South Oakland Ducks
vs.
West View Wolfpack
8:30pm
John Herb Field
Bad News for the Wolfpack.
Quack.
Author: mightyeskimo
Contraction and Field Permit News
2014 South Oakland DucksNews is the AA Ducks couldn’t get enough guys to commit, and wont have a team this season, which pretty much blows.
I want to thank TJ Morgan and Fago who helped keep the team afloat the last two seasons when it really looked like we were dead. Honestly, it’s a miracle the team didn’t fold in 2005.
There’s only so much you can do as a manager of a team to get players on board. You can’t make guys send you a check, and when you start fronting cash in this league, it’s a slippery slope.
I didn’t want to form a Single A team at the expense of the AA squad, and maybe that’s not exactly how it worked out but it feels like it, and I don’t like it. Basically, me and former Gray Bats legend, Ben Sorosky, put together the Single A team from scratch, working within the parameters of Single A eligibility. The only Ducks from last year that we had rostered throughout this process were myself, Gator and Garret Moore. I figured 3 guys wasn’t the end of the world, but who knows.
So there’s a new chapter in the poorly written annals (that’s annals, Trojan) of Ducks history. We’re joining the Warriors in Single A and prioritizing equal playing time above all else, and I’m excited to get started.
Still, I’m going to miss playing against the Black Sox a lot. A whole lot.
After a brief hiatus, we have a permit for the Duck Pond again this year, however we won’t have to use the 9pm time slot, our home games will be Wednesdays at 7:45 at Spring Hill.
quack.
Quack Quack. Two Ducks Teams in 2014?
2014 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball, who names their team the Rebels?Fuck this winter.
It looks like TJ Morgan is running the AA Ducks, and I’m running the single A Ducks. I’m still trying to find a loophole to allow me to play on both teams, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen.
The split should’ve happened in 2010, but no one on that team was going to step down and play in a lower division. Instead, a bunch of guys quit rather than take reduced roles. And, really, who wants a reduced role in a fucking summer league? No one. I strained some friendships over that mess, and I probably deserve it. Maybe I shouldn’t give as much of a shit four years later, but I’m obsessed with narrative–the story in this mess, and without conflict there’s no story. So I think about it.
This weather is making me sound depressed. Here’s a photoshop to lighten things up. Some of my best work!
The A Ducks are shaping up pretty well. We have a bunch of guys from the Militia, and a few ghosts of South Oakland past returning. I think it’ll be fun. We will be competitive. If the pitching holds up, we should contend with the other sandbagging teams for a title. I think those are realistic expectations.
Morgan’s Ducks, will be nasty this year, too, if the pitching holds up. The Fightin’ Ducks, is what it looks like since everyone still has Ducks jerseys. Morgan does things the right way, and helped the franchise through a rough patch last season that saw a near folding of the team, and a collapse down the stretch and a ton of games in the middle of nowhere. It sucks to run a team without a pitching staff, and guys who won’t commit.
Teams that left in the offseason: The Militia. Elliot. Maybe one other one. This will be the Ducks 12th season.
If it wasn’t for Elliot, we could conceivably have won two or three titles in the last four years. We’d have won in ’11 maybe ’12. What would have been awesome, is if we played the Cherokee in the finals or semis two years ago. But this is some space time continuum shit. Whatever. Elliot made the league better. Not upset I don’t have to face Barnes again. They beat us 20-3 one game, the year where only divisional games counted towards our record so we punted that one and got slaughtered.
The Militia broke up, the team that was the Orioles, Knights, Gray Bats, and Rebels who left the Black Sox who were the Stampeders.
With Monroeville disbanded, who will defend the league?
Not Captain America.
Guthrie retired. The last holdover from the TC Jones era, Guth beat the Black Sox to win our most recent championship. Guth went 6 1/3 innings on the mound in a 5-3 win in the clinching game then blacked out and split his chin open that night celebrating. Blood and cheap whiskey everywhere. That’s always how it ends.
Goodnight Captain.
Quack.
Some stuff…
2013 South Oakland Ducks BaseballI heard the Bulldogs got hosed in the finals, losing 2-1 to Jefferson Davis Toyota. I wanted the Bulldogs to win. Bummer.
The Cherokee off season conditioning program starts in a week. For the second straight year, Clinton lost in the playoffs. What a shame.
The league is going to look a lot different next year, I think.
Thanks to the Commissioner for running the league again.
quack.
Duck Eliminated from playoffs
2013 South Oakland Ducks BaseballSouth Oakland is officially out of the playoffs, thanks to a shitty 9-15 record, and Cranberry picking up a forfeit win from West End.
This is our first losing season and first non playoff campaign since 2007.
I’m not sure how things are going to shake down in the offseason.
Ideally, next year, there will be a single A Ducks team, and we will take the top half of our depth chart and fill in the blanks to form a new AA team.
I feel like our 8-6 second half record reflects our talent level relative to the rest of the league, but our bad start killed us and attendance was an issue.
We lacked middle infield depth and pitching depth. You can’t win with two life time outfielders playing 3rd and 2nd in a must win game.
I will be very surprised if one of the top 4 seeds doesn’t win it this year.
What a disappointing season.
Ducks lose to Brookline, Beat West End.
2013 South Oakland Ducks BaseballDucks 2, Black Sox 7. This loss to the Black Sox was one of the worst i’ve been around for given the importance, the lack of players showing up for a do or die game, and then the six unearned runs we allowed. We left the bases loaded twice. At least we weren’t shut out.
We ended on a good note at least by beating West End 7-6 on a walk off double by Anthony Ciccone. Guthrie scored from first on the play. Baumgartel pitched 4 scoreless innings in relief. We came back from a six run deficit.
South Oakland finishes the regular season with a 9-15 record.
We need Cranberry to lose their last two for us to back into the playoffs.
Ducks Lose.
2013 South Oakland Ducks BaseballSouth Oakland lost 7-2 to Elliot in Elliot on Saturday.
Do or die time Sunday in a double header against Brookline and West End.
Game 1 is at Beedle Park at 2pm, Game 2 is at Herschel Park at 8pm
Two wins and a forfeit victory over West End for our game from earlier in the year will give us a 10-14 record. Not terrible after a 1-9 start.
Gamday 21: Ducks at Elliot
2013 South Oakland Ducks BaseballDucks
at
Elliot
6pm
Herschel Park
Pittsburgh Standings as of Sunday afternoon
We play 3 games in two days starting tonight against 2-time defending champion Elliot in Elliot.
We will have a forfeit win for one of our west end games, and play the other tomorrow night in a game that could be huge.
The Pirates have clinched a spot.
Carrick is technically still alive, but barely. (note: Carrick comes up as carsick in spell check)
Cranberry is falling fast.
The Militia went on a nice run as of late, but lost a tough one this morning.
The Black Sox play Carrick tonight, and still have to reschedule a game against the Bulldogs, before they play us tomorrow.
If we win-out we’re in.
Despite our respective records, we played Elliot close early this season, losing 9-7 and leaving a ton of guys on base.
Patten’s on the hill tonight.
Bad News for Elliot
A look at the standings
2013 South Oakland Ducks Baseball
5-11 seeds as of July 9th
Over the weekend the Black Sox lost to Jefferson Davis Toyota. Monroeville went 2-1, beating West End and Carrick, and losing to the Cherokee.
Carrick is all but eliminated unless they win their last two and two of the teams above them finish 8-16. They finish against Cranberry and Brookline, so hopefully they win those two.
Monroeville finishes with two against Cranberry and two against Pour House. They can end up anywhere from 10th to fifth.
The West End coach hasn’t responded to multiple attempts to reschedule our home date against them, nor has he reached out to reschedule the Ducks at West End game from earlier in the season.
It would be great to know what’s going on regarding the West End games.
The Militia play 3 games before we play Elliot on Saturday. If they win all three, we have to beat Elliot to avoid elimination.
It will be a huge disappointment if our game vs. Brookline on Sunday is meaningless, but a lot would have to go wrong for us for that to be the case.
quack.
Ducks Lose.
2013 South Oakland Ducks BaseballThe Pirates scored 9 runs on 4 hits, and we couldn’t string anything together against their lefty. On defense we started the game by committing 4 straight errors and allowing 5 unearned.
We dropped to 9th, and need help to make the playoffs now. We are a half game back of the Militia who play the Cherokee today, and the Black Sox beat the Bulldogs to pull 1.5 games ahead of us.
Our record is 7-13.
Our first sub-.500 season since 2006.
We play Elliot next saturday at Herschel Park at 6pm, and the Sox the day after at Beedle Park.
We’re also trying hard to get our West End games rescheduled, but their coach is hard to get ahold of for some reason.
If we win-out, we will make the playoffs unless the Militia win 6 of 7.
***
A look at the schedules of the teams in the 5-10 spots:
Right now, we’re the team I’m basing the magic numbers off of. The best we can do is finish 11-13, so the combination of opponent wins and Ducks losses that makes it impossible for us to catch them is the number.
It’s very likely i’m messing that up.
#5 Pirates (9-10)
We’re probably not going to catch Pour House, we need them to sweep the Militia next weekend.
Magic number: 2
#6 Cranberry (8-9)
Brutal schedule down the stretch. Cranberry plays four games in four days to end the season. If my math is right, they need to schedule one more game. We need them to either completely tank, or to sweep Monroeville. they’ll probably beat the express, split with the militia and lose the rest.
Magic number: 3
#7 Black Sox (8-11-1)
The the Sox are on fire.
My best guess is they split their next two and come into the last game of the season 9-12-1. Plus a phantom game somewhere.
Magic number 3.
#8 Militia (6-11)
Magic number: 6
We have the tie breaker over Monroeville who doesn’t finish their season till tuesday the 16th.
#9 Ducks (7-13)
This is where we are. If the Militia win 5 of 7 we need to win out to catch them. Most likely scenario for them to win 6 of 7 and make it impossible to catch up, would be losing to the Cherokee and then winning out, which would put them at 12-12, but would bring Cranberry down to 8-11 and force them to take two from Jefferson Hills, Carrick, the Cherokee and the Bulldogs to get to ten wins.
Most likely they will go 4-3 in their last 7. It’d be nice if Carrick stole one tomorrow. As much as I hate rooting against Sorosky and Tremmel and those guys.
Carrick (6-13-1)
The best Carrick can finish is 10-13-1. But if they do they will have to beat the Sox, Militia and Cranberry.
***
We played Elliot tough earlier this year. We can sneak one Saturday if we play infield and hit.
It’s going to be a shit show if not all the games get rescheduled and it effects teams getting into the playoffs.
None of this matters if we don’t play better.
South Oakland Ducks Baseball 