Goodbye 2008

There's been a Bob Faust sighting.

Bob was a Duck during the "Red Scare" years of 2005-2006. Before the 2007 season he ran away to California to find inner-peace, but came back because that state is infested with hippies. My dates might be wrong, but I know he led the team in times hit by pitch one year and played as hard as anyone on a bad team, which is not easy to do.

Bob introduced KT Murphy, Chris Roth, and Brett Pusateri to the Ducks. When Chris and Brett are healthy and present they are capable of putting up MVP type numbers. KT has been one of the most important, dependable Ducks during his two year stint in South Oakland winner of the 2008 Duck of the year, and the most improved Duck in 2007. Thanks, Bob, you have an eye for talent.


#99, Robert Faust is a Solid human being who hated losing all those games as much as I did. As the South Oakland Ducks founder and team blogger I would like to welcome him back to a winning team.

Team of Destiny 2009.

Quack.

Happy Holidays

It's about time for me to start getting ready for the upcoming season. I told myself I'd take off until January then start retooling my swing so it looks nothing like the picture in Ben Sorosky's blog.
Which is fantastic and you can read by if you follow this link



Ducks News: Highly touted free-agent pitcher Jeremy Barchie is on the fence.


The much sought after former Raker, has narrowed his choice to either the Ducks or playing alongside his friend Ben Sorosky for the Gray Bats.

The choice is basically to play 100% of the time for a team that will finish around .500 and figures to lose a lot of 3-1 games, or to play maybe b75% of the time for a team that will win 83-99% of its games.

It's an interesting predicament. To be a large piece of the puzzle that puts a team over the top, and into the front-running for the championship, or to be the addition to the Gray Bats (a team laking depth, defense and offense and currently has little premier talent (that I know of) other than Sorosky) that makes that team at least competitive two out of every three games it plays.

There is something to be said for competitive balance, and wither way the Ducks wish Jeremy the best of luck in 2009, whether he's part of the 2009 Champion Ducks or not.


If you come back to South Oakland, Jeremy, #4 is all yours,
and Red Man.


(profanity in this video)

"We're after the gold and after that the platinum"

There's been a Matt Swetz sighting.

Quack.

Winter Baseball

Buy Ducks stuff for everyone you know this holiday season, it's not too late.
I have done nothing to enhance the store, which I wanted to do, but I recommend buying a sweet Ducks hoodie or golf shirt and supporting our team while also providing a gift for someone you know and care about on some level. Or buy yourself something with the money you may or may not receive for whatever Pagan holiday you will celebrate this winter.


Go to the league site for info on winter ball

I played winter ball last year, it was fun. One night a week from Jan-March.

PGH NABA players will receive discounts at a few local indoor facilities this winter, I'll have more specifics on this at some point (or you can contact the league office at pittsburghnaba@yahoo.com) and Coach Theodore Jones will email everyone about spring training at one of these facilities.

The Winter Meeting s will be held on January 11th at an undisclosed location (bar) in the greater Pittsburgh area.

The A and AA divisions idea will most likely be shelved.

I think pre-season tournament would be fun.... A fun way for the Ducks to display our dominance as early as May.

I expect a handful of new faces in South Oakland, attached to heads full of baseball wit and killer instinct, who will play key roles in our quest to reclaim the championship.

Our goal is to dethrone the Owls like Claudius, only without all poisoning and stabbing--in a literal sense anyway.

Opening Day is only approximately four months and ten days away.

The blog will pick up again when I have anything worth mentioning, expect a grandiose season preview. I'll contact other managers to give their own thoughts on their teams and use that stuff against them later in the season.

"Scrooged" is the best Christmas movie of all time.
"Ghostbusters" is the second best.

Quack.


read my steelers blog

Alabama Getaway

So much for the Crimson Tide.

Here's a link to a fascinating article
and a youtube clip



May the four winds blow you safely home.

Quack.

Roll Tide! My Plan for League Realignment

Garrett Moore, backup catcher, outfielder, prophet

Maybe you've gone through a phase where you frequently bet on college football, maybe you are just a fan of the great state of Alabama, either way Garrett Moore's early season prediction of the Crimson Tide's dominance must seem somewhat surreal, maybe a little bit frightening.

Among other things, Moore spent time between Blues game's this past Labor Day weekend in Virginia shouting, "roll tide", after winning a hefty sum on the 'Bama, Clemson game that weekend, and now the University of Alabama has a shot at getting a shot at the national title, should they defeat #4 Florida this weekend. What an exciting game, kind of like the Ducks vs. Rakers season finale. We need to do more to make these kind of exciting games possible in the Pittsburgh NABA.

With the College Bowl Season right around the corner, and the only NABA news, revolving around how to improve the structure of the divisions, and make the league more inviting to potential players, I have come up with an idea I think will improve the level of competition and simplify things, a bit, i call it, Ben's Competition Standardization, or BCS for short.

Here's how it works, first all the teams need to have a town, borough or city in their name, and then we take what I assume will be 16 teams (if the current rate of expansion holds true) and put them in four, four-team divisions based on their location. So we have the 16 teams, last season's 12, plus the Gray Bats, and these 3 imaginary teams: The Grove City Grave Diggaz!, the South Side Brewers, and the Bloomfield Blue Sox...

Now we rank these teams in the pre-season based on last years finish, not taking the divisions into account
1. Owlz
2. Warriors
3. Black SOx
4. Oilers
5. Ducks
6. Bull Dogs (yeah, I know)
7. Grounds Keeper Willies (rakers)
8. Hotel California's
9. Matadors
10. Hurricane Carter's
11. Phantoms
12. The Confederacy

13. Gray Bats
14. Grave Diggaz!
15. Blue Sox
16. Brewers

Now after each week, we have the managers and the media rank these teams. "What Media?", you might ask. Well there would be some overlap, as most blogs are run by managers, and I guess Joe at the Bull Dogs Blog wouldn't be able to vote since he's the comissioner, and he's a cheater . And no one will be around to run the Grounds Keeper Willie's blog since Sorosky left for the Ducks, I mean Larry's future 10-14 Gray Bats ( I give you eight wins next year Sorosky, get used to Steve Carlton references). So some folks will get two votes and some teams will start blogs just to get a chance to vote in the media polls, but that shouldn't matter too much. the other part of the rankings system will be based on a computer formula no one really understands, and will depend on margin of victory, strength of schedule, opponents strength of schedule and a team's opponents' opponents' strength of schedule, plus wins and losses.

We will then take a composite ranking, basically the mean of the coach's poll, media poll and the computer rankings, and at the end of the season the top two teams will play for the championship, the third and fourth ranked teams and the fifth and sixth seeded teams will also play for the right to call themselves champions of their respective series'. Then we have the rest of the teams play in post season games that mean absolutely nothing.

This allows for teams like the Bull Dogs and Oilers (the Oilers are my sleeper team to come out of the Allegheny this year as the will probably pick up a couple defectors from the Warriors.) , who play in the weak division to pile up wins against The Hurricanes, Phantoms, and Matadors, and knock out teams like last year's Rakers who will probably lose close games to better teams.

With this formula, teams will have to run up the score, so naturally this gives the defending champs the best shot at becoming the first repeat champions in the league's six years.

I guess that's basically it, there will be divisions that mean nothing,a team in an extremely weak division can go undefeated and it will not matter, and if a team has a great record but loses to good teams due to playing in the toughest conference, they will be punished for playing in that conference while a Big Ten team gets desrtoyed in the championship. So the best way to secure a bid in the championship is to assemble a very good, not necessarily dominant team, and play in a pretty good conference, but not the toughest conference because that would just lead to unnecessary loses.

It may seem like this would prevent the two best teams from playing each other, but it will make the regular season so much more exciting. Just imagine, the Ducks, Black Sox game in the second week of the season will basically be for the right to go to the BCS Championship.

Quack.

Wednesday Night

This feature seems like it may have some upside, should I not be able to find a baby sitter


Report: Many U.S. Parents Outsourcing Child Care Overseas

This is important


In The Know: Are Our Children Learning Enough About Whales?

Whales

Preliminary Meetings Sparsely Attended

Duck Profile of the Week

Black Scooter (Melanitta nigra americana)

Average length: M 19.7", F 18.5
Average weight: M 2.5 lbs., F 2.2 lbs.

Description: Black scoters are among the most vocal of waterfowl species.

Males: Male black scoters are entirely black except for a yellow protuberance on the base of the bill and the gray lower surface of the flight feathers. The legs and feet are dusky and the iris is brown.

Females: Female black scoters are dark brown with light whitish cheeks, chin and throat, which contrast with a dark crown. The legs and feet are dusky and the iris is brown.


Breeding: In North America, black scoters breed in western and southern Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and scattered areas in central and eastern Canada, including southern Keewatin, northern Quebec, and Newfoundland. They also are found (and may breed) from southern Yukon and Mackenzie east to Labrador and Newfoundland. Black scoters prefer to nest in large clumps of tundra grass and lay 8 to 9 eggs.

Migrating and Wintering: Major wintering areas for black scoters include the Pacific coast from the Pribilof and Aleutian Islands to southern California, the Great Lakes, and the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to South Carolina.

Population: Numbers of wintering scoters of all three species along the Atlantic coast have shown a gradual, but non-significant, decline between 1954 and 1994. However, available population data are generally inadequate for reliable determination of a population trend.

Food habits: Black scoters dive to feed on mollusks, crustaceans, and small fishes found in marine and freshwater habitats. Their diet also includes small amounts of eelgrass, muskgrass, widgeon grass, pondweeds, and algae found in inland habitats.

***

Apologies for the long time between posts, God bless you if you're still checking the site with baited breath for my next post. I've been busy writing for very little money for a corporate blog I have no interest in promoting at this time, and about the Steelers,
and as my free time has diminished, it has been filled with non Ducks Blog writing.

Nothing of consequence occurred at the first meeting, there were no Ducks in attendance.
The goal is to put the league in the best position to grow, this will be the big picture theme of the January Meetings.

My next post will be my proposal for radical change to the Pittsburgh NABA format.

Winter Meetings, Off-Season Frost

The first round of Winter Meetings will take place Sunday November 23rd, at noon.

Sunday, November 23rd.

here is the official transcript of the email the league president sent to team representatives and other interested parties.
I have to work all day and can't make it.

12:00 (noon) - 1:00pm - Be on Time, and we leave on time. I'm starting at noon!

Dave Kirilloff's Baseball Training Academy

6522 Steubenville Pike

Pittsburgh, PA 15205

412 788-7800

www.baseballtrainingacademy.com

Agenda:

• Open 2009 Executive Positions
  
• 2009 Budget Information
• 2009 Permit Information
  
• Announcement of Winter Indoor Partnershipss & League Discounts
  
• 2009 Divisional Format Discussion / League Growth (45 minutes)

We will wrap this discussion in January of 2009, when I will make my final decision on this. This is the meeting to attend to get your thoughts and opinions heard!

A solid idea for realignment was proposed by Ben Sorosky, of the expansion Gray Bats.
His idea was just to keep everything as it is, (no A and AA divisions) but to simply pull all the team names out of a hat and align the divisions accordingly. Sounds good to me, no hurt feelings and it would give every one a chance to play some different teams more often.


The Reality of the situation is the best way to level the playing field would be to put all the league's players in the free agent pool and have a draft among the team managers, perhaps protecting a few players on current rosters like the expansion draft. This would never fly, though. I (and I'm sure I'm not alone here) wouldn't want to lose the teammates I've had for the past few seasons, and OwlZ manager, Rob Cool would probably shit himself if his roster of Mexican Winter League players, and local American Legion all-stars was compromised.

For better or worse, recruiting, and luck (in drafting unknown players, or in running into a random guy who used to pitch in the minors) are as imprtant as anything and managers and teams that are the best connected to good players have the most success. This greatly impacts the experience of new players entering the league, guys who want to play are randomly placed on a team and how well their abilities and outlook on the game mesh with that of their coach and teammates dictates how much they enjoy the league.

It's important everyone is on the same page, not everyone wants to win at all costs, and not everyone wants to take a turn on the bench in the name of getting all the players in the game some of whom may not be very good, but deserve every opportunity to play.

Managers need to communicate with incoming players to make sure everyone is satisfied with the direction and make-up of their team.

There will be teams that don't have a chance of winning their divisions, or a championship because they simply don't have the firepower. The Ducks were in this situation for a couple of years and it was brutal.

Anyway, the league is in the best shape of its life, and I'm glad to be a part of it. To have been around from its inception and see it flourish around me has been somewhat surreal.

I still think it is important to cater to the players who wouldn't be able to play anywhere else, mostly because of my own situation and increased responsibilities which do not allow me to practice as much as I'd like. I've always been a grinder who has relied on working harder, and playing harder than anyone else to succeed. I can't control my natural abilities or lack thereof, but I can control how hard I work, how many reps I take in the cage, etc.--That's my cliche for the day.

Sarah Connor Chronicles Update...

I love Sci-Fi and Satire, and time travel stories, the Terminator Series is wonderful in its almost campy perpetuation of the Terminator story, which acts as if the ill-advised terminator III movie never occurred.

Anyway, after a solid first season, the plot has slowed to a crawl. John Connor is about to have sex with the hot, female terminator, and the episode two weeks ago that attempted a rather po-mo, Pulp Fiction-esque story telling of a trip to Mexico of whatever it was, didn't quite work.

Things better start coming together; what's up with that chick form the future who is probably a saboteur, and is doing John's uncle from the future. How long before the ex-FBI agent realizes the red head is a robot, and why all the dream sequences, seriously.

The last six episodes seem to be recycling the obvious theme of blurring the line between the robots and humans, and John Conner's coming of age story and his struggle to be a normal kid and the savior of the world at the same time. I get it, now perpetuate the plot in a timely manner if you please.


Anyway,

I'm reading Something Happened, by Joseph Heller. It is terrific.

Quack, Quack.

Who needs green cleats?

I'd probably buy these if they were my size, rather reasonably priced, I think.

This the time of year to buy baseball stuff.

AD Star is solid, but lacks enough green and yellow gear.


We'll start hitting as a team once a week ASAP. Everyone will get discounts at a couple indoor facilities, which the league will in turn promote on the league's official website, so keep an eye open there.

Quack.

Fall Ball Over, Opening Day 5.5 Months Away

The PIttsburgh NABA's Inaugural Fall Ball season ended on a cold Saturday Morning when the Pitt Louisville game, dreary weather and whatever else prevented a full-scale all star extravaganza from materializing. Pie Traynor Field was, however, impeccably, manicured before a final round of batting practice was held for the ten or so players who braved the elements to take the field for a final time in 2008.

It should come as no surprise that the 2008 Fall Ball season provided a good jumping off point for future Fall Ball sessions, and served as a forum to introduce a number of new players to the Pittsburgh NABA.

In the grand scheme of things the most important functions of the fall season is to improve and expand the league for the summer, and of course to give us a chance to play baseball for two more months.

I know the Ducks will benefit from key additions via the Ghostbusters, and two or three gauranteed wins against Larry's Gray Bats team, who, for Josh Gibson's sake, should just call themselves the "Grays"

The league continues to grow despite the leadership of Joe Graff, who works year round conceiving ways to rig things in favor of the Bulldogs.

The reality of the state of the league is it is expanding rapidly, and Graff works harder than anyone to keep it running as well as it does.

The Winter Meetings are the next order of business.

I assume a handful of new teams.
Names of teams that could be
The Grays
anything after a seemingly benign animal, ie. the Cows.
Why is there not a team named the Bears, or the Bulls?
The Union
The Blue Sox or the Green Sox
The Athletics, (were it not for just Ducky Tours, we'd be the South Oakland "Athletics" )
But more likely there will be more overly aggressive misspelled team names ripe for satirizing, which will be much more fun.
It'd be great if an expansion team called itself the "Phillies".

I'm fairly certain one of the over 28 league teams will join our league.
The idea of "un-affiliating" our league with the NABA has been kicked around, the only thing that stand in the way of this is the dirt cheap insurance we get through the national office, adn the promotion and recognition we get through our affiliation, concerning the Blues participation in national and regional tournaments.

We've been tossing around the idea of hosting a tournament in Pittsburgh this summer.

The biggest topic will be realignment.
How can the league be promoted as one which gives everyone and anyone the chance to play (which we should never lose sight of), while maintaining a high level of play amongst the top-tier teams like the Ducks.

We don't want to push anyone away; not the guys at the top end of the spectrum who play in college, and not the guys at the low end who just want to play real baseball, but can't catchup to a pitcher like Strom who throws meatballs. (we're at that point right Strom? where we can joke about this? You've struck me out in the past, and made me look bad at the plat on several occasions. )

I ask anyone who attends the meetings in the upcoming months to consider what is best for the league, not simply your team, and most certainly not yourself in particular.

I see the greater danger being the potential exclusion of players who are bad, but love the game and aren't offered the opportunity to improve, and a left with a bad taste in their mouth when they are suddenly erased from the email list, after going 0-5 and making an error in right field, and are forced into slow-pitch softball purgatory.

A split into A and AA divisions seems to make sense, maybe the last place AA team moves down every year or the winner of the A league moves up. An unbalanced schedule in which teams play inter-division teams once, and intra-division teams two or three times would work. The division champions should surely play each other in the post season. So if based on last season's winning percentage, a team is placed in the lower division, they can show they don't belong by winning that division and losing to the Ducks in the finals.

More as it comes. The blog will surely devolve into mush between now and the second winter ball session, hopefully the Blues can get ourselves together for the Citrus Classic and produce another strong showing.

An early morning interlde into the time machine

OK it's the future, the summer of 2009, and the Gray Bats have just been swept by the Ducks.

That's about it.

Back into the phone booth/delorian/weird bicycle like machine from H.G. Wells' book.

It is the present again.

For the record, I've never tried to take a player from another team. I was approached, (after the Ducks took two of three from the Rakers last season) as Ducks team blogger and founder about the availability of two spots on the roster for pitchers Jeremy Barchie and Ben Sorosky.

They're two of the top five pitchers in the summer league so of course I said we'd find room. Barchie was adamant about leaving the Rakers for his former team, the Ducks, Sorosky seemed reserved never committing entirely.

Now Sorosky has claimed allegiance to the Gray Bats expansion team for this summer, and I imagine he's already contacted his pal Jeremy Barchie about forming a formidable top of the rotation for manager Zalewski.

Larry, why not just be the "Grays"? it would be a wonderful tribute to the Homestead Grays of the Negro Leagues. And if your team is all white guys, it would be great irony.

Best of luck in the Summer or 2009, Gray Bats, may you win all of your games not versus the Ducks, when Barchie no-hits you on his way to the 2009 Pittsburgh NABA Cy Young Award.

The ducks have three no-hitters in team history, all by Ian Dickman.

Also, I have no ill-will towards the owlz, aside from their use of the letter "z" and the fact that they are champions and I have been waiting for five years to get the trophy back to South Oakland. I disagree with some of Rob Coolz methods, (the incessant recruiting of other team's stars, and the scouts he has sent to the Mexican Winter League and every American Legion team in a five twp. radius) but you can't argue with the results, they are the champions and they earned it.

2009 is the Ducks' year.

Hats off to the Gray Bats: Guest Blog, by Fall Ball Champion of the Universe, Larry Zalewski

The game's actual score : Gray Bats 9, Ghostbusters 8

***

By Larry Zalewski, author of Gray Bats Fall BallBlog...

A game for the ages. Where do I begin? Let’s just say that the second at bat of the morning set the tone for the day. Larry Zalewski’s sure-hit line drive grounder was somehow retrieved by SS Tony Casale, who threw to first for the out. Personally, that was one of the best defensive plays I’ve seen all year. That is, until Casale did an encore a few innings later on a ball hit by Rich (%$&!@##$%!) Ament. Anymore thefts like that at shortstop and I was ready to call the County Police . In any event, this was an exciting nail-biter from beginning to end.

The Ghostbusters has a good team pitching effort by Smith, Schwartz, then Ron Kuhns, while the Gray Bats again relied on their workhorses BJ Rankin, who pitched innings one through four, and “barely-legal” rookie phenom Ben Sorosky.

The Bats were held without a run, until they scored one in innings three, four and five. The floodgates opened in the sixth when a Zalewski double scored Graff and Sorosky. The game went back and forth until the top of the final inning. Spicer singled and stole second and third. Graff and Zalewski walked. BJ Rankin and Brian Slavicek doubled and singled respectively, with Rankin scoring the winning run on a rare mishandled ball by CF Ben Gwin. The morning sun was hidden most of game until the late innings. Unfortunately, the sun seems to rise from directly behind home plate. A major goof in the design of the field, I guess. But probably nobody expected games to be played there at 9 am in November.

Memory is failing me now a bit, but this game had a fair number of oddities. Ben Sorosky hitting Ghostbusters starting pitcher Smith on the bill of his helmet early in the game gave everyone a scare. Later, pitcher Ron Kuhns’ throw plunked Larry Zalewski in the helmet when diving back to first base, rendering him dazed and confused enough to call for a pinch runner.

Both teams played with inspiration and guts. It was a battle that one team had to eventually win. Luckily for the Gray Bats, losers of four straight until this game, they were on the winning side.

A hard fought victory.

***

One more time...

• Barely legal indeed.
• Good game.
• Eric Lee stole home on a past ball despite the short backstop
• I got another cheap RBI off Sorosky, on a flair to center
• Vinny Gala was the Ghostbusters' most consistent hitter this fall, he had three RBI vs. the Gray Bats, I think
• This was the best I've seen Adam Smith hit in two years
  
• I went 0-15 against Rankin this fall
• 5-12 against everyone else
  
• Dr. Venkman, have you ever discussed the Big Lebowski in your class?
• To my five readers, feel free to leave comments about what non-pittsburgh naba filler you'd like to see in the blog during the off-season, I can probably throw together two-three posts a week until Ducks' season.
• The Blues are still working on fund raising, and rounding out the roster for the Florida Citrus Classic Jan 17th-19th
  
• I'll have a fall ball/ghostbusters season recap probably a couple days after the all-star game
  
• I'll have updates on the winter meetings, and such...
  
• Vote, today
  

Busted: Gray Bats 7 Ghostbusters 6

I'm not even sure of the final score, but we lost by one run. I wagered the right to write the recap on the losing team's blog with Larry, so he will get me something later which I will read, then vomit, then post on the blog. I did not expect the loss to sting so much, I'm upset the Ghostbusters were deprived of another meaningful game.

Schwartz was out late partying with this guy.

Dr. Venkman had to talk me down off a ledge after the game which I brutally mismanaged, we could have won if I came up with a shallow fly to center which I dove and missed. The sun hid behind the clouds for the whole game, except for one play when it blinded me and a routine fly ball fell within my reach.
We still could have won, but I could have put us in a better position. I'm so upset I'm writing in first person. We lost to a pair of phenomenal pitchers, BJ Rankin and Ben Sorosky. The Bats beat us, and went on to win the Chapionship. They deserve the victory, and the hypothetical trophy.

The Crush had the best offensive lineup 1-9 and Necheff and Guthrie were two of the better pitchers this fall. When the Bats added Sorosky at the deadline to compliment BJ Rankin, who was originally a Ghostbuster, they suddenly had the best one-two punch on the hill. I still think the Ghostbusters were the best all-around team this fall. We deserved better.

Ray Parker Jr. leads the way

I did not plan on participating in the second game of the day, but when I saw Craig Boley umpiring and catching for the Gray Bats, I had a flashback to 2003 when that sort of thing happened almost weekly, and I decided to stick around and get behind the plate for the Bats. It was a pleasure to catch Rankin, who pitched nine masterful innings, after throwing four in the semi-finals, and won the Championship for the Gray Bats.

OC, catcher Joe Graff (left) and BJ Rankin (right) helped the Bats defeat the Ghostbusters in the Wild Card Playoff.

If Larry doesn't give significant credit to Schwartz and Eric Lee, and I guess myself for sticking around and helping secure the Bats the Fall Ball trophy, it will be tragic. Schwartz threw the potential winning run out at the plate from right field, I caught the one hop throw, blocked the plate and applied the tag on the runner who did not slide. I finally got a hit off Necheff, in the top of the ninth to load the bases, and Schwartz scored the winning run on Rankin's fielder's choice. I don't think Necheff allowed an earned run, the Crush defense was shaky.

My fall awards: MVP: BJ Rankin, CY Young: Christian Necheff, Gold Glove Award: Tony Casale.

The Fall season was a success, but came to a bittersweet end, for the Avalon Ghostbusters of the North Hills. I would be honored to manage the team next fall, and I hope to retain the same core group of players.

The Fall Ball season concludes this Saturday at 10:30 am at Pie Traynor Field with the All-Star Extravaganza. All the Ghostbusters have been placed on one of two teams, and we will play a nine inning game for fun, baseball is fun.

A Song For the Tampa Bay ______Rays

Happy Halloween, everyone.



People died at this concert.

Check out the film "Gimmie Shelter"

***

Ghostbusters has to be on TV at some point tonight, or it should have been in the last week, I think I'll watch it tonight.



***

Ghostbusters, be weary this evening. I have filed a grievance with the league office for scheduling our game the day after Halloween, when we will obviously be out late protecting the city from the paranormal.


If the Ghostbusters win in the 9am game, they will face the Orange Crush for the Fall Ball Championship of the Universe
the Crush received a first round bye.

Regular Season Champions

***
They will let anyone into grad school these days.
Starting in January the Ducks blog will be composed by an actual MFA student.
The answer to the lingering question, "does one suddenly transform into a condescending douche-bag when they begin their pursuit of a Master's in Fiction Writing?" is at my fingertips.
Fine Art indeed.


The plan is win two games tomorrow, but the Wild card Game will be managed like there is no tomorrow, or later in the day.



Tomorrow at 9am; Bad News for the Gray Bats.

Schedule Revisions; The Snow is Gone

The Avalon Ghostbusters of the North Hills will play the Gray Bats in the first round of the Fall Ball playoffs at 9am this Saturday at Pie Traynor Field.
The Winner of the 9am game plays the Orange Crush for the Championship at 11:30.

Good for the Phillies and the five friends of mine who make up the anomalous, Tolerable Philadelphia Fans Contingent.
Rob, Guthrie, Hugh, Homa, Jesse, at least you're happy and hungover.

The weather has improved.

I was listening to the post-game and a reporter asked Rays coach Joe Maddon which Rolling Stones song he thought better described how he was feeling, "Shattered" or "Happy"
Maddon said, "Happy".

Well I never kept a dollar past sunset,

It always burned a hole in my pants.

Never made a school mama happy,

Never blew a second chance.

I need a love to keep me happy,

I need a love to keep me happy.

Baby, baby keep me happy.

Baby, baby keep me happy.

Always took candy from strangers,

Didn't wanna get me no trade.

Never want to be like papa,

Working for the boss ev'ry night and day.

I need a love to keep me happy,

chorus

Never got a flash out of cocktails,

When I got some flesh off the bone.

Never got a lift out of Lear jets,

When I can fly way back home.

I'm pretty sure the title is ironic.
anyway, why not dig a bit deeper, Mr. reporter, in your choice of a stones song to describe the feeling of the manager who has just taken a last place team to the cusp of greatness, clearly it is a more complex feeling than either Happy, or "Shattered"--Pride and joy and greed and sex that's what makes our town the best, Pride and dirty dreams are still surviving on these streets..."

Had Maddon picked any other Stones song he would have become my favorite manager ever (he may be anyway), just for reaching out beyond the two choices and showing some knowledge of the band, but I suppose immediately following a World Series loss in a rain-delayed game that spanned four days isn't the best time to be put on the spot about the catalog of a rock band no matter how famous.

At least "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was not mentioned.

In no particular order:

Monkey Man
Torn and Frayed
Shine a Light
Dead Flowers
Lovin' Cup
Bitch
Sway
Stray Cat Blues
Emotional Rescue

Snow

Not much to report, other than the Gray Bats are still going to lose in grand fashion when they take on the Ghostbusters this Saturday at 9am, at Pie Traynor Field. It figures to be a pitchers deul, as the cold weather will will most likely have more of an effect on the batters.

How about that postponed World Series game tonight? The PIttsburgh NABA Fall ball season is on pace to out-last the MLB season.


I write about the Steelers for this subtly-named blog.

SNOW



Santonio Holmes is sick and tired of five-oh runnin' up on the block

Weird Al is Tremendous

I haven't heard the original version of this song in its entirety, apparently it is rather popular.

Bats Head Coach Larry Zalewski has invited Ben Sorosky to pitch against the Avalon Ghostbusters of the North Hills this Saturday. Rumor has it BJ Rankin will start, and Sorosky will pitch in relief.
Rankin will rue the day he was taken from the Ghostbusters roster in an attempt to make the Fall Ball season more competitive.

...I miss you BJ...

I digress.

Zalewski is clearly terrified of the potent Ghostbusters' offense.

Avalon Head Coach Ben Gwin believes in his players, who have been on the Ghostbusters' roster since day one, last week's guest appearance by Rob Swanger not withstanding. (Swanger did file the necessary paperwork with the league for what it's worth)
Starting pitcher Dr.Venkman will get the job done.
Schwartz and Egon Spangler wait in relief if necessary.

For the Bat's bulletin board:
They only have three guys who can hit anyway.
WOOO-HOOO!

***
Coby, I know you've been waiting for this one for a long time



Could've been worse.



The Bats season will end tomorrow.

...

More on the regular season finale

(from left to right, Dan Morgan, Adam Smith, Ben Gwin)

Other write-ups of last weekend's action

GRAY BATS biased RECAP

LEAGUE WEBSITE RECAP:

Ghostbusters earn home field in 1st round of fall playoffs!

FINALLY, NEW MATERIAL ON THE O.C. BLOG

(the 2008 Orange Crush, top row left to right: Brian Strom, Mark (Wino) Wittmer, Christian Necheff, Mark Guthrie; Front row: that kid they have at short who hits doubles, Joe Graff--seriously, Rob Logan, Patrick Piscuini. Not pictured: Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, that kid who plays center and hits doubles, Harry Yeakel)

Mid-season acquisition, Eric "Winston" Lee (far left), is fired up for the playoffs

The Orange Crush have dominated this fall season thanks in large part to the enormous fake breasts of their corner infielders, Joe Graff's scappy catching and astronomical OBP, lights out performances by Ducks/Blues pitchers Christian Necheff and Mark Guthrie, havoc-wreaking plate appearances by the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and the Earl Weaver-esque head coaching of Brian Strom. They have coasted to a first round bye and a spot in the championship game.


The Ghostbusters can not afford to look past the Gray Bats, who have an Ace of their own in BJ Rankin, and may call on the services of trade deadline addition, pitcher, Ben Sorosky for the Wild Card round of the playoffs, should Alex Warren's ankle remain swollen, and if Rankin's arm is not in good shape.

Time to talk about myself in the third person for a bit...
Ghostbusters' manager Ben Gwin's approach for regular season has been to bat 12 players and prioritize playing time over winning. During the playoffs, he will bat nine or ten players and put the best defensive team on the field, every one who shows up will play, but the priority will be on advancing to the finals and eventually defeating the Crush.

O.C. catcher/first baseman Harry Yeakel. (sp.)


Dr. Dan "Venkman" Morgan will start on the hill for the Ghostbusters in the Wild Card playoff.

It's an Ace.

BIG THUNDER: Ghostbusters Win Regular Season Finale.

Ghostbusters 4, Gray Bats 1

Pittsburgh NABA legend, and Pitt Greensburg Ace, Ben Sorosky made his pitching debut for the Gray Bats, but Alex Schwartz rose to the challenge, matching Sorosky for six innings, and earning a hard fought win for the Ghostbusters in a classic pitchers duel.

After Sorosky struck out seven of the first ten ghostbusters he faced, the Ghostbuster took the lead in the top of the fourth, Tony Casale walked, and stole second and third, after a failed squeeze attempt, Ben Gwin, who struck out in is first at bat against Sorosky, hit a towering fly ball to right field which was just deep enough to score Casale to give the Ghostbusters a 1-0 lead.

The Ghostbusters led 1-0 on the strength of only one hit, until the Bats used their heightened sonar-like hearing to plate one run in the bottom of the fifth. The Bats loaded the bases on a single an error and a walk, and got a hit form their first baseman, #13, to tie the game at 1.

Schwartz worked out of the bases loaded no-outs jam with only one unearned run.
Rob Swanger robbed Sorosky of a potential go ahead RBI with a diving catch in center.

In the top of the sixth, Vinny Gala led off with a double, Gwin reached on an error after grounding a first pitch change up right at the third baseman, Gala moved to third and Gwin stole second, on the next pitch. Adam Smith walked to load the bases, and Alex Schwartz recorded his first game winning RBI of the season on a bases loaded walk, 2-1 Ghostbusters.

The bases remained loaded, with Gwin on third base, and Sorosky working from the windup.

Giwn stole home on the first pitch to put the Ghostbusters ahead 3-1

Schwartz retired the Bats in order in the bottom of the sixth.
In the top of the seventh, Joe Graff walked stole second, and scored on Rob Swangers ground out to deep shortstop. To put the Ghostbusters ahead 4-1.

Dr. Dan "Venkman" Morgan shut down the Bats in the bottom of the seventh to record the save.

• The Ghostbusters (4-4) face the Bats (3-5) in a rematch in the first round of the playoffs this Saturday at 9am at Pie Traynor field, the losing team will play the O.C. in an exhibition game at 11:30, the winning team will advance to play the Orange Crush in the Championship November 1st at 9am.
  
• Vinny Gala was 1-2 with a double and scored the winning run.
  
• Rob Swanger was 1-3 with an RBI in his first appearance in a Ghostbusters uniform
• A big Ghostbusters' thank you to Joe Graff for filling in for absent catchers, The Key Master and, Eric P. Graff threw out a runner at 3rd, and scored a key insurance run for the Ghostbusters
  
• Gwin was 0-2, with 1K, 1RBI, 2 SB and 1 run.
  
• Schwartz had the game winning RBI and pitched a gem, 6 IP, 6k, 5h 3BB
• Venkman had his first save of the season and has been the most reliable pitcher, on a tremendous Ghostbusters staff, he also got out of the way when I stole home.
  
• Using the fall season to work on your swing makes it imperative to find other ways to contribute, to hit a flair into right to get a run across and to hustle out a grounder to third and steal home when I was over-matched at the plate is as satisfying as going 3-3.
  
• I was over-matched Sorosky, good game, and that was a sick behind the back play on that grounder up the middle, absolutely sick. See you this weekend?

Baseball is Exciting

I'm trapped, waiting for the UPS guy to arrive with my BWP order between 10:30 and 2pm. I'm sitting in my 3rd floor office neurotically peeking out the window every 45 seconds, terrified I will not hear the buzzer, as I suspect happened yesterday on the first delivery attempt..(gets up and looks out the window) -- nope not the UPS guy. Anyway, How 'bout them Red Sox?

The game last night reminded me of this one from last June

I don't claim to be a Boston supporter, in fact I'd like to see Tampa Bay win the ALCS, but I do have a contingent of Boston fans who are friends, guys who have cheered for Boston since the late 80's-early 90'2 when they were bad, and I am happy for them when the Red Sox win. I'd enjoy a seven game series.

My sister, who was at game five (I asked her to wear Ducks apparel to the game, as she managed to score seats behind home plate and may have been on camera) lives in Marlboro Massachusetts and has happily taken on the Red Sox as her favorite baseball team, while retaining her loyalty to the Penguins and Steelers) which I think is fine since the Pirates have not tried to win since Wade Boggs was still a Sock. The Pirates front office doesn't seem concerned with the team's fans, or filling our city's beautiful stadium with a team that can either win now, or is filled with young talent that is fast, exciting and could perhaps contend in the future their fans so I see no reason why adopting a relevant baseball team to cheer for should be frowned upon, as long as its not the Yankees. Hopefully some of the guys the Buccos received in the Bay/Nady/Marte trades respectively pan out and there is some legitimate reason for hope among the Pirates dwindling fan base. Plus living in the greater Boston area, life is much more pleasent when the local spots affiliates are winning, so when the Boston teams win, my sister's quality of life improves, and that is something I am in favor of.

Oh, and the Phillies won, beating the Dodgers in five games.
I'm a Manny supporter. he was something like 8-9 with runners in scoring position in the NLCS.
He used to sleep in the batting cages overnight, wake up and hit outside sliders for hours. The hard work is evident in his production. He'll be a Yankee.

TV edit.

Go Ghostbusters

Fighting Fire with Water

Ghostbusters(3-4) vs. Gray Bats (2-4): Saturday 11:30 am, Pie Traynor Field.
probable starters: Schwartz vs. Sorosky
The winner of this game will secure home-field advantage for next week's first-round playoff game.
The O.C. (5-2) has clinched a first round bye, heading into their regular season finale.

* * *

Number nine is coming down from the rafters this Saturday, with Garrett Moore's spot in the outfield vacated due to Moore's shoulder injury and his current quest for Nirvana, his spot will be temporarily filled by former Ducks outfielder, Rob Swanger, who looks forward to the challenge of facing Bats ringer Ben Sorosky.

Jimi Hendrix - Fire - More free videos are here

Fire




Water



Jersey unretired






Bad News for the Gray Bats

Ghostbusters Split Double Header

Game 1:
The Avalon Ghostbusters of the North Hills dominated the Gray bats 15-5, after an unfortunate injury to gutsy 'Bats starting pitcher Alex Warren, the Ghostbusters torched the bats bullpen for 12 runs. It seems the only way Warren will exit a game is if he is injured. Warren led off the game for the Gray Bats, and was promptly hit in the leg by A. Smith, who was wild early.

Avalon benefited from great pitching as A. Smith (W, 2-1) and Alex Schwartz, challenging the Gray Bats thanks to an outpouring of run support, combined to allow four earned runs over five innings striking out eight Gray Bats, and hitting four batters.



The Bats jumped out to an early 2-0 lead as A. Smith hit three batters in the top of the first.

A.Smith's line: (W) 3 IP, 6K, 3 HBP, 3 H, 2 R.

Footage of plate umpire Kenny Rayl.

In the bottom of the first when Eric "Winston" Lee opened the frame with an infield single, promptly stole two bases and scored on Mike Watson's ground out.



Tony Casale was hit by a pitch and stole second and scored on Gwin's double.

In the bottom of the second, after Watson delivered a bases clearing two RBI double, Casale hit a single to left that eluded the Bats left fielder and rolled to the fence. Casale would score on the three base error.

Avalon broke the game open with a nine run third inning. Mark Kuhns lead off with an infiedl single, and A. Smith, on the heels of Eric Procenti (sp.) walk, roped a single to left loading the bases for Dr. Dan "Venkman" Morgan who drove in a run with a blustering shot to second base which Angry Man mishandled, Alex Schwartz singled in two runsand Winston hit a sacrifice fly to center. Watson was hit by a pitch and Casale singled in two more runs. Gala walked in a run, before Gwin dove in another Ghostbuster with a generously-scored infield single.

"Winston" was 2 for 3 with a sacrifice fly, 2 RBI and six stolen bases.

Ghostbusters manager/outfiedler/catcher Ben Gwin was 3 for 3 with two doubles, 3 RBI, 2 runs scored and a stolen base for Avalon.

Vinny Gala had an RBI on a bases loaded walk.

Dr. Venkman was 1 for 2 with a walk and an RBI single.

Mike Watson was 1 for 2 with three RBI

Gwin robbed BJ Rankin of a hit with a diving catch in left field.



Game 2:
Crush 11 Ghostbusters 1 (Go here for an actual recap)

The Ghostbusters could not string anything together against Crush ace Christian Necheff, who continues his mastery of the Ghostbusters, and of their manager Ben Gwin who is 0 for 6 lifetime against his Blues (and future Ducks') teammate.


Crush utility player, Mark "Captain America" Guthrie hit a doubule a bunch of crap happened, the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man made an appearance, and the Orange Crush picked away at Ghostbusters ace Dr. Venkman scoring 3 runs in the third, one in the fourth and two in the fifth.

yes, I am

While playing catcher, Gwin picked off Necheff at second base, to end the sixth inning with runners on second and third.

Ghostbusters closer Ron Kuhns had minor control problems and the O.C. added four runs in the top of the seventh.




Casale scored the only run for Avalon in the bottom of the seventh.



The Ghostbusters will face the Gray Bats at 11:20 this Saturday at Pie Traynor Field.
In a desperate move, Bats coach Larry Zalewski, has called for reinforcements, and will put friend, teammate and rival, Ben Sorosky on the mound against the Ghostbusters this weekend.

This is what happens, Larry

I took Sorosky yard in 2006, back when we played on a little league field. I was 1-5 vs. the dominant right hander this past season, who pitched one of the best games I've ever been a part of for the Blues in Virginia this past Labor Day weekend.

Breaking News

Text message from South Oakland Ducks' head coach TC "Buttermaker" Jones, received by Ducks' blogger and founder Ben Gwin-- "Christian [Necheff] wants to be a Duck!"

If this holds true the rest of the league is Ducked next season.

Potential rotation listed in chronological order of hopefully heartfelt commitment.

Homa
Barchie
Necheff
Sorosky--c'mon, Benny it will be grand.

Bullpen
Guthrie
A.Smith
TC.Jones
{Shwartz??}

This is in addition to the Ducks' acquisition of infielders Tony Casale and Mike Watson--both are sick.

Domination.

Bring on the Owlz

Rumor has it the Black Sox may have another off-shoot next year, and radical realignment is expected.

The Ghostbusters Ace Dr. Dan "Venkman" Morgan will take on the Crush and new Duck Christian Necheff tomorrow during the second game of the double header.

Game one vs. the Gray bats will be a coin flip (maybe literally) between A. Schwartz and A. Smith to see who gets the start. the other will follow in relief.

Back to my grad school applications.

Quack.

2009 Team of Destiny

Game 5: A Disturbance on the 12th Floor: Ghostbusters, Morgan, dominate Gray Bats, 10-0

I'd better post this before i forget the game entirely...

Highlights of the Ghostbusters first defeat of the Gray Bats

The Ghostbusters avenged an early season 6-5 defeat at the hands of the Gray Bats in grand fashion. Dr. Dan "Venkman" Morgan pitched a complete game shutout, and was the beneficiary of timely hitting and solid defense behind him, as the Avalon Ghostbusters beat the Gray Bats 10-0 in five innings, though the game unofficially ended in a 13-2 victory after seven innings.

Morgan: "You better bring your A-Game this week 'Bats"

Morgan worked out of trouble in the first inning, stranding Bats on second and third, and would later entice his Bulldogs rotation mate, Bats SS, BJ Rankin to ground into an inning ending double play. Morgan stopped a rally before it could start; picking-off an absent minded Gray Bat who had his head down after reaching on an infield hit in the third.


The Ghostbusters started the game with O.C. players Joe Graff, and Patrick in the corner outfield spots. Patrick and Graff added speed to the bottom of the lineup, and Patrick would score th Ghostbusters first run of the game on a stolen base and an error. The 1-0 lead was all Avalon would need on that day, but they would add 9 insurance runs. The offense finally came alive.

Watson and Casale each had two hits. And anchored strong infield play behind Venkman.

Gwin broke his one-for-the fall slump with a single and an RBI.

Vinny Gala ripped a two RBI single to left after refusing to take first base when plate umpire, awarded him first base on an apparent hit-by-pitch.

In the third inning, Garrett Moore finally arrived with Alex Schwartz.

Scwartz promptly drove in 2 runs with an RBI single.

Moore would go 1-2 and reach on an error after long night of busting ghosts, casued him to over- sleep.

• The Ghostbusters are now 2-3 with a chance to get over .500 for the first time this season with the impending sweep of this week's double header.
• Why is that one guy on the Gray Bats so angry all the time? the second baseman/Right fielder, relax. Someone needs to destroy him if they get the chance to break up a double play, then maybe he will have something to scowl and cry about.
  
• BJ's fiance and Joe Graff are both jealous after Rankin made me his woman in the first game, I went 0-5 with 4k's in a guest appearance for the OC, causing me to question my existence.
• 

• This week the Ghostbusters will probably get 4 innings of Rankin (above right, with "friend and teammate" Joe Graff ) and three innings of Alex Warren for the first game of the doubleheader.
  
• Why was Warren left in that game for seven innings? He's a competitor and a good pitcher, but at he must have thrown around 150 pitches, too many for a fall league game, especially the last two innings that didn't even count.
• Watson pitched a scoreless phantom sixth innin, and Casale allowed two runs in the unofficial seventh inning
• the game ended on a sweet play by Adam Smith, who played a solid, aggressive game at 3rd base after being inexplicably pushed into outfield duty for most of the season.
  
• Eric P. had solid game behind the plate, and after moving to the outfield, threw out a runner at second base in the seventh.
  
• We need bats.
• The Ghostbusters won despite playing without Adalino, The Keymaster, who is 5 for 9 on the season.

rumor has it there was a bear in his apartment.

Let's win two this weekend.

Ghostbusters vs. Gray Bats: October 4, 11:30am, Pie Traynor Field

Last Week the Gray Bats beat the Ghostbusters 6-5, thanks to two seven inning runs and a stellar effort by BJ Rankin.

Rankin and life partner Joe Graff fight evil. See video .

The Avlon Ghostbusters of the North Hills look to rebound from last week's heart breaker against the O.C. when they take on the Gray Bats this Saturday. A scheduling glitch has allowed teh Ghostbusters consecutive late games, which is just fine. Ironically and perhaps fitting, the schedule maker plays on the Orange Crush. and will play 9am games back to back weeks.

read about it here

Enjoy the extra hours of sleep.

Read about the Orange Crush's double header last week, written by a former paid journalist.

The Crush team reporter cheats and uses the score book as a reference, he has a thing for journalistic integrity.



I hope the MLB playoffs will be on network TV, so non-cable owning schmucks like myself will be able to take in some of the action.

I'm pulling for a Dodgers vs. Rays World Series.
I would have liked the Twins to win last night, funny how Minnesota is able to put a winning product on the field while the Pirates, who play in a similar market, have subjected their fans to 16 years of irrelevant baseball. This time of year always remind me how painful it is to support a team run by a front office that has no desire to give its fans a taste of October baseball.

More unsubstantiated Ghostbusters 3 rumors, allegedly Bill Murray is on board, and the script will be written by the guys who write The Office.
Could be worse.

Orange Crush edge Ghostbusters 3-2.

Christian Necheff (sp.) pitched a complete game for the Orange Crush, allowing two unearned runs over seven innings, striking out upwards of 8 Ghostbusters to earn the win for the O.C.

(Orange Crush Team Photo)

Ghostbusters starter Alex Schwartz was the tough luck loser, allowing two runs, none earned, in three innings of work.

Tony Casale hit a two out triple in the first inning, but was stranded on third, when Vinny Gala hit a line drive right at someone-- the Ghostbusters M.O. for the first four games of the fall ball season.

In the bottom of the first, the Crush had runners on first and second with one out when a potential inning ending double play ball turned into a two run error.



The Ghostbusters had the bases loaded in the bottom of the second but Necheff got the RingMaster strikeout and worked out of the jam when Ben Gwin Grounded out to O.C. second baseman, Joe Graff to end the inning.

Joe Graff, second baseman for the Blues, Bulldogs, and now the Crush, had an uncharacteristically rough game in the field. His mind was clearly somewhere else. perhaps still thinking about how torturous it was to have to play against life partner BJ Rankin in the first game of the double header.


The Ghostbusters defense kept them in the game, turning four double plays. Adam Smith pitched two scoreless innings for the Ghostbusters. In the bottom of the fifth Joe Graff tried to steal third base, Ghostbusters catcher, Garrett Moore, had other ideas.


Graff was thrown out at third, for the second out of a 1-2-5 double play. Strike 'em out throw 'em out. This was Garret Moore's best inning as a catcher.
Joe was more distraught then when he heard BJ was getting married, to a woman no less.

No photoshop needed. They are a deadly double play combo.


The Crush would add another unearned run in the sixth, off relief pitcher Mark Kuhns.
Trialling 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh the Ghostbusters rallied. With one out; Vinny Gala and Eric P. singled, then Shwartz walked to load the bases. Ron Kuhns drove in a run with an RBI force out, and Mark Kuhns followed with a single.

The stage was set


The Ringmaster, who entered the game with an .800 average, came to bat with tw outs and runners on second and third, trailing 3-2, but Necheff finished the game with a strike out, and the Ghostbusters fell to 1-3 with the loss.

• Dr. Dan "Venkman" Morgan will get the start this Saturday against the Gray Bats.
  
• I've never been on a team that hit so many triples (3; Gala, Lee/Winston, and Casale) turned so many double plays, and still had a 1-3 record.
  
• The Ghostbusters (1-4) have lost two games by one run.
• These things have a way of leveling out, the pendulum will swing the Ghostbusters way again.
  
• I'm 1-for-the fall, this must change. I looked at my spring stats to remind myself I can hit and drive in runs. Here are the Ducks 2008: Stats
• Our middle infield is the best the fall league has seen this year.
  
• South Oakland Duck Adam Smith is pitching as well as I've seen him pitch in a while.
• Vinny is the best all-around first basemen in the Pittsburgh NABA.
  
• The atmosphere has been great so far.
• Watch out for the Ducks this spring...Team of Destiny '09.