pittsburgh bulldogs

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

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.


Ducks Win:

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

South Oakland 6, Cranberry 1

Bobby Swartwout (sp) drove in three runs, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and a single off the wall to lead South Oakland (4-1, 5-5-2) past Cranberry Wednesday night. Ducks pitcher James Fago allowed one unearned run over six innings, holding Cranberry to 3 hits and recording an estimated 9 Ks. I have now gone from spelling out numbers to writing them as numerals.

Cranberry scored their run early on a walk, a hit batter, a past ball and an error in some order.

The Ducks tied the game in the third when Ken Cool doubled and scored from second on an infield hit by Gwin who reached third on a double by our new utility infielder. Fago walked and scored on Swartwout’s bases clearing double.

South Oakland added another run on a sac fly by centerfielder TJ Morgan.

I don’t know where we’d be without Morgan this season, and I’m at a complete loss as to how we scored our other run. I think a groundout.

Robert Patton pitched a perfect seventh to preserve the victory.

There are still players on our team who haven’t met each other. There are at least four guys whose names i don’t know, and may never know, but after a brutal start that included a 17 – 1 loss to the Bulldogs, we’re playing better baseball.

We have another important division game against Cranberry Saturday 2pm, at North Boundary Park.

Quack.

Ducks Win

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, pittsburgh NABA

South Oakland 7, Cranberry 3

Paul Emig (1-o-1) earned his first win as a Duck since 2007, allowing 2 runs over 4 innings, to help South Oakland (1-0, 2-4-2) open divisional play with a  7 – 3 win over Cranberry (0-1, 2-5).

Trailing 2-0 in the top of the fifth, Fetter led off the inning with a double, followed by four singles by Roberts, Emig, Ken Cool, and Gwin to put South Oakland up 3-2. With two out in the inning, Swartwout doubled in Ken Cool to give the Ducks a 4-2 lead.

In the Sixth Fetter singled to lead off the inning, and advanced to third on a wild pitch and a fielder’s choice (not sure in which order, the book is a mess). Fetter would score on an overthrow back to the pitcher.

In the seventh, Ken Cool and Gwin hit back to back singles to start the inning,  Ken Cool scored on Swartwout’s second double of the game, Gwin scored on an rbi groundout by Houseman.

In the bottom of the 6th, TJ Morgan and Houseman teamed up to throw a guy out at third attempting to stretch a double into a triple.

Fetter may have picked up a three-inning save, allowing 1 unearned run in relief. Not sure if that’s possible.

We really needed this one.

South Oakland will face the Black Sox wed night, 9pm at SpringView Field.

Quack

Ducks and the Sopranos

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

I started  watching the Sopranos from the beginning a while back, and i’m on the second to last episode.

The Ducks did so much to add sympathy initially to Tony’s character. Very well done.

South Oakland opens division play at Cranberry, Sunday, 2pm.

quack

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.

Ducks Lose: Bulldogs 6, Ducks 4

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, Bulldogs

South Oakland (0-2-1) trailed 5-0 going into the bottom of the sixth, but rallied for 3 runs, allowed one in the top of the seventh, before scoring another run in the seventh and falling just short.

The game ended on a bases loaded fielder’s choice.

Once again a bad inning – two infield hits, a ball that bounced over our shortstop and a misplayed ball in the outfield allowed the Bulldogs (2-0-1) to get out to an insurmountable lead.

They made fewer mistakes.

It feels like we’re coming together though. We battled, and we still haven’t fielded a full team yet.

Up next for South Oakland of the North Side, a doubleheader against the Michigan Militia this Sunday 10:30 AM, on the turf, at Woodland Hills High.

Quack.

GAME DAY 3: Ducks vs Bulldogs

2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

vs

Bulldogs

9pm

Springview Field

South Oakland looks for their first win tonight in a rematch of saturday’s 4-4 tie.

The Ducks still have players who haven’t met one another, and figure to play the opening weeks of the season with the goal of getting everyone playing time, and figuring out our most effective lineup before divisional play begins in May.

When Ken Cool gets back in town, he will give the Ducks a welcomed boost at the top of the lineup, as the team has only scored 5 runs in two games.

No idea who’s pitching tonight or what the lineup will look like,  but it will be good to be back at the Duck pond, and get a win on our home field.

hopefully our gang-neutral color scheme will benefit us. To this affect, i’d recommend the bulldogs go with their black hats.

For some reason i have this rambo pic saved in my ‘ducks blog images’ file.

bad news for the Bulldogs