Rants from the Dugout

Night of Web Gems

06/01/2007

It wasn't real hard to get excited for this weeks games knowing who our opponent was going to be. How could you not get "juiced"(appropriate choice of words), for a game against the Ragin Roid Heads from Spice Enterprises. The Thing is truly one of the single most annoying players in all of the state. So sticking a thumping to him is high on the list of to do's for the season. I think we may have to make the annual pumping our new Homecoming. Just something to think about. Oh, I digress. Now where the hell was I, oh yeah, Thursday nights games. We had to travel up to McKinley, yet again, for two against the Fantastic 12. I was greeted by our league rep Mr Kaeding. I do like this guy because he is approachable and a nice guy. He asked me if there was any problems I had with our league. I had to ask him, What the f*%k are we doing playing half the season at these sh*t holes when we have been in the league for 9 years? And his answer both angered me but didn't surprise me. His response was, "The schedule is Reino's thing?" Everytime I think I am moving further away from that moron, he pulls us me back in. So my complaint is filed and put on notice for our 10th Anniversary season next year. Now lets get to the action.

I have to start by saying two things. One, I am a dipsh&t for forgetting my spikes, only to be saved by ET, Thanks buddy. And secondly, Rodacker, AWESOME job on the uniforms! If we can play as sharp as the jerseys are, we should run the table in league from here on out. With that in mind, we went out and layed an egg in the first game. If not for the steady pitching of Donnie C, our stellar defense, and some clutch hitting, we would have taken one on the chin. Once again, it was the bottom half of the order doing the damage. In the 2nd, Jim led off with his second triple of the year. We should be embarrassed letting a 40 year old lead our team in triples. That was followed by singles by Barry, Miffy, Braden and Jason R. After all of that it was 2-0. In the fifth they would get a run back, but we would counter with runs by Mike K, who was on with a triple of his own, and singles again by Braden and Jason R. From there we would tighten the defense and let Donnie C coast to a 4-1 victory. I can't effing believe what I saw, a 4-1 victory in slow pitch softball. To sweeten the victory even further, Randy did us all the honor of seeing what it looks like to strikeout swinging. I've always said, pink is your color.

After a pep talk phone call from Sabe, we were ready to seal the deal and end the night early on these pups. We would strike first on a single by Donnie, who would later score on singles by ET and Andy. In the 2nd we would erupt for 6 runs with steady, timely hitting and a triple by Donnie. We would putz out from there and fire up the annual Hog Palace snow ball fight. Snake decided it was too easy to turn a double play up the middle, and would throw it to Randy in left center. Balls were taking funny hops, throws weren't on the mark and when the snow melted, they plated 7 runs. Granted they hit the ball, but they sure hit it weakly. We entered the 5th down by 3, and had had enough crap. We would score 4 in the 5th and 3 in the 7th to take a 4 run lead into the bottom of the 7th. We rolled them over 1-2-3 for the 14-10 victory.

Some players had a stellar night at the plate. We were led by Jason R who went 5-5 overall. Barry, Jim, Donnie, ET, Braden, and Miffy also contributed solid nights at the plate. Even those who struggled still hit the ball hard and put it into play. That would be all except the Anvil's one at bat which he STRUCK OUT SWINGING! i'm gonna dig that knife in good.

So our record is now 6-0 in league, and after the bad inning in the second game you would think I would have some criticisms to dish out. But I will say that our infield played the best I've seen in a long time. Specifically, Andy showed me the best shortstop play since the days of Dammon with two good shoulders. He was stabbing balls in the hole, coming out of nowhere to intercept line drives, and was on the money all night with his throws. We turned 4 double plays up the middle, a new team record. Barry's play shows me that we have added depth to a deep infield. And to think, we played like this without Sabe and Dammon. We have always had a deep outfield, now we are deep at all 11 positions. The lineup will be shaking up over the next few weeks, as we expect people to be gone for various functions. But for the first time in years, we have the people to plug in and keep the Hog Palace Machine ROLLING! I think we have picked a good year to play a state tournament. Begore I forget, CONGRATULATIONS to Dammon and his new bride. I am one who never thought you ever be married when I first met you. Again, congrats!

Next week we are back at NDSU where we belong. It is also RibFest, so ball, beer and bones. What's not to like? We better rip through Hohenstein Brothers Masonry because quite simply, we got sh*t to do! See you at the yard, Meat!