DT Rants

It was a damn hot day. mindnumbingly hot. bonesearingly hot. muscleachingly hot.
on a high note, we had 10 by 2.45, and started the game by 3.
We ended the game with 14. 2 more would've been great, but I can't complain.

Twos rocked the One's world with a mercy win in 5 innings in the first game. Rickey then traded Jason for Nigeypooh and it made a difference. Nigey's bat stole the show. But Jason had an uncharacteristic poor fielding day in centerfield. He's usually quite steady, but the ball did not bounce for him at all that day. Meanwhile, his better half was owning the right side of the infield. It's HER house, and no one was gonna get by.

There's great suspicion that nomah went on queer eye during his visit to boston. He came out in a 3quarter sleeve top and 3quarter pants that would have made Rupaul proud....the jury is still out on that one.

Indiana put everyone below 55 to shame with a ballsout performance at short. Though he may not have gotten all the balls going his way and he might've errored on a couple, but boy did he try. Hustle was the name of his game, diving left and right to try for everything within (and sometimes outside) his range.

Fei...oh man! what else is there to say about Fei? we should change the name from softball to feisball. The rest of us were there as the supporting cast to The Fei Show. He is simply amazing. He hit, he ran, he caught, he threw, there was nothing he could not do, and do well.

15 October 2005 - The Difference

ONES: 1B: Seven/Rube; 2B: Burma Girl; SS: Nomar; 3B: Rickey; LF: Rube/TK; CF: Jason/Nigeypooh; RF: TK/Seven
TWOS: 1B: Heidi; 2B: Diana; SS: John; 3B: Tony Montana/DT; LF: Say Hey Kid; CF: Nigeypooh/Jason; RF: Prof Zen
NOTE: Rickey played 3B for both teams for the first 4 innings of the first game (until Heidi showed up). After the first game, Nigeypooh and Jason switched teams.

Game One (5 innings):
ONES: 1
TWOS: 11

Game Two (7 innings; 6, plus extra 1):
ONES: 14
TWOS: 12

What's the Difference? The Say Hey Kid. On an unbelievably hot day, he dominated the game to such an extent that by the second game the ONES refused to hit to Left Field (except for Nomar, who was continually out). On the bases, he was so fast that on a single he would end up at second. He completely dominated. Fielding, running, hitting, throwing. He owned the TWOS. Only Cool Papa a few months ago could have competed with this performance.

The first game was an old fashioned ass-whupping. The 5th inning was one of those that will never end. Nothing went right for the ONES. Due to dropped balls (some followed by shakes of the head), the ONES needed 6 outs in that inning. But, the Say Hey Kid was at his all-time dominating in this game.

In the second game, the ONES thought they had it wrapped up with a 11-5 lead in the 7th inning (if you think of 9 innings). Well, of course not. The TWOS tied the game, and in the bottom of the 9th they even had bases loaded. In the 10th the ONES took a two-run lead, due to good solid hitting and running by TK (he didn't do anything spectacular in the game, but was solid as a rock. Got the job done). Nomar had a great play throwing home to stop a run in the bottom of the 10th.

MBP: Say Hey Kid
Biggest Bat: Say Hey Kid
Gold Glove: Diana (she's becoming a solid 2B)
Best Bat: Nigeypooh (some of those great cricket-style hits)
Drama Mama: Say Hey Kid (On the run, ball lands in glove, pops out, and he grabs it in the air with the "claw")
DY: John (sliding on knees into foul territory, loosing his glasses, he snags soft pop up while pitching against his own team)

Biased Umpiring

This they call SAFE???
and when Robinson Cano did it, they called him out. Get your head in the game blue!

Rickey chases a curve ball

The change-up that got away

8 Oct - Not even enough for Double or Nothing

Only 5 guys on the field, Rickey, Guppy, Gunz, Prof Zen and DT, so we did some batting practice and called it a day at 3:40pm and headed to Joes.
Indiana and Geok show up abt about 3:45, The Generalissimo shows up at 4 and Jason and Diana show up at abt 4:15

DY WOULD'VE HAD THAT!!!

The Generalissimo would've had that. Heck! Even Rickey could've made that play.




HERE is his contract. HERE is Rickey's contract.
You do the Math!

Killed by a Long Wang

I know it's not supposed to be funny.
but heck, naming a typhoon "longwang"???
full story here

The Claw

Tellytubbies....Not just gay

They're cokeheads too...

DT Rants

Met THE parents, and the aunts and their husbands, and the cousins, and the sisters and the brother....
and I survived.

Thank god for cable. Thank god malaysia has cable. Thank god her folks don't wake up early to watch TV. Thank god for ESPN.
Yankees win! Yankees win! Yankees win!

Another week missed.

1 October 2005 - Sandman wakes up

ONES: 1B: Heidi; 2B: Diana; 3B: Rickey; OF: Cool Papa, Sandman, Jason
TWOS: 1B: Seven; 2B: Soo-ey; 3B: Jesson; OF: The Say Hey Kid, Spider, Weixiong
All-time SS: Nomar

Game One:
ONES: 10
TWOS: 7

Game Two (5 innings):
ONES: 4
TWOS: 5

The Sandman got back from one his quick trips to the Great White North, and he brought back some game. It was old school Sandman out in CF. He had some spectacular catches to rob the Say Hey Kid and Spider, and some clutch hits. With Cool Papa and Sandman in the outfield, it was hard for the TWOS to get anything to go for more than a single. In the second game, the ONES were clearly tired (nice excuse), wanted to head to Joes for Oktoberfest,and the Say Hey Kid hit two homers. Beyond that, typical SAS games.

NOTES:
1) Spider - once again - had one of his running errors. But, this one ended with Diana slapping in the head with the glove for the tag. That will teach him. 2) Fei nailed some guys (and kept others from advancing) with really nice throws. 3) Seven had a spectacular hit down the rightfield line for a homer. 4) Nomar was having trouble with his release. 5) Heidi had some nice scoops on a couple of Rickey throws (weren't his fault, of course). 6) Jason finally had one his nice hits get through. He ran for a triple, and even listened to the base coach. 7) Rickey got caught in a rundown between 1B and 2B. Out-jukes Spider and Soo-ey, stumbles back to 1B. Needs Oxygen

MBP: Sandman
Gold GLove: Sandman
Biggest Bat: Say Hey Kid
Best Bat: Seven
Play of the Day: Rickey the baserunner
Drama Mama: Sandman and Cool Papa continually waving each other off on a pop-up

Always let the Wookie Win

Make your Own Beer

Meatfest 2005

DT Rants

No Rants today.
It was a brilliant game on Saturday. I only got the ball thrice. Once on a relay that helped Nomah hit on a girl, and twice from grounders from Rickey. Fubbed the throw to get Rickey out on a DP, but Heidi saved my ass with a heads-up play to tag out Fei. Rickey tried to test the gap between 3rd and SS, thinking that only Jimmy could make that play....oh well..

Looking at the lineup, one would've expected the TWOs to have swept the series, but the ONEs showed that a great glove can beat a great bat.
The TWOs had a stacked offensive lineup, with Cool Papa, Rube and the Say Hey Kid, but the outstanding outfield glovework of Weixiong, Anthony, Spider and Seven made mincemeat of the huge bats. Cool Papa had to dig deep to smack a couple past Spider in LF, and the Rube was caught by Weixiong everytime. Maybe Weixiong's nickname should be Rubane.
The ONEs then strung together singles and doubles to build up a lead that the TWOs could not catch, try as they might.
Gotta give credit to the TWOs as they did not go down fighting, putting up a strong 2-out rally in the bottom of both games. But the effort was for nought, as the ONEs defence easily shut them out.
Oh, the Generalissimo hit one over Cool Papa for the HR. awesome stuff.

24 September - The Importance of Small Ball

ONES: 1B: Heidi; 2B: Diana; 3B: The Jaguar; SS: Tony Montana; LF: Spider; CF: WeiXiong; RF: Seven; Rover: Anthony
TWOS: 1B: Rube; 2B: Soo-eey; 3B: Rickey; SS: Nomar; LF: Cool Papa; CF: TS; RF: The Say Hey Kid; Rover: Jason

Game One:
ONES: 12
TWOS: 6

Game Two (5 innings):
ONES: 11
TWOS: 7

A really good game was played under sunny skies. Not quite the classic of last week, but still a good one. The ones had very few spectacular hits (the Jaguar had a boomer to LF though), but had lots of singles and speed. They rarely advanced more than a base, but it more than enough to bring shame to the big bats (read: pop-ups) of the TWOS. It was the same story in both games.

NOTES:
1) Spider had a huge bat in the first game. But, he also has the normal running errors that he can pile up. Once he was caught advancing to 3B on what was double. Shot down. Later he was on 3B and ran home on a pop up without tagging up. 2)Weixiong was his typically speedy self. He was tearing up the bases, covering on defense and making good throws. Although Spider had the bigger bat, I got to give Weixiong the MBP. 3) Cool Papa was all the Twos had. He hit one of the fastest line drives I've ever seen. It was like a bullet coming off the bat. He, of course, turned it into a homerun. 4) Diana had glove in the first game; bat in the second the game; 5) Jason had to make some potentially dangerous relationship ending decisions several times, on throws or calls. Each time, he strengthened the relationship. 6) Nomar on the tag at home. He's catching and Soo-eey is coming round the bend. When he makes the tag (knee height), she tumbles into the half-mud, half-dirt. Soo-eey shakes it off like a pro, but it looked scary. 7) Play of the day had to be Heidi and the Say Hey Kid. Didn't see most of it, but people were talking. Rickey hits into potential DP. But, Tony Montana touches second and then his throw - dare I say it - is a bit off. The Say Hey Kid goes wheeling around 3B, Heidi runs towards home and runs down the speedy one.

MBP: Weixiong
Play of the Day: Heidi and the Say Hey Kid
Gold Glove: Diana
Biggest Bat: Spider
Best Bat: Heidi
Drama Mama: Nomar and Soo-eey
DY: Rube

A place Rube calls Home

DT Rants

Call me what you will. I've made my nickname. DT is just the online persona I used to create this blogspace. It's not like I called myself Jeter. I do have some pride.
DT isn't my SAS nickname, just the initials I use cos I don't like to refer to myself as "The Legend".

Another week missed.

who the fuck is tony montana?

17 September 2005 - Showdown in CF

ONES: 1B: Nigey-pooh/Rube; 2B: Soo-ey; 3B: Jesson; OF: Gunz, Rube/Nigey-pooh, The Cheetah
TWOS: 1B: Spider; 2B: Monk; 3B: Rickey; OF: Weixiong, Cool Papa, Heidi
All Time SS: Nomar

Game 1 and only (12 innings):
ONES: 14
TWOS: 12

What a game... We started a little late, and in fear that there would be no bats (since among the no shows were Indiana, the Jaguar and "Tony Montana" [the new nickname for DT. He can no longer use DT. No one gets to pick their nickname at SAS. Due to the unneccesary f-bombs he uses, he is now "Tony Montana". It was either that or INAM, short for "In Need of Anger Management"). Thankfully, the NTU crew showed up with a bat. But, oh what a bat...

It was a beautiful sunny day. Ideal. Most of the field was being used by an NUS Centennial Fair, so we played in the far corner. The game was a see-saw affair, with big bats, big plays, and big smiles on the faces of all. The TWOS tied the game in the top of the 9th on - hold your breath - a Rickey homer. The score was then 10-10. Each team scored one in the 10th, was scoreless in the 11th, and then the TWOS scored one for the win, so they thought, in the 12th. With two outs and two on, Gunz hit an amazing homer to right-center for the win. It went amongst the various Fair tents and scared workers, but it would have been a homer any day. We didn't want to ruin it all with a 2nd game, so a group went to Coach's Corner.

NOTES:
- Nomar is back. He may have gone to Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park to watch games, but he must have gotten training in somewhere. He was making amazing plays, even backing up Rickey on a few flubs. He turned 2 double plays on his own.
- Rube hit a homer, and we couldn't find the ball. It was such a monster, he pulled something (insert joke here) and had to play 1B the rest of the day.
- Heidi was hitting opposite field. The game from last week must have stuck. She got on base every time at bat.
- Defensive play of all time. The play you've been waiting for. The showdown: Gunz v. Cool Papa. The Papa hit a long shot to CF and took off. Gunz had to run down the ball; he reaches it as Cool Papa is approaching 3B; Gunz fires it like a bullet past Nomar and it one hops to Monk at the plate who puts the tag on a sliding Cool Papa. The Rifleman shoots him down...

MBP: Gunz
Gold Glove: Nomar
Best Bat: Heidi
Biggest Bat: Rube
Play of the Day: Gunz, the Rifleman
DY: Monk

DT Rants

The first rant I have, and it's a big one, is with the goddamn grandpa and baseball. Look, I understand the baseball is the priority for grandpa and joZ, which is fine with me, they don't show up 6months out of the year anyway due to their baseball season. But trying to poach players from the SAS to make up numbers for his baseball game is just uncalled for. If we had too many players, and you needed one or two, that's fine. but we had short numbers, and then you still had the fucking audacity to try to pull players over to your game. fuck off, you're not welcome at SAS. If you play your friendly on sunday and you need players, sure, plenty of people will volunteer. But you have come long enough to know that 2pm to 6pm is SAS time. You wanna go, fuck off, go ahead, but leave our guys alone. If someone from SAS wants to go and play, sure, I understand, no one will stop them BUT YOU DO NOT CALL PEOPLE AND ASK THEM TO JOIN YOU. If your team is short of numbers, its because you can't get them. We don't try to poach from your game when we are short of numbers? Do you understand what poaching means? or do you want me to link a dictionary to this post?
To Fei...I'm really disappointed in you.
To Dave, thank you for staying. It was a damn fun game.

Second rant, and this is out to everyone, we really need to start earlier. We really are getting later and later, and while we still get in at least one game, it gets really uncomfortable, as those soccer nazis start intruding on our space. SAS used to be at 2pm, it moved to 2.30pm. Now, we don't even start till 3.30, and that's just plain ridiculous. If everyone could show up between 2.30 and 3, we could get our game going by 3, and get in some fun before we lose light, and lose the field. We've even lost the field to the frisbee ppl, who've started showing up at 2pm, just so that they can dominate the side of the field in which we usually play.

Geok was gold glove. Clear as day.

Actually, there WAS one opportunity for the "Claw". Soft grounder to Rickey who COULD have tossed it to the SS to make the DP. But then, he was so suprised he had the ball, he plum forgot to throw it.

Seven must have been in cricket mode, cos all he saw was cones, and all he tried to do was hit the ball past the cones for six.

I think we should get some cones.

10 September 2005 - Insert Muddled Metaphor Here

ONES: 1B: John; 2B: Rickey; 3B: The Venezualan Jaguar; OF: Heidi, Prof Zen
TWOS: 1B: Nigey-pooh; 2B: Burma Girl; 3B: Marv-elous; OF: Cool Papa, Seven
All Time SS: DT

ONES: 12
TWOS: 11
(10 Innings)

A very interesting dilemma faced SAS on Saturday. The cricket crowd took up much of the field, but was playing in a very restricted circle since they were playing 6 a side. To deal with this, and our reduced numbers (I'm sure there will be a rant about that), we played in the extreme corner near the drink machines. Center field was dead (even if the ball rolled into the cricket circle), meaning that you had to go either left or right. This led to some strategic batting, with even Heidi trying to go left. The award for most "dead ball outs" to CF goes to Seven with 3. This new system was quite enjoyable, and the game went well.

The TWOS started off strong, riding on the back of Cool Papa. They built up a 7-run lead, but the ONES started coming back in the 7th inning. One of the key plays was Rickey not covering home on a run-down. The Jaguar got caught in a run-down between 3rd and Home. As John (playing catcher at the time) chased the Jaguar back to 3rd, he tossed the ball to a waiting Marv-elous; Rickey forgot to cover behind John, being too busy watching the play. The Jaguar scored, leading to a 5-run, 2-out, 7th inning rally.

The tying run in the bottom of the 9th occured with 2 outs. Heidi scores, and seconds later Professor Zen is tagged out at 3rd trying to stretch a hit. Inning over, but game tied. The Prof came back in the bottom of the 10th to hit the game winning rbi.

Notes:
- Cool Papa had a good day, with both bat and glove. He robbed the Jaguar of a sure HR. He also had 3 HRs, the first coming off a Rickey yell to Heidi, "Come in, the ball is soft". The ball flew like a bird. Cool Papa was home before Heidi picked up the ball. Heidi was not happy.
- Nigey-Pooh was hitting with a wicked bat. With center field limited by cricket cones, he would hit a pop up to the edge of the area (since there were no fielders there; balls usually rolled into the cricket area, and thus were out). But, Nigey-pooh hit them with a spin. The balls would come back to 2nd base. Masterful.
- John was fielding all thrown at him (of course, never the fault of the SS). He also kept the ONEs going when they were not getting any hits. His triple started them on the path to victory.
- The Venezualan Jaguar continues to be the fielder of choice. He also had a good bat today, but needed oxygen in the 7th when he scored 2 runs.
- Rickey fields a 4-3 double play. Seven hits it up the middle, Rickey scoops it up, steps on 2nd and fires to John. Ends the top of the 10th, and keeps the TWOS off the scoreboard.
- Burma Girl shows real grit when catching and pitching against her own team.
- DT did a good job, but no chance for "The Claw" with Rickey.

MBP: Cool Papa
Drama Mama: Cool Papa (easy foul pop is dropped)
DY: Burma Girl
Biggest Bat: Cool Papa
Best Bat: Nigey-Pooh
Bonehead Play of the Day: Rickey

3 September 2005 - Sleeping Single in a Double Bed

ONES: P: Grandpa; C: Anna-something; 1B: John; 2B: Burma Girl; 3B: The Jaguar; SS: DT; OF: WeiXiong; American Alex; Jesson; TK
TWOS: P: New guy Nick; C: Andy; 1B: Heidi; 2B: Soo-eey; 3B: Rickey; SS: Sandman; OF: Gunz, Say-Hey Kid; CK; Spider; The Cheetah

Game 1:
ONES: 12
TWOS: 15

Game 2 (4 innings):
ONES: 9
TWOS: 3

Rickey's Rambles:
The story of the game was that the TWOS got all of their runs from hitting singles. Small ball all the way. The ONES were swinging for the fences, and the fine TWOs outfield would just run them down. The ONES were also helped by a wet, puddle-y infield. Many hits just stopped cold with a huge splash of water, which made it hard for DT or the Jaguar to get to them. The TWOS built up a huge lead (8 or 9 runs) by the 4 inning and maintained it until the 8th. Then the ONEs came back with a fury, helped by good, hard hits as well as idiot cricket players wandering out outfield (Fei would have caught two massive hits by American Alex - they were routine for the Say-Hey Kid but not anyone else - if he didn't have to negotiate a maze of guys standing out there). The TWOs came back, but were still one run down by the top of the 9th. Spider secured the victory with a nice hit, which I think had 2 rbis.

Other Notes:
Grandpa loses it. Goes insane on the brain at the cricket players; Rickey also yells at one of them (I believe for the first time); American Alex shows no respect for the Say-Hey Kid when he's batting: Result is booming triple over AA's head; Lot's of sliding. John had particularly good form; Rickey molests player at 3rd. Makes play with his typical grace, runs to base to beat runner, and tumbles all over Anna-something.

MBP: TWOS outfield (collective award)
Biggest Bat: AA
Play of the Day: Rickey on 1st. Heidi hits grounder to John, who throws it to DT at 2nd and back to John. Textbook. Simple, not spectacular, but that's how it is done.
Bonehead Play of the Day: CK. When cricket player walks between him and Rickey in the middle of a play. He doesn't throw it.

DT Rants

Nothing much to rant about this week. Had Marvelous, Heidi and Fei at first, they caught everything I threw, and I didn't throw wild.

Though, I do disagree with 2 rankings.
Biggest bat should be the Generalissimo.
San san should be the best bat
Weixiong should get the gold glove. He had a much better game in the OF.

Since when did Guppy think he could outrun the Sandman to tag him? Gosh! We could've had him. We were all lined up for the rundown.

San San had the most consistant bat I've seen this side of SAS for a long time.
The Generalissimo was stupendous, but his exploits were overshadowed by a monster hit from Melson. That ball went from one corner of the field to the other. It's probably somewhere in Indonesia by now.

Nomah had ONE play the entire DAY. ONE. I have it all on tape. I can't wait to make a highlight reel, put it right next to Guppy's. There should be a Nomah Rant right here in this blog too. It would've scored a 0 on the DT rant scale. Either he botched it with his glove or with his arm. Meanwhile, the real Nomah is doing just as badly playing for the Cubs at 3rd base. He's so bad that MLB.com is showing his error clips on the highlight reel. Amazing.

Weixiong is a scary outfielder. He's like a young Swat and a young TH combined. Fantastic range, brilliant timing and excellant glovework. I can't wait for him to turn 30 (like the rest of us), and say "I could've had that...when I was younger"(quote from Swat)

I wish I hadn't missed last week's game. oh well.

PS. Heidi had a good hitting day too. Cept she met her nemesis, Diana, who fielded her hits and threw her out a couple of times.

PPS. Jason made an amazing play throwing out a batter from his position at Rover. Great throw! Great play!

PPPS. Best play of the game was a 1-4-6-3 double play to get Diana and Rickey out in the 2nd inning. Rickey hit a hard ground ball up the middle, in true Nomahesque fashion, Nomah deflected the ball to the right side of the infield. San San showed some amazing reflexes to adjust to the deflection, fielded the ball and made a perfect feed to DT who was on the bag, and he made the throw to Marvelous to get Rickey by half-a-step.

27 August 2005 - Mercy, Mercy Me

ONES: P: Grandpa; C: Guppy; 1B: Heidi/Say Hey Kid; 2B: Marv-elous; SS: DT; 3B: The Venezualan Jaguar; OF: T1, T2, WeiXiong, Gil the Gazelle, San San
TWOS: P: SWAT; C: Jason/Rickey; 1B: John; 2B: Diana; SS: Nomar; 3B: Sandman; OF: Male Jo, Melson, The Cheetah, Jason, Burma Girl, CK, Rube

1st Game (6 innings):
ONES: 17
TWOS: 7

2nd Game (4 Innings):
ONES: 3
TWOS: 1 (Thanks Melson)

The scoreline says it all. It was a good day, once again, and the turn out was strong. The games were lopsided, mainly due to a leaky defense on behalf of the Twos and good hitting (it has to be said) for the Ones. Tans are also slowly drifting back. The only positive thing for the Twos was Melson, who must have had good coaching as a secondary school student. Without him, the ones would have mercy-ed their opponents in the 2nd or 3rd inning.

NOTES:
Take that Pat Robertson!! The Jaguar was on a tear. He had at least 2 home runs (I think) and other multi-base hits. He also may have gone through a tank of oxygen; DT was very good at short. No rants needed today; On the opposite side, Nomar needs his Boston/NY vacation. I'm sure he'll come back fired up (and perhaps a Yankees fan); Diana made some great plays at 2nd; There was an easy pop-up in the infield. Heidi and Marv-elous let it fall in-between each other after making a play for it; Jason threw someone out at 1st (no, not Rickey) from the outfield; Melson hit a kitty-length homer in the 2nd game; Rube graced us for a couple of innings. It was old Rube: dress pants, no shirt, no shoes; San San reached base every time she came to bat.

MBP: The Jaguar
Golden Glove: DT
Biggest Bat: San San
Best Hit: Melson
Drama Mama: Heidi and Marv-elous

Happy Birthday Julio Franco

From ESPN


Happy Birthday, Julio Franco. He turns 47 today, which makes him older than Ryne Sandberg, who was inducted recently into the Hall of Fame, the same age as the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sweet'N Low, Pizza Hut, the Hula Hoop, Toyotas, VISA and American Express, and nearly 30 years older than Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez.

Franco is the oldest non-pitcher in major league history (not including stunt appearances such as those by Minnie Minoso). Last season, Franco became the oldest player to get 50 hits in a season, and had more than twice as many RBI (54) as any 45-year-old in history (Pete Rose had 25 in 1986). This season, Franco became the oldest player (by more than four years) to hit a grand slam, the oldest to hit a pinch-hit home run, the oldest to have a multi-home run game and the oldest to steal two bases in one game. If he hits another homer, he will replace pitcher Jack Quinn (1930) as the oldest player ever to do so. And he'll become the oldest to hit 10 homers in a season (Carl Yastrzemski hit 10 in 1983 at 44).

“ He takes a power nap every day on the couch in the clubhouse. He's dead to the world. That must be his secret. ”
— Former teammate Paul Byrd
Franco will hit another home run because he can still really hit, which is the most amazing part of his being 47, especially when you consider that he still uses one of the heaviest bats in the game. He has always been able to hit, back to the days when he was smoking line drives to right center as a 160-pound shortstop for the Phillies' Class A team in 1980. He is a career .300 hitter with 2,513 hits (3,240 counting those he accumulated in Japan, Korea and Mexico), a batting title and the distinction of being the only major leaguer we've ever seen who sometimes takes batting practice with a batting donut on his bat, and yet still rifles balls all over the field. Bobby Valentine, one of his former managers, was once asked how Franco could do that. "I have no idea," Valentine said, incredulously.

Franco is a medical marvel. Even when he was a skinny teenager, his hands, wrists and forearms were as strong as men 100 pounds heavier. Now he's listed at 210 pounds (he looks bigger than that), thanks in part to being a demon in the weight room for the last 26 years.

"Look at him with his shirt off,'' teammate Chipper Jones said recently. "He's built better than anyone on our team."

Julio Franco
Franco made his major-league debut in 1982 with the Phillies.

Former teammate Paul Byrd attributed Franco's amazing success at such an advanced age to lots of sleep. "He takes a power nap every day on the couch in the clubhouse,'' Byrd said. "He's dead to the world. That must be his secret.''

His secret also is eating a lot of food. Franco told ESPN's Jeremy Schaap that he eats six to seven meals a day, starting with a normal breakfast of 12 egg whites, raisins or strawberries. He drinks a protein shake at 10 a.m. every morning. He eats a steak or fish for lunch, takes his dinner (mostly protein) to the ballpark, then eats dinner again after the game. At 3 a.m., he wakes up, drinks another protein shake, and goes back to sleep.

Eat, lift and be merry. That has been Franco for most of his 24-year career. Franco made his major-league debut in 1982 (Michael Jordan was then a freshman at the University of North Carolina, 39 active major leaguers weren't even born yet) with the Phillies. Other members of that team included Stan Bahnsen, Del Unser, Pete Rose, Bill Robinson, Steve Carlton, Ron Reed and Sparky Lyle, all of whom are now in their 60s. Gary Matthews was on that team; Franco has also played against Matthews' son. And, yes, Franco is old enough to have a grandson.

Franco has been traded twice in his career, once in 1982, from Philadelphia to Cleveland in a deal involving Manny Trillo, George Vuckovich, Jay Baller, Jerry Willard and Von Hayes, and from Cleveland to Texas in 1988 in a deal involving Pete O'Brien, Jerry Browne and Oddibe McDowell. None of those eight players has played in the last 10 seasons.

The year Franco was born -- 1958 -- America was at war in Korea, Elvis joined the Army, segregation was ruled unconstitutional, Dwight Eisenhower was the president of the United States, gas cost 24 cents a gallon and Ted Williams, Sal Maglie and Mickey Vernon were still active. Now Franco is 47, and still a key member of a team that is on its way to the playoffs. Franco says his goal is to play until he is 50 years old, which seems ridiculous. But with the way he's going now, it's entirely possible.

Hair Raising Spectacles

Now, can anyone guess who's the guy on the left? The prize is a beer.

PS. the amazing things one can find on the internet....without even trying...

PPS. btw, the guy on the left shaved his head for charity, so this is not a poke at him.

20 August 2005 - Who's your Cool Papa?

ONES: P: Burma Girl; C: Yogi; P: Indiana; 2B: NTU Chick; SS: Nomar; 3B: Venezualan Jaguar; OF: Cool Papa, Wei Xiong; Rube; NTU Dude, Pao (aka Distraction #2)
TWOS: P: Jesson/Grandpa/Rickey; C: Hor Fun; 1B: Andrew/Jesson/Rickey; 2B: Guppy/Andrew; SS: Sandman; 3B: Rickey/Grandpa; OF: Grandpa, Say Hey Kid; Heidi; Nelly; Gunz; TS (that's right, a Tan sighting!!!)

1st Game:
ONES 16
TWOS 11

2nd Game:
Rickey don't know. He goes to Malay Vampire Movie.

Great game on a great afternoon. It was Cool Papa's day, but more on that later. There were great hits, almost a comeback, a return of a Tan, speedy running, and a good crowd. What more could you ask for?

Well, first of all, apparantly DT slept through the game. A bit shocking, but he does have a busy work schedule (almost as full as Rickey's). Without DT, who to rant at? 1st basemen of course, unless I'm playing the position. Also, TS came back. Good to see a Tan in left field again. However, if no other Tans come soon they will have to be re-classified as rookies, and TS moves up to Tan Brother #1.

The game itself was a Cool Papa-fest. He had 2 homeruns, a triple and a double. Did I mention the fielding? Well, he had some great catches and throws, although a few bordered on "drama mama" (making the easy look difficult) status. He was simply amazing, and it was good to have Cool Papa back. The Ones had a Murderer's Row line-up. In two different innings they scored 5 runs on huge homers, fast baserunning and relentless pressure. By the 8th inning, the Ones had a nine run lead (and could have easily had a mercy). The Twos fought back with 4 runs in the top of the ninth, but then ran out of gas.

Notes:
1) Gunz had the best hit in years, but looking back a day later it was probably foul. It was so incredible though, everyone was stunned. He hit a line drive like a bullet down the 1B line, after 50 meters it curled around the soccer goalposts (which were on the line). Cool Papa had to field it some 30-40 meters into foul territory. Only Cool Papa's speed and arm (and Gunz' bare feet) kept it from being a homer. Gunz ended up with a triple; 2) Hor Fun had a clutch hit over the entire defense, right on the line to advance runners. But, when Hor Fun taught her friends how to bat they did worse than they had done at their 1st at bats...; 3) Cool Papa's 2 homers were to the exact same place; 4) Grandpa had a great hit right down the 3rd baseline. Cool Papa [are you picking up the pattern?] holds him to a triple; 5) The Jaguar, once again, with the double play. Hard hit at his feet. Impossible snag. Catches runners advancing, and calmy throws to Indiana at 1st; 6) But, play of the day was WeiXiong's running. He needs a new nickname (either Flash, Lickety-Split (for us southerners), or just Speed). He hit a hard grounder to Grandpa at 3B, who fields it perfectly and throws it perfectly. But, WeiXiong beats it. Perfect fielding, but the speed was jaw-dropping. Even Cool Papa was shaking his head.

MBP: Cool Papa
Biggest Bat: Cool Papa
Drama Mama: Cool Papa
Play of the Day: WeiXiong
Hit of the Day: Gunz
Gold Glove: Venezualan Jaguar and Cool Papa (tie)
Bonehead Play of the Day: Not turning on the alarm clock
DT Rant Scale: 0 (no one else to blame)

DT's Rant

I forgot to bring the score sheet with me to work, so I can't update the blog yet, check back in a couple of days for the saturday game.

It was an old school game, with all the old guys coming out, faces we haven't seen in ages. All we needed was Coach, Martin and Kitty to show up to complete the lineup.

We're still missing the Tan family and Gavin, but everyone else is back.

on to the rants....
My arm was not working properly, I did not make a single throw to first during warmups. Luckily, I only had a couple of plays and I managed to get the ball to Heidi. No complaints of the firstbasepersons today, both teams had brilliant, brilliant firstbasepersons. Indiana was my gold glove, playing first for the TWOS.

Jason hit for distance, a career HR IMO, except he hit it into a Fei/Rube/Seven relay, that tagged him out at him. Textbook relay from amazing arms.

Dave was back, playing with a broken arm. He missed us so much, he decided to share a base with Horfun, and promptly got tagged out at first on a rundown. And it was his first at bat...

Of course the week Paul returns, all the NTU girls go into hiding.

more to come when I get my hands on the scoresheet.

9 August 2005 - National Day

It was hot then rainy then humid. Don't remember much that happened. Gino was there for the first game. DT and Rickey played all time (SS and 1B) in the 1st game. The Jaguar replaced Rickey in the 2nd game.

Can't fully remember the lineups: But, present were:
Gino, Sandman, The Say Hey Kid, Michael, Diana, DT, The Venezualan Jaguar, Nomar, Yogi, Hor Fun, Heidi and Seven.

No awards, just a good time.

DT's Rants

Nothing to Rant about today. Well, maybe the shortfall of numbers from SAS regulars. If the NTU guys didn't show up, we would only have had 10. Hopefully, we'll get some good numbers on Tuesday morning.
Rickey forgot to mention that Fei sold us out and went to play for the NTU team, making some fantastic (typically feiesque) catches.
With Heidi at first, all bad throws were caught, and later when Rickey took first, I spoilt him with good throws...till he got a bad one (not from me) and totally fubbed it.
The ladies did own the game today. And I definitely suffered some paulititis when the NTU ladies came up to bat for the first couple of innings. Our ladies did well too, with Diana making some good stops, and Heidi catching everything chucked at her from the Generalissimo and myself. Horfun was great at the plate as well, and she's definitely getting good improvement on her skills. Of course, not forgetting the NTU ladies making their men carry their gloves out for them... :D
To elaborate on the Generalissimo fake (I am watching the tape in slo-motion now...I'll make a clip for download). Runners on one and two. Ball is hit to the General and he gets the ball, steps on third and makes the throw to first to try for the double play. Batter is safe, but Spider steals third on his throw, Heidi returns the ball to try to get Spider out, too late. The General then makes the buenoest fake throw to first and Spider is caught trying to make it home. In one smooth motion, the General turns, and tags Spider for the third out, making it a 5-3-5/fake3-5 double play. Awesome.
It was great to see Marvelous and the Sandman come out, but we're still missing quite a number of our regulars... Where's Prof Zen, and Indiana, and the Tan Family. And strangest of all, the Rube went missing...

PS. forgot to mention, when Diana was modeling for my video shoot, she was knocking the ball OUT OF THE PARK. Easily home run type hits, great contact, fabulous power. Standing about 2 meters from the fence, she could actually smack the ball over the fence, past the trees and deep into the carpark. One of the best swings I've seen.... THEN...the game started....

6 August - Revenge of Hall 5

Today was another NTU Hall 5 v. SAS showdown. The Hall 5-ites got the best of us this time.

Lineup:
SAS - P: Rickey; C: Hor Fun; 1B: Heidi; 2B: Diana; 3B: The Venezualan Jaguar; SS: DT; LF: Grandpa; CF: The Sandman; RF: Jason; Rover: Marv-elous

Hall 5: Still unfamilar with many of their names, but WeiXiong, Rabbit, Fei (traitor of the week) and a newby (San San) played for Hall 5.

Game 1:
SAS: 5
NTU: 10

Game 2 (3 innings):
SAS: 2
NTU: 3


The day was hot. There were a number of really nice plays, and all played well (except for a few hiccups). NTU scored 4 in the top of the first, and SAS had a hard time digging themselves out of the hole. By the 5th, it was tied. Then, the wheels fell off the bus. NTU would load the bases and keep getting them across. They had good team play.

Notes:
Welcome back to Marv-elous and the Sandman, who just ended rehab stints in the minors in the Great White North; The Jaguar brought the glove this week. Great plays throughout the game. Highlight was a 5-3-5 double play. On this one, the final out was the patented fake throw back to first. Guy at 3rd takes two steps. Inning over. Classic moment; Diana as camera model for DT; Without Grandpa SAS probably would have had no runs. Good day for him at the plate, He is a classic leadoff man. Right mix of bat and aggressive baserunning; Sandman had a great catch in the outfield; Horfun had some good stops at home and at 2nd (in the 2nd game); SS for NTU was making great plays also; San san was solid in RF; Don't forget: Game on Tuesday (National Day) at 10:00.

MBP: Somebody on NTU probably
Gold Glove: The Venezualan Jaguar
Best Bat: Grandpa
Play of the Day: Jaguar Fake
DY: San San backing up first on plays.
Bonehead Play of the Day: 2 choices -- WiexXiong's Homerun. At least 4 errors led to a pop-up being a homerun. Or, Horfun giving away San San.
**New Category -- DT Rant Scale. This scale is based on how much justification is their for a DT rant. Scale is from 1-10. 5 is neutral. The closer to 1 means that DT is at fault; Closer to 10 is the fault of the fielder or someone else (such as Guppy plays 1B or Rickey is CF). This week: DT Rant scale - 5 (He had some Paulie-isms [distractions], but most throws were on target. All misses at 1st were not his fault. Balanced out].

Brushback

This is the baseball version of TheOnion. Click the LINK to read some funny stuff.

30 July 2005

This week we played a friendly with a group from NTU. They were 5 generations of NTU students from Hall 5. It was an even affair. Either side could have won, as the score went back-and-forth.

Our lineup:
1B: Rickey/Rube; 2B: Diana/Rickey; SS: DT; 3B: The Generalissimo; C: Hor Fun; P; Seven; LF: Heidi/Male Jo; CF: WeiXiong/Heidi; RF: Jason; Rover: Diana

Game One:
SAS: 14
NTU: 13

Game Two (3 innings):
SAS: 5
NTU: 3

The game was played on a wet field. The areas around the bases were often lakes, and were quite muddy by the end of the game. The two teams were remarkably even. WeiXiong played for us in the first 2 innings before Jo and Rube showed up. It was a day where we could have used a couple of utility guys (shout out to mi hermano in Canada), and Jo and Rube's arrival helped. The NTU crew had a number of good catches and plays (sorry I don't know the names beyond WeiXiong and Rabbit - if you'd like to write up your impressions, put something in the comments section). They are welcome to come by any Saturday, as a team or individuals. They showed what we would call "Saturday Softball spirit". Fei showed up for the second game.

Notes/Observations:
3rd base saw a lot of sliding, water and mud flying. Truly the hot corner; Diana got a good mud spray at second; Jason had some drops in the outfield, but also had some good hits (clutch game winning rbi in the bottom of the ninth). Good job of not getting down; Hor Fun had some major singles. Nice hitting; The guy in center robbed Rickey and Heidi of sure hits in the 2nd inning of game one; The NTU woman at first robbed some sure hits; Second game, bottom of 9th. Roger (rabbit) comes up to bat, Hor Fun catches his foul tip, we call it "not high enough", then he proceeds to whack a 3 RBI HR on the next pitch.
But...

Ultimately it was the Generalissimo's game. He just let us play along. We got our own Bobby Abreu. Damn. He was hitting the ball with some skillz. Two homers, a double, and more. I lost count.

MBP (Mostest Bestest Player): The Generalissimo
MVP (Most Venezualan Player): The Generalissimo
Biggest Bat: The Generalissimo, with special mention to Hor Fun
Gold Glove: Weixiong or the guy in CF who stole Rickey and Heidi's hits
DY: Rube
Bonehead play of the day: Runners on 1st and 2nd, grounder to Rickey at 2nd. Should be double play. Rickey freezes. Runners now on 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Where oh where have my first basemen gone?

SAS needs firstbasemen like Ben Afflek needs acting classes.
Where is Rube, Heidi and Indiana when I need them?
It's not like I'm throwing at your head....catch the goddamn ball. And when you catch it, close your goddamn glove. Use TWO hands. Bring your non-glove hand to close the mitt so that the ball doesn't bounce/drop/slip out. If I have to rush the goddamn throw cos of a slow roller, get off the goddamn bag to stop the goddamn ball. Ball-goddamn-first goddamnit! Why are you standing on the goddamn bag and trying to stretch and miss, rather than taking a step off, catching and THEN stepping on first base? Gupdroppa strikes again, and I wasn't even suffering from knoblochitis. Fucking hell, my goddamn throws were spot-goddamn-on.

23 July 2005

Ones: 1B: Michael/Fei; 3B: Rickey; LF: Fei/Michael; CF: Grandpa; Rover: Jason
Twos: 1B: Guppy/Rube; 3B: The Generalisimo; LF: Nomar; CF: Rube/Nigey-pooh; Rover: Nigey-pooh/The Shark

Note: Gino came in the 4th inning. Before that DT played shortstop for both sides. After the Shark arrived, DT joined the Ones and Nomar moved into SS for the Twos.
Note #2: Diana arrived in the 8th, and joined the Ones. The Twos got Francis, the ESPN anchor and Channel 8 personality.

Final Score:
ONES 9
TWOS 12

Notes from a Game:
Low turnout, once again. It was a rainy day, particularly in the first few innings. The first 8 innings were played with Right Field being out-of-bounds. Scoring came in spurts. The Ones took a big leap in the 2nd inning, scoring six runs. Fei and Rickey each scored two, and Rickey had one of his patented triples (meaning he ended up on 2nd base), which included the rare RBI of self (ghost runner on third) on a double. Unfortunately for the Ones, they had to play 7 more innings.

The Twos kept it close - scoring a run or two over the next few innings - and then exploded in the 9th, another Saturday Softball standy. During that inning, some of the highlights included a Rube homerun and the Generalisimo's equally impressive triple. The final chance at bat for the Ones ended with DT striking out Fei for the 2nd out, and weak pop-ups.

Other highlights:
DT didn't clock anyone with his throws; Ipoh Assassin's absence in LF was noticeable. Many hits would have fallen into his glove; Twos had some bad running decisions, with two innings ending with their runners being tagged out at 3rd, including Guppy's back-pedalling slip (To paraphrase a quote from the Saturday Softball DVD of the week: "They needed a 3rd base coach the way Ben Affleck needs acting school"); Diana had a nice stop at 2nd; Play of the Day for me was a minor fielding play. Ball goes past the LF, and Grandpa fields it on the run - as the backup - and rifles it into second to keep the runner - on an easy double - at first; No other awards this week - no one stood out.

16 July 2005

ONES:
1st: TS, 3rd: Jason, SS: Nomah, OF: Diana, TH, Fei

TWOS:
1st: Heidi, 3rd: TK, SS: Dan Collison, OF: Horfun, DT, WeiXiong

Game 1: ONES 7 : TWOS 14

Short numbers. Shut down right field and second base. Twos scored 9 runs in 2nd inning, but could not capitalise to get a mercy. Horfun was on a hitting streak. Smacked 2 OVER TH's head. Heidi hit righthanded. Dan Collison cut short his vacation in Puhket specially to come play softball. He just got back from a year in Afghanistan.

Venezuelan wins Home Run Derby

He hit 41 homeruns to set an all time record...

read more HERE

Misty is ONE year closer to DEATH

Dear Friends,
Please proceed to bomb the hell out of matthew.underwood_AT_gmail.com and wish him many happy returns of the day.
Go here and see what his other friends (gosh, I never knew he had other friends) did for him.
Matt's Big Mac Show

BTW, Misty is now 29. If you wanna see a BIG ONE well up, say something abt missing him...

This is the email from Eliza (Matt's fantastic gf), which I wasn't allowed to post earlier, due to the fact that I blew the surprise LAST YEAR

Greetings from Hong Kong!!

Hope you all are doing well.
This is Eliza, gf of Matthew Underwood.
For those who met me before: Hihi, it's me!! Yes, I am still enjoying
the distance thing with Matt. (well, obviously my choice)
For those who never met me, pls don''t think this is a spam, instead
a big mission behind. Check photo attached, w/ Matt this May a trip to
Amsterdam. Guarantee no virus (normally virus w/ extension like .exe
or .zip)

You're receiving this mail cos you are either relatives, frens,
ex-colleagues, workmates, ex-collegemates, IM mates of Matt and you
all know that Matt is now having his "adventure" in Vietnam for almost
2 years.

He has been doing fantastic in VN, built TQPR Vietnam from scratch
into a nine consultant with offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, won
big name clients: Airbus, O2, DHL, Kimberly-Clark, Nestle, Enterasys
Networks, Canon, BenQ, Acer….etc. So proud of him!!

However, I've been to VN visit him for several times, it's definitely
not an easy place for expats; especially for Matt, he missed Christmas
family dinner in Adel, driving in Mel, weekend softball game in NUS,
martial art in SG, Big Mac and fries at McDonald (probably he missed
the most!!)….and numerous other civilized enjoyments.

As you may or may not notice, Matt's b'day is around the corner, 10 July!!
I am preparing him again a b'day surprise, a b'day e-card with all you
guys' greetings or updates.

To add a bit more fun on this, I am going to do a "Big Mac run" for him, too.
Should you will drop by McDonald in the next week, may consider to
take a snap shot (with your cell phone) while you're enjoying the
meal, then email me together with your greetings, sure Matt will love
but kind of jealous, haha!!!

Honestly, I am a computer idiot, it took me 2 days to consolidate 30
greeting messages, this year I got more name on the list, it will take
even longer to compile, so if you can send me your greetings before 6
July, that will be great!!

Thanks a trillion!!!

Cheers
Eliza

OT : Federer wins

Fantastic. The cool Swiss putting down the loudmouth American.
Only the cool icemen dominate on grass... Edberg, Sempras and now Federer. Not a spark of emotion, just brilliant, brilliant tennis. A joy to watch.
And Agassi only won AFTER he cut his hair and lost the flashy, neon clothes...

Hassie says hi

2 July 2005

Not a very long post this week.
Basically I was still drunk from drinking on Friday night, so didn't have the energy to keep track of the game. I don't even know the score cos I had to go puke in the bottom of the 10th(I do know it was extra innings), I think ONES won.
My apologies.

ONES:
1st: Gupdroppa, 2nd: Princess/Hassie, 3rd: DY, SS: DT, OF: Swat, TK, Fei, Michael

TWOS:
1st: Heidi, 2nd: Diana, 3rd: Grandpa, SS: Nomah, OF: TH, Jason, TS, Cool Papa


Highlights.

Bottom of 3 : DT suffers from a severe case of knobloch-itis and throws one smack into Princess' cheek. For the record, this is the 3rd female second baseperson DT has hit in the face(blood included), and the fourth person DT has hit in the head with a thrown ball.

Gupzilla becomes Gupdroppa. He does not catch a SINGLE ball the entire day. Every play was 5-E3, 6-E3, even bloppers to 1st base were dropped. Either his glove is not working properly, or he used up ALL his skills last week saving SAS from the scoring run. Total dropped balls : 9 (at least)

Top of 9 : Nomah makes a brilliant unassisted 6-3 double play, fielding the ball, running to 2nd and throwing to 1st (making one of his best throws ever IMO). I believe it is his 4th career DP. It SHOULD have been the play of the day....

...except 1 pitch later, Fei makes the most incredible over-the-shoulder-no-look-fully-stretched-leaping catch off a deep deep fly ball by TS(TS has NEVER hit that far, and he was robbed....no normal human could have caught that ball) for the play of the day. And then, he goes and hits the game leading HR

Cool Papa was hitting like nobody's business. To quote : "Why can't I hit like that last week?"

MVP: Fei
Biggest Bat: Fei
Gold Glove: DY
Play of the Day: Fei's over-the-shoulder-no-look-fully-stretched-leaping catch
Bonehead play of the Day: Guppy putting on a glove
DY Play of the Day: Swat running into a mishmash of bags, stepping on some, to catch a foul pop against his own team (and not dropping the ball)

General Impressions from a Tournament

It was good to be playing tournament ball again. Some of our best moments - beyond the joy of weekly Saturday ball - have come when we play teams that are not familar. Whether it is the Legendary homerun victory or getting kicked out the next year, it often brings out the best in us.

First of all, Lloyd and the Montfort gang did a great job organizing this. We look forward to playing in the 2nd Annual tournament next year. Also, Chris did a great job of organizing things prior to game day for us.

General Impressions, in no particular order:
- SWAT, Rube and the Ipoh Assassin played in every game, and played well. They may have been exhausted by the end of the day, but they anchored a team that went the whole way. Also true for the whole Tan family. TK and TS played every game for Alumni B.
- Weirdest play in a long time: 2nd game, bottom of the 5th (9th), we lose. Wait a second. Cool Papa's bullet throw (btw, misses the cut-off man) gets to Guppy at home. Great throw, but too late. BUT, the winning run doesn't tag the plate. He tries to get back to the plate - juking, feinting, slipping. But "Gup-zilla" just bears down on him. Tagged out. We rally in extra innings to get the #1 seed.
- Good to have DY back (at least for a couple of weeks)
- Tennis court homeruns (out of the park): SWAT and Nomar
- Good Fielding (the key to tournament wins) from all. Particularly notice to SWAT and DT.
- 1st game (other team has 9 runs to start the game). We only have 8 runs in the last inning. Two outs. DT has clutch hit, and Rube puts it to rest with game winning rbi. Got us off to a good start.
- Heidi had some clutch hits in that close 2nd game.
- Who knew so many of us are up at 8:30 on a Saturday morning (doesn't include Gunz who probably didn't get up - never went to sleep)?
- Guppy traded Fei (the Say Hey Kid). To quote Coach from the wedding speech: "What we're you thinking???"
- The peanut gallery (particlarly Rickey, Diana and Princess) enjoyed the shade. Nothing like a super big Gulp from 7-11 to pass the time.

Burying The Ghost of Mercy Past (Eating my words)

I'm going to be breaking up these posts into several sections, so you can read at your leisure. I will be doing it in reverse chronological order, so this post will always remain on top. So please scroll down to the bottom to start from the beginning of the day.

First off, the 'thank yous'
Big thank you to everyone who turned up for the tournament, especially that everyone put in the extra effort to show up on time. We started the day on a brilliant note with our team at full strength, and the day only got better and better.

Also, much thanks for the "volunteers" to helped buffer the other team's numbers. It's not that we wanted to let you go, but in this way, everyone got a chance to play instead of having 10 guys on the bench. Kudos to Fei, Michael, Weixiong, Jeremy, Toh Sen and Toh Ken (and Jason in the semis) for playing your heart out for the other team(even against us)

Thanks to "Captain" Rickey and "Coach" Guppy, for managing the team, keeping score, umpiring, collecting money and other general mundane, non-playing activities. Your efforts do not go unappreciated.

Finally, the biggest thank you goes to Mr. Lloyd "The Cheetah" Yeo for putting this all together, organising and running a smooth tournament. The guys at NUS IFG have a lot to learn from him.

Burying the Ghost of Mercy Past (The Lineup)

Heats

Game 1
Pitch: Swat, Catch: Monk, 1st: Rube, 2nd: Princess, 3rd: DY, SS: DT, OF: TH, Grandpa, Jason, JoZ

Score : SAS 10 : 'C' Boys 9


Game 2
Pitch: Swat, Catch: Guppy, 1st: Heidi, 2nd: Diana, 3rd: Rickey, SS: Nomah, OF: TH, Cool Papa, Rube, Gunz

Score : SAS 12 : Alumni B 10


Semis
Pitch: Swat, Catch: Monk, 1st: Rube, 2nd: Nomah, 3rd: DY, SS: DT, OF: TH, Cool Papa, Heidi, JoZ

Score : SAS 4 : 'B' Boys 0


Finals
Pitch: Swat, Catch: Monk, 1st: Rube, 2nd: Nomah, 3rd: DY, SS: DT, OF: TH, Cool Papa, Heidi, JoZ

Score : SAS 11 : Alumni A 2


MVP: Swat
Biggest Bat: Rube
Gold Glove: Up for contention
Best Play: Game 2, Score 9-9, bottom of the 9th, Cool Papa makes 1-hop throw to home from CF to Guppy. Guppy blocks the plate, forcing the runner wide to come around from behind to get the base. Guppy (actually) catches the ball and puts down the tag to keep the game alive. And they go into extra innings and finally for the win.
Bonehead Play: Trading away an all-star outfield to the other team (granted we still had an all star outfield, but still...)
Best Hit: Finals, Score 3-2, top of 2, Nomah smacks a 3 RBI HR into the tennis court, totally demoralising the opposition, from which they could not recover.
DY play of the day: Final, bottom 1, Line drive to 3rd, DY catches the ball, it pops out of his glove, travels 6 ft into the air, and DY catches it again.

Score : Finals

Finals : SAS away

Top 1 0-0
JoZ : Single to E5
Monk : Single to CF, JoZ to 3rd
Swat : Sac Fly to CF, JoZ scores : 1-0
Rube : HR to RF, 2RBI : 3-0
Heidi : Ground out to 1st(TK)
TH : Ground out to 3rd, 5-3, out
Bottom 1 0-3
Fly to TH, out
grounder to DY, 5-3, out
single to CF
HR to CF, 2 RBI : 2-3
Fly to DY, DY play of the day, he catches it, it bounces out, he catches it again, out

Top 2 3-2
DT : Single to RF
Cool Papa : Single to CF, DT to 2nd
Nomah : HR to tennis court, 3RBI : 6-2
DY : Fly out to CF
JoZ : Fly out to SS
Monk : Double to LF
Swat : Single to CF, Monk scores : 7-2
Rube : Single to RF, Swat to 3rd
Heidi : ground out to 1st(TK...again)
Bottom 2 2-7
Fly to TH, out
Popup to Monk, out
Single to TH
Grounder to DY, 5-4, out

Top 3 7-2
TH : Fly out to CF (brother vs brother)
DT : Fly out to 3rd
Cool Papa : Fly out to SS
Bottom 3 2-7
Fly to Rube, out
Grounder to Swat, 1-3, out
Grounder to DY, 5-3, out

Top 4 7-2
Nomah : Single to CF
DY : Double to LF, Nomah to 3rd
JoZ : Double on E6, Nomah and DY score, 2RBI : 9-2
Monk : Grounder to 6, 6-3, out, JoZ to 3rd
Swat : Tennis court Foulball (just foul), Fly to LF but thrown out at 2nd, JoZ to score : 10-2
Rube : Double on E8
Heidi : Single to RF, Rube Scores, 1RBI : 11-2
TH : Single on 5-E3, Heidi to 3rd
DT : Ground out to 5-3
Bottom 4 2-11
Fly to Cool Papa, out
Swat gets another K, out
Liner to DT, out

Game called due to 1 1/2 time limit

Final Score SAS 11 : Alumni A 2

Score : Semi-Finals

Semi-Finals : SAS at home

Top 1 0-0
Single to TH
Single to JoZ
Fly to Cool Papa, out
Fly to TH, out
Fly to DY, out
Bottom 1 0-0
JoZ : Ground to pitcher, 1-3, out
Monk : Single to LF
Swat : Triple on E8, Monk Scores : 1-0
Rube : Fly out to 3rd
Heidi: Fly out to 1st

Top 2 0-1
Grounder to Swat, 1-3 out
Grounder to Swat, E1, runner to second
Single to JoZ, runner is caught in hot box, 10-6-5-6, tag out
Grounder to Nomah, 5-10, out
Fly to JoZ, out
Bottom 2 1-0
TH : Fly out to 3rd
DT : Grounder to 2nd, 4-3, out
Cool Papa : Single to 6
Nomah : Single to LF, runners advance
DY : Single to LF, Cool Papa scores : 2-0
JoZ : Fly out to LF

Top 3 0-2
Grounder to DY, 5-3, out
Grounder to DT, 6-3, out
Fly to Rube, out
Bottom 3 2-0
Monk : Single to LF
Swat : Single to 3rd, fielder's choice, Monk out at 2nd
Rube : Fly out to 2nd
Heidi : Single to RF, Swat to 3rd
TH : Grounder to 2nd, E4, Swat scores : 3-0
DT : Ground out to SS, 6-3 out

Top 4 0-3
Fly to Cool Papa, out
Fly to DY, out
Single to DY
Grounder to Swat, deflected assist, 1-6-3 out
Bottom 4 3-0
Cool Papa : Single to SS
Nomah : Fly out to 3rd
DY : Fly out to 2nd
JoZ : Single to 3rd, E5-4, Cool Papa scores : 4-0
Monk : Fly out to LF

Top 5 4-0
Grounder to DT, 6-3, out
Grounder to DT, 6-3, out
Fly to DY, out

Final Score SAS 4 : Montfort 'B' boys 0

Scores : Game 2

Game 2 : SAS away

Top 1 0-0
Swat : Single to CF
TH : Fly out to 5
Heidi : Triple to RF, Swat scores : 1-0
Rube : Tripe to CF, Heidi scores : 2-0
Gunz : Double to RF, Rube scores : 3-0
Cool Papa : Fly out to 7
Diana : Fly out to 10
Bottom 1 0-3
Triple on E7
Grounder to Nomah, 6-3, out, runner scores : 1-3
Double to CF
Double to RF, E9, runner scores : 2-3
(I missed the rest, was 2 outs, my apologies)

Top 2 3-2
Rickey : Fly out to 8(Fei)
Guppy : Fly out to 9
Nomah : Double to CF
Swat : Double to CF, runner scores : 4-2
TH : single to LF, runner scores : 5-2
Heidi : Fly out to 9
Bottom 2 2-5
Fly to Rube, out
Strikeout
Grounder to Swat, 1-3, out

Top 3 5-2
Rube : Fly out to 9
Gunz : Triple to RF
Cool Papa : Fly out to 8
Diana : Grounder to 6, 6-3 out
Bottomw 3 2-5
Fly to TH, out
Single to CF
Single to CF, runners advance
Fly to TH, out
Fly to Rube, out

Top 4 5-2
Rickey: Fly out to 10(WeiXiong)
Guppy: Fly out to 7
Nomah: Fly out to 7
Bottom 4 2-5
Single on E5
Double on E1, runner scores : 3-5
Fly to Rube, out, runner scores on throw : 4-5
Fly to TH, out
Single to Nomah
HR to LF : 6-5
Grounder to Rickey, 5-3 out

Top 5 5-6
Swat : Triple to LF
TH : Grounder to 6, 6-3 out
Heidi : Single to RF, runner scores 6-6
Rube : HR to CF : 8-6
Gunz : HR to CF : 9-6
Cool Papa : Fly to 8
Diana : Grounder to 6, 6-3 out
Bottom 5 6-9
Single to TH
Fly to Cool Papa, out
Single to Rube
Triple to TH, 2 runners score : 8-9
Fly to TH, out, runner scores : 9-9
Fly to Cool Papa, Cool Papa to Guppy at home, Guppy tags the runner coming home
Extra Innings

Top 6 9-9
Rickey : out to 8(fei)
Guppy : out to 8
Nomah : single to LF
Swat : Single to 6, fielders choice, 6-4 Nomah out at 2nd
TH : Double to CF, Swat scores : 10-9
Heidi : Double to RF, TH scores : 11-9
Rube : Double to CF, Heidi scores: 12-9
Gunz : Fly out to 9
Bottom 6 9-12
Single to Nomah
Double to Rube, runner is tagged out at 3rd on the throw
Fly to TH, out, runner advances
Single to Nomah, runner scores
Single to Cool Papa, runner is tagged out at 3rd on the throw

Final Score SAS 12 : Alumni B 10

Scores : Game 1

Game 1: SAS at home

Top 1 9-0
Fly to TH, out
Grounder to Swat, 1-3 out
Grounder to DY, 5-3 out
Bottom 1 0-9
JoZ : Single to CF
Monk : K(Out)
DT : HR :2-9
Rube : HR :3-9
Swat : HR :4-9 (Hit past the fence into the tennis court)
TH : HR :5-9
Princess: Single to CF
Jason : Single on E6, Princess to 3rd
DY : Single to 6, no throw, basese loaded
JoZ : Lineout to 6, Jason tagged out at 2nd

Top 2 9-5
Fly to Swat, out
grounder to DY, 5-3 out
Fly to DT, out
Bottom 2 5-9
Grandpa : Double on CF Error
Monk : Single to 6
DT : Fly out to 3rd
Rube : Fly out to CF
Swat : Fly out to CF

Top 3 9-5
Grounder to DT, 6-3 out
Grounder to DT, 6-3 out
Fly to Swat, out
Bottom 3 5-9
TH : Fly out to 1st
Princess: Single to LF, steals 2nd on throw
Jason : Single to CF, Princess Scores : 6-9
DY : Fly out fo RF, Jason tags up to take 3rd
Grandpa : Single to LF, Jason scores : 7-9
JoZ : Single to SS, runners advance
Monk : Single to SS, runners advance, bases loaded
DT : Single to LF, Grandpa scores : 8-9
Rube : Fly out to 3rd

Top 4 9-8
Fly to Swat, out
Single to LF
Single to CF
Grounder to DT, 6-5, runner out at 3rd
Strikeout
Bottom 4 8-9
Swat : Fly out to LF
TH : Single to CF
Linda : Single to LF, runners advance
Jason : Fly out to 3rd
DY : Fly out to SS

Top 5 9-8
Fly to Swat, out
Grounder to Swat, 1-3, out
Fly to DY, out
Bottom 5 8-9
JoZ : Fly out to LF
Monk : Fly out to LF
DT : Double to CF
Rube : HR for the win : 10-9

Final Score SAS 10 : Montfort 'C' Boys : 9

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.

1st Annual Monfort Secondary Invitation Tournament : UPDAT

UPDATE 23/6
Game Schedule



I guess we might as well declare the first game a walkover now since we'll only have abt 5 people who'd show up on time anyway.


Here are the rules for this tournament
Tournament Softball Rules

1. Tournament begins at 845 AM. Registered players are to pay $5 for registration, and an additional $5 if they are staying for the barbecue

2. All wins are worth three points. All ties worth two points. Losses earn no points.

3. Each division will have one (1) champion. In case of two-way tie in standings, revert
back to games played between tied teams. If A beat B only one game played
between them, A is champion. If three or more teams are still tied, the team allowing
the fewest runs will advance. If teams are still tied, the team with the most runs will
advance.

4. A game ends when any of the following occurs:
• Five full innings are completed; or
• The time reaches 1hr 30 min
• Or Lighting or weather conditions make it unsafe to continue the game.

3. The defensive team shall field nine players, including a catcher, with one substitute.

4. The offensive team shall bat all players present at the game in an order that is
predetermined by the team’s coach or coaches. The batting order shall not change
during the game.

5. Team Captains are to select or themselves serve as umpires.

6. All players shall play in every game.

7.All Teams playing against the C team boys play with a nine run handicap.

8. No walks. A hitter will bat he she strikes out, fouls out or bats the ball into fair
territory. A team’s turn at bat ends when three outs are recorded by the defense.

10. A legal pitch is a pitch that is delivered
• With an underhanded motion
• With an arc of 5 feet.
• With a speed at a medium/ slow speed deemed suited for Saturday Softball non-competitive games by the Umpire.

11. The Strike Zone is enforced in the tournament. The Strike Zone is that space over home plate which is between the batter's armpits and the top of his knees when he assumes a natural stance.

12. There are no bunts in the tournament rules. All intentional bunts count as automatic
outs. A bunt is a batted ball not swung at, but intentionally met with the bat and
tapped slowly within the infield.

13. Infield flies are enforceable in the tournament. The Infield Fly Rule will be in effect when there are less than two outs and
• there are runners on first and second or
• the bases are loaded
The umpire will announce, “Infield Fly” when one of the above conditions exists and a batter hits a pop-fly in the infield. Please note that an infield fly is a judgement call by the umpire and NOT subject for controversy. When the Infield Fly Rule is declared, the batter is automatically OUT. The ball is alive and runners may advance at the risk of the ball being caught. The runner may also tag-up and advance after a defensive player has touched the ball.

14. Captains are encouraged to remain on the playing field at all times to instruct and keep the game fair, friendly and safe.

15. This is a non-competitive division. Captains should focus on sportsmanship, fun, enjoyment and playing to the best of your ability. That way, teams stay together longer.


ADDITIONAL RULE :
FOUL BALLS: INFIELD --> WHERE THE BALL ENDS UP/STOPS/DIES/FINISHES/HALTS, OUTFIELD --> WHERE THE BALL LANDS



UPDATE 22/6
Lloyd just informed me that there is only 10 medals for first place and 10 for runner's up. So it would be best if we can send 2 teams, rather than just 1 and have 10 ppl sitting on the sideline. I hope everyone can arrive on time so that we can decide on the spot to enter 2 teams or just 1.


UPDATE 21/6
Those who replied, your names have been submitted to the guard house at the school, please register when you come in. Just tell them you are from the NUS team coming for the softball camp. If there are any problems, call Lloyd or Alvin.
Attire is FFA(Free For All), wear whatever you're comfortable to play in. If you want to wear the jerseys, go ahead. If you don't have a jersey, our team colours have always been navy blue.


UPDATE 18/6
Dear all,

These are the details of the Softball minithorn held at MSS.

If you're staying for the BBQ, its $10. I'll collect on Chris behalf
tommorow at NUS.
If you're there for the games, its $5. Same deal tommorow. I need confirmed
names by Sunday because I need to get clearance with school administration
to provide a name list.

Date: 25th JUNE, Sat.

Time: Games start at 9AM till late.

All Teams playing against the C team boys play with a nine run handicap.

5 inning game.

No Walks but enforced strikes. (between armpits and knees)

Infield flies in play. Ump calls it. (Some of us will have to be prepared to
serve as umps when we're not playing

Regular speed pitches like the kind we play on Saturday.

LLoyd

Update 16/6
The people who have replied. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.
PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE AND YOUR EMAIL FOR FURTHER UPDATES, for TIMINGS, MAPS, LINEUP etc.

Those who can make it.
1. DT
2. Rickey
3. Guppy
4. Fei
5. Cool Papa
6. Nomah
7. Monk
8. Rube
9. Heidi
10. Jason
11. Diana
12. Swat
13. Michael Sim (Fei's friend)
14. JoZ
15. WeiXiong
16. Seven
17. Gunz (DL)
18. Grandpa
19. Special Guest Star

Those who cannot make it.
1. Sandman
2. Lil' One
3. Prof Zen
4. Jo the shortstop
5. Linyu

Thos who haven't bothered to reply
1. You know who you are, I really can't be bothered.

Lloyd has asked if we could donate an entry fee for this tournament. It's $10 per person, which will go to the medals and prizes for the tournament and also the food for the BBQ. No Alcohol will be provided (but IT IS ALLOWED, so BYOB)

There will be a 9 run handicap for all teams that play the 'C' division boys.

Holy Identical Twin Brother, Batman

Rod Carew
California Angels
July 14, 1983: .402

A career .328 hitter, Carew made his final run at .400 at age 37. The seven-time batting champ carried a .402 average into the All-Star break before tailing off in the second half, finishing at .339. Of his 160 hits in 1983, 132 were singles.

MAP

50 Hougang Avenue 8 (S)538785

link to bigger map

1st Annual Montfort Secondary Invitational Softball Tournament

Clear your calender guys.
Uncle Lloyd aka The Cheetah has invited SAS to participate in the First Annual Montfort Secondary Invitational Softball Tournament.

The Tournament will take place on the 25th of June, at Montfort Sec School Grounds, from about 9am till evening. It should be a round robin format. And there will be a Barbeque at the end of the evening followed by the Prize Giving Ceremony.

Hopefully, we can enter 2 full teams into this event. Please email to me your confirmation (or time of arrival, if you're coming later), so that we can let Lloyd know how many will be attending. Those of you working on Saturday morning, please join us in the afternoon at the usual time.

Boston's new starting lineup

From Left
Metro, Fag, Fag, Fag, Fag, Fag


They got this guy to replace Pedro

11 June 2005 - Rickey Makes it to the Show

ONES:
Pitch: Swat, Catch: Justin, 1st: Rube/Indiana, 2nd: Princess, 3rd: Sandman/Rickey/JoZ, SS: DT, OF: Rube, Fei, TK, Jason, Guppy

TWOS:
Pitch: Grandpa, Catch: Steve, 1st: Richard, 2nd: TS, 3rd: Rickey, SS: Nomah, OF: TH, Jean, Heidi, Lloyd, Horfun, Nigey Pooh

Game 1: ONES 2 : TWOS 8
Game 2: ONES 10 : TWOS 4

It was an excellent day for softball, with the sun hiding behind clouds and a nice cool breeze blowing in from the sea. The first game started off as a defensive battle, with both teams fielding 5 outfielders, and showing some classic defense to keep the score tied at 2-2 throughout 6 innings.
The TWOS blew the game wide open scoring 5 runs in the top of the 7th and another run in the top of the 8th. The ONEs had no answer and the score ended at 8-2
Coming back from a huge loss, the ONES' bats opened up mercilessly on the twos, scoring 1 and 4 in the first two innings, and 3 and 2 in the last two innnings to take a massive 10 run lead. The TWOS almost made it back in the bottom of the 8th, scoring 4 runs, but the ONES defense proved too strong to be cracked.
Rickey finally got called up from the minors to replace Sandman at 3rd base during the 4th inning. He finally made it back to The Show. But no sooner had he stepped onto the field when he got traded away for JoZ. The management had felt that Rickey had lost a step or two on his speed, and his bat wasn't as big as they needed. To prove a point, Rickey grounded into two double plays. First one to Sandman at third for a 5-3 DP, and then to DT up the middle for a 6-3 DP.

MBP:
Biggest Bat:
Gold Glove:
Best Play of the Day:
DY Play of the Day:
Bonehead Play of the Game:

Official Rules of Softball

International Softball Rules


Sec. 29. FOUL BALL.
A foul ball is a legally batted ball which
a. Settles on foul territory between home and first base or between home and third base.
b. Bounds past first or third on or over foul territory.
c. First touches on foul territory beyond first or third base.

In other words.

1. In the infield, it is where the ball ENDS UP.
2. In the outfield, it is where the ball lands.

WATCH THIS SPACE

In a special third-season premiere scheduled to air on June 7, Bravo's "Fab Five" will perform makeovers on five key members of the 2004 World Series champions Boston Red Sox. As first envisioned a few weeks ago, Queer Eye's makeover negotiations had centered solely on Red Sox first baseman/outfielder Kevin Millar but by the time the episode was filmed at the team's Fort Myers spring training location it included Millar, catchers Jason Varitek and Doug Mirabelli, pitcher Tim Wakefield and centerfielder Johnny Damon.

Damon, who coined the term "idiots" to describe the world championship team.

PLEASE REPLY TO GUPPY!!!

Please reply to Guppy's invites so that he can cater for an approximate crowd.
Thanks

Best in Class

Although it should, life, for some of us does not revolve around saturdaysoftball.
In this series, we look at other stuff we excel at. Best in Class

Best in Bowling : With a score of 159, topping the ladder 2 games out of 3... Heidi aka Beyonce aka H

Best in Daytona : Whupping Rickey's 'expert' ass, winning every race, 7 out of 7...Cool Papa aka Da Bassist of the Best Band in Asia

Best in Archery : Shooting a lefthand bow right-handed, killing several birds perched atop the target...Rickey aka "I teach people to watch movies" aka The Professor

Best in Secondplace : Running-up everytime, in driving, bowling and life... Barry aka "SaturdaySoftball is my life" aka The Legend

Lil' Guppy Turns ONE

Dear all, the lil guppy ( Jeffrey Hew) is turning one year old this week.
Joyce and I would like to have a little party to celebrate

It will be this coming Sunday June 5 at 5pm for Adults, If you have kids, we
are having the baby party at 4pm. If you want to hang out at the pool and
drink free beer, you are also more than welcome to come in the afternoon


I am supplying beer from Brewerks and should have a little food. THinking
about having a pot luck BBQ. Pls let me know what you are bringing. I will
compile a list

My address is

#-04-03 56 Trevose Crescent. The Trevose Condominium. It is right next to
Raffles Town Club

Regards

Big Guppy

Hope you can make it


Edit : Link to the map is HERE
best way to go to Guppy's place is to take Dunearn Road TOWARDS SJI, then turn left into Plymouth Road. His condo is on the right, after Raffles Town Club.

28 May 2005

Ones - 1B: John, 2B: Princess, SS: DT, 3B: Rickey, P: TNG1, C: Horfun/Prof. Zen, OF: TK, Swat, Diana, Jason, Wei Siong
Twos - 1B: Rube, 2B: Guppy/Yogi, SS: The Cremaster, 3B: Beyonce, P: Grandpa, C: Guppy/Monk, OF: TH, TS, Cool Papa, The Distraction, TNG2, Abel

Game One
Ones: 11
Twos: 15

Game Two
Rickey goes for Beer and Donuts at Joe's. Hopefully DT will post that score along with the box score.

Highlights:
1) The Twos were not effective at bat most of the time. But, when it rains it pours. They scored 13 of their runs in two innings. Many of the runs came from their smaller bats; 2) The Groin (Cremaster, Nomar) had trouble in the early innings concentrating on the game. Was it the lack of 'fro?; 3)Aggressive baserunning was punished. While a few capitalized on getting home or to the next base, several people were caught going a base to far. The Princess even tagged Cool Papa out on the Head. Ouch; 4) It was very, very hot; 5) We can't handle regulation slow-pitch softball pitches.

MBP: Nomar's Hair Cut
Biggest Bat: The Distraction
Gold Glove: The Ipoh Assassin
Bonehead Play of the Game: Cool Papa's baserunning
DY: No one. Rickey tried but didn't make the play. DY wanna be.

A Great Picture

A Moment of Silence Please

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Former Chicago White Sox shortstop Chico Carrasquel, the first Latin player to appear in an All-Star Game, died Thursday at the age of 77.

Carrasquel died of cardiac arrest before arriving at a hospital, said Humberto Sarraga, public relations director of Caracas Clinics.

"Venezuela lost one of its heroes today," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said in a statement. "As the first great Venezuelan shortstop, Chico helped put our country on the baseball map. I am honored and proud to have known him as a friend and will miss seeing him in my office each day at the ballpark. He was such a great friend, person and role model for young players."

The White Sox will honor their four-time All-Star before next Monday's game at Comiskey Park against the Angels. A video tribute will be shown on the scoreboard and the Venezuela national anthem will be played.

During a nationally televised speech, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that his government had declared two days of mourning for Carrasquel.

"Viva Carrasquel!" Chavez shouted.

Carrasquel played in the majors from 1950-59. A nifty fielder, he teamed with Nellie Fox in Chicago to form one of baseball's best double-play combination.

In 1951, Carrasquel started at shortstop for the AL in the All-Star game at Detroit and singled in his first at-bat off future Hall of Famer Robin Roberts. The next Latin player in All-Star competition was Minnie Minoso -- he pinch-hit for his White Sox teammate in that same game.

Carrasquel hit .258 lifetime with 55 home runs and 474 RBIs. He was traded after the 1955 season to Cleveland in a deal for Larry Doby, and later played for Kansas City and Baltimore.

Alfonso "Chico" Carrasquel was the third Venezuelan baseball player to make it to the majors. Signed by Branch Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers, he was sold to the White Sox.

Carrasquel took over for Hall of Famer Luke Appling as Chicago's shortstop in 1950 -- he had a 24-game hitting streak as a rookie -- and was traded to the Indians to make room for another future Hall of Famer, Luis Aparicio.

Last year, before Guillen's first home game as manager of the White Sox, three star Venezuelan shortstops threw out ceremonial first balls -- Carrasquel, Aparicio and Guillen.

"I was saddened to hear of the passing of Chico Carrasquel," Aparicio said from his home in Venezuela. "Chico was my hero and mentor. He took me under his wing, and I'm grateful to him for making me the ballplayer that I turned out to be."

Carrasquel spent seven seasons doing Spanish-language telecasts of White Sox games. He also worked in the team's community relations department until recent years.

During his later years, Carrasquel suffered from diabetes. In 2003, he sustained minor injuries when he was beaten during a carjacking in Venezuela.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

What happens when a fro turns old?

CLICK ME TO FIND OUT

What's better than a black fro and white glasses??

CLICK ME TO FIND OUT

When Rickey say he gonna play, Rickey gonna play

For the record: Rickey Henderson stole 1,406 bases and scored 2,295 runs in his 25-year career in the big leagues.


SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Rickey Henderson is getting all revved up, and he's not even on first base yet.

Baseball's biggest hot dog is currently a Surf Dawg, batting leadoff and playing left field for San Diego's team in the new independent Golden Baseball League, which begins play Thursday night.

Don't get him wrong -- he says he's having fun and is grateful for the opportunity. It's just that it's not time for Rickey to retire, and he really, really wants to get back to the big leagues.

Hanging out in front of the home dugout at cozy Tony Gwynn Stadium at San Diego State, among teammates half his age, baseball's career leader in runs and stolen bases is off and running -- at the mouth. In an hour he'll be playing in a scrimmage against a scrappy team from the Marine Corps, but for now he's talking a good game.

The 46-year-old Henderson, who remains in incredible shape, has heard plenty of chatter that he should give it up.

"I like to tell all the guys that have all these comments, come out and see me play. Don't sit in an office. Come and see the 40-year-old guy play. Then you can judge me on that. Then you can see what I can do, how I can move around. I'm not that 40-year-old guy that barely can move. I can run with anybody out there. I can run with anybody up there," he said, referring to the big leagues.

"I'm probably in better health than most of the guys up there. So come out and see me if you don't believe me."

Henderson started the last two years with the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League. He finished 2003 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, playing in 30 games, but hasn't been in the big leagues since.

Just four years ago and a few miles down the hill, during his second stint with the Padres, Henderson passed Babe Ruth's career walks record -- which has since been taken by Barry Bonds -- and broke Ty Cobb's career runs record in dramatic fashion, with a home run and a feet-first slide into home.

On the last day of the season, which happened to be Tony Gwynn's final big league game, Henderson got his 3,000th hit.

"I don't have certain things I've got to prove to baseball. I did everything in baseball that a young man or anybody in the major leagues dreamed of doing in the major leagues," said Henderson, considered the greatest leadoff hitter ever. "That ain't my issue. My issue is just playing the game and enjoying the game and wondering why you did so much in the major leagues and they won't give you the opportunity to finish up in the major leagues."

So why does Henderson, who made his big league debut in 1979, keep hanging around?

"I ain't hurt," he said. "You ask the guys who quit the game, they're hurt. Listen, I'm not aching. Tony Gwynn once told me he was aching so much, he said, 'Rickey, man, I want this jersey to be tore off me. My body's killing me.'

"My body feels great. I wake up in the morning, I don't feel pain. In spring training, we did some laps and a workout, and one of the older gentlemen said, 'Oh, tomorrow you're going to have aches and pains. I said, 'Tomorrow, If I have aches and pains, something's wrong with me. I'll wake up tomorrow, and Rickey feels so great, what is it, now?' I don't feel no aches and pains. My body's just made that way."

When he was asked by the Surf Dawgs equipment manager what size pants he wore, Henderson gave an answer that would make most 46-year-olds jealous -- 34.

"He's a freak of nature," said manager Terry Kennedy, a former big league catcher. "Cal Ripken was the same way. Deion Sanders. They're born with something that nobody else has."

Kennedy admitted that signing Henderson was part publicity stunt, but said he's impressed with his energy and work habits. Henderson still has a wide smile and a deep laugh. He helps pick up balls during batting practice and even hit grounders to infielders.

"I had an opportunity to use a couple of other big leaguers that wanted to play and I wasn't going to take them because they're done," Kennedy said.

Is Rickey done?

"I don't think I would ever say 'never' with him," said Padres general manager Kevin Towers, who signed Henderson twice. "He's a draw. People are going to come and see Rickey play. If anything, he can still steal a base, draw a walk."

Catcher Nick Guerra, 24, who's from nearby Chula Vista, said no one ribs Henderson about his age.

"I mean, shoot, the way he moves around, he makes us look bad," Guerra said. "He's still got the hop in his step. That's what's amazing. The guy's been playing as many years as I've been alive. At first it was just kind of, 'Oh my gosh, that's Rickey Henderson, I can't believe it.' Now he's out here acting like one of the guys, just out here enjoying the game."

The Surf Dawgs have been getting some laughs from the many Rickey stories that followed him through his 25-year big league career.

Like the time he boarded the Padres team bus in 1996 and was told players with tenure got to sit up front. His response: "Ten years? I guess they don't know I got 17 years."

Or the time he told a teammate that his house in Oakland was on top of a hill and had "like, a 370-degree view."

"He's just on a different astral plane than the rest of us," Kennedy said. "And you know what? Maybe we should all be there to be able to last as long as he does."

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Go Red Sox!

What do Trot Nixon and Michael Jackson have in common?
They both wear a glove on their right hand for no apparent reason!

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

A first grade teacher explains to her class that she is a Boston Red Sox fan. She asks her students to raise their hands if they were Red Sox fans, too. Not really knowing what a Red Sox fan was, but wanting to be like their teacher, hands explode into the air. There is, however, one exception. A girl named Lucy has not gone along with the crowd. The teacher asks her why she has decided to be different. "Because I'm not a Red Sox fan." "Then," asks the teacher, "what are you?" "Why I'm proud to be a Yankees fan.", boasts the little girl. The teacher is a little perturbed now, her face slightly red. She asks Lucy why she is a Yankees fan. "Well, My Dad and Mom are Yankees fans, and I'm a Yankees fan, too!" The teacher is now angry. "That's no reason," she says loudly. "What if your mom was a moron, and your dad was a moron, what would you be then?" A pause, and a smile. "Then," says Lucy, "I'd be a Red Sox fan."

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

Two boys are playing hockey on a pond in Central Park when one is attacked by a rabid Rottweiler. Thinking quickly, the other boy takes his stick, wedges it down the dog's collar and twists, breaking the dog's neck. A reporter who was strolling by sees the incident, and rushes over to interview the boy. "Young Rangers Fan Saves Friend from Vicious Animal," he starts writing in his notebook. "But I'm not a Rangers fan," the little hero replied. "Sorry, since we are in New York, I just assumed you were," said the reporter. "Yankees Fan Rescues Friend From Horrific Attack" he continued writing in his notebook. "I'm not a Yankees fan either," the boy said. "I assumed everyone in New York was either for the Rangers or Yankees. What team do you root for?" the reporter asked. "I'm a Red Sox fan," the child replied. The reporter starts a new sheet in his notebook and writes, "Little Bastard from Boston kills Beloved Family Pet."

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

Albert Einstein arrives at a party and introduces himself to the first person he sees and asks, "What is your IQ?"
The man answers, "241."
"That is wonderful!" says Albert. "We will talk about the Grand Unification Theory and the mysteries of the universe. We will have much to discuss!"
Next, Albert introduces himself to a woman and asks, "What is your IQ?"
The lady answers, "144."
"That is great!", says Albert, "We can discuss politics and current affairs. We will have much to discuss!".
Albert then goes to another person and asks, "What is your IQ?"
The person answers, "51."
Albert ponders this for a moment, and then smiles and says,
"GO RED SOX"!!

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Did you hear that Grady Little is having troubles mowing his lawn?
Yeah, he couldn't figure out how to pull the starter!

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Q: What do Don Zimmer and Grady Little have in common?
A: Neither one could take out Pedro when he should have!

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Little Johnny was in his fourth grade class when the teacher asked the children what their fathers did for a living. All of the typical answers came up -- fireman, policeman, salesman, etc.
Johnny was being uncharacteristically quiet and so the teacher questioned him about his dad. The boy hesitated, and finally said, "Well, my father's an exotic dancer in a gay cabaret, he takes off his clothes in front of other men. Sometimes, if the offer is really good, he'll go out to the back alley with some guy and give him a special show for money."
The teacher, obviously shaken, hurriedly sent the other children to work on some coloring and took Little Johnny aside to ask him, "Is this really true about your father?"
"No," said Johnny, "He plays for the Boston Red Sox, but I was too embarrassed to say so."

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A logic problem:

A person finds themselves locked in a room with the following:

a gun
two bullets
a rattlesnake
a bengal tiger
and, a Red Sox fan

What should that person do?









Shoot the Red Sox fan twice.

23 May 2005

ONES :
Pitch: Grandpa, Catch: Horfun, 1st: Rube, 2nd: Diana, 3rd: Generalissimo, SS: DT, OF: TK, TS, Swat, Cheetah

TWOS :
Pitch: Rickey, Catch: Yogi, 1st: Prof Zen, 2nd: Princess, 3rd: Sandman, SS: Boo Boo, OF: TH, Weixiong, Jason, Mary

Game 1 : ONES 16 : TWOS 6 (Mercy in 7)
Game 2 : ONES 13 : TWOS 5 (5 innings)

21 May 2005

ONES :
Pitch: Grandpa, 1st: Guppy, 2nd: Horfun, 3rd: Generalissimo, SS: DT, OF: Tk, Andy, Swat, Jason

TWOS :
Pitch: Marvelous, 1st: Rickey, 2nd: Princess, 3rd: JoZ, SS: TH, OF: TK, Weixiong, Rube, Diana

Game 1: ONES 17 : TWOS 16

Buddha's Birthday Pie and Ball

Monday, 23 May 2005, 10 am.

I've preordered 30 steak and guinness and 12 blueberry.
We'll probably need more, but the main order should be steak and guinness.
We'll make the final orders on Monday morning.

PLEASE COME EVEN IF IT RAINS. Cos the pies are coming no matter what.

Lunch will be served about 1.30-2pm, so those of you who's significant others are coming, please tell them to head to Joe's.

If you can't make it for ball but would like to join us at Joe's for lunch, please sms me with your orders.

Chris

Party At Rubes

There will be a party at Rube's after ball today to celebrate his step towards death from alcohol abuse.
All are invited. Pizza will be served, BYOB.

Public Holiday Softball

Dear All:
This coming Monday is a public holiday. For now we will plan on playing in the morning (10:30), but can discuss it on the field on Saturday. Check the blog on Sunday for the settled on time if you miss the game on Saturday.

See you
Rickey

Scenes from the past

Oh How they teach their young