2017 South Oakland Ducks

Gameday 6: Ducks vs. Eagles

2017 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (4-1)

vs

South Side Eagles (3-0)

9pm

Spring View Field

The Ducks look to win their fifth straight tonight when they play the undefeated South Side Eagles.

These games are always close. We beat them by 2 in the playoffs last year, like 13-11 or something. I assume tonight’s game will be lower scoring, but also close.

I still remember when the Eagles had a left shortstop who also pitched and had this huge looping curve ball that was pretty good. That was in like 2007. The Eagles franchise has been around for a while. Ducks pitcher Adam Smith defected one year to play for the Eagles in 2008, which intensified the rivalry between the clubs and between him and one time Ducks manager and pitcher, TC Jones.

I don’t know. Since the early days, the eagles haven’t really had much of an identity other than the team that can hit. Ducks and Eagles were in different divisions for a while after the A – AA split, and then again, I think, after the second reshuffling when the Ducks dropped down, the Eagles moved up which has made it hard to develop much of a rivalry.

That guy with the mouth piece sure fucking talks a lot though. However their coach makes sweet bats. Cancels out I guess.

We have a chance to put some distance between us and the middle of the pack and put some pressure on the Oilers and the WOLFPACK! and the Bandidos who are surprisingly 1-3, but I think are going to be good.

55 is on the hill tonight.

Bad news for the Eagles

 

 

Go to Hell. Ducks 5, Devils 4

2017 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, Recap

South Oakland of the North Side (4-1) ,came from behind to beat South Hills 5-4 on a walk-off RBI single by Tom Pulice Monday night in Spring Hill.

Ducks super utility player, Joe Graff started the game when South Oakland’s scheduled starter arrived late due to work commitments. Graff allowed 0 earned runs over two innings, but the Devils scored 3 runs on a single, a walk and like seven errors. But Graff battled, and kept us in it until Patton entered the game and went the last five innings, also allowing 0 earned runs, and working out of a few jams created by bad hops on the pristine Spring View infield, and more Ducks errors.

I think the Devils had 3 hard hit balls all night. We need to make fewer errors going forward.

South Oakland trailed 4 -1 going into the bottom of the sixth, as the Devils pitcher was throwing pretty well and we hit a few balls right at their guys.

Bryan Chvarek (sic.) drove in two runs with a long single to right center. His first hit as a Duck, cutting the lead to 4-3.

Pulice threw out some guy at second in the top of the seventh after he bunted for a base hit.

In the bottom of the seventh, all with 2 outs, Casale singled in Gwin from second to tie the game at 4, J. Zuzak worked a walk, and Pulice singled in Casale.

Ducks win.

Last year, what fucked us out of a bye was losing games to teams that finished in the bottom half of the standings. Big time efforts by a bunch of guys who don’t normally start to keep that from happening last night.

The Ducks have won four straight, setting up a big early season match-up with the undefeated Eagles tomorrow at Springview Field.

quack.

 

 

Ducks Win. South Oakland 6, West View 3

2017 South Oakland Ducks

Randy Patton (W, 1-1) pitched six strong innings, and Tom Pulice added three hits to lead the Ducks past West View.

The Wolfpack (1-1) scored two in the bottom of the first, but were held mostly in check the rest of the game while South Oakland (3-1) scored two in the fourth, three in the fifth, and one in the seventh off several different West View pitchers.

Ducks shortstop DJ Dover made a nice play to let a soft liner drop in front of him to turn a double play early in the game.

There was only a minor dust up when accusations of runner interference or something were made and shouting ensued, but never really escalated. Par for the course. The ump was telling me this happens all the time with that team

Doc pitched a scoreless seventh for his first save of the year.

West View pitchers recorded 14 Ks. They will be tough this season.

South Oakland of the North Side has won three straight on the season, and two straight vs. West View, dating back to last year’s playoff win.

Stats of Note:

Pulice: 3-4, 2RBI

Morgan: 1-1, 3BB, R

Patton: W, 6IP, 2ER, 6K, 1BB

Koshzow: 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R, CS

South Oakland’s next game is Wed, 9PM at home against the Devils.

quack

Gameday 3: Ducks vs. Express

2017 South Oakland Ducks

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (1-1)

vs

Carrick Express (1-3)

9pm

Springview Field

Last night’s game vs the Oilers was rained out. There was just enough rain at just the wrong time to render the field unplayable.

Tonight the Ducks look to win their second straight vs. the Express who apparently have new uniforms. Curious to see how they’ve re-branded the team after a tenuous offseason. If I ran that team, I would just get t-shirts with Nolan Ryan’s face on them.

Should be a good one tonight. Carrick has always had solid pitching, but they’ve historically found ways to lose games in spite of this. South Oakland typically has won with offense, but I like our rotation this season. We have two former militia members ready to go tonight on full rest thanks to yesterday’s rain out.

Bad News for the Express.

Gameday 3: Ducks at Hebrew Oilers LLC

2017 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (1-1)

at

Hebrew Oilers (2-1)

6:45pm

Mellon Park

Spring Hill Scooter Series, Game 2.

Last season, a scooter that was thrown on top of our dugout from the area near the basket ball court by a Spring Hill kid. We kept the scooter. Since then, the winner of the Ducks/Oilers regular season series is awarded the scooter and keeps it for the following season. South Oakland took 2 of 3 from BIG OIL in 2016, but we lost to them twice in the playoffs so, maybe it’s not a great indication of post-season success.

The Oilers beat us 7-1 in a rain-shortened game on opening night. If they win tonight, the scooter is theirs.

We are going to be short our entire starting infield tonight. Our depth will be tested.

Bad News for the Oilers

 

Ducks Win: South Oakland of the North Side 11, Cranberry 3

2017 South Oakland Ducks

Ducks pitcher, Chuck Zuzak (W, 1-0) allowed 3 runs, (1 earned) over six innings, striking out 7 and hitting four batters, to lead South Oakland (1-1) to its first win of the season.

Not to be outdone, Cranberry pitchers combined to hit four Ducks. They unfortunately also threw a bunch of wild pitches/past balls, which allowed many Ducks runners to advance and runs to score. The loss drops the newly minted Crusaders to 0-1.

South Oakland scored 4 in the second, 3 in the fifth, and 2 in both the sixth and seventh innings. The Ducks never trailed.

Some stats

Lombardi: 2-5, R, 2 2B

Pulice: 1-2, HBP, BB, CS, R

Morgan: 1-1, R HBP

Petril: 0-0, R, 2 HBP

RBI:

Casale, Gwin (2), Moore, Nichols, Maldonado, Pulice

South Oakland’s next game is Tuesday night, 6:45 at Mellon Park vs BIG OIL.

quack

 

Die a Hero: Oilers 7, Ducks 1

2017 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland of the North Side lost to rival BIG OIL 7-1 in a rain-shortened, 5 inning  game in Spring Hill last night. The loss drops the team to 0-1.

Throwback night, 2014

The Oilers scored four in the first with two walks, two doubles, a single and a run-scoring, two out error.  They added two in the second and one in the fifth.

After a rough first inning, Ducks starter Randy Patton (L, 0-1) settled down and kept his team in it through four, striking out 2 and scattering 7 hits.

The Oilers starter threw well, striking out 9 and working out of bases loaded jams in the second and third innings when it looked like South Oakland might crawl back into the game. The Ducks couldn’t get a big hit with runners in scoring position.

Ben Sorosky had the lone Ducks RBI on a bases loaded walk in the second following infield singles by Pulice and Morgan and a Joe Graff walk.

South Oakland’s best chance came in the third when TJ Morgan drew a one out, bases loaded walk, but the umpire forgot the count. Morgan was not awarded first, and we had a runner picked off first base, attempting to advance as one normally does on a bases loaded walk. Morgan then lined out to left to end the inning.

South Oakland’s next game is 2pm Sunday vs. Cranberry at Veteran’s Park of Cranberry (Not the one in Etna).

 

  • No ringers on the Oilers, but something tells me the player eligibility discussion is not over yet.
  • The Oilers have a few new guys who are solid. They hit well as a team, and if they get pitching, they will be tough to beat. This is true for almost every team in our division.
  • The Scooter will be in the building on Tuesday at Mellon. Big early season matchup
  • We need to hit a better, but as a team our approach at the plate was pretty good. Facing a tough lefty for the first real at bats of the year was a good test, and I think we will improve in this area.
  • There were multiple requests for Garrett Moore to return to his role as bench coach/bullpen catcher
  • Great to be back at it for a fourteenth NABA season, and a run at a third title.

quack

 

 

 

Public Apology to BIG OIL’s Managment

2017 South Oakland Ducks

I was wrong to question the character and ethics of the Oiler’s manager in the previous post. The Oilers did not bring in a former minor league pitcher.

While I don’t hold myself to the same ethics and rules of professional journalism when I write on this blog, I should have talked to BIG OIL beforehand, and then presented the facts as opposed to letting my misinformation color the tone of the previous post, which I feel went over the line. It wasn’t accurate enough to be factual, and the tone wasn’t absurd enough to be satirical. Invective isn’t an effective literary tool in such high doses.

I fucked up.

Here’s how it happened:

Yesterday, I received a FB message from the Eagles coach with a link to that story. Which, I though, cool. interesting story. Then he said the Oiler’s recruited the guy . I asked if he pitched. He said yes. Eagles mgr. said he heard this info from the Express Coach.

I called the Express coach later that night, he confirmed the accusation. Express coach said he heard from the Devils and Bandido’s (2D2B) coach that there was in fact a former minor league pitcher on the Oilers, who threw against the Express and Bandidos. Apparently the Bandidos have a radar gun at games. 87mph. Not bad.

So in my defense, I tried to do some due diligence. People are probably bitching to Joe about this.

Today I fielded texts from BIG OIL’s management, many of them. So many i had to condense it to one group chat to keep from crossing the streams. So they say, and I have no reason not to believe them, that the guy in the article who did play in the minors plays outfield for them. They do however have another Latin American player who pitches and has closed a couple games for them.

As a writer, I am drawn to hypocrisy and incongruity. Shit that doesn’t fit together right. Conflict drives any good narrative.

It’s one thing if Ken Cool’s brother’s team or Jefferson Davis Hills does some shady roster shit because they are historically shady. So when BIG OIL, who are friends of the Ducks and friends of mine (at least until noon today, anyway) pull some shady shit, that’s more interesting. The elements don’t fit right, but it’s believable because they probably have the connections to pull it off. In my desire to form a narrative, I went over the top.

So, anyway, I’m an asshole. And I definitely would bring a former minor leaguer on to the Ducks if I had a chance. In fact, we tried. Last season Brandt randomly met some dude who played dominican winter ball in the A’s organization several years ago, and he threw a game for us last year and walked a bunch of guys and won’t return Brandt’s calls. Also Bill Franciscus, NABA legend, may or may not have played minor league ball. So, there’s your hypocrisy.

quack.

 

 

Gameday 2: Ducks vs Oilers

2017 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

vs

Hebrew Oilers

9pm

Spring View Field

It only took a week for the first player scandal of the season.

Apparently the Oilers brought in a former minor league player to pitch for them this summer. Seems surprising given their managers concern for the competitive balance of the league as expressed in the winter meetings when he complained about the prospect of the WOLFPACK! and the 2 Dirty 2 Birds: Return of the Bandidos rostering Division III college players.

Save the fucking sanctimony about how West View hurt your team’s feelings if you’re gonna bring in some dude who is obviously a ringer.

This is the most BIG OIL move I’ve ever seen. The fucking yuppie, white collar team brings in essentially a Dominican refugee, in an attempt to make up for the fact that their team is soft. Soft as cotton.

This explains why they wouldn’t play us on back to back nights. This dude can only pitch one of those days. I didn’t press the issue as the Pens were on last night.

The Oilers are scared.

Maybe three guys have any heart on that team, as much as I love them as human beings. Seriously though, just embrace being villains as far as the league is concerned because there’s no way around it. Get your fucking neoliberal councilman to throw out the first pitch across from Google in God awful Bakery Square and flout your Asian players and your nice unis, then he can go back to helping our mayor force Pittsburgh’s working poor into Penn Hills so ya’ll can bike to work without having to look at them.

So, where does that leave us?

I am excited for the opportunity. If you’re not pumped about the prospect of playing against a pitcher this good, you should go join PSL, or see if the Oilers will take you.

We have the opportunity to beat a team that thinks it’s going to cruise tonight because they networked their way into a stud pitcher. We are throwing an ex-Black Sox, ex-Oiler, and one time Duck junk baller who is already telling me he doesn’t want to come out of the game.

We haven’t seen live pitching yet, so should be a good test off the bat to see where we are hitting wise.

Here is  GIF in honor of the Undertaker.

Bad news for the Oilers