8/24/25 GGP

Beautiful SF summer Sunday.  About 66 degrees and foggy, saw the sun twice in 3 hours.

Thank you to everyone that showed up on Sunday, we were without a MBC founding member for the first time in a while, that I can remember.  Greg, Tony, Adam all out of pocket for various reasons.  For the game purposes—in their absence— seniority fell to Nick Smith, who was out there playing like it was 2001.  

I got to be on the same team as Sean, which rarely happens, and we faced our old rival, Sonny Big League.  Sonny's pitching has improved a lot over the years and now that is he is a professional, he is a tough arm to face.  His fastball has more zip, and he breaks off the off speed stuff with aplomb.

I started the game, hoping to get some innings, and much like Ralph in the Alka Seltzer commercial,  I can't believe I ate the whole thing!  Big cap tip to my team, this game was won on defense.  I got to the field planning for the 3:30 start time, and of course the game before ended at 2:30.  So anyway, I didn't warm up beforehand, and took the bump without having thrown.  Needless to say, the first inning was problematic, the homers scored 2 and then I went out for the 2nd feeling better.  

About halfway through that inning I remember feeling my arm loosen up and have more pep.  A good feeling to have.  Curveball was finally working regularly, so I used that in the beginning of the game, and then as my elbow got tweaky towards the middle of the game, I moved to a change of speed style.  

We answered back the two runs and then one more to take the lead which we didn't surrender the rest of the game.  We had a couple of nice efficient innings in the middle, in the sixth, I checked in with Sean about pitching.  He encouraged me to keep throwing and so I did.  Probably because Greg was not there to shame me to into giving up the bump and stop glory hunting and thinking only of myself.  All true, but when no one is saying it out loud, its easier to ignore.  Again, thank you to my team for letting me eschew the code for the game.

Gabe came in after Sonny, who is a scary pitcher to face.  He's got a real cannon, and seems like he has settled down a lot since starting, but the odd pitch comes in high and tight and makes one's starfish pucker.  I think we tend to forget what facing a real fastball is like.  Gabe is here to remind us.  Anyway, my team did admirably against him, but I was shit.  I struck out and flied out.  Chris Powell followed Gabe and did great too.

About the 7th inning, the homers got to me, and the score was 8-4 with threats of more.  My defense once again made the plays and we escaped with no further harm.  I downshifted into slow, meatball corner pitches and that was pretty much the game.  Bottom of the 9th the homers threatened again with a a lot of baserunners, but we got the job done, with a diving catch in center field by Cleveland's own Mike Gaspar to end the game.

Final, 8-4, visitors.

Highlights

* Some amazing plays were made

* Jacob new guy did well, hit a rocket but unfortunately got Mitched (who was on our team!!!! and filling in for Nate who disappeared) on a sure fire triple

* Alejandro with the shoestring laser catch

* Mitch was great everywhere he played, but got fucked by the wind in right in the first inning.

* THE WIND IN RIGHT!  Dang, it was a wall.  Gabe tattooed one off of me early in the game to right center, and it literally stopped in mid flight and dropped for a catch.  The whole game the wind was an issue

* Gaspar hit a Gaspar special that should be a first-ballot Gaspar HOF.  It arced around third base and landed about a foot from the foul line.  It was perfection.

* Two awesome pop outs behind the dish, Gabe and Kenball making the plays!

* Everyone who played first base made an awesome play

* I think there were 2 or 3 double plays.

* Big hits and RBIs- Gabe, Powell, McG, Sean, Lynch, Anna, Nick W., Gaspar, Mitch, Kenball

* The band was out and entertained us the whole game, complete with a national anthem and 7th inning stretch.

* Kenball again with the foul out catch, at first base

* Gabe had at least 4-5Ks

* Best curveball of my whole game was employed to strike out Nick Smith, sorry!

* The changeup made for about 5 weird, end-of-the-bat squibbers

* Sonny put it best, "When you throw the whole game, you feel like you got to do your job."

For the kids that don't know what the fuck I am talking about.

8/17/25 GGP

 After 2 weeks or more of subpar showings, Greg shamed a lot of us into making the game.  It worked, as it usually does, and we had 11-11 for the bulk of the game.  That was the good news.  

The bad news was that we stood around for an hour waiting for the game before us to finish.  

Officially, our permit was for 3:30, so we were a little early, but we were being polite, letting the teams know that we were waiting and anything they could do to move it along would be appreciated.  Our inside lane was that Liam and Aiden were playing on that team.  That blew up in our faces, and what was promised was not delivered as the minutes ticked by.  Supposedly, it was a 1-run game and they didn't want to just quit a good game.  I get that.  What happens if it gets tied up though?  Luckily, they floundered, and the game ended.  We didn't start our game until after 4pm, so it was an abbreviated contest.

Sean started for the homers, with Gabe in new catcher's gear, bought off Craigslist by someone giving up the game.  I started for the visitors, with Greg behind the dish.  Dave scored a run for us in the first inning, which we thought was a good portent of things to come.  How wrong we were.  The first couple of innings were not bad, the game was back and forth: 3-2, 5-3.  

Then the roof caved in on our defense and the homers pushed 9 runs across the board.  Ouch.  

I was pitching for what felt like a month and we still didn't have an out.  I gave up my share of hits, including a Gabe hit that should have been a automatic round-tripper (see picture below) but for whatever reason, no one was fighting for it.  Our infield could not make the throw to first base.  Anna tried her best, but every throw was 5 feet in front of her, or 5 feet over her head.  So it went, on and on.  My estimate is that we were about 2 for 10 on ground ball outs in the inning.  When we got the first out, it felt like Christmas.

So the game from there out was not quite as much fun as it could have been.  I threw 2 more innings, then handed the ball off to Dave for the final inning.  He did great, but we could not do anything with the bats, and Sean ended up with a CG and the win.

13-5, Homers.

Highlights

* New guys abounded, and they were all good.  One in particular smoked the ball

* My change up was getting cranked and the knuckleball was working but still being hit hard

* JT was robbed of a hit by an overzealous New Guy who should know better than to pick on a old man

* Tony was out, in a rehab start, taking it easy, but great to see him!

* The homers staffed a real Murderers Row of a line up

* Mike N was responsible for some soul crushing RBIs

* Greg and McG and Gabe behind the dish

* Aiden and Liam were not invited to play with us, but wormed their way into the bottom of the lineup

* Diego made some good stops at SS, but had a case of the yips

* I guess the old saying that pitching, defense, home runs, timely hitting, baserunners, and speed win ball games is true.

* So I posited the question to our dugout in the midst of the hitting doldrums: There is no Buster Posey rule in the MBC, so would it ever be OK to truck the catcher at a play at the plate?  More to the point, if Gabe was the catcher, and the runner knew what they were committing to.  For those that don't know, Gabe is probably a solid-muscle 250lbs and built like a defensive end.  There are only a few people I can think of that would create more than a minor disturbance for him in that situation, so that would make it seem like a caveat emptor situation.  Greg bought up a valid point that Gabe should be asked what his opinion on the whole thing might be.  I admit the whole thing is sort of half-serious, if anyone actually tried to bust the catcher, we would probably all be very upset.  However, if the catcher is bigger and stronger than you—by a lot—does that change anything? 

8/2/25 San Quentin Giants vs MBC

First time in 2 years that I got play inside, and it is a whole new thing.  Since our Snyder brothers and Sonny are now coaching the team, we have the inside track on entries, and extra time, and getting out in a reasonable fashion.  

The day was expectedly brisk for 7:45am, in the parking lot, and we were on time for our gate check.  I was even allowed to bring in the Tree Trunk, after appealing to the team that I needed it for my gentle giant hands.  Fat lot of good it did me, but it was an entertaining anomaly for the other team, so not all bad. 

Greg sidestepped playing time, so we had 10 players in the lineup, which was nice.  I was assigned 1^st base for the bulk of the game, as it was concluded that I could do the least amount of defensive damage from there.  Liam started on the bump and was in good form, throwing 6 strong innings, 4 runs scored, of which only 2 were earned. He was busting the hitters inside and kept them from getting anything extended.

Our starting defensive set up was: 

Liam-1

Gabe-2

Satch-3

Mike N-4

Lynch-5

Sean-6

Shark-7

Carter-8

HR-9

Conor-Reserve

So not a bad team, all things considered, and we kept it close for several innings.  We got out to a lead early on and held it for the first half of the game.  The highlight of the game for us was definitely the round-tripper that Gabe hit out to right center and into the First Nation sweat lodge space.

The SQ players are a fast and aggressive bunch though, and there is only so much you can do when guys can take bases with impunity and are always challenging the arms.  A better 1^st baseman may have had some of them, but I was peppered with one wild pickoff throw after another from Liam and Gabe, and SQ made the most of it.  We were still ahead 5-2 when a player ripped a ground ball to center that megged Carter (as the kids say) and by the time he got to it, the batter had an in-the-park HR.  Damn.

We also held the distinction of having only lefty SS's for the game, Sean and Shark splitting duty.  Liam left with the game still intact 5-4 and handed the ball off to Satch for an inning.  I coughed up the lead but managed to lean on my defense enough to escape with the score knotted at 5-5.  This was mostly due to a great catch in left by Shark who had the gamesmanship to fire the ball to Nadolny covering 2^nd and double up the runner.  If we have one thing in common with the SQ team, we both could improve our baserunning skills.  I struck out a player for the final out with the Eephus changeup, freezing him.  yay!

Shark came in for the final innings of the game and threw well.  The SQ players started to get used to our pitching, and their hitting became more confident.  They scored a few more runs, as our offensive output dried up and though we played an extra inning since we had the time, it was to no avail and the final score was a loss for the MBC

9-5, SQ Giants.

Highlights

* ‎As they tear down the old wall behind the backstop, there is less of a problem with the ball blending into the background

* Gabe's HR was a real beauty!

* Liam's pitching was on point 

* Both Liam and Shark had the runners befuddled from the stretch and we picked off several runners

* The defensive play of the game was a hit to the gap in left center, easily a double.  Liam got to it and made an amazing throw to on a line to 3^rd base, and Lynch then fired it home to Gabe to tag out the sliding runner at the plate.  It was awesome.

* We staffed 3 lefties in the lineup and still couldn't get that short porch

* Add another victim to the hit...wait...9-3 SQ putout

* Greg caught the 10th, which was nice

* Shark made some great plays at SS, and had a lot more hustle, word is he is a lot younger than the beard tells us

* The bane of the outfielders is the fly ball that tracks into the gravel and about 15 inmates doing laps

* We were welcomed with the addition of Jenny and friends, who came in to cheer the teams on.  Greg has been playing baseball for 30 years in the MBC, and finally got the compliment from his wife that this "baseball thing is kind of entertaining."

7/13/25 GGP

The temperature plummeted the closer I got to GGP.  It was a balmy 84 degrees in the East Bay, and by the time I found parking it was 63 degrees.  Not uncomfortable, but we didn't see the sun for the entire game either.  We were also cramped in right field, as the Olde Tyme game had started at the same time that we did.  While staffing right field to protect my team from my questionable fielding, I had the chance to watch the other game, and GOOD GOD, are there a lot of dropped balls.  I would say an average of 10 chances for every 3 outs recorded.  

Nick W started for the homers and Sean for the visitors.  Sean would remain for the majority of the game, eating the deficit like a good pitcher should.  For once, I was on the team doing the spanking, rather than getting spanked.  It's been a while.  

Nick pitched well and even remained for an inning after he thought that he would, since the last one "went so fast."  Usually that is the death knell of the pitcher, but he sailed his way through and handed the ball off to Satch.  I was excited to throw again, after getting the chance just the week before in the double header.  The best thing I can say is that my curve ball is back!  Being able to add that back into my arsenal has been great, and honestly, it works better as a big loopy bait pitch than anything that you might see from a competent pitcher. 

Sean battled his way through the game but was unable to get the outs he needed when he needed them.  We were hammering the hole between 3rd and SS all game, and Django made some fine plays to stop the balls from reaching the outfield, but not enough to get the outs.  There were also the usual selection of dinks and kicks that extended innings where there should have been outs. Erasto came in to mop up and we fared better than we have in the past.

With a plethora of players playing, 11-11 at one point, the game was a fairly relaxing affair, and no one seemed to be overextending themselves.  The score got a little out of hand by the middle third though, with our lead being extended to a generous 9-2.  We even started conceding outs on close plays rather than see the inning extended, a cap tip to Mitch who hustles all the time and probably got screwed at least once.  Don showed up early (2nd inning) and was able to play most of the game.  Then people started to leave, and the batting order got messed up again, like last week.

Into the 9th inning, the score 12-4.  Nothing doing. 

Final score, 12-4, Homers.

Highlights

* ‎Thanks to all that played

* Django did his best against a barrage of plays at SS

*  I love having Mitch play SS, since we get so many short pop flies that he is basically also an outfielder

* Thanks to Greg, Don, Gaspar and one other for catching

* The addition of Jose and new Amigo to our game was nice, and they both were ripping the ball and making plays

* Greg in particular did a great job of blocking the ball

* Jack, frustrated by his lack of hits, tattooed a ball that was destined to splinter my shin.  Reflexively, I put my glove down to try and deflect it and somehow caught the ball in an awkward backhand.  Apologies for the outs, it was all reflex, not skill.

* Erasto with another great day at the plate, but we finally tagged him for some runs in his two-inning stint

* The great when is it an "automatic home run" debate rages on.  I hit one off Sean that I thought was a no-doubter, and I began to trot hoping that would be signal that I was opening the play for debate.  When I got to first, I made the twirly gesture to further cement my stance.  No one else seemed to buy what I was selling, and I so I ended up with a RBI single, perhaps the longest in history.  Looking at the map, I think I have a good case for believing it should be counted.

I know that Jack was playing me at about 390 in left field, and I split the difference between left and center.  The ball one-hopped to the berm where the hill starts, which you can see in the picture about 15 feet beyond the landing.  Maybe not a herculean blast, but certainly for a fat slow hobbled guy, an argument could be made.

We also have to include Sean's hit, which was prodigious, and brought about the argument of why his hit wasn't also considered a no doubter?  Well, this is about where it landed, which is easy to remember, because of where it landed in relation to where the left fielder was from the other game.  If we start down the road of short porches and park variation, where does it end?  

What I found in my searches is that the average distance from home plate to the left-center field wall in MLB parks is approximately 371 feet.  So I got 10 feet on that, roughly.

So that is something.

So where does this leave us?

Can we ever find a field on the regular that has a fence e.g., Crocker Amazon?

Do we institute the cone system like Stoner tried to implement 15 years ago and was roundly rejected? 

The call from Sean was that I have to state immediately after the hit that I believe it to be a home run and then it goes to committee, I guess?  I thought my trot was enough, but I guess next time I will try for a Oh yeah, that baby is GONE and hope I win the argument.

2025 Doubleheader- GGP

An enjoyable and a tad bittersweet day of baseball.  

This marked our first 4th of July BBQ doubleheader without Bob.  I am not saying that we failed completely, but there was a noticeable lack of preparedness in our BBQ this year.  I think everyone got something to eat, and hats off to the people who remembered things like plates and cutlery and condiments, and a big thank you to Gabe and Phelps for manning the grills and getting some food out to the hungry players.     

Actually this year we were without several of the stalwarts of the MBC: Tony, Sean, JT, Johnny B, Mitch, Rick, James, Anna, Sonny.  They were all missed.

However, we still had full ranks for the day, and played two solid games.  The weather was about what you would expect for a game in July, foggy and cold to begin with, a few periods of sunshine and blue sky and then the real fog and wind to close out the game, chilling us to the bone.  By the time that I got back to my side of the bridge the temperature had risen by 21 degrees....

Game 1:

I started for the homers and felt really good.  I was also aided by the mound, which had not been disturbed all week, since all the leagues take the week off.  So that was awesome.  My curveball was finally working again and so was the knuckleball!  I couldn't believe Greg kept calling for it, and more, that I was throwing it for strikes.  Must have been the heavy air.  We cruised through the first couple of innings; I believe we scored first, but the game was close.  Phelps started for the visiting team, and was cruising as well.  Special thanks to Brian for throwing me a first pitch knuckleball —that didn't knuckle—for my deepest drive of the day to left center for a lazy man's double.

I went 6 innings, struck out at least 4 or 5, and was a little unwilling to leave the mound, but when there are 25 players, you don't to be the dick that take playing time away from others. Or at least, that is what I am told. Greg came in for the homers, and well, our lead which was 5-2 at that time, suddenly became 6-5 visitors.  All that hard work gone... :(  

Luckily, our batters were keeping us in the game, RB-Ed was out doing his thing, and Adam contributed several knocks.  Diego came in to throw for the visitors with the visitors now ahead, but we were saved by the hard work and determination of Charlie D, playing in his 2nd doubleheader, who laced a soft line drive over the head of 3rd base.  He took 2nd on a passed ball, and then scored from there on Adam's line drive over 1st base, sliding into home on a close play to knot the score at 6-6.  We put in Gabe to halt any additional runs, and he did well, It stayed tied and we decided to end the game so that we could get to the BBQ and the second game.

BBQ

Hot dogs!  Hot dogs!  Thanks to whoever brought the hot dogs!  Without them, I think we would have been fighting over 12 hamburgers and 2 packs of sausages.  As stated before, the absence of Bob means an absence of meat, in about every sense of the word.  But more specifically, all the good beef.  I will say that we did the absolute minimum amount of planning this year so it is not altogether surprising, but something to remember for next year.  Thanks again to Gabe and Brian, who had the forethought to bring grills, another thing that Bob was always good for.  I had also hoped for an appearance from Johnny with the Boudin sausages, but alas.  

The AOY trophy was also not discussed beforehand as part of our general lack of planning, and honestly, no one has really stepped up their game in the ways worthy of an AOY distinction.  So we gave it to Bob, who as a first ballot Hall of Famer AOY, is always a crowd favorite.  

The Rookie of the Year went to Erasto, whose acrobatic fielding, clutch hitting, and deceptively impactful pitching have been impressing us all year.  He has become a great addition to the MBC and I hope that he continues to come out.  Our only wish is that he feels comfortable enough to start sitting with the group.  We all promise to get better at our Spanish as well!  Special thanks to Alejandro for serving as translator this year, as none of us had any idea of what the Spanish word for Rookie is. 

El premio al Novato del Año fue para Erasto, cuyo fildeo acrobático, bateo decisivo y pitcheo engañosamente impactante nos han impresionado todo el año. Se ha convertido en una gran incorporación al MBC y espero que siga participando. Nuestro único deseo es que se sienta lo suficientemente cómodo como para empezar a sentarse con el grupo. ¡Prometemos mejorar nuestro español también! Un agradecimiento especial a Alejandro por su trabajo como traductor este año, ya que ninguno de nosotros tenía ni idea de cómo se dice "novato" en español.

The best dressed MBC award was not given, as Tony, Johnny, and Sean were all MIA.  The trophy is lagging at least 2 years behind as well.

The band came through this year with a trophy of their own, presented to Greg as a token of friendship and for including them in our game.  It came with a bottle of Tullamore Dew taped to it, so an extra bonus for all those brave enough to take on the Irish. The band was out in force for the 4th, with new singers, trumpet players, and a Melodica!  They sounded great, and stayed the whole day with us.

Game 2:

Per usual, we swapped the order of the teams, so that the visitors were now the homers, but left everything else the same.  Greg pitched the first inning and then Gabe came in again, he struggled a little with his control, but still put up 3 innings of work.  John McG followed Gabe, and had a real good first inning, and then the homers started to put together some hits, but all in all still a good performance. Mike Naldony wrapped up for the visitors, and threw some lights-out baseball, his curve in particular was real snappy.

HR was raring to start for the homers, and did well over his innings.  Daniel came in for few innings, and threw well for only doing so once a year.  Erasto followed with his usual frustrating bag of tricks, and it was around the time that everyone lost track of what inning it was, what the score was, and what the batting order was.  At least, that was how it was on my team.  

We also started losing players, and no one knew who they followed when there was a gap in the order.  It was 3-2 at one point, the visitors were behind.  Then we exploded for 3 runs, Powell, Greg and myself all scored.  But when the smoke cleared a few innings later, and the homers had their own rally, somehow the score was presented to us as 4-4, and we accepted that and played on, only to realize a little later what had happened.  

The Homers scored the go ahead run late in the game, and we finished up the 9th inning still down a run, for a victory for the Home team, 5-4.

Highlights

* A Huge Thank you to everyone that came out to play or cheer on

* I don't know how this rumor got started, but I did not bat 1.000 for the day.  At best, it was .500.

* Erasto had several big hits in big parts of the game

* Don showed up in the 5th inning of the 2nd game, a new record for tardiness!  Great to see him as always

* Jesse did it with the bat and showed us all what a real arm looks like behind the dish

* Great to see Marcie out with the little'un, and giving the business to the Dodgers fans, read the shirt:

* Special thanks to Greg, McG, Gaspar, Don, Jesse, Patrick and anyone else who took a turn catching

* I had a great opportunity with the bases loaded to tag third and then throw home to get the runner.  I fielded the ball cleanly, tagged the bag, and then completely rushed the throw and beefed the whole thing.  I did bellow TAG! though

* Ed might be the best guy for getting on base and the worst baserunner we have

* We had a brilliant few innings where Chris Powell was relegated to right field with his young son, and we have never seen so many outs recorded in right

* Jesse mad-dashed for a foul ball, wearing the gear, and made an amazing out

* Adam also had a great sno-cone catch at first on a foul ball

* The catch of the day was made by Brian Phelps who inexplicably started chasing a small dog on a leash that had gotten away from its owner.  He sprinted all the way across center field and halfway up the hill before he caught it.  

* Good job on calling for the catch, avoiding several potential calamities

* I was trying for the "1st and 3rd get picked off an hope for the runner to score", but I ended up just getting a fantastic jump off of Phelps, looking at him the whole time and jogging into 2nd

* In addition to his offensive prowess, Charlie D. also made a nice catch at 2nd

* Phelps with the long stretch at first

* The wind was blowing in from right pretty strong, and anything to that side of the diamond died

* Stoner beat out a play at first, but was willing to give us the out anyway, it was so hard to tell that no one wanted to make the decision.  Eventually we gave him the hit.  A democratic MBC moment.

* Daniel had the hit of the game with a 3-run in the park home run, a powerful line drive to left field

* Heal quick Bob, so you can fly out next year!

6/22/25 GGP

 A great game! We had 12-13-14-15-16-17-18

A great game.  I almost died, again.

A great game? Greg got bean-balled and only because it also hit his ear did he avoid major damage.

It was some kind of ball game.  

Carter gets the "Great to see you, Don't rush back" award for pitching like a maniac and almost killing Greg. :) 

Sean pitched a masterful game but didn't get the breaks he needed, and we had a few choice hits.  I started and was throwing efficiency ball— that is slightly above batting practice speed, and praying they swing and don't get it square.  It works.

Until it doesn't.  Phelps, arriving later than usual, was batting for the visitors and absolutely destroyed one that was a heat-seeking missile headed for my sternum.  Time slowed; I could see the red threads rotating.  Reflexes took over and I caught it.  Then I took a long walk around the mound to collect myself and resist the urge to ugly cry.

We scored some runs thanks to the fact that we had Mitch and Powell on the same team, which is also the best defensive team you can ask for.  Mitch Mitched a few people, Powell provided some sure outs.  Nice pitching to defense.

I don't think we ever lost the lead, but the visitors started to wake up in the middle innings, and by the time I bowed out after 6, the score was 8-4.  Powell came in for two innings and they scored 2.  We still felt confident, but then Carter started his berserker routine and we got gun shy.  We called on Mitch to close it out and he was masterful to the end.  The visitors scored one, and had runners threatening on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs.  

No problem, game over. 

Homers 8-7

Highlights:

* Glad we all lived through another Sunday, I used to not think that way after games.

* Mitch made a long run into foul grounds from third to track down a foul ball

* Greg is ok!  

* Adam made a sno-cone snare on a foul ball at first

* I caught a infield pop up off the mound after calling "Oh shit, I guess that is me."

* Ana had the hard luck award hitting three drives that went straight to people

* Phelps had a pretty great triple. Asshole.

* Sean was hitting double-doubles

* Thanks to the guy in the stands that made it 9 on 9 and also hit a long drive

* Erasto was feeling pretty down on himself for a couple of errors, but it didn't keep him from getting 3 RBIs and 2 hits

* Lynch was also stinging the ball

* We had successful look them back at third—get the out at first.

6/1/25 GGP

We had a lot of players, that much is true.  The day was sunny, though not warm in the traditional sense. We were on the eastern diamond, away from the throngs of the Olde Tyme league game.

Sean started for the homers, and HR for the visitors.  The first three innings took roughly 4 hours to complete, the 3rd inning in particular was more than a little painful.  HR looked good in the beginning, but faced some challenges with strikes as the game went on.  

Sean was efficient, as he often is. His defense had his back as well, and we hit right into it.  Our defense wasn't terrible, but we did have that inning.  We also had about 5 balls overthrown at first that resulted in automatic doubles.

Charlie came out to keep the old man company, and play some 2nd base, which he did great, to the tune of 4 putouts and an assist.  He almost laced a single to left, but well-known bully Don was playing in just the right place to catch it.

Satch came in after HR and we moved into a quicker game.  The run-scoring, on the other hand, started to get out of control.  I had a working curveball but my challenge fastball wasn't challenging anyone.  By the time the middle innings were behind us, the score was somewhere in the 8-2 region.

Liam came in for the homers after that, in case our throats weren't properly being stepped on, and that was about it.  Since becoming a collegiate standout, he has improved a lot as a pitcher, and we went from little chance to no chance.

In the 9th we showed a little ginger, and Liam showed his lack of understanding on how one leaves the pitcher mindset and throws an easy pitch to an 11 year old.  Charlie took a ball to the forearm, and showed a lot of character by staying in, and taking first.  I followed with a first pitch swing and blooped one in to center. I was thrown out at 2nd on a fielders choice and base-coached Charlie in for our first score since the 3rd inning.  

That's how you turn a negative into a positive! We scored another but that was it.  

Final, 12(?)-4, Homers.

Highlights:

* Thanks to the 20+ that played, weird to think that we had 11 people 2 weeks ago

* Jesse did a fine job behind the dish, as did Nick, Greg and John McG

* Liam hit the hardest line drive over first base that I have seen in awhile

* Gabe hit one back at me that I am going to see in my nightmares for a while.  I didn't even attempt to catch it

* Chris and Zach collided in the outfield, luckily no one was hurt.  Gotta communicate out there, people!

* Django was doing it all

* Alex has proven that he is the fastest player we have seen in while

* Mitch was a human vacuum cleaner in the infield

* We're coming up fast for the double header, which by my reckoning will be July 6th.

Player Profile- Rick Kvoriak

It was brought to my attention that I have never given Rick the respect of a MBC player profile.  I apologize profusely for this oversight.  

Rick was there before I was.  I am not sure how long, but possible from the very early times, in the 90s. When I first started, there was another Kvoriak on the email chain, which apparently is Rick's brother, but I have never met him.  

When I showed up, Rick was in the midst of raising young'uns, twins, and that definitely affected his ability to get away for games on a regular basis.  It was cute when they came out to cheer on their dad, but he was pretty distracted when they came out, something I came to know much more about a few years later.

When he come out, he was known as one of the bigger bats especially if he got out in front and pulled the ball, it could go a long way.  Like, really a long way.  I gave up a hit to him once at the Marina that landed in the softball field in left.  Roughly here.

His bat was wicked fast, and while he wasn't breaking any records on the bases, he was sure footed and knew what he was doing.  The same with his defense, mostly infield, but he could do anything.  I remember him pitching too, I think.  

So we had a Rick hiatus for about 15 years, and then about a year ago, he started coming out again, and his bat is just as lethal as it always was.  The twins are now adults and following the family tradition of being in several bands.  Rick is a prolific musician, plays all kinds of things, and has been in several bands with another MBC legend, Johnny Bartlett.

Rick is another MBC player who started life in Ohio, and agrees that it is a great place to leave.  Lesser known fact that Rick likes to bring up is that Ohio is the only state that has a baseball pennant as the state flag.  

In 2011, a friend of Duane's did a Nike spec shot with our team, and in it you see Rick swing and miss for strike 3 on a inside change up.  How do I know?  Cuz' I threw it, and it was one of the few times I got him out, and it got filmed.  Enjoy:

Three cheers for Rick Kvoriak, a modern day Roy Hobbs, back to prove that age is just a number and power never goes out of style. Cap tip!

5/18/25 GGP

Well, a beautiful day, and a shitty turnout.  

At 3pm there was ten of us.  The best we could muster up was 3-3-3 with Greg as all-time catcher and Sean and I pitching two innings in a row then swapping.  The same thing that we did a few weeks back, but this time Sean didn't get hosed on at bats.

Greg was the rock, catching Top, Middle and Bottom of the innings, cap tip.

The game was all over the place, and when you only have 3 batters, you get ghost runners etc.  The team of HR, Mitch, and Rick was the clear winner, from the beginning. They were a team of doubles.

Django showed up, and was teamed with Sean and Tim, then me and Tim, then Don and Tim, and me and Sean, then me and Sean and Tim.  

Lynch, Nadolny, and Nick Smith were the last team, and also a team of big hits. Cap tip to Mike for playing through a shredded kneecap that occurred on a weird play at 2nd.  Hope it's ok.

Final score was something like 3-8-5.

Highlights:

* Amazing day, plenty of parking, and in case it scared anyone off, let it be stated once and for all that Bay to Breakers does not interfere with the game in GGP.

* Mitch gets MVP for his offensive and defensive skills

* Sean had a triple

* Double play from the defense in a must get an out situation was awesome

* Greg almost caught 3-4 pop up foul balls

* Sean also had an amazing play at 3rd, spearing a ball down the line, keeping the runner at 3rd, and getting the out at 1st

* Don showed up and made it better....and worse

* We asked everyone with a glove in the park to play, and got nowhere until the end of the game

* Rick showed off the lumber

* Greg was still blocking like a champ after his 12th inning in a row

* Roll call of the faithful: Greg, Lynch, Mike N, Mitch, HR, Satch, Sean, Tim, Don (0.5), Nick S, Rick K, Django, Rando Guy

* We had several near misses with foul balls, including a guy that looked to be intently watching our game, but who was clueless when a ball came down right next to him.  

* In other park news, we had a gaggle of 5 year old girls in center field that we stopped play to politely usher out of the way, and the dad told us he would handle it and then threw in the aside that he "hadn't seen any one hit it out there all day, anyway."  Sean took umbrage and asked why he felt the need to be a dick when we were just trying to keep the kids safe.  Dad didn't like that.  The general consensus is that guy was pissed about something else, and we ended up getting the misplaced rage.  Next time we'll just deal with the kids, since they obviously will be more mature than the grown ups.

5/4/25 Cop Field

One of the most amazing days, on a field that is normally a foggy wind chasm.  Once again, field issues abound.  This time it was a playoff game, that was supposed to be at Swampy, but was moved to our field, because there was another game already in progress.  So we get there, and there are easily 100 people watching the game.  How are we supposed to ruin that?  So we start to walk to Swampy, only to see guys setting up a pitching machine on that diamond.  

Welp, that ain't going to work either.

Luckily, the playoff game guys were super cool, and they finished up quick and handed off the field.  We had 16 at our high point, and the game was, well, not pretty.  As Greg says, maybe I need to examine that these recent shit show games have one common denominator, me.  I will be the first to admit that I did not have it yesterday.  The mound was terrible, my arm was sore from little league, and I never felt totally in control of my pitches.  Mike Lattig took the bump for the visiting team, and he was throwing every kind of dipsy doodle curveball that he could, and it was so tempting to swing at, but never good contact.  Needless to say, he had us in the palm of his hand.

The first two innings of the game took roughly 4 hours to play it felt like, and when the smoke cleared it was still only 4-2.  I thought to myself, that wasn't so bad.  But we could not make the plays. I settled down and we got more efficient but the score just kept going up: 7-2, 8-2, 11-2.  

A low point of the game for our team was getting the first two outs of an inning via the infield fly rule. In both instances, our players dropped the pop up too. We literally had to legislate the game to get an out.  It was also a good learning situation, as we were educated on the infield fly rule calls the batter out, but the ball remains live. Runners can still advance at their own risk, just like on any other fly ball.

That was the game, and we all had fun, but I don't know that I would call it a fun game.  John McG pitched two good innings, and Nick W took over for Lattig and then Aiden came in and blew us away in rapid succession in what we called the bottom of the 9th (it was the 7th and we were losing players).

Final- 11-2, visitors

Highlights

* The visitors had a good game

* Poor Gabe, such a mighty swing, neutralized by the softest of breaking balls

* The visitors defense was superb, 3 double plays?

* We did have a great play at the plate to nab Aiden, excellent throw by Alex and Gabe

* JT played 6 outs of defense in a row in right field

* Kenball had a good game at the plate, lacing line drives

* Aiden's fastball is more fun to see now that it is a strike and not at your liver

* Greg, who has been clutch of late, killed our bases loaded rally with a pop up to the pitcher

* Lattig hit three gork balls to left field that all landed in the exact same place

* Gaspar using a wooden bat and driving the ball up the middle!

* Naldony with a heads up play at 2nd to tag the runner and then get the double play

* Not a single foul ball that threatened a car!

4/27/25 West sunset again, with a permit

Well, I guess the CYO team don't play "every Sunday", cuz they weren't there when I got there.

Of course that was 28 minutes late, because I had Little league stuff I had to do, and then the bridge was kind of fucked, and West Sunset is basically driving to the ocean.  But I made it!

And so did 21 other individuals, for a glorious day of baseball.  

For the home team anyway. 

I am not going to sugar coat it, we, the visiting team, got the shit kicked out of us. Like we stopped counting the runs at one point in the inning, and then settled on a score that wouldn't be too depressing but still was woefully undercounting the actual number of runs scored.

 And we all had a great time.  That's the beauty of Mission baseball.

We really celebrated when we scored a 2nd run, it was the high tide for our game. 

We finished early enough that we played an extra inning, just because we could.  

For the love of the game.  

Thanks to everyone that made it out, a good time was had by all.

Highlights:

* Great game caught by Arson, who has become an elite level player.

* Greg had to leave early for some birthday party he got roped into, we've lost a lot of good players that way, be safe out there

* Mitch made several amazing plays in outfield, our entire team was Mitched.

* Sean also provided some razzle dazzle in the outfield after a solid start on the mound

* Brian Phelps also had a great start on the bump and then made the awkward-est 6-4-3 lefty double play I have ever seen

* Jesse killed the ball all day, including a line drive to right center that smacked high on the wall.

* I got to be the pitcher of record for one of the more run-heavy innings of all time. The lineup never got easier.

* Ana had a nice hit and a play in the outfield

* Pitchers for the day: Sean, Satch / Phelps, Sonny, HR

* Gabe had some big hits, but kept getting Mitched

* Chris Powell also had some stellar pickups at SS

* I hit some poor new guy with a fastball, which really sucks.  I gave him a big marshmallow to hit as a gesture.  And hit it he did.

* Let Adam's experience be a learning one everyone: Call time out if you are dealing with a medical issue and you don't have your glove on.

* The Presley's play at first when we needed an out was nice to have

* Sean also took on the Gaspar flex in his absence, sending roughly 8 foul balls in a row behind third base

* Right side of the field, anything in the air was real tough to track with the sun

* Mission Baseball!

4/13/25 West Sunset #1...no...#2

 

Apparently the CYO baseball league has a lock on the West Sunset field for Sundays in perpetuity.  They play every week.  It is inconceivable that they would not have a permit.  The problem with that is we had a permit that clearly listed us as having the field yesterday.

If we ever needed a clear indication as to why the majority of us should not be professional negotiators, this was it.  Most of us instantly got red-assed and started chirping amongst ourselves as to what was going to happen at 3:30 when the permit took effect and the CYO game was not over yet.  Cuz that's our field, and those kids need to learn the RULES!

Luckily, we are captained by a person with infinitely more patience and panache, Greg, who took the high road, and also managed to insert some venomous verbal barbs to the grumpy CYO guy while he was offering resolution.  It was pretty amazing to see. CYO guy was so sure he was in the right, but he didn't gather his evidence first.  He knew they had a permit, because they ALWAYS have the permit.  This particular strategy has been used several times on us, and they are always wrong.  Greg offered to move us down to the other field, and we did, while the guy was fumble-fucking with his phone to download the permit that he KNEW they had.  Turns out they had a permit for the field....next week. Wah wah.  

In his defense, he was categorically apologetic and made a special trip down to acknowledge the error.  I don't think any of us would mind if CYO paid for our permit at some point, as a goodwill gesture.  Let me also say that Greg was right from the start, when he tried to get us to go down to the other field immediately, and none of us would because we are all a bunch of playground tough guys that want to push around some kids.

The weather was absolutely amazing, the sun was a bit of a bear, but the roar of the ocean and the warm temperatures made it one of the nicest games I have ever been a part of.  Game time was late in starting with all the bureaucracy, but we did get going by about 3:45, and the teams looked a little wonky.  Sean was pitching for the homers and Satch for the visitors.  We drew first blood to the tune of two runs and when I saw the lineup for the homers, I got a little worried.  Powell, Sean, Lynch, Adam, Nick W to start off.  As far as I am concerned that's 3 doubles and 4 stolen bases every time around.  My defense came to my rescue though, and we managed to quash the impending slaughter a few times.

The extra gleam in everyone's eyes was due to the left field fence, which we rarely have and even more rarely is it a mere 286 feet from home plate.  I went to bat the first time with a cheater bat--avoided getting hit even though Greg put in the order-- and then grounded out to Powell.  That was about how my day at the plate went.  Others fared much better, especially lefties.  Elon hit 3 doubles, Lynch had an almost in the park homer, Sean was masterful as usual, and Phelps, well, he had a bad toe.

I threw 5 innings, was helped by two double plays by my defense, and exited the game with the score 6-2.  Felt good, the mound was nice.  John McG pitched another great inning, then HR came in for two strong, though the homers did start to mount a comeback, and New Guy Ben closed the door after some fireworks.  Sean threw the bulk of the game, and Greg came in for the final 2, which felt like the first time in a while.

I have to say that the home team was on wrong end of several close plays.  I was not in the position to question some of the calls, but I have to say there were a lot, and none of them went their way.  Maybe our defense was that sharp, but I think more than that, our defense was really sure of being in the right.  Maybe the CYO guy energy was rubbing off on us.  Specifically Lynch's almost-homerun and Adam's put out at third in the 9th inning.  They were the difference in the game, unfortunately.  Maybe our defense was that good?  Either way, the homers were raging in the comeback, from 8-4 they quickly made it a close game and we were all a bit worried in the bottom of the 9th, with the tying run on 2nd.  However, the comeback was not to be.

The icing on the day was Ben hitting a legitimate homerun in the 9th inning, a towering blast that cleared the fence by 20 feet and probably would have been about 340 feet had it not slammed the concrete wall of the upper deck arena.  Nice to see something like that.

Most people had a hard stop at 6pm, but we managed to get the full 9 innings in, another glorious game in the books.  

Final, 8-7, Visitors.

Highlights:

* Such a mighty wallop.  I know it says 299, but that thing was still going up when it hit the wall.

* Elon does really well at everything, considering he comes out twice a year

* Greg, Gaspar, McG, Phelps and Sean all did great behind the dish.  Two lefty catchers has to be a MBC record

* Kenball with the diving catch in left field!

* Elon with the diving catch in right field!

* Gaspar once again showing his level of surgical aptitude, dropping a hit perfectly in between all fielders in left

* Ana with a nice hit to right, with an RBI

* Lynch with the down the line triple, I tried to coach him from third but he didn't listen

* Brian had a hell of a throw to third to get Adam (if he was truly got).

* Greg scaled a 15 foot fence to get our baseballs back.  He's like Spiderman and Thurgood Marshall rolled into one

* Ben doing it all, including a fine pick from the mound for the final out

* Good to see Tony out, even if he wasn't playing, hopefully his glorious return is not too far off

* Tim helping his brother out of a jam with a pressure play at 2nd

* The sun on the ocean made for pretty blinding conditions in the latter part of the game

* Two double plays is a nice thing to lean on when you are pitching