Fresh off our 'devirginizing' (Kenny's term, not mine) of the Sunset Park squad, our team was feeling a groove and everyone was in a positive mode, almost everyone. Joel was a bit pissed about not getting into the victory and did not seem to take well my translated apology and was unimpressed by my pointing to the scorebook to prove that he was coming in the next inning before the ump time-limited the game. I am starting to sense a bit of selective hearing on his part, he seemingly never needs a translation for "You're up next." or "Get out to rightfield." Coach Chris reports that Joel seems to have grasped two other phrases that he utters while pitching. "Oh my God!" (last word sounds more like 'gaw') and "Shit!". Joel and I halted our bi-lingual experiment after we both learned that when I was saying, "Get my glove.", to him in what I thought was perfect spanish, I was instead yelling, and gesturing, "I'm a glove, I'm a glove!" As Sonia informed me of my error in linguistics (only, of course, after she stopped laughing), Joel and I exchanged a real quick look and have come to a certain understanding about not understanding. Sonia is having more fun translating than she thought she would.
We had a practice scheduled for Monday at 4:30 and coach quickly realized after calling the practice that he had a professional obligation (no, really, I did) that had me tied up until 5:30. I had 3 choices, call everyone and cancel practice. Call everyone and delay practice or, entrust my team leaders to carry out practice for an hour until I could arrive. I felt pretty confident in the crew and decided to go with the egalitarianist approach and entrust the kids to run their own practice. Now before you all think this failed miserably, I took steps to ensure it would work. I only left gloves and baseballs--no bats. I left a list of 6 items for them to work on, I met with Anthony and Jeremy the day before and talked with them about what I expected. I spoke with Kenny on the phone for 10 minutes on the subject. I dropped the stuff at the field at 4:00 that afternoon, 10 players were already there and I told them all (wouldn't you know the one day we coulda had a full-squad workout...) to hold the fort until I returned. The first set of calls started coming in about 5:00, from Kenny, reporting that John stormed off the field and left 'for some reason' and that I needed to get over there to deal with it. I wrapped up my speaking engagement as quickly as possible and returned to the field to see Kenny and Anthony puffing their chests at each other, Ralph missing along with 4 others. Josh was fielding grounders and Taylor and Tytee were trying to intervene in the mini-man thing going on. Taylor told Tytee, emphatically, "Boys are so stupid.", and ol' coach could only smile. From all sides of the account, two major incidents occurred, both batting related. John swung during bunting practice (not on the list of 6) and pissed Anthony off, and Kenny, refusing to give the bat up during grounder practice (not on the list of 6) pissed Christian off. Kenny and Anthony both accused each other of thinking they were superstars. Suoerstaritis is what I call it. I had to call the team together and ask them how many of the 6 items on the list did they do? Answer: none. Second question: Why did you think I did not leave a bat with you guys? Answer: Idunno We then called it a day after a short while and the next day we had amnesty day. Not wanting to admit the abject failure of egalitarian practice, I informed the kids of the concept of amnesty. I then told them they were all granted amnesty for any crimes, real or imagined that may or may not have occurred at practice the previous day. Everyone accepted it and I also may have reminded them in the amnesty speech of who their ruler is in their baseball universe. One good story that came out of the rouge practice was that 5 minutes before I got there, some pasty-legged looking guy in a brown shirt (go figure) tried kicking the kids off the field by asking for our permit. Seeing the coach in action for many years on this issue, the kids pounced on him (figuratively, not literally) with a demand to see his permit. The sap never came back over and stayed with his portly softball chukkers. The kids may have turned on each other, but they defended their right to have a field to do it on.
The amnesty practice was quite good and we really worked on baserunning and sliding. Taylor can never slide well in practice, but in games, she is fantastic, so I don't really give her much grief about the sloppy practice slides. During our last drill, the trusty old stopwatch stopped stopping. We wore the button out. It lasted slightly longer than 4 years and was a sure-fire way to get the kid's attention. Leo, a former Defender and current Bonnie (the Bonnies are an elite baseball traveling team in the Brooklyn area) was actually manning the watch when it expired.
The rains wiped out the end of the week practice. We called the games on Friday during the 2 inch rainstorm. Anthony called me at 9:40 pm to tell me that Irving (a Southern Trucking player) said James (the Commish) was called by Pete (uber-Commish) and told that the fields were getting worked on and the kids can play on Saturday. Impressed with this story, I called James and asked him if any of the above were true. We quickly concluded that only the Irving talking to Anthony part actually occurred. Saturday was a gorgeous day, perfect for ball to be played. Commish called early, with trepidation in his voice about the actual field conditions. I promised I would tell him the truth and save him the 20 mile drive to our urban field of dreams.
Here is the complete truth now commish: the fields were spongy, lakes in some spots and water near the dugout. If you play a real game in these conditions, the first 4 pitches would go in the water or mud--play a scrimmage, you get 1 the entire game--just the baseball gods way of being funny. However, at the field, two squads were organizing a scrimmage by 8:30 am, the minor leagues were playing on a field where the lakes were beyond their ability to reach and there were about 20 other kids. Taylor and Tytee were there at 8:10 (I had told them 9:00) so I told them they were absolved from being an hour late the week before. It was a pleasant day to hang at the field but the games would have been a murky, muddy mess. Make-up dates to be announced.
And finally, for all of those concerned fans, the defendermobile is as good as every and just had a few parts of plastic fall from the grill area. I will post a pic soon. I will add that a far greater number of fans expressed concern for the condition of the car from its injury at practice compared to when I described the severe injuries suffered by both myself and coach Chris at other practices. A far greater number.
As always, updates to follow...
Monday, April 30, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Defenders-Games 2 & 3
Well, before I get into game action I have to share the drama of what happened at our only practice last week. Due to torrential and record setting rains, our only day of practice was Friday. The fields were clear, Coach Chris and Coach Lou were able to be there and it had all the earmarks of a productive practice session. I parked the defendermobile loaded up the kids with the equipment bags and bases and squatted on field #7 awaiting the gilsports kids to leave. They are city school kids who have the fields til 5 pm and the chubby softball studs don't kick us off til 6, so much like the Oklahoma boomer rush of the 1850's, various groups, teams and other interlopers all try to squeeze some practice in during the scant open time available. I have schmoozed the leader of gilsports (his name, appropriately enough, is Gil) for the past couple of seasons and he alerts me to which field he is leaving first so we can take over. In mid-schmooze on Friday I noticed all the kids rushing out to my car and surrounding some guy driving an SUV. I had parked right past the bus stop, so no one could park behind me, and there was about 80 feet (an eternity by nyc standards) of empty space between my front and the next car. I hear the kids yelling, "Coach, some guy just hit your car." Not believing it could be so, I ambled over and sure enough, SUV idiot driver had to back up so friggin' close to me he smashed the grill of my car. Kenny offered to hit the SUV with a bat and Anthony wanted to know why the guy had to park so close. The driver, looking a little whacked out and muttering about not being able to see behind him asked what I wanted to do. After ascertaining that he was about 6' 6" and inebriated to some degree, I made sure my hood opened and told him to forget about it as I wanted to quell the kids anger at the desecration of our legendary vehicle. We proceeded to practice and had a good series of drills, especially our running from 3rd to home on passed balls. This drill entails timing the length of time it takes a pitcher to run in from the mound and the catcher tossing him the ball to the plate. We then time the kids running from 3rd to home with a slide and the purpose is to give them scientific proof that they are all faster running than the battery mates are at correcting their errors. I had to leave practice early and left said car so the remaining coaches could put the equipment away. Coach Chris got the honor of bringing the car back to me.
Our first game on Saturday was against our arch-rival Southern Trucking. Before the game, we embarrassed the commish by having both teams crowd around home plate and asking him to come in to settle something. Looking annoyed (and glancing at me) he had a look of "this better not be about baling wire." Both teams then proceeded to sing him happy birthday as we had a solitary candle in a little piece of cake. Our team seemed ready for the game, although all the coaches were apprehensive about pitching Christian since he had been consistently missing the strike zone in practice. Our league only allows a pitcher to pitch every other game, so our stud hurler Anthony would have to play ss. We were home and true to form, Christian walked the first batter. The next guy up hit a grounder to Kevin, playing second base, and he flipped it to Anthony and he promptly let the ball glance off his glove. He then started yelling at Kevin. To say this was a portent of things to come doesn't really do the word portent justice. 2 more walks, 3 more errors and a couple of timely hits had us down 6 before we even put a helmet on our first batter. Kenny got on by an error and stole second, third and home (if we are on the bases, it is a steal, if the other team is on them, it is a passed ball) and it appeared not only did our baserunning drill pay off, but we already had a run and the second batter was up. But, alas, that was our only highlight of the next two innings. Meanwhile, our arch rivals not only put a 3 spot up on the second inning, they got testy with us and would not let us insert a 10th batter (Taylor) who had shown up late. Yes, it is against the technical rules, but custom is if we haven't gone through the order, we generally allow it under the 'get the kids engaged in play' theory. The top of the third had them lead off with Irving, although Abraham had been in that spot previously. After reaching on an error, I called time, approached the ump and said they were batting out of order. The coach blew a gasket and all of a sudden was not into playing by technical rules such as announcing substitutes. We prevailed and it, unfortunately was our highlight of the game. We had a brief surge and scored two in the bottom of the third but we began the fourth with a fly to center that should have been caught by John (the first time all year we actually had a player move towards a fly ball in the appropriate direction) but Josh collided with him and it was either a home run or 4-base error depending on which dugout was scoring the play. 7 runs later we got them out and were promptly shut down for a humiliating 16-3 mercy-rule loss. To make matters worse, our 2 defectors, Noel D. and Noel G. were on base all 6 times they batted and scored 5 times between them. And Noel D., using the pitching style we taught him last year pretty much dominated us. We were gracious in defeat (under threats of punishments and benchings) and had to quickly prepare to play Sunset Park, the returning champs who had not lost at all last year and won their first game this year. We snacked on granola bars and gatorade that had been provided by Coach Chris.
The team was late arriving and the ump told us by rule, we could accept a forfeit. I asked our team if they wanted a whimpy-ass win or did they want to go out and earn a win. A resounding vote of no whimpy-ass wins pleased all the coaches and we set out to play the champs with our stud on the mound. Game two started much the same as we went 1-2-3 and they scored 4 runs within the first 5 batters. Our season seemed to be imploding right before our eyes when Kenny called time and told me I had to come to the mound. He gave the team a pep talk and I was proud of the boy for his leadership. The next pitch was a wild pitch, and Kenny, who had 3 times in the first game tried to run the ball back to the plate on such occasions, ran after the ball and threw a beautiful toss right to the plate and as the ball was in its perfect arch hurtling towards the dish it dropped right and the plate and made a thud sound that reverberated throughout the field. Kenny, it seems, was the only one who did not realize there was no one on base at the time. He started laughing, Anthony started laughing and the whole team just lightened up at that moment. From that point on, only one batter reached base and we scratched out a couple of runs here a couple of runs there and we survived 3 horrible, horrible calls from the same ump who vexed us last week. The commish and two coaches, watching from the left field bleachers (o.k. it was really the commish in his lounge chair and two guys standing by him) couldn't believe the calls. One of them was a steal of home (remember, we were on offense) and the catcher tagged the runner with his glove as he held the ball up high with his throwing hand. The ump also missed two other plays on the bases and missed a beautiful throw to third by Kenny that nailed a runner trying to steal. We took the lead in the last inning and Taylor had two great slides at third and home to give us a 6-4 lead. They were up for their last at bats. First batter whiffed, followed by a walk. Then the next batter hit a ball in the hole between first and second and I saw our game falling apart. However Kevin, with his three foot glove dove, did a tumblesault and all you could see was a cloud of dust and a glove with a small white orb slowly being tossed to Jeremy for the second out. Runner on third and a batter coming up who I had approved as a late entry in the number 10 spot. The kid looked good and dug in with a nice stance. I thought my nice guy move would cost us but a weak grounder to the pitcher sealed the victory and our squad had the first W of the year. Kenny proudly declared in the dugout "we devirginized them coach." and although I was going to tell him not to use such terms, I was really just secretly glad that he didn't say we had popped their cherry.
I tried to convince the team that our reward for a win is push-ups, but after being shot a look by Tytee (I feel sorry for whoever she ends up with if he ever gets that look) I capitulated and agreed that we had to go and have our celebratory pizza. We loaded up the car, Coach Chris said he could fit two in his vehicle, but we got 5 in there and as I drove over to our spot, a couple of kids were complaining about how tight it was in the car and Kenny kept saying we were like the clown car at the circus. As we got out of the car I realized why they complained, I had 7 kids, including the 3 tallest ones, two bat bags and me in the car--a new defendermobile record. We all signed the game ball and gave it to Kenny to give to his granddad who had been hospitalized with a stroke. Victor had not missed a game in 4 years and the kids all were in agreement to give him the ball. Kenny later reported that Victor got tears in his eyes when he received the ball. Although the kids were disappointed none of them got the ball, I explained to them the concept of the gesture and I think the disappointment was diluted with the arrival of pizza. Sonia was generous and splurged for 3 pizzas, thus blowing the curve for the rest of the year, but it gave us more time to chat and I always make the kids tell me one thing they did well and one thing they could work on that occurred during the game. We are all ready for our rematch with the Giants next week.
Other games:
Gibbs' Giants 12
Hynes' Heroes 0
Southern Trucking 16
Nick.com Defenders 3
Nick.com Defenders 6
Sunset Park 4
As always, updates to follow.
Our first game on Saturday was against our arch-rival Southern Trucking. Before the game, we embarrassed the commish by having both teams crowd around home plate and asking him to come in to settle something. Looking annoyed (and glancing at me) he had a look of "this better not be about baling wire." Both teams then proceeded to sing him happy birthday as we had a solitary candle in a little piece of cake. Our team seemed ready for the game, although all the coaches were apprehensive about pitching Christian since he had been consistently missing the strike zone in practice. Our league only allows a pitcher to pitch every other game, so our stud hurler Anthony would have to play ss. We were home and true to form, Christian walked the first batter. The next guy up hit a grounder to Kevin, playing second base, and he flipped it to Anthony and he promptly let the ball glance off his glove. He then started yelling at Kevin. To say this was a portent of things to come doesn't really do the word portent justice. 2 more walks, 3 more errors and a couple of timely hits had us down 6 before we even put a helmet on our first batter. Kenny got on by an error and stole second, third and home (if we are on the bases, it is a steal, if the other team is on them, it is a passed ball) and it appeared not only did our baserunning drill pay off, but we already had a run and the second batter was up. But, alas, that was our only highlight of the next two innings. Meanwhile, our arch rivals not only put a 3 spot up on the second inning, they got testy with us and would not let us insert a 10th batter (Taylor) who had shown up late. Yes, it is against the technical rules, but custom is if we haven't gone through the order, we generally allow it under the 'get the kids engaged in play' theory. The top of the third had them lead off with Irving, although Abraham had been in that spot previously. After reaching on an error, I called time, approached the ump and said they were batting out of order. The coach blew a gasket and all of a sudden was not into playing by technical rules such as announcing substitutes. We prevailed and it, unfortunately was our highlight of the game. We had a brief surge and scored two in the bottom of the third but we began the fourth with a fly to center that should have been caught by John (the first time all year we actually had a player move towards a fly ball in the appropriate direction) but Josh collided with him and it was either a home run or 4-base error depending on which dugout was scoring the play. 7 runs later we got them out and were promptly shut down for a humiliating 16-3 mercy-rule loss. To make matters worse, our 2 defectors, Noel D. and Noel G. were on base all 6 times they batted and scored 5 times between them. And Noel D., using the pitching style we taught him last year pretty much dominated us. We were gracious in defeat (under threats of punishments and benchings) and had to quickly prepare to play Sunset Park, the returning champs who had not lost at all last year and won their first game this year. We snacked on granola bars and gatorade that had been provided by Coach Chris.
The team was late arriving and the ump told us by rule, we could accept a forfeit. I asked our team if they wanted a whimpy-ass win or did they want to go out and earn a win. A resounding vote of no whimpy-ass wins pleased all the coaches and we set out to play the champs with our stud on the mound. Game two started much the same as we went 1-2-3 and they scored 4 runs within the first 5 batters. Our season seemed to be imploding right before our eyes when Kenny called time and told me I had to come to the mound. He gave the team a pep talk and I was proud of the boy for his leadership. The next pitch was a wild pitch, and Kenny, who had 3 times in the first game tried to run the ball back to the plate on such occasions, ran after the ball and threw a beautiful toss right to the plate and as the ball was in its perfect arch hurtling towards the dish it dropped right and the plate and made a thud sound that reverberated throughout the field. Kenny, it seems, was the only one who did not realize there was no one on base at the time. He started laughing, Anthony started laughing and the whole team just lightened up at that moment. From that point on, only one batter reached base and we scratched out a couple of runs here a couple of runs there and we survived 3 horrible, horrible calls from the same ump who vexed us last week. The commish and two coaches, watching from the left field bleachers (o.k. it was really the commish in his lounge chair and two guys standing by him) couldn't believe the calls. One of them was a steal of home (remember, we were on offense) and the catcher tagged the runner with his glove as he held the ball up high with his throwing hand. The ump also missed two other plays on the bases and missed a beautiful throw to third by Kenny that nailed a runner trying to steal. We took the lead in the last inning and Taylor had two great slides at third and home to give us a 6-4 lead. They were up for their last at bats. First batter whiffed, followed by a walk. Then the next batter hit a ball in the hole between first and second and I saw our game falling apart. However Kevin, with his three foot glove dove, did a tumblesault and all you could see was a cloud of dust and a glove with a small white orb slowly being tossed to Jeremy for the second out. Runner on third and a batter coming up who I had approved as a late entry in the number 10 spot. The kid looked good and dug in with a nice stance. I thought my nice guy move would cost us but a weak grounder to the pitcher sealed the victory and our squad had the first W of the year. Kenny proudly declared in the dugout "we devirginized them coach." and although I was going to tell him not to use such terms, I was really just secretly glad that he didn't say we had popped their cherry.
I tried to convince the team that our reward for a win is push-ups, but after being shot a look by Tytee (I feel sorry for whoever she ends up with if he ever gets that look) I capitulated and agreed that we had to go and have our celebratory pizza. We loaded up the car, Coach Chris said he could fit two in his vehicle, but we got 5 in there and as I drove over to our spot, a couple of kids were complaining about how tight it was in the car and Kenny kept saying we were like the clown car at the circus. As we got out of the car I realized why they complained, I had 7 kids, including the 3 tallest ones, two bat bags and me in the car--a new defendermobile record. We all signed the game ball and gave it to Kenny to give to his granddad who had been hospitalized with a stroke. Victor had not missed a game in 4 years and the kids all were in agreement to give him the ball. Kenny later reported that Victor got tears in his eyes when he received the ball. Although the kids were disappointed none of them got the ball, I explained to them the concept of the gesture and I think the disappointment was diluted with the arrival of pizza. Sonia was generous and splurged for 3 pizzas, thus blowing the curve for the rest of the year, but it gave us more time to chat and I always make the kids tell me one thing they did well and one thing they could work on that occurred during the game. We are all ready for our rematch with the Giants next week.
Other games:
Gibbs' Giants 12
Hynes' Heroes 0
Southern Trucking 16
Nick.com Defenders 3
Nick.com Defenders 6
Sunset Park 4
As always, updates to follow.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Defenders-photo & roster
Due to many requests to know exactly who the nation's favorite little league team is from photos sent by the commish, I am sending this out as a combo roster and i.d. update. This past weekend's games will be updated shortly thereafter.
FRONT ROW:
Kevin Hernandez-- age 11, 2b-of, very enthusiastic and loves to let you know his opinions on everything about the game and my coaching decisions. Just arrived from PR (Puerto Rico) and isn't always easily understood--but that does not deter him at all. Uses a glove that is about half his height and refuses to use smaller one's offered to him. Not afraid to get in front of the ball or to swing at anything thrown to him. Always offers to carry equipment from car to field.
Holvin "Joel" Hernandez--age 10, of-p, Kevin's brother. Had to move him out of infield because his eagerness to catch pop-ups sometimes resulted in a bit more contact with teammates than the game normally calls for. Only two words of english he speaks (to me at least) are "coach" (which he repeats aboput every 30-40 seconds, and "sorry" when one of his errant pitches strikes me in the ankle or shin. Insists on carrying the heavy bat/glove bag (which weighs about half his body weight) from car to field. Youngest player on squad.
Christian Rosario--age 13, 2b-ss-p, 2nd year on team. Loves the game but hates to be coached. Smallest player on team and has to hear from every returning player about how he failed to grow this past year. Good bat but lacks plate disipline, sometimes is lazy in regards to moving his feet towards the grounders that come his way. Lifts head on grounders way too often, but will play wherever coach tells him.
BACK ROW:
Tytee Grien--age 13 (in 2 weeks), of, 2nd year on team. Great attitude and never complains. Had a breakthrough game last year and is working hard to get her rythym of swinging at the ball back to that point. Works hard and is a good source of info on other players. Has gotten over reluctance to bat from last year when she said "everyone is looking at me when I am up there." Bravely puts helmet on regardless onf newness of hairstyle and will still take fielding practice even if her manicure is fresh. (Joe Torre thinks he has to deal with issues...)
Jeremy Osorio--age 13, 1b-p, 4th year with team. By own admission, 'sucked' his first two years, but hard work and diligence has been rewarded. Used to flinch when you played catch, is now a flawless firstbaseman. About to get first shot on the mound next week. Batting eye has improved and he actually is a top hitter on squad. Has emerged as one of my 3 leaders. Great kid. Great attitude.
Coach Chris--1st year on squad. Hasn't had that breakthrough yet of yelling at a kid or cursing in front of them. Thought he would while catching bp before 2nd game last week and he claimed he was cursing inside his head. Coach told him that didn't count. Very enthusiastic and can be easily brought in line (not that he has needed to yet) by me threatening to reveal to Kenny just how close they live to each other. Great asset to this team, can actually get the kids to stretch before games.
Ralph Colon--age 11, 3b-of, 1st year on team. His cousin Eddie was a Defender for 3 years, including our championship team. Very quiet and shy and has a lot of natural ability. Is not afraid to get in front of the ball and has a beautiful throwing motion. Swings the bat well and looks like he will develop into a solid performer.
Johnathan Fernandez--age 13, of, 1st year on team. Recruited by 4 kids on squad who go to school with him. Incrfedibly quiet (no complaints, just a fact), I call him the anti-Kenny. Will do whatever you say and has raw talent. Very coachable and picks up whatever you are trying to teach very quickly. Has a rifle of an arm, can actually judge a flyball AND move towards it correctly. He is close to a break-out game at the plate and in practice wallops the ball farther than anyone else.
Anthonny Rodriguez--age 13, p-ss-c, 4th year on team, our own a-rod. Great kid, loves the game and is more of a student of the game than anyone on squad. Probably the best pitcher in the league and can hit the ball quite well. I am betting he will not strike out this year (nor walk). Overall best player on team, can handle any position with ease. Has a great smile and has developed into team leader. Coach told him he will have to cut down on the platanos if he wants to move on to the next level of play.
Kenny Tello--age 13, c, 4th year on squad, Everyone in the league knows Kenny. Kenny will not shut up. Kenny loves the game and always wants to play 2b. He loves 2b, but 2b doesn't always love him. He has developed into a good catcher and has a great batting eye. Only he and Anthony have not struck out so far this year. By far the best baserunner on the team. He gets too worked up at times and coach has to really work to keep him focused. Has the most raging hormones on the team, but has also (surprisingly) developed into the third of my trio of team leaders.
Coach Brett--founder of team and fearless coach. Easily suckered into going to the fields anytime one of the players calls and wants to catch or get extra practice. Constant thorn in the side of the commisioner and loves to rabble-rouse on a variety of matters. Owner of the Defendermobile--a 17 year old buick that doubles as the equipment storage shed for the league.
Clayvon Able--age 13, of-p, 4th year on team, could develop into better player if he devoted more time, but true love is basketball. Has good character and never complains. Is best of on team, but has strict mom who has recently suspended him for some type of school transgression. Coach has tried to intervene, but so far, to no avail. Is fairly adept at the plate when he wears his glasses and is a close second to Kenny on the basepaths.
Joshua Santiago--age 13, 2nd year on team, 3b-of-p, travels farthest to get to fields, and often gets ride to subway by coach after practice. Good outfielder and not afraid of ball at 3b. A bit inconsistent on the mound and has a funky delivery that confuses opponents. Has to get aggressiveness at plate back that he had last year. Will never complain, but is not afraid to ask to play a certain position. Got much faster this year on the basepaths.
Coach Lou--3rd year with team, was a springtraining holdout (a fact he denies) and was urged back by tellling him we needed someone to yell at Kenny. Real reason coach urged him back, however, is that he is the only coach in the league who consistently gets voted as having a worse car than coach when those discussions inevitably occur amongst the kids. Local resident who loves the kids (even Kenny) and the game. Will work with the kids on the side or at times when no practice is called.
Demarcus and Louis-- broithers, never really on squad, briefly placed on team on opening day but they were optioned out to LICH, a new team that is replacing the frozen dinner team that dropped out prior to the opener.
Taylor Nash--age 13, 2b-of, 3rd year on team. Her brother Gregory, a.k.a. Cuckarocha was on our first team. Wonderful attitude and best team spirit. Never, never complains (except about her hair). Refused to come to game 2 years ago until her hair was done. Brought Tytee on to squad. Absolute best source of info and gossip on team. Coach goes straight to her when he needs to find the real scoop on players. Has gotten much better at the plate this year and batted 5th last game.
NOT PICTURED:
Sonia "Don't call me coach" Gonzalez--3rd year on team, suckered her into coaching when she liked our team jerseys and asked for one at work. Told her only if she came out to coach, but she quickly admonished me when I listed her as Coach Sonia on schedule. Being a Tae Kwon Do black belt, (and a little afraid of her despite her 5' 2" stature) I quickly complied. My way of evening the playing field is threatening her with me giving Kenny her phone number. It works quite well. She is great with kids, has an infectuous laugh and has the unique and uncanny ability to actually get kids to listen to her on the first try. Wonderful asset to the team--added asset this year as translator between Joel and the coach.
a picture of sonia with clayvon from last year (in the unis we actually liked). lol
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Defenders-Game 1
The morning of our first game was unseasonably cold and as I looked at the unfamiliar green and yellow jersey of our new unis I had a Tytee-esque moment and thought I had nothing to wear with this new color scheme. Fortunately, I realized I did have a ski sweater that would not make me look like a color sample swatch from Home Depot and quickly bundled up to prepare for our first game of the year. The frozen food team did indeed drop out and that pushed our starting time back an hour, meaning we would have a 2 hour delay between Opening Ceremonies and the actual first pitch of our game. The local politician who was to join the police captain and parks commissioner in throwing out the first pitch was late, as always, but our fearless commish, tired of hearing my bellyaching about these issues went forward with the ceremonies. I quickly hustled my squad to a vacant field [we have 4 fields on one large plot of land with all the centerfields meeting in the mi ddle] to stretch, throw and have some bp. I noticed in the middle of stretching that the rest of the teams were all lined up again for a ceremony which meant the tardy politician was being placated with a faux first pitch. Either the commish didn't realize we were there (not likely), chose not to come get us so he could get the game started quickly (most likely) or was scared to ask me to get my team back in line knowing my proclivity towards bitching about these things (this was the option I like to believe true). Besides, I did my penance early in the morning by climbing the backstop and affixing the big banner with some trusty baling wire i brought just for the occasion. By the way, for future knowledge, guys from the Bronx not only don't know what baling wire is--they don't even care to know if you try to explain it to them.
Our squad was looking fairly sharp and I decided at the last moment to put Ralphie at short and Josh at third although with much trepidation. Anthony took the mound and had Kenny as his battery mate. Jeremy took first, John, Clayvon and Tytee filled the outfield and Taylor was at second. Christian, our sole returning player not to start was being benched for a rock throwing incident at an earlier practice. He pelted Jeremy in the face with a rock during bp and when I asked him why, he said he was bored. Rock throwing incidents are a bane of my coaching career all the way back to our first squad. Benching is a much more mature and effective measure than I initially used to curb this activity. Frustrated in our first year by one players continual rock chucking at his teammates, I stopped practice and yelled out for the offender to go up to home plate. I started picking up rocks and then-coach Chuck asked what I was planning on doing. I told him I was going to have all the kids throw rocks at him to show him what it felt like. Chuck advised me to think this one through and asked me how I thought this would ultimately play out. Begrudgingly admitting his superior intellect on this matter, I abandoned the idea. However, I think he would approve of the benching idea.
We were home team against Gibbs' Giants and promptly got the first two batters out. A single and a passed ball (we call them steals when we are on the basepaths) put a runner in scoring position. The clean-up hitter stroked one out to rightfield. A run scored, however Tytee got to the ball quickly and an 'only in little league' 9-3-2-6 sequence got the runner at third. We squandered a scoring opportunity when Kenny (on third) raced home on a line drive to center by Anthony that was caught. Kenny raced back to third but the throw beat him--however the ump called him safe, setting a disturbing trend of horrible calls for the remainder of the tilt. They scored another in the second and we responded with 4 runs built largely on walks and aggressive baserunning. They came back with a 3 spot (all unearned) and we tied it up in the bottom of the third. A scoreless fourth ensued and we started the top of the fifth by retiring their first batter. The lead-off hitter hit one to the thirrdbase side of the mound and Anthony pounced on the ball and threw a bullet to Jeremy for the second out--or so we thought. "Safe" yelled the ump. I generally try not to get too worked up (mainly because it amps Kenny up and it usually is not a good thing to add to his already hyper disposition) and I could not believe the call. The commish and head ump, both watching behind the backstop told me the runner was out by a step and a half and the third base coach just shook his head and admitted the ump blew the call. We got the next out, which should have ended the inning, but then a hit, a hit batter and a fly to rightfield, now patrolled by Joel, which, in true Defender fashion, was misplayed into a man on third and three runs in. The next batter hit a shot to left center which Clayvon brilliantly cut off and rifled a throw to third to get the runner in another classic 8-1 (you thought the third baseman would have covered third instead of the pitcher, right?). 4 runs in what should have been a 1-2-3 inning. We failed to score, shut them down in the sixth (last inning--little league only plays 6 innings) despite yet another horrible call at third which the third base coach said "not only was our guy out of the baseline, your guy tagged him." I gathered our deflated squad for a quick pep talk and told them not to give up. Clayvon hit a little squib that ended up about 10 feet from home and two feet inside the foul line to start our last licks and ran to first without looking back and was safe. "Foul ball" yelled the consistently bad ump. I could not contain myself at this point. He explained that the ball hit the non-existent foul line. "Doesn't matter where the ball started, only where it ended." yelled the exasperated coach, knowing it would have no bearing since he obviously misinterpreted the rules. Clayvon then struck out, followed by a walk and two more quick outs.
As pissed and frustrated as our kids were, they handled the handshake line like champs (aided by stern threats of benching if they did not) and we quickly had a huddle where I told the team that although the ump made horrible calls that cost us, we allowed the calls to affect our play. I will not let them use it as an excuse for losing and told them they must take a bad call as a bad play--forget it and move on. Lessons they will have to learn in life. On the positive side, Anthony pitched a brilliant game with 10 k's and only 1 walk (almost unheard of in little league play of this caliber). He also fielded well and hit two shots at the plate. Kenny was fantastic behind the plate and will probably be one of the best backstops in the league (or backcatcher as they like to say in Red Hook). Jeremy played a fantastic firstbase, especially for a kid who flinched every time you threw him a ball for his first two years on the squad. John hit the hardest ball of the day, although foul, I think it bent the top bar of the backstop. Taylor did well at the plate and Clayvon, after missing every bp pitch I threw him last week, agreed to wear his glasses and surprise, surprise, hit the damn ball 3 times. Our baserunning was adequate, but not up to our standards. Our left side of the infield has to realize they are not spectators and move towards the ball and/or bases and Kevin, who blamed his brother Joel for losing the game (he was the last batter) as well as saying the ump was cheating two different times (a violation of team rules) will be benched for violating team rule #1--no trash talking or blaming of teammates. Christian handled his benching well and will probably take the hill for our next game.
Week 1 results:
Gibbs' Giants 9 Southern Trucking 5 Sunset Park 3
Defenders 5 Hynes' Heroes 4 Gibbs' Giants 0
Our squad has 2 games Saturday, one against Sunset Park and the other against Southern Trucking. As always, updates to follow.
Our squad was looking fairly sharp and I decided at the last moment to put Ralphie at short and Josh at third although with much trepidation. Anthony took the mound and had Kenny as his battery mate. Jeremy took first, John, Clayvon and Tytee filled the outfield and Taylor was at second. Christian, our sole returning player not to start was being benched for a rock throwing incident at an earlier practice. He pelted Jeremy in the face with a rock during bp and when I asked him why, he said he was bored. Rock throwing incidents are a bane of my coaching career all the way back to our first squad. Benching is a much more mature and effective measure than I initially used to curb this activity. Frustrated in our first year by one players continual rock chucking at his teammates, I stopped practice and yelled out for the offender to go up to home plate. I started picking up rocks and then-coach Chuck asked what I was planning on doing. I told him I was going to have all the kids throw rocks at him to show him what it felt like. Chuck advised me to think this one through and asked me how I thought this would ultimately play out. Begrudgingly admitting his superior intellect on this matter, I abandoned the idea. However, I think he would approve of the benching idea.
We were home team against Gibbs' Giants and promptly got the first two batters out. A single and a passed ball (we call them steals when we are on the basepaths) put a runner in scoring position. The clean-up hitter stroked one out to rightfield. A run scored, however Tytee got to the ball quickly and an 'only in little league' 9-3-2-6 sequence got the runner at third. We squandered a scoring opportunity when Kenny (on third) raced home on a line drive to center by Anthony that was caught. Kenny raced back to third but the throw beat him--however the ump called him safe, setting a disturbing trend of horrible calls for the remainder of the tilt. They scored another in the second and we responded with 4 runs built largely on walks and aggressive baserunning. They came back with a 3 spot (all unearned) and we tied it up in the bottom of the third. A scoreless fourth ensued and we started the top of the fifth by retiring their first batter. The lead-off hitter hit one to the thirrdbase side of the mound and Anthony pounced on the ball and threw a bullet to Jeremy for the second out--or so we thought. "Safe" yelled the ump. I generally try not to get too worked up (mainly because it amps Kenny up and it usually is not a good thing to add to his already hyper disposition) and I could not believe the call. The commish and head ump, both watching behind the backstop told me the runner was out by a step and a half and the third base coach just shook his head and admitted the ump blew the call. We got the next out, which should have ended the inning, but then a hit, a hit batter and a fly to rightfield, now patrolled by Joel, which, in true Defender fashion, was misplayed into a man on third and three runs in. The next batter hit a shot to left center which Clayvon brilliantly cut off and rifled a throw to third to get the runner in another classic 8-1 (you thought the third baseman would have covered third instead of the pitcher, right?). 4 runs in what should have been a 1-2-3 inning. We failed to score, shut them down in the sixth (last inning--little league only plays 6 innings) despite yet another horrible call at third which the third base coach said "not only was our guy out of the baseline, your guy tagged him." I gathered our deflated squad for a quick pep talk and told them not to give up. Clayvon hit a little squib that ended up about 10 feet from home and two feet inside the foul line to start our last licks and ran to first without looking back and was safe. "Foul ball" yelled the consistently bad ump. I could not contain myself at this point. He explained that the ball hit the non-existent foul line. "Doesn't matter where the ball started, only where it ended." yelled the exasperated coach, knowing it would have no bearing since he obviously misinterpreted the rules. Clayvon then struck out, followed by a walk and two more quick outs.
As pissed and frustrated as our kids were, they handled the handshake line like champs (aided by stern threats of benching if they did not) and we quickly had a huddle where I told the team that although the ump made horrible calls that cost us, we allowed the calls to affect our play. I will not let them use it as an excuse for losing and told them they must take a bad call as a bad play--forget it and move on. Lessons they will have to learn in life. On the positive side, Anthony pitched a brilliant game with 10 k's and only 1 walk (almost unheard of in little league play of this caliber). He also fielded well and hit two shots at the plate. Kenny was fantastic behind the plate and will probably be one of the best backstops in the league (or backcatcher as they like to say in Red Hook). Jeremy played a fantastic firstbase, especially for a kid who flinched every time you threw him a ball for his first two years on the squad. John hit the hardest ball of the day, although foul, I think it bent the top bar of the backstop. Taylor did well at the plate and Clayvon, after missing every bp pitch I threw him last week, agreed to wear his glasses and surprise, surprise, hit the damn ball 3 times. Our baserunning was adequate, but not up to our standards. Our left side of the infield has to realize they are not spectators and move towards the ball and/or bases and Kevin, who blamed his brother Joel for losing the game (he was the last batter) as well as saying the ump was cheating two different times (a violation of team rules) will be benched for violating team rule #1--no trash talking or blaming of teammates. Christian handled his benching well and will probably take the hill for our next game.
Week 1 results:
Gibbs' Giants 9 Southern Trucking 5 Sunset Park 3
Defenders 5 Hynes' Heroes 4 Gibbs' Giants 0
Our squad has 2 games Saturday, one against Sunset Park and the other against Southern Trucking. As always, updates to follow.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Defenders--week 3
We are a mere 36 hours (as of this writing) from the start of our season and we do not even know who we are playing yet. The Von King (frozen dinner team) squad backed out of playing in our league today. We may have a replacement team, we will know tomorrow, or each saturday will have one team playing a doubleheader. Such are the travails of having an independent league.
We are busy trying to finalize our squad as the no-shows, sister tormenters and lazy students make rosters a week-to-week adventure. Quincy has disappeared and his phone is not working, Christian served a suspension for maltreatment of his sister (who, by the way, has a cannon of an arm and may end up plunking him if they face each other during the season) and I fielded a call today informing me of Kenny's (who else?) lackidasical attitude towards his studies. I tell the kids before the season that we are all a family and that we must respect each other and support each other and that if any coach hears of bad behavior in school or home, suspensions, benchings and dropping in the batting order will occur. I call this my "when worlds collide" speech.
A few kids were missing from practice last week and two boys watching asked (through anthony) if they could practice with us. Neither spoke english and both were tight-lipped when I asked which team they played on. Needing able-bodies to field during bp (batting practice) I let them play and told them they would have to move around the field since my kids took precedence. We proceded to have bp with me as the pitcher. By the second batter, I noticed our two fill-ins were both near shortstop and were trying to hide what I thought was laughing. After a couple more pitches the same thing occurred. I was pretty certain they were laughing at me, but wasn't sure since they were laughing in spanish. It may have been my tired-ass 3 year old sneakers I had on, could have been my Pirate hat or perhaps it was my pitching motion as I wound up to throw my deceptor pitch. I motioned for the ring-leader to bat and exacted the same justice I do when k ids act-up, goof off or I am just bored--I plunked him right between the numbers. He looked at me with shock and I just smiled. Well maybe they were or maybe they weren't laughing at me but it sure stopped after my 'message pitch'.
Uniform day came and the squad was horrified by our new unis (uniforms). After seven years of blue on gray we were given yellow on forest green. Tytee was distraught that nothing she had would match, Josh was upset that he had just bought two blue batting gloves (the kids do not believe me when I tell them they never had batting gloves when I played little league) and Clayvon, entering his 4th year with the squad, had a look of his world just not making sense anymore. To offset our despair of wrongly-colored unis, our scant squad of 10 had an infusion of two new players, 10 and 11 year old brothers from PR (Puerto Rico). The youngest speaks no english and the older one thinks he understands more english than he actually does. They can both field well, have a lot of spirit and the 10 year-old, a lefty, has a rocket for an arm. I had to yell at him (and then ask Anthony or John to interpret) to quit catching the ball with his hand and to use his glove instead. And in keeping with the irony can be ironic theorem, an errant ball was thrown in to me as I was hitting to the outfielders and as I tried to catch the ball with my hand it struck my left ring-finger real hard. I uttered a word fairly loud that can also mean to procreate. I looked up and Jeremy, who was shagging the throws for me, had a sly little smile on his face. We have a general rule of mo cursing on our team and is punishable by push-ups, however we have exceptions for extraordinary circumstances. For example, when Cucarocha, a little skinny 61 pound kid on our first squad got plunked by a fastball once he shouted out "ahh, f*%*!" and we let it go as a legitimate and earned curse. So, as i looked at Jeremy, I shot a pleading look to him hoping he wouldn't bust on me to the rest of the team. He just slyly smiled and as he turned to catch a ball said deadpanned, "don't catch the ball with your hand, coach." The ensuing 20 seconds of silence was very satisfying on all both our parts.
Our last practice was fairly productive even with us getting kicked off the field (damn permit holders) and moving to a more hard-scrabble field the local football team uses for practice next to a factory. I discovered big silent John can whack the crap out of a ball, Tytee and Taylor are our two fastest players after Jeremy. I took a couple of swings (mostly half swings aiming the ball at certain players) and decided to take a full swing when I saw about 100 pigeons eating the freshly-seeded portion of right-center field. Well, in that one pitch I had the mixed emotions of joy and despair between my swing and the ball hitting the ground. I was filled with joy knowing I could still hit a 13 year-old fastball, but was despondent over reallizing that the flying shit-bags known as pigeons can judge a fly ball better than any of my outfielders. I hit that ball right at them and they all flew off when that ball was still 20 feet in the air from hitting them& nbsp; I must admit I was pretty impressed. Practice ended after we lost a few balls over the left field fence where the razor-wired encased factorry sits. I told the team we had to go since I lost my good balls which immediately brought laughter. FYI, any mention of things like "where are my balls?" "are those my balls?"
or "Who has some balls?" will ellicit hearty laughter from 13 year-old kids, especially boys. And to prove my point, all the guys reading this right now are laughing their ass-off and all the women are thinking "guys are so stupid."
Not sure what to expect for our opener, we know Anthony will pitch, Kenny will catch and Jeremy will be at first. The rest is a crap-shoot for now. But as always, it will all reveal itself soon. I am just real proud that none of my squad owns a plastic glove and next week we will have glove day and the inevitable "Are you Puerto Rican or Dominican?" debate will surely follow (more on both these topics later). Opening ceremonies are set for 9:00 am and we will play sometime thereafter. As always, updates to follow.
We are busy trying to finalize our squad as the no-shows, sister tormenters and lazy students make rosters a week-to-week adventure. Quincy has disappeared and his phone is not working, Christian served a suspension for maltreatment of his sister (who, by the way, has a cannon of an arm and may end up plunking him if they face each other during the season) and I fielded a call today informing me of Kenny's (who else?) lackidasical attitude towards his studies. I tell the kids before the season that we are all a family and that we must respect each other and support each other and that if any coach hears of bad behavior in school or home, suspensions, benchings and dropping in the batting order will occur. I call this my "when worlds collide" speech.
A few kids were missing from practice last week and two boys watching asked (through anthony) if they could practice with us. Neither spoke english and both were tight-lipped when I asked which team they played on. Needing able-bodies to field during bp (batting practice) I let them play and told them they would have to move around the field since my kids took precedence. We proceded to have bp with me as the pitcher. By the second batter, I noticed our two fill-ins were both near shortstop and were trying to hide what I thought was laughing. After a couple more pitches the same thing occurred. I was pretty certain they were laughing at me, but wasn't sure since they were laughing in spanish. It may have been my tired-ass 3 year old sneakers I had on, could have been my Pirate hat or perhaps it was my pitching motion as I wound up to throw my deceptor pitch. I motioned for the ring-leader to bat and exacted the same justice I do when k ids act-up, goof off or I am just bored--I plunked him right between the numbers. He looked at me with shock and I just smiled. Well maybe they were or maybe they weren't laughing at me but it sure stopped after my 'message pitch'.
Uniform day came and the squad was horrified by our new unis (uniforms). After seven years of blue on gray we were given yellow on forest green. Tytee was distraught that nothing she had would match, Josh was upset that he had just bought two blue batting gloves (the kids do not believe me when I tell them they never had batting gloves when I played little league) and Clayvon, entering his 4th year with the squad, had a look of his world just not making sense anymore. To offset our despair of wrongly-colored unis, our scant squad of 10 had an infusion of two new players, 10 and 11 year old brothers from PR (Puerto Rico). The youngest speaks no english and the older one thinks he understands more english than he actually does. They can both field well, have a lot of spirit and the 10 year-old, a lefty, has a rocket for an arm. I had to yell at him (and then ask Anthony or John to interpret) to quit catching the ball with his hand and to use his glove instead. And in keeping with the irony can be ironic theorem, an errant ball was thrown in to me as I was hitting to the outfielders and as I tried to catch the ball with my hand it struck my left ring-finger real hard. I uttered a word fairly loud that can also mean to procreate. I looked up and Jeremy, who was shagging the throws for me, had a sly little smile on his face. We have a general rule of mo cursing on our team and is punishable by push-ups, however we have exceptions for extraordinary circumstances. For example, when Cucarocha, a little skinny 61 pound kid on our first squad got plunked by a fastball once he shouted out "ahh, f*%*!" and we let it go as a legitimate and earned curse. So, as i looked at Jeremy, I shot a pleading look to him hoping he wouldn't bust on me to the rest of the team. He just slyly smiled and as he turned to catch a ball said deadpanned, "don't catch the ball with your hand, coach." The ensuing 20 seconds of silence was very satisfying on all both our parts.
Our last practice was fairly productive even with us getting kicked off the field (damn permit holders) and moving to a more hard-scrabble field the local football team uses for practice next to a factory. I discovered big silent John can whack the crap out of a ball, Tytee and Taylor are our two fastest players after Jeremy. I took a couple of swings (mostly half swings aiming the ball at certain players) and decided to take a full swing when I saw about 100 pigeons eating the freshly-seeded portion of right-center field. Well, in that one pitch I had the mixed emotions of joy and despair between my swing and the ball hitting the ground. I was filled with joy knowing I could still hit a 13 year-old fastball, but was despondent over reallizing that the flying shit-bags known as pigeons can judge a fly ball better than any of my outfielders. I hit that ball right at them and they all flew off when that ball was still 20 feet in the air from hitting them& nbsp; I must admit I was pretty impressed. Practice ended after we lost a few balls over the left field fence where the razor-wired encased factorry sits. I told the team we had to go since I lost my good balls which immediately brought laughter. FYI, any mention of things like "where are my balls?" "are those my balls?"
or "Who has some balls?" will ellicit hearty laughter from 13 year-old kids, especially boys. And to prove my point, all the guys reading this right now are laughing their ass-off and all the women are thinking "guys are so stupid."
Not sure what to expect for our opener, we know Anthony will pitch, Kenny will catch and Jeremy will be at first. The rest is a crap-shoot for now. But as always, it will all reveal itself soon. I am just real proud that none of my squad owns a plastic glove and next week we will have glove day and the inevitable "Are you Puerto Rican or Dominican?" debate will surely follow (more on both these topics later). Opening ceremonies are set for 9:00 am and we will play sometime thereafter. As always, updates to follow.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Defenders Schedule
Attached is the schedule for our team. Each team will play all teams two times for a 10 game schedule and playoffs to follow. All teams make the playoffs with top 2 seeds getting first round byes. For those who think we should have more games, you know nothing about the field permit situation in Red Hook or NYC children leaving the city as soon as school lets out at the end of June. The 6 teams in the league this year are all from Brooklyn with 4 of them from Red Hook:
Defenders--actually we are the nick.com defenders since we agreed to a merge for non-nefarious reasons
Heroes-- Hynes' Heroes, named after the brooklyn d.a. (who has never been to a game in 7 years)
Giants--Gibbs' Giants, named after a genuinely good soul who just wants to support the league
Von King--from brownsville, know nothing about them except they sound like a frozen dinner entree
SBYO--from sunset park, won our league last year, have all new kids to defend their title
So. Truck.--Southern Trucking, our arch-rivals, owner is a pure gentleman and yet another good soul who gives a lot (a really lot) of time and support to our league
A quick preseason handicap of the league is: I know nothing about von king's team, sbyo kids are always well-coached and they play together for many years in many leagues, heroes are young and uncertain of their pitching, giants are loaded and have tons of pitching, so. trucking has a lot of kids back, but a huge roster so they are a bit of an unknown at this point, defenders have a lot of kids back, smaller roster and sparse pitching but a couple of potential sluggers. predictions will be made after the first weekend of games, however, expect a pregame update to allow you fans to know the latest practice tidbits and final roster adjustments.
2007 DEFENDERS SCHEDULE
ALL PLAYERS MUST BE @ FIELD BY 8:45 a.m. FOR OPENING DAY
April 14 10:00 am Von King @ Defenders ____ -- ____
April 21 9:00 am So. Truck. @ Defenders ____ -- ____
April 28 9:00 am Defenders @ Giants ____ -- ____
May 5 10:00 am Defenders @ Heroes ____ -- ____
May 12 10:00 am SBYO @ Defenders ____ -- ____
May 19 11:00 am Defenders @ Von King ____ -- ____
May 26 NO GAME! MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND! NO GAME!
June 2 11:00 am Defenders @ So. Truck. ____ -- ____
June 9 10:00 am Heroes @ Defenders ____ -- ____
June 15 6:00 pm Giants @ Defenders ____ -- ____
June 16 10:00 am Defenders @ SBYO ____ -- ____
PLAYOFFS
June 21 6:00 pm #6 seed @ #3 seed ____ -- ____
June 22 6:00 pm #5 seed @ #4 seed ____ -- ____
June 23 9:30 am Lowest seed @ #1 seed ____ -- ____
11:30 am 2nd low seed @ #2 seed ____ -- ____
June 28 6:00 pm Game #1 of Championship ____ -- ____
June 29 6:00 pm Game #2 of Championship ____ -- ____
June 30 9:30 am 5th Place Game ____ -- ____
10:30 am 3rd Place Game ____ -- ____
11:30 am Game #3 of Championship ____ -- ____
(IF NECESSARY)
TROPHIES GIVEN OUT AFTER ALL GAMES PLAYED ON JUNE 30
ALL PLAYERS MUST BE AT FIELD 45 MINUTES BEFORE GAMES
****CALL IF YOU WILL BE MISSING A GAME OR PRACTICE****
Defenders--actually we are the nick.com defenders since we agreed to a merge for non-nefarious reasons
Heroes-- Hynes' Heroes, named after the brooklyn d.a. (who has never been to a game in 7 years)
Giants--Gibbs' Giants, named after a genuinely good soul who just wants to support the league
Von King--from brownsville, know nothing about them except they sound like a frozen dinner entree
SBYO--from sunset park, won our league last year, have all new kids to defend their title
So. Truck.--Southern Trucking, our arch-rivals, owner is a pure gentleman and yet another good soul who gives a lot (a really lot) of time and support to our league
A quick preseason handicap of the league is: I know nothing about von king's team, sbyo kids are always well-coached and they play together for many years in many leagues, heroes are young and uncertain of their pitching, giants are loaded and have tons of pitching, so. trucking has a lot of kids back, but a huge roster so they are a bit of an unknown at this point, defenders have a lot of kids back, smaller roster and sparse pitching but a couple of potential sluggers. predictions will be made after the first weekend of games, however, expect a pregame update to allow you fans to know the latest practice tidbits and final roster adjustments.
2007 DEFENDERS SCHEDULE
ALL PLAYERS MUST BE @ FIELD BY 8:45 a.m. FOR OPENING DAY
April 14 10:00 am Von King @ Defenders ____ -- ____
April 21 9:00 am So. Truck. @ Defenders ____ -- ____
April 28 9:00 am Defenders @ Giants ____ -- ____
May 5 10:00 am Defenders @ Heroes ____ -- ____
May 12 10:00 am SBYO @ Defenders ____ -- ____
May 19 11:00 am Defenders @ Von King ____ -- ____
May 26 NO GAME! MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND! NO GAME!
June 2 11:00 am Defenders @ So. Truck. ____ -- ____
June 9 10:00 am Heroes @ Defenders ____ -- ____
June 15 6:00 pm Giants @ Defenders ____ -- ____
June 16 10:00 am Defenders @ SBYO ____ -- ____
PLAYOFFS
June 21 6:00 pm #6 seed @ #3 seed ____ -- ____
June 22 6:00 pm #5 seed @ #4 seed ____ -- ____
June 23 9:30 am Lowest seed @ #1 seed ____ -- ____
11:30 am 2nd low seed @ #2 seed ____ -- ____
June 28 6:00 pm Game #1 of Championship ____ -- ____
June 29 6:00 pm Game #2 of Championship ____ -- ____
June 30 9:30 am 5th Place Game ____ -- ____
10:30 am 3rd Place Game ____ -- ____
11:30 am Game #3 of Championship ____ -- ____
(IF NECESSARY)
TROPHIES GIVEN OUT AFTER ALL GAMES PLAYED ON JUNE 30
ALL PLAYERS MUST BE AT FIELD 45 MINUTES BEFORE GAMES
****CALL IF YOU WILL BE MISSING A GAME OR PRACTICE****
Friday, April 6, 2007
Defenders-- week 2
Well, after that first day, I had two unofficial practices with just a couple of the team leaders to try and set the tone for the year. I had Anthony, Jeremy and Kenny show up. Kenny is going to be our catcher this year in an attempt to keep him focused on the game. He loves second base but kinda drifts out there at times. His first game ever I had to call a timeout to go and explain to him that he wasn't supposed to be joining the opposing dugout in their chant against our pitcher. He progressed to where he merely would drift towards second in an effort to "keep the runner on the bag, coach" in a no-leads off the base league. Kenny will probably lead our team in hits and steals.
Anthony is our best catcher, but he hates to catch (he is bright as well) and is by far our best returning pitcher. Oh, and he is also our best shortstop. Anthony loves to razz me about how much the Pirates suck (he is a Yankee fan) and he is too young to be affected by the one word that shudders all Yankee fans, "mazeroski". Two years ago the pirates and yankees were playing a 3 game series and the bucs were playing their best ball of the year. Anthony brazenly vowed the yanks would smack the pirates and I told him that my team would take it to his. We bet a milkshake on whoever lost 2 out of 3. yankees swept the bucs, and when he demanded payment I told him the bet was yanks would win 2 of 3, not 3 of 3. He didn't buy my argument but I bought him the milkshake anyway,just to hush him so he wouldn't tell his mom I was gambling with him. He was only 11 and a boy should really be 12 before he begins wanton gambling practices. ; Anthony brought up the fact that the yanks and bucs meet again this year and has offered a similar wager. I think he found out my nickname at work was 'free lunch' for my amazing consistency at losing braggadaccio wagers.
Jeremy is our firstbaseman. I used to call him 'diamond boy' (not to his face) because he was so scared in the batters box that if you stuck a lump of coal in his butt it would be a diamond after 1 at-bat. For 2 years he struck out or walked--never even a foul tip, and his fielding was worse. As he says himself, "I sucked." But he stuck with it and started to hit some shots last year and actually caught a ball without flinching. He grew and is now about 5' 10", lefty, so I will try and pitch him some this year. He will never miss a practice or game. Has a great attitude and I authorized him to thump Kenny anytime he wants if Kenny is acting out of line.
So we practiced throws from catcher to first, catcher to second etc. and kept having meetings to discuss strategy and the like. As I was discussing their leadership skills on one meeting at the mound, Kenny's head drifted and followed a woman walking down the street. "whoa, coach, did you see that?" This was his third drift in 90 seconds. I pointed out that he needed to quit being distracted and focus on the game when he was playing. blah blah blah. As soon as we started hitting to the infield he got nailed once in the foot and once in the butt because he kept turning to watch women (not girls) walk by. I will be putting blinders on the catcher's helmet for him.
This week was when Red Hook baseball got into full swing. We had our first muddy field practice with two lakes at short and second, we had our first fighting for an open field battle (won handily by our squad--we intimidated the hell out of a bunch of 7-year-old after-school kids) and we had our first unsolicited advice on baseball instruction by a junkie/drunk of the season. A common practice occurrence is hearing a, usually, gruff, somewhat dunk/methadoned/heroined out guy grunting advice on my pitcher/catcher/outfield positioning. Instead of arguing with them, I say thanks and invite them to come out and coach. The longest one has ever stayed after my offer is 12 minutes, and that was because he passed out against the backstop for 9 of them and took another 2 and a half to remember where he was when he woke up.
Clayvon appeared at his first practice with a broom and dustpan in slippers. It was too comical to even laugh. Tytee and Taylor were there and just gave him a look--boy I feel sorry for their future boyfriends and husbands because Clayvon cracked like a egg just on their look. turns out he wasn't allowed at practice until he finished his chores, one of which is to sweep up in front of the church. He asked if he should go do that or just practice. Unwilling to tangle with a mom who is bad-ass enough to make her son stroll through the 'hood with a broom and dustpan in slippers, I told him to do his chores. Working on hitting the cut-off could wait.
And to leave you all on a heartwarming note, we were having batting practice a couple of days ago when about 3-4 kids from other teams climbed the backstop to jeer and shout insults at the kids as they took their swings. I figured it was good training for them for the season and wasn't going to interfere, but after a few pitches, my mature, adult side took over for a minute and I yelled up to the most brazen of them (name withheld because the commissioner reads these updates), "j---, you know I have to do the adult thing here and tell you you have to get off the backstop." he yelled back in his pipsqueak voice, "I know, but don't worry, if anyone says anything, I'll just tell them I told you to f*#* off." Makes you feel warm all over seeing how he was looking out for me.
Uniform day this saturday and final rosters--so as always, updates to follow.
Anthony is our best catcher, but he hates to catch (he is bright as well) and is by far our best returning pitcher. Oh, and he is also our best shortstop. Anthony loves to razz me about how much the Pirates suck (he is a Yankee fan) and he is too young to be affected by the one word that shudders all Yankee fans, "mazeroski". Two years ago the pirates and yankees were playing a 3 game series and the bucs were playing their best ball of the year. Anthony brazenly vowed the yanks would smack the pirates and I told him that my team would take it to his. We bet a milkshake on whoever lost 2 out of 3. yankees swept the bucs, and when he demanded payment I told him the bet was yanks would win 2 of 3, not 3 of 3. He didn't buy my argument but I bought him the milkshake anyway,just to hush him so he wouldn't tell his mom I was gambling with him. He was only 11 and a boy should really be 12 before he begins wanton gambling practices. ; Anthony brought up the fact that the yanks and bucs meet again this year and has offered a similar wager. I think he found out my nickname at work was 'free lunch' for my amazing consistency at losing braggadaccio wagers.
Jeremy is our firstbaseman. I used to call him 'diamond boy' (not to his face) because he was so scared in the batters box that if you stuck a lump of coal in his butt it would be a diamond after 1 at-bat. For 2 years he struck out or walked--never even a foul tip, and his fielding was worse. As he says himself, "I sucked." But he stuck with it and started to hit some shots last year and actually caught a ball without flinching. He grew and is now about 5' 10", lefty, so I will try and pitch him some this year. He will never miss a practice or game. Has a great attitude and I authorized him to thump Kenny anytime he wants if Kenny is acting out of line.
So we practiced throws from catcher to first, catcher to second etc. and kept having meetings to discuss strategy and the like. As I was discussing their leadership skills on one meeting at the mound, Kenny's head drifted and followed a woman walking down the street. "whoa, coach, did you see that?" This was his third drift in 90 seconds. I pointed out that he needed to quit being distracted and focus on the game when he was playing. blah blah blah. As soon as we started hitting to the infield he got nailed once in the foot and once in the butt because he kept turning to watch women (not girls) walk by. I will be putting blinders on the catcher's helmet for him.
This week was when Red Hook baseball got into full swing. We had our first muddy field practice with two lakes at short and second, we had our first fighting for an open field battle (won handily by our squad--we intimidated the hell out of a bunch of 7-year-old after-school kids) and we had our first unsolicited advice on baseball instruction by a junkie/drunk of the season. A common practice occurrence is hearing a, usually, gruff, somewhat dunk/methadoned/heroined out guy grunting advice on my pitcher/catcher/outfield positioning. Instead of arguing with them, I say thanks and invite them to come out and coach. The longest one has ever stayed after my offer is 12 minutes, and that was because he passed out against the backstop for 9 of them and took another 2 and a half to remember where he was when he woke up.
Clayvon appeared at his first practice with a broom and dustpan in slippers. It was too comical to even laugh. Tytee and Taylor were there and just gave him a look--boy I feel sorry for their future boyfriends and husbands because Clayvon cracked like a egg just on their look. turns out he wasn't allowed at practice until he finished his chores, one of which is to sweep up in front of the church. He asked if he should go do that or just practice. Unwilling to tangle with a mom who is bad-ass enough to make her son stroll through the 'hood with a broom and dustpan in slippers, I told him to do his chores. Working on hitting the cut-off could wait.
And to leave you all on a heartwarming note, we were having batting practice a couple of days ago when about 3-4 kids from other teams climbed the backstop to jeer and shout insults at the kids as they took their swings. I figured it was good training for them for the season and wasn't going to interfere, but after a few pitches, my mature, adult side took over for a minute and I yelled up to the most brazen of them (name withheld because the commissioner reads these updates), "j---, you know I have to do the adult thing here and tell you you have to get off the backstop." he yelled back in his pipsqueak voice, "I know, but don't worry, if anyone says anything, I'll just tell them I told you to f*#* off." Makes you feel warm all over seeing how he was looking out for me.
Uniform day this saturday and final rosters--so as always, updates to follow.
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