Sad News from Ducks Headquarters SS/2B Andrew McCray is flying south for the late summer, so far south he will traverse the globe and land back home in Erie, PA. The poor Pittsburgh job market has robbed the Ducks of another middle infielder. The same thing happened in 2005 when original Duck #2, SS, Craig Pelat left for Tennessee to find employment. McCray is one of the best infielders I’ve ever played alongside. He was always positive, kept things light. He got fired up to play baseball in a good way.
Birds of a Feather
I know McCray would be fired up about this bit of second hand information: According to all-star pitcher, Duck-on-the-Fence, Ben Sorosky, a conversation similar to this occurred between Ben and Owlz coach Rob Cool:
Rob: I hear[from the Ducks blog] your deciding between the Ducks and the Rakers next season. Ben: yes Rob: Well, if you’d like to play on a Championship caliber team, maybe you would consider playing for me on the Owlz next season. Ben: no Rob: why not? we have sweet uniforms and are the only team in the league with a “z” in our team name. (this may not have been said) Plus we won the championship Ben: Because I’d rather play on a team who beats them, quack, quack. (Sorosky may or may not have quacked upon rejecting Rob Cool’s offer)
*** the Owlz front office has been busy headhunting the best players from around the league. We will see some of them in the Owlz vs. Blues scrimmage on Sunday, 5pm at John Herb Field. With all the new Owlz next season, logic would dictate a few displaced members from the 2008 championship squad.
Despite the swell of support and campaigning from the Ducks blog, Nick Homa finished second in the Pitcher of the Year voting to the Oilers’ Jason Ashcroft. While Ashcroft is a deserving candidate, who lead the league in ERA with a lights out 1.40 mark, he had 20 fewer strikeouts than Homa, and played in a weaker division. Homa came in second by two votes, he led the league with 76 strikeouts, (75 officially)
Ashcroft and Homa are teammates on the Pittsburgh Blues
Others recieving POY votes, Jeremy Barchie, James Fago, and “Duck on the Fence” Ben Sorosky. Sorosky has pledged allegiance to the Ducks should the Rakers fold (Larry, you can join us). If the Rakers do not fold it will take a solid counter offer by the Ducks to lure the all-star pitcher from Cyrila Landscaping and their sweet uniforms. Negotiations will officially start during the winter meetings.
Ducks off season re-acquisition, Jeremy Barchie, has guaranteed the 2009 Pitcher of the Year Award. To Paraphrase an earlier quote by Barchie, “I’m returning to my former team, and I’m taking the Pittsburgh NABA Cy Young..”
A Freudian slip by Blues manager Joe Graff occurred last night at practice when he referred to Blues’ pitchers, Mark Guthrie and Ben Sorosky as “Ducks”.
Another mind numbing debacle is the persistent absence of a Manager of the Year Award. TC Jones is the unofficial 2008 Manager of the Year.
Ducks blog did help secure the MVP Award for the Owlz James Fago.
Congrats, James, there is always a spot for you on the Ducks. Quack.
Join us next post for a recap of some bold smack-hooting by Owlz manager Rob Cool, who dismisses the possibility entirely of any other team challenging for next season’s title. I will take remarks I heard second hand entirely out of context, in order to make the statement sound worse than it may have been. Fast51ball can help iron out any mistakes. Cool led the Owlz to a championship in their first year of existence, he is a fierce competitor who will go to any lengths to strengthen his team. I was a little bit like him when I was his age. I admire his confidence, but anyone who has read any Shakespeare knows too much hubris can lead to one’s demise
Congratulations to this season’s award winners, many of whom I will have the privilege of playing alongside in the Blue Grey Tournament in Virginia.
The Pittsburgh Blues will compete in the 2008 NABA Blue Grey Tournament in Fairfax County Virginia, Aug. 30- Sept. 1. The Rebels will not be represented on our team due to injuries, and treason.
Fairfax County is X-Files territory.
Worst possible team name: “RebelZ”
Thank you to Rob Cool who offered to design our T-shirt and hat logo, despite declining an invitation to play on the team due to academic and collegiate baseball responsibilities.
Baseball and the blues are the two greatest, American contributions to the world at large.
Thirteen years ago today Jerry Garcia died.
I hate hippies, mind you, but the music of the Grateful Dead helped me through some bleak, bleak times, the depths of which I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
Listen to some Dead today, even if it’s just one of these songs. I have more bootlegs than your weird uncle the family doesn’t like to talk about if you’re interested.
The best American rock band of all time, depending on whether you count Jimi Hendrix as a band.
The Owlz are the 2008 Pittsburgh NABA Champions. I have no doubt that the only thing on Rob Cool’s mind while assembling his team during the off-season was winning a championship, which he and hiz fellow Owlz did.
The Owlz won both the Division Series and the Championship series on walk off singles in third game of best of three series (once in extra innings). There was some great baseball down the stretch this year.
In 2009, would you rather be on the Owlz, or the team who beats the Owlz on the way to the title? Team of Destiny ’09 is gunning for you next year, Z-Men. Enjoy it while it lasts. Quack, quack.
Seriously, congratulations on a season well played.
Fago for league MVP
Five Years Feels like Forever
The Owlz won the Championship in their first year in existence. The first team to win a championship in its inaugural season; the 2003 South Oakland Ducks.
The Owlz are the first team with a bird mascot to win the Pittsburgh NABA Championship since the 2003 South Oakland Ducks.
The Owlz are the only team with a “Z” in their name to take home the trophy, this may remain fact for some time.
The first team to win the title with a Confederate soldier for a mascot? The 2007 Rebels, who missed the playoffs this season.
***
Here are the Ducks 2008 team awards as chosen by Manager of the Year, TC Jones, who also wrote the summaries.
Team MVP: Nick Homa.
Without a doubt Nick deserves the MVP award. Not only was he arguably the leagues best pitcher, but he put up pretty good offensive numbers too. Without Homa we would have been an under .500 team.
Offensive Player of the Year: Ben Gwin.
This may have been the hardest award to pick. I think this award could have easily gone to Chris Wojoton or Jesse smith, but I chose Ben Gwin because of his clutch and timely hitting. Any time we needed to drive in important runs, Gwin was the one to do it. The +20 RBIs on the season prove it.
Defensive Player of the Year: Coby Kolaja.
Can we argue with the diving catches, the flowing hair, and the absolute cannon of an arm? I don’t think so. Coby Kolaja surprised everyone on the Ducks with his good reads and surprisingly accurate outfield arm.
Quack Talker of the year: Jim Spagnola.
I give this award to the Duck who made his presence felt with his verbal antics. It was a close call between Jim and Rick Whalen (both had particularly disgusting topics to ponder on the bench), but my decision was made after Spagnola called out an “F— You” to an opposing pitcher after getting a hit.
Duck of the year: KT Murphy.
I give this award to the Duck who best accepted his position on the team as a role-player. KT was at every game and never complained. He was also our most timely pinch hitter and made the most out of every opportunity he got.
Most Improved Player of the Year: Garret Moore.
To be honest, at the beginning of the season I wasn’t sure how much time I would be able to get this man. But his hustle and ability to put the baseball in play during at bats gained him the starting role as the DH.
***
My only complaint is that Garrett won an award instead of having another award named after him and given to someone else. ie. the Garrett Moore mustache of the year award, goes to James Spagnola.
I’m just happy to be here, and to be able to help the team.
No individual is bigger than the Ducks, except Rambo.
Manager of the Year sent me the team awards, they’ll be up soon.
I’m going to let Coby’s post sit for a bit. It’s right below this one, it is solid.
His hair was perfect
Here’s Recap of the Warriors victory over the Owlz in Game twoof the championship. Game Three is tonight at 9pm, at John Herb Field. It should be an epic battle. Go check it out if you have time, last night was good baseball.
Owlz Pitcher Scott Dunn broke his arm playing first base in game one. I believe it was his non-throwing arm. The Ducks wish him a speedy recovery. Players of his caliber are good for the league.He strikes me as a good guy who enjoys the game, and plays the right way. He’d fit right in on the Ducks.
“The Ducks (3-6-1) season hangs precariously on the brink of irrelevance after a tough loss to their inter-division rival, The Warriors (6-2).” – Ben Gwin (June 9, 2008)
Straight Into (and then out of) Darkness
“I don’t believe the good times are over, I don’t believe the thrill is all gone… The weak ones fall, the strong (Ducks) carry on!”
Since it is now early August, it’s hard to believe Ben uttered those words as recently as June. I figured we had turned it around by then. Who would’ve known that Ducks would completely reverse that 3-6-1 record, but going 6-3-1 over their next ten? Sounds like something from a movie… a team that starts terribly, only to finish with a successful post-season run…
The tide didn’t turn easily, however, as the Ducks sunk four games under .500 after a short-handed loss to the Stars and Bars. Perhaps the Ducks loss to the talented Confederacy sparked some pride in the current Stars and Stripes as the Ducks really used the Fourth of July weekend to their season around (One would tend to favor the Eagles over this holiday weekend, but perhaps they were celebrating down at the Sunset Grill with the Boys of Summer, trying to get their Maserati up to 185, then deciding to Take it Easy by checking into the Hotel California).
The Ducks would go 2-0-1 over the holiday weekend, including a romping off the Oilers with only nine Ducks, a tie of the mighty Owlz, and an epic defeat of the Black Sox. Optimism was abound on the Ducks squad, signaling that finally the levee was broken, and a winning record was in sight.
When the Levee Breaks
Led Zeppelin & Neil Young crunch a few chords in epic fashion.
I don’t feel the need to recap the rest of the year, since Ben has done such a great job with his write-ups here, that nothing more on the matter really needs to be said. To his credit, this blog and his witty penmanship have given the Ducks many admirers and generated much buzz and excitement.
Random Thoughts:
-Ben suggested giving Mark Guthrie the “C” denoting him captain of the Ducks. While I agree, I also think Ben is being modest since he is a leader, perennial all-star, and founding member of the Ducks, thus also deserving of the “C”. My solution is to give both Ben and Guthrie the “C”, allowing them to alternate the letter nightly, much the way the Buffalo Sabres successfully did when they employed both Danny Briere and Chris Drury. Guthrie is the team’s Cal Ripken, always stoic, employs the same batting stance, and tells us when NOT to talk about certain subjects. Ben Gwin fits more of the Jason Varitek mold, a gritty catcher who may joke around with a certain dark sarcasm that makes one wonder if he’s just giving you a hard time or is actually serious.
-Eric Lee will still be the fastest Duck at the age of 50.
-The Ducks should win the Goose Gossage Award for best team facial hair. This category was mostly won by Garret ‘Sonic’ Moore and James ‘Spags’ Spanolia as they truly brought the past back to life. We also can’t rule out Ben’s scruffy look, Novak’s cool and collected beard, as well as Eric Tans’ dabble in the Dennis Weaver mustache. In all seriousness, no other team in the league was even close in this category.
-One of my favorite moments of the year came against the Rakers as KT took offense to the previous hitter receiving a walk by slapping a shot between third and short before voicing his displeasure. Following KT, Spags also stood up for his character with his expletive which was slightly uncalled for, but also hilarious.
-Speaking of the Rakers, I can’t say enough about that team. They’re a fun team to play as well as a swell bunch of dudes. They read the blog, they either beat us or play us close, and then they wish us luck in the playoffs. I feel like we let them down as well ourselves by bowing out as early as we did. Larry and the Rakers, I salute you. If I ever need any yard work done, I will call Cyrilla thanks to your positive advertisement.
-Another shoutout goes out to the Owlz’ Fago and Dunn. Fago is possibly this years’ MVP and claims to check out Ducks’ games when they play at Spring Hill. For this alone he’s a darn good dude. As for Dunn (at least I think that’s his name), he could possibly be the best secret in the NABA this year. He throws extremely hard and sports a devastating curveball. And he also seemed to respect the game and the Ducks’, declaring in a 5-5 extra-inning stranglehold (with no umpires) with the Ducks, “I love games like this”. Me too, man.
-So much more could be said positive about this year’s squad (Teddy’s coaching, Jesse behind the dish, the comparisons of McCray to both Jake Taylor and Kirk Gibson, the suave demeanor of Les Gies) but I feel I’m beginning to ramble. I would just like to thank the Ducks for a great, fun season and I hope Ben doesn’t mind me posting.
Also, make sure you support Ben’s Ghostbusters if you are able. Rumor has it that he’ll keep blogging about your treks of investigating symmetrical book stacking while still leaving time to enjoy his other hobbies: collecting spores, molds, and fungus. And always remember, when someone asks you if you’re a god, you say yes!!!
The Owlz are up 1-0 in the Championship series. here’s the recap from the Warriors website. The Game
I’ll link the Owlz recap when it is posted. It should be interesting to contrast and compare. I’m going to try to catch some of the game tomorrow night at John Herb Field, 9pm.
This is the type of stuff I think about There has been talk of adding a second, yellow “South Oakland” Jersey. I think this would be sweet, especially for day games late in the season. I’m in favor of having home and away jerseys. We need to start fund raising early
I also think we should come up with special red white and blue Ducks T-shirts for when we play the Rebels, we might only use our hypothetical, patriotic 3rd jerseys three or four times a season, but it’d be worth it. They would be simple; “Ducks” on the front, number on the back. We could probably get them for ten bucks apiece. Just something to consider.
TC Jones for Manager of the Year This award doesn’t exist yet, but it should, and it ought to go to Jones. Last season under Ben Gwin’s Nixon-esque leadership, the Ducks were 8-16 with an abysmal .333 winning percentage, the war escalated. In Jones’ first season as manager the Ducks rebounded to make the playoffs for the first time in three years on the strength of an 11-9-2 record and a .545 wining percentage. The Ducks are once again a competitive, winning organization and a fun team to play for, encompassing all that is good about the Pittsburgh NABA.
Nick Homa for Pitcher of the Year No single player was more responsible for the Ducks (11-9-2) turnaround than Homa; with a 4-3-1 record and 3 saves he factored into all but four of South Oakland’s eleven victories, two of the Ducks’ wins were awarded via forfeit, so Homa either won or saved 77% of his team’s victories which were settled on the field. He also set the single season Ducks strikeout record with 76, the second highest single season strikeout total in Pittsburgh NABA history. The record is held by former Blue Jays farmhand, Matt Dalton (83) .
The Once and Future Duck has this to pass along…Former Raker, Jeremy Barchie is seeking the 2009 NABA Pitcher of the Year Award with his new team the Ducks. He will return to South Oakland, where he played six games his rookie season, when his contract with Cyrilla Landscaping expires in January.
Barchie holds the Ducks single game strikeout record (17), and Nick Homa holds the single season record(76).
Manager of the Year Jones will have to come up with team awards this season. He should email me his arbitrary, biased, decisions sometime this week, and I will create my own awards for the rest of the Ducks, whom Jones spitefully decides don’t deserve recognition.
Traded to the Dodgers
South Oakland Ducks Baseball 
