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?

 

 

 

Gameday 16 and Titans recap

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, Gameday, pittsburgh NABA

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (12-3)

vs.

Warriors (2-8)

6pm

Stoneridge

This will be our first game at this field. We are the home team. 6pm starts are the worst.

about-indiana-jones-4.jpg

Bad News for the Warriors

Titans Recap:

South Oakland defeated the Titans in a come-from-behind 7-6 victory yesterday in Bellevue. The win keeps South Oakland tied for first with North America, and a full game ahead of the WOLFPACK!!!

After a frantic start by the Titans who took advantage of a few questionable calls by the umps and some missed opportunities by the Ducks, South Oakland settled in and scored a bunch of runs to erase deficits of 2-0, and 4-1. The Ducks lead 6-4 after 5 but the Titans tied it in the 6th before the Ducks scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 7th on Ciccone’s RBI double.

Doubles were hit by Casale, Ciccone and Gwin. Hartranft had a sweet single to start a big inning in the 5th, and Mike Brandt walked twice to bring his OBP up to .453.

***

I’m really glad we won and I’m not here trying not to blame the umpires that we lost. This was the first time I’ve tried to file a complaint with the league office about the umps. They were admittedly out of position, and generally didn’t give a shit. Which is a shame because the Titans played us tough, again, and I don’t want to take anything away from their effort in what was a good game.

This is what I found when I tried to log in to the umpire association’s page today to file a complaint:

Screen Shot 2014-06-23 at 10.15.08 AM

 

Looks about right.

The Ducks have won five straight games.

South Oakland plays tonight and Wednsday before traveling to Munhall for a double header against North America with first place on the line this Sunday.

Who wants to see if they can pitch?

quack

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

 

 

 

 

 

Ducks Win

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win

Ducks 10, Monsters 9

South Oakland (10-3) held on to beat the Monsters 10-9 at the hidden field of Brentwood on Sunday. The Monsters fell to 5-8 on the season.

Here’s a cheap bulleted recap

  • Ben Sorosky returned to the mound after a 3 year hiatus and recorded a 2-inning save for starter and winning pitcher Brian Strom. Both Ducks pitched well despite combining to allow 9 runs.
  • Strom has been great for us on the mound this season.
  • Jason Fetter had three hits and added 2 huge insurance runs in the seventh
  • Galvanek also had three hits
  • We stole bases.
  • We made some odd base running decisions.
  • South Oakland turned a sweet 3-6-3 double play with runners on first and second and nobody out in the sixth.
  • We won without five starters. I think the Monsters were down a few guys as well, so whatever. We still have good depth.
  • Mike Brandt leaned into a pitch and was told to stay at the plate. I am now not the only Duck to have done this.
  • All ten Ducks reached base safely or drove in a run. Lots of productive outs.
  • We’re tied for first with North America (11-4) who beat the WOLFPACK!!! 9-7 Saturday night. The WOLFPACK!!! is 9-4.
  • We either play Wed at 6:15 in Etna, or we have a double header at home at 6:15 on Wed. I’m not sure which. Management will text everyone when the location is confirmed with the other managers and the league office.

quack.

 

 

Game Day 13: Ducks at Monsters

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, pittsburgh NABA

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (9-3)

at

Monongahela Monsters (5-7)

4:30pm

Brentwood Park

South Oakland looks to avenge an early season, 5-1 loss to Monongahela today in Brentwood. The Monsters are the only team the Ducks have not defeated. The Ducks need a win to stay tied for first with the WOLFPACK!!! (9-3) and Lions (10-4).

After a 3-0 start, the Monsters have gone 2-7. Monongahela seemed solid when we played them, not many easy outs in their lineup. They must have lost a pitcher or something. Or maybe they ran into these guys:

Game Day [10]: Ducks (6-3) vs Bulldogs (3-3)

Today’s game will be the Ducks first in Brentwood. Half our roster is on vacation, so we’ll test our depth. Brian Strom will take the hill for the South Oakland.

storm_x_men_goddess_by_xanthemann-d5iognt

Bad News for the Monstres

 

Game Day 13: Ducks vs. Senators.

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, pittsburgh NABA

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (9-3)

vs

Senators (3-8)

8pm

Springview Field

Hopefully the weather holds up.

We played the Sens on Sat and, like the first match-up, outlasted them in a game that was close early and turned into a fairly one-sided Ducks win.

I have to wonder who they’re going to throw on short rest today.

The Lions swept the bombers on Sunday, and are now tied for first at 10-4. The Bombers are making me look bad for touting them so highly early on.

The WOLFPACK!!! are 9-3.

We’re starting to see some separation between the top 3 teams and the rest of the conference. The Monsters, Bombers and Titans are all under achieving right now, as best as I can tell, and the Senators and Warriors have been unable to get into the swing of the season with all the rain outs.

We need a win tonight keep pace, and stay in the hunt for a bye in the playoffs.

Assume the game is on, unless there is a monsoon. Rescheduling this time of year is near-impossible.

Captain America is scheduled to make his return tonight.

captainamerica180s Bad News for the Senators

 

 

 

X-Rays are Negative and I got some sweet painkillers. Ducks Win.

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

EDITS by MightyEskimo

 

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side defeated the Senators 10-6 (as confirmed by the scorebook) Saturday afternoon in North Park. The win brings the Ducks (9-3) back into a tie for first with the WOLFPACK!!! and keeps South Oakland a game ahead of North America. The Senators dropped to 3-8.

The Ducks struck first in the top of the second. After the Sens recorded two quick outs, their starting pitcher walked the ducks 7,8,9 hitters, before Gwin singled in two.

Then Senators took a 4-2 lead in the bottom half of the inning as Matt Swetz struggled with his command. Swetz finished with 2Ks in 1 2/3 IP, and allowed only one hit. There were many walks, and some errors.

The Ducks tied the game in the third when Strom singled in Culp.

Then the Senators went ahead 5-3 after three, but South Oakland scored three in the top of the fourth when Moore singled past a drawn-in infield, then Limbach hit an RBI fielder’s choice to first, before Culp a two-run triple. Culp finished 1-for-1 with a triple, 3 walks, and 2RBI.

The Senators put in a reliever at some point. The Ducks added four in the top of the sixth. Dover hit a two-run double that one-hopped the fence in left. I’ve never seen a ball hit that far at Pie Trayor. Riley drove in a run with a ground out to first.

Strom was robbed of extra bases. for the final out of the inning.

Ben Hartranft suffered an upper body injury making a diving attempt at a single in the third inning. Hartranft finished 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI.

One of the Senators players blew hit knee out, then almost singled on one leg in the second inning, but was thrown out at first in a 9-1-3 putout. I think that’s the first time we’ve forced out a guy from the outfield. Naturally Garrett was involved.

Really, that was a bad coaching mistake that led to the Sens having to take an out. Always leave one guy out of the batting lineup if you can just for flexibility. Though, it did speed up the game.

 

South Oakland’s next game is Wednesday vs. the Senators, 8pm at Spring Hill.

Quack.