American School (near Marsiling MRT)

Best to show up at about 2, and we can use the batting cage to warm up against a pitching machine to learn to see the fast pitches

For those of you who have never played at the american school, it's a worthwhile experience. As per normal, everyone's invited.

Check your email for more details, or call me.

19 March 2005 - Dy got that!

ONES:
Pitch: Swat, 1st: TK, 2nd: Princess, 3rd: DY, SS: DT, OF: TH, Rube, Sandman, HF

TWOS:
Pitch: Rickey, Catch: Prof Zen, 1st: Beyonce, 2nd: Jason, 3rd: Generalissimo, SS: Metro, OF: Fei, TS, Grandpa, JoZ

Game 1: ONES 19 : TWOS 24
Game 2: ONES 6 : TWOS 7 (3 innings)

The teams did not really look even when they walked onto the field, in fact, it looked like Rickey loaded the ONES when he counted off. But appearances can be deceiving. The TWOS rocketed off to a 6 run lead by the end of the second inning with plently of singles and aggressive baserunning. ONEs defense was tight was somehow the TWOs batters found the gaps. The TWOs fought back strongly though, within the next few innings and succeeded in tying the score at 10-10 by the bottom of the sixth. However, another round of strong batting from the TWOs, and they took the lead again in the seventh with a 16-10 lead. Not to be outdone, the ONEs put together a string of hits to claw back to 16-15 by the bottom of the eighth. The ONEs came unravelled at the top of the ninth, with botched plays to allow the TWOs to take a commanding 24-15 lead, with many of the runs scored with two outs in the bag. But showing the never-say-die spirit typical of SAS, the ONEs used the the last inning at bat to bring the score back to a dignified difference. Final Score 24-19.

Game 2 started off with everyone mixing up their positions. Infielders from game one, taking the outfield, and outfielders coming to play infield. A good way to learn new positions and make fools of ourselves. The lineup.
ONES:
1st: Rube, 2nd: Prof Zen(traded), 3rd: TH, SS: Sandman, OF: Swat, DT, TK, Princess

TWOS:
1st: TS, 2nd: Fei, 3rd: Grandpa, SS: JoZ, OF: Metro, Rickey, Beyonce, Jason

This time, the ONEs, batting first, took the lead and held it for the 3 innings. But a defensive lapse in the bottom of the ninth, saw the TWOs recover to tie the game, and finally win it when a runner on third was allowed to score on a two out forced play.



MBP :
Gold Glove : Sandman
Biggest Bat : Fei
Best Play : TS (He fielded an opposite field grounder from DT, and beat him out to first, holding on to the ball after DT took him out Latin American style)
DY play of the day : DY at 3rd
Bonehead Play : DT (assuming grandpa could not catch the ball and getting caught on a DP)

You go girlfriend!

What to do after winning a world series?

Get a makeover!


The Red sox proving that they do listen to fans. The question now is, will they ALL sport white glasses?

click the picture to read the story. I promise this is not a landmine, it's a real story, not Mr Metro's picture.

What teaching at NUS will do to you

BEFORE                                  AFTER

12 March 2005 - The Marvelous Return

ONES :
1st: Rickey, 2nd: Princess, 3rd: Swat, SS: DT, OF: TS, Sandman, Gunz, Marvelous

TWOS :
Catch: Horfun, 1st: Rube, 2nd: Monk, 3rd: JoZ, SS: Metro, OF: Beyonce, TH, Fei, Prof Zen

Game 1 : ONES 9 : TWOS 25 (8th inning mercy)
Game 2 : ONES 8 : TWOS 0 (3 innings

For two very evenly pitched teams, the score does not reflect the game's standard of play. Taking an early lead, the TWOs dominated both offense and defense, taking an eight run lead by the third inning. The ONEs clawed their way back with four runs at the bottom of the third, and even manged to come within one run by the end of the fifth. Feeling the pressure, the TWOs struck again, scoring five at the top of the sixth, two more at the top of the seventh, and finally putting the nail into the ONEs coffin by scoring ten unanswered runs at the top of the eighth.

8 of those runs can be credited to the Rube, who hit three homers with runners on base. It could have been 5 homers, except for the vigilance of TS in right field. The Rube was picking on TS all day with five RF hits at five at-bats. Could it be that TS has bigger biceps than the Rube? Welcome to the guns show.

While on the subject of Gunz, he had the best hitting day of his career, knocking out 3 homers....that could've been. All his hits were run down and caught by outstanding outfield catches (and in my [edited: originally 'this reporters] humble opinion, the best I've even seen in a long time). Two were made by TH in LF, with one being his patented run-down-while-catching-the-ball-millimetres-off-the-ground. The third was one of the greatest catches ever seen in SAS history. A deep deep fly ball into centerfield, and Fei runs it down, catches it on-the-run, over-the-shoulder Willie Mays style, AND turns and throws it to second to hold the runner. Many forget that famous play by Mr Mays consisted not only of the great catch, but the quick and accurate throw as well. And Fei did it all. I think we have Fei's nickname. We'll call him Mays. Gunz did finally get on base, thanks to an unselfish sacrifice of his body by TS. Taking a liner in the arm, to deflect the ball deep into play allowing Gunz to get to first.

The second game saw a resurgance in the ONEs, scoring 8 runs and letting in none, to win the game in three innings. Though the change in fortunes could be accredited to 2 factors. Both teams lost their whitemen. The TWOs lost the Rube, and the ONEs lost Rickey. Who contributed more to the change I will not speculate, but The Marvelous, in his debut return (again for the third time), hit a grandslam homerun to give the ONEs an insurmountable lead.


MBP : Marvelous
Gold Glove : TH
Biggest Bat : Rube (3 HRS)
Biggest Bat (that could've been) : Gunz (3 HRs stolen by outstanding catches)
Best Play : Fei (Willie Mays lives)
DY play of the day : TS (taking one for the team so Gunz could finally get on base)
Bonehead Play : Gunz (Holding the ball in CF for 2 runners to score)

Apologies

The Blog will be late this week due to certain unforseen circumstances.
I promise it will be up by Wednesday.

5 March 2005 - The Power of the 'Fro

Classic Saturday Afternoon Softball game this weekend. Tight contest, great plays, a few goofy errors, and a ninth inning comeback. Nomar/Money/FUBAR was playing out of his mind at short. Whether its the glasses - which have gotten him a lot of grief from the non-metrosexuals - or the 'fro, is hard to say. The line-ups may be a bit off (sorry if they are), but here's how I remember it. Misspellings of the Monfort Men are on purpose:

ONES: C: Rickey; P: Izod; 1B: Shaun; 2B: Jason; SS: Teck (Mr. Wong); 3B: Male Jo/Jesson; LF: Jesson/Male Jo; CF: Sandman; RF: UNC Andy; Rover: Beyonce and Horfun
TWOS: C: Monk; P: Cheetah; 1B: Non-Assassin TH; 2B: Princess; SS: Money; 3B: Desmond; OF: TH, Grandpa, TS (The Smiling Assassin), X-mas (Noel), Diana

Final Score: 12-11 (ONES win)

We only played one game, but it was a good one. The twos led the entire game, until the ninth inning, but were never ahead by more than 4 runs. Among the highlights:
1) Money was leaping like Jordan. He caught a number of line drives over his head. He also had an unassisted double play; 2) Grandpa swung at a first pitch. Mark it down. Only happens once a year; 3) Jason hit his first homerun. He also contorted his body on a grounder to second. He picks up the ball, thinks about throwing to second or third, realizes that is not the right play, and twists strangely to get it to first in time. Learning in action. Shaun makes good grab on throw too; 4) Base running SNAFU: Jesson and Sandman keep running, while Shaun stays on 3rd. Oops. Comedy hijinks ensue. Eventually Sandman is tagged out at 2nd, allowing Shaun to score. Cheetah yells like Old Coach; 5) Hassie stops by for a visit with Emily; 6) Patented 9th inning SAS comeback.

MBP: Money
Best Bat: No one stood out, but props to Jason
Gold Glove: Money
DY: No one
Bonehead Play of the Day: Baserunning

How to hit the ball on the ground

Which one was a homerun?