Rants from the Dugout

This Team Never Ceases to Amaze Me

06/11/2005

History has shown that once the Skipper is not around this team falls apart. To be quite honest with you, I was having doubts that we would even play against Reeb’s on Thursday due to the fact that we wouldn’t have enough players show up by game time. Boy, was I ever wrong.

I showed up a little before six to find that there were already six people at the diamond with their game faces on. As time went by, every single Hog Palace member that could be at the game was accounted for, with the exception of Sugar Shane who did show up for his regular paparazzi duties. We even got some extra help, as E.T. brought along Neil from the Fightin’ Blueballs. Who would have thought that it would be Reeb’s who was shorthanded as they took the field with only 8 players. And those eight people put up one hell of a fight.

The first game started with the Good Guys at bat. Randy knocked in Jeff off of one of his two crucial clutch triples of the series, to let the Hog Palace take the lead at 1-0. After letting these punks score a couple of runs, the men in black put up five more runs in the second to take the lead at 6-2. The third inning will go down in history. The pitcher from Reeb’s, with his flat pitches, managed to ring up three guys with strikeouts. Jeff, Barry and Stucker, thanks for the beer. In the middle of all the strikeouts, Randy and Tommy managed to score off of hits by Mike, Miffy and Matt, to take an even further six run lead. Then the bottom of the third came. We let these bastards score seven runs off of us, most of which were from them hitting our gaps and overall bad fielding and throwing on our part. We always have one bad inning a week, and this was it. E.T. scored in the fourth to tie the game at nine, and Dammon became the fourth victim to fall to the flat pitches with another strikeout. To my count, that’s 96 cans of beer (roughly 72 lbs.). From there the game was even until the last inning. With the score tied at 11 a piece, Dammon scored off of hits by Randy and Tommy, marking the final run of the game. The Hog Palace held them off in the bottom of the seventh to win this one. Good Guys 12 – Bad Guys 11.

That game was too close for comfort. We were hoping the second wasn’t as close. After a little breather, Slurvy took the mound for game two and let 4 runs come across the plate. The Hog Palace answered back with one measly stinking run, to make the score 4-1 after one full inning of play. The second inning was much like the first with Reeb’s scoring another 4 runs. Could the Hog Palace answer back? Nope, it was 1-2-3 with Mike, Miffy and Matt going to sit back on the bench. As if an 8-1 lead wasn’t enough for Reeb’s, they put 2 more runs on the board in the top of the third. Okay, this crap is starting to get old. The bottom of the third for the Hog Palace was much like the bottom of the third in the first game. However, it was the Hog Palace who was scoring all the runs. Everyone had at least one at bat in the third with the men in black scoring 9 runs to cut Reeb’s lead down to one, with a score of 11-10. That’s more like it. After letting another two runs come across the plate, the Hog Palace finally gained the lead in the bottom of the fourth with runs by Neil, Slurvy, Sabe and Jeff. The lead would be all theirs until the last inning. With the score 14-13, we somehow allowed Reeb’s to score six runs, which most came with them having two outs. Things looked bleak as we started the bottom of the seventh down by five runs. Slurvy, who was red-hot, going 4-5 so far this series, started the inning off with yet another single. Slurvy scored off of singles by Dammon, Sabe and Jeff. Randy would clear the bases with his second crucial triple of the evening, taking Reeb’s lead down to one. Tommy hit a short hit to the infield, but the ball ended up being bobbled and he was able to beat it out and get on base. That is why we run everything out, folks. E.T. came up to the plate and knocked it over the wall in centerfield to take the game in grand fashion. Final score: Good Guys 21 – Bad Guys 19.

As a team, we pulled through to get two close wins, even without our coach. I would like to thank the twins, Dammon and Sabe, for stepping up to the managerial role for our team in his absence. This team has had a bad history of forfeiting games without Donnie, and without one of our mainstays, Chad, our situation seemed worse. Thankfully, this team pulled together and put runs up on the board when they were needed most.

I would also like to thank Neil for coming out and joining our team for the week. Although he is not listed in the stats, he went 2-5 with a double and a triple, plus he scored two runs. Finally thank you E.T. for hitting the game winning homerun and for allowing me to score in the first game so I could cross the plate for the first time of the season after playing seven games.

We have Holiday Inn/Mick’s Office on the horizon. I am hoping for another great turnout next week, as we lay a beatdown on these punks. Last year we outscored them 23-7, and I won’t expect anything less from this team.

See you at the yard, Meat.

Jason