26 Mar 2011 - Playground Rules

Ones: 1st Rickey, 2nd High Tea, 3rd Mick, SS Chris, LF Superdad, CF H, RF Seven
Twos: 1st Baskets, 2nd Ripken, 3rd Santini, SS New Guy, LF Gunz, CF Chee, RF Sin/Chris

Final Score
Ones 13 : Twos 14

I'd rate this as the best defensive games of the year. Don't let the high score fool you, there were no errors or fielding mistakes. All the runs came from solid hitting, and all the outs came from solid defense.

Hardly any runs were scored till the 6th inning, and all the runs scored after that was because the cricket monkeys set up in our centerfield and did not have the courtesy to respect the playground rules.

Fuckers.

Every one was trying to hit the cricket monkeys, and they just got in the way of all the plays.

Fuckers.

High Tea made the most insane catch I've ever seen. He made a running, over the shoulder, falling over, arm contorting 270 deg under his body, half-tumble-roll AND managed to keep the ball in the glove for the out. I'd score it an 11.

Immediately after, Gunz tried one as well, rolling a somersault on his head. It was only a 9 cos he didn't contort the arm under his body. Gunz also doesn't need a cut-off.

It turns out I play better under the influence of rage.

Rickey caught everything thrown at him. Take that Mauneau. Baskets did well at 1st too.

Ripken should play 2nd. He plays so much better in that position than any other.

Great to see Seven back.

Chee is a new guy from Sheares Hall. He's shown up 3 weeks in a row, and started bringing his friends. Chee reminds me of Fei. Fantastic wheels, incredible speed and range in the OF, and you have to work to thrown him out on an infield hit. He's a keeper.

PS. We finally broke the boycott of 'Archies' (see this post. They replaced some of the uncomfortable wood chairs with comfortable sofas. And real nice ones too. And the sofas face the TV... which is on MIO, which has ESPN, which means we can actually watch baseball. The sofas also soak up the echos from the wood floors. So the place feels quite cosy now. Looks like Archies will finally get our business.
The wait staff do need to work on their service standards though. Putting the jugs of beer and the glasses on the table is not service. I don't think its too much to expect them to pour the beer.

Check out the comfortable sofa and Rickey the Hutt

Dopo mee gusha, peedunkey?

19 Mar 2010 - Mercy Relief

Ones: 1st Rickey, 3rd Superdad, SS Chris, LF Mauneau, CF Gunz, Rover H
Twos: 1st Rickey, 3rd Mick, SS Ripken, LF Rugburn, CF Chee, 2nd Baskets

Game 1: Ones 13 - Twos 1 (3 innings)
Game 2: Ones 8 - Twos 18 (6 innings)

The baseball gods are still testing us. Its frigging March and its still raining on Saturdays, and our numbers are frigging pathetic.

We almost called time of death at about 4pm and head over to BarBar. Some of us wanted to go, but some of us really wanted to play. And then the sky stopped falling.

We had to take advantage of the opportunity we were given. Even though we only had 11 people. We had to get in a game. There was a time we could hit 55-60 games a year (52 weekends + public holidays). We barely scratched 40 in 2010 and unless a miracle happens, we won't hit 30 for 2011.

The field was a pond after the heavy downpour and we turned homeplate into a swamp, and 3rd base into a sliding pool. Sliding into 3rd was VERY fun.

The ONEs started the ball rolling with a 10 run 2nd inning in the first game. The TWOs had no answer, and we were calling 'game over' by the 3rd. With the distribution of players, there was no way to make any trades even though it was a mercy score. Both teams were fairly even and any trades would result in an even more lopsided result.

Well, The TWOs soon returned the favoured and they put together run after run after run to get a 18-3 lead going into the bottom of the 6th. The ONEs had a chance to dig themselves out of the mercy hole and managed to put 5 runs on the board. With 18-8 on the scoreboard and 2 runners on base, the ONEs bats suddenly fell apart. 3 consecutive outs ensured that the TWOs would take the mercy victory in the 2nd game.

12 Mar 2011 - Sacrifice

Ones: 1st New Guy, 2nd Baskets, 3rd Mick, SS Chris, LF Rugburn, CF New Guy, CF Ziegler, RF Swaine
Twos: 1st Rickey, 2nd Ripken, 3rd Mick, SS RL, LF Mauneau, CF New Guy, CF H, RF Sin

Ones 7 : Twos 6 (10 innings)

The weather was lovely, the field was gorgeous, and even the cricket monkeys on the field did not disturb our game. The baseball gods tested us and were well pleased with our sacrifice.

A downpour in the first inning did not deter us from the game. Even the cricket monkeys left the field when the sky opened, but we persevered. The rains stopped, the skies cleared and we had 10 brilliant innings of Saturday Afternoon Softball.

Things looked bleak for the Ones as the Twos took a 6 lead by the end of the 2nd inning. But they could not hold on to their lead as the Ones clawed their way back to tie the game in the 8th.
The tie could not be broken in the 9th and we went into extra innings.

Special mention. The Mick had a gold glove day playing all-time defense. He recorded at least 1 out per inning, even putting up a 3-out inning to help Rickey record a 3 pitch outing on the mound. It was amazing stuff. Strangely, people would not stop hitting to him even as we saw his glove catch fire.

5 Mar 2011 - Pathetic part III - Revenge of the Pathetics

Bodies : Rickey, Baskets, Cool Papa, Gunz, H.

Time of death : 4pm.

Moved to Bar Bar.

Dr Z joined them there.

5 March 2011 - Pathetic, the sequel.

Present: Gunz, Dave, Rickey, Baskets, H.

Too many people out of town. On to Bar Bar at 345. Turns out that Ziegler brought 3 other friends. But (b)all was lost. Beer was consumed heartily thereafter.