DT Rants

There were 22, yes, TWENTY-TWO players on the field on Saturday. We've not seen those numbers since forever. What a great turnout. If only we can continue to see these numbers for a couple more months. We did start later than usual though, but even with the late start, we managed to get in two good games. The numbers did not look good at 3pm and we decided to kick off the game with only 14 at 3.15. Somehow, the numbers bloomed and we were fielding two full teams (including pitcher, catcher and rover) by 3.30. The teams looked slightly uneven at the start, with Rickey doing a Guppy and loading one team. With his attempt to compensate for the stupendous Superdad, he loaded the opposite team with a slightly advantageous lineup. However, little did he know that Superdad was benching himself in favor of his wife, Supermum. Superdad was taking care of the kids and the pink castle instead. Even without Superdad, Rickey's argument that the ONEs 'had Rube' was incongruous as he loaded the TWOs with an all-star infield and outfield. No matter, even though the TWOs had the better lineup defensively and offensively, they did not have the never-say-die spirit of the ONEs.

The ONEs kicked off the first game by shutting down the TWOs big bats with strong defense. They took an early lead by the 3rd inning with an excellent batting lineup orchestrated by the Rube. The Rube, taking a leaf out of DT's tournament lineup, devised a magnificant batting rotation comprising of single hitters followed by a powerful cleanup batter. Single after single followed by a powerful grandslam soon demoralised the TWOs, and the ONEs pulled ahead. They did not manage to hold off the TWOs for long, as the TWOs clawed their way back run by defiant run. Both teams put up stellar displays of hitting and glovework, but in typical SaturdaySoftball style, neither team was consistant enough to hold a dominant lead. With the ONEs close to winning the first game by mercy in the 5th with a 15-6 score, the TWOs fought back courageously. They strung together a series of hits to pull back the difference and by the 8th inning, they were in sight of a win. At the top of the 9th, the TWOs forged ahead by one run, finally overtaking the ONEs, at 19-18. The ONEs were not about to give up though, as they had the heart of their rotation coming up to the plate. Feeling the pressure, H, Jason and Fei combined to put together a spectacular display of small ball hitting. Jason finally crossed the plate with the RBI going to Fei for the win.

The Second game saw the TWOs lash out in a fury. Coming so close to a win the previous game, they were not about to let themselves get swept by the ONEs. Pulling out all stops, the piled on the hits to take a massive 8 run lead by the 2nd inning with barely a whisper of an answer from the ONEs. Anyone else would have rolled over and died, but the ONEs were not about to give up. They were not prepared to split the series; They wanted the sweep. At the bottom of the 9th, 8 runs down, the ONEs struck back. They struck hard and with a determination unmatched even by the golden glovework of the TWOs. The TWOs had no answer as the ONEs scored run after run finally tying the game before the final out. 10-all was the score as we went into extra innings. Buffered by their strong at-bat, the ONEs held steady and refused to let the TWOs score another run. The TWOs suddenly found themselves facing a brick wall and none of their batters could find a gap, much less a chink in the ONEs' armour. Interestingly enough, there were calls for a 'draw' but these calls came in the middle of the 10th inning... why they were not suggested before the inning started is beyond me, but the ONEs were not about to give up the goat. They concurred on calling the game a tie, AFTER they had their chance at bat not in the middle of the inning. That the TWOs were prepared to pull this shinanigen in the middle of the inning was a testament to how much they feared another loss. Their fears were soon realized as Indiana hit a walk off triple for DT to score for the win. A clean sweep by the ONEs with both wins going to Burma Girl who pitched manificently. Much props must go to Seven who managed to get back-to-back Ks from Swiss Miss and Horfun. If only it were someone else besides NigeyPooh next at bat, Seven might've had a SAS record with 3 straight Ks.

Highlights:
Burma Girl teaches The Mick a lesson in respecting women... Twice. Both times hitting deep fly balls way over his head.
Heidi shows that she knows how to swing the big stick. Girlfriends the world over can learn a thing or two about stroking the bat.
Supermom aka The Better Half aka Amy showed us why Kyle II has been hiding her at home every saturday. She was not only productive at bat, advancing runners, but she showed some great flashes of leather as well. If only we could see both of them on the field at the same time.
Rube let the frisbee idiots know that rightfield is not safe no matter how deep they play. He hit the ball from the far corner almost to the carpark walkway...twice.
Swiss Miss had a bad day. Striking out swinging once and made horrible plays at home. DT and Rube could've killed him when he literally threw away the ball on a live play.
The Sandman and The Generalissimo proved to be a fantastic combination except when compared to DT and Rube who held down the left side of the infield with aplomb.
Seven could've won a Cy Young if not for Burma Girl's extraordinary performance. Last time someone pitched a complete double-header win was in 1926 by Dutch Levson (coincidentally in Aug as well).
Jason had a career day. Batting for a thousand and holding the fort in right field. Even with the lefty bat of The Sandman, nothing got by Jason. He turned doubles into singles.
Indiana proved once again that age or a quadruple bypass will not slow him down. He hit a massive home run in the second inning and chased down and almost overtook DT who was on first base.
Superdad was incredible. He handled his four young girls aged 7 and below with the grace of a ballerina, the strength of a linebacker and the power of a juiced Barry. His kids were running non-stop throughout our entire two games and he kept up. No wonder he's in such great shape.
The Irish hasn't lost her step, showing us an old school guppyesque swinging bunt.

Although everyone was tired and worn from the strenuous day in the sun, it was all worth it as we had a BBQ to look forward to. It was fantastic to see so many old faces who though have left the field of honour, have not left the SAS family. The new members of the family have finally had a chance to be initiated into the mysteries of the SAS BBQ and to meet the people whose names are now mentioned fervently in a roll of honour. For many, it was great to see and catch up with folks no longer on the active roster, due to parental or other commitments. Seeing old stalwarts like The Irish, Hassie, Guppy, Windmill, Lloyd and Coach rubbing shoulders with the new blood is what makes Saturday Softball a great family, and makes the hot saturdays spent running in the sun all worthwhile.

Cheers

5 August 2006 - Let's have a BBQ

ONES: P: Burma Girl; C: Swiss Miss; 1B: Indiana; 2B: The Better Half; 3B: Rube; SS: DT; OF: Heidi, Say Hey Kid, Nigey-pooh, Jason, Horfun
TWOS: P: Seven; C: Mary/Diana; 1B: Rickey; 2B: Joyce (Irish)/Diana; 3B: The Venezualan Jaguar; SS: Sandman; LF: The Mick; CF: Boston; RF: Clement; Rover: Grandpa

Game One:
ONES: 20
TWOS: 19

Game Two (3 Innings, plus 1 extra to break the tie)
ONES: 11
TWOS: 10

Wow, what a day. Look at that turn out. We should have a BBQ every week. It was a hot day, and the ball was even hotter. Two excellent games. Both were won by the ONES in a walk-off fashion. The ONES really controlled the first game. The TWOS clawed their way back, but were unable to hold off the ONES in that one. In the second one, the TWOS blew it. Up 10-2, they gave up too many runs in the 3rd (and supposedly final) inning. Both games saw great hitting, great fielding (usually), some bonehead errors, and some incredible rallies on both sides. This is what Saturday Softball is all about. A week to remember.

NOTES:
1) Kyle II is now Superdad. Give him a pink castle, and he can take care of kids for hours. The real benefit is getting Amy (the Better Half) to play. After seeing her skillz, Superdad can stay at home and take care of the kids. We'll take her; 2) The Swiss Miss wins the Zidane award. When he gets upset at Rickey's mad running skillz getting the best of him, he lost it. Almost got head-butted. His actions lead to the Jaguar scoring, and Rube having an aneuryism; 3) DT was good with the glove this week; 4) Heidi got on base every time she was up; 4) Joyce flew around the world to play this week. She brought a case of the swinging bunts though; 5) The Mick was a double-hitting machine for the TWOS.

MBP: BBQ (brought out the numbers)
MBP (Most bestest Parent): Superdad
Gold Glove: DT
Biggest Bat: Rube
Best Bat: Heidi
Zidane: Swiss Miss
Best Smack Talk: The Mick
DY: Irish Joyce

SPECIAL BBQ Report (NOTES):
1) Don't let a Frenchman drink. Damn. That was nasty; 2) Old School. It was great to see The Coach, Hassie, The Cheetah, Windmill, Guppy and Irish Joyce at the BBQ. 3) Also, good to see "affiliated" members, Kari and Maggie May, as well as all the familar members; 4) Thanks to those who oversaw the grill (particularly Coach and Heidi); 5) Even Cool Papa showed up; 6) Ix-nay on the ulgari-Bay....


NATIONAL DAY: Majulah Softball
On Wednesday, 9 August, we will celebrate National Day with softball. Game at 10:00... (Despite some calls for afternoon).

Aloha 2006

Hi Folks,

It's that time of year again, and I don't mean National Day. Time for a some good meat, good booze and good friends.

The theme - we're going to try this - will be Hawaiian. If you have a floral shirt or skirt, wear it.

So, what are we celebrating? Let's list the reasons:

1) Babies: Guppy and DY are new Dads. Glasses will be raised in celebration.
2) Return of recent participants: Horfun, the Mick, the Venezualan Jaguar and Cool Papa are back (or will be back). Tales from their trips will be told, and Cool Papa's tales are always enjoyable.

3) Return of an (recent) old school player: Joyce (Irish) is flying in special just for ball and the BBQ. If she's flying from the States, you've got no excuse for missing it.

4) Marriage: Dom got married since the last BBQ.
5) Farewell to Swiss Miss and Welcome to a whole new breed SAS regulars into the family.

The Menu so far

Rickey: Puu Puu
Kyle II: Mysterious Dessert
Indiana: Sambal Stingray, Prawns
Geok: Burmese Beef
H and Maggie: Veggies
DT: Lechon (Roasted Suckling Pig Philippino Style)

Come one, come all!!

When Doves Cry

Remind you of anyone?

For example... a certain swiss miss?

I want it that way

This post is dedicated to Rickey, who can name all the members of NSYNC, Backdoor Boys, boysloveboys, New Boys Laying on the Street...etc

Lance Bass is Gay

This one is for the Rube

Jim Edmonds defensive gems...

DT Rants from KL

Youch!! Just read Heidi's entry. That sounds pretty bad. I would've been pretty pissed off if I had to drive all the way to NUS from the east to see the field taken over by Frisbee idiots. Good on Heidi, Grandpa, Seven and Rube to show up so faithfully... Heidi, what happened to the Swiss Miss?

Well, we'd better have numbers next week. Or at least numbers at the BBQ.... which I suspect we will... Next week will be a good week. I can feel it in my bones. We'll have terrific numbers, two wonderful games with outstanding plays, and several strikeouts to fuel the beer-swilling later. And then we'll all get drunk and filled up on obscene amounts of meat (or in The Mick's case, Vegs) and have a great night.

To Next Week...

where in the world is everyone?

Saturday at 3
Only frisbee players here
Oh my blighted sight.

The skies opened up and the rains descended upon the school like seemingly never before, but at around 3, the weather cleared up, like proper weather should. So, this softballer trotted down to the field in anticipation of a nice afternoon of ball on the field. But all that I saw were frisbee players who have managed to colonise the entire field, the land-hungry fiends that they are. Great.

Anyway, I decided to trudge off to the nearest bus stop, ready to seek greener pastures elsewhere, when Grandpa came along and we went in search of softball players, but it was a pointless endeavor, when basically everyone else had more important things to attend to this weekend -- DT is away in KL, Rickey was being his good lecturer self at a forum, Indiana was at some conference as well, various individuals have fatherly duties. As for the rest, I'm sure there were very good reasons as well. Even Joe's was closed, so there goes our gathering spot in times where no one appears at the field.

Anyway, as Grandpa dropped me off at the arts faculty, I got a call from Seven and Rube, who just arrived at the field, but that was the end of it. Perhaps other people did turn up at one point or another, but there was no way to contact one another, so that was it, and we all left.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but known attendance for today: 4. Abysmal numbers, but it should be better next week. After all, it's the bbq. People, come. And even better, come on time (what is on time anyway? Definitions are rather flexible these days. But I digress.) so we can maybe start the game, dare I say, before 3? And maybe before dastardly frisbee players can even take the field.

Till next week.

And The DY award goes to....

Keagan Goh

Welcome our next starting shortstop/3rd baseman. No offense to Guppy, but it's no contest if they take their dad's genes.

Getting Rid of Trash in Boston

Link Boston Trash

Now they finally have something for trash..... They need about 25 of them in Fenway.

DT rants about Nothing

Nothing much to Rant about today.
The usual rants that we could use more numbers and that people could show up slightly earlier so that we could have two games instead of one. No Biggie.

Nice to see the Generalissimo back, and he's lost more weight. It's obvious he's going to need a wardrobe update soon. His shirts are getting way too big for him.

Kyle II dominated again. He's going to be on the all-time, all-star list if he doesn't watch out (I think he's already on it). We need a nickname for him. He almost got 'Samsonited', because Delilah shaved his head and he was suffering for it for 4 innings. He soon broke out of the spell, with a booming homer, deep, deep, deep, over Rugburn's head in the 5th. And then another one soon after. Rugburn cannot be blamed for it, he was deep. He was so far outfield, we could barely see him. He was so far outfield that his throw needed more than 3 hops to hit the relay man, who had already moved to LF to receive the throw. And still Kyle II hit the ball over his head. I think the last time I saw such a raw display of power was when Dan Collison was around. Does that mean we need to make Kyle II take a piss test?

Rickey played 5 innings as shortstop for the TWOs. He wasn't drunk. Neither was DT. DT started the game as all-time due to the odd numbers. And since the Generalissimo was on the ONEs, he took 1st base and let him play short. When the TWOs came on the field, DT decided to stay at 1st, and generously let Rickey play short. Remember, DT is not the same DT as last year. He actually lets other people play short now (refer to the tournament). If DT could give up short to Albert, he can surely give it up to Rickey.

DT's rant will take a short, one week break next weekend, as DT will be in KL. DT would appreciate if Rugburn or Bert or Heidi or Kyle II or ANYONE could provide a blog update for the week. Including scores and minimal commentary. If anyone would like to submit a rant or colour commentary for the game, please do email us at saturdaysoftball AT gmail.com (remove the AT and spaces, replace with '@').

PS. I KNOW that Kyle II contributes to another Blog. I know the address of the Blog. I've read his contributions. So if Kyle II is willing to contribute his philosophy to this blog, he is more than welcome. So is anyone else. Google is my friend. The Internet is my friend. There are no secrets on the Internet.

PPS. BBQ on August 5. Rickey should be sending out an email soon to get the who's who on contributions to the party. Please do reply him, and I will update the blog with who's bringing what.

22 July 2006 - Big Boomers

ONES: 1B: Heidi; 2B: Diana; SS: The Venezualan Jaguar; LF: Kyle II; CF: Grandpa; RF: Jason
TWOS: 1B: DT/Rickey; 2B: Burma Girl; SS: Rickey/DT; LF: Rugburn; CF: Sandman; RF: DY

ONES: 24
TWOS: 17

We played Prof. Zen/Indiana Rules again. It was a good day, not too hot or sunny, but also not cloudy. The game seemed to go on forever, very slow innings. The TWOS started off hot getting a 7-4 lead, before the ONES exploded behind the killer line-up of Kyle II, Jason, Jaguar and Grandpa. In two middle innings they scored 12 runs, and had the TWOS close to mercy (16-7 with men on), when the onslaught finally stopped. It was ugly. The TWOS clawed their way back, being only one run down (18-17) in the middle of the 8th. But, the ONES just turned on the guns again to finish it off.

NOTES:
1) Kyle II and the Jaguar had slow starts, but began participating in a homerun contest in the middle of the game. Huge boomers; 2) Grandpa needs to develop his communication skills. In the 3rd, Rickey hit a boomer that made Grandpa and Kyle II smack into each other; next play, Grandpa and the Jaguar run into each other; 3)Everyone played defense well; it was just the Jaguar/Kyle II combo that finished it off; 4) The TWOS had some solid hitting from Rugburn, Sandman and DY; 5) BBQ on 5 August.

MBP: The Venezualan Jaguar
Biggest Bat: Kyle II
Gold Glove: The Jaguar
MINE: Grandpa

Bling

Cool Papa loves his Bling

Updated 07/23 - Cool papa might get his bling confiscated if he doesn't show up. He's missed 3 weeks in a row and he's in-country. AND he took my glove.

James Earl Jones!!!

Why is this appearing on the SAS blog? Well, some of the lines are from Field of Dreams.
Someone took snippets of James Earl Jones lines from other movies and dubbed them into action from Darth Vader. Insanely funny.



"People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh… people will come Ray. People will most definitely come."

DT Rants about sore knees

Not only did I spend most of the time during the game on my knees, I had my own teammate, Fei, hit a linedrive smack into my left knee. Goddamn! Are my knees sore today!!

We should've had 14 yesterday. With the 10 from last week, and the bonus of Fei, Rickey, Rube and Kyle II returning from their trips, we should've had a normal game. Sadly, we didn't see the return of Jonathan (we all thought he was a keeper), Rugburn's grandma-in-law passed on and Bert was still upset about France losing the World Cup (and I suspect he was afraid he would get headbutted by the rest of the guys if he showed up). We made do with 11, Rube still has a bad knee from the injury sustained during the tournament, so he volunteered to play 1st all time. He was still productive defensively and showing the usual hustle we're all used to see coming from him, bum knee or no bum knee. (The TWOs could've definitely used his bat to counter Kyle II)

Kyle II had an amazing day. Maybe it's something he ate in Aussieland or something he drank. He hit 5...count it...5 home runs... 3 to left field (1 onto the track, 2 on the grass but rolled into the track, over Grandpa), and 2 into right field (over Fei mind you). We could've used him during the tournament. There should be a travel blackout during the week in June when we have our tournament. And he didn't just let his bat do the talking, his glovework was spectacular as well. He caught EVERYTHING hit his way. He must have made about a dozen outs single-handedly, even those difficult foul balls that looked just out of reach. Somehow, his glove hid a ball magnet that sucked in everything. The teams were definitely not even, it should've been Kyle II vs EVERYONE else. Rickey did a bad counting off (though he really couldn't have been blamed cos he didn't know beforehand).

Rickey came back from his trip home, and brought with him a new pair of wonder boots. They definitely helped him get on base (then again, it could've just been him hitting to the infield and several unforgivable, uncharacteristic E6s... I felt like I was someone else). Heidi definitely deserved the DY award. Her flight arrived at 2.30 and she was on the field by 3.30. She did NOT stop for booze at the duty free, she did NOT stop to chat, or say goodbye to her friends, she did NOT talk to that cute steward at the door. She DID, run off the plane, run down the arrival hall, clear customs and run to the taxi stand. And she DID take an expensive taxi to NUS from the airport ($20 at least) and she made it before we started our game. On that note...Why did we start our game at 3.30 one might ask? Well, no one showed up till 3.15. That is really late, even for us.

Other highlights of the day. I went to watch 'Marriage of Figaro', which means I'm either gay or married. I left my loved one in the theatre after about an hour to get drunk outside at the bar and then we had a big fight after because I 'ruined' her evening, which proves that I'm not gay. Indiana, bless his quadruple-bypassed heart, hit a 3 RBI homerun into deep left-centerfield. Geok burned DY. Fei was merciless to Heidi, if this were a playground, we'd all say Fei had a crush on Heidi. Heidi was hitting well, very well, but she was caught out everytime. DY is two weeks away from being a dad. His son's name will be Keagan. The 1980s called, they want their name back. Grandpa got burned by Kyle II. Grandpa could've stood on the track and Kyle II would've still hit the ball over his head. I got struck out by Indiana. Whiffed his first pitch, fouled off the second, and whiffed the third one. That field has bad mojo I tell you. Bad mojo.

15 July 2006 - Go Kyle. Er, I mean "team"

ONES: 2B: Rickey; SS: Sandman: LF: Kyle II; CF: DY; RF: Heidi
TWOS: 2B: Burma Girl; SS: DT; LF: Grandpa; CF: Indiana; RF: Say Hey Kid
All Time 1B: Rube

ONES: 11
TWOS: 8

This game was played inside the track, due to a freshman orientation program taking place on the field, using Indiana/Prof. Zen rules (narrowed foul lines, have to score from 2nd). While it was ONES v TWOS, the real game was TWOS vs. Kyle II. Teh other ONES were useless with the bat for most of the game, letting Kyle II carry the load. It was not until late in the game that other members of the ONES scored any runs, or made much of a difference on offense. Almost all of the runs were scored on home runs. While the TWOS mounted a furious comeback after 6 innings of nothing, they couldn't overcome the ONES, or I mean Kyle II.

NOTES:
1) Kyle II hit at least 3 homers, with one bouncing off the track; 2) The ONES had a great outfield, which was a big difference maker. Not only did they make the catches (with Kyle II standing out, once again), they held the TWOS at second time-and-time again. DY and Heidi were hitting the cutoff man, while Kyle II just bypassed them. Either way they saved a lot of runs; 3) With that said, Burma Girl had a huge hit over DY's head. Farthest I ever seen her hit; 4) Say Hey Kid has Heidi's mojo. She had good hits, all to his glove. Does he have her mojo? Yes? No? Maybe? The note definitely says "Yes"; 5) DT struck out to end the game; 6) Sandman made a sweet DP, that took some air out of the TWOS in the 5th inning. Runners on 1B and 2B, line drive to Sandman, who tosses the ball to Rickey to catch the Say Hey Kid getting too anxious; 7) DT spent a lot of time on his knees chasing balls; 8) BBQ on August 5.

MBP: Kyle II
Biggest Bat: Kyle II
Best Hit: Burma Girl
Gold Glove: ONES outfield (Kyle II, DY, Heidi)
DY: Heidi (came straight from the airport for the game)

Best Plays of 2005

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ESPN nice plays for May

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All Glovework, catch it while it's still up.

ESPN nice plays of 2006

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None of the Homerun shit. This is ALL glovework and great catches. Catch it quick before it's removed.

Not Just a Ball Game

Saturday Softball is not just a place for recreational softball. We've been known to pull some championships out of our butt when we need to.

Possibly the Greatest Catch ever

Gary Mathews Jr. of the Texas Rangers.

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8 July 2006 - It's Holiday Season Again

ONES: DY, Heidi, Geok, Rugburn, Clark
TWOS: DT, Indiana, Sandman, Diana, Jonathan

Game ONE:
ONES 18 : TWOS 14

It's July and that means many of the regulars have gone off for summer holidays or gone home. We usually manage to get by, and this week was no different. Numbering only 10, we brought in the foul lines ala Indiana Rules, and instituted scoring from second, aka Prof Zen Rules. We also rotated our fielding positions to keep the game interesting, but that was more for fun rather than a real rule. I think these two rules have added a new dimension to the game, previously, with 10, we automatically played double or nothing. But that was hell on the batter to get on base. Reversing the double makes it a lot more interesting and we can get more forced plays.

New guy showed up this week, Jonathan, a lecturer from NTU. No one asked if he knew Chew Shit Fun, but I'm sure Rickey will ask him that next week. We figured we'd save that little titbit for when Rickey gets back. He can hit and throw and frankly, I'm really grateful to the influx of skilled players to the SAS fold this year. The standard of play has improved faster this year tremendously. Everyone who has joined us can hit, throw and field, and best of all, they know what to do with the ball when they get it. The games are a hella lot more fun as well.

With the short numbers and the smaller field, we decided we wanted a lower scoring game. So we used a rubber ball to slow everything down. Little did we know that this ball, though soft and bouncy, was easily carried by the wind. The dimpled surfaced aided it's flight, and made it erratic when caught in a crosswind. The ball carried as well, going a long ways before it hit the ground. Outfielders had to stand extra deep just to avoid getting burnt, and even at that depth, there were several homeruns scored.

Heidi seems to have carried over her big bat from the tournament. She was hitting deep into the gaps, and she even hit one over DT's head in CF. The wind took the ball high into the sky and it landed just before the cricket bowling turf. Strangely, when it hit the ground, instead of carrying further outfield, it bounced sharply up and DT was able to field it immediately and throw it in to stop Heidi at 2nd. Rugburn had a case of bullydianaitis. We're pretty sure he didn't do it on purpose, but it was hard to tell. Since we were rotating, Diana started off at second base. First two innings, Rugburn did not hit into the outfield with DT and Sandman out there. He did hit a gounder to Diana at short in the second inning. In the 3rd inning with Diana taking LF, Rugburn hit a boomer over her head for a HR. In the 4th inning, he hit one (you guessed it) into CF, over Diana's head again. He did not (he claims he has yet to learn the opposite field stroke) hit at Diana again till the 7th inning when she was back at short.

In the 8th inning, there was a spectacular crash in the OF between DT and Sandman. Clark hit a blooper high into the air in short right-centerfield. Sandman, DT and Jonathan were all going for it. Sandman called it first, 'MINE!', but DT didn't hear him and yelled 'I got it!'. Jonathan being slightly slower, yelled 'LOOK OUT!', and then crash. I have no clue how Sandman survived that impact with DT, but he did (He's Wirey). Both were keeled over on the ground and play was stopped. Sportingly, Clark did not run home, so we gave him a double instead of a single (he would've probably be caught out...I felt the ball go into my glove before going unconcious). Ironically, this was the first time the Sandman had ever called for a ball...

BBQ in 4 weeks. Make a note on your calender. August 5. It's going to be a Hawaiian theme. Guys have to wear floral shirts and ladies floral skirts (coconut tops optional). I'll be emailing everyone to get a list of the menu, but we are thinking of ordering Lechon (roast pig), flown in from Philippines. It'll probably cost about $130, so if we can get $5 donations from everyone, that'll be great. Details to be worked out later. Think of what you'd like to prepare or bring to the BBQ and get back to me.

So Say we All

Email from Gunz

After 6 months, and 1 misdemenor charge for public drunkedness, we've finally received an email from the Gunz
========================================================================

Hi All,

A BIG Congrats on winning the Softball Tournament. Good stuff guys…!!! Great to see old faces back on the field too. Cool Papa is back… A big Hey to you buddy…!

Super Congrats to Guppy too…. Fazzer once more.. ! Double trouble now hey…Best regards to you and family. Hope rest of you guys doing great too. I really have to thank the guys who maintain the blog… without you guys and all the information posted I wouldn’t know how to spend my work time.. Thank you.

Life is great here, was real fun to have Rube and Rachael over here in Marshalltown. Anyone up for some timeout from city life.. Feel free to drop by in the wilderness of Midwest.. There are no animals but there are bars with $3 pitchers… lots of crazy parties…and plenty of softball too… ok I take back my statement abt no animals.. Dom the heaven we used to talk abt… its here!! Shhh Don tel hema.. !

Have fun guys and not long before I will see you guys when I come over for Hdays.

Cheers,

Saurabh a.k.a Gunz

Thomas Hew Says Hello

Paid a visit to Guppy and Joyce down at NUH today. Managed to catch Lil Guppy Part Deux in the proud arms of his mum. Say Hello to Thomas Hew.

Conan O'Brien - Playing Old Time Baseball

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Guppy Jr Part Deux

Hi All,
Congrats go out to Guppy. Guppy Jr Part Deux aka Thomas Hew joins the Saturday Softball Family as of 3rd July


==============================================================================

Dear all, hope all is well,

I am now a proud father again!! Less than 24 hours after I arrived back in Singapore from the US, my wife delivered our second boy, Thomas. Even for me, that is a very tight schedule

Thomas is 3.2 kg and doing well. Thomas is a tall kid at 51 cm and I hope that becomes a pro athlete so that Dad can retire

Look forward to sending you pictures soon!

Regards



Guppy

Game 4: SAS vs Montfort Alumni

Lineup
DY : 1st
Sandman : SS
Cool Papa : Pitcher
Rugburn : LF
Jotsze : 2nd
Heidi : RF
DT : 3rd
Fei : CF
Dom : Catcher

SAS at home

Top 1: 0-0
Batter 1: 5-3, out
Batter 2: Fly out to 5, out
Batter 3: Fly out to 8, out

Bottom 1: 0-0
DY: Fly out to 4, out
Sandman: Fly out to 9, out
Cool Papa: K, out

Top 2: 1-0
Batter 4: HR, 1 RBI
Batter 5: K, out
Batter 6: Fly out to 4, out
Batter 7: K, out

Bottom 2: 1-1
Rugburn: Fly out to 7, out
Jotsze: Single to LF
Heidi: Single to E4
DT: Single to LF, Heidi tagged out at short, 1 RBI, Jotsze scores
Fei: Single to CF
Dom: 1-3, out

Top 3: 4-1
Batter 8: Single to E5
Batter 9: Fly out to 6, out
Batter 10 replaces 1: Single to E6
Batter 2: Fly out to 9, out, 1 RBI
Batter 3: Single to E6
Batter 4: Double to CF, 2 RBIs
Batter 5: Fly out to 4, out

Bottom 3: 3-4
DY: Double to E5
Sandman: Triple to RF, 1 RBI, DY scores
Cool Papa: K
Rugburn: Sac fly to 8, out, 1 RBI, Sandman scores
Jotsze: Walk
Heidi: Single to CF
DT: Fly out to 4, out

Top 4: 5-3
Batter 6: Batter to CF
Batter 7: Fly out to 7, out
Batter 8: K
Batter 9: Single to LF
Batter 10: Double to CF, 1 RBI
Batter 2: Fly out to 8, out

Bottom 4: 3-5
Fei: 4-3, out
Dom: Fly out to 4, out
DY: Double to CF
Sandman: Fly out to 3, out

Top 5: 6-3
Batter 3: HR, 1 RBI
Batter 4: Fly out to 8, out
Batter 5: Single to LF
Batter 6: Triple to 8, 8-5-2 relay to tag out runner
Batter 7: Fly out to 5, out

Bottom 5: 9-6
Cool Papa: Fly out to 8, out
Rugburn: Fly out to 1, out
Jotsze: Triple to LF
Heidi: Triple to RF, 1 RBI, Jotsze scores
Rube subs in for DT: Walk --> Albert pinch runs for Rube
Fei: Double to CF: 2 RBIs, Heidi, Albert scores
Grandpa subs in for Dom: Single to LF
DY: HR, 3 RBIs, Fei, Grandpa, DY scores.

Final Score: SAS win 9-6
MBP: DY

Game 3: SAS vs Montfort 'B'

Lineup
Jotsze : 3rd
Albert : 2nd
Grandpa : RF
Rugburn : LF
Fei : CF
DT : SS
Cool Papa : Pitcher
Rube : 1st
Dom : Catcher

SAS at home

Top 1: 4-0
Batter 1: Single to LF
Batter 2: Single to CF
Batter 3: K, out
Batter 4: Single to E8, 2 RBIs
Batter 5: Triple to E4, 1 RBI
Batter 6: Sac Fly to 7, 1 RBI, out
Batter 7: Fly out to 7, out

Bottom 1: 3-4
Jotsze: Single to LF
Albert: Double to RF, 1 RBI, Jotsze scores
Grandpa: Single on E3, RBI, Albert scores
Rugburn: Fly out to 6, out
Fei: Double to RF, 1 RBI, Grandpa scores
DT: Fly out to 5, out
Cool Papa: K

Top 2: 5-3
Batter 8: K
Batter 9: Single to RF
Batter 1: Fly out to 5, out
Batter 2: Double to CF, 1 RBI
Batter 3: Double to LF, 7-6 Batter 2 tagged out at 3rd base

Bottom 2: 3-5
Rube: Single to E5
Dom: 3 unassisted DP, 2 outs
Jotsze: Fly out to 7

Top 3: 5-3
Batter 4: Single to SS
Batter 5: Single to 4, --> Rube is injured, DY replaces him
Batter 6: Fly out to 6, out
Batter 7: Single to E1
Batter 8: Fly out to 4, out
Batter 9: Single to 6-5, out

Bottom 3: 4-5
Albert: K, out
Grandpa: 1-3, out
Rugburn: Single to LF
Fei: Triple to RF, 1RBI, Rugburn scores
DT: Fly out to 5, out

Top 4: 7-4
Batter 1: Single to LF
Batter 2: 6-4, runner's out
Batter 3: Single to E1
Batter 4: Fly out to 7, out
Batter 5: Single to RF, 2 RBIs
Batter 6: Fly out to 6, out

Bottom 4: 6-7
Cool Papa: K, out
DY: Triple to CF
Dom: Single to E6, 1 RBI, DY scores
Jotsze: Fly out to 7, out
Albert: Double to RF, 1 RBI, Dom Scores
Grandpa: Single to 6, SS tags out Albert, out

Top 5: 8-5
Batter 7: Single to E5
Batter 8: Single to 6-4
Batter 9: Single to E1
Batter 1: Single to E8
Batter 2: 1-3, 1 RBI
Batter 3: K

Bottom 5: 8-8
Rugburn: Walk
Fei: Double to RF
DT: K*, out
Cool Papa: K, out
DY: Double to RF, 2 RBIS, Rugburn, Fei scores
Dom: Fly out to 6, out

Final Score: SAS ties 8-8
MBP: DY

Game 2 : SAS vs Montfort 'C'

Lineup
DY : Pitcher
Sandman : CF
Grandpa : LF
Rube : 1st
Jotsze : 3rd
Heidi : 2nd
Albert : SS
Fei : RF
Dom : Catcher

SAS at home

Top 1: 9-0
Batter 1: Fly out to 4, out
Batter 2: Double to E7
Batter 3: Single to E6
Batter 4: 6-5-4 DP, 2 outs

Bottom 1: 4-9
DY: Single to LF
Sandman: Double to RF
Grandpa: Walk
Rube: Grandslam HR, 4 RBIs, DY, Sandman, Grandpa, Rube scores
Jotsze: Single to LF
Heidi: 6-3 DP, 2 outs
Albert: K

Top 2: 9-4
Batter 5: 5-3, out
Batter 6: 5-3, out
Batter 7: Single to LF
Batter 8: Fly out to 8, out

Bottom 2: 4-9
Fei: Single to CF
Dom: K, out
DY: Fly out to 1, out
Sandman: Single to RF, tagged out at second base *
Grandpa: 5-6, out

Top 3: 9-4
Batter 9: 2-3, out
Batter 1: K, out
Batter 2: Single to E6
Batter 3: 5-3, out

Bottom 3: 8-9
Rube: HR, RBI, Rube scores
Jotsze: HR, RBI, Jotsze scores
Heidi: Single to RF
Albert: K
Fei: Double to E8
Dom: Single to RF, tagged out 9-6 stealing extra bases, 2 RBIs, Heidi, Fei scores
DY: HR, RBI, DY scores
Sandman: Single to RF
Grandpa: 5-3, out

Top 4: 9-8
Batter 4: 5-3,out
Batter 5: Single to E6, 8-4, out
Batter 6: Single to 8
Batter 7: K

Bottom 4: 8-9
Rube: Single to CF, 4-6, out
Jotsze: Fly out to 6, out
Heidi: Single to 4, fielders choice
Albert: K, out

Top 5: 9-8
Batter 8: K
Batter 9: 3-4, out
Batter 1: Single on E6
Batter 2: Fly out to 5

Bottom 5: 11-9
Fei: K
Dom: K
DY: Single to CF
Sandman: Double to RF
Grandpa: HR, 3 RBIs, DY, Sandman, Grandpa scores

Final Score, SAS wins 11-9
MBP: Rube

Game 1: SAS vs Hall 5ivers

Lineup
DY : Pitcher
Sandman : RF
Cool Papa : CF
Rugburn : LF
Jotsze : 3rd
Heidi : 2nd
DT : SS
Rube : 1st
Dom : Catcher

SAS at home.

Top 1: 1-0
Weixiong hits a HR
Batter 2, K, out
Batter 3, K, out
Batter 4, K, out

Bottom 1: 1-1
DY: Fly out to 8, out
Sandman: Double to RF
Cool Papa: Fly out to 7, out
Rugburn: Single to CF, RBI, Sandman scores
Jotsze: Fly out to 4, out

Top 2: 1-1
Batter 5, singles to LF
Batter 6, singles to 6-4, runner's out
Batter 7, singles to 5-4, runner's out
Batter 8, Fly out to 8, out

Bottom 2: 1-1
Heidi: Fly out to 8, out
DT: Fly out to 2, out
Rube: Fly out to 4, out

Top 3: 1-1
Batter 9, 5-3, out
Weixiong, Fly out to 7, out
Batter 2, Line out to 4, out

Bottom 3: 15-1
Dom: Single to LF
DY: Triple to CF, RBI, Dom scores
Sandman: Fly out to 8, out
Cool Papa: Triple to LF, RBI, DY scores
Rugburn: Single to 5
Jotsze: Single to 5,
Heidi: Triple to CF, 3 RBIs, Cool Papa, Rugburn, Jotsze scores
DT: Single to 5
Rube: Opposite field foul ball dents car, Single to RF, RBI, Heidi scores
Dom: Double to CF, RBI, DT scores
DY: Single to LF, 2 RBI, Rube, Dom scores
Sandman: Double to RF, RBI, DY scores
Cool Papa: Fly out to 8, out
Rugburn: Single to LF
Jotsze: Single to LF
Heidi: Triple to RF, 3 RBIs, Sandman, Rugburn, Jotsze scores
DT: Single to LF
Rube: Triple to CF, RBI, DT scores
Dom: K, out

Top 4: 1-15
Batter 3, Fly out to 4, out
Batter 4, Single to LF
Batter 5, Fly out to 7, out
Batter 6, Fly out to 5, out

Bottom 4: 22-1
DY: Single to CF
Sandman: Walk, Sandman is forced out at 2nd
Cool Papa: Single to CF,
Rugburn: Triple to LF, 2 RBIs, DY, Cool Papa scores
Jotsze: 6-3, out
Heidi: Single to LF, RBI, Rugburn scores
DT: Single to LF
Rube: HR to CF, 3RBIs, Heidi, DT, Rube scores
Dom: Single to RF
DY: Fly out to 2, out

Top 5: 22-4
Batter 7, 4-3, out
Batter 8, Single to CF
Batter 9, Single to LF
Weixiong, Triple to CF, 2 RBIs
Batter 2, Fly out to 3
Batter 3, Single to LF, RBI
Batter 4, K, out

Final Score: SAS wins 22-4
MBP: Heidi

Some tips on reading the games

Positions Numbers are as follows

1 : Pitcher
2 : Catcher
3 : First Baseperson
4 : Second Baseperson
5 : Third Baseperson
6 : Shortstop
7 : Left-fielder
8 : Center-fielder
9 : Right-fielder
10 : Rover

Other shortforms
HR : Home run
RF : Right field
LF : Left field
CF : Center field
SS : Shortstop
DP : Double play

Expressions commonly used

ground to 6-3, out : ground ball to shortstop thrown to first baseperson for the out.

While you wait

It's going to take me a few days to get the blogging down for the tourament, so sit back, have a cuppa and check out the top plays of June 2006

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Also, you can go back in time and visit the 2005 tournament HERE

We WON!!!!

Out of the ashes of near defeat (3 games), we struggled bravely and managed to defend our championship through sheer grit and determination. Keep watching this space for the play by play of the tournament.


Final Score
SAS 22 : NTU Hall5 4
SAS 10 : Montfort 'C' 9
SAS 8 : Montfort 'B' 8
SAS 9 : Alumni 6
Total Points 10 (3 wins, 1 Draw), Runs scored 49, Runs against 27

Tournament MBP: DY
Ironman Award: Jotsze
Slugger Award: Heidi
Most Cars Hit: Rube
Gold Glove: Fei

UPDATE:Tournament at Montfort is a GO!!! - New Playing Schedule

Confirmed
=========
DY
Rugburn
Grandpa
Jotzse
Dom
Heidi
Fei
Rube
Myself
Dave
Ted
Albert

John and Geok (Afternoon only)

Probables
=========
Bert (if he doesn't go to Tioman

More Info on the Tournament

Dear Team,

This is the schedule for this coming Saturday.

Date: 1st July
Game starts: 845 am
Last game is at 330pm
Venue: Montfort Secondary School
Registration: $30 a team.

Rules are same like last year just that this year, there are some differences with walks and foul balls as out on the 3rd strike.
a. walks included
b. the strikezone still between armpits and knees
c. foul balls will get the runner out if it's the 3rd strike
d. 9 run handicap for C Boys
e. No bunts or steals
f. 5 complete full innings or 1 1/2 hour time duration

It's non-competitive, sportsmanship, fun, enjoyment and doing your best.
Do take note of umpiring duties the teams will have.

Thanks.

LLoyd Yeo



Location

Annual Montfort Invitational Softball Tournament

Hi Folks,

We've been invited by Lloyd to defend our championship in the Annual Montfort Invitational Softball Tournament. Could we get a show of hands of people who are interested so that we can decide if we have enough numbers to field a team? If not, it's business as usual at the NUS field. email me at saturdaysoftball AT gmail.com

Gold Glove Action

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Hit'em where they Ain't

Giving your left nut

oldie but goodie

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GUNZ

VIDEO HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM YOUTUBE

Her Name is Aki Hoshino

What do you do if the ball is stuck in your glove?

Throw the glove WITH the ball inside.

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One for the Ladies

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Please translate...

I have no clue what the guy is saying.

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Pitching meat to Rickey

Rickey would've been all over this pitch. Miguel Cabrera hit's a pitch meant to be an intentional walk.

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DT Rants - Indiana Ruled with his glove

It was wet and slippery, just the way Rickey likes it, and he showed it by getting himself stuck in not one, but two hot boxes. I went both ways, and my left hand hasn't seen that much action since I got engaged. Also, Singaporean men (and most men in general) have no clue how to please a woman. Women, take note, you have to tell us... higher, lower, faster or slower. I mean, it's really tough to pitch sometimes.

All signs pointed to a fantastic day, the weather was cool and we numbered six at 2:30. Our usual field was taken by the damn frisbee idiots, even with Heidi's effort to come down at 2pm to place dibs on the field, somehow the frisbee idiots managed to show up earlier. They did us a favour though, because our usual field was in poor condition, muddy and swampy. The far field nearer the road was in much better condition as it hadn't been used as much.

The teams were definitely not that even, even during the count, it was obvious that the ONES had an advantage. And to top it all, Rickey gives Grandpa to an already stacked team. What was he thinking? Ironically, it wasn't the big bats that did the TWOs in, but textbook small ball by the ONEs combined with nonsensical baserunning by the TWOs.

The scores were actually pretty even for most of the game, considering the stellar batting lineup in the heart of the ONEs rotation. The TWOs were playing solid defense for most of the day, and it was only a brief lapse during the 5th that the ONEs managed to string together a series of hits to pull ahead by a 8 run margin. Defense was the name of the game, contrary to the high scores. I've never seen so many textbook plays within the confines of one game in a long time. Throws from the outfield hit the cutoff man, relays were on target, run-downs were performed with textbook precision. It was a fantastic game to be a part of.

Talking about run-downs, Rickey likes the hot box. In the bottom of the 6th, with the TWOs behind 8 runs and Rickey on second base, Heidi steps up to the plate. She hits a monster of a shot to the center-right between Grandpa and Jason. Jason gets to the ball first, but it was easily a 3-bagger by the time the throw came in. When I turned to make the relay home, it was the cutest sight that graced my eyes. Heidi was catching up to Rickey, and when I fired home, Rickey stopped and turned to head back to 3rd base. Heidi, bless her kind soul, was already right on top of the base, and all she had to do was step on the bag and she would've been safe. Instead, she made the split second decision to give Rickey a chance and turned to head back for 2nd base ('oh-shit-rickey-what-are-you-doing' was the cry from Heidi's lips). By this time, Rickey was trapped in a hot box between Indiana catching, and Rube at 3rd. Rube tagged Rickey out, and seeing a chance to get a double-play, threw to me at 2nd and I started the run down on Heidi. Seeing her chance, she turned back for 3rd, but it was too late, as I tossed the ball to Rube for the tag. Double play on a double rundown to end the inning. Brilliant.

You'd think two rundowns in one game would be a SAS record, but no sooner was it set, that it was broken. A third run down would take place two innings later, and a third record was set. 1. Three rundowns in a game, 2. A Double-play, double rundown, 3. Rickey gets caught in two of the three rundowns.... Bottom of the eighth with 2 down, Rickey smacks a beauty into the gap between center and right. Since it's Rickey, he only makes it to first base, but Grandpa boggled the ball, and Rickey courageously turns towards second and tries for extra bases. Grandpa recovers quickly and makes a snap throw to second. Rickey is caught in no mans land. He turns back, but DT fires down the second base line to Lom and Lom chases Rickey back towards 2nd base. Not wanting to smack Rickey in the back of the head, Lom throws a high-arc blooper towards Diana at second. Thinking that the throw wouldn't make it on time and Rickey would run straight into Diana (and probably kill her), DT jumps up to cut off the throw and makes a flying tag on the way down, smacking Rickey right on the head and knocking his hat off. Rickey looked smug on second base, thinking that DT was just messing with him and just wanted to smack him with an empty glove, but when DT opened his glove and the ball was inside, the smiling stopped. Booyah! Now that I look back on that play, if Rickey had actually slid into second, he would've been safe...

The second game turned out to be pretty much the same as the first. First inning saw 1-2-3 outs from both sides, then the ONEs blew it open with a 4 run lead and the TWOs had no answer. I suggested a trade, Grandpa or Kyle II for Clark, but the trade was deemed 'unfair'... godknows why.

The Ladies are still showing some fabulous at-bats. I noticed that the outfield is no longer coming in when Geok and Diana are up at bat. They are standing at a respectful distance, and even then, they still have a make a tough play because the ladies are hitting it deep.

On another note, Indiana never fails to amaze me. This is a guy with a quadruple bypass, over 60 (I think), and he plays shortstop like a 20 year-old on amphetamines.... WITH a first-baseman's glove. He dives for every play and it seems like no ground ball is out of his range. I even had to poach a slow roller in order to finally make a play. That guy is incredible.

More Awards
DY award : Kitty (for coming down to Joes even with a lung infection, lack of sleep and looking like he's about to drop dead at any moment)
Best Teamwork award : The French(Bert) and the American(Rickey) allied themselves(gawddd! who would've thought) to beat the singaporean pair of Heidi and DT back to back in two games of pool (with standard rules I might add, nothing Canadian about it).
Most-in-need-of-a-thicker-glove : DT
Holding-the-most-records-in-a-game award : Rickey (1. Getting caught in the most rundowns in one game, 2. Most career rundowns, 3. Running down into a double-play rundown, 4. Hitting the highest pitch (the ball was over his head and he swung AND made good contact)

24 June 2006 - Run Rickey Run, or Kitty at the Bar

ONES: 1B: Big Lom; 2B: Diana; 3B: Rube; LF: Kyle II; CF: Grandpa; RF: Jason
TWOS: 1B: Rickey; 2B: Burma Girl; SS: Indiana; LF: The Mick; CF: Heidi; RF: Clark
DT played both ways. For the ONES he was SS; for the TWOS he was 3B

Game One:
ONES: 12
TWOS: 6

Game Two (3 innings):
ONES: 4
TWOS: 0


The teams were simply not balanced. The ONES had a killer line-up and it showed. With Grandpa, Kyle II and Rube batting back-to-back there was little the TWOS could do. They could hit big, or play small ball, and the ONES did both well. Also, with Grandpa's and Kyle II's arms in the outfield taking the next base was a dangerous proposition. Rickey did challenge though, with disastrous consequences. Twice, he got caught in run-downs. His formidable speed was unable to get him out of trouble both times.

The best moment was at Joe's. Kitty was back. He's been sick - so sick he even returned to "The Mall" - but he's looking better. He stopped by with the Windmill for some beers and plenty of blah, blah, blah. Kitty's been gone a while, but he's still the Kitty. Good to see some of the old school players.

MBP: Rube
Best Bat: Kyle II
Gold Glove: The Mick
Most-in-need-of-Cool-Papa-baserunning-lessons: Rickey

PS: THERE WILL BE A BBQ ON 5 AUGUST (1ST SATURDAY IN AUGUST)

DT Rants

Not much to rant about today. NUS fastpitch tournament in the school, so no field. Met up with Jessen, Teckpiaw and Shaun who were playing on 3 different teams in the tourney.
We moved to the alternate field with 9, and joining us there were Indiana and Geok, making a total of 11. I played both sides (insert joke here), but because Kyle II still had an injured hammie, I played Leftfield for them and SS for the TWOs. Rugburn and Geok each hit one over my head. Clark was merciless in smacking the hall down the gap between Nigeypooh and myself. I've not played in the outfield for more than a couple of years, so it was pretty scary. My arm doesn't have that kind of range, and my legs don't have that kind of speed. I'm much happier at short. On that note, playing SS for the TWOs was fun. Considering how horribly bumpy the field was, I didn't make any errors fielding (the errors were from throwing) and was lucky enough to get all the bounces. We need our numbers back, and soon.

The Swiss Miss aka Clark could not pitch. Even if someone took a gun to his head and threatened to kill him. Quite possibly, he could not pitch to save his life and the lives of his loved ones. Quite possibly the worst pitcher of all time, time measured since dinosaurs ruled the earth to the day the earth spins off its axis and collides with the sun.

Meanwhile, Indiana Rules is an awesome game. Combined with Prof Zen rules, one would've expected the scores to be low and pretty even. But in the era of the big outfield (Rickey in RF and myself in LF), it wasn't to be. Rickey got beat up a lot by H and Seven. It was fun at first for a couple of innings, then it just got painful to watch. They tortured him out there, constantly sending the ball his way.

On another note, Diana had an outstanding day at bat. She was incredible, like Horfun from two weeks back. It's not a good sign when our ladies play better than the men (for the men). But it's a good sign if we ever need to enter a mixed-gender tourney. We have some awesome ladies on our team. They can hit, throw and field with the best of them.

Warming up. Check out rugburn with that stretch. Nigeypooh looks like a supermodel posing with his glove. See that HDB block on the right? That block will NEVER get upgraded to have lifts stopping on every floor. NEVER. And it's not because Clementi is opposition land, but because they tried to save money when the block was designed. The lift only stops on three floors, and there are only three corridors leading to the apartments on the left and right.


This is the Field we played in.

17 June 2006 - Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves

ONES: 1B: Kyle II; 2B: Diana; SS: Indiana; CF: Nigeypooh; RF: Rickey
TWOS: 1B: Ostrich Wrangler; 2B: Burma Girl; LF: Rugburn; CF: Clark (formerly Swiss Miss); RF: Seven
All Time: DT (for ONES he was LF; for TWOS he was SS)

Game One (7 Innings):
ONES: 16
TWOS: 25

We played this one on the alternative field, since the NUS fields were being used for a tournament. Due to the typical June turnout, we played Indiana rules. The field, and the heat, took its toll on all and each inning seemed to last an eternity. After seven innings, we decided to head for Joe's for a few brews and some "game biltong", provided by the recent visitors to South Africa.

The game itself saw some pretty hideous fielding from Rickey in RF. Clark (think "Benchwarmers") displayed a pitching ability that defied basic hand-eye coordination. Simply amazing. In the meantime, Nigey-pooh and Rickey could barely decide on who ran down the home run balls.

But, the ladies were amazing. Diana went 5-5 in the first 3 innings of the game, keeping the ones in it. In one inning, she even had 3 rbis. Heidi was taking advantage of Rickey in RF, and Burma Girl was smacking the ball hard and making good plays at 2B (including a nice DP).

MBP: Burma Girl
Anti-MBP: Rickey
Best Bat: Diana
Best Communication: Rickey-Nigepooh
Biggest Bat: Rugburn
DY: Nigeypooh (covering home from the pitchers mound, catches errant throw and tosses it to Indiana for the out at home)
Worst Pitcher of All Time: Clark

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Clerks II - The Second Coming

10 June 2006 - Indiana Rules again

ONES: 1st: Indiana, 2nd: Horfun, SS: DT, RF: Swiss Miss, CF: DY, LF: Kyle II
TWOS: 1st: DT, 2nd: Geok, SS: Sandman, RF: Seven, CF: Grandpa, LF: Rugburn

Game 1 ONES 18 : TWOS 06 (9 innings)
Game 2 ONES 11 : TWOS 00 (1 inning mercy)

The weather was quite nice, though it had drizzled earlier in the day, it stopped promptly at 2 for our game. Sadly, the frisbee idiots got to the field before we did but the silver lining was that the far away field (with the stands) was in much better condition than our usual field. I guess we haven't abused that end and it has had a chance to recover. The batter's box and the base paths did not turn mushy after a couple of innings. The frisbee idiots are ruining our usual field though, with their incessant drilling and inconsequential running. Most of the ground is now ragged and mushy and it will take quite a bit of sun and rain-free weather to help it recover.

Our numbers weren't very much better from last week, worse in fact since H, Ingo and Sam were missing as well. With a total number of 11, DT played defense for both teams and we pulled in the foul lines about 5 feet for Indiana Rules. DT did the count again, same as last week, without any thought of offensive or defensive balance. Instead, randomly pointing ONEs and TWOs depending on how people gathered around the benches. Somehow it all worked out again, and we had very even teams.

The Twos pulled to an early lead in the first game scoring 6 runs to the ONE's 1 by the 4th inning. However the plucky ONEs managed to even the score by the bottom of the 4th with some inspired singles hitting from their lineup. The score remained the same for 4 innings as both teams showed gold glove defense to stop the other team from scoring. It boiled down to a duel between Kyle II and Rugburn, both trying to out-hit and out-field each other. Rugburn came the closest with a monster hit into LF, that by any standards should have been a homerun. It blew past Kyle II, over his head and was heading for the drains. Kyle II chased it down and fired a gunz-esque throw to third base to a waiting DT, and ball arrived only several microseconds late to tag Rugburn. A sure HR turned into a 3-bagger by a superb throw.

Rugburn didn't give up on the onslaught, and his liner into left field in the top of the seventh led to the best play of the game. With two outs and runners on first and second threatening to take away the lead from the ONEs, Rugburn smashed a flat liner towards leftfield. Kyle II came sprinting out of nowhere and dived into the dirt sacrificing his body to snag the ball half-an-inch from the ground. It was one of the most amazing catches I've seen in my last 10 years playing SAS. Sadly, Kyle II paid the penalty for the hustle, coming up limping with a strained hamstring.

The ONEs made a defensive switch in the top of the 8th, moving Indiana to leftfield and Kyle II to first base. Though a remarkable fielder in all respects, the TWOS ran Indiana ragged in the leftfield, beating up on his at every opportunity. They scored 9 runs in this inning, hitting gappers between Indiana and DY, and short bloopers past the third base foul line and leftfield. It looked like the TWOs were going to mercy the ONEs when the TWOs finally managed to string together 3 outs to end the inning at 15-6.

With Kyle II on the DL, he volunteered to play all time first base, and DT entered the batting line up for the ONES. It wouldn't have made any difference because the TWOs held their lead going into the 9th, and they even expanded on it with another 3 runs, taking a 18-6 lead. The ONEs had no response in the bottom of the 9th, and the game ended with the TWOs winning 18-6

As it was still quite early (not even 5pm), even with the short numbers, we decided on playing a second game. With Kyle II on the DL and sitting out, we decided to bring in the foul lines by another 5 feet to play 2 outfielders and 3 infielders. The TWOs taking home this time and taking the field first. Coming from the bad loss in the first game, the ONEs were hungry for revenge. As both teams were significantly even (except for that one bad inning), there were no trades or changes to the team. Kyle II generously volunteered to pitch for both teams while favouring his now-gimp leg.

The ONEs came out hungry for runs and they strung together hit after hit after hit, loading the bases and advancing on singles, basically playing small ball. Everyone got on base, and they actually went through their batting order 3 times before the side was finally retired. They scored an incredible 11 runs in the top of the first, many of the singles coming from uncharacteristic errors from the Sandman at short. Like hungry sharks smelling blood, the ONEs kept hitting grounders to the Sandman, and he must have taken some of his anesthesia because he looked like he was asleep at his position. Learning from the previous inning, the ONEs decided on a different stratagem for their defense. Instead of playing with 2 man in the outfield, the ONEs decided to sacrifice 1st base and play with Indiana at second and DT at short, DY in centerleft, Bert and centerright and Horfun playing deep rover. This defense worked perfectly and the TWOs were denied any gaps. Grandpa led off and he was allowed to get on 1st, after than, the ONEs shut down the TWOs with 3 back-to-back outs. Mercy was declared and the ONEs won the game 11-0


Best play: Kyle's diving catch off rugburn, strains his hamstring making the play.
Biggest bat: rugburn (1HR over kyle's head held to 3 bases on Kyles amazing throw.)
Dy: none
gold glove: none
MBP: Rugburn

Holiday Slippers that you should not be without

Yup. That's a bottle opener at the bottom of those sandals.
You can order them here

EDIT : Turns out, you can buy these in Singapore now. Saw them at the Flash and Splash store, cheapest model was $59 with a 20% discount, most expensive model was $69, no discount.

Warming the Bench

This is a must see for all SaturdaySoftball players. Staring Rob 'hot chick' Schneider, David Spade and Jon 'Napoleon' Heder. The Story is basically about three loser adults who've been picked-on all their lives (ah therein lies the twist which I shan't reveal) who decide to turn the tables and start picking on kids. They do this by totally dominating and humiliating a bunch of twelve year olds in baseball. It's kinda like SAS playing a team from the hostel. Most of the movie is predictable, with the usual ball/bat to the groin, fastball to the helmet, fart in the face jokes. But even though you know the jokes are coming, they are suprisingly funny. You will be laughing non-stop for the first hour of the movie. The slapstick may be standard fare, but softballers should listen to the dialogue for some good lines. Half the time we were watching the movie, our group was laughing more than the rest of the people in the cinema because we caught the insider jokes.

Some excellent cameos as well, though I shan't spoil it for you. Definitely a must watch. It would probably make a good SaturdayNightSoftball movie as well.

3 June 2006 - Ghost Running

ONES: 1st: H, 2nd: Geok, SS: DT, RF: Tru-Vac, CF: Sandman, LF: Swiss Miss
TWOS: 1st: Sam, 2nd: Horfun, SS: Indiana, RF: DY, CF: Kyle II, LF: Albert

Game 1
ONES 19 : TWOS 19

It's June, and many people go away/home during this time. Considering this is usually the driest season of the year, our 12 man count looked particularly decent. Pulling in the foul lines about 6 feet, we played Indiana Rules, removing the 3rd baseman, and playing three infield and three outfield.

Considering the randomness of the count, DT literally went 1-2-1-2 according to how people stood without accounting for defensive or offensive strengths, both teams look extremely even when they took the field. The TWOS open up the game in the second inning taking a massive 6-0 lead. The ONES replied immediately with a strong outing, scoring 8 runs to overtake the lead. The score remained at 8-6 for about 2 innings as both teams upped their defensive ante. However, the ONES did not hold the lead for long. In the fifth inning, Kyle II's massive bat came into play and he blew two long home runs past the Swiss Miss in leftfield. The Swiss Miss had a bad day in leftfield, he was like Clark the paperboy in The Benchwarmers. Even Horfun was beating him up. The TWOS hitting streak finally stopped in the seventh inning when they took a massive 19-9 mercy lead. Their defense held the ONES at bat, but we voted to finish the 9 inning game without resorting to the mercy rule and restarting. The Sun was a Monster.

The ONES decided to change tack in the 8th inning. Our bats were being shut down by the TWOS defence so our strategy was to pick one player and wear him out. We picked DY. H proceeded to hit about two million foul balls down the 1st base line and literally made DY run the Boston Marathon. From then on, the ONES pulled back the TWOS lead to 19-15. Everything went right for the ONES in the ninth. They stopped the TWOS from scoring at the top of the inning, and when it came their turn to bat, they dug deep. With H and the Sandman leaving in the middle of the ninth, the ONES only had 4 bats to rely on. Playing small ball, the ONES loaded the bases with ghost runners and proceeded to send 4 apparitions home to tie the game. With two out, bases haunted, the German Hoover only had to hit a single to win the game for the ONES. He wisely sent a blooper over Horfun's head, but out of nowhere, Sam hustles and dives for the ball and manages to pluck it out of the air for the third out. It was an amazing play to give the game a poetic ending. We called it a Draw and left it at that.

The Sandman was clearly the gold glove of the game, he made several of the most incredible catches in a game that was filled with incredible catches from all players. Even our German Hoover made a brilliant sliding catch that saved an extra run from reaching home. Horfun had the best bat of the game, mercilessly pounding singles and doubles into left field right out of Swiss Miss's range. She had an OBP about .8, the only times she did not reach base was on a play by DT and another one by DY. Kyle II not only won himself the biggest bat with two monster home runs, he also got his second MBP in a row. He also contributed to the Best Play of the game with his glovework and amazing arm. This guy is a keeper. Frankly, it looks like there are enough people to put together a legitimate FARTS team to take back the tournament.

Hmm, now that I think about it, the score is actually 19-9 mercy to the TWOS in 7 innings, and 10-0 mercy to the ONES in 2 innings :)

Best Bat: Horfun
Biggest Bat: Kyle II
MBP: Kyle II
Gold Glove: Ted, 3 diving plays.
Bonehead play: Dy drops a easy pop up at home plate.
DY play: DY running to and fro from Right Field to get H's foul balls.
Best play: Bert hits for extra bases, rounds second and tries to get on third, John at SS runs over to cover, Kyle throws a beauty towards John who jumps, catches the ball in mid air and tags bert along the base path.

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.