Author: The Commissioner

SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK……WEATHER PERMITTING….

GAMES SUSPENDED DUE TO RAIN……

however, captain MARC BRAFMAN still reported in……kudos to him (even though he roots for that “other” team)…….

by marc brafman……..

Before the rain, TEAM BRAFMAN finally brought some thunder to the plate with a rain shortened 7-3 lead over TEAM SCHWARTZ, H……

They were led by PAT “SUNSHINE” FELDMAN was a big double as well as a bases loaded walk…..other offensive stars included…..ERIC “THE MOUTH OF THE MIDWEST” GRUEN, RANDY “TEX” BROYLES, AARON “STRAIGHT OUTTA” COMPTON, MARK BRAFMAN and BRAD WAGNER…..

“I’ve been telling Captain BRAFMAN for two years to hit me leadoff and glad he finally listened,” said GRUEN afterwards. “With my speed and athletic ability I should be hitting not only leadoff, but also 2nd and 3rd with ghost runners on base when I get on.”

Not to be overlooked was the defense led by the SUNSHINE BOYS, JERRY “DOC” KIRZNER at 2B and BOB “SUNSET” FELDMAN at 1B….

GRUEN couldn’t believe how easy they made the plays in the field especially the elder FELDMAN who continues to amaze the team with his fielding straight out of the Branch Richey baseball manual….

“Other than planning a family trip to Disney World, I don’t make anything look as easy as BOB does catching popups or plays in the field, ” GRUEN continued………

by roger rosenthal

TEAM LEFTON led TEAM KAMRASS 4-3 in the top of the 4th inning when play was stopped…..

LEFTON, for the first time this season, didn’t go 1-2-3 in the opening frame, instead got three runs only to have KAMRASS bounce back to tie it in the bottom of the inning…..

LEFTON pushed across a run in the top of the 2nd inning when ROGER ROSENTHAL hit a well placed ball between the second baseman and right fielder, went to second and third with stolen bases (they were actually wild pitches/passed balls) and scored on a COREY NORRIS two out single….

RICK LEFTON continued hit hot bat with two singles and is still hitting .1000 for the year…..

“I go to the batting cages after work for three hours and it starting to show. I get home at around 9:00 and BETSY (LEFTON) has dinner all ready for me,” he stated afterwards…..

JIMMY LEFTON continued to pitch well as he gave up three runs in the first inning, but managed to get out of a second and third and NO outs situation without giving up a run……

“I bear down in that situation and was fortunate not to give up any runs. I have my brother (RICK) to thank for that. He knows how to handle me behind the plate. I really appreciate that, but isn’t that what brothers are for?” he said afterwards……

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS CAN BE DIRECTED TO ME AT r.rosenthal1955@yahoo.com…….

GAMES SUSPENDED BECAUSE OF RAIN……STAY TUNED!!!!!

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS CAN BE DIRECTED TO ME AT……r.rosenthal1955@yahoo.com

SCHEDULE THIS WEEK……GAME TIME……..6:15 P.M.

field #1…..leader at grefer……………..espn2
field #2…..lefton at kamrass…………..espn
field #3…..schwartz, t. at solomon…..tnt
field #4…..schwartz, h. at brafman…..tbs

bye………..groh

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS CAN BE DIRECTED TO ME AT……r.rosenthal1955@yahoo.com

GAME RECAPS……

LEFTON 10
SCHWARTZ, T. 5

by roger rosenthal……….

Both JIMMY LEFTON and STEVE EPPSTEIN pitched well throughout the game, but the bats came alive in the top of the 7th inning for the victors turning a 5-3 deficit into a 10-5 lead with a 7 spot……big hits came off the bats of LEFTON, RICK LEFTON, BOB PELBERG, JOEL “SPARKY” FOGEL, COREY NORRIS, JEREMY FOGEL and JEFF “LITTLE FINK” FINKELSTEIN, but the “key” hit came off the bat of EDDIE GALLOP who kept the rally going with a two out single to keep the inning going……

GALLOP received the game ball and afterwards said, “This is an honor to receive this. I’m an old man and for me to get this…..wow!”

Best buddy, GARY FISHER added, “Now that you got a game ball, I need to get one!.”

MICHAEL KAHAN had a rough day at the plate, but did make a great catch down the LF line……

ROGER ROSENTHAL stated, “You (KAHAN) look like a girl swinging the bat, but you did make a nice catch.”

Also of note, JEREMY FOGEL scored from 2B on a long fly out off the bat of FINKELSTEIN……and RICK LEFTON continued his hot hitting streak to open the season….he has had a hit in every at bat……”I’m as hot as it gets and I hope to continue this streak, but I know it’ll end at some point, but I do plan on leading the league in hitting this year.”

by taylor schwartz……

“Despite the loss, the boys fought hard throughout. STEVE “100 WING PRE-GAME MEAL” EPPSTEIN pitched a gem of a game. He dominated through the first six innings and gave the team a spark that we desperately needed, ” captain TAYLOR SCHWARTZ stated afterwards.

OREN SHMOEL made a key defensive play in RF tracking down a deep hard hit ball near the warning track…..

Offensively, trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the 5th inning, SHMOEL singled, JOSH KLEYMEYER ripped a run scoring triple for the team’s first run this season….EPPSTEIN singled to tie the game….

Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the 6th inning, PHIL “P90X” GANSON led the charge by hitting one to the LF fence to help TEAM SCHWARTZ take a 5-3 lead going to the last frame only to have TEAM LEFTON plate seven runs to win going away.

After the game, JONATHAN “SUNFLOWER” SUSSMAN” spoke to reporters, “Like I always say, the team that scores the most runs usually wins the game. EDITOR’S NOTE….when was the last time a team with the most runs didn’t win?………Last week we didn’t score a run and I’m not a math major, but that makes it pretty tough to win the game. Tonight we scored some runs and gave ourselves a chance. If we score more runs, I guarantee a victory at some point this season.”

SCHWARTZ, H. 6
GROH                 2

by ken groh………..

HOWARD SCHWARTZ pitched a six hit, three walk, four strikeout gem as MICHAEL ASKIN, PETE SOLTESZ and SCHWARTZ provided the offensive punch….

For TEAM GROH, DAVID “DEE” HARRIS had two hits and scored a run off an RBI by MICHAEL “KT” KADETZ and TODD WASSERMAN had the other RBI driving in KEN GROH.

In the bottom of the 7th inning, TEAM GROH loaded the bases for one last chance against the JCC Hall Of Famer (SCHWARTZ), but to no avail…..

Afterwards, captain GROH said, “We’ll take a week off, hit the cages and be ready for the rest of the first half.”

by howard schwartz…….

Offensive stars were MICHAEL ASKIN, ZACH SWADNER and PETE SOLTESZ, who had a clutch hit that cleared the bases…..NICK DEPIANO was stellar in RF……

by mike creemer……..

TEAM SCHWARTZ came out swinging with speedsters MICHAEL ASKIN and ZACH SWADNER getting on base for power threats TYLER “SHOW HAIR” STANSBURY, PETE “THE SULTAN” SOLTESZ and NICK “NO I DON’T PLAY” DIPIANO who delivered Rib Eye steaks for the team.

However, it was the pitching and defense that won the game. The seasoned veterans of STEVE “Z” ZAWATSKY, BRIAN “DUCK UNDER” GOLDBERG and KEITH “AM I REALLY THAT OLD” KOMBRINCK made some defensive gems that limited the scoring for TEAM GROH.

Long time player BEN “B-ROD” RODRIGUEZ said during the game, “You know I really don’t have a bad side when I’m photographed. The camera just seems to find me.”……

The real story of the game was JCC Hall Of Famer to-be HOWARD SCHWARTZ and his battery mate, MIKE “NUMBER 101” CREMER seemed to be in sync the entire contest…..

Said “NUMBER 101” about the star pitcher, “He was hitting his spots all night. It makes it fun to catch.”

Also, of note, CREEMER almost had his first hit of the season but GRIFFIN “MVP” HARRIS threw him out from CF.

Finally, SCHWARTZ said afterwards, “You know I swam against MARK SPITZ at the Maccabiah Games in the 60’s…….what does that have to with the game and RON “PICAS” ROSE stated, I started playing in the league in 1942, three years before the league was founded. I bet you didn’t know that.”

SOLOMON 10
KAMRASS 5

by micah kamrass……..

In their season opener, TEAM KAMRASS fell in a hard fought game.

“TEAM SOLOMON got off to an early lead and the comeback effort fell a little short,” captain MICAH KAMRASS said afterwards.

Every player had at least one hit and timely hits came off the bats of RILEY ABLE, BEN BARNETT and ANDY HELDMAN…….

Following his league debut which included strong hitting, a couple of nice defensive plays and a couple of stolen bases, ADAM HELDMAN said, “We didn’t score more runs than the other team this week, but I’m confident we will score more runs than the other team next week.”

The play of the game came from HELDMAN, the wily veteran, who is in his 60th year in the league (at least it seems that way), showcasing his new knees by stealing 2B…..EDITORS NOTE…..I WANT VIDEO!!!!!!)

“Bring on TEAM LEFTON. We’re ready to get our first “W”, said KAMRASS…..

by stu solomon……..

“Another great win. It was a great combination of hitting and fielding. It’s amazing that we have some players that can play a lot of different positions. It’s certainly a good thing and can make my job a little challenging in a good way,” captain STU SOLOMON said after the win……..

Timely hitting from BRANDON WOLF, TYLER WOLF and SAM CASTELLINI  and the defensive wizards WES WOLF at SS and DANIEL “THE COWBOY” GILBERT at 3B helped pace the win…..

MARK WEISSER had another great pitching performance……

GREFER 11
BRAFMAN 3

by marc brafman……..

TEAM BRAFMAN struggled once again at the plate. “We hit the ball hard most of the night, but we couldn’t find the grass, but I’m encouraged by what I saw as our bats are going to wake up soon. ” captain MARC BRAFMAN said afterwards.

The offense was paced by BRAFMAN, ERIC “THE MOUTH OF THE MIDWEST” GRUEN, RANDY “TEX” BROILS, JERRY “DOC” KIRZNER, BRAD WAGNER and sub JAMEY KURTZER…..

Defensively, the father/son did of PAT “SUNSHINE” FELDMAN and BOB “SUNSET” FELDMAN made the plays look easy including a basket catch by the father….

“When I was a kid, we didn’t use gloves to catch the ball so catching pop-ups in no big deal for me now,” said the elder FELDMAN…..

Not to be outdone, JOEL “THE WRATH OF” KAHN made a great catch on a pop up falling back and causing the ground to shake….

“I felt that tremor all the way in LF. I’m glad he was able to hang on and not cause any damage to the field,” GRUEN stated afterwards…….

ON A SIDE NOTE…..TEAM BRAFMAN would like to send their thoughts to teammate DAVE “THE MINISTER OF FUN” COHEN………SEE BELOW……..

by kyle grefer……

After taking a 2-0 lead in the opening frame, TEAM BRAFMAN fought back to tie the game only to score nine runs in the final two frames to seal the deal………MIKE GRAY pitched another great game and once again, the defense was solid…..

ERIC ZIED made a couple of sliding catches in RF and rookie ADAM GERHARDSTEIN led the offense with a timely hit in the 6th inning and a home run in the 7th………

GRAY in response to BRAFMAN, “I’d argue against their claim of hitting the ball hard most of the night.”

*ON A SERIOUS NOTE…..thoughts are with DAVE COHEN and his family as his father is in Hospice down in Florida…..you can go to his Facebook page and read his great tribute to his father…..our thoughts are with you…….

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS CAN BE DIRECTED TO ME AT…..r.rosenthal1955@yahoo.com