Author: mightyeskimo

around the league

2014 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA

18AA

The single A teams that moved up are getting massacred. The Pirates are surprisingly bad so far, and the Express off to a solid start. Other than that, it’s about as expected. West End apparently won’t play in April. Good luck with the pitching down the stretch when you have 4 games a week.

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Standings as of May 23rd. Look at some of those run differentials. Jesus.

Ashely Shaffer Kia of Northern West Virginia (6-0) is undefeated, and has only played one close game, a 3-2 win over the Black Sox (5-2).

The Cherokee are once again dominating the regular season. I predict a 22-2 record before their annual playoff letdown. At least a bunch of those guys still have a 2010 title to their credit.

cherokee2

Such an odd mix of fonts between the hat, jersey, and lettering on the picture. 

The Bulldogs Blog was off to a decent start, but has been quiet lately. They’ve had Christmas pictures up for the last 3 weeks. I can’t figure out how to link their site in our blogroll, or even where our blogroll is or how to make it visible. Sorry, guys.

18A

Standings as of May 23rd.

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The Warriors are off to a slow start but I expect them to pick it up.

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They were missing some guys when we played them earlier this week. They also have Starting Lineup figures made for their team.

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The Senators managed to beat the Bombers 3-2 last week.

The Lions and Monsters, I assume, lack pitching depth given some of the scores of double headers they’ve played in.

The Lions have a sweet website. Lots of photoshop material. Here’s a link to the play by play of the last Ducks vs Lions game.

The Titans score about 5 runs a game and allow just under 7. When we play them, it may look like a football score. They took 3 of 4 from the monsters, but have lost to the senators and warriors. Kerry Collins is my favorite Titan.

Before they were the WOLFPACK!!!

pittsburgh naba

they were the Matadors

 

matadors naba

and the sharks

West Side Story - The Sharks pittsburgh naba

That one side-arm pitcher was on our team for half a season. Effectively wild.

The Matadors were part of a ridiculous scandal involving an attempt to bribe the Owlz into forfeiting a game so the Bulldogs would miss the playoffs. Matador management was certain the Commish was out to get them, but I don’t think that guy runs the team anymore.

There was some bullshit involving the Sharks one year and some other team, but I forget what it was exactly. Maybe the Hurricanes were involved.

We play them Wednesday at our place. We need to get some Ducks fans in the seats that night. Tell people we have the bathroom key now. That may help.

Green-Duck

Your South Oakland Ducks (7-2) are in first place. The team has come together pretty well. Nothing helps chemistry like winning. If our pitchers keep throwing strikes, we should remain competitive. We will see how we handle a stretch in July when we have like 8 games in two weeks.

Iceberg will give us some innings at some point.

Iceburgh_

I’m still waiting for Culp, Swetz and Faust to be added to the league site so I can get their stats in. So far our stats are pretty good.

Strom has hit six batters in 21 innings pitched.

Also:

This site outlines how to build your own bobble head doll.

I think we should get stirrups.

It was great when people used to leave comments after these posts.

quack

 

I woke up still in my baseball uniform two states away, and it was January.

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, Recap, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

Ducks 11 Warriors 1.

Ducks pitcher Brian Strom allowed one hit over five innings for the complete game victory, hitting two batters, walking one, and striking out two.

Twelve different Ducks reached safely or drove in a run.

Alex Riley went 3 for 3 with two doubles.

Mike Brandt went 2 for 3. He hit a double off the top of the wall in left, and  was nearly thrown out a second.

giphy

Ben Hartranft had two hits, but drove in zero runs, and pulled both hamstrings.

Lonnie the windmill Petril drove in a run when he hit into a 6-4-5-2 double play.

Garrett Moore was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and was the second out in the above 6-4-5-2 double play.

South Oakland of the North Side (7-2) has won four straight.

First place will be on the line when the Ducks play the WOLFPACK! (6-2) next Wed. 8pm Springview Field.

quack

Down in Northern Virginia, I thought the cops were gonna arrest me for smoking pot in the cracker barrel parking lot, but they were there for the double homicide at the Waffle House by our motel.

2014 South Oakland Ducks, pittsburgh NABA, Recap

Donald duck bomber

Monday’s 5-4 win was big. Both teams played well, there weren’t many walks or errors. The game took like fifteen minutes. I can’t remember the last time the Ducks made a late-inning rally like this one.

***

For five innings the Bombers got key hits, and South Oakland left runners on base. We had a guy thrown out at home, left the bases loaded once and twice had two men on with less than two outs and couldn’t get a run in.

Bomberman_by_Gaston25

No one thought the Bombers had the balls to play in purple unitards and white tights.

The Bombers Pitcher located, and took advantage of the way-outside strike that ump likes to call. There’s no reason to throw it over the plate with that ump.

Unabomber

In the first inning, the Bombers scored on a two-out infield single followed by a double that died in the grass in shallow right.

Allegheny added another run in the third, and two more in the fifth on a couple hard hit balls combined with some defensive miscues.

duckmaggeden

It looked like the wheels might fall off, but Ciccone pulled it together and we stiffened up defensively.

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The Ducks trailed 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth and started the inning with a leadoff double by Casale and three straight singles to make the score 4-2. After a walk, Iceberg singled to make the score 4-3.

iceburgh

The Bombers forced out a runner at the plate. Then with the bases loaded, Ben Hartranft hit a slow chopper to short, the Bombers forced a runner at second, but Hartranft beat the arrant throw to first. The first baseman missed the ball, and another run scored.

giphy_Pittsburgh NABA_DUCKS

In the top of the seventh, Jason Fetter walked the first batter, then turned a double play on a line drive right at his head.

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I’m not saying a couple guys on the Bombers don’t look like Ted Kaczynski 

The game ended on a groundout.

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Hartranft has 4 RBI in five games without getting a hit.

The Ducks have won three straight.

Pending Tornados, we play tonight at 6:15 in Etna vs. the Warriors.

quack

Ducks Win. Ducks 5, Bombers 4

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win

Down 4-0, South Oakland scored 5 runs in the bottom of the sixth, capped off by Ben Hartranft’s 2-run fielder’s choice. The Ducks have won 3 straight.

Full recap soon. What a game.

South Oakland plays next on wed. 6:15pm in Etna vs. the Warriors.

quack.

 

Game Day 8: Ducks vs. Bombers

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

vs

Allegheny Bombers

9pm

Springview Field

South Oakland returns from the bye week to face the Bombers at home tonight.

The Ducks (5-2) have won two straight, and need a win to keep pace with the WOLFPACK! (6-2)

bomb pic

Unexpectedly, the Bombers (3-3) have lost two straight. Allegheny  dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to the seventh place Ted Kennedy’s Sunday night in Brookline and lost 5-2 to the Colonials, Matadors, Sharks, WOLFPACK! on Saturday. The Wolfpack are so intense! is so intense? Whatever. WOLFPACK!!!

I still think the Bombers are the team to beat and will be a tough out come playoff time. And that Joe Graff is a beast. It’s also likely Allegheny didn’t throw their best pitcher over the weekend so we will probably face him tonight.

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Below are the standings as of May 19th. A lot has happened since we last played. So much rain.

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I’m surprised the Monsters are under .500. they’ve gone 2-6 after starting 3-0, and had some trouble with the Titans. Their season is almost half over.

The Warriors are struggling to score runs, but have between 4 and 7 games at hand over several teams.

The Lioins and Bombers run differential.

You can get a weekend where you have three games and some key guys missing and  drop a few. In such a relatively short season, you just hope it doesn’t mean the difference between making the playoffs and not.

At 5-2 we’re in good shape.

A win puts us back in first place.

We’ve got our attorney on the hill tonight.

bob-loblaw

 Bad News for the Bombers.

 

 

 

quack

2014 South Oakland Ducks

 

 

duck water gif

After a 5-2 start, the first place South Oakland Ducks are in the midst of a ten day break between games. Here is a sweet gif to enjoy during this time.

We play the Bombers Monday the 19th, 9pm at Springview, then the Warriors Wed the 21st 6:15pm at Etna.

quack

 

 

Game Seven Recap. Strom Thurmond’s corpse: Ducks 14, Senators 5

2014 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, Recap

senators steven segal

The Senators jumped out to an early lead after Joseph McCarthy led off the game with a double, stole third, exploited America’s fear of communism, and scored on a fielder’s choice.

In the bottom of the first, after a single and two walks loaded the bases, Brandon Culp struck a blow for America and took Jesse Helms deep.

helms

The Ducks scored another run in the inning on Bob Faust’s fielder’s choice.

5-1 Ducks after 1.

The Senators kept the game close for an inning, when they added two runs in the second off an error on a potential double play ball hit by Rick Santorum.

communion pants

Santorum supports the above slogan.

The score remained 5-3 until the bottom of the third when South Oakland blew it open.

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Iceberg doubled off the wall to start the inning, Dover singled the Ducks’ catcher to third then Faust walked, and Sorosky singled in a run to put the Ducks up 6-3. Gwin walked to load the bases with 2 outs for Ciccone who hit the Ducks’ second grand slam of the game and chased starting pitcher Ted Kennedy.

carinwater

10-3 Ducks after 3.

Riley made a diving catch in right in the fourth, then got lost on his way to center field in the fifth. Dorsek played an inning without his hat for some reason then pinch ran. Fetter threw a six-pitch inning in relief.

Alexander Daigle made an appearance. The Senators scored two more to make it 10-5 after 5.

daigle94sl-1

In the bottom of the sixth, the Ducks added three insurance runs on a double, two singles, an error, and a sac fly.

Ciccone retired the side in the seventh to end the game.

There was pizza and beer.

duck pnc

Misc:

  • Lost in all the grand slamming was a solid outing by TC, and a pretty clean game by our starting defense.
  • Our smaller home field may have helped with one of the home runs, but it also kept a few really hard hit balls in the gap to singles. It’s also not very easy to see at the plate.
  • The strike zone has been really wide all year.
  • Swetz only hits with runners on base. Our three through seven hitters had the following stats:
  • Ciccone: 2 for 3, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI
  • Culp: 2 for 4, HR, 2SB, 5 RBI
  • Swetz: 0 for 4, RE, R, 0 LOB
  • Galvanek: 3 for 4, 2B, SB, RBI
  • Dover: 3 for 3, 2B, SF, RBI
  • If our two hitter would get on base more, we’d be in even better shape.

quack