South Oakland sits at 2-2 after defeating pre-season favorite Keystone Oaks 13-5 in a rain-shortened game last Tuesday night at John Herb Field. Brandon Blackstone (W, 1-0) pitched 4.2 innings for the win. Cody Quinn recorded the final out in the top of the fifth.
TJ Morgan, Tom Pulice, Anthony DeFillipo, and Ryan Myers all had multiple hits for the Ducks.
The game was rained out after five full innings, and started late after a scheduling miscue with the umpires. Keystone Oaks dropped to 3-2 with the loss.
The Ducks next game is Tuesday night at John Herb Field.
This year was a tough one for the Ducks. Another year where the Front office and the team on the field resembled each other, with losses, and stresses. Over the last two years, our hitting and pitching has not matched up game to game like we need. I think we are moving in the right direction though. For the first time, I feel like in years we had our impact players playing more than three quarters of the games on our schedule, and with our teams median age of like 103, I’ll take it.
This year we ended at 12-11-1, but with our move to John Herb Field, it felt like we ended a lot better than our record says. I could be wrong, but I do not think we lost a game once we made the move. I know there are some of us that are truly going to miss Spring Hill, myself being one of them. It was shit hole, but it was our shit hole. It’s a bummer that its gone, but hopefully the city does right by the Urban Impact kids and makes it usable for ages up to Pony and Colt.
I would argue that we have the best arm in the division on our roster, and at least the best arm that didn’t play in a league or NCAA division that shouldn’t have been in our division in the first place. Our pitching staff dealt with a lot of injuries this year. We lost Casen to an elbow, Christian to his oblique, Josh to his shoulder, and Cups had some elbow issues that had him on the sidelines for awhile as well. Even our last game of the year, Billy was battling through some back pain in hopes of getting us to the Semi-Finals. If we do not have injuries, I think we are giving the top teams a run for their money. With some question marks going into next year. I think one or two more arms puts us near the top.
Our lineup is dirty. I have no other way to describe it to you, than good luck. We have been shut down by some arms through the league, but if I had to guess, everyone has to think about who to pitch to when it comes time to pay the Ducks. From top to bottom, I take us every single time. Flip once again had a great year, Kenny soared, I hit well, Dave, our new leadoff/CF was in the fight to be the offensive player of the year for us, and even guys towards the bottom of our lineup were doing their thing. Brandt led the 6-10 slot hitters with 11 RBI, and overall, the bottom and top of our lineup attributed for nearly equal RBI numbers (74-72.) The parity of our lineup is unmatched.
Finally, our year end awards. We had so many guys with great seasons its tough to pick. I had to do a calculation, I ran 1 point for Top five, 2 points for Top Three and 3 Points for Top of a category.
For Pitcher of the year, I used the following categories: (GP, GS, CG, SHO, W, SV, SVO, IP, BF, K’s, WHIP, OBA, and ERA)
#
Player
Top 5
Top 3
1st
Total
10
Billy Welsh
11
11
11
66
27
Brandon Blackstone
11
9
1
32
15
Ryan Myers
6
6
2
24
6
Colin Dougherty
6
4
–
14
9
Casen Wolinsky
8
5
–
18
For Offensive Player of the year, I ran the following categories with a Min of 50 Plate appearances: GP, RS, H, 2B, 3B, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS.
#
Player
Top 5
Top 3
1st
Total
46
Anthony Defilippo
9
9
5
42
18
David Williams
10
8
3
35
24
Kenny Rayl
10
8
1
29
33
Tom Pulice
7
4
3
24
29
Mark Lombardi
7
2
0
11
Since we didn’t truly have many Ducks Rookies this year, its easier to decide, but at the end of the day, its still would have been the same guy. David locked down CF and the leadoff spot for us, while hitting one of our two homeruns this year.
We have some work to do next year. Limping into the playoffs in the middle of the pack hasn’t paid off for us. With the roster we have I honestly think we are one or two pieces away from being a true powerhouse.
RIP to Springhill, and to the Oakland Coliseum, both iconic stadiums for teams wearing the green and gold. Pour one out for them next time you have the chance. Until next year. Quack.
The Ducks open the 2024 playoffs at home vs the one-win Marlins.
Big missed opportunity by Sheraden by not going with the Jeff Conine-era unis.
Those are sharp.
I’m gonna have a longer post about ringers and cheating after the season. I tried to work it in here, but it was long. I’ll post it mid-week so people can kill time at work reading it.
I don’t think there’s a ton to say about this game. We didn’t get out of the play-in round, and this bracket is terrible, so here we are. We should win, but we can’t take them lightly, etc.
What hurt us this year were injuries to three or four pitchers who we were counting on to make significant contributions.
I think we can still make a deep playoff run if we get some bounces.
South Oakland rallied from a 5-1 deficit to beat the South Side Eagles, 11-5 in Ross Tuesday night. The game was close until the bottom of the sixth inning when Cody Quinn iced the game with a bases laded 2-run single. Brandon Blackstone (W, 4-2) scattered 9 hits over 5 innings and struck out 5. Ryan Myers recorded a two-inning save (1). The Ducks record improved to 10-7-1 with the win; the Eagles dropped to 12-7-1.
The Ducks are now 5-0 at John Herb Field since acquiring the permit in June, and are a game back of the Eagles for the fourth seed which would keep the team out of the play-in round.
Catching up
Butler’s split from Cranberry turned the Juice into an at-times dominant team, and arguably led to a shift in personnel philosophy from Cranberry’s manager as they have loaded up with high-pedigree pitching, and have the arms to make a deep run. Did Butler’s defection lead to one of the nicest guys in the league saying fuck it and adding guys who should probably be in AAA? That is up for debate, but it would be a fun storyline if I had the bandwidth to dig into it.
We need to start voting teams up or AA is going to get top heavy.
The Ducks split the 3 game series with Butler, going 1-1-1. That team is a bad matchup for us.
KO has a better record, but I think the title is Cranberry’s to lose.
D2 with a solid choice of 80s Phillies-inspired, new jerseys.
Kenny Rayl for MVP and Billy Welsh for POY. Both are having standout seasons.
There was a brawl in the Lions/Marlins game. I only know third-hand what went down, but its a joke, and a black mark for the league. When the umps don’t control games, and managers don’t control their players, it was bound to happen eventually. This is how we lose permits.
I’m for getting rid of the handshake line or having the umpires stay to watch the handshake line like they do in NBHL (deck hockey) games. The umps left immediately after the Marlins game, so there was no one there to objectively report what happened. League officials are in a holding pattern trying to gather information before suspensions are leveed.
This has been a tough summer for me. After a long bout with dementia, my dad died on May 17th. I’ve been pretty fucked since then. I’m grateful for my teammates for their support and for the league for giving me a reason to get me out of the house. But it’s been frustrating. At times, the game that is supposed to be a release has added stress as I play poorly, and then it starts to compound as I press. Then I feel bad for even caring so much about adult baseball when my dad just died, and it’s a really fucked headspace a lot of the time. It’s hard. I don’t feel washed, and I hope I’m not physically unable to contribute anymore, but I have to at least entertain that is a possibility. I’ll play indefinitely, but I don’t want to be a mascot.
So that’s basically why the blog has been quiet, and I’ve been busy with other shit. I’ll try to keep up better for my five loyal readers. No promises though.
My dad was solid. He was like me but not an asshole. I miss him.
Thanks, Tom, for writing a solid preseason blog. We should be good this year. How good? I don’t know. Personally, I’m always worried I will suddenly just not be able to hit anymore, but I feel great. I’ve been a Duck for almost half my life, and I’m looking forward to riding the coattail of my younger, more accomplished teammates to one more title. Hopefully that happens this year. We should have the pitching. If we get solid middle infield play this year, we will be tough to beat. I’m optimistic.
The point isn’t just winning a title, it’s winning a title with this core. It’s about winning with these guys who have been here for years while we can still contribute. Every off season, we try to figure out how to improve the roster without forcing guys out who can still play. It’s a tough balance, and the toughest part of being a manager.
We’re having a golf outing on 4/20. It will be great. We will raise money to help out our team and the youth league that is also getting kicked off our field after this season.
I’m golfing with my uncle and two Ducks legends. It’s bittersweet. Like most of us, my dad taught me to golf. My dad has been sick for the last year or so. I’m entering that purgatorial stage of life that involves caring for my kid and my parents. It’s kind of surreal and makes me question my mortality. Watching my dad wither away, I am determined to play baseball as much as I can, as well as I can, with as much reckless abandon as possible, until I can’t. I only have so many good years left. I will spend those summers running around in the outfield at Springview and then wherever our new home turns out to be.
The proposed renovations on Springview Field are long overdue, and are also being completely botched. The city wants to move the fences in to little league depth, which makes no sense as there are no little league teams that play there. This will also force out the pony league teams to another field, and futher congest the permit situation which is already bad.
There will be pickle ball courts put in where the basketball courts are – a gentrification move that would make the Oilers blush. They supposedly want to put a walking path around the outfield. Idk. It’s dumb, and not in the best interest of the kids, and it also fucks our team.
We’ve put more work into that field than the city ever has, and we’re probably going to have to play elsewhere after this season. But we will look good doing it. New uniforms, which are like our 2008-2010 ones but nicer, will be in before the season starts.
Around the League!
I don’t really know what personnel moves have been happening elsewhere in AA, so this, as always, is based mostly on vibes.
The Bandidos promise not to be super good again, they swear. No way should they have been voted up. In surprising twist, Greg Friend turned down a multi-year offer from the Ducks to run Bakery Square who have a garbage time slot. I can’t think of a worse place to be at 9:30 am than under the fucking glare of that stupid building, surrounded by Seattle transplants and people going to watch that big outdoor TV and day drink in Shady Side.
Cranberry will win games because of Jon Hart, and because no one wants to drive to Cranberry. They will lose in the playoffs in crushing fashion.
KO is gonna be a tough out. Good mix of young and fast kids with grizzled vets. This is also our recipe. They have the second worst time slot, but a nicer field than Bakery Square.
D2: I predict a 11-13 regular season and a deep playoff run when they shorten the bench. It helps to get this team when they’re batting 14 guys in May. I think they have new management now, so who knows.
The Devils could not agree to terms with former Duck Randy Patton. They must have some pitching if they’re turning away a guy who is at worst a solid innings eater, and a top of the rotation starter on most teams. If the Devils don’t fight each other, they will probably win games.
Butler is maybe folding. They will likely just ask their parents for money and get their fees in at the last minute. I hope they fold. I hate driving to Cranberry.
The Eagles are trying to figure out a way to cheat and bring in college kids as I write this. Their success this year will depend on how well they recruit and skirt league bylaws.
Sheraden/Warriors/Lions will probably give us a couple bad losses that fuck up our playoff seeding. There’s some bad blood between all three of these teams from back in the Single A days. The renewed Sheraden vs. Ducks rivalry should be fun.
Good luck to everyone. Thanks for another summer in the sun.
2024 will bring the 21st year of the South Oakland Ducks, and my fourth or fifth (I have no idea at this point,) as a player manager. I can confidently tell you three things, if you would have told 8-12 year old me that I would still be playing baseball into my 30s, I would have been extremely happy about it, we will hit the fuck out of the baseball, and we will have some losses that make me think the youth league we share a field with could absolutely crush us. Other than that, as our Vice President of Morale would say, we are going to be Dangerous this year.
2023 Ended in disappointment, we played half the year without a regular shortstop, and somehow ended up over .500 with a 13-11 record. The playoffs did not go as well as I, or any of us would have hoped. The best thing for me that weekend was enjoying Pittsburgh’s annual Picklesburgh festival. To start off out playoffs, we faced the only team that swept us (I think,) and our newfound rival (yea it was quite one-sided last year,) the Buccos. I honestly can’t remember much about that game, except that one dude was wearing way too much Cologne, especially for an adult baseball game. Then the next day, or two days later, D2 got their payback from 2022, and absolutely routed us, 10-0. To get double swept on the weekend, out of the playoffs and by the yellow shirted plunderers leaves a feeling that I would rather not ever have again.
There is going to be a bit of a new look to the Duck’s this season, both in our roster construction and in our Uniform configuration. For the first time in my career we are getting some new Jersey’s, hopefully these new uniforms bring us some “look good play good” luck. As for our roster, we have a new look with some familiar faces as well. We lost a few guys, including what I assume is the innings leader in Ducks history from our pitching staff. For me it is hard to see guys depart the Duck Pond, but I understand that dudes know when it is time to move on. We do have a few past Ducks returning to the team this year, with Mullen and Stef. Although neither will be making regular appearances, I am hoping that we can piece it together with Jesse up the middle. We do have a newcomer up the middle with another D Williams coming in to shore up the outfield. With our veteran presence in right and left, this will give us some flexibility moving forward. I’ll tell you; it will be nice not having to wonder how I am going to configure the middle of the field, other than myself and the pitcher, during my workday. Other than the loss of one of our key staff members, we should have a solid and healthy rotation. Let me tell ya, I am excited to have a pitching staff again, it may have been 2 years ago but having like two starters for a season is a nightmare I never want to encounter again.
On a Sad note, we have been notified that 2024 will probably be the final year that we get to spend our Tuesday Nights in the Friendly confines of the Duck Pond, with Spring Hill being scheduled to have a complete renovation start in 2025. To be honest, that is a pretty sad idea for us, other than a season and a half at West Field, never again btw, the Pond has been my home field since 2017. There aren’t many things I can say, good or bad about the Pond, but it will be tough to say goodbye. I don’t know where our new Game Lands will be in 2025, but I hope we can send off the Pond the right way this year, by raising a trophy and taking a photo at 1354 Romanhoff street. Fingers Crossed
South Oakland was swept out of the 2023 playoffs after losing to Butler and D2, two weeks ago in Spring Hill. The Ducks had a clear lead-off home run by Mark Lombardi ruled foul in the bottom of the first against Butler, and they never recovered. South Oakland went on to lose their opening round game 5-4 after another blown call on a play at the plate. After the tough loss, D2 beat the Ducks 10-0 and South Oakland was eliminated. There would be no miracle run to the finals.
This year’s team suffered two key injuries that we couldn’t overcome. Last year’s starting shortstop hurt his arm in the offseason, and our starting center fielder hurt himself early in the season. Then our new shortstop and our best pitcher were unavailable for the opening round of the playoffs. Overall, we did pretty well with the things we could control this year, and during the second half, we played some really good baseball. We won 9 of 10 to close out the season with a winning record. It was fun down the stretch. We won the season series against everyone but Keystone Oaks and our new nemesis, Butler.
We got a tough draw in the playoffs in that D2 is probably the only team with enough pitching to get through the play-in round and the Bandidos and still have a really good starter for a third game. As usual, they were better than their record indicated. The “We have baseball jerseys at home” Butler Buccos certainly had our number this year for some reason. If they don’t fold, and we manage to beat them, there could be a good rivalry brewing. The atmosphere around games with them is certainly different with all the parents and shit.
Losing early this year wasn’t shocking given the guys we were missing, and the second-round exit in and of itself isn’t heartbreaking, but it makes me more mad about last year’s finals. We had the Eagles on the ropes in that series, and they beat us with illegal players. We took two out of three from them this year without their ringers, and our only loss was a meaningless game for us that they had to win to avoid the play-in game. I guess we should have protested their guys’ eligibility in 2022. That missed opportunity is a little starker after working really hard this year to get better playoff seed only to get bounced while our ace was at the beach. Oh well. Hopefully, we can figure out our defense up the middle in the off season, and make a deep run next year.
Personally, I feel like I still have some years left. I can’t run as well in the second of back to back games, but my (admittedly bloated) stats say I contributed. At 42 years old, I’m still punching above my weight class and leaning into pitches. I think we have a great core of veteran guys who play well together, and we are determined to win one before we all ride off into the slow-pitch softball sunset.
As always, I’m humbled to still have a team and a league to play in. I don’t know what else I’d do during the summer.
Congrats to the Bandidos for a dominant season and a title won without any illegal players. Also, Cranberry had a hell of a run after half their team left in March.
This year at the Duck Pond was another tough one. It was a different tough. Last year, it came down to the last half inning, a couple missed calls, blah blah blah. It honestly cast a shadow over this year, at least until we started winning. That ‘winning’ was an 8 game win streak, and it is nothing to ignore. That’s for sure the highlight of our year. Did we need to lose that last game of the season, did we need to keep it going, or did none of that really matter when it came down to the construction of our roster for the first weekend of the playoffs. Fuck if I know, but all of the above feel like they would have been the right answer.
The beginning of the year came with thoughts that we’d walk the division back to the championship. Randy was great down the stretch this year, Casen throws a heavy ball that people don’t hit, Luke throws a curveball that buckles knees every at bat, and we were getting Brandon and Billy back, good luck everyone else. We returned our starting lineup, minus an injury at shortstop, and to be fair, that’s a pretty important position. We definitely learned how important it is. We picked up some young guys that we would have hoped to be the stop gap, unfortunately we put them in a no win situation. That group ended up helping immensely down the stretch anyways. Losing other starters to injuries elsewhere added to our mounting issues. Things were starting to pile up, including our runners left on base, and our errors. I’d rather it was runs and hits, but what can you do?
Our season really turned with a last hour addition to our playoff roster, Jimmy getting back from vacation and Liam coming back from injury. These three coming around at the same time injected life into our roster, it was an electric factory. Honestly, that win in Plum really felt like the turn of the tide was official and real. It was the first time since game two that I felt we were going to get back to the big series. We had a great squad, we just couldn’t put it together, and starting the playoffs third legged was not the answer. Let’s not take vacations between July 15 and August 10th next year, just a thought.
I love being a part of this team, putting on catchers gear game in and game out, and playing baseball at the Duck Pond. I say it a lot, but this is the first team I loved playing for since a pony team that me and the wild goose played for. I do feel bad, I didn’t give these guys everything this year, I had too much shit going on off the field, and was never really all there. You guys deserve better and I’ll be better next year.
My team awards:
Team MVP: Flip. Plain and simple, we were a different team with flip on the field. Hands down the ball player of ball players and one of the best hitters I’ve ever been on a field with. Having someone like that slotted in your lineup is increasingly important through the year. If Flip doesn’t win the MVP of the league it’s laughable.
Pitcher of the year: Billy. A season getting close to 100 strikeouts is unreal. We play 24 games a year, 100 strikeouts in 24 appearances would be legit, let alone 12 appearances.
Comeback players of the year: Brandon’s comeback meant a lot, that dude loves baseball, doesn’t pass the Buck, and absolutely despised losing. The phone call from Brandon almost two years ago was a tough one, I knew it was coming, but it’s still hard to lose a competitor like that. To get him back, double that tough feeling from the phone call and switch it to joy. That’s a guy you need and want on your team. Brandon went out there and competed no matter the situation. Honestly it is hard to put into words what pitchers like that bring to a team, and we have a couple of them.
Ben Sorosky. What a year big fella. Every year Ben makes those comments that he could help us if he was in the lineup, and let me tell ya, this dude proved it this year. It seems like every time I looked up Ben was on base, some times eliciting “wtf is going on here?!?” responses from 1/2 our bench. Ben just smiles and basically says “I told you so,” yea pal, you did.
Ducks rookie of the year
We had a few new guys this year, but there was a specific addition that changed our year around. That’s Jesse. As I said earlier, shortstop was somewhere we struggled, and struggled mightily. Coming in and locking down our infield by being the shortstop we needed was important. Add in the fact that he’s a good ball player and someone who just fits in with our group was one of the sparks we needed. We sure are glad to have him.
Every year I say this, and every year I believe it. We have the tools to win, I really don’t know what keeps stopping us, its something different every year. I truly believe that we are one of, if not the team to beat in the AA division. We have everything you could ask for. Bad news for NABA AA in 2024.
Billy Welsh pitched a complete game (W, 4-3) and allowed 0 earned runs, to lead the Ducks past the reigning MVP and the defending champion Eagles (7-13) last night in Spring Hill. Anthony DeFilippo continued his torrid pace at the plate with a 2-run double. Tom Pulice, TJ Morgan, and Jimmy Murray all had RBI for South Oakland. Ducks infielders Kenny Rayl and Mark Lombardi had extra base hits.
The win was South Oakland’s sixth in a row and improved their record to 11-10. The Ducks are above .500 for the first time this season, and hold the tie-breaker over the Eagles with the season series win.
Billy Welsh has an outside shot at 100 strikeouts this season and deserves Pitcher of the Year consideration.
Anthony DeFilippo is on pace to win the first batting title in team history and should be in the conversation for league MVP.
Tom Pulice will always be my Manager of the Year.
South Oakland plays next on Friday, 8:30 pm at Springview Field vs the Devils.
South Oakland Ducks Baseball 