pittsburgh NABA

Ducks Lose

2014 South Oakland Ducks, pittsburgh NABA

West View 6, South Oakland of the North Side 2.

Ducks starting ptcher Brian Stom faced 10 batters through 3, and South Oakland lead 1-0 going into the top of the bottom of the 4th.

There were a couple plays that weren’t made by the Ducks, a walk or two, and the WOLFPACK scored five in the bottom of the fourth, and we couldn’t get back in it.

We ran out of a couple innings, We had 10 hits, but we weren’t able to string anything together. it was really frustrating.

At one point one of our guys ran into their catcher who was well up the line, and their catcher wanted to fight or something. It was ridiculous. Benches partially cleared. Everyone should have been tossed. No one was.

The West View pitcher threw a good game, working out of trouble a few times. Two of their guys hit the ball pretty hard, their four hitter, and that guy who no one seems to have seen play during the regular season.

After the game, the West View coach was nice enough to offer to play game 3 at their home field. Ducks management declined the offer.

*EDIT game Saturday will be at Stoneridge, time tbd

Contemporary country music sucks.

***

In other Pittsburgh NABA news, Jefferson Hills lost in the opening round of AA playoffs in a big upset to Cranberry. Then Cranberry took one look the Cherokee’s awesome alternate jerseys in their next winners bracket game, and forfeited. The Rebels were crushed by the Bulldogs, the Black Sox beat West End, in what has become an intense seres between the two teams. The Carrick Express can eliminate Jefferson Hills on Saturday. I hope it comes down to Brookline and the Cherokee and that their is a fight in the stands and lots of guys getting beaned. It would be like old times.

The other side of the Single A bracket hasn’t started yet.

quack

 

 

Ducks Earn #2 Seed, First Round Bye.

2014 South Oakland Ducks, pittsburgh NABA

I got the tie breaker scenarios wrong in figuring out where we would have to finish record wise to get the 2nd seed.

The first tie breaker is head to head record. Then it’s runs allowed head to head. I thought it was overall runs allowed.

We’ve outscored the WOLFPACK 19-16 in head to head play, but have a 1-2 record against them. However, our rain delayed game has essentially been ruled a forfeit in our favor since there is no time to make it up. Therefore, we have avoided the 3/6 matchup against the Monsters, and will play the winner of Sunday’s Monsters/WOLFPACK game on Monday night. Time and place TBD.

quack.

The Ghost of Larry Z: Ducks Spilt Double Header. Throwback Game Resounding Success.

2014 South Oakland Ducks, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side lost 11-10 to the Monongahela Monsters Wednesday Night. The Monsters really hit well, and we didn’t make enough plays in the field to help out our depleted pitching staff. On the bright side, Brandon Culp looked really good in a relief appearance, and no one got hurt who wasn’t already injured. We had our four hitter at the plate in the seventh with two outs and the tying run on second, and we couldn’t get a run across.

The Ducks fell behind 6-0 early, and came back to tie the game at 6, scoring six runs with two out in the fourth, but after a season full of come from behind wins, we couldn’t pull out another one on the last day of the season. The Monsters took an 11-7 lead into the seventh, and we couldn’t complete the comeback. We paid for digging such a big hole for ourselves. Hats off the Monsters, who we will likely play Sunday night at 6pm in a terrifying first round matchup. The Monsters beat us twice this season, and played us close in a 11-10 Ducks victory in Brentwood a few weeks ago.

This loss hurt, given that the Warriors upset the WOLFPACK!!! on Wednesday night, and if we’d won, we likely would have secured a bye. Whatever.

It’s still possible we will have a first round bye, but we should plan on being ready to play Sunday at 6 pm vs. either the Monsters or Senators.

IMG_9676

(Ben Sorosky, Anthony Ciccone Esq., Ben Gwin, Matt “The RBI Collector” Swetz, Jason Fetter, Brandon Culp, Matt Limbach, Tony Casale, Donnie “The Windmill” Petril, Bob Faust, Iceberg Galvanek, Mike Brandt, Garrett Moore, Brian Storm, Alex Riley. Not pictured: Ben Hartranft, Larry Zalewski, TC Jones, “Hatless” Shawn Dorsek, Mike Playmaker, DJ Dover.)

Game 2: 

Another pitcher’s duel. This game featured a fly ball that bounced off our backup right fielder’s chest and into the murky area between second, center and right before it was thrown aimlessly back towards the pitchers mound by our backup center fielder, allowing a run to score. That play summed up the double header pretty well.

Brandon Culp hit a home run to right center for the Ducks. That third baseman for the Bombers hit one out to left center. Jason Fetter had two hits for the Ducks, including one on the last play of the game–a shot to right field before the lights went out with the ball still in the air.

South Oakland’s Donnie Petril had the game winning RBI in the top of the fifth.

Barring a highly unlikely scenario, which I will discuss in a subsequent blog post, South Oakland will start the playoffs on Sunday, July 20th, 6pm at Moore Park.

Quack.

Recaps, 7/2 vs. Senators, 7/6 vs. Titans

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, pittsburgh NABA

Our fearless leader, aka Papa Duck, has been at the pond being fed popcorn by infants and the elderly so another fearless Duck was required to take the initiative of informing the fan base of recent transgressions between the South Oakland Ducks and their opponents. As Papa Duck gorges on popcorn and bits of bread, fan favorite ILikeKevinYoung/ILikeKevinYoungEsq will update you on the 7/2 game vs. the Senators and the 7/6 game vs. the Titans.

Benny Photography…

The 7/2 game vs. the Senators presented a shorthanded, 8-man Senators squad versus a veteran-laden, hungry Ducks team. The Senators, however, filibustered the Ducks effort of rolling them over, bringing their bats to the duck pond, a.k.a. the capital of NABA baseball, and thoroughly brow-beating anything the Ducks’ pitchers threw. The game was a back in forth affair between two worthy adversaries. The game ended up going to extra innings, where, Ben Sorosky, aka The Big Sorosky, aka the Dude walked it off with a shot to right-center. In a rage of anger, Bob the Duck bashed ILikeKevinYoungEsq. in the head with his helmet while ILikeKevinYoungEsq. was attemping to revel in the glory of The Big Sorosky’s walk off shot. I don’t remember the score, but there were a lot of runs and the Ducks won by 1 in 8 or 9 innings.

The 7/6 matchup vs. the Titans was another nail-biter between these two teams. On a side note, I generally have a lot of respect for the Titans. They play good ball in spite of being perpetually short handed and don’t engage in any nonsense. The Ducks, however, were pulling all kinds of shenanigans with a QUACK cheer before the game reminiscent of the great Quack Attack of 2008, a fine year for this South Oakland team. Versus the Titans, Gator Fetter, aka Cheddar aka Cheese aka Cheeseball aka Swiss Cheese aka the Big Cheese aka Jason showed the same grit he has all season, starting the game off with some fastballs that caught too much of the zone but preceding to shut the Titans down when it mattered. A timely hit from Brian Strom-Arm Strom broke the game open for the Ducks and broke the Titans’ spirit.

The next South Oakland game is versus The Soviet Union. Or is it the West View Wolfpack? Its on Sunday at 830 PM at John Herb Field. To keep with the consistency of the blog, here is a recent photo of the Wolfpack’s esteemed manager.

 

Game Day 17: Ducks vs Monsters

2014 South Oakland Ducks, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (13-3)

vs

Monongahela Monsters (5-11)

8pm

Springview Field

Assume we’re playing unless you hear otherwise. Hopefully this rain clears and it dries out by 8 tonight.

Your first place South Okland Ducks have won six straight, and look to take the season series from the Monsters tonight in Springview. The last time the teams met was a harrowing 11-10 Ducks win. Hopefully we can find someone to throw strikes tonight. Key to our success this year have been solid defense and strike throwing from our staff. Hopefully this continues and we can go into the weekend a full game ahead of the Lions who are 13-4.

Tonight’s game is huge. A first round buy is key, but if we hold on to the one seed it would allow us to avoid the Lions/WOLFPACK!!! until the finals.

Iceberg will give us some innings tonight.

Iceburgh_

Bad News for the Monsters

 

 

Ducks win: Ducks 8, Warriors 7 (8)

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, NABA, pittsburgh NABA

South Oakland won on a walk-off fielder’s choice by Matt Limbach for their second come from behind win in as many days. Matt Swetz and Tony Casale (w, 1-0) Combined to hold the Warriors to 2 runs over the final six innings.

The Warriors trailed 1-0 after one, but exploded for five runs in the second off an four walks, and infield hit, a double and an error. Some guy stole home. South Oakland appeared ready to melt down.

The Ducks scored in the bottom half of the inning when Hartranft hit a hustling double to right, advanced to third on Donnie’s sac bunt, and scored on Moore’s single. Moore finished 1-for-4 with an RBI

Warriors 5, Ducks 2 after two.

Swetz entered the game and worked out of trouble for 2 2/3 innings allowing one run and keeping the Ducks within striking distance.

Limbach and Swetz drove in runs in the fifth for South Oakland

6-4 Warriors after five

The Ducks went down in order in the sixth, and the Warriors added a run in the top of the seventh to take a 7-4 lead on Craig Boley’s laser beam of an RBI single to right center.

To start the Ducks half of the seventh, Casale reached on an error, Gwin walked, and Limbach reached on another error. Matt Swetz then singled to right and drove in three when the right fielder’s throw went over the backstop.

7-7 after seven.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Casale doubled, Gwin was intentionally walked, and Limbach hit a hard grounder in the hole between second and third. The Warriors second baseman couldn’t handle the throw to second from the short stop. Casale came around to score and end the game. 8-7 Ducks.

***

The Ducks are 4-2 in one-run games this season.

We’ve won a handful of games where we’ve been down or tied after the fourth, if someone wants to count the number of come from behind wins we’ve had this season, I’d appreciate it.

Apparently you can just put a guy on without throwing the pitches for an intentional walk. Several times, Boley called for intentional walks, and basically went with the same strategy Ducks management tried to implement in the ill-fated, botched intentional walk game earlier this season. It’s the right move. However they didn’t go with five infielders, which would’ve been awesome, theoretically, for someone.

South Oakland returns to the Duck Pond to face the Monsters, 8pm Wednesday night. Who wants to pitch?

 

 

 

Gameday 16 and Titans recap

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, Gameday, pittsburgh NABA

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (12-3)

vs.

Warriors (2-8)

6pm

Stoneridge

This will be our first game at this field. We are the home team. 6pm starts are the worst.

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Bad News for the Warriors

Titans Recap:

South Oakland defeated the Titans in a come-from-behind 7-6 victory yesterday in Bellevue. The win keeps South Oakland tied for first with North America, and a full game ahead of the WOLFPACK!!!

After a frantic start by the Titans who took advantage of a few questionable calls by the umps and some missed opportunities by the Ducks, South Oakland settled in and scored a bunch of runs to erase deficits of 2-0, and 4-1. The Ducks lead 6-4 after 5 but the Titans tied it in the 6th before the Ducks scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 7th on Ciccone’s RBI double.

Doubles were hit by Casale, Ciccone and Gwin. Hartranft had a sweet single to start a big inning in the 5th, and Mike Brandt walked twice to bring his OBP up to .453.

***

I’m really glad we won and I’m not here trying not to blame the umpires that we lost. This was the first time I’ve tried to file a complaint with the league office about the umps. They were admittedly out of position, and generally didn’t give a shit. Which is a shame because the Titans played us tough, again, and I don’t want to take anything away from their effort in what was a good game.

This is what I found when I tried to log in to the umpire association’s page today to file a complaint:

Screen Shot 2014-06-23 at 10.15.08 AM

 

Looks about right.

The Ducks have won five straight games.

South Oakland plays tonight and Wednsday before traveling to Munhall for a double header against North America with first place on the line this Sunday.

Who wants to see if they can pitch?

quack

A menu of how to bribe an infallible attorney and the legality of a semi-pro amateur baseball league bribe

2014 South Oakland Ducks, pittsburgh NABA

It was recently brought to my esteemed attention that a certain TEAM!!! in the NABA attempted to bribe a previous Ducks regime into throwing games for a measly $50-$100. Because that TEAM!!! is still in the league, I wanted to set forth guidelines for how to bribe Ducks super-utility and leading home run hitter Anthony Ciccone (#2). The following actions will be undertaken at the stated cost below:

$10 – #2 will steal a base if currently on first or second. No determining whether he will be safe or out, but you can hand over a $10 and call a pitch out.

$20 – #2 will take the first two pitches of an at-bat, no questions asked.

$50 – #2 will get drunk for the game. Probably whisky. Alcohol choice subject to change, paying party responsible for all related expenses.

$100 – #2 will initiate a proceeding in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania to have the TEAM!!!’s manager’s criminal record expunged. After filing, the billable rate will jump to $200 an hour.

$150 – #2 will bat right handed for the remainder of the game.

$200 – #2 will fight down a member of the TEAM!!!’s DUI charge to a simple traffic violation/public nudity.

$500 – #2 will get thrown out of the game by arguing with the umps on an out call on a clear force play.

$1000 – #2 will incorporate the TEAM!!! as an LLC or LLP in Pennsylvania and/or Delaware to shield them from personal liability.

Please note that for a contract to be valid, there must be an offer, acceptance and consideration. While this may constitute an offer, and payment may constitute acceptance, the legal consideration of a contract for semi-pro amateur NABA players to throw games is under current debate with Ducks upper management.

Also, Wandy Rodriguez might be signed by the Ducks this week.

Release the Quacken.

Signed,

ILikeKevinYoungEsq.

Game Day 13: Ducks at Monsters

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, pittsburgh NABA

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (9-3)

at

Monongahela Monsters (5-7)

4:30pm

Brentwood Park

South Oakland looks to avenge an early season, 5-1 loss to Monongahela today in Brentwood. The Monsters are the only team the Ducks have not defeated. The Ducks need a win to stay tied for first with the WOLFPACK!!! (9-3) and Lions (10-4).

After a 3-0 start, the Monsters have gone 2-7. Monongahela seemed solid when we played them, not many easy outs in their lineup. They must have lost a pitcher or something. Or maybe they ran into these guys:

Game Day [10]: Ducks (6-3) vs Bulldogs (3-3)

Today’s game will be the Ducks first in Brentwood. Half our roster is on vacation, so we’ll test our depth. Brian Strom will take the hill for the South Oakland.

storm_x_men_goddess_by_xanthemann-d5iognt

Bad News for the Monstres