September 15, 2007 - Game Recap

Crato, Pace, and Mark vs. James and Jason

WP: Mark
LP: James
HR: Crato (6), Mark (10), Pace (3), James (1), Jason (1)

This was a matchup of the has-recently-played team against the hasn't-played-in-a-long-time-and-it-showed team. James started for his team and labored from the get-go. By the 2nd inning he appealed to some unwritten rule that if you give up 3 straight dingers you have to let someone else pitch. Jason came in to relieve and gave it a yeoman's effort, pitching despite severe elbow, knee, back, and shoulder injuries. He got the first 4 batters he faced out with a tantalizing high curve ball...but then we hit 4 straight homers. James came back in to relieve and gave up 2 more homers extending the streak to 6. I came in to close it out in the 5th and surrendered a solo shot to Jason, and a strike em' out bat toss to James.

Game Highlights:

• Mark, Crato, and I tied the record set by Crato (in a 1-on-1-on-1 game) hitting 6 straight homers
• One game after his miraculous 2x homer through the window, Crato, batting lefty, dinked one into right field and came within 1 or 2 inches of repeating the feat through the same back window of the same car. He was credited with a solo homerun.
• Jason, also batting lefty, came within inches of sending the bat through the same window on an inadvertent bat toss. He was credited with a strike. Mark suffered momentary confusion and briefly ran towards the ball that lay near the garage door since the tossed bat made him think that the ball was in play. As a preventative measure I put some tennis grip on the bat handle.
  
• One game after enforcing the "the ball is still live after it hits a part of the field" rule, James robbed Mark of a homer off the centerfield bushes.
• Crato, on his "all or nothing" campaign, recorded only homeruns or outs, nothing in between.
• Various flashy defensive plays led us to declare, "Defense is Back."

Game Report by Pace Barker

September 1, 2007 - Game Recap

Crato, Joseph, and Mark vs. Desi, Pops, and Pace

Crato felt pitching running through his blood that morning, so he took the mound and threw a hitless first inning. Take note that it was three strikeouts and three walks, so the control wasn’t all there, but it was still reminiscent of the old Crato. Then he assigned the batting order for our team, which turned out to be a good call too; our first 8 runs were all from 2 run homers. Desi started for the other team and actually pitched a decent game, even though he kept giving up ding dongs. Pace came in to relieve Desi in the 4th inning, and quickly gave up a double home run to Crato, which was the highlight of the game. With one man on, Crato sliced the ball to right field. Just as the ball was diving for a bounce, some wicked wiffle action lifted it just high enough to enter Crato’s own car through the back open window (half open, mind you), and suddenly the game was out of reach. We all felt weird after we held hands and danced in a circle for the celebration, but the damage was done. The final score was something like 12-8.

There were some allegations that Crato cheated. First, he hit the double homer into his own car which was parked suspiciously close. Second, he kept summoning Owen to the mound when he was getting frazzled. Third, Desi found a “foreign substance” on the ball Crato was pitching with. All of these allegations came from Pace, who throughout his life has dealt with an inferiority complex, and this is the way he deals with it. So that’s cool.

Game highlights:

• First ever double home run through an open car window
• Game had already ended when Mark conceded that, as center fielder, he had not made the final call on a disputed pitch to Desi, whose at bat ended in an out. So the game was restarted and Crato walked Desi. Then Pace grounded out, or was that Pops? I can’t remember. Anyway, the end of the game being recalled and play resuming is a record.
• Pops had an at bat where he Tony Womacked one into the bush on 3-2 and then drew a walk on the very next pitch.

Game Report by Mark Lambert