Temperature in the low 80’s, “Feels like” temperature in the mid to upper 80’s. Just a splendid night for two! I can’t think of any reason the stands wouldn’t be full tonight. Neill (a.k.a. SFRC Park), two games, beverages….
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Temperature in the low 80’s, “Feels like” temperature in the mid to upper 80’s. Just a splendid night for two! I can’t think of any reason the stands wouldn’t be full tonight. Neill (a.k.a. SFRC Park), two games, beverages…. It was plenty toasty by game time (85 degrees). 85 degrees = POBB (Plenty O’ Bag Balm). The ball was carrying a bit in the humidity. We had a full squad of 12 leaders, but by 10pm we were two leaders crossing home short from going 0-0-2 for the evening. Nonetheless, we had a sold out FRC crowd of five fans. Game 1 vs. Speedy Turtles (1st Place) The SFRC came out swinging and scoring. A quick five runs put the 1st Place Speedy Turtles on their heels. Matty smoked a line drive that went off the pitcher’s knee. This became a theme for the evening. The SFRC buzzed the pitcher at least six times thoughout the game. We are still hoping they kids don’t think that was intentional. Being the seasoned veterans that we are, we were not prepared for the arms from the outfield. We were thrown out on the basepaths at least twice. “Red” may have cheated us out of the last inning calling time after the sixth. This happened to be exactly when the FRC were planning to make their move. Such is life on Neill Field B. This simply would not have happened on Neill Field A (a.k.a. SFRCP). Final Score: Speedy Turtles 10 – SFRC 9 (one leader crossing the plate away from a tie) Game 1 Highlights: 1. Lars with a “Play of the Day” catch in left. He even managed to keep his ribs in check. 2. Mikey’s bomb to right-center
Game 2 vs. Team Ziegler (Last Place) For some reason known only to the softball gods and Him, the FRC have always struggled against the last place Team Ziegler. The gimp was on the mound for Team Ziegler. The FRC struggled to put hits together. They didn’t have their typical “post-Memorial Day two out rally” or their “post-Memorial Day bat around the lineup one inning” rallies and scratched and clawed their way to eight runs for the game. Team Ziegler wasn’t too much better. “Wasn’t too much better” does still mean they were better and SFRC took their second loss of the night. The first two game “0’fer” in the post-Memorial Day season. Final score: Team Ziegler 9 – SFRC 8 (again, one leader crossing the plate away from a tie) Game 2 Highlights: 1. Brain’s backhand stop at third and bullet to 1st for an out 2. The gimp hitting into a 1-4-3 double play. If the gimp were a RC, he’d be bringing a 12-pack in two weeks.
LAST OUT (owing beverages in two weeks): Game 1 = Paht, formerly known as 2-4 Game 2 = Matty – Taking after our very own Mr. Clutch on us with an F7 (just missing by the way)
Night: Again, Mrs. H out. It was the first evening of the season a third baseman of record didn’t have to go with the flanel or burlap lined cup to produce balm. The FRC continue to struggle with Mayo onsite (MWC courtesy of Lars). As always, we would prefer to go 0’fer the season and have Mayo.
Fan of the Game: There were many to choose from to be sure. After an early charge by Speedy Turtles, Senior (for fetching all the HR and foul balls) Ol’ # 8 prevailed. Good to see TO again. And THANKS to all the other fans who found time for an evening of memories, Blizzard’s in hand. Flashback of the evening: Midnight babushka from passerby at Lac Lavon, circa 1999? Neill, Field B finally closed it down around midnight. Hello, Mr. Early Thursday morning. Gorgeous night for two! Upper 70’s, mostly sunny. Slight breeze blowing in from the north (on Lac Lavon Field F that is blowing in from left field). Game 1 vs. Old Chicago (7th Place) We had a few late shows for opening pitch of Game #1. We can blame that on SAP I hear. Old Chicago brought a slightly different squad with them than the one the FRC’s had seen before. We didn’t have significant film on the full lineup and it showed. The sun was shining directly in CW’s face and the batters knew it. Three straight deep balls to right-center. It was impossible to get a jump on the ball. After allowing three runs in the top half of the first, the SFRC hung tough. We never had a breakout inning and the ball felt like a moist bag all night. In the end it was an 8-6 game in the bottom of the 7th. Big Mike was on with two outs and 3-5 at the dish. Mr. Clutch weakly fouled one off to the right of first base in a brutal attempt to go to right field. On the next pitch Mr. Clutch (previous defined as first inning, up 14 runs, nothing on the line) hit an F8 to end the game. The third game ending AB of this season for 3-5. SFRC lost 8-6. Thanks Mr. Clutch. Game 2 vs. Lucky’s 13 / La Fondas (6th Place) Everybody’s favorite pitcher was on the bump for the opposition. Two weeks ago the FRC got in his head and toyed with him all night on their way to a 20-13 win. June 18th’s game didn’t have the same run production. We had Pub Krull taking advantage of the extra time in the film room for most of the game stealing hits left and right. Sans kept the pace of the game quick. The FRC did manage to push 12 runs and allowed mostly bloop hits. Many of those hits should have been tracked down by a shortstop with any kind of range. The ump was clearly on our side as Mr. B/Pitcher was mouthing off all game. This resulted in a few gift calls. In the end, the FRC won 12-5, but the key play of the game was Sans throwing his, as Big Mike phrased, “offspeed pitch” to strike out Mr. B/Pitcher. Love it. Do you think they have a website? Last out (owing beverages next week): Game 1 =35 on a game ending F8 with the game on the line Game 2 = little jc on a forceout at second Night: Just a gorgeous night for two games. The Miracle Whip cooler made a return (along with two other coolers AND ice!!!). The FRC went 1-1 on the evening. JoAnn was the fan of the game, yet again, and stuck it out afterwards for some refreshments. “little jc” had it going all night, as did Sans. I believe Sans only got out once at the plate. Of course he was forced out at two on a single (make that a fielders choice) to left field. Flashback of the evening: “Hey Red, you mean NOTHING to me!” It didn’t look like it was going to happen for much of the day. The rain was coming down aggressively all day. But the FRC were going to play. It wasn’t going to rain on their parade. Not on His watch. It went from raining, windy and cool at 5:45pm to no rain, calm and plenty humid by 6:01pm. A good night for TWO! A good night for BALM. Game 1 vs. Bumpers (2nd place) The post Memorial Day SFRC’s had their sticks ready. Lots of hits and lots of runs with two outs. The game was back and forth with the FRC holding a lead the entire game. The lineup was solid all the way through. Pub Krull hit his third double of the year and He created some runs. The FRC were not given too many outs, the ball was just hit hard all over the field. A big win for the FRC. Final = 18-14, I believe. Let’s hope “skin & play’s” arm is okay. The last toss of the game for him looked painful. And remember, nobody, at any level, hits more clutch HRs than 3-5. And to be clear, we are defining clutch as “first inning,” “up 14 runs,” “nothing on the line,” etc. Game 2 vs. H-Bombs (3rd place) With the sun doing very little to keep the field lit and the City of Burnsville saving money on electricity by not activating the lights until 7:59pm, it was dark. “Like nightime in Alaska” as 2’s put it. But the darkness didn’t stop the FRC bats. More hits with no outs, one out and two outs. More runs consistently. The Brain had a bounty on the pitcher, which their 2-bag did not appreciate. When the second baseman shifted over second base after four hits up the middle, Brain calmly placed it where the second baseman should have been playing, for another hit. Clearly the H-Bombs do not spend enough time in the film room. That has revolutionized the FRC defense over the past few years. Anymore, if you want to compete in the Burnsville D/E Recreational league, you need to invest in the technology to watch film in January. This was evident by Krull’s catch in short right-center, Brain’s game ending grab at third and the line drive caught at short. Those plays were made in January….’06. They were just executed last night. NOTE: Worth mentioning we missed Lars and the Miracle Whip cooler. We had three FRC’s bring refreshments and nary an ice cube between them. ALSO WORTH NOTING: We are 3-0 without the MWC (Miracle Whip cooler) present. Personally, 3-5 will take the .500 record with MWC onsite vs. the 3-0 record without the MWC every day of the week, and twice on Wednesday. The SFRC checked the calendar, noticed it was post-Memorial Day and got after it in Game 1. Hits came with no outs, hits came with one out and, in typical PMD (post-Memorial Day) fashion for the FRC, hits came with two outs. Even Walt couldn’t get us to stop hitting. The starting pitcher for Lucky 13’s / LaFonda’s tried to pull out all of the junk early in the game. Knuckle balls, pitches with back spin, standing and throwing from the side of the mound, fake pitching, etc. were all thrown to the PMDSFRC (post-Memorial Day Skyline Fighting Red C’s). Per the norm, the FRC’s just swung away. Hit after hit after hit. There weren’t too batters that reached base on errors. Most of the base runners had legitimate hits. There were some winded base-runners throughout the game. With Kurt up and Sans at first, #4 hit a shot down the left-field line. Sans started motoring and kept going. CP made a good point, I think #0 thought Walt and the FRC bench was yelling “Fall Ball,” in reference to having our coach and manager sign us up for the fall league. Really, we were really FOUL ball. Easy mistake. In the end the FRC tallied 27 runs and won on the 15-run rule 27-10, I believe. Game 2 vs. Varmit’s didn’t go as well. The sun came out and Lars showed up. After scoring 27 runs in the first game, the FRC only managed four in the second game. The FRC never play VP very well. It may have to do with the fact that we are a high energy, high paced team. The VP does everything in slow motion. The FRC took it on the chin and lost 5-4. We don’t blame Lars though. Anytime the Miracle Whip cooler is in hand, Lars is welcome. Take care of those ribs! Overall it was a gorgeous night for two. Some may say it was “Mrs. H” out. NOTE: If you are wondering where “Mrs. H” comes from…It is the introduction to the old TV show “Heart to Heart.” The Opening Narrative…”This is my boss, Jonathan Hart, a self-made millionaire. He’s quite a guy. This is Mrs. H, she’s gorgeous. What a terrivic lady. By the way, my name’s Max. I take care of ’em, which ain’t easy, ’cause their hobby is murder.” You can watch it here: |