July 14 Recap
By Marc Brafman
Since I’m back in the office and i don’t have the schedule in front of me I can’t remember who was on which fields. So, we’ll just have Kyle kick things off with his recap from Team Grefer:
We won two tight games against Team Weisser, 10-7 in the first game and 3-2 in the second. The main factor in the two wins was our defense, as I don’t think we made a single error across both games. Dan Grefer made some nice plays at third base, and I had a diving catch to stop a rally that bounced out of my glove but fortunately fell back into my glove while I was lying in the grass. Duff Wolf was scooping everything at first, Wes Wolf was making all the plays at SS, and Tyler Wolf had a huge play where he threw out a runner at first from short center field. Wes and Tyler did the heavy lifting offensively with everyone else contributing as well. Sub Billy Kahn also played a great second base and reached base 4 times.
Win streak is now up to 7 in a row!
And the view from Team Weisser, by ROGER ROSENTHAL……
game 1……….
TEAM GREFER……..9
TEAM WEISSER……6
game 2………
TEAM GREFER…….3
TEAM WEISSER…..2
TEAM WEISSER had a four-game winning streak going into play, and if not for one bad inning in the first game, the results could have been different.
Trailing 9-1, they fought back to within the final score of 9-6.
In the nightcap, it was a pitcher’s duel between MARK WEISSER and HOWIE SCHWARTZ that ended with Weisser tying the score in the top of the fifth inning only to have them losing on a two out single to bring in the winning run…..
Kudos go out to DAVID WERTHEIM, who played a flawless shortstop and continued his torrid hitting……NORMAN FRANKEL, who got his stroke back by getting some key hits…..
JOSH ROSEN, who played a solid outfield….again, and got on base as usual…….HARRY MEISNER, who hit got robbed a few times, but did come up with the play of the game with a running catch in LCF to rob the batter of extra bases and finally, SAM CASTELLINI, got some key hits during the twin bill…..and finally, EVAN WEISSER, who got a huge triple leading off the fifth inning of a one-run game and later scored to tie the game…..
Quotes after the game…..
“I thought we played well the second game and I apologized to the team for not coming up with a big base knock in the fourth inning of a one run game.” WEISSER said.
He added, “I think I batted my son (EVAN) and I in the wrong spots.”….this was in reference to the triple, the younger WEISSER hit, leading off the fifth inning.
Next, we Have Jimmy Lefton filling us in on his team’s games vs. Team Groh:
Team Lefton sweeps the doubleheader from Team Groh. We were missing four key players but were able to fill the holes with super sub, Pat “Sunshine” Feldman and Brandon Marshall. Pat Played a great 3rd base making multiple dazzling plays. We won the first game 10-8. The difference was a key hit late in the game by Mike Margolis who was awarded the game ball. (He would later celebrate with the Big O and Kareem after the Bucks won game 4)
Team Groh would rather forget game 2, as we scored 14 runs in the first inning to win the game 15-5 in a run rule game. Game two was a total team effort by everyone.
The Purple People Eaters, Team Kamrass, who continue their winning ways vs. team Loon:
Micah reports:
Team Kamrass split the double header with Team Loon, and has now won 6 of its last 7. Adam Heldman was the game ball recipient. He recorded at least 10 of the 30 outs defensively in right center field, and also threw out a runner on the bases. He also had some key hits and swiped home on a wild pitch in what ended up being the game winning run. Eppy pitched well in both games and put the team in position to win. Riley Able was also an on base machine.
“We’re heading into the bye in a great spot,” said Captain Micah Kamrass. “We’re peaking at the right the right time. We’re ready to close out the season on a roll and be dangerous in the playoffs.”
Finally on field 4, Team Schwartz swept Team Solomon
Taylor files this report:
The first 9 batters for team Schwartz/Brafman scored to take a commanding lead in the 1st inning. Team Solomon tried their best to chip away including a solo HR over the fence by Tyler Stansbury and a “Triple” by Stu that was technically ruled a JCC error. Dan Perlmutter led the way with 3 hits and stellar defense behind the plate. Jamey kept batters at bay all night, despite being tattled on for an illegal pitching motion. Cy Young could not be fazed. Key hits by subs from team Brafman gave a boost to the offense. Andrew Gage was 4-4 and was a massive upgrade for the injured captain (who coached a brilliant game, by the way). Team Schwartz never looked back and won 14-9.
Game 2 was a pitching duel as Team Solomon took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the 3rd. With 2 outs, Pete “I enjoy injuring my teammates” Soltesz went deep with a 3-run blast over the fence to give the good guys a 3-2 lead. The game went back and forth and Stu had the go ahead RBI in the top of 5 to go up 5-4. After a debatable intentional walk demanded by Mike Rothstein, the decision paid off thanks to a 7-4 double play. Team Schwartz strung together 4 straight hits to walk-off in the bottom of 5, winning 6-5 and completing the sweep. Kudos to Dan Kirzner for really smoking the ball and starting the 5th inning rally. Also, a tip of the cap to Dan Gilbert who played an amazing 3rd base for Team Solomon. He robbed at least 3 hits last night from our team.
League notes:
Roger starts it off:
*Before the game, ROGER ROSENTHAL, alias the BOBBLEHEAD KING, said to teammate, ROSEN……”If you put up some good numbers tonight, I might buy you a JOSH ROSEN funko pop…….now the question is, will ROSENTHAL dig into his deep pockets to buy ROSEN the collectible…..you ask what is a funko pop?…..if interested, ask ROSENTHAL…..
*The UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN CONNECTION, father, MIKE, and son, BEN MARGOLIS, put on quite a show for TEAM LEFTON……the Badgers showed a thing or two to their teammates.
*Rumors have it that MARC BRAFMAN and son JACOB, spent their off week at the batting cages and put bets on who could hit the best……..reportedly, JACOB got the better of him (Brafman says: I played for Taylor last night and did ok but the big news is that Jacob tried out and made his first select baseball team over the weekend. So the future of the JCC softball is bright in him as he is a way better player than I ever was.
*There was a JEFF WEISBROT spotting……..he finally decided to come out to watch his team play…….finally, teamed with best buddy, KEN GROH, his team got beat in both games.
League notes:
Congrats to Ben “Raindance” Rosenberg on the birth of his son August on Monday. Ben reports that everyone is doing great.
Rabbi Yitz in a couple of years can field an almost complete team with his 6 sons. Not even the Wolf Pack can match that.
Congrats to Mr. Nice Guy Todd Wasserman on the start of his new job.
If you ever want to see what a Bob Ross painting looks like in real life check out the pictures Jeremy “Hamilton” Fogel took on his trip to Big Sky country last week. Somehow his girlfriend is still talking to him after spending an entire week with him.
The week would not be complete without a weird injury to Team Schwartz. Two weeks ago, it was B-Rod getting hit with fireworks during 4th of July (B-Rod is recovering from burns on his legs and hopes to play again later this year). On Friday Mr. #1, Taylor Schwartz, and Pete “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” Soltesz were moonlighting in another league when Taylor was leading off 3rd base. Pete then hit a rocket shot off his foot breaking his pinky toe. Always the trooper, Taylor played the rest of the game. He did say that the six pack of bud light that Pete bought him post game helped. The moral of this story is only play in one league at a time.
Speaking of commitment to the team, the Macho Man, Andrew Gage, was on his way to sub for Taylor last night when he swerved to miss a car and hit a telephone pole which then fell on his car. Not one to back out of playing Gage asked the police officer to drop him off at the field which resulted in him getting out of a police car a few minutes before first pitch. Not since Jason “The Mad Hungarian” Faust jumped out of his car with it still running a few years ago has a player made such an entrance at a game.
If you are in the mood for live music, and who among us isn’t, check out Rick Lefton’s daughter Claire as she and some friends of hers play at the Thompson House in Newport at 7. The best part of this, other than hearing Claire sing, is that her band’s name is The American Orgasm. Which might explain why Rick has 5 kids…
You know things are getting back to normal when David “the Dr. of Style” Weil is posting pictures of food again on Facebook.
Congrats to former Commish and the always Human Rain Delay, Brad Wagner, whose mom won a huge award for her work at Youngstown State. Anytime you win an award named after Jim Tressel you are doing something good.
How awful were the ASG uniforms? It looked like a team full of Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing stage outfits circa 1983 out there. Simply terrible.
While the Reds are playing some of the best baseball any of us have seen them play in years, they keep talking about all the extra infield and base running they are taking before each series or games. I don’t know about you but the Reds baserunning is and has been AWFUL for a couple of years. Whomever is coaching that should be let go.
Final Reds note…there were a couple of nice stories this week about Jessie Winker. One mentioned that he is a new dad and his daughters name is Wren. Wren Winker? Whatever happened to Jennifer or Sally or Karen?
And last but not least, this week in what stuff did Roger find at his garage sale shopping this weekend. He informed me he either has an Avery Johnson, Mike Shula or Mike Price Alabama card for me. Once again, if it is random or weird Roger can find it for you.
See ya at the fields next week!
Marc