Kenny Powers

Ducks Probably Lost Monday

2013 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

I left before it went final, but we were down 7-0 in the top of the seventh, and were being one-hit.

The Bulldogs scored five in the top of the fifth to blow it open.

So many walks.

There is some fantastic facial hair on the Bulldogs this year.

We’ve got to start hitting.

I’ve been using this generic icy hot, because i’m old, and my joints don’t work and this goop turns the inside of my uniform a brilliant bright blue and it doesn’t really help my shoulder and elbow that much but that blue color makes me wonder how toxic it is and if i’m perhaps going to have some kind of blood disease now. Man, would that be something.

The Ducks need some kind of spark real bad right now.

We need to play the Black Sox soon, because you can’t help but get fired up for those games when you walk across the broken cement bleachers, through the cigarette smoke hanging everywhere and drop your gear by the mud pit full of mosquitoes that smells like a dead dog that’s been rotting there since the last frost of winter. And maybe a Sox fan hitting one of our players with a half-empty empty gin bottle could provide that spark.

It seems like none of the teams in our league have any character anymore.  There’s no more shit talking and hatred and I miss it. Teams are too classy, at least outwardly. Even the Cherokee are only shady in the front office, and really i liked it when their catcher was giving us shit and we threw at him. Of course he scored and we lost but at least it was something exciting other than the blue stain on my shirt.  The Ducks certainly don’t have an identity right now, other than a team that doesn’t hit and usually gets good enough starting pitching to keep us in games, and that is a poor identity for a baseball team.

 We’ll see what kind of heart we have in the upcoming games as we edge closer to must-win territory. We’ll either come together and turn it around or it’s gonna be a long summer. I’m optimistic because that’s my nature and we have the talent, but sans gin bottle we need something/someone to light a fire under us.

South Oakland plays at Cranberry this Sunday at 5pm.

Quack.

this team will not die…{EDIT: GAME Time changed to 5pm saturday, Beedle Park]

2013 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

The Duck Pond is retired. The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side will not have a home field this season. I’ll miss it, but not really. bad hops on that field allowed me to hit over .400 for six of the last seven seasons and Spring View was host to some of the most dominating pitching performances in Ducks history. Hopefully i’ll have time to give it a proper send off at some point. I’m sure we’ll get a random rainout game scheduled there. the Ducks can’t thank the league enough for working with us to help keep the team swimming, and allow me to reuse all the sweet Baconator photoshops from a couple years ago. The Black Sox almost became the team to beat this season…

***

The TJ Morgan lead-South Oakland Ducks will open the season this Saturday 4/13

5pm

at Beedle Park

vs Day Toyota.

Buy American.

Quack.

Playoffs, All Stars and More!

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, pittsburgh NABA, who names their team the Rebels?

South Oakland opens the 2012 postseason against the Monroeville Militia Sunday July 22nd, 8:30pm at Moore Park.

The All-Star starters are up on the league home page.

Interesting how last-place Cranberry has 4 starters compared to the Ducks and Black Sox who have one apiece.

From our team I nominated Fago, Ken Cool, Morgan and Swartwout. Who will represent us at the all-star game in August if they choose.

Cases could be made for Houseman and me based on the numbers and Houseman being sick at fielding. But i’m not about to vote for myself, certainly not to start over whatever low-A prospect Clinton has in left field, and for some reason I thought Elliot was in our division and Wes White was a more deserving starter at SS. Sorry, House, for not knowing what teams are in our division.

I think we need a return to the mid-season all-star game next year so people actually show up. That was a lot of fun a couple years back, despite coach Kenny Powers not getting me an at-bat.

Apparently the Rebels and Warriors game last week ended in a fight with police called.

I forget the details. Hopefully they meet in the A championship and it’s really intense.

***

The Ducks Elliot game will not be rescheduled. We tried, but the weather and field availability worked against us. I would’ve liked to get some at bats before sunday.

Anyway…

After a brutal off-season and losing pitchers upon pitchers for a variety of reasons, the Ducks finished the regular season 11-10-2 and 8-4 in the division.

Good for fourth overall and second in the Monongahela.

We will be the home team on Sunday.

If I had known the 2-seeds were going to switch brackets, it would have been a lot tougher to release Stupka to the Militia. Ethically I made the right decision.

If both teams have everyone show up on Sunday night, it’s going to be a great game.

More tomorrow.

quack.

 

 

Ducks Clinch Playoff Spot, Defeat Black Sox 5-2.

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland (7-1, 10-6-2) defeated the Brookline Black Sox(2-6, 7-10) and long-time nemesis pitcher Pete Chalfin, by a score of 5-2 Saturday night to clinch at least the second seed in the Monongahela Division.

I wasn’t at the game, but apparently Fago hit a triple and Swartwout put one off the wall in right center, which is about a 400 ft shot. Ken Cool, I’m sure, was dominant.

Fago pitched a complete game and hit double digit strikeouts.

We were without four starters for this one.

Apparently, Saturday night was Chalfin’s last game in the league as he is moving somewhere to do something to better his life, so good for him and for the Ducks. He was one of the toughest pitchers I’ve faced, one of the few guys I really don’t like hitting against. Not that that means a lot coming from a guy who’s primary offensive weapons are the flare to right, and leaning in to inside curveballs, but players far better than I will tell you Pete was a tough competitor and made the Black Sox a lot better. He was also an avid reader and commentator on the blog, back when people avidly read and commented. So thanks for that, Pete.

Two of the most memorable and crushing Ducks losses came at the hands of Chalfin and the Black Sox, a 1-0 thriller in 2009 when he dueled it out with Mike Fletcher, and a 5-4 ten-inning affair in the 2009 playoffs the year the Black Sox upset the Owlz, and lost to the Hurricanes in the finals.

Two of the Ducks biggest wins were over Chalfin: Guthrie defeated Chalfin to clinch the Championship for the Ducks in 2010, and this year Fago out-pitched him to earn South Oakland a playoff spot and keep us out in front of the Cherokee in the division race. I’m glad we could send him out with a loss. Take that splitter and don’t come back.

*

Huge win last night for South Oakland. Now the Black Sox are playing for their playoff lives, without their ace, and we’re in the driver’s seat for the division having won nine of eleven.

The Ducks next game is wed night at home against Cranberry.

Quack.

GameDay 18: Ducks at Black Sox

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks (6-1, 9-6-2)

vs

Brookline Black Sox (2-5, 7-9)

9pm

Moore Park

Typically the Black Sox start slow and pull it together 1/4 of the way through the season. It’s taken longer this year, but they’ll be tough tonight. Especially at home.

Our victory over Brookline earlier this season was our 4th straight regular season win over the Black Sox dating back to last season.

And it was the first time in a long time the Ducks and Sox met with both teams under .500.

The Ducks have won 8 of our last 10, getting it together a bit earlier that Brookline this year, after a similarly rough start.

Since dropping 3 straight to the Cherokee, the Black Sox have won 4 straight.

Kenny Powers must be coachin’ ’em up down there, or over there, whichever.

We can clinch a playoff spot and the second seed in the division with a win tonight, plus we’d gain a half game on the idle Cherokee. A Cranberry loss tomorrow would also clinch us a spot, but hopefully they beat Clinton.

The Ducks-Sox rivalry has been kind of lost in the shuffle with Ken Cool’s brother seceding from the Ducks with two-thrids of our pitching staff, but tonight in Moore Park it’ll be in full swing. I love playing there those fans make it feel like our games matter in a way that adult-league baseball in June normally doesn’t.

We can write ourselves a great story for this season if we keep winning and take the division, a win tonight gets us a lot closer.

Bad News for the Black Sox

Ducks Win. South Oakland 5, Express 1

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, Ducks win, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

James Fago went 3-for-3 with 3RBI and Randy Patton earned his third consecutive win to lead South Oakland (9-6-2) to a 5 – 1 victory over the Carrick Express (2-13-1) Monday night.

Ken Cool and Gwin opened the game with back to back hits, Swartwout scored Cool on a sac fly and Fago doubled home Gwin to put South Oakland up 2-0.

The Express scored in the fourth to cut the lead in half, then Fago drove in two runs with a single to left in the top of the fifth inning.

The Ducks fifth run came when Tony Casale scored from second on a 6-4 fielder’s choice.

***

Some notes:

We’d be dead in the water without Randy and Jared, both of whom we picked up off waivers and have pitched well for us. Randy hasn’t lost in three starts.

Tony Casale is playing the best baseball i’ve seen from him since he joined the Ducks in ’08, and he and Houseman have been fantastic up the middle.

We’ve won eight of our last ten.

It’s probably going to take a 10-2 division record for us to win the division, unless Cranberry beats Clinton in one of their remaining three matchups.

We play Brookline in Brookline Saturday night then Cranberry next wed, before we finish Black Sox-Cherokee-Black Sox.

South Oakland’s magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 1.

quack

Ducks Win: South Oakland 12, Carrick 2 (6)

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, Ducks win

That’s more like it.

With the Ducks (8-6-2, 6-1) leading 3 – 2 in the 4th, Ken Cool kit a bases clearing double to increase the lead to 6 – 2, and South Oakland of the North Side cruised to a 12 – 2 victory behind another strong pitching performance from Randy Patton.

Swartwout and Gwin had 3 hits a piece and every Duck reached base at least once.

Casale played an exceptional game at second, walked and scored 4 times and stole three bases.

On separate occasions, Begley was hit by a pitch and Moore walked and stole second.

The Ducks have won seven of their last nine games, and play Carrick again on Monday June 18th before resuming divisional play against a rejuvenated Black Sox team in Brookline on the 23rd.

quack.

Game 15 Recap: Ducks Win

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, Ducks win, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland of the North Side beat the Clinton Cherokee 12 – 7 Monday night to take first place in the Monongahela Division.

I wonder what was discussed in the huddles over there? the pre-game talk, two (I think) during the game, and the post-game speech by Clinton’s manager. Probably either the hollow, “we can’t take this team lightly.” Even though it was clear we were taken lightly, or “There’s no way we should lose to this team, they’re horrible. Look at our pants and look at their pants the don’t all match. I love our uniforms they are so sick!”

Or not. I mean, i could be way off base, but whatever their coach was trying to get accross it didn’t take.

Immediately the game had a weird feel to it.The city actualy fixed the lights and dragged the field.

Ducks catcher Ken Cool threw out a runner to end the first. Clinton led 1-0.

In the bottom of the first, Ducks firstbaseman Bobby Swartwout hit a two-run home run and South Oakland wouldn’t trail for the rest of the game.

The Baumgartel/Fago duel started with Baum almost Baconating one to right center, but Roberts made a tough catch at the track.

We scored a run in the second.

Fago picked off a guy at first.

Jesse Ferko and TJ Morgan started hitting doubles.

We had the bases loaded with 1 out in the third, and got one run across.

after three: Ducks 4, Clinton 1.

Then we scored five in the fourth.

Morgan led off with a double Ferko walked, and Roberts bunted for a baseh hit.

Doyle was pulled.

It gets blurry for me at this point. This game was the best the offense has looked all season.

Tessyier came into the game on short rest.

Casale and Houseman came through with back to back singles.

Ken Cool lined out to the wall in left, Gwin flew out to right and Swartwout drove in another run with, I think, a double.

9 – 1, Ducks after four.

the game was stopped to acknowledge Morgan’s first three-hit game as a Duck.

Clinton scored four in the top of the fifth. Baumgartel walked, I threw a ball backwards, there were a couple walks, but we worked out of it. Lead preserved.

9-5, Ducks through four-and-a-half.

In the bottom of the fifth Gwin lead off with a double, Swartwout reached on an error when Gwin was caught in a rundown and pegged in the back. Fago reached on an error. Jesse Ferko hit a bases clearing triple.

South Oakland led 12-5 after five. Fago retired the side in order in the sixth getting Baumgartel to groundout to end their individual battle for the evening.

They put some other kid in to pitch the sixth, he was effective.

The Cherokee scored two in the seventh but the Ducks held on for a five run victory.

***

From what Ken Cool tells me, the Cherokee coach still gives us no credit for putting 12 runs across in this game, and taking advantage of the numerous, uncharacteristic Clinton miscues.

They may not have given us their best, but that has nothing to do with us.

I don’t have the book, but I think six Ducks starters had multiple hits in this game, Ferko, Morgan and Houseman each had 3.

We have three non-division games before we play the Black Sox on the 23rd.

Game Day 14: Ducks vs Elliot

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

vs

Elliot

9pm

SpringView Field

Elliot (9-2, 4-0) is separating itself from the rest of the Allegheny Division and has the best record in the league. The Ducks are looking to avenge an opening day 7-1 loss to Elliot.

This league has a very high percentage of teams not ending in ‘s.’ – elliot, militia, cranberry, black sox, cherokee. Five out of eight in the AA division. However, in the A division all of the teams do in fact end in ‘s.’ interesting. The Chris Wojton-led Devils won 24 to 9 over the weekend. That game couldn’t have been fun for anyone, certainly not the umpires. I can’t imagine how big the strike zone must have been in the fourth or fifth inning.

The Black Sox dropped three straight to Ken Cool’s brother’s team this weekend (with a ruling on a rain-shortened game pending).

It’s like someone died in Brookline.

I don’t think anyone would have  thought Cranberry and the Black Sox would be battling it out for a playoff spot.

There’s a lot of baseball left, but at 5-1 halfway through our divisional schedule the Ducks are in a good spot.

We’ve had different guys come up big in key situations, and the pitching has improved greatly.

We still haven’t played our best baseball yet.

South Oakland and Elliot both have division games coming up on Wed. We’ll see how this plays out tonight.

Bad News for Elliot