Pretty tied up: Ducks comeback, even the score vs. Phantoms

___7_______________7____________



Chris Wojoton went 3-4 including a double, a home run, a single and a walk against his former team, and Eric Tans hit the game tying single in the bottom of the seventh to cap a frantic comeback by the South Oakland Ducks(1-3-1).
The Ducks played the game without their starting center fielder, right fielder, DH, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, and catcher. Rick's biceps didn't show up, which moved South Oakland's starting first baseman behind the plate.

Faced with a depleted roster, Coach Jones had his work cut out for him.

As painful as it was, the reality is the glass is half full for the Ducks after the tie. South Oakland erased Phantom leads of 2-0, 3-2, and 7-3. The Ducks equaled the offensive output of the prior three games by scoring seven last night.
Smith (0-2) pitched six strong innings, allowing three earned runs. Mark, "Last thoughts on Woody" Guthrie pitched two shutout inning in relief.
The Ducks trailed 2-0 in the bottom of the first when Ryan Novak (lower left) hit a 2-run home run to tie the game, driving in Chris Wojoton.
After the Phantoms scored in the top of the third, Wojoton hit a solo HR in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 3-3. Gwin threw out a guy stealing third by ten feet thanks to the tag by Wojoton, who played a strong game at third where he was filling in for Guthrie, who was filling in for Eric Lee in center field.
In the top of the fourth, the Phantoms scored four runs on two hits, two walks and two errors, they would score again.
It was 7-3 going into the bottom of the fourth. South Oakland scored one in the bottom of the fourth, two in the bottom of the fifth, and one in the bottom of the seventh to scratch out a 7-7 tie.



Bullet points

• Garrett Moore played a solid right field, he was 2-4, with an RBI, reached on an error, stole a base and was generally disruptive on the base paths. Speed kills.
  
• Eric Tans had a great night at the plate, he doubled and singled in the tying run.
• The Ducks are undefeated since KT switched to gray pants.
  
• This is the kind of game we lost last year.
  
• Novak and Wojo were huge last night.
  
• Most of the runs we gave up were a result of guys playing out of position. Thank you, to everyone who showed up. Even Coby and Kirk Gibson, who arrived in the 5th after they spent the evening ice-sculpting for under-privileged children in Slippery Rock, came out to support their teammates.
  
• Ben Gwin needs to start hitting like Ben Gwin can hit; he is 1-12 so far this season. Since we went to wood bats, he's hit .485 and .493 in the past two seasons. Even taking into consideration favorable bookkeeping, he is doing poorly by his own standards. Ben Gwin will start hitting.
  
• On Sunday I was reading my 9-month old daughter Tolstoy, she just kept saying "Da-Da-Da-Da, Baaaaa-WEEEE", and then turned her attention to her book, "Animal Babies" which is a small 12 page cardboard book with pictures of baby animals. The hitting analogy is in there somewhere; instead of trying to write ten-line sentences about a wisp of smoke blowing over the Russian countryside, I should simplify things ie, "I have a bill, feathers and webbed feet, what animal am I?" At least I showed up and caught. I catch a good game for an outfielder.
  
• If anyone is weary of my voice, and the inevitable Ben-centric semi-rants that pop up in this blog let me know and I will send you the admin. information and you can post stuff as well.
• I'll buy a drink for the first person to "edit" the Blacksox wikipedia page.
• Smith and Guthrie both pitched well, do they both get a "no decision"?
  
• that field umpire is hilarious, his presence and entertainment value just barely compensate for the missed calls. Rumor has it, he studied under this guy...
  
• I wonder if we'll finish this game on Saturday before we play the Phantoms again.
• It's nice that the Pens' game won't interfere with our game on Saturday, or vice-versa.
• Our first rundown went horribly wrong.
• We're entering a stretch of five games in nine days including two important division games against the Eagles and Owls respectively. During this stretch we will discover the true fabric of our pitching depth.

Ducks-Phantoms home and home series starts tonight

The Phantoms (0-1) were originally the Rangers. When Pittsburgh NABA great, Justin Newman, left the team to pursue employment opportunities elsewhere, he took the "Rangers" name and team colors with him. Now they are named after the Philadelphia Flyers' AHL affiliate, thanks to head coach Don Stetzer. I give that a sarcastic, "way to go, Donny".
Although the Phantoms are now able to wear Pirates hats as part of their uniform.
I'm curios how the Penguins' Stanley Cup Finals game will impact player attendance at the game this evening. The Penguins will win whether we watch them or not. it's not like it's game seven. I'm as upset about the scheduling as anyone.--The proof is in my ridiculous playoff beard.
The Ducks play the Phantoms tonight at 9pm and again this Saturday at 5pm. We will see their ace at least once in these next two games, although I'm not sure who that is. That Malone kid is now on the Warriors, they have Don and their catcher, whose name escapes me, also pitches-- he is the Pittsburgh NABA's all-time leader in fighting ejections (2). My best game against Stetzer was a in 2006, 3-4 2B, HR, 4RBI. He throws strikes.

Monongahela Division Update
The Owls beat the Oilers 10-0 on Saturday, after losing to the Eagles 13-8 on Thursday.
Standings
W L GB
Blacksox 4-0 --
Rebels 1-0 1.5
Eagles 2-3 2.5
Rakers 1-2 2.5
Owls 1-2 2.5
Ducks 1-3 3.0

The Ducks are due to break out offensively.
Smith is starting for South Oakland tonight.


Quack, Quack

Help from the Warriors tightens Monongahela Division race

Craig Boley and Doug Ryba (above) led the Warriors to a 3-2 victory over the Rakers last night. With the loss the Rakers are now 1-2, just 1/2 game ahead of the Ducks for the third and final playoff spot in the Monongahela Division.
It's probably too early to start looking at the standings, but I have a feeling each team may only get 20 games in this season due to League President, Joe Graff's inability to control the weather.

The Blacksox have stormed to a 4-0 start
The Rebels have called off all or their games except for one, a 5-1 victory over the Rakers, they will probably finish the season 1-0, maybe 1-1.
The Rakers are 1-2
The Ducks are about to hit their stride after a so-so 1-3 start, a 21-3 finish is, theoretically, not out of the question.
the Eagles (1-3) beat up on the Hurricanes 14-0 for their first win of the season
the expansion Owls are 0-1

• It would be great to record a nice lopsided 14 run victory to balance out the opening day game that never happened.

• I hope our starting second baseman and three-hitter doesn't have band practice this Monday.

we need his athleticism on display in the infield.

• Rumor has it Coach Jones is courting a top-tier free agent.

That's bad news for the rest of the league.

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Oilers win 3-2, Ducks' bats on life support

In flurry of broken bats, and 1-3 putouts South Oakland lost a heart-breaker, 3-2 to Hebrew, Monday night at Spring View Field.
After allowing 2 first inning runs to the Ducks, the Oilers' pitcher settled in and was lights out the rest of the night.
The game winning run came in the top of the seventh courtesy of pinch hitter Soji (sp.) who singled in the winning run with an eyes-closed-dying quail into right field.
The Ducks wasted a fine performance by Nick Homa (1-1) who suffered a complete game loss after allowing one earned run, off of three or four hits. The Oilers' strategy was to reach on an error then take second on a past ball, and advance to third on a swinging third strike in the dirt, and score on a fielders choice, or bloop single.
All things being equal there were a few plays which could have been made that could have preserved a 2-1 victory or perhaps sent the game into extra innings. We didn't kick the ball around too much but there were a couple errors. There were two double plays I could have turned at first, but didn't, one came on a grounder to third with a runner on third. Guthrie threw the batter out at first, and I couldn't get the ball out of my glove in time to throw out the runner at home. The other came late in the game with a runner on first and no outs, the batter hit me a hard ground ball and all I was thinking was "get the lead runner" which I did, but I could have stepped on first base first then thrown the runner out at second. The runner eventually scored. I have to make one of those plays, neither of which are an error but could have changed the game. Regardless, the Ducks haven't hit at all this season, we should win game in which we allow only 3 runs. Our team is averaging 2 runs per game.
Two runs per game.
I'd blame it on poor attendance at pre-game batting practice, but I've hit before every game and I'm 1-8 on the season. I struck out to end the 6th inning of last night's game.
We managed to get runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but the last two Ducks struck out, leaving the winning run on first.
Play of the Game
The play didn't count but it was sweet.
Oilers' catcher Kenji Johjima hit a slow roller to Guthrie at third, Guthrie charged it, barehanded the ball and whipped it over to first where I made a sweet Mike Richter pick on the short hop to get Johjima by a step. The ump called it foul, and Homa struck him out on the next pitch, due in part to the sweet play on the foul ball.
Guthrie also had a two-run double in the first to drive in the Ducks' only runs.


Bullet POints

• Guthrie is our best player right now. He's batting .400, all of his hits have been either doubles or triples. He leads the team in avg., RBI, hits, slugging, basically everything except stolen bases. He and I are tied at 1 for the Bob Faust hit-by-pitch award, which goes to the player who records the most hbp in a season
  
• Instead of losing games 15-8, we're losing 3-2 and 4-1. I suppose that's better and it's encouraging that we're competing every night, but it shouldn't be our goal to simply "stay in every game"
  
• We need to have a sense of urgency every at-bat and every pitch.
  
• If/when our hitting comes around, we will win a lot of games this season.
• Go Penguins
• We wasted a second consecutive solid pitching performance. Nick was killing those guys and we didn't help him.

We have a week off before we play the Phantoms Monday night at Spring View Field.
Bad news for the Phantoms.

sometimes it rains

I don't remember a season with more rain-outs. With Saturday's Rakers game washout, we now have played three games, and had four postponed due to weather, including the suspect Rebels' game cancellation which should go into the books as a forfeit W for the Ducks.

Tonight's home game against the Oilers is scheduled to commence as planned; 9:00 pm at Springview Field in Pittsburgh's scenic North Side. If it doesn't rain the game will be the Ducks first in over a week. South Oakland has a chance to get back to .500
2-2 is a lot better than 1-3.
Either Guthrie or Homa will start tonight.

Either way, it's gonna be bad news for the Oilers.



The Hebrew Oilers is the fictional team for which Roy Hobbs played before being signed by the New York Knights in The Natural.


Hats off to the Oilers front office for coming up with a pretty clever team name, and for going with the sweet 1980's Edmonton Oilers logo, instead of the Oilers logo of the "Houston" variety.


The logo on the right is clearly cooler than the one on the lower left.

Rakers again on Sunday

I wonder how last night's cancellation will unfold.
I'd rather play than take a forfeit, but if we have to compromise our rotation down the line by playing five games in five days, we should just take the win.

We have the Rakers on Sunday at 12pm at Pie Traynor Field in North Park. They play the Blacksox the day before, perhaps we will see the same pitcher again.
Some good things about the rain-out: we get Rick and his biceps back at 100% for Sunday, also Phillies hat- OF/Catcher will be healthy. Plus its another day for KT to find some pants, although at this point he can wear whatever he wants, he's leading the team in batting average I think.
I should really get a roster, or learn everyone's name.

It's time for....
DUCK PROFILE OF THE WEEK

The Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata), or just Mandarin, is a medium-sized perching duck, closely related to the North American Wood Duck. It is 41-49 cm long with a 65-75 cm wingspan.

The adult male is a striking and unmistakable bird. It has a red bill, large white crescent above the eye and reddish face and "whiskers". The breast is purple with two vertical white bars, and the flanks ruddy, with two orange "sails" at the back. The female is similar to female Wood Duck, with a white eye-ring and stripe running back from the eye, but is paler below, has a small white flank stripe, and a pale tip to its bill.

Mandarin Ducks, which are referred to by the Chinese as Yuan-yang are frequently featured in Oriental art and are regarded as a symbol of conjugal affection and fidelity.

A Chinese proverb for loving couples uses the Mandarin Duck as a metaphor: "Two mandarin ducks playing in water" The Mandarin Duck symbol is also used in Chinese weddings, because in traditional Chinese lore they symbolize wedded bliss and fidelity.

This is not 'Nam...there are rules

DISCLAIMER: There are a few good guys on the Rebels, some of whom I've played alongside in tournaments, they play the right way, and they probably had nothing to do with this mess. Then again there were probably some decent folks who fought for the confederacy.

Apparently the Rebels had better things to do Monday night than play baseball. The Rebels' coach called the umps and told them the game was rained out, then told his team it was canceled, before he called [Ducks Manager] TC to confer on the status of the field. It wasn't their decision to make, the home team's manager makes that decision. If we could have rescheduled we would have called the game before we spent all that time getting the puddles off the infield, which we did four hours before game time.

Rick tore the sleeves off another shirt for nothing.

Springview Field was damp and muddy, the conditions were not ideal but we could have played. Ducks' players spent approximately three hours getting the standing water off the field and adding dry sand and kitty litter to the soft spots. We were operating under the impression that we were out of rain dates, making it impossible to reschedule the game. To be fair, it's likely the Rebels' coach was unaware of the lack of a rain date. However, their coach told me one of his players was there (in between the Ducks 4-5:45 field repair tour, the 7:30 pre-game rake) and saw a puddle on the field, the Rebels coach was misinformed about the puddle situation by one of his players.
The only way we would have been able to play was if the rain held off, which it did.

Maybe if the Rebels were represented at the pre-season managers' meetings they would have known about the rain-out policy.

Then I talked to the guy on the phone, I said the field was bad, but playable, that we had been down there all afternoon and were still working on it. he relayed the misinformation and added, "We're not playing on a field like that."
clearly insinuating his team is above playing on a field fit for Ducks.

We've played on worse, we did last season against the Rebels, of all teams, in a game we lost something like 24-17.

It was during that game I heard one Rebels' player say, "If we lose to this team I'm going to kill myself."
That made me feel angry. Not that I hold a grudge, but I don't think any of those kids are getting drafted. Except for that guy they had who pitched in the Blue Jays minor league system, whom I singled off of. Anyway, that's the same lack of respect they showed by canceling the game without first conferring with TC.
I hate playing in bad conditions, but its better than not playing at all. The Rebels would rather not have to get too muddy than follow the rules set by the League President regarding cancellations.

Why in the world would you name your team the Rebels, and use that Yosemite Sam logo?


The Rebels were once part of the Black Sox, and they split to form their own team before the '07 season. They seceded from Kenny's team, probably because they didn't like how he ran things. So they are drawing a clearly Confederate parallel to their team.
At some point there must have been a conversation along the line of this:

"Let's start our own team because Kenny's a dick, and [third base coach] Randy is insane."
"Cool, man, but what will we name our team?"
"Duh, man, the 'Rebels'. We are Rebels!"

Jesus, is this Mississippi?

So their coach handpicked the best guys from around the league who were on losing teams and the Rebels won the Championship last year.
During their championship season, I was the base umpire for one of their games in which they had seven guys show up. I said I'd play for them so they could at east have a real game, with just the plate ump. Instead they picked a kid out of the stands wearing jean shorts who was left handed and stuck him in the outfield with a right-handed glove. The kid had obviously never played ball before, and they decided to go with him instead of letting me play for whatever reason. Not to sound selfish, anyone playing with the correct handed glove would have brought at least a shred of integrity to the atrocity which occurred on the field that day. Sometimes that stuff happens, my dad played in one game in '05, for instance, but we didn't have a choice. My dad is sick.
The Rebels have a long history of being terrible ambassadors for our league, which needs all the help it can get; they take free agents and then if they aren't good they just don't call them anymore.
Their front office is largely to blame for last seasons' umpire fiasco.
They are the champs, though, they do know how to win.

I'm not really surprised a team named after the darkest chapter in American history pulled a stunt like this.

• BULLET POINTS
  
• If this game can't get rescheduled, we deserve the win.
• If the Rebels needed bulletin board material I have provided it, if they were literate and read this blog I'd be worried.
• They'd probably tell me they're to busy polishing their trophy to read this crap.
• We got a good practice in at least, and I made a sweet catch on a ball over my head. that's why I play; for the chance to feel the weight of the ball in my glove during the split second I'm completely airborne, even if it's during practice.
• I wonder if anyone other than Coby reads any of this, leave comments it makes me feel like I didn't spend all day raking a field for no reason.
  
• I hope this doesn't screw up our pitching rotation
• We could have pulled this same bullshit on saturday but we didn't because it was the Rakers' call, we had to finish that game without our starting catcher.
  
• the season shouldn't start until mid-may, among US cities, only Seattle has a greater annual rainfall than Pittsburgh
  
• We should play this game under protest if we get it rescheduled at some ridiculous time which causes us to loose.
  
• I wonder if this pitcher we got from CMU really exists
  
• SHENANIGANS!!!!

South Oakland bats remain quiet, Ducks lose 4-1

The Rakers beat the Ducks 4-1 at Pie Traynor Field on Saturday. Last year's Knights, the Rakers (who did a great job of getting the field in shape to play on Saturday) basically trimmed the fat from the underachieving 2007 team, kept all their solid, small-college players, and added an enormous third-baseman, and a few guys with beards. They are a tough team. Typically, pitching is their strength.
I left in the bottom of the fourth, with the game tied 0-0, the Rakers lead off the inning with a routine fly ball that dropped for an error, then a walk to Eberle. Errors and walks. The Rakers would go on to score three runs in the inning, and one more of TC Jones.
Adam Smith and Garrett gave me the recap.
We left runners in scoring position. I left KT on second base in the top of the third after a terrible one pitch at bat in which I popped up to first base. Chris Roth left two men on base later in the game, Rick was stranded on second in the seventh after he doubled in our only run of the game.
Smith went five strong innings allowing two earned runs. TC came in to finish the game and allowed one earned run in two innings of relief.
There were a lot of ifs and a lot of what-have-yous in this game. If we make one more play in the field and get one more key hit, it might have been a different outcome. That's baseball. We have to win the games we only allow three earned runs. We'll see the Rakers again.
Smith had a great start after getting roughed up by the Blacksox on opening day.

• Bullet Points, ( based on what I was told about the last three innings after the fact, and without seeing the book.)
• Kt had a good game at the plate. He walked stole second, singled and scored a run.
• Rick hit a double, his biceps are huge. Also, he looked much better at shortstop than he did at second vs. the Blacksox.
  
• We were in this game till the end, and we played without Guthrie, who leads the team in triples, slugging percentage and RBI.
• We got a great start from Smith, he gave us a chance to win.
  
• TC continues to do a good job of getting everyone in the game.
• Again, one umpire. At least this guy was coherent.
• We beat the Eagles last week in a game in which we only had two hits. We had six or seven on Saturday and lost.

We are scheduled to play the defending Champion Rebels tonight at Spring Hill. It is wet and gloomy outside at the moment, but its not raining. We have to try to get the game in as we are out of makeup dates.

Who names their team the Rebels?

I hope it doesn't rain. Regardless, the Ducks' grounds crew will have to put in some work tonight before the game if we are to play.

Nick is on the hill tonight, that's bad news for the Rebels.

Despite Cold Bats, Ducks Find Timely Hit,

by Coach TC Jones

Long gone is the blustery Pittsburgh winter, but icicles still cling to the South Oakland Ducks’ bats. As the spring temperature begins to rise the Duck’s offense still is waiting to heat up. In the first two games of the season Duck’s batters have only amassed a total of 4 hits and only 1 extra base hit.

A mix of untimely errors and stagnant offense proved to be the downfall in last Saturday’s 15-1 rout by the Brookline Blacksox, and in Monday night’s contest at Spring View Field against the visiting Eagles it looked like once again the Duckss bats would not be able to come up with the victory.

Behind five solid innings thrown by starter Mark Guthrie (3 Runs, 1 Earned Run) and two shutout innings by reliever Nick Homa including four strikeouts, the boys from South Oakland were able to come to bat in the bottom of the 7^th inning with a 3-3 tie.

The cold hitting ways of the Ducks continued at the beginning of the inning with strikeouts by third baseman Chris Wojoton and pinch hitter Adam Smith before pinch hitter Andrew McCray was hit by a pitched. In the following at bat a costly error by the Eagles short-stop allowing runners to reach first and second safely.

Swinging at a first pitch fastball, DH Garrett Moore hit a soft liner over the first baseman’s head into right field scoring McCray to win the game in exciting fashion. For a moment it looked as if there would be a play at the plate as McCray, crippled by a torn meniscus in his right knee, hobbled his way around the bases. An errant throw by Eagles right fielder allowed McCray to score standing up for the first Ducks win of the season. The Ducks increase their record to 1-1 while the Eagles fall to 0-2.

Ducks Notes:

--Starter Mark Guthrie showed good control walking only three and striking out four in 5 innings of work.

--Hard-throwing reliever Nick Homa got his first win of the year throwing 2 shut-out innings.

--In the first two games the Ducks as a team are 4 for 46 (.086) hitting.

--A total of 15 different Ducks players saw time in the game.

--In 2 games the South Oakland Ducks defense allowed 12 errors.

Moore's late inning heroics lead Ducks to victory

This is why the Ducks baseball team exists, to give players the chance to dive in the game winning run with two outs in the bottom of the 7th. Garrett Moore did just that Monday night, as the Ducks evened their record at 1-1 with a dramatic, come from behind 4-3 victory over the Eagles. The win was TC Jones' his first as Ducks Manager.


The Game was tied at three going into the bottom of the seventh; after a ground out and a strike out, pinch hitter Andrew McCray, playing with a torn ligament in his knee was hit in the leg by a pitch, then Nick worked a full count and hit a ground ball deep in the hole which the Eagles' short stop bobbled, allowing him to reach safely. Then Moore hit a line drive to right field, and McCray, hobbled around third and beat the throw from rightfield.

Ducks starter Mark Guthrie pitched 5 strong innings allowing 3 runs (1 earned) and worked out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the fifth to keep the score tied at three. Nick (1-0), the new pitcher whose last name I don't know, threw two scoreless, hitless innings in relief to record the win.

The Ducks didn't take the lead until the last pitch of the game. I forget how the Eagles scored their first run, but the second two came in the third inning, on a bases loaded dribbler to the right side that got under Gurthrie's glove and was in effect a perfect swinging bunt. Mark had trouble picking up the ball, and the guy on second rounded third and headed home, Mark recovered to get the ball to me in time, but I couldn't handle the throw. I blocked the plate well enough that I think I picked up the ball and tagged him out, but the ump said he saw the guy hit the plate. I'm glad my drop there didn't cost us the game. The next inning we had a sweet strike 'em out throw 'em out double play to end the inning. I suppose that made up for it.

We trailed 3-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth. Eric Lee lead off with a broken bat infield single and stole second. Brett drew a walk. I was up, and after they both advanced on a passed ball, I hit a chopper to the left side, and I don't know if the guy booted it or if it was an infield hit, but Eric scored and Brett wound up on third with no outs.
I stole second on the next pitch, then our cleanup hitter walked. A strikeout bought up Tom Pusateri with one out and the bases loaded. Tom hit a gound ball up the middle, which the shortstop fielded and flipped to second for the force, I rounded third and saw the throw pull the firstbaseman off the base, the ump (who editorialized all his calls instead of using phrases like, "safe" and "out" or "ball" and "strike") said something unintelligible, but the firstbaseman was laying down, so I ran home. The Eagles started walking off the field. there was some argument, Tom took second, but the ump( who made similar calls) told Tom to go back to first, even though if he was safe he should have been able to take second, and it was the Eagles' fault for leaving the field .
The Eagles tried to say I shouldn't have scored, if Tom wasn't allowed to take second. However, both runs counted (as they should have) and we tied it at three on that play. The next batter made an out, and that was the end of the fourth. It was a huge inning, and we didn't even hit the ball out of the infield. As was the case on the ball Nick hit in the seventh, it was the Ducks hustle that kept the inning alive, and lead to the victory.
The Eagles probably have a legitimate argument against the so-so umpiring.

The field umpire didn't show, which is something I thought we no longer had to deal with after going with a local umpire association instead of half drunk league players on their team's off nights, so the guy had a tough job. He was animated and amusing and for the most part accurate. Also, while there were a couple close plays that went against us and we didn't berate the guy over it.
The Eagles were vocal in their displeasure, and from the point that they really started crying, the umpire didn't give them another close call.
play of the game
Garrett's hit, or Tom's two RBI fielders choice to tie the game.

bullet points

• Guthrie pitched a great game, the Eagles were off balance all night.
• Nick throws gas. I was happy just to be able to hold onto the ball.
  
• How about that umpire?
  
• had the Eagles left fielder not been playing between the shortstop and second base, Eric and Brett both would have had doubles tonight.
• I hit the ball hard twice and was out, the dribbler I hit in the 4th, which I hustled out to beat the throw, got me an RBI and I scored later in the inning.
  
• Hustle, by everyone, won us this game. Hustle and...
• Garrett Moore.
• The pitching was phenomenal, and the defense was much improved.
  
• We started last year 0-6, we're already off to a much better start especially after the 15-1 aberration that was the Blacksox game. Clearly, it was critical we put that one behind us.
  
• We miss Roth's bat in the middle of the lineup.

We play the Rakers, Saturday at 3pm at Pie Traynor Field. This is a new team, I know nothing about them. I do know, Saturday at 3 its gonna be bad news for the Rakers.

The Ducks haven't been at .500 since we started 2-2 in 2006.

this was from the PG

This kid is dying from cancer and his one wish was to play baseball again.
We're lucky we get the chance to play.

A little perspective after being beaten 15-1 last night.

Ducks drop nailbiter to Blacksox

Blacksox 15-Ducks 1, five innings.

Despite catching a double header over the course of three innings, it doesn't even feel like I just played a baseball game, I'm just sore and frustrated and anxious to play on Monday.
Blacksox pitcher Luke Demsey retired the first three Ducks in order to start the game, and then the Blacksox scored 9 runs in a surreal bottom of the first on the strength of seven Ducks errors and four walks by Ducks starter Adam Smith.
It was a bad omen when the normally accurate Smith, walked whomever hits lead-off for the Blacksox, then when I threw him out stealing second he was called safe. Then I got crossed up on a pitch and he stole third on the past ball. I should have caught it.
I'm pretty sure the only two Ducks who didn't make an error were CF Eric Lee, and pitcher Adam Smith.
KT Murphy made a play on the only ball hit to him at second base, he also reached on a 6-4 fielders choice, in which the BSOX second baseman was probably off the base.
Guthrie and Lee also had the only two hits of the game for the Ducks. Although I'm 99% certain I would have beaten-out that one I hit up the middle even if the guy fielded it cleanly. Also Garrett's shot to short stop might have been ruled a hit, but overall we were dominated, we were two-hit. Was it closer than the score indicated? not really. we were awful, but we will get better.
Demsey is a solid pitcher, and the Blacksox only commited two or three errors, while the Ducks were somewhere in double digits. The right side of the infield was atrocious.
I have no idea what POV to use in this blog.
The Blacksox started to hit Smith hard after the Ducks pitcher had to labor through a couple innings in which he was let down by his defense. Both of those innings were the top of the first.
Guthrie tripled in the only run of the game for the Ducks in the bottom of the second, with no outs, and naturally was stranded on third to end the inning. We couldn't have had more than two more runners in scoring position all game.
Eric Lee singled, and flew out deep to center to end the game.
This looked dishearteningly familiar. No more.
Reasons for Optimism

• We get to play baseball all summer
• This was the first game of the year, and aside from the nine runs in the first inning of our first game it wasn't terrible.
• Eric Lee showed up out of the blue and played a great game in center field.
• Guthrie hit a triple.
  
• Those two guys weren't here for almost all of last season, and will help quite a bit.
• We were missing about five guys, and TC had to patch a lineup together tonight.
• Chirs Roth is probably the team's best hitter, while is arm is shot, he may be able to DH and hit bombs. When he finds out McCray played with a broken leg, maybe he will be more apt to show up on Monday night.
  
• From what I could tell, everyone played hard and stayed upbeat, despite getting slaughtered. I bolded that because it's the most important, I think. Still let's try to be upbeat and play hard when we are winning by twelve.
• Brett Pusateri (sp.) and I will start hitting. Statistically we are two of the best hitting, returning Ducks, along with Roth. We were 0-4 combined tonight. That will change. This was the worst opening day I've had at the plate since '03. My best opening day, '04: 3-3 with a 3 run HR and two singles, we won 4-0. I am going to go over some old tape of my swing and make the necessary adjustments.
  
• Brett hit the ball hard both times he was up, lacing one foul in the first before grounding out, and grounding out in the second on a hard hit ball to second. Brett also made...

The play of the game
Some guy on the Blacksox was up and Adam Smith threw an inside fastball which overpowered the batter, breaking the guys bat, the splintered bathead twirled ahead of the ball right at Brett who was charging the slow roller, he then nimbly leaped over the bat, gloved the ball on the run and gunned the runner out at first. The ump was still looking at the bat and Brett in awe, and inexplicably called "safe."
The best play of the game for us was an infield hit by the other team.

Of Note: Adrew Mcray played with a torn ligament in his knee, and saved a run when he leaped for a ball I tried to throw into right field.

Ducks' Home Opener
Ducks vs. Eagles, Monday night at Springview Field, deep in Pittsburgh's scenic North-Side.
1-1 is a lot better than 0-2.

I guess we should be called "The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side".
Rolls off the tung, doesn't it?

Rookie Manager, Theodore-Cobblepot Jones, will right the ship. He did a good job of setting an example by sitting out for most of the game. He also allowed only one run in relief.
We still haven't practiced much, and this is what happens when we don't practice.
Everyone has different schedules, let's all try to find two other guys who work the same hours and workout on our own as much as we can. I will give you baseballs with which to practice.

Speaking of which, I'll be at the Pitt field at 6 on Monday before the Eagles' game.

Bad news for the Eagles.

Ducks, Pitcher start out slowly

Is there a team as bad as the Pittsburgh Pirates? Is there a pitcher as putrid as Matt Morris? Well, you may not have to look too far in order to answer those questions. Tonight, the Ducks got their season off to a slow start by receiving a 13-1 beat down by the Brookline Black Sox. Pitcher Adam Smith gave up 6 walks, 2 bean balls, numerous hits, countless runs and even took a shot to the schnoz during his 3 innings of work. It seemed like Smith was trying to do his best impersonation of ex-Pirates starter Matt Morris and he was spot on in his performance with the exception of having ten million dollars in his back pocket. One game does not define a team or a pitcher, especially the first game of the season but with the high expectations coming into this season from Ducks management, this first game was a colossal disaster. I caught up to the struggling starting pitcher after the game to gauge his mood after what transpired.
"Obviously I'm disappointed in my performance and in the result of the game but I feel like my past speaks for itself and shows that I can be a decent pitcher in this league." Smith stated.
"I want to apologize to my teammates for my performance tonight and I hope that they haven't lost their confidence in me. Coach Jones showed a lot of faith by starting me on opening night and I feel that I let him down. I can't wait until I can get back on that mound again and prove to him, as well as the rest of the team, that tonight's performance was a fluke. Our team is hungry and we are pissed off about tonight's performance.....I feel bad for the next opponent that we have to face."
So is there a team as bad as the Pittsburgh Pirates or a pitcher as putrid as Matt Morris? Maybe, but there has never been a team with as much heart and desire as the South Oakland Ducks.

Stay tuned for a great season.