Good morning everyone
Sorry for the late post I forgot to do it over the weekend. I guess I had a bad case of World Cup Fever.
On Field 1 we had Team Krantz vs. Team Stu
Landon for the winners:
After getting blanked 13-0 the first time these teams met, Team Krantz came into Wednesday with a little extra motivation, leading to a win in emphatic fashion and knocking off Team Solomon 15-6.
The offense came out swinging early and never really let up, piling up 23 hits and putting together rallies throughout the lineup. A six-run fourth inning cracked the game open. A 5-run fifth from Solomon put the pressure on, but Krantz responded again with a 5-run sixth to match.
“Super Sub” Chris Kunkel showed up for Team Krantz, going a perfect 4-for-4. The Hot Stove rumor mill heard whispers of trade talks over Kunkel. Ryan Marcus continued to set the table all night with four hits of his own in the leadoff spot. Mark Wolfe stayed hot at the plate with another strong hitting performance (two liners), while Jamey Drennan did a little bit of everything, delivering key hits and turning in an outstanding game on the mound. On defense, Norm Frankel provided one of the night’s highlight-reel moments with a full-extension diving stop at first base before flipping the ball to the pitcher for a huge out.
Captain K collected 3 hits and six RBIs, Griffin went 5-for-5, and a true team effort led to the win.
Team Solomon had plenty of bright spots despite the loss. Alex Kraus was locked in at the plate all evening, consistently finding barrels and keeping innings alive. James Swan was rock solid in right-center field, making every play that came his way and taking away extra bases with flawless defense. Kade Carlyle supplied the biggest swing of the night for Team Solomon with a three-run homer in the fifth inning, briefly giving Solomon hopes of a comeback before Team Krantz answered in the sixth.
Team Krantz is now 3-1 in the second half and will take on Team Groh next week at home. Team Solomon goes on the road against Team Silverman.
On Field 2 it was Team Simons vs. Team Wolf
Wolf won 30-21. Please ask Wes for an explanation when you see him
On Field 3 it was Team Silverman vs. Team Fogel
Jeremy for the winners:
On a day that can only be described as hot as Team Fogel’s bats, Team Lox took the field against a Silverman-less Team Silverman, out for revenge after a first-half Sunday morning loss — one that a couple of folks were technically there to witness, though it doesn’t count in my book. Rather than warm up with batting practice, players from both squads instead gathered in the shade of the Lox dugout to bitch about the Reds. Intelligent discourse, or possibly group therapy, depending who you asked.
The scoring started quickly with three runs Team Fogel runs in the top of the first, which has become par for the course given how Sparky, Dave, and El Capitán have been swinging it lately. Sparky in particular has been red-hot over the last three games, reaching base safely in 10 straight at-bats and fueling the run scoring. Team Silverman answered fast with a wall-clearing shot to deep left by Anton, followed by a string of extra-base hits off the southpaw. Thereafter the bats dried up just as quickly. Jimmy started working them in on the hands, turning good swings into weak grounders and lazy fly balls.
On the Lox side, it was a full team effort: every player recorded a hit, and 8 of 11 finished with multiple. El Capitán led the way with four extra-base hits, with Brad Gallop, Ian Conwell, and Eli Gould (RIP his nuts) all hitting well too, alongside another clutch outing from Dr. Bob, who’s been as much a steady bat as a vocal leader all season. Team Lox moves to 9-2.
Finally on Field 4 it was Team AJ vs. Team Brafman
AJ for the winners:
Another great night for Team Orange as we took out Team Brafman 18-6 in 6 innings tonight.
A great team effort again tonight as we got contributions up and down the lineup and out in the field. We started slow going down 2-1 after 2 innings, and then in the third inning the bats started showing up. We scored 9 in the 3rd inning with big hits from everyone especially Mike Gray who had a 2-RBI single.
We scored six more in the in the sixth with doubles from Stansbury and Meisner, and then Jeremy Dock hit his 3rd inside the park homer of the year to cap off the win.
On the stat sheet everyone on the team got at least 1 hit, led by Harry Meisner at 4-4, Eric Zied 3-4, Tyler Stansbury 3-4, I went 3-4 and Mike Gray went 2-3.
We are looking to keep up the good vibes and energy as we roll into next week to play Team Simons.
League Notes
Notable birthdays from the last week:
Jon Ruben
Mark “The Purple Haze” Levine
Taylor “May the” Schwartz be with you
Oren Shmoel
Ryan Small
How do you know when an organization has no plan, no depth, and no idea what to do? You release a CF and then try your 2nd basemen who hasn’t played CF since playing 2 games in college out there. Never mind that your second baseman can’t hit enough to keep him in the lineup. If you ever want to look up a team that has no clue look no further than the Reds.
I don’t know about all of you but I love the World Cup. Last night the Mexico/England game was as good as it gets. Let’s hope Team USA takes care of biz tonight.
Roger has a lot of interesting books for sale if you want to check out his web site. We are all waiting for him and Rick Lefton to sit down to write the history of the JCC Softball league.
Speaking of writing I know I have brought this up before but if you are not subscribed to Charlie Goldsmith substack you really should. The guys writes all the time about the Reds and Bengals and has good insight.
Finally, I saw a stat yesterday that was crazy. As a rookie, LeBron played against Kevin “What you talkin’ ’bout” Willis who was born in 1962. This year he played against Cooper Flag who was born in 2006! That’s a 44-year gap…Crazy!