June 7, 2023: Games Recap

Can you believe that we played 9 straight weeks including a Sunday without a single rain drop? Have I just jinxed us for the second half? I hope not. Big shout out to rookie captain, Wes Wolf,  on leading his team to an 8-0 record and the first half champs. Dixie cups and orange slices for his team.

Last night was the final night of the first half so let’s get to the action

Micah for Team Kamrass:

Team Kamrass capped off an outstanding first half with a 6-5 walk-off win against Team Wagner. Fink was lights out and helped himself with some great
fielding. Bryce De La Anslinger continued his season of mashing from behind the plate with a three run homer.  When it mattered most, Eric Goldstein and Michael Margolis got back to back singles in the bottom of the 7th, and then Adam Heldman supplied the walk-off hit scoring Goldstein from second.

6-2 is an outstanding first half. In many seasons, that’s good enough to win the championship. Team Kamrass extends a tip of the cap to Team Wolf for the first half title. We’re coming for them in the second half.

Kyle for Team Grefer:

We beat Team Fogel 25-15 in 6 innings. We were our typical slow starters with a bunch of errors in the first couple innings, but we were able to right the ship defensively as the game progressed. In the top of the 4th our offense opened up scoring 7 runs, and then we really exploded in the 6th with an 11-run inning.

Everyone contributed offensively with notable performances from David Wertheim going 2 for 3 with 2 walks scoring 3 times, Jack Cohen with 4 hits and 3 runs, Adam Cronstein with 2 hits and scoring 3 times, Landon Krantz with 4 hits and 5 runs scored, Joey Huidt with 3 hits including a three run homer, and the Grefer trio going a combined 10-12.

Hopefully with this win we gain some momentum heading into the second half.

On Field 2, Team Zawatsky played Team Lefton. Team Z provides the recap:

Team Zawatsky was able to put together a 26-14 win against Team (sans) Lefton this Wednesday. The game began as a back and forth affair through the first 5 innings, with both teams scoring in each inning, 3 lead changes, and a score of 15-14. The turning point came in the fifth when Ryan Marcus hit an absolute bullet at Scott Wolf, subbing for Lefton, who had to leave the game with a broken finger. “As league historian, I can confidently crown Scott the all time “digit breaker” with four(!) broken fingers” said league historian Steve Zawatsky. Scott is scheduled to have surgery next week.  Let’s hope for a speedy recovery.  After this, team Zawatsky’s bats came alive, with 3 homeruns in the top of the 6th and another in the 7th. This included a bomb by Ryan Marcus over the right center field fence, a liner down the line by super sub Pete Soltesz, a liner up the middle by Eli Zawatsky, and a ball crushed to right by Mike Rothstein. Game ball goes to Eric Zied, who had 2 diving catches in right field and pitched 3 near-shutout innings. Both Michael Rothstein and Pete Soltesz went 6 for 6 at the plate!  Team Zawatsky will hope to take this momentum into the second half! 

And finally Team Brafman won their second game 6-5 over Team Stu. While I wasn’t at the game I was told that the big knock came from The Mayor, Todd Wasserman, who cleared the bases with a big double in the bottom of the 6th. Eppy as usual pitched a good game. Team Brafman would like to thank captain Marc for not playing and yelling at us tonight. They would also like to thank Jon “Rubes” Ruben for help in getting a sub last night

League Notes

Please allow me to congratulate my daughter, Maya, on her bat mitzvah last weekend. It was an amazing weekend and thanks to Jeff Weisbrot, Pat Feldman and Eric Gruen for sharing it with us.

Remember Big Gig Franklin’s wing night extravaganza is June 21 at the Silver Spring House. This is open to everyone in the league so please make an effort to come out and support Gig who is the title sponsor of the league. 

A huge shout out to Rick Lefton and the entire JCC staff on the always amazing work they do for the J Classic. This event started years ago in Scott “Shorty” Adams’ dad’s name, and has morphed into a huge fundraiser for the J. Well done, Ricky

In this week’s edition of the mensa awards for smarts: A big JCC cheer to former captain and father of rookie, Matt Leader, Greg who is currently on the DL for pitching batting practice to his son’s team without pitching in front of an L screen. This resulted in him getting a line drive off his arm.

While I am currently off the #selltheteambob team (for now), that will change if TJ Friedl and Nick “Mr. Tin” Senzel are not in the starting lineup every day when they’re healthy and guys like Wil Myers and Kevin “Hello” Newman are getting significant playing time. I don’t care if the Reds lose every game, I want to see Benson, Friedl, Hopkins and of course the rookies on the infield, not guys that have no future with this team. Now you are asking, well wait what about Votto. If/when he is healthy, he gets a little more rope than those guys provided he is hitting 7th in the lineup. Which, according to the great Reds web site Blogredmachine, is where he would be hitting on the all-time Reds lineup if you go by WAR. 

  1. Pete Rose LF
  2. Joe Morgan 2B
  3. Johnny Bench C
  4. Frank Robinson RF
  5. Tony Perez DH
  6. Barry Larkin SS
  7. Joey Votto 1B
  8. Pinson CF
  9. Heine (Don’t call me Ken) Groh 3B

Also did you all see Joe Burrow hit two homers out of GAPB the other day in batting practice? That guy can do it all.

See everyone Sunday