Recap 7/10/05 - Sox Beat Los Monos 24-8

Improve to 12-5 for the Season

Sorry for the delay in posting this recap. I had to put the memory of my inning on the mound behind me. Congratulations to J-Rod for his two big bombs and to Mike Clay for his first HR of the season.

Pitching

Give J-Rod the win even though we pulled him after the second inning with a 15-0 lead. It was over. Doug, Daniel, and Mo pitched strongly in relief.

Batting

Aside from the aforementioned bombs, several Black Sox had big days:

• Dennis - 3/5. On-base 5/7.
• Dan - On-base 3/7.
• J-Rod - 3/4. 2 HR.
• Mo - 3/3. On-base 5-5.
• Doug - On-base 3/7.
• Daniel - On-base 3/7.
• Mike C. - 2/5, HR.
• Bob - 3/5, on-base 4/6.
• Kevin - 2/5. On-base 3/6.

Again, every starter got a hit.

Upcoming

Game this week, 1:30 pm vs. the Lugnuts. I'll let you know the location.

Firecracker Tourney: Sox Drop First Two

Well, there's good news and bad news. First the bad news: We pretty much stunk today and are looking at an uphill battle. Now the good news: The Pacific Coast Breakers, the team we play tomorrow at 12:00 am, also lost (18-17) to the SD Mets. A win tomorrow will get us into the semifinal, most likely vs. the SD Mets. The recap:

Hitting

Every Sox player got a hit today. The top six (6), by OBA:

Name BA OBA
Scott 0.500 0.714
Jim C 0.600 0.600
Mo 0.500 0.571
Jim Mc 0.429 0.429
Dan 0.429 0.429
Mike C. 0.400 0.400

With a couple of minor adjustments, this will be the top of the order tomorrow. Congratulations to Jim C. on his first home run.

We had a total of 24 hits on the day but missed many good scoring opportunities. We also had only 5 walks (Scott drew 3) the first game and none the second.

Defense

We had a total of 11 errors today. Obviously, we are going to have to improve in this area, and I think we will. I will be making some adjustments to the defensive lineup that, hopefully, will allow us to better support our pitchers. Also, we will have Gus and hopefully Huffy available to throw. Although we don't have an "ace" on the staff, we are deep at pitcher and I am hopeful this will serve us well tomorrow, and Monday.

Post Game

Win or lose, we'll be having some beer and food at Jim M's house after the game. All tourney players and Black Sox players (and families) are invited. Thanks again, Jim, for your generousity in putting this together for us.

See you tomorrow.

Recap 6/26/05: Sox Beat Lugnuts 23-11

Sox Get 26 Hits En Route to 11th Victory

Excellent hitting and good pitching led the way to a 7-inning 23-11 win vs. the Lugnuts. Jim McGaha (winning pitcher, HR, 2b), Mike Gross (4/4, on-base 6/6), and Daniel Harrison (4/5, double, save) all put in MVP-type performances.

Highlights

Pitching

Jim gave us 5 excellent innings and picked up the win. If not for a couple of errors that the Lugnuts seemed to capitalize on every time, he would have coasted to the victory. Because we only had 9 guys to start the game, we couldn't keep book on defense, but Jim's control was as good as it has been all season and there were only a couple of walks. After giving up a bomb to the first batter he faced, Daniel settled in and pitched a couple of strong innings of relief. Daniel also benefitted from some good defense, with Steve P. gunning down a runner at second and Mo turning in a big double-play.

Hitting

Every Sox player got a hit today and we had 26, in total, including Jim McGaha's first home run of the season. Individual highlights:

• Dan - 4/6 (2b)
• Steve - on-base 2/6
• Mo - on-base 3/6
• Mike G. - 4/4, on-base 6/6
• Bob - 2/5, on-base 3/6 (2 K's)
• Daniel - 4/5 (walk-off game winning double)
• Ron - 2/4, on-base 3/5
• Jim M. - 4/5 (HR, 2b)
• Doug - 3/4

Defense

As mentioned, the defense wasn't great at first. We did settle in and play much better towards the end. Not to make excuses, but the infield at Mar Vista was bad enough to begin with and is deteriorating even more now that the HS season is over. As bad as the infield grass is, the sand/dirt combination in the infield is especially bad.

If it is any consolation, our opponents seem to be playing even worse defense than we are at Mar Vista. Plus, our sixth inning "rundown" was just pretty damn funny.

Good-Bye Steve P.

This was Steve Pietruza's last game as a Black Sox. Steve retires with a .465 Batting Average, a .555 On-Base percentage, and sometimes-steller defense. In recognition of Steve's accomplishments, our MVP selection at the end of each season will now win the Pietruza/Thorpe Excellence award: http://www.bats1.com/images/spthorpe.jpg.

Steve, we will miss you. As you all know, I am not normally given to understatement, but I do believe it is an understatement to say that things just won't be the same without you. We are fortunate to be deep at the catcher position and to have many good hitters, but these are still some big shoes to fill.

Upcoming

We are off July 4 weekend and then play again at 1:30 July 11, vs. Los Monos. Many of you will be playing on our 38+ tourney team, if you are not playing, you are more than welcome to join us in the dugout at any of the games. Jim McGaha will be hosting a July 4 celebration at his lovely estate in Granite Hills. All Black Sox (and families) are invited to attend. I'll send out more info later.

Recap 6/19/05: Sox Beat Heat 12-7

Good Pitching, timely hitting help Sox Improve to 10-5 Season Record

On a day when the big bats didn't come alive, the Sox still managed to scrap together 11 runs to improve to 10-5 on the season. The Recap:

Pitching
Bob gave us six strong innings for the win, marred only by a couple of defensive miscues (led by yours truly) that led to a couple of unearned runs in the sixth and put the Heat within striking distance at 9-7. J-Rod and Dennis came on and both pitched solid shutout innings vs. a very potent lineup to close the deal.

Hitting
Although we managed only 7 hits (all singles), we still put up a big offensive number due to 14 base on balls. All 14 walks came from the first 6 spots in the order. Guys, I can't emphasize this enough: getting on base produces runs. If you aren't happy about where you are batting in the lineup, look in the mirror. The guys who get on base move up in the batting order (and get love in the recap), the guys who don't move down. If a pitcher is walking batters, and struggling (like today), we've got to be selective - most of us are, a couple still have some work to do in this area. You aren't helping the ballclub by swinging at 0-0, 2-0, 3-0 pitches in these situations.

Individual highlights:

• Dennis - on-base 3/5
• Dan - on-base 4/5
• Mo - on-base 2/5
• Steve - on-base 3/5
• Mike G. - 3/4, on-base 4/5. Mike had a couple of huge 2 out RBI singles today.
• Mike C. - 2/4

Defense

My shaky play in right field and a couple other minor blemishes notwithstanding, we had one of our best defensive games of the year. We had a solid day at shortstop, with Dennis having his best day of the season and Bob closing strongly at this key position. Doug had a great game in Centerfield, including an awesome diving catch in the sixth that would be all over ESPN if we were competing at the highest levels. We'll need this kind of defense to earn our rightful spot in the championship game at T. Gwynn Stadium.

All-Star Voting

The votes are in and our All-Star selections are: Mo, J-Rod, and Dennis. Mike G. is first alternate. I don't know about the rest of you, but I had a very tough time filling out my ballot... each of these guys deserved the honor along with a number of other players. Final tallies:

• Mo (10)
• J-Rod (7)
• Dennis (6)
• Mike (3)
• Daniel H. (2)
• Steve (2)
• Dan (1)
• Doug (1)
• Huffy (1)

Congratulations to the Sox representatives, it is a well-deserved honor.

Upcoming

We play the Lugnuts next week, 1:30 pm at Mar Vista. Happy father's day all, I'll see you next week.

Recap 6/12/05: Sox Beat Tecolote 8-7

Sox Go To 9-5 on the Season

Well, better late than never. Rallies in the 8th and 9th proved the difference as the Sox narrowly avoided getting swept by Tecolote for the season.

Highlights

Pitching - Tecolote punished us for a couple of errors in with a four-run first inning (2 unearned). Jim settled in and pitched a strong 3 innings. Daniel came on and gave us 6 outstanding innings, allowing just two (2) unearned runs. Along with his HR, Daniel definitely earned player of the game honors this week.

Hitting - We had 12 hits and 8 walks vs. 8 K's for the day. Individual highlights:

• Dan - On-base 3/5
• Steve - 2/5 (2 K's)
• J-Rod - 2/4. On-base 3/5
• Mo - On-base 2/5
• Doug - On-base 2/4 (scored twice)
• Kevin - 2/4
• Robert - 3/4

Defense - After a shaky first two innings, we settled in and played pretty good defense, for the most part, the rest of the way.

Upcoming

We have a big game coming up this weekend vs. "The Heat" at West Hills HS. I know Daniel will be out, I expect Dennis and Bob to make the game, giving us 12 players. If anyone else can't make it, you know the drill...

Recap 6/05/05

Sox Beat "The Dudes" 19-4

The Sox got 18 hits, 12 walks, and solid pitching in coasting to a 19-4 win over the 10-1 Dudes.

Highlights

Pitching - in his first game back, Huffy gave us four strong innings of work. Daniel pitched two strong shutout innings and Dennis closed out the game with 3 K's. In all, our pitchers recorded 10 K's against only 4 walks.

Hitting - We had 18 hits and 12 walks (7 K's) against one of the better pitchers and defensive teams in the league. Granted, the Dudes didn't have their best day, but our hitters had something to do with that. Individual highlights:

• Dennis - 3/4. On-base 4/5
• Doug - On-base 3/5
• J-ROD - 2/2, on-base 5/5, Home Run
• Mo - 2/5
• Mike G. - on-base 3/4, Sac
• Jim - 2/4, on-base 3/5, double, triple
• Dan - 2/3, on-base 4/5, double
• Steve - 3/5 (2 K's)

Defense - We played one of our stronger defensive games. With the exception of the second inning, where we had a couple of errors, we played solid defense throughout.

Upcoming

We play Tecolote 1:30 at Mar Vista.

Memorial Day Tourney 5-30-05

Bats1.com Sox Memorial Day Tourney Recap

The Sox rebounded from a slow start, terrible umpiring in game 1, and brutal pool play schedule, to beat the 2-0 Nationals 19-6 and earn a berth in the 38 "Rookie" playoffs.

The playoff semifinal matched the Sox against a 2-1 Ventura Cubs squad which had beaten the Sox earlier 14-2 in pool play. Ventura jumped out to an early 16-2 advantage thanks to 10 unearned runs in the second inning. The Sox rallied gamely to bring the score to 18-16 in the top of the 7th inning when Ventura was narrowly able to "run out the clock"in the bottom of the seventh to prevent another Sox at-bat which might well have resulted in a Sox win given the lopsided turn of momentum the last 5 innings. To a man, the Cubs I spoke with after the game said that they were just praying the clock would run out in time for them to advance to the final.

Anyone familiar with Sox baseball will know that the "moral victory" is a familiar theme. I hate "moral victories." Still, no-one can deny the heart of a team that could rally like that from seemingly unsurmountable odds and make it a great semifinal, the Cubs got a lot more than they expected from the Sox. I am proud of every one of you. You played your hearts out and made it a memorable tournament.

Tourney Recap

Pitching

We shuffled so many pitchers that it is difficult to figure out who did what. A couple of efforts stand out: Gus pitched in 3 of our 4 games and both games on Sunday. His effort in game 4 was one of the most gutty efforts I have seen. Jim pitched strongly in each of the first two games. Art also made solid appearances in 3 games. Bob battled strongly in two starts on a weekend when he didn't have his best stuff. Had he not been victimized by the second inning defensive meltdown in the semifinal, he might well have gone 5 or 6 innings and gotten the win.

Hitting

We had a team batting average of .419 and a .492 on-base percentage. Ten Sox had on-base percentages better than .400:

Name BA OBA*
Jim Mc 0.667 0.667
Mike Gross 0.583 0.667
Steve Z. 0.500 0.600
Gus 0.375 0.583
Dan 0.333 0.500
Mark 0.417 0.500
Art 0.429 0.467
Doug 0.417 0.462
Donavan 0.333 0.429
Jim C 0.417 0.417

*sorted by OBA

Congratulations to Jim McGaha on the highest batting average and sharing the OBA title with Mike Gross. Mike also led the team in extra base hits with three doubles, including a HUGE bases clearing double in the sixth vs. the Cubs to get us within striking distance.

Most Valuable Player

For his accomplishments at the plate Mike Gross earns Tourney MVP honors, with Jim and Gus earning honorable mention.

Most Inspirational Player

Our most inspirational player was Gus Valdez, who, despite considerable arm and shoulder pain, pitched in all but one game. Amazingly, Gus got stronger as the weekend wore on with some of his best innings coming in the last game. Had we been able to play a full nine innings vs. the Cubs, I believe Gus probably would have gotten the victory. I won't soon forget Gus' effort (i.e. face plant) on that foul ball near the Cubs dugout... nobody competes harder than Gus Valdez.

Special Thanks

Special thanks goes out to Bob Ambrose who helped out with the planning, driving, and for just generally keeping me in check for the weekend. I'd also like to thank Art Garcia for helping me coordinate with some of the players and for being one of the best, most unselfish, ballplayers around. Thanks to Steve Zolotos for his mentorship and insight in running a ballclub. Steve is one of the best baseball strategists I have played for... he truly understands the game and I have learned a lot from him. I also appreciate his keeping book and making some of the calls to the league office on Sunday to find out our playoff status. Not to mention this is the third Las Vegas tourney I've played with Steve that he's been among the batting leaders. It is starting to look like a pattern...

Thanks to everyone else also, all thirteen players contributed significantly to making this a good weekend of baseball. I can think of at least one big play, or clutch hit, by every one of you. As much as I would have liked to have been playing on Monday, it was nice to earn that fourth game and nearly win it.

Looking Forward

I am thinking about putting the team back together for the 4th of July Tournament. A couple of guys have told me they won't be able to play, but we also have a waiting list of players who wanted to come to Vegas but either couldn't for various reasons, or because we just didn't have room. If you are interested in playing July 4, please let me know. I'll let you know shortly whether we will have a team.