August 4 Recap
By Marc Brafman
What a great night last night for softball. As the 2nd half of the season winds down the action is heating up as there are a lot of teams in the hunt for the 2nd half title.
Let’s get right to it.
On Field 1 it was Team Loon vs. Team Lefton
This is the entire report from Jimmy…”we won 30-4 nuff said. I believe that they batted around in the first inning twice including once with 2 outs. Tough game for Team Loon.”
Moving on to field 2 it was Team Kamrass vs. Team Grefer in a battle of teams in the hunt for the title: Micah reports in:
In a game with major championship implications, Team Kamrass edged Team Grefer by a one-run margin. Players of the game included Zach Mayer with a home run, Keith Kombrink who pitched three scoreless innings of relief, and Mike Creemer and Eppy with some key hitting and base running at the bottom of the order. Rafi Goldfarb had a few big hits and stole second and third on the same pitch. David Solomon caught a pop up with his bare hand and played solid defense behind the plate. The Kamrass brothers both had a couple of key hits. Ryan Silverman, Adam Heldman, and Riley Able each had timely hits and played great defense in the outfield.
The highlight came on defense, when Team Grefer was held scoreless in the fifth after starting the inning with bases loaded and no outs.
“It was a total team win tonight. An awesome game of softball,” said captain Micah Kamrass. “We control our own destiny for the second half title now.” (Micah we need to know how speedsters “Flash Creemer and Eppy ran the bases. Did the ball disappear or something?)
On field 3 it was Team Solomon vs. Team Weisser
Roger reports:
TEAM WEISSER 20
TEAM SOLOMON 15
It was a wild game that unfolded on field #3 as TEAM WEISSER came from a 10-2 early deficit to defeat TEAM SOLOMON……….
After scoring four runs in the top of the opening frame, TEAM SOLOMON gave up two runs, to lead 4-2, before exploding for six runs to take a 10-2 lead.
The bats really woke up for TEAM WEISSER as they plated 13 runs in the middle of the game to take 15-10 lead, only to have TEAM SOLOMON come back to tie the game at 15-15…….
However, the victors scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and held on for the hard earned victory.
It was a total team effort for the winning side as everybody, especially the bottom of the lineup, EVAN WEISSER….LARRY NEWMAN and ROGER ROSENTHAL, came up with big base knocks.
However, a huge play came in the form of a hit by pitch of ROSENTHAL, who basically just stood at the plate when SOLOMON, pitching instead of MIKE GRAY, threw inside and hit him.
This sparked a few unkind words (can’t use them for this family friendly blog) directed from SOLOMON to ROSENTHAL.
“I was doing anything I could to help the team. I didn’t do anything wrong. I was at the plate and the ball came inside and hit me. End of story,” ROSENTHAL said to reporters afterwards.
“I was furious at him (ROSENTHAL) and let him know. I don’t think I’d say those words if my family is here, but they weren’t and my emotions got the best of me, “commented SOLOMON in the somber locker room after the game.
Back to the game……kudos go out to DAVID WERTHEIM who was a hitting machine and after making an error on a routine grounder (even the great ones make errors), he caught a pop up from his shortstop position in right centerfield.
“My error accounted for three runs and I had to do something to make up for it and I did, ” WERTHEIM said.
MARK WEISSER had a good night at the plate including two bunt hits that spurred rallies….STEVE ZAWATSKY had a huge two run hit with two outs and finally, SAM CASTELLINI, fighting a mild slump, came thru in the big 13-run inning……..
“I’m proud of the way the team responded. We never gave up and that’s a sign of a good team. I offered to take the team out for ice cream after the game, but the only person who wanted to go was ROSENTHAL. I said, forget it. Maybe next time,” WEISSER said.
Finally on Field 4 it was Team Groh vs. Team Brafman.
Marc reports in:
Bouncing back from a disappointing loss last week to Team Lefton, Brafman jumped on Groh early scoring 5 in the first and never looking back to win 14-1. It was a total team effort Brafman said. We hit up and down the order, led as usual by Yitz and Mark “Big Blue” Tenenholtz, who had 3 doubles and a gap homer. “The Macho Man” Andrew Gage had one of the best at bats of the season fouling off 4-5 pitches before lacing an RBI single. Zach “The Wild Horse” Zakem not only caught a good game but contributed with a clutch two run single. And Ben “Raindance” Rosenberg also had a few hits to move runners along.
On defense Fink and Eric “The fastest man in the league” Zeid both robbed the father-son Fogel duo of hits with line drive saving catches. Fink’s almost took his glove off which once again shows why I would never pitch in our league. A big shout out to first time sub Chad Estill who played a very very solid LF and contributed with a sac fly. As the age old baseball adage says the ball will find you. I think with Yitz in LF he maybe has caught 4 balls total all season and Chad comes in and has 4-5 balls hit to him in one game. He did a great job out there Brafman said post game. As always Alan had the final word on the game. “I didn’t do anything to help us lose which is my goal each week.
With 4 teams all sitting at 4-2 going into the final weeks of the season it is shaping up to be a race to the finish.
League notes
I guess Roger was channelling his boy Javy Baez who after yet another run in with a pitcher last night had this to say: “I’m not this type of guy bringing trouble to the field.” That does sound a little like Roger, doesn’t it?
The mother of superstar GRIFF HARRIS was in attendance to see her son play. She had heard he’s the best player in the league and he didn’t disappoint as his team, TEAM LEFTON plated 30 runs in the game…..
Most people think/know that I’m pretty cheap (I think I’m frugal) and after the games, I’ve been eating “free” off STEVE EPPSTEIN, however what most don’t know is that I trade sports stuff to his family…….traded Cincinnati Reds gnomes to son, MICHAEL and Ohio State bobbleheads to son, DAVID EPPSTEIN and most recently a book about the dominance of Ohio State football especially over the University of Michigan……
STEVE EPPSTEIN finally beat HOWIE SCHWARTZ!!!!!……”It’s been a long long time that has happened. It just shows that I can still pitch,” EPPSTEIN said.
ZAWATSKY was so happy that fellow teammate, ROSENTHAL, brought him some Z-MAN wrestling cards….
Congrats to Gary Fisher on his wedding anniversary this week.
Remember that more info on the Oye Vey 5k will be out soon. I’ll keep you posted on this great fundraiser for the JCC
What better way to celebrate our kids going back to school and the High Holidays than with baked goods from Sweet Butter bakery. Talk to me or Sam “The Hitman” Hecht next week.
Get out to the fields early next week Rabbi Yitz will be doing his annual tradition of blowing the shofar before the game
Big time shout out to Justin Berg and his wife Lauren who as we all know is getting better by the week. (slowly) this week she walked in a harness for the first time since her accident. Check out their story on facebook if you want to know more.
If you need a DJ for your next social gathering I would volunteer Alan “The Family Truckster” Lessure as your guy. He does have an amazing knowledge of music including some really obscure 60’s rock in roll (even though we all know that Todd Rungren sang “Bang the Drum all Day”) look it up Alan
In this week’s installment of how many of us would be a better manager than David Bell I take us back to last Saturday night vs. the Mets. After Heath Hembree walked the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the 9th he then struck out the next two guys (with a wild pitch thrown in) which brought up a lefty hitter for the Mets. What does David Bell do? He brings in Sean Doolittle (who as we all know has done little this year) because he wanted to have a lefty-lefty matchup. Sounds good on paper right? Except that Smith from the Mets is hitting over .325 vs. lefties and something like 250 vs right handed pitchers. Of course he singled and the Reds lost in extra innings. David Bell can’t be blamed for most of the crappy bullpen arms he’s been given and the fact that none of them can throw strikes but what he can be blamed for is doing moves like this. Doolittle should be pitching in our league before he goes into a game vs. MLB hitters. Just a totally dumb move.
Finally it’s been a while since we last reported on the American Pickers style finds of Roger. This week it was plastic batting helmets. So if you are in the market for a Tampa Bay Devil Rays (not just the Rays but the DEVIL RAYS) Roger has you covered.