Lefty lefty

Baby born with two left arms

Benchwarmers Movie Night

Hi All,

A hilarious new softball movie is opening up this thursday, it's called Benchwarmers.
Since there are quite a few guys leaving for work/holiday this saturday, I'm proposing a Friday drinks/dinner and movie night.
Dinner and Drinks are from 6pm at Muddy Murphys (show up anytime), I'll book the 9ish movie at Lido (show up there if you wanna skip dinner and drinks). Exact movie time will be confirmed later, but I will be booking the tickets on Wednesday night/Thursday morning.
I'd appreciate your confirmation by then. Room-mates and loved-ones are invited as well (just let me know the exact number)

I sent this mail to everyone, but if I missed you, please email us at saturdaysoftball at gmail if you wanna go.

DT Rants

Yesterday's game bore witness to two of the greatest plays I've seen in SAS history.
The first one was from Kyle II. I had the perfect view from behind the catcher. Indiana had tagged up at third base and took off the moment Kyle caught the ball in left field. Even considering that the bases were set slightly further apart than normal, there was still no chance that the throw could have come in on time for Rugburn at home to tag Indiana out. Kyle caught and threw in one smooth motion, the ball turning into a guided missile heading for home. Indiana had no chance, Rugburn got the ball and tagged a sliding Indiana with one smooth motion. There were two problems with the play though... :) The throw missed the cut-off man and Indiana failed to do a Pete Rose on Rugburn. Otherwise it was a textbook play ;)
The second play was Geok's play at second base. With a runner on first base, a slow chopper was hit towards second base. Though Geok made an error fielding it, she stuck with the ball and kept it in front of her. Being the experienced player that she is, she tried valiantly to stretch her foot behind her to find the plate whilst trying to gain control of the ball. To no avail, she could not find the plate. But with a phenomenal sixth sense, she tossed the ball without looking over her shoulder, perfectly weighted for Rube to catch and make the out a split second before the runner tagged the base. It was a beautiful play, and a fine example of the experience one gets from playing a real game every week instead of running laps and practicing silly drills.

New School

ONES: 1B: Heidi/John; 2B: Diana; 3B: The Venezualan Jaguar; SS: DT; LF: Rugburn; CF: John/Heidi; RF: Jason/Seven; Rover: Seven/Clem
TWOS: 1B: Kyle II/Rickey; 2B: Horfun; 3B: Rickey/Swiss Miss; SS: Sandman; LF: Clem/Kyle II; CF: Rube; RF: Swiss Miss/Jason; Rover: Burma Girl

Game One (3-Inning Mercy):
ONES: 11
TWOS: 1

Game Two (9 Innings):
ONES: 7
TWOS: 14

The game was played under a strange cloud that made it appear to be twilight/sunset for much of the game. Thus, it felt like it was 7 o'clock for about 2 hours. The first game was just a good old-fashioned ass-whupping. The TWOS couldn't get anything together. Poor fielding, poor hitting, etc. Horfun was their biggest bat during the game. In the second, after a Jason-for-Clem trade, the TWOS caught fire. Nice hitting, fielding and the line-up was re-formed (thanks, Sandman). The ONES seemed to have run out of gas in the second game. All of their runs came in one inning. The first 6 came from infield hits, bunts, bloopers, etc. Finally, Rugburn hit one into the outfield for the seventh run. The rest was the TWOS, in that game.

NOTES:
1) Rickey and Rube yelled at each other over throws to first from the outfield. But, like Rus Howard and Randy Ferby, they finally got things figured out in the second game; 2) Horfun had a massive hit, over everyone; 3) Heidi looks like she's sleeping in the outfield. She's not; 4) Can an Ethics Professor taunt a third baseman?; 5) Rickey ran down a Heidi foul that no one thought he could reach; 6) Sandman was sweeping the infield like Ed "the Wrench" Werenich; 7) Kyle II created his own run. Hits single. Advances to 2B on a fielder's choice; On a caught pop-fly, he takes off, and continues home. Remarkable; 8) Kyle II nails John at the plate from deep left-field. Haven't seen a throw like that since Gunz and Cool Papa left. But, he didn't hit the cut-off man.

MBP: Kyle II
Best Bat: Kyle II
Gold Glove: Heidi
DY: Rickey
Most Common Demoninator: Jason
Didn't bleed this week: Rugburn

DT Rants

I've got nothing to rant about today. It was a fantastic day, brilliant weather, lovely field, excellent numbers. Nice to see some old faces make a reappearance, and some new faces show up two weeks running. Looks like we've got ourselves a ball game!

Except for the first and last two innings, the game yesterday was a defensive gem. Old coach would've been proud. Throws hit the cut-off man, runners were held from extra bases. All fielders hustled for every ball, even going to ground to put their bodies in the way of the ball. It was a magnificant game. I may have enjoyed the Butuan game last week tremendously, but I surely enjoyed this game more.

Misquoting one of the bylines of the ruling political party here.... More Good Games!

Rug Burn

Rug Burn

20 May 2006 - Numbers, Old-School

ONES: P: Indiana; C: Rickey/Seven; 1B: Heidi; 2B: Diana; 3B: Male Jo; SS: Sandman; OF: The Mick, Sammy, Say Hey Kid, Clem; Rover: Seven/Rickey
TWOS: P: Nigey-pooh/Burma Girl; C: Burma Girl/Horfun; 1B: Kyle II; 2B: Horfun/Nigey-pooh; 3B: DY; SS: DT; OF: Rube, Swiss Miss, Rugburn, TTS; Rover: Tru-Vac (Dieter aka Ingo)

Game One:
ONES: 9
TWOS: 11

Game Two (5 innings):
ONES: 10
TWOS: 5

The weather was good, we were in the usual field, and we had numbers. What more could you ask for? Well, we had some old school returnees. DY was there, plus a Tan Brother. The games were well played, and many innings ended 1-2-3. The ONES only scored 1 run through the first 7 innings of Game One. They were finding their bats by the end of the game, and then finally used them in Game Two. Overall, good game that left all happy (as both teams won). The Newbies (Sammy and Clem) and the no longer Newbies (Kyle II, Tru-Vac, Rugburn and Swiss Miss) are all playing well, and getting their swings.

NOTES: 1) The number one vacuum cleaner in Germany is Tru-Vac. Ingo was vacuuming up all the balls in the field at rover; 2) Rugburn may have a blood clotting problem; 3) "Ruby" was getting frustrated in the outfield at times, but it reflects his passion for the game; 4) DY still has his skillz; 5) Good to see TS back. Needs to show up every week; 6) There were some really nice plays/catches in the infield from Sandman, Heidi and DT; 7) Heidi was stretching, showing all how to play 1B or at least handle bad throws. She also got out of her hitting slump with a nice triple down the RF line.

MBP: Heidi
Gold Glove: Tru-Vac
Biggest Bat: Say Hey Kid
Drama Mama: Clem
Most stylish forearm cover: Rickey
DY: DY

Pilgrimage to Simbagoland

We had an awesome trip. Drank loads of San Miguel and Tanduay, ate loads of Barbeque and got some lovely sun. Instead of repeating myself here, let me direct you to the blogsite I setup to record the holiday

bohol holiday website

What's a simbago you might ask? Well, we'll tell you on Saturday.

13 May 2006 - WALK SOFTLY AND CARRY BIG STICK

This weekends game was another for the classics. It had drama, suspense,
alcohol, new recruits and also really heavy bats

First of all, due to the pilgrimage of DT, Rickey, Generallismo and Heidi to
the land of Lechon, San Miguel, we were a little short but went ahead to
play a 10 person game.
I hope that they represented the team well in the friendly with Mart's team
and also aided the Phillipine economy by eating lots of BBQ and quaffing San
Miguels!! I heard the Philipine Heart Center was offereing two for one
angioplasties in honour of you guys!!

The ten person game was the first debut of the 'Miksic Rules'. All field
open, three infielders and two outfielders. However the dreaded cones were
used to compress the field away from the corners. Made for some big hits
right down center field


This game was also one of the longest 9 inning games ever, it took a full
2:15 hours to play the game. It seemed like the game would go one forever.
The ones came from 6 runs behind to win the game in the bottom of the
ninth!! FInal score was like 18-17.

Playing with John's bats from the 1900's, many of us struggled to swing the
bat These bats are 33% heavier than our usual bats . It was like swinging a
club. Felt like my old days clubbing seals on the ice of Newfoundland.
Needless to say the seal struck back and I and two other were charged with
strikeout jugs. Three jugs made for a good day at Joes


Also the two new guys

Clement who if not for the superb scouting, fielding of Patrick, would have
made the best hitting debut of any rookie in softball history. This Frenchie
made solid contact from the get go but was robbed 5 consecutive times from
the Mick

Sam, The Kimchi kid who was a friend brought in by Ingvild the German. Sam
had played many years ago in Korea and you could see skills getting
refreshed


MBP: the MICK, his clutch base hits and fielding kept the ones in the game
Gold GLOVE: The Mick
Drama Mama: The Swiss Miss, who is starting to learn how to trash talk with
the Mick

Contributed by Guppy

13 May 2006 - By Bertrand

Each and everyone (2 friends of mine) were watching the rain falling at noon just before the game, thinking: it is going to be a sliding day.

And without any surprise the field was soggy when all the players finally came. The teams were small but thanks to Coach's idea of narrowing the field with highway cones, we managed to play. The game was a pretty close one with lots of missed catch (especially me…). Swiss miss (I guess I will have to stick with that name now… sigh) literally schooled Patrick hitting the ball over his head, allowing him to reach third base. Patrick certainly didn't like to be played like this and made his mission to overpass the Swiss miss, with eventual success. The battle had begun with a large advantage to the Yankee.

A new recruit has joined our team in the person of Clement, a French guy colleague of the swiss miss. As a total rookie, he managed to hit beautiful swings unfortunately frequently caught by the strong outfielders, and did some good runs too. He really seems to be a promising player, with strong batting potential. So let's give him some time to familiarize with the rules, but I think he will be more than welcome by everyone for Saturday softball. He did strike out and paid his due, so how could he be less integrated?

The rest of the game was a vast variety of missed catches, photogenic slides by Ingo and Patrick, and Rube's rages at bat. Ingo may now be referred to as "da pig" for his close relation to the mud (blame Rube :-p, I won't go easy on the nicknames now…).

The game ended with a three strikeout count, eventually converted to beer jugs at Joe's.

Contributed by Bertrand

13 May 2006 - Indiana Rules

After a downpour that threatened the game in the early afternoon, Guppy and Horfun arrived at 2.30pm to a nice, soft and EMPTY field with a cloudy sky, the perfect day for a game, except, a minor problem—there was just Guppy and Horfun, sans bats, bases and balls. However, at 3.15pm, we were rescued by Indiana and Geok who showed up not only with the equipment, but another new set of rules. (what's with archaeologists and softball rules? By the way, we think he came PREPARED and was musing on this for a long while—the cones miraculously came along with the bases and bats) The deal is, we play 3 infield and 2 outfield in a very small outfield, without double or nothing, or Prof Zen rules. Basically, the foul lines were brought in.

ONES:
1B: Guppy, 2B: Horfun, 3B/SS: Dieter, OF: The Mick, Ted
TWOs:
1B: Rube/Indiana, 2B: Burma girl/Kimchii kid (TNG1)/Swiss Miss, 3B/SS: Indiana/Burma girl, OF: Swiss Miss/Rube/Kimchii kid (TNG1) C: French dude (TNG2)

ONES 22 : TWOS 22

Highlights:
1) Strike out day—we had 3 strike-out jugs from the new French dude, Burma girl and Guppy. 2) The Mick has been turning single base hits into triples by aggressive base-running. 3) The ONES were supposed to have won, but I suspect Horfun's counting went wrong somewhere, hence, the teams actually tied, as you can see from the score table. (the ONES thought they were down by 5 runs, and hence, when the 6th run came in, the game ended) 4) Guppy has been displaying some amount of aggressive base-running, stealing bases when fielders aren't looking. 5) The Swiss Miss, Dieter and the Mick had the "cleanest" clothes at the end of the game. 6) Indiana showed up with funky new glasses. That must be the reason why he beaned Horfun at the back of her head with a throw—partially obscured vision created by the funky shaped lens. 7) New French dude has a good bat—first time he is playing, and he had 3 solid hits out of 5 pitches, though they all miraculously found their way into the Mick's glove. He was so good that he was subject to strike-out jug rules, even for a rookie. 8) Kimchii dude has a good bat too, think he got on base every time except once.

Drama Mama: Swiss Miss
MBP: The Mick—a combination of offensive and defensive power, in midst of a bout of laughing hysteria.
Bonehead: Horfun—History majors can't count, period.

Contributed by Horfun In

13 May - Ball, Butuan-style

Tigers: 1B: Heidi; 2B: Rickey/Bizarro Rickey; 3B: The Jaguar; SS: DT; LF: Ferdie; CF: Contrary aka Fake Steve; RF: Bags
The Butuan Sluggers

Game One:
Tigers: 8
Sluggers: 1

Dude, this one was sweet. We played at the Butuan, Philippines Athletic Park against the local team, the Sluggers. They've even got a permanent sign (we got no sign!!) announcing that it is their home. They've got ladies who keep the score sheet in during the games. They've got a former national pitcher (who pitched for us). The game occurred after a long training period on the beaches of Panglao and an overnight ferry trip. Wearing our new jerseys we took the field and played a game of fast pitch softball.

Some basic notes in an exciting game. Rickey met his opposite. He is "wiry", bends at the knees, participates in every play and is energetic. After Rickey messed up some plays at 2B, Bizarro Rickey took over and Rickey became DH. The first screw up was partially due to DT. Someone stole 2B and Rickey went to cover. DT ran at 2B too scaring off Rickey. Second time Rickey was totally at fault. Got in the way of a sweet (chocolateh sweet) double play. After that, Rickey pulled himself due to his fear of burning his sensitive skin. The Jaguar (especially), Contrary and Heidi were excellent in the field.

At the plate, Contrary had a nice 3-rbi triple. Rickey's OBPS was .600. He even advanced a base two times without challenge, was in the process of stealing another that developed into a hit-and-run with the Jaguar, scored 2 runs and hit a boomer that was stolen (Willie Mays-style) in RF. Bags got hit twice by a pitch. He must owe someone money. Heidi got hit once too. Contrary's bro-in-law (Ferdie) busted open the game with a grand slam inside-the-park homer in the 1st inning. All else was fine after that.

After the game we ate at True Brew, Contrary's restaurant/coffehouse. Excellent (no joking) food and drinks.

PS: Note from trip. If you are ever signed up for the Amazing Race, get DT to be your partner. He's got major travelling skills.

DT Rants... while watching the elections

Fabulous game today, nicely wet and slimy. Weather held with a gentle breeze blowing across the field. The field had wet spots in areas, but the base paths were dry. The outfield was dodgy, and anything that hit the ground would stop dead. We even used our favourite small, live ball but it did not get very far on the ground. New Kyle was hitting the stuffing out of the ball though, and he single-handedly carried the TWOs. Guppy brought out his boss, Jeff, who we hope will see making repeat appearances since he's been assigned to Singapore. I think he's a keeper. He beat the shit out of the ball as well, and he showed some nifty glove and footwork to appear out of the blue to reel in gappers.

Guppy was showing a gold glove at first base. He made NO errors, and did not drop ANY balls thrown to him. In the last 9 years I've played with Gup, I've NEVER seen that happen... on ANY GIVEN DAY.... It was amazing. All credit to him trying to show off to his boss. And right beside him, Horfun had a gold glove at second base too. She even dived AND stopped AND threw out the batter. It was a play worthy of The Big Show. She was a Hoover at second, nothing got by her. And she hit for power as well. Definitely worthy of MBP...

Rickey, Generalissimo, H and I will be heading for the Philippines this week. We're going to be representing SAS to play the locals from Martin the Contrary's adopted town in Butuan. We'll blog that game, and I've asked several guest bloggers to write about the game in singapore. If anyone wants to volunteer as well (I always welcome more contributors to talk about different sides of the game), please email me your write up at 'saturdaysoftball AT gmail.com'

See you in two weeks.

6 May 2006 - Spicy Horfun

ONES: P: Albert; C: Seven/Jason; 1B: Guppy; 2B: Horfun; 3B: The Generalissimo; SS: Sandman; LF: Jason/Seven; CF: Jeff the Boss; RF: Rugburn; Rover: WeiXiong
TWOS: P: Rickey; 1B: Kyle II; 2B: Diana; 3B: Swiss Miss; SS: DT; LF: Heidi; CF: Say Hey Kid; RF: Rube; Rover: Dieter

Game 1: (not sure of the score in Game 1, but something like...)
ONES: 18
TWOS: 14

GAME 2: (5 innings)
ONES: 11
TWOS: 10

Good weather and a great turnout. The newbies continue to show up and impress. It was good to see WeiXiong back. He still talks too much, but we'll take him. The story of the day was that iron curtain the ONES had on the right side of the infield. Guppy and Horfun were amazing. Whatever they ate for breakfast, we all should get some. Clutch hits, great stops, and solid all-around performance. Even Rube was getting frustrated with Horfun's amazing ability to stop his hits. The ONES were also helped by Albert's excellent pitching. In Game 1, the TWOS took an early lead but the ONES came on late in the game and just took complete control. They scored a lot of their runs with 2 outs, and the TWOS helped them with a lot of 1-2-3 innings when they were up. In Game 2, the ONES took an early lead but the TWOS came roaring back and got a 2-run lead in the top of the 9th. But, the ONES amazingly consistent line drives and base-running just meant another win.

NOTES:
1) Swiss Miss is starting to hit for power. Good day at 3B too; 2) Rugburn has an impressive arm and good bat; 3) Jeff the Boss had some impressive hits too; 4) A number of people appear to have purchased Rickey's instructional video on how to hit high, useless fly balls; 5) Story of the day still revolves around Guppy and Horfun. Amazing day for both.

MBP: Horfun
Gold Glove: Guppy
Best Bat: Rugburn
DY: Swiss Miss
Drama Mama: Seven

Superman Returns

And thank god it's not being played by Nicolas Cage...

Two trailers.

trailer 1
trailer 2

oh...to be 13 again

This is old news, but I never got around to it.
Seems this 'older' teacher had sex with her 13 year old student.
Her name: Pamela Rogers

oh give me a break.... have you seen her picture? my god, I bet the student was begging for it. She should be rewarded for giving the guy a chance to hump such a hottie, not incarcerated...

1 May 2006 - This is my house, I built this house

ONES: 1B: Heidi; 2B: Guppy; 3B: Rickey; LF: The Mick; CF: Nigey-pooh; RF: Seven
TWOS: Lloyd and his (not so) younger guys, including Shawn, TH, Nikhil, and the Swiss Miss.
* The Generalisimo played all time. He was SS for the ONES and 3B for the TWOS

ONES: 23
TWOS: 16
Game called in the 8th inning due to rain.

The early part of the game was really hot. The ONES got off to a nice lead, but then age hit them. The TWOS came back and took a 4-run lead. But, in the 7th, the ONES came roaring back with a 11-run inning. The game was called due to rain, which we literally could hear coming (it was hitting the roof of the Science Faculty).

NOTES:
1) Rickey was the anti-DY. In the key 7th inning, he screwed up two plays when the ball was hit to him. Rickey apologizes; 2) Lloyd's boys have got major arms. They can throw; 3) Shawn needs to work on that swing. He struck out in the ugliest fashion imaginable (losing the bat); 4) With the Boom Brothers hitting back-to-back, at times the ONES offense was definitely station-to-station; 5) Nigey-pooh and the Mick in the outfield: "It's all about the hustle".

MBP: No one
Biggest Bat: Heidi
Best 'stache: The Adam Morrison look-alike on Lloyd's team
Best "Hustle" Nigey-pooh and the Mick (tie)
Anti-DY: Rickey
DY: Swiss Miss

DT Rants... From KL

Sounds like a fantastic game you guys had. I wish I were there. I would've paid good money to see H snag Seven's liner. Looks like his wife isn't the only one who has his balls in a vice.

Should've burnt those cricket stumps to keep the benches warm.

Two weeks in a row with full teams brings warmth to my heart and tears to my eyes. Hope you guys get a great game on Monday as well. I'm sorry I'm gonna miss it.

Seeya on May 6th. For those Singaporeans, voting is not a good excuse to miss ball.