Ducks

Ducks Win.

2014 South Oakland Ducks

South Oakland scored 7 runs in the 4th inning, overcoming a 3-0 deficit en-route to a 8-5 victory in game 1 of the semifinals at Springview Field Monday night.

Jason Fetter threw five innings, allowing 4 earned runs, and recorded his first playoff win as a Duck. Ben Sorosky pitched a scoreless sixth inning, and Anthony Ciccone recorded the save, striking out the West View cleanup hitter with the bases loaded in the seventh.

Matt Limbach went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs, Rob Galvanek went 2-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI, Brandon Culp and DJ Dover each had multi-hit games.

Ducks catcher, Rob Galvanek threw out 2 runners out at second.

Short stop Tony Casale made a diving stop behind second base and threw out a runner from his knees to save a run. It was one of the best plays by an infielder I’ve seen in person.

Game 2 is Wednsday night, 8:30PM at John Herb Field.

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.

Double Header tomorrow

2014 South Oakland Ducks

Tomorrow might be the first time the Ducks play a game at Spring Hill that’s not under the lights. We have the Monsters at 6pm and then a throwback night against the Bombers. To celebrate the history of the Pittsburgh NABA and it’s oldest team (both in terms of average age of players, and years with same team nickname) players are asked to wear their oldest NABA uniform they still have in their closet. We expect to have players in uniform representing Ducks from almost all eleven seasons and potentially: Pythons, Graybats, Oilers, Militia, Orioles, Phantoms, Rakers, Knights.

Bombers players are welcome to join. Though I assume this would mean Joe Graff in a Bulldogs/Pythons Jersey and everyone else in last years Bombers unis.

In other news it looks like the Lions have about clinched the division. North America has won something like 15 straight games. Their magic number is 1.

Since we technically started the WOLFPACK!!! game, it is considered a suspended game and will only be made up if it affects the standings. West View has four other games to get in before the regular season ends on the 19th.

We might have to play them on the 19th with a first round bye at stake. They’ve also not entered any stats or a roster or anything on the league site. I hope we don’t have another Hurricanes situation on our hands.

The Bombers have clinched at least the six seed, holding the tiebreaker over the Monsters and Senators. The Titans can’t finish any lower than fifth. The Monsters hold a half game lead over the Senators for the six-seed. The Warriors need to win out and get lots of help to make the playoffs.

First round games start on Sunday the 20th. The best-of-three semifinal series start the following week.

quack

Game Day 22: Ducks vs. WOLFPACK!!!

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

vs.

West View Wolfpack

8:30pm

John Herb Field

So far the game is still on tonight. Since it’s the Ducks’ umpire money, and it’s West View’s call as to whether or not the field is playable, I don’t expect to hear anything.

We need to win tonight if we want a shot at a first round bye, and to stay in the hunt for the one seed.

I found this awesome Rambo/Captain America picture in my files, and I think it’s time to re-tread this one. Whoever photoshopped this is my hero.

Go Blues

Bad News for the WOLFPACK!!!

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.

 

Ducks clinch playoff spot.

2014 South Oakland Ducks

South Oakland holds the tie breaker over the 11-loss Monsters and Senators, who are tied for sixth place. The worst we can finish is 13-11. Here are the standings as of July 1st.

Screen Shot 2014-07-01 at 1.36.33 PM

 

There are good battles going on for both the top spot in the division and the sixth and final playoff spot.

Losing two to the Lions hurt. I’ll take the heat for not at least splitting the series. We were out-coached. Our teams are pretty evenly matched, and they made fewer mistakes.

Anyway, the Ducks play tomorrow at 8pm vs. the Bombers, who have been struggling as of late. We need a win to stay within a game of North America, and to put pressure on the WOLFPACK!!! If both teams win out, it would force a YODA-style showdown when we play them on the 13th.

I’m assuming the WOLFPACK!!! has a bunch of rain outs to make up, so who knows how that will effect their rotation, etc.

The Titans are creeping back towards .500 after sweeping a triple header against the Warriors over the weekend.

The Monsters have gone 2-11 after beating us in April to improve to 3-0.

The Lions are trying to get out of rescheduling a game against the Warriors, that had been rescheduled and then pushed back indefinitely after the Warriors weren’t going to be able to get enough guys.

I’m not sure what the letter of the law is on this, but I’m of the mind that it’s always better to play than take a forfeit, especially when Boley is willing to play triple headers to get games in. But whatever, it’s within North America’s right to try to get a forfeit win against the 2-12 Warriors if that’s what their manager feels is best for their team.

Over the years I’ve absolutely tried to get cheap wins by calling out other teams’ illegal p/unregistered players or pushing for forfeits and the like– especially back in the Red Scare years when we were desperate for wins and not very good, and always a few games out of a playoff spot, and I hate losing. I’ve played with illegal players, I’ve played illegally for other teams, I’ve colluded to with managers to change our score books, so guys would have enough games to be playoff eligible. But as I’ve been around longer, I’ve tried to stay within the letter of the rules and to be conscious of the intent of the league. A big reason I wanted to drop to Single A is to avoid feeling pressured to do that kind of shit, and to have Ducks baseball be about getting everyone playing time (in the regular season, anyway. In the playoffs it’s our best 9 on offense and our best 9 on defense).

I like this year’s Ducks team a lot. I haven’t had this much fun since 2009. We’re facing some adversity for the first time this season, and I’m curious how we will respond down the stretch.

quack.

 

 

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?

 

 

 

There are a lot of people I’d like to bean, but none of them play baseball.

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win

iceburgh

Rob “Iceberg” Galvanek pitched a scoreless 7th inning and went 1-for-3 with 2RBI as the Ducks beat the Warriors 14-2 in Etna last Wednesday.
Brian Strom pitched the first two innings on short rest while our attorney was stuck in traffic.

No word how much Warriors management may or may not have paid Ciccone to get stuck in traffic and arrive in the second inning.

Ciccone played an inning at first base, which means he has played all nine positions for South Oakland this year. Then he pitched four innings of one run baseball to earn the win.

This was a solid team win for the Ducks. South Oakland has won 5 straight and is now in first place with a record of 11-3.

The Warriors (2-8) are having a tough season. Newman had a sweet game for them, and Boley played well behind the plate.

***

Notes:

Starting with our game on Sunday, South Oakland plays three games in four days (five in seven), and we still have a make-up game against the Senators to reschedule.

Screen Shot 2014-06-21 at 10.54.54 AM

Who wants to pitch?

It looks like there’s going to be a three team race between the Ducks (11-3), North America (11-4), and the WOLFPACK!!! (9-4) for the top 2 seeds and the ever-important first round bye in the playoffs. It should be an exciting pennant race. We have a big double header against North America next weekend, and one game left against the WOLFPACK!!!

It was the former head coach of the Matadors, who is no longer in the league, that tried to bribe teams to throw games. For more on bribery, see the previous post.

South Oakland’s next game is this Sunday, 3:30pm vs. the Titans.

quack