Fall Ball Recap Week #2

After putting up 13 runs against the Royal Has-Beens last week and winning easily, the Red Tide had to squeak out a close one at Avonworth on September 19. The first inning and a half took what seemed like an hour to complete. Both teams came out scoring runs and a plethora of walks and errors contributed to the length of the game. Highlight of the game was in the bottom of the ninth when Della Pena completed his complete game win by striking out the last two batters with runners in scoring position. Final score 9-8 Red Tide.

Red Tide Press Room:

• The Red Tide will miss Crafty Veteran David Wallis. The Red Tide will play the rest of the season with this patch on their jersey.
• Do not urban dictionary crafty veteran. I made that mistake only once.
• Rumors have surfaced that the upper brass of the Red Tide have managed to acquire one or two top notch pitchers to help the cause throughout the '09 campaign.
• I was able to snag an impromptu photo of our pitching staff the other day.

Why does it look like Greg Maddux was photoshopped into this picture?

• Week 3 games were postponed because of rain and have been rescheduled to the end of the season. Check the Pittsburgh NABA website for more details.

Ducks around the league:
None of the teams posted recaps so I have no idea what happened to the other teams, but heres some scores and standings.

Green Machine 8 - Columbia Blue Jackets 11
Orange Crush 9 - Royal Has-Beens 4

Standings:
Red Tide 2 0
Gold Nuggets 1 1
Orange Crush 1 1
Green Machine 1 1
Columbia Blue Jackets 1 1
Royal Has-Beens 0 2

Season Recap

This is going to be youtube and photoshop-less.

We'll start with the big picture:

Once again Commish was unable to rig the league well enough to have the Bulldogs win a championship.
Try as he might.
I love you, Joe.

The story of the season is the Owlz not winning the title, Cool and the gang lost to the Brookline Bullies in the Conference Semis.
Then the Hurricanes stepped in and beat Brookline.
Kenny Powers is still thinking about it I'm sure.
I know I would be.

Now more than ever teams win more based on who they can recruit than anything else.
The off season is a big deal.

I predicted there would be a bench clearing brawl this year, and we (as a league) were close a few times.
the umpires repeatedly lost control of games.
I think the only team that is satisfied with the umpires in the Hurricanes.

The Blues put our league on the map in AC (Scoscia is a beast), and then the four teams who played in Butler almost took it back off. see the bulldogs blog for the run-down.
.

I am one of few guys who can say they have played on a team with Rob Cool and on a team with Kenny Powers.
they are both honored i'm sure. quack.

me and alex warren and Rob Swanger and a couple other guys.
The Sox could have used Warren in the playoffs, he's a workhorse and a competitor.
he's also level-headed.

There is talk of radical realignment.
rookie, A, and AA.

I'm an anti-gambling baseball purist, and would rather have a just rookie league, then split up the rest of the teams into Wales and Campbell, and then have all but the 3 or 4 worst teams in the league make the playoffs.
However Joe proposes it, the new alignment will be voted on and we will make a decision collectively that we will all bitch about later.

He likes brackets and the tourney he has drafted will be great fun.
Come up with your own ideas to present to him at the winter meetings if you think you can do better.

The Ducks may split, we may not. We may play in the top division, we may stay down since we don't have any college players on our roster and are eligable as we are currently constructed to dominate the A division before we make the jump in 2011.

I stand behind whatever decision our coach makes.

This is a crucial off season, as Dr. Jones and I are old and have to find real jobs and all that other real life bullshit that hits when you get past 25 and still don't have a career or any real structure in your life.

We need two or three guys to do the uniform work, find a sponsor or two, and get us a field.
someone talk to the city about getting Mellon Park which is getting lights installed.

I am absolutely done doing extra shit. Sorry, I don't have time anymore. I am sad.
I won't be able to maintain the blog as consistently as i have and certainly don't have time to run around the city taking care of all the minutia i have for the past 7 seasons.
I put myself in this position because I'm too neurotic to trust others to do it, so I'm accountable, but whatever.
I'll still play next year if coach needs me.

The blog was absolutely ridiculous this season, and I took some liberties that maybe I shouldn't have, but mostly people need to lighten up.
If you don't want the Ducks to have the loudest voice in the league start your own blog, homos.
or at least leave nasty anonymous comments.
Overall it was great fun, and Larry is a crybaby who sucks.

***
Coby has been in touch with Al Gore about getting the internet and will have his thoughts sometime in October. Skip will post some individual awards in the next week or so, so I won't mention any individual accolades, of which there were many.
ok just one, and that was Squints' uniform heist.
#7 is a beast.

2009 South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (16-8, 3rd in Wales Conference, 4th overall) Season in Review.


Our season ended unceremoniously, with a crushing 10 inning defeat at the hands of the hated black sox. While I'm not one for moral victories, to call the season a failure is too simple.
This was the best Ducks team I've ever play on, and in any other season we would have probably been one of the last two teams standing.
We did it all without a true ace ( i think we were the only team in the top 3 or 4 in the league who could not boast a "Guy Who Throws 90"), or a natural center fielder or lead-off hitter.

It should be a point of pride among all of us that we were a tough team to play against this season. We never showed up at the park not having a chance to win (except the mother's day massacre).
No one saw South Oakland on the schedule and set their rotation so we'd get their third guy who only pitched once in little league.

We straight out-classed the Gray Bats on all levels.
We defeated the league champion Fightin's 2-0.
Only two teams posted better than a .500 record against us this year: The Owlz and Black Sox - the tow best teams in the regular season record wise.

My only team regrets are not giving the owlz a better game, even when we had our starters, and the Eagles game.
that shit will happen over a 24 game season.
shit like only beating the bulldogs by one run twice, our most unconvincing season sweep.
It also sucks a few guys bailed on us who had been contributing.
We won two of every three games we played.
We were five and oooooooh.
Then 12-3 before wrapping up the 3 seed and ducking around down the stretch.

We played inspired baseball in the post season beating the Gray Bats for the 4th time in 2009, before we came up 1 run short against the Sox in probably the most exciting game any team played during the 2009 season. Extras in the playoffs, can't beat that shit.
Fucking Black Sox.

We represented the league well in Erie, but not so much in Butler. What a shit show.
let's never talk about that again.
fuck that whole junkie infested town.
(note, the teams we played in the tourney were gracious in victory, and most likely don't live in Butler, except for that one guy in the dugout who kept nodding-out and itching himself and drooling all over the place.)

Going in to 2010 we have 10 roster spots open, half our pitching staff, and a bunch of guys are moving away or maybe won't be back. There is a lot up in the air.

Luckily, Ducks fly together.


Bad News since 2003.

Quack

a little late on this one.

RIP

Kanye! NO!

Ducks Fall Ball Update

The Ducks have split momentarily during the fall to align with new teams during the leagues fall season. I'll be making a post each week pointing out the highlights for Duck's players during the fall campaign. Here's who's playing for who:

Orange Crush: Mark Guthrie

Green Machine: Jesse Smith(coach)

Red Tide: Anthony Casale and Dustin Iser

That's all as far as I know. Let me know if there are any mistakes.

Week 1 highlights:

Red Tide over Royal Has-Beens 13-3.

Green Machine over Orange Crush 7-3.

• Captain America started the game and struck out three through five-innings in a strong showing. He also added two walks in his trips to the plate.

Current Standings:
Red Tide 1-0
Gold Nuggets 1-0
Green Machine 1-0
Orange Crush 0-1
Royal Has-Beens 0-1
Columbia Blue Jackets 0-1

Are stats going to be posted on the NABA website? I'd like to be able to get stats from the games.

The Steelers Suck

Alright, four disclaimers.

1. I do not agree with number 5 on this list. I happen to love the city of Pittsburgh.
2. This link is hosted by an Eagles blog. I am not an Eagles fan. I hate all teams from that wretched city.
3. I, in fact, hate the NFL entirely. I especially hate the Steelers because they are shoved down my throat everyday.
4. I am pretty drunk right now. If this offends you, please don't hold it against me.

Five Reasons why the Steelers suck.

Why I hate the NFL

• Overtime: If the Titans win the coin toss in overtime against the Squeelers the Titans could have won that game, but we will never know. The NCAA's overtime rules are far superior to that of the National Fucktard League. Here's an idea, lets see what happens if each team wins the coin toss.
• Playoff System: Everybody complains about the BCS, but college fans do not know how good they have it. People say they want to see the best team win and want to see a playoff system for the NCAA in the same sentence. What those people don't realize is the two are, for the most part, mutually exclusive. The best team in the NFL rarely wins the Super Bowl. The best team usually gets beat by some inferior team by some stroke of luck. Do you really think the Giants were the best team in the NFL in 2007? If you do then you probably can't read and nobody cares about you.

Then there is the fact that the regular season doesn't even matter in the NFL. The Titans lost their season opener. They could still barely finish over .500 limp into the playoffs and win the Super Bowl because thats just the way shit works. In the meantime Titan's fans are watching a shitty team play shitty games and the Titan's Collesium (or whatever the fuck it is called nowadays) has more empty seats than a Penn State basketball game. Then all of a sudden the playoffs come and everybody is given a second chance. Not so in college. Case in point, look at Oklahoma this year. They lost their season opener. They need a hope and a prayer to win the National Championship this year. Every game in college football is as important as the one before, the one after, and as important as the last game of the season. Even if you aren't playing for the National Championship. There are no second chances.
I've had people tell me the only reason why the bowl system is around today is because it makes the NCAA money. Well no shit sherlock! Do you know why it makes the NCAA money? Because every college football fan lives for the chance to march into a warmer climate every December/January, get drunk, and cheer on your team one last time for the year. It's what we live for. I went to the Sun Bowl last year. Sure it was a lousy game, but that is still the best vacation of my life.


I know there are more reasons why the NFL sucks and why college football is the best thing since roadhead but I'm about to pass out. I'll argue about everything else in the comments thread.

Changes

During this off season the Duck's are going to be heading towards some major changes. First, Ben will be resigning as equipment manager (pretty much the person who orders and distributes the uniforms and hats). Anyone interested in this position please contact me or Ben ASAP.

Secondly, I am seriously thinking about splitting the Ducks up into two teams. If it looks like we are going to have more than 15 guys interested in playing for the Ducks there will undoubtedly be a split. It is just too difficult for me to get guys, including myself, sufficient playing time with more than 15 guys. I'm not exactly how this split will be made or who will play on which team, but i guess that will all work itself out.

If someone is willing to be the other manager in the split please let me know that you are interested.

Let me reiterate, this split is not guaranteed. It will only happen if we have more than 15 guys interested in being a Duck next year.

labor day bbq

Labor Day BBQ at my place. Same deal as last time.

My Place.

My place is actually on Milligan Way, but it is called Buzzard Way on Google maps. When you turn onto Milligan Way, bear to the right and go to the bottom of the hill. You will come out into a clearing with three buildings, mine is the one on the right. From the front of the building you can buzz the door or just yell at me on my patio.

BEC gameday [2]: This baseball team kills fascists.

good luck pirates,bulldogs, canes

the Hurricanes lost 4-0 yesterday.

The Ducks play at 12:30 and have to win to play at 3:30 and win again to play tomorrow.

Captain's on the hill

bad news for butler.

SSC recap: Butler County is the Heroin Capital of Western PA. Saxonburg 4, Ducks 1

A two out, two-two run error in the bottom of the first, and another in the 4th gave Saxonburg a 4-0 lead.

the Ducks scored their lone run in the top of the 5th on Darren Daulton's bases loaded walk,.

that was the Ducks best chance to rally, as they had the bases loaded with one out, and chased Saxonburg's starter.

their relief pitcher retired two consecutive batters to end the threat.

the Ducks had runners on 1st and 3rd in the top of the seventh, but had a runner picked off, and the next batter grounded out.

Adam Oliver was 1 for 1 with a walk.

Necheff pitched 7 strong innings, and we wasted a good outing.

I think we out-hit them 5 to 4.

Three Ducks starters were delayed by rush hour traffic and an accident on 79 and didn't arrive until the top of the 2nd.

6pm games are a joke.

We need to play much better tomorrow, we made that guy look like Sandy Koufax.

The Ducks play the losers bracket game tomorrow at 12:30pm Saturday at highfield one.
directions are linked on the previous post.

If we win we play again at 3:30.

if we lose the season is over.

we have to run the table

Bad news for opponent tbd.

Game Day [29] Ducks vs. Saxonburg

Directions to highfield #1

bracket link

This evening, the South Oakland Ducks of the North Side travel to the edge of civilization to play the Saxonburg [Saxons?] in the opening round of the BEC/PGHNABA/SteelCityClassic Wood Bat double elimination tourney.

The Butler tournament didn't exist until we tried to contact their teams about playing in the Steel City Classic, then they under cut us and put out an inferior product.

In truely Capitalist fashion the Steel City Classic, an entity run by Joe, Vinny, and Sorosky, with minor help from myself and TC, Kenny Powers, and Tremel (sp.), was absorbed by the bigger cheaper Butler Tournament, a tournament that may not provide the same quality as the one we've been working since spring, but it will be less expensive. Does the consumer really benefit?
We've been bought out, basically.
Once we paid them they changed formats twice.

The number of guaranteed games has dropped to 4 to 2.
Let's win and it won't matter.

They are charging $15 per spectator to watch games at Pullman.
i doubt we see much of a cut from the door.
Maybe that's what we should have done, charged admission to amateur games in order to subsidize some of our cost.

Today the Ducks take the field at the same time as the legaue champ Hurricane's, Halloway hates the blogosphere, and especially this blog, but we are pulling for him, and the Fightin's today.

The backdrop here is one of our entire league being disrespected, and disregarded as fodder for the Fed and BEC teams to beat up on, while we hand over our money to subsidize their methlabs.

Normally I don't believe in playing for respect. But this is different. There is more on the line for our league in this tourney than there was when the Blues romped in the AC tourney.
As much as our league has grown and as far as it has come, - and it has come a very long way - it is clear that we still are not respected locally.

With all this bullshit dominating the week leading up to the start of the tournament, there is still baseball to be played.
If the Ducks, and the Pittsburgh NABA want the respect of these teams we have the opportunity to earn it.
***

We were put in this bracket specifically to be door mats to the Saxonburgs, (that name sounds like something out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.)

We are South Oakland of the North Side.
We will face either a former pro or a DI pitcher, nothing we haven't seen in over the summer I'm sure.
We have an opportunity today.

This evening, the creepy, backwoods Butler County countryside will resonate with the sound of
quack.


Abe Lincoln is back with a vengeance.


Bad news for Saxonburg.

Ducks Unite

Gentleman,

It has come to my attention that today at 12:01pm, Pond-Of-Famer Adam Oliver will be making the five-and-a-half hour commute through PA Turnpike speedtraps, stimulus roadwork and Labor Day Traffic from the city of cheese steaks to the city of champions just in time to participate in the Beaver County/Steel City Classic baseball tournament. He will be suiting up in the Green and Gold for the first time since his legendary 2007 campaign.

I myself crammed five grueling days of pickle sales into a four day window in which I hustled through four states slinging dill and dreaming of glory. If this were any other week, I would spend my travel time wondering where I went wrong, lamenting the pathetic fact that I accrued a lifetime of debt earning an education that was unlikely to earn me any money, lay any foundation for even nominal renown or ever get me laid. If this were just any week I would spend my travel time anticipating the upcoming weekend of drowning my sorrows in rum-and-coke, par-3 golf, Lil' Wayne and fat chicks who tell it like is.

But goddamn it, this is tournament week.

In Erie, we knocked off the rust, some of us getting to know each other. Some of us learning, the hard way, how to communicate in the outfield. (Gwin, who has priority?) We hit some bombs, we made some plays, we swung at everything..., we had some fun, but in the end, it was just practice.

In the BC/SSC we may get to hit against a motherfucker that pitched for Braves. Not for nothing, but I'm a Phillies fan, and I will never forget that awful (racist, annoying) chop and its prevalence in the early 90s when Fred McGriff, Dion Sanders and Steve Avery et al were beating us up. We should see some good teams and Ducks thrive on competition. No doubt, you all have a bitter taste in your beaks after a disappointing loss to the Powerses. Oliver and I know the pain of PNABA defeat as both of our regular Duck finales ended in heartbreak, and included losses to Powers. Let's play some Duck ball and take it out on Beaver teams and Fed teams and NABA mishmashes of quasi-allstar teams. And we'll be doing it with real Ducks and not recruits. Ducks fly together.

Fago has enough quacktion to count.

This alumni Ducks campaign is not simply for us, but for the respect of Pittsburgh baseball and the honor of every Duck ever to wear the sacred uniform.

Let's take it to the stage sucka.

Squints 4 life

prepare for an actually gameday post tomorrow.

quack.

September Madness!

Here is the final bracket, it's a little better.

CLICK FOR BRACKET


Ducks,

if you aren't playing this weekend we need to borrow your jersey for the players we have recruited to fill your vacancy.

please get in touch with one of the following ducks from this summer who are playing, and make arrangements to get your jersey, it will be returned asap.

TC, McCray, Guthrie, Wojton, Casale, (aside from friday and saturday 10-3)
Depo, J.Smith, Homa, and maybe Dowling and i think that's it.

we need 4 or 5 more jerseys total.

i ordered some t-shirts and hats for the weekend.

BWP bats will be for sale on site: $40 for maple and $30 for ash.

Squints, you know your mission...

there will probably be one final schedule change. (above)

quack.