May 4 Recap
By Marc Brafman
With all of the rain we’ve had the last two days many of us thought that the fields would look like the Dagobah system. But lucky for us with some timely winds blowing in from Hoth we were able to dry them off well enough. (Nice work Triple Creek)
Normally I start with the fields in order, but I know most of you want to know what happened on field 2 so we’ll start there. Before we get into the game let’s all wish David “BP” Snyder a quick recovery from getting hit in the face by a throw last night. “My head feels like I was hit with the Emperor lightning bolts, but just like Luke I should be able to rebound in a few weeks.” All kidding aside, get well soon buddy.
Now onto the action. On Field 2 it was Team Solomon vs. Team Brafman. (Team Solomon won I believe 12-11) but since I was in the parking lot for the end of the game, I’m not sure. Team Solomon led by their big lefty lineup of Adam Cronstein, Tyler “Bryce Harper” Stansbury and rookie Ryan “The One-Man Gang” Marcus jumped out to a quick lead. Corey Norris kept Team Brafman in check most of the night with his off-speed pitches. But things changed in the bottom of the 6th when Team Brafman led by JZ, Fink “Handsome” Sam Castellini, Marc Brafman and Sam “The Hitman” Hecht all had hits to tie the score. Which brings us, friends, into the top of the 7th. After a leadoff walk and two outs, things took a strange turn for Team Brafman. With a runner on second base, Cronstein grounded a single to right center. JZ came up throwing and unfortunately hit Snyder in the side of the head which resulted in one run scoring and Adam getting all the way to second base. After an infield single, an error and another run, and a walk the fun really started. Marcus tried to steal second (I think) and was easily thrown out. Not only did he not make it to the base, he was also out by a mile. Unfortunately, the ump didn’t see it that way and after a short argument where I told him the call was horrible and then repeated it to my team I got thrown out of the game. “I was just trying to protect my team,” Brafman said post-game. “After David got hurt, we only had 10 guys and I didn’t want Fink or anyone else to get thrown out. My job is to protect my guys. Looking back now I should have used my Jedi training and relaxed a little. My only regret is that I didn’t go full Billy Martin and kick dirt on the plate. When the dust settled, Team Brafman was down by 3. In the bottom of the 7th a rally was killed by smart management by Cronstein, who was filling in for Stu, who is sick. With the tying run on 1st and two outs they walked two guys to get to my spot in the order. Since I was banished to the Cloud City, my spot in the order was the last out of the game. Team Brafman called it bush league. Adam said post game, “I think it was smart softball.” Kudos to Fink for striking out 5 and for Adam C for making 3-4 nice plays in LC. Lost in this weird game was maybe the worst slide of all time by Marcus as he tried to stretch a double into a triple.
Team Brafman looks to rebound next week vs. Team Weisser and Team Solomon takes on Team Rosenthal.
Now onto regular action. On field 1 it was Team Z vs. Team Grefer:
We beat team Zawatsky 9-6 behind another strong pitching performance by Mike Gray. With Mark Tenenholtz subbing for shortstop, Taylor Police, we tried an odd defensive alignment with 3 outfielders and 5 infielders that somehow worked out. “We felt this was the best way to beat the Empire and get the resistance in our best way possible.” After a rough first inning where we gave up 4 runs on some defensive miscues, we showed great resolve to come back and get the win. AJ Goldhoff had a great game behind the plate and hit line drives all over the field. Chris Kunkel filled in admirably at shortstop and hit some lasers up the middle. Our two second baseman, Yair Richler and Michael Margolis, each made some nice catches and putouts. Josh Rosen had a nice game running down balls in center field and using his speed on the basepaths to turn singles into doubles. Dan Grefer also had a solid game at the plate hitting a triple to left field.
Over on Field 3 it was Team Fogel vs. Team Rosenthal
Roger leads off:
Not much to write about this week…..TEAM FOGEL 7 TEAM ROSENTHAL 3
HOWARD SCHWARTZ pitched another great game and the defense for the most part was pretty good, however the hits were almost non-existent…..
QUOTES FROM TEAM ROSENTHAL…..
ROGER ROSENTHAL…
“My tip of the cap to Jeremy and his team. They played flawless defense and Jamie pitched a great game with no walks. They came up with some key hits.”
“I had no problem with our pitching and defense for the most part, but our hitting wasn’t too good today. I expect it to come around at some point. The earlier the better.”
“I think the guys might be trying too hard and trying to do too much. We need to just go out there and play as a team and not give up, which we haven’t done yet and I don’t expect it to happen. It’s a long season”
“I might get to the point of drawing names out of a hat to get a batting order, but I still have confidence that the bats will be coming.”
“In summary, I look for inspiration from the Xavier men’s basketball team, and Princess Leia, who led the rebellion not once but twice. If XU and the rebellion can get over the hump, so can we. The problem we might have is we have too many UC and Ohio State guys on this team.”
and Jeremy chimes in for the winners:
On a chilly Wednesday night in May, Team Fogel took care of business with minimal excitement. A final score of 7-3 sounds just about as invigorating as the game itself. Jumping out to an early lead, the Men in Navy Blue never looked back. Great defense along with timely hitting, but not too much hitting, resulted in what felt like a 45-minute game. Rob Manfred would have been really proud of the pace of play exhibited on field three. The offense was brought to life by Mark Franklin when he hit a ball to the wall after a measly offensive performance was shown through the first three innings.
Stat of the game:
Scott Friend continues to tear the cover off the softball. The dugout radar gun (also known as the eyes of Joel Fogel) which tracks exit velocity claims that Scott is leading the league by a wide margin. “We haven’t seen anything this fast and hard since Han Solo ran made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs,” Fogel said post game.
Finally on field 4 it was Team Lefton vs. Team Weisser:
Fun game tonight Jimmy said post game. Weisser scored 4 in the top of the 1st and we came back with 5 in the bottom half to take the lead. By the end of the 3rd it was 10-6 Lefton. This was the score until the 7th. Weisser got a few on the bases and scratched out a run but that was as close as it came. The final score was 10-7. The Game ended when Pete “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” Soltesz struck out looking which caught the black. “I like to challenge Pete,” Jimmy said post game. “Similar to how I battle the mighty Rancor each night at home I took the fight right to him.”
League notes:
Roger starts off:
Who in the league knows who Connor McDavid and Austin Matthews are?…….one for sure is GRIFF HARRIS, the biggest Matthews fan in Ohio…..he’s NO WAYNE GRETZKY!!!!!!!!!!
*Don’t ever sell anything to MARC BRAFMAN…..it might be awhile until you get paid off and when you do, it might be a buck or two short….LOL. All kidding aside, he and DEE HARRIS might not be my best customers, but they’re two of my favorite ones!
*BOBBY “THE MOUTH OF OHIO” CARTER was at the regular dining establishment this evening……I told him that his voice is sorely missed in the league…..He ran his mouth even more than I do and that’s saying a lot.
*Finally, rumor has it that MIKE and LINDA ROTHSTEIN are looking for a new place to live and were thinking about the condos where I live. LINDA wanted to, but MIKE says this, “Really? You think I want to live near Roger and his bobbleheads? NO way in hell.”
Congrats to Joel Buckley and his wife on being married three years.
Even more amazing Roger and his wife have been together for 30 years. I’m not sure what’s more amazing…the fact my wife has stayed with me that long or that people thought that Jake Lloyd could act. (he was young Anakin in The Phantom Menace, for those keeping score)
Next time you need a shirt design, go to Scott “Why can’t we be” Friend(s), whose son continues to be a great artist.
I caught up with B-Rod last weekend. He wants everyone to know he is doing well, just switched jobs and still looks good. He did say one of the reasons he didn’t play is that he didn’t want to become one of the “old guys” that continued to play but didn’t get any better. I told him if we all thought that way no one would be playing right now over the age of 35.
Let’s all hope one of our favorite players, Jerry “Doc” Kirzner recovers quickly from a sore knee. We need Jerry back out there.
This Saturday night, weather permitting, head to the JCC to watch the fireworks that are shot off from across the street. I went last year, and they are great.
Also, if you need something to do head down to Union Terminal and check out 200 years of Jewish history in Cincinnati. I hope there are some shots of us in there from over the years.
I believe I’ve mentioned this before but for some reason Jimmy Lefton doesn’t believe Clayton Kershaw is a Hall of Fame Pitcher. I’m not sure what he has been watching all these years.
Does anyone else find it odd that the other day WLW started a weather update saying there were tornado watches happening in Oklahoma? Why do we need to know that?
If you want to watch a good but not great movie on HBO, check out the Survivor. It’s about Harry Haft, a Holocaust survivor, and his incredible journey of survival. My advice is if you watch it, don’t watch it before bed like I did.
The Reds stink!
And last but not least, here is another Jason Faust story:
When he was on my team, he was very serious about his pitching, but not so much from the plate. As such I moved him down to 12th in the order one game. Let’s just say he didn’t like that at all, and as if he were channeling Babe Ruth went 3-3 in that game and 4-4 in the next game each time pointing at me when he got a hit. The guy was one of a kind.
See you next week. It looks like it will be great weather!