Kenny Powers

Ducks Win: South Oakland 4, Cranberry 3

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, Ducks win, pittsburgh NABA

Ducks pitcher Robert Patton (2-0) earned his second straight victory, allowing 1 ER over five innings, to lead South Oakland of the North Side (5-1, 6-5-2) past Cranberry (1-3, 4-8) Saturday afternoon.

Cranberry scored a run early with a two out rally in the bottom of the first on a walk and two singles. South Oakland took the lead in the third when with two out, Guthrie singled, Ken Cool was hit by a pitch, and a past ball moved the runners to second and third. Gwin singled in Ken Cool and Guthrie to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead.

In the fifth, South Oakland scored two more runs on an  almost identical series of events. Guthrie walked with two outs. Ken Cool singled and Guthrie advance to third. Ken Cool stole second and Gwin singled in Guthrie and Ken Cool to put the Ducks up 4-1.

Cranberry made it interesting with 2 unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth, the inning ended when Fago threw out a guy trying to steal second.

In the sixth, with runners on first and second and no body out, Ducks first baseman Bobby Swartwout threw out a Cranberry runner at third on a botched sacrifice attempt, then made a nice over the shoulder catch on a pop-up and doubled off the guy at first to end the inning.

Cranberry stranded runners on second and third to end the game.

Ducks outfielder TJ Morgan went 3-for-3 on the day.

***

Earlier in the year we were letting leads slip away into ties, and ridiculous 11-10 losses. It’s good to hold on and win tight games.

Yesterday the Black Sox dropped both games to Clinton, and fell to 0-4 in the division, with another game against the 3-1 Cherokee today at 3pm.

With the Black Sox at 0-4, and Cranberry at 1-3 and those two teams still facing each other three more times, we’ve almost clinched a playoff spot.

I’m really surprised to see Kenny Powers and Brookline in last place.

South Oakland plays Elliot Monday night at 9pm before a huge game against the Cherokee Wednesday night at home with first place on the line.

quackquackquack.

Game Day 13: Ducks at Cranberry

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (4 -1, 5-5-2)

at 

Cranberry (1-2, 4-7)

2pm

North Boundary Park

As of 9:42 we’re playing, I imagine the field up there has dried out, and will be playable at 2pm.

I’m sure the infield will be quick…

After a season and a half Cranberry still doesn’t have a mascot, I think that could be holding them back.

We can put some pressure on the rest of the division today with a win. To the amazement of others around the league, our team is in first place going into our sixth division game, and competing for a first round bye.

Despite our 2 – 0 record against Cranberry, they’re a tough team that has definitely improved from last year. The lineup they put on the field wed was almost entirely different from the first game we played this season, so we’ll see how it plays out.

We can’t look past this game.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Sox/Cherokee marathon doubleheader goes today, how Clinton handles their staff with 3 division games in 4 days.

Patton and Captain America will see give us some innings today.

Bad News for Cranberry.


Happy Memorial Day: Practice Tuesday, 6:30 at SpringView Field

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

It looks like the league this year is incredibly balanced. That, combined with the meaninglessness of the non-division games, has lead to a lot of decent but not spectacular records.

Cranberry beat the Black Sox last weekend making our division race much tighter, and the games this week even more important.

The Cherokee play the Black Sox in what looks like a home and home double header on Saturday 3:30 in the twilight zone and 9pm at Moore Park. Wild scheduling – Kenny Powers does not want to fall to 0 – 4 in divisional play, and Ken Cool’s brother definitely wants the Cherokee to bury Brookline. I guess it’s in our best interest to root for a split there. I don’t know.

There will be intense baseball down the stretch for sure.

Thank god we won’t have to go back to Findlay in the regular season. The field is fine, but the lack of shade makes me dizzy thinking about it.

Two Big games this week vs Cranberry: Wed, 9pm at SpringView, and Saturday, 2pm at North Boundary Park. We’ve got a chance to get over .500 overall and go to 5 -1 in the division.

quack.

Ducks Win

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland 6, Brookline 3

We’re all part of the tribe.

Ducks pitcher James Fago went seven innings, allowing 3 hits, and 2ER, while striking out several and walking few.

The Ducks scored 2 in the top of the first on  TJ Morgan’s bases loaded infield single. On the play Black Sox third baseman Kenny Powers made a spectacular barehanded catch on a well-placed roller down the line but could not throw out the hustling Morgan. Gwin scored from second on the play also hustling.

Brookline answered in the top of the third when with two outs their two hitter fouled off a pitch that hit his hand, then after he struck out swinging, Ducks catcher, Ben Gwin, misplayed the pitch in the dirt and hit the kid in the hand again with his throw to first. He would later score on a ball up the middle, on the play, however, Ducks second baseman Ken Cool hit the kid in the back.

Later in the inning, Kenny Powers scored after he stole second but was nearly thrown out.  Ball beat him there, but he slid around the tag.

Fago handled himself with composure and calmness in the dugout after the Ducks allowed 2 unearned runs in the inning. It was as if it didn’t phase him.

The game remained tied.

We caught the second baseman in a rundown between third and home in the top of the fourth when we executed the first and third play we’ve been working on all season. He was out.

To end the top of the fifth, Kenny Powers was thrown out at home at one point trying to tag on a shallow fly to center.

in the bottom of the inning  Brian Strom recorded his first hit as a Duck, after we saved the ball for enshrinement on his mantle, Strom  stole second and advanced to third on a groundout by Gwin. Strom scored on a Fago single.

The Sox starter was pissed. He was pulled for another lefty.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Ducks scored three runs on a walk, 2 bunt singles another infield hit and a linedrive to right by Ken Cool’s friend Brian.

The Sox scored a run in the top of the seventh, on a double by Florian and a single by their really intense catcher.

Fago struck out Goldie swinging to end the game.

***

South Oakland is 2 – 0 in division play heading into their Saturday double header against Ken Cool’s brother’s team.

We are in first place.

quack, quack.

GameDay 9: Ducks vs Black Sox

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

Ducks vs Black Sox

9pm

SpringView Field

 

Trying to write any more about this rivalry makes me want to puke. It’s all redundant at this point. Brookline is always tough. Somehow, we always seem to absorb players from teams who have a history of fighting (whether in the stands on the field or whatever) during games against those guys. The Hurricanes beat the Sox to win the ’09 title, after the Sox beat the Owlz in the semis. We beat the Sox to win the ’10 championship. I think they’ve got some big time pitching this year. Our field is so slanted towards first base after all that rain, it’s  a joke. I wonder what the all time Sox-Ducks series is at. I think Kenny and I are the only two players who’ve been around for all those games.

We’ve got to keep our momentum going within the division. We’ve already allowed more runs than we did all of last season. We need to reverse this trend. Defense and pitching need to be more consistent. If so, we can play with anybody.

Bad News for the Black Sox

The Games Will Matter Soon….

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland of the North Side will open divisional play on the road against a much improved Cranberry team Sunday 5/13 somewhere in Cranberry,

followed by the Black Sox at home on the 16th.

Until then, we play the Bulldogs Wed at 9pm at home,  the Express Saturday night at 8PM and the Militia at home on the 9th.

That’s three games to get our shit together.

Mark your calendars….

Week 5 FTLL Sat 5/19/12 1:00 PM 3:30 PM AA30 CHE DUX
Week 5 FTLL Sat 5/19/12 3:30 PM 6:00 PM AA31 CHE DUX

Quack

Game Day 4/5: Ducks at Militia

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

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

at

Monroeville Militia

Sunday, April 29th

10:00AM & 12:30PM

Woodland Hills High School

(Former Gray Bats mgr. Larry Z.)

The Militia are primarily a combination of two storied PGH NABA Franchises: The Gray Bats, and the Original Rebels – The Rebels formed when the Black Sox split in ’07.

A handful of Militia players also played for the old Knights/Orioles franchise, their Manager, PGH NABA Legend John Tremel played on the Warriors for a season, their best player of all time, Jeremy Barchie, was a Duck for half a season. They also have a Hurricane defector from last season, and a player from the old Phantoms.

Kenny Powers says fuck the Rebels.

  • Aside from the Kenny Power’s Black Sox, and Craig Boley’s Warriors none of those other teams exist anymore – the Gray Bats went out in a flutter after one season.
  • While the Sox and Warriors are two of the Original 3 teams still in existence, they existed in 2003 as the Stampeders and Piranhas – respectively. (The Ducks, Maulers and Arthropods also played in ’03. Yeah, we had a team called the Arthropods in our league, once.)
  • The South Oakland Ducks is the only franchise that’s been around since 2003 with the same name. We just won’t die.
  • We’ve absorbed players from the ’08, and ’09 Championship teams (OwlzZzzz, Hurricanes) and still have a core of hold overs from our Championship team of 2010 (when we beat the Militia to advance to the championship) , and our team that reached the 2011 Finals.
  • The  ’07, ’08 and ’09 Champions have all folded. That’s odd. You’d think winning a title would make a guys want to stay together and build on that success. Additionally the ’06 and ’07 runner ups (Colonials and Matadors) have folded.
  • Gone are the Oilers and Sharks.
  • Guthrie and Fago played on the old Knights at one point, so on Sunday we have multiple grudge matches of former teammates.
  • We should all be proud to wear Green this season (preferably green, but whatever color you have is fine since our uni’s aren’t in yet).
  • Pending weather, the Cherokee, and Black Sox open up today – it’ll be interesting to see how they fare.
  • If I had a choice to have Fago up with the bases loaded, down by 2 runs in the bottom of the seventh every game, I’d take it.
  • Ken Cool and several other Ducks will make their 2012 debut on Sunday
  • No idea how or why this blog post degenerated into this.

Our team is full of players who know how to win.We’re coming together, but we need to go on a run (one game at a time, obviously).

Let’s get two on Sunday and get some momentum going before we get into league play next weekend.

The Michigan Militia and other extremist groups operate under principles formed by the misinterpretation of pieces of our Constitution that have been taken out of context.  They think they know what’s best for our country.

But Captain America knows better, and he’s on our side.

Bad News for the Militia

Chris Wojton Sighting and REBELS Watch 2012!!! #2

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

Apparently, former duck standout chris wojton is on the devils in the A Division, and they also have an odd looking website for their team, which is available on the league page, and is not hyperlinked.

that team should have been forced to move up after winning the title last season, or, better yet, done so willingly…

Whatever, I  just want to make use of this photoshop  (hopefully it winds up on their team site)

***

The Shaler Rebels crushed the Senators 8-1 on Wed.

here are the Rebels Stats from the victory.

They have there shit together up there, roster on the league site and stats entered. Someone’s running a tight ship.

South Oakland will take on the Militia in a Sunday doubleheader at Woodland Hills High School starting at 10:00 AM

I expect a battle.

Before the last Ducks/Bulldogs game, fortunately with the advantage of the high ground above SpringView Field, I watched the Militia practice, and they appear to be in midseason form.

Here is an obligatory Militia youtube clip.

The Militia hope to compensate for the loss of Jeremy Barchie with a catcher who looks like he can throw, and not get tossed from games or make his teammates fear for their own lives and the lives of those around them.

They’ll be tough, but losing a talent like Barchie took the Ducks almost 3 season to overcome, and I expect the Militia to have some chemistry issues as a result.

Barchie still holds the Ducks single-game strikeout record with 17.

 Can’t wait to play two on the turf Sunday.

Quack.

Rebels Watch 2012!

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

After an opening day shutout of the South Side Eagles, the Shaler Rebels have dropped two straight to fall to 1-2 on the season, good for fifth place in the A division, but only 1.5 games behind the first place Titans, who I think are also from the Shaler area.

We’re still awaiting word on who or what the Rebels are rebelling from.

Expect a bloodbath when Shaler takes on the Senators Wednesday night.

We still remember the help the Eagles gave us early last year, but South Oakland’s pick to win the A division is the Warriors depending on Craig Boley’s status.

Let’s make some fucking noise tomorrow morning.

quack.

GAME DAY 2: Ducks at Bulldogs

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

at

Bulldogs

8:30 AM John Herb Field

Might as well just put this up a day early.

Looks like rain tomorrow, but be ready to play until we hear otherwise.

Vinny will be ready

I like the composition of the Ducks this year a lot. The nothing-to-lose attitude is refreshing. Everyone is just excited to be playing again, or at all. Everyone’s hustling, and no one’s bitching about anything.

That could change if we don’t start winning some games, but it’s early, and the wins will come—that will be the result of the aforementioned approach.

I know coaching the last two years, the immense pressure to please everyone is what ultimately led to a lot of unhappiness and stress that seemed ridiculous to have over adult league baseball. I think there’s a misunderstanding about playing hard and demanding a good effort from yourself and your teammates, that it has to come along with some sort of fucked up intensity and shit talking that makes it all not fun, that it’s only worth winning if you can take credit.

With this team, this season the more fun it is the more we will win, not the other way around as I feel it was at times during the last two seasons.

That said, I hate losing more than anyone. And our goal this year, with the talent we have, is to win a championship.

 Who the fuck knows, I’m just looking forward to walking into Moore Park in mid May, fearing for my life, questioning human kind while a fight in the stands breaks out, and hitting singles over the second baseman’s head. Stuff like that is why i love this league and being a Duck.

 

RIP Levon Helm.

TC Jones might have to come out of retirement to pitch Saturday.

Bad News for the bulldogs.

Quack.