South Oakland

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.

 

Game Day 20: Ducks vs. Senators

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (14-5)

vs

Senators (5-12)

8pm

Springview Field

The Bombers forfeited our regularly scheduled game for tonight, The Senators rain out has been rescheduled in its place.

bombers

It feels like we haven’t had a home game in a month.

We have five games remaining, tonight vs. the Senators, a home game played in Bellevue this Sunday against a resurgent Titans team, a home game in West View against the WOLFPACK!!! on the 13th that will likely determine who gets a first round bye and possibly the one-seed, and then a double header at Springview vs. the Monsters and Bombers at 6pm on July 16th. Though, I think we are the visiting team against the Bombers.

We’re a game out of first place. We need to win out and have North America go 3-2 down the stretch to get the top seed. The WOLFPACK!!! and North America have a game against each other that hasn’t been counted in the standings, which will either be rescheduled or it just hasn’t been entered for some reason. At least one of them will lose.

North America has the Warriors twice (pending a forfeit ruling), the Bombers twice, and the mystery game against West View.

The WOLFPACK!!! have to play five games in ten days, plus a potential makeup game against the Senators and the aforementioned mystery game vs the Lions. Unless there are forfeits involved here, they will have to play seven games before the first round games start on the 21st.

The WOLFPACK!!! have allowed 20 fewer runs than us, and I think that’s the first tie breaker after head to head. So It’s likely we will have to finish a full game ahead of them to pass them in the standings, even if we win our game on the 13th.

If we are going to win out, we can overlook anyone. We have to finish on a high note. Peak at the right time, and all that.

Ciccone and Jones are pitching tonight.

saulabout-indiana-jones-4

Bad News for the Senators

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

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 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.

I woke up still in my baseball uniform two states away, and it was January.

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, Recap, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

Ducks 11 Warriors 1.

Ducks pitcher Brian Strom allowed one hit over five innings for the complete game victory, hitting two batters, walking one, and striking out two.

Twelve different Ducks reached safely or drove in a run.

Alex Riley went 3 for 3 with two doubles.

Mike Brandt went 2 for 3. He hit a double off the top of the wall in left, and  was nearly thrown out a second.

giphy

Ben Hartranft had two hits, but drove in zero runs, and pulled both hamstrings.

Lonnie the windmill Petril drove in a run when he hit into a 6-4-5-2 double play.

Garrett Moore was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and was the second out in the above 6-4-5-2 double play.

South Oakland of the North Side (7-2) has won four straight.

First place will be on the line when the Ducks play the WOLFPACK! (6-2) next Wed. 8pm Springview Field.

quack

Ducks Win. Ducks 5, Bombers 4

2014 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win

Down 4-0, South Oakland scored 5 runs in the bottom of the sixth, capped off by Ben Hartranft’s 2-run fielder’s choice. The Ducks have won 3 straight.

Full recap soon. What a game.

South Oakland plays next on wed. 6:15pm in Etna vs. the Warriors.

quack.