The Avalon Ghostbusters of the North Hills will not play tomorrow due to inclimate weather, and lack of a grounds crew. The Ghostbusters’ next game will be Saturday September 20th at Pie Traynor Field. I don’t know what I’m going to write about all week. Be prepared for nonsense. Feel free give me some ideas.
While the 2009 Ducks season is still 8 and a half months away, it’s not to early to start fund raising. For instance, this holiday season, why not by Ducks Hoodies for everyone you know, and ask your mom to buy you one for the holiday celebration of your choice.
The Ghostbusters are unlikely to fight against the elements in order to get in a game, although the field was mighty dry and may benefit from the rain if it doesn’t continue to late into the night.
Goodness knows we can’t reschedule for Sunday as that would cut into the twelve hour pre-game binge drinking preparation for the Steelers game at 8:30.
I’m a die hard Steelers fan, and I look forward to football season with the anticipation of a high school kid awaiting some quasi-holiday I don’t understand but allows me to miss school for a day, but I think the NFL is one step away from becoming self-aware and overtaking human kind.
Terminator and Terminator II star the Governnor of California, Terminator 4 stars Christian Bale of Dark Knight and Batman Begins fame. Batman and Robin the forgettable fourth installment of the Batman Series, includes the villian Mr. Freeze, who was portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
There are a lot of sequels and remakes coming out. I’m sure someone has noticed I have never used any pictures of the remade Bad News Bears film, although it was enjoyable.
I’ll have an email out to the Blues in a week or so outlining our plans for the Florida Citrus Classic, Jan 17th-19th. I hope we can retain most of our pitching staff.
I don’t have cable and I can’t find the remote, so I get to watch the worst Batman movie of all time, this may also be the worst movie in which Uma thurmon plays a predominant role. I think I may read a book soon.
There is not much to report from Ducks, Ghostbusters, or Blues camp at the moment.
The Ghostbusters will probably need to add a couple Ducks to the lineup this Saturday, we only have eight confirmed players. I’m in the process of trying to aquire Eric Lee from the Crush, as the Ghostbusters are short on outfielders.
I am amazed that Batman and Robin was ever made. I hope if a Ghostbusters 3 comes to fruition, it has absolutly nothing in common with this sequel in another solid movie franchise. There are rumors of a third Ghostbusters film floating around the internet. Bill Murry is the only one who is not on board. Murry was not in Caddy Shack II, good decision. Since Dan Akroid is already in Ghostbusters, he will not be able to fill in for Murry in a hypothetical Ghostbusters 3, as he did in Caddy Shack II.
If you haven’t noticed, the NFL season has begun. Ducks’ pitcher, Nich Homa had the high score in the fantasy football league I am commisioning. Blues catcher, Craig “Ultimate Warrior” Boley also won handily.
Dominant.
The Blues will soon begin fundraising for the Florida Citrus Classic, which runs from Jan. 17th-19th in Palm Beach Florida. A solid showing in FLA would be a great way to start the tournament seaosn.
It would benefit the Ducks greatly to aquire some sponsorship money prior to the 2009 season. The T-shirt sales have been less than spectacualr, and I don’t think we can count on Gregg Campbell getting another $500 from the Bottelshop, I haven’t heard form him in a while. It’s never too early to solicit funds for your amateur baseball team.
South Oakland Duck, Les Gies, had two hits and an RBI in a guest appearance for the Ghostbusters.
I expect the Ghostbusters to win the rest of their games handily, now that their coach knows where to put his players.
I filled in for the Crush in their second game, they/we won 14-2 over the Gray Bats, Duck Mark Guthrie pitched five innings allowing one run.
In the nature of competitive balance, the Bats have stolen Ghostbuster’s SS/P BJ Rankin, for a player to be named later, before Rankin could even don the yellow and blue. The Bats also picked up Crush 2B Joe Graff, for a broken bat and half a can of dip.
The Ghostbusters take on the new look Gray Bats this Saturday at 11:30 am, at Pie Traynor Field in North Park.
The Ghostbusters take on the Orange Crush, tomorrow at 9am. The Orange Crush team features Ducks Eric Lee, and Mark Guthrie, along with Blues pitchers Guthrie and Christain Necheff, head coach Joe Graff, and are coached by Blues left- fielder Brian Strom.
Ducks DH, and Pittsburgh Blues outfielder Garrett Moore will bat lead-off and catch for the Avalon Ghostbusters of the North Hills.
Bad News for the Orange Crush
You Know…
Quack.
Here’s the official recap of games 2 and 3 from the league site. 
Blues Make Strong Showing in Tournament
The Commish also handed out official team awards and such. I don’t ever refer to the score book when i write these things so Joe may be a bit more accurate in his assessment.
Either way it was a blast, and as far as I can tell, the tournament experience has left us all wanting more.
The Ghostbusters play the Orange Crush at 9am this Saturday at Pie Traynor field.
Fall Ball starts this weekend, time and place TBD. There is still time to sign up at the league’s home page. Pittsburghnaba.com
The fall season will run until Thanksgiving, by then most of us will be caught in the iron clad grip of the NFL, and the Penguins’ season will be well underway. Then it is only a few months until winter meetings, and possibly a winter tournament for the Blues. I’m going to make fund raising for the Blues and Ducks and off-season priority. I have sponsorship request forms if anyone wants them. Email me at penwin66@yahoo.com, for sponsorship info, and any other ideas or questions for future tournaments.
The Metros won the Blue & Gray Classic, beating the Rangers 13-11. I don’t believe it. I hope they plan on playing in next season’s Atlantic City tournament. I want another shot at that team. I think we all do.
Metros utility player
The Pittsburgh NABA grew in leaps and bounds this season. The high level of play during the regular season helped prepare the Blues for the trip to VA. We were not overwhelmed by anyone, and a lot of that is due to the consistency of the pitching and overall team play by all the Pittsburgh teams this past year.
A lot of guys on the Ducks ask me why I don’t hate the Black Sox, and I tell them it is because I’d played alongside Kenny and Matt in AC and Phoenix. The return of Pittsburgh to the tournament circuit, will bring the league closer together, and perhaps decrease some of the animosity we’ve seen over the past seasons. It’s hard to hate guys who you have played alongside while representing your city. At the same time it intensifies the rivalries in a different way. Players from the Rebels, Matadors, Eagles, Phantoms and Owlz all declined invitations to play on the Blues.
Bringing a title home to Pittsburgh would mean as much to me as it would to bring a title home to South Oakland. I would be hard pressed to chose one over the other. In 2009 I’m hoping to accomplish both, after dominating the fall league with the Ghostbusters.
Cy Young: Ben Sorosky
My conoslation prize for an unreal performance in a game that defined the term “hard-luck loss”
Co-MVP: Craig Boley, Jason Ashcroft
The battery for our lone win in the tourney; Boley lead caught two nine inning games, was among the team leaders in OBP, and Ashcroft threw a gem in our game one victory.
Offensive Players of the Tournament: Kenny Rayl, Brian Strom
Kenny played an inspired game against the Metros, and scored our only run vs. the Rangers. Strom had the game winning RBI vs. the Illusion, and the only RBI vs. the Rangers
Outstanding defensives performance: BJ Rankin, Jason Goldie
This could have gone to anyone, but I think they stole the most hits, and played the two most important positions with incredible consistency. As is the case with the MLB gold glove award, Jason Goldie lead the team with five hits in three games, which should be noted somewhere. Goldie also threw out two runners at home.
Go Blues
Quack.
My dog died today. Her name was Zoe, she was an Akita a breed used to hunt bears. Some people have cats who bring dead moles or mice to their front door as gifts. One time Zoe broought back half a deer. In her honor, and as an ode to the Blues, the best Pittsburgh travel team on which i’ve ever had the honor of playing, here is Robert Johnson’s Hell Hound Blues.
There is an empty feeling in the pit of my gut. We should be playing today.
It would be much easier to lament the few mistakes we made and view our two narrow losses as an end for a great team ( I know I’m having a hard time getting the vision of a couple at bats from our last game out of my head), than it is too view this tournament loss as a springboard for future success. Pittsburgh has a legit travel team that can compete with anyone. The Florida Rangers can play year-round, and New York has open tryouts for anyone in the city to join their team, they also draw from a much larger pool of players. Neither team overpowered us, a few bounces the other way and we make it to the Championship today with a rested pitching staff against a beatable opponent.
The Blues are a competitive, tight-knit group who take pride in representing their city. I named Craig Boley the captain of this team and he is most certainly a leader, but leadership is ingrained in the dirt and pine tar stains which cover all 15 Blues uniforms. The hustle and the attitude of everyone was phenomenal. This is not the last the NABA tournament circuit has seen of the Blues.
***
After opening the tournament with a 6-3 win over David Copperfield’s Mennonites, the Blues had to win one of two games on Sunday to advance to Monday’s championship. The Blues lost a 2-1 heart-breaker on the game’s final at-bat to the heavily favored Florida Rangers, and a 9-7 game to the classless New York Metros who tried to cheat and talked more than group of auctioneers on crystal-meth.
The Blues finished 1-2; We beat the Illusion who beat the Metros who beat the Rangers. Pittsburgh allowed 14 runs and scored 14 runs, a far cry from the AC and Phoenix Pittsburgh teams who gave up over nine runs per game.
The pitching and defense was phenomenal for Pittsburgh all weekend, only three errors were committed all tournament. The Blues pitchers threw two complete games, Ashcroft’s game one victory, and Sorosky’s game two gem, in which he allowed a run in the first, and a run in the ninth to bookend seven consecutive scoreless innings. Unfortunately the Rangers second baseman stole at least three hits from Pittsburgh, leading a flawless defensive effort by Florida, in a game in which neither team committed an error. Jaosn Goldie threw a runner out at the plate flatfooted, after bobbling a base hit to center, Gwin threw out runners at second and home, and Vinny Gala played first base with the agility of a young Andres Galaraga. Dustin WInston was tremendous behind the plate, and the infield made all the plays. Despite clawing out a run in the top of the ninth, the Blues fell to a pinch hit walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth that barely cleared the rightfield wall. We just couldn’t string the hits together. Sorosky deserved better.
The Rangers are a classy group of players, they talked and chatted and cheered on their team. Conversely, the Metros taunted, cursed in Spanish, and harassed our guys and our manager when Joe called them out for bending the pinch running rules. That was a hard game to lose. We took a 2-0 lead in the second when Jason Ashcroft singled in two runs, and the game went back and forth Kenny Rayl gave the Blues the lead in the fifth with a ground rule double over the left field wall at the Potomac Nationals, single A stadium. until New York took a 7-6 lead in the 7th, and added two insurance runs in the bottom of the 8th. Rayl hit another double in the ninth to cut the lead to two runs. both those hits would have been home runs at the other park. Kenny had a great two games after missing the first, and played a solid game at third base against NY.
Collectively we started to press a little towards the end of the second two games, I know I did anyway.
Had Kenny made it to game one, and hit in the same manner, he’d get my MVP vote.
I have to give co-MVP honors to Jason Ashcroft and Craig Boley, Ashcroft won us our first tournament game in four years, and had two hits against New York.
Boley led the team in batting, caught two good games and played an error free game at second base against the Rangers.
Despite the sour feeling after coming so close in Virginia, I’m anxious to put on the powder blues again and represent the city.
Players on the current roster will be given the first opportunity to play in future tournaments, any opening will be filled in as necessary. We are definitely playing in the 2009 Memorial Day Tournament in Atlantic City and next year’s Virginia tournament. The Blues are strongly considering a trip to Florida in January for the Palm Beach Citrus Classic, start saving/raising money now.
I’d like to thank everyone who helped make this team and this trip a reality. I had a blast.
-Ben Gwin
one Amish disemboweled
Ashcroft (1-0)
9 IP, 3ER, 8, 4h
six dismemberments
two Amish speared with flagpole
Pittsburgh NABA Pitcher of the Year. Jason Aschroft (1-0) pitched a complete game victory, scattering four hits over nine innings as the Blues overcame deficits of 2-0, and 3-1 to defeat the Illusion in the Blue & Gray Tournament opener.
The visiting Illusion jumped out to a 2-0 lead in he first inning.
Blues CF, Jason Goldie singled and stole second in the bottom of the second Vinny Gala singled to put runners on first and third with one out. Goldie scored the Blues first run on a double steal by pinch runner Ben Gwin who entered for non-runner Gala.
The game was fast paced; solid defense by the Amish and a good pitching performance by Henry VI kept Lancaster in the game early.
Lancaster added a run in the top of the fourth. Lancaster lead 3-1 going into the bottom of the fifth when Gwin tied the game with a two run single, tying the game 3-3.
i’M CALLING ON BEN SOROSKY IS PINCH-BLOG FROM THE DAYS INN IN DUMFIRES, VA WHILE I SMOKE A CIGARETTE.
While I lay here and pinch blog, I would like to give a personal shout to Ben Gwin for his amazing play in RF today. Reminded me of a Grady Sizemore type play. 2B Joe Graff was leadoff hitter today and was like Jose Reyes getting on base everytime. Jason Ashcroft aka Brandon Webb pitched a gem of a game today and I enjoyed all the groundballs that I received at 3B. It’s fun when the pitcher throws strikes and keeps the fielders in the game. There is a reason why he was the NABA pitcher of the year. BTW, Ben Gwin was right with his prediction of cheaper prices in Virginia. Gas is 3.35 a gallon and most importantly, Blue Moon, my favorite beer, is 6.75 a 6 pack. Well, Gwin has returned and I will let him return to his blog…….
So in the bottom of the seventh I made a diving catch in right, then SS, BJ Rankin made a barehanded play on a bad hop when a ground ball hit off the infield lip.
The game was tied at three until the bottom of the eighth, when Brian Strom, after two failed bunt attempts doubled home two runs to put Pittsburgh up 5-3.
Strom would later score on Garrett Moore’s broken bat ground out, and Ashcroft shut the door in the bottom of the ninth preserving the 6-3 victory.
The Blues will secure a spot in the championship with a win over the Florida Rangers tomorrow at 8am.
Ben Sorosky is on the hill tomorrow,
Bad news for the Rangers
***
In his quest to find the Dicks sporting goods in Manasses, VA, Garret Moore got lost in the back woods of Virginia for literally three hours and arrived forty minutes late to the game. He had Guthrie, Homa and Christian’s equipment in the trunk of his car. It was a bad scene.
Garrett Moore has been owned at paper-rock-scissors and has slept on the floor for two nights.
Moore had an RBI in the game.
***
Jeremy Barchie has demanded his 2009 Ducks contract include Redman.
(profanity)
Go Blues
Quack.
South Oakland Ducks Baseball 