Cool Sunday, anything but cool game :-0

rogergoehring
Mar 8, 2021
4 min read

Fellow Stickballers,

Wow, what a game it was, not without its controversy - but hey, what the heck, it is 'pre-season' and we're all getting in shape for opening day, physically and mentally. To paraphrase a wise Yogi: '90% of the game is mental, the other half is physical'. It ALMOST got physical ... ;-)

One returning player to the game today and continuing the trend, playing as if they never missed a step, spraying his hits across the field, going 7/8 at the plate - welcome back Sam!!! We had a great turnout of 16 participants overall on the day as Barb and Duke joined the fray towards the end of the game.

----- ‘Slickers ’ taking on the ‘Kawasakis’ ----

Slickers – Denis, Norm, Max, Steve, Carol, John, Bob S., Keith

Kawasakis – Edsel, Sam (I AM, the Man), and Dave, Roger, Bob L., Manny, Gordon, Barb

Scorer: Denis (more than just your scorkeep) Euchre

Relief Pitching provided by the Duke! El Duc Ay...

Teams having been established and practice swings allowed before each first at bat, it looked like a massacre as the first two Slickers innings “Maxed” out at 5 runs apiece again, reminiscent of the last game. Yes, Max once again hitting 2 HRs in the first twinning - one of which was the longest I've seen going way beyond the AUTOMATIC - kiss that baby good-bye (which we may have as the sewer claimed one ball today ...). Keith contributing 1 HR again shadowing that Friday free for all! The entire team was on fire, finding the holes or forcing errors as Carol among others contributed singles and a John a triple after Denis's lead off triple. Following up on the Slickers performance, the home Kawasakis Did little to even the score as Roger drove in half of the 4 runs with singles, Bob L. and Gordon getting the other 2 leaving a great divide of 10 to 4 after one twinning played.

Kawasaki did little to stymie the Slickers second twinning which saw many a double and a Norm triple rack up ANOTHER max 5 inning in the third and finally slowing down to 2 in the 4th. And their half of the twinning produced a measly run!

The next twinning, however; tightened up the game a bit as the Slickers were held to 4 more. The home twinning was not without a controversial rule 'interpretation' bargained for with the score keeper. Down a whopping 20 to10 Bob L. talked Kawasaki (and Denis) into continuing after 'MAX RUN' scoring (and this is where discussions got interesting to say the least ;-) which only led to 2 extra runs but 'flustrated' the Slickers who insisted that the Saki's had 3 innings, which was somewhat true, although the 6th inning produced no runs what so ever. Frustrated as the Slickers were they finished with only one more run and Kawasaki came back strong in the 7th (using their MAX 5 inning rule for the 7th ;-) to make the score look a respectable 21 to 16 even though the game was not that close - ever ... :-0 Some nice relief pitching provided by Duke who stopped in to spectate and couldn't help but take a few swings and join in pitching. Some great hitting displayed as well.

Some great defensive plays. Roger practiced his patented HR robbing one hand grab against a Duke practice shot destined for near automatic status. Many a robbed HR as Max and Steve covered the Slicker outfield. while the front line of Keith/Bob S./Norm and John made life tough for the Kawasaki's early innings. Barb playing front line of defense earning her MVP status on the day after contributing 2 doubles and a Single to come to the aide of the 'Saki's - send in the cavalry!! Bob L. is still in a dream state fielding like a pro but has not gone back to sleep to dream about those glorious hits ... he did put the ball in play just couldn't find the holes.

HOME RUNS: Roger(plus batting for the cycle IN order! Career first!), Norm, MAX (2! and wore his feet out), Keith, Manny (2!, one grand slam controversial over max inning ;-) TRIPLES: Denis, John (catching Manny by surprise), Keith, Bob S. (hitting the ball hard all day slightly foul ), Sam (co-MVP performance first time back, 2 Doubles and 3 singles to boot!), Roger, Norm (plus 5 singles!)

DOUBLES: Barb (2! plus a single in MVP performance), Roger, Sam, John (2! and a single), Steve (3! with a single going 4 /5 with a fly out hit well!), Denis (plus 3 singles), Edsel!

SINGLES: Bob L. (lone single awake from a dream, though he was robbed of a triple),

the entire Slikers all contributed many a single - notably Carol with 3 in a row

to start the game, while the Saki's all had at least singles especially strung together in a rally. [update: Gordon (3!) – one in the big rally inning, stats listed to keep his fans happy ;-)]

**** FINAL: ‘City Slickers' – 21,

‘Kuwa-suckees’ - 16 ****

Quote of the Day – “Batter UP!!”

Honorable mention: “We are so far behind we can ignore the 5 run Max on innings"-

thanks Denis (we don't owe you, we already paid you ;-)