Author: mightyeskimo

Game 23, Exhibition: Spag-tastic Voyage. Ducks 74, Bulldogs -2

pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball, who names their team the Rebels?
profanity in this video


90’s hip-hop, I miss you.

The final game, much like the Ducks’ sixth season, came and went in a green and yellow blur.
It’s going to be odd when 6pm approaches on Monday and it won’t be time to get ready for batting practice before leading the caravan to Spring Hill.
The Ducks season opened with a 15-1 loss, and unofficially ended with a 15-3 victory, a nice bookend. It is never fun when a good thing ends, and this season was very good in many ways, but South Oakland went out quacking, in a game that featured the pitching debuts of Ryan Novak, and right-handed specialist, Jimmy Spagnola, by trouncing the Bulldogs in what may have been a preview of next season’s championship (barring radical realignment, which is possible).

Dan Morgan started for the Bulldogs

Starting pitcher/middle linebacker, Dan Morgan was headhunting early on, but the Ducks jumped out to an early lead. On the hill for the Ducks was SS, Ryan Novak, who threw five innings, striking out six or seven batters while allowing three runs for his first unofficial Pittsburgh NABA win.

Novak also hit Coby in the groin with a sixth inning curve ball, Novak’s curve was so deadly, not only did it paralyze the Bulldogs, it dominated his own catcher who had presumably called for the pitch.

South Oakland lead 5-3 going into the top of the fourth, when Manager of the Year, TC Jones’ strategy to bat twelve hitters in the starting lineup paid off. The Bulldogs moved middle linebacker, Dan Morgan, from the mound to first base the Ducks sent twelve batters to the plate and scored seven runs, on a handful of hits putting the game out of reach.

Nick Homa relieved Novak and pitched a scoreless sixth, stranding the bases loaded.

The seventh inning was James Spagnola’s NABA pitching debut. Spags pitched a scoreless seventh after catching the first five innings of the game, impressive. The CMU Robot Master will look to break into the rotation next season, and at the very least add depth to the bullpen.

  • BULLET POINTS
  • This was a weak recap. I wasn’t paying close attention, it was a fun exhibition and a great way to close out the season.
  • Next year we close it out with a championship
  • Wojton hit seven doubles, and was offered a contract by the league president to play for the Bulldogs next season, which would make him the first paid player in league history.
  • Andy McCray nearly went yard then hustled out an infield hit on one leg. He also kept Vaughn relaxed on the mound

  • Eric Lee hit a double, and stole two bases
  • KT reached base three times, and had a shot down the line ruled foul that appeared to hit the chalk.
  • The invisible hand played a solid game at short, and actually seemed to enjoy himself. he walked a few times and I’m pretty sure he had a single and an RBI
  • Guthrie had two infield hits and played a Jason Bay-esque game in left
  • Manager of the Year hustled to reach on an error and was solid at first base.
  • Coby, “werewolves of london, Griffey junior” Kolaja will wear a cup the next time he catches.
  • Novak will probably be next year’s set up man. he also had a hit and was on base frequently.
  • Brian Strom is a solid pitcher. I had a bad at-bat against him, he kept me off-balance, and got me out on a sensational play by second baseman Vinny Gala, who pounced on my soft liner up the middle like a ballerina going for whatever they go for in ballets. Graceful.
  • The Bulldogs are friends’ of the Ducks.
  • the season in review will appear in the next couple days.
  • I adjusted the blog settings so you don’t have to sign up for a blogger account to leave a comment..
  • I’ve decided to keep the blog quacking year round.
***
Around the Pittsburgh NABA

An unfortunate clip of the fans after game three of the Monongahela Championship between the Owlz and Black Sox.

The Owlz won 3-2 in nine innings. It was a great baseball game, somewhat tarnished by the carrying on of the fans.
Black Sox, pitcher Florian pitched six strong innings when he could barely walk, NABA veteran adn friend of the Ducks’ pitcher Luke Demsey, worked out of a bases loaded, no outs jam in the seventh to send the game to extra innings. SS, Kenny Rayl made a phenominal play on a would be game winning hit up the middle to save the game in the eighth, but the Sox could not score a run off Dunn, who allowed only one runner while pitching the eighth and ninth innings. Some guy on the Owlz singled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

The Ducks support the Warriors in the finals.
(we’ve got to keep it Old school, Fago, nothing personal)

Since my selections of Nick Homa for Pitcher of the Year, and TC Jones for Manager of the Year, are unbiased, it’s only fair to put an MVP nomination on the blog even though the Ducks are without a serious candidate, due to Jesse Smith’s lack of plate appearances.

The Ducksblog votes for James Fago, Owlz, for MVP.
He lead the league in RBI, and pitched and caught at a high level for a first place, division winning team.

MVP

Fago drove in the game tying run when he was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the seventh, in the Monongahela Championship. During game three he dealt with unconscionable taunting at the hands of a well lubricated Black Sox booster club. Good game, and good season, Jimmy.

Rakers Larry, you can come to the Ducks as well if you want.

Team of Destiny 2009, “We’re on a mission”

2008 Ducks Finale Sunday 12pm at Laroche College

pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

Ducks vs. Bulldogs, Sunday 12pm at LaRoche College.

There is no game tonight vs. the Matadors, they could not get enough players.

The Warriors swept the Oilers en-route to the Allegheny Division Championship.

The Black Sox beat the Owlz today forcing a game three in the Monongahela Championship Series, tomorrow at 3pm. The winner will play the Warriors for the Pittsburgh NABA Championship.

Once and Future Duck

pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

“I want to be a Duck“, Jeremy Barchie, via text message.

Rakers pitcher and former Duck, Jeremy Barchie, has made a verbal commitment to quack next season. Will fellow Rakers’ pitcher Ben Sorosky follow suit?
Barchie holds the Ducks single game strikeout record (17).
This will be the best staff in Ducks history.

Ducks’ founder, Ben Gwin has agreed to give Barchie number four in exchange for two cans of Grizzly Wintergreen smokeless tobacco. Gwin will wear 19, in honor of his cousin Tony.

Rumor has it, Barchie broke out in song shortly after his decision.

Bad news for the Monongahela Division

Quack

Party at Coby’s?

Briefly

pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball
Pre-Winston Ghostbusters

Exhibition game: Ducks vs. Matadors Saturday 9pm, Moore Park.

While I construct the season in review blog, I’d like to take time to announce I will be coaching a fall ball team. We will, of course, be the “Ghostbusters”. If anyone wants to play sign up at the NABA home page.
Phantoms register at your own risk.

The trade winds are swirling
Ducks may fly south for the winter, but I’ll keep everyone posted while Manager of the Year, TC Jones, and the front office work to assemble our ’09 Team of Destiny in the off-season.
Unless I’m the victim of a very cruel joke, there is a good chance the Ducks will acquire two all-star pitchers before next season.
The rotation would be the best the league has ever seen, unless Rob Cool of the Owlz brings in three guys from the Mexican Winter League, unfortunately this is something we can’t rule out.

The Warriors dominated the Oilers 18-5, to go up 1-0 in the Allegheny finals.
recap here: The Game

It’s interesting the recap is in yellow, what do you think, Fago, calling out the OwlZz perhaps?

Footage of Craig Boley at the post-game press conference.

The umpire says, “PLAY ball”
From 8-16 to 11-9-2. Eight games under to three games over .500. Quite a turnaround.

South Oakland has become a favorable destination for free agents. For the first time in a lwhile, the Ducks have played the game for the sake of enjoying it, and to win while accomplishing both feats.

I’m going to make hunting down Ian Dickman a priority this off-season, and convincing Swanger to move back to the ‘burgh.

Coby, I know you’re reading, the post-season party should be at your house, don’t let the team down.

Quack

Wild Card Playoff. Imprisioned by the way it could have been, Black Sox 14, Ducks 5

pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball
Better than Joe Cocker’s version.

I write this bruised, achy, bloodstained and sad, the words seem to swell along with my left wrist, and my right knee. Too deep of an attempt at reflection on this season would be a lost cause at this point, but I know for certain the Ducks are on the rise, the rivalry with the Black Sox has been renewed, and we now know what it takes to really make a deep run in the playoffs; a little more than we had this season.
This was the most fun I’ve had playing ball in years, (this is supposed to be fun, right?) I won’t be completely happy with a season that falls short of a championship, but who is? only assholes who only care about stats. I’d say I’m in the 90th percentile of satisfaction with how the season went, but maybe in the zero to three percent range in regards to our last game.

****

The Ducks suffered a severe beating at the hands of the Brookline Black Sox, to the tune of an eleven run third inning from which South Oakland could not recover.

Chris Wojton opened the game for South Oakland with a solo homerun, tying Ben Gwin for the all-time lead in Ducks post-season home runs. After the Black Sox scored two in the bottom inning, the Black Sox challenged the mismatched Duck uniforms, the game would continue under protest.

Down 2-1 in the bottom of the second, the Ducks answered. As best as I can remember, Novak singled, Kolaja reached on an error there was a questionable double play, another single by Homa, then Murphy walked to load the bases for Wojton who doubled in two runs, then Gwin singeld in two more to give the Ducks a 5-2 lead. Then the bottom fell out.

The bottom of the third was a swirling mass of bad pitches, bad sportsmanship, and bad defense. The Black Sox scored eleven runs during an endless inning full of doubles, and snide remarks. and that was it.

They did not however, stop stealing bases, they must have an incentive clause regarding the ten-run rule, up nine in the bottom of the sixth, why not steal?

They beat us senseless. You’d think it’d be enough to roll over a hot wild card team in the playoffs, I know things are said in The Heat of the Moment, but , well I guess I’d have handled it differently.

The umpiring was terrible, but it wasn’t the difference. We could have got every call and still lost.
I’m not a sore loser, I’m just sore…
The Black Sox deserved to win. The Ducks’ staff could not find the strike zone for an inning and the Sox hit it hard and found the gaps.

The Ducks officially support the Warriors.

The Black Sox play the OwlzZ later this week, perhaps their will be a bench clearing brawl and both teams in their entirety will be banned from league play for the rest of the post-season, and the Ducks will take the Monongahela Division by default. I wouldn’t count on it, though.

South Oakland will wrap up the season with two exhibition games; on Saturday and Sunday.
I’ll keep blogging about the rest of the playoffs (probably throughout the off-season, if you’ll keep reading), but my heart won’t be in it until the sting of this loss wanes a bit. I figure I should use the rest of the Ultimate Warrior you tube clips I have stashed away.

ON THE UNIFORM SITUATION

  • Three or four Ducks quit and never returned their jerseys, and we added a few guys throughout the season. For whatever reason we did not order our uni’s from a vendor that is able to make new ones unless we order in bulk, so we have four guys who play in green T-shirts, or yellow “Ducks” shirts. This is not ideal, and we realize this. It’s not like that team who wore shorts one year. I realize it’s a rule, but we had extenuating circumstances. One player had their Jersey stolen somehow.
  • Is it more disrespectful to the game of baseball to steal up nine runs, and yap about nothing or to play in a T-shirt with your team’s name and logo on it?
  • Not all the Black Sox were doing this stuff.
***

BULLET POINTS

  • Balls
  • This was not a fun game to catch.
  • Wojton is a beast.
  • I guess the 2007 Rockies lost eventually anyway.
  • Without Guthrie’s wins over the Black Sox and the Rakers this season, we don’t make the playoffs.
Nick Homa for Pitcher of the Year
TC Jones for Manager of the Year.

There will be a grandiose season recap in the near future.

Next season, it’s bad news for every team in the league other than the Ducks.

Quack.

Rumors of a Blockbuster deal between the Rakers and Ducks are swirling, like cigarette smoke from the Black Sox dugout…

Same venue, different show.

South Oakland Ducks Baseball
Before the Wild Card preview it’s time for….Around the Pittsburgh NABA

Nick Homa for Pitcher of the Year, TC Jones for Manager of the Year.
(these things are won in the press.)

***

A pitcher on the Oilers threw a no-hitter against the Bulldogs, then the Matadors tried to say both teams cheated and that they should be awarded a spot in the Allegheny Championship, because they won the division last year, and have sweet uniforms.

Why not name your team “The Bulls”? Granted, the Matador usually ends up killing the bull, but its not very humane, bullfighting is disgusting, and unfair. I imagine it is sweet to watch live though.
Maybe they just wanted to go with a Carmen theme. Bizet is unreal.

Neither the Rebels nor the Matadors made the playoffs this season, after playing in the 2007 Championship.

The League President should mandate the next expansion team name themselves the
“Ghostbusters“ or something along those lines. Something, you know, Bill Murray related.

Something you should know about our League President. He dominated me in Dance-Dance-Revolution at the Ultimate Warrior’s bachelor party at Dave and Busters.

Footage of me practicing for the rematch

  • The Oilers will face the Warriors Wednesday night, at Spring View Field in Game 1 of the Allegheny Division Series.

There’s some fierce, bright-yellow smack-hooting on the OwlZzz “My Site News” page. I stumbled over it while I was searching for a pitcher with more strikeouts than Homa. I didn’t find anyone.

Speaking of the regular season Monongahela Division Champs…
The winner of tonight’s Ducks, Black Sox game faces “Team Typo” on Thurzday.
Those kids can play ball, but that yellow writing gives me a headache.

* * *

“Yours is the cloth mine is the hand that sews time…”

The Ducks (11-9-2) will play the Black Sox (14-8) Tuesday night at 8:30pm at John Herb Field.

South Oakland is 5-3 all time in Pittsburgh NABA post-season play; the Ducks went 3-0 in 2003 and won the title. The next season, South Oakland beat the Maulers in the first round, and took the first game of the best-of-three with the Black Sox before losing by forfeit in game two, and losing game three after a rescheduled rain-out left the Ducks playing with seven guys. that was the end of an era.

In 2005, the Red Dawn Ducks lost to Chris Wojton’s Rangers/Phantoms, 14-8 in the first round. It was during that game starting pitcher Matt Swetz took a ground ball to the groin in the fourth inning and continued to pitch three more innings. He wore a cup the next season. Swetz was never the same after that night.

Then it was two seasons of lame duck baseball before TC Jones revitalized the team, leading the South Oakland youth movement into the playoffs for the first time since ’05.

I’ve been here since the beginning. Rick, A.Smith and E.Lee have been here since ’05. Everyone else is in their first or second year on the team. We are as good now as we have ever been.

There’s no use bringing up the ’04 series against the Black Sox, and beating it to death. That time is pertinent only to myself, and a bunch of Ducks who have moved on, and out of Pittsburgh. We did let one slip away, though and it was all down hill from there. I’ll tell you stories if you want to hear ’em.

There is no use in evoking images of a return to glory by the Ducks, nor should I cover this post with wistful reminiscence about 2003, the days when Dickman dominated, or sweet double plays and bench clearing brawls from six years ago. I think that would be self-indulgent, and it won’t help win the game tonight.

But this team, the 2008 Ducks, can win tonight.

Ducks with game winning RBI this season: Moore, Lee, Spagnola, McCray, Gwin, Homa.

***
Fly together.
Leave it all on the field.
Ghostbusters.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis

Bad News for the Black Sox.

Here’s one from The King

pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball
The most tragic King since Duncan.

I like this one so I used it again.

click the link below for a great…
quote from Duck legend, and friend Rob Swanger

another link to a brief history of the Ducks-Black Sox rivalry.

The game is scheduled for tomorrow. There is a chance that could change.
This effects both teams equally.
We will know later tonight.

Whenever we play, it’s going to be bad news for the Black Sox

Game 22:Nick Homa in, The Color of Money. Ducks 2, Rakers 1

pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball
THE DUCKS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS

Nick Homa struck out 14 Rakers, allowed three hits, and drove in the game winning run as the Ducks earned themselves a date with the Black Sox, in the Monongahela Wild Card game, Teusday Night.

This game was a pitcher’s duel to end all pitcher’s duels. Raker’s starter Ben Sorosky threw a complete game five-hitter of his own, striking out somewhere between seven and ten Ducks. Sorosky also went 2-4 at the plate, and scored the Rakers only run on a wild pitch.

The Ducks scored two runs in the second, when Mark Guthrie walked, stole second and advanced to third on Ryan Novak’s single to right field.

Novak stole second, and the Ducks had runners on second and third with one out. Guthrie scored on a past ball, Novak advanced to third, and Nick Homa singled him in one out later.

On this day, that was all Homa would need.

The Ducks made the plays in the field, first baseman Ben Gwin let a ground ball, get behind him in the 6th, and second baseman Andrew McCray made the play with Homa covering. Later in the inning, Ryan Novak caught a line drive up the middle, which may have brought the tying run to the plate.

Three Stars of the game:

3: Ryan Novak 1 for 3, run
2: Ben Sorosky(L): 7IP, 4h, 8k, 2-4, run
1: Nick Homa(W): 7IP, 4h, 13k, 1-3, GWRBI

I’ll have more on this game and a black sox/playoff preview tomorrow.

Kolaja almost had that one against the fence in left, what an effort.


Game 21: Antietam. Rebels forfeit to Ducks…One game to bind them, one game to rule them all…

pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball
Ken Griffey Kolaja III, comes up big, as always.

I wrote this a while back,
South Oakland(5-8-1) has one game before the July 2nd, All-Star break. Due to a recent slump in which the Ducks have lost four of five, by an average of two runs per game, the team finds itself on the cusp of elimination. With ten games remaining (eight against Monongahela Division teams), South Oakland still has a chance to go on a run and sneak into the post-season.

Since then, South Oakland has gone on a 5-1-1 run.
and we find ourselves on the cusp of the playoffs.


Now it comes down to one game

BATTLE FOR THE WILD CARD


VS.

Ducks vs. Rakers
Sunday, 2:30 Avonworth High School Field.
Win and we’re in.

Batting practice: Noon, Pitt Field. All hands on deck.

***
How the mighty have fallen.

The defending champion, Monroeville Rebels, are suffering through a 4-16-1 season. The South Oakland Ducks take a 7-0 victory, which sets up a do or die match-up with the Cyrilla Landscaping Rakers, Sunday at 2:30 at Avonworth High Shcool Field. Both teams were operating under the assumption the game would be played at noon, but a mix-up with the Pie Traynor Field permit issuers, lead to a last minute time change, moving the game to 9am. General Lee was unable to rally the troops, and the Rebels surrendered rather than suffer further casualties.

General Lee has had a rough season. The Rebels short-comings this season can not all be blamed on their field general, he can’t force his soldiers to arrive to battle on time, and he fights valiantly. No one can take away their championship from 2007. Chances of a repeat, not great. only if four Monongahela Division teams fold.

There are a couple of mercenaries on the Rebels who would look good in green and gold, next season.

The history of the Ducks and .500 baseball, lest we be doomed to repeat it…
South Oakland is over .500 for the first time in almost half a decade. Even the Ducks title campaign of 2003, saw the team finish with a 6-9 regular season record before winning three straight post season games en-route to their coronation as the first Pittsburgh NABA Champions. The Ducks opened the 2004 Campaign 2-0, to put the team at 11-9 overall, but the team finish with around nine wins that season, two or three games under .500.
The Ducks started the ’05 season 3-1. before finishing 10-13.

Change starts at the top. TC “Buttermaker” Jones, Coach of the Year.

Indeed.

Bring the Pain.
(video contains profanity)

Bad News for the Rakers