Author: The Commissioner

 August 25 Recap

By Marc Brafman

Dodging goose poop, some thunder, and more goose poop we got our semi-final games in and next week we will crown the post season champs.

First, on field 2, it was Team Grefer vs. Team Lefton. 

Kyle reports in for the winners:

We beat Team Lefton 12-4 (I think?) in a complete team effort. Brad Gallop had the highlight of the game with a running catch on the dirt in short right field, and also created havoc on the basepaths with his speed. We got off to a strong start scoring 4 runs in the first inning all with 2 outs and continued to play add on as the game went along. Howie again pitched a great game and hit line drives all over the field. Wes Wolf made all the plays at shortstop and used his speed to turn singles into doubles. His brother, Tyler, had a nice game as well crushing a ball to the fence in left center. Can’t wait for the championship game next week! (it should be noted that Brad “the Human Rain delay” Wagner hit one off the fence in LC for his first almost homer ever. “If only I’d hit the gym more,” a dejected Wagner said post game.  (It should be noted, part 2, that Grefer called me to sub because Danny might have hurt himself coughing on a piece of chicken at lunch which hurt his back because he coughed so hard. Lucky for Team Grefer Danny was able to tough it out. Otherwise, that would have gone down as an all-time JCC softball injury).

On field 4 it was Team Kamrass vs. the upstarts, Team Groh 

Team Kamrass continued its magic in the semi-finals with another come from behind walk off victory, this time to beat Team Groh. Eppy pitched a strong 7 and the entire team played strong defense behind him.

The hero for the night was Scott Sadler who came up in a tied game in the bottom of the 7th with bases loaded and two outs. Sadler crushed a ball to left field to deliver the victory and to advance Team Kamrass to the finals. The inning started with Groh ahead by two runs but hits by Zach Mayer, Rafi, and Ryan “Hi Ho” Silverman tied the score. After a couple of outs by the Groh defense, it was left for Sadler to be the hero. “Being a UGA fan I’m not used to winning close games,” Sadler said post game. “I’m glad that I was able to come through for us in the clutch.” 

“This team never gives up,” said Captain Micah Kamrass. “Everyone played a key role in delivering this victory and getting us into the finals. We’re ready for Team Grefer.”

Next week at 6:00 on field 2 we will crown our 2021 tournament championship, which has the first and second half winners playing each other. Team Kamrass, the 2nd half champs, will face Team Grefer, the first half champs. More importantly it will be an epic showdown of JCC softball legends. The Living Legend, Howie Schwartz vs. Eppy. Combined years in the league around 100 (give or take a year) “All my career I’ve dreamed of facing Howie in a tournament final,” Ep said between wings last night post game. “All my swimming training in the summer, my leg work and of course my time at Driveline with the folks that helped out Trevor Bauer has me ready for this game.” As for Howie, he just shook his head and said, “I’ll be ready for another title run.” 

In league notes this week we start with the first couple of JCC softball, Joel and Barb Fogel. It was brought to my attention that they are currently living with her parents while they get work done on their house, which is why they had to leave the Silver Spring House at 9:30 to make it home for their 9:45 curfew. “I didn’t realize that once we became empty nesters that would mean we’d have to move back to the MAIN nest,” Joel said as he hurriedly paid his bill last night. Never fear, Joel. As a service to you, I’ve got the perfect song/video for you and Barb to enjoy for the next couple of days:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-QG-rFf4po

The OY Vey 5K is on Nov. 7 and it’s $36 bucks to enter. All the money raised goes back to the Blue Jay program run by Mr. Mike. Please consider signing up and helping to support the JCC and Mike’s teams. 

We are working on a date and time for the ASG. Rick will be in touch soon. 

If you are interested in playing ball in the fall, please reach out to Ryan Silverman as he is working on a short season.

Happy anniversary to Mr. Special himself, Mike Rothstein. It should be noted that Mike ordered the steak last night at the SSH because, of course, it was the special.

Scott “Dire” Wolf has a nice side hustle as a door dash driver. “I like to mingle with the people,” Scott said. “What better way than to deliver their Penn Station subs at 1:00 AM?”

Would you guys complain if we went to dri-fit shirts next year? Or are you ok with the current jerseys? These are the hard-hitting topics that keep the softball commission up at night. 

Big time congrats go out to David D-Sol Solomon on getting married this weekend. Enjoy these last couple of days of freedom.

Rabbi Yitz welcomes everyone over to his house if you’d like for a Shabbat Dinner. Just don’t knock on his door at 2:00 AM and ask for Lester.

Make sure you come to the JCC this Sunday from 9:30 to 1:00 for the JCC market. And get all of your baked goods thanks to Sweet Butter Bakery who will have their tent set up.

Did you guys hear the news that starting next year Topps might be out of the baseball card biz? MLB made a deal with Fanatics for exclusive rights to all baseball cards. Sad day for all of us who collected cards. 

But in better news I love that the Reds are starting all of their games at 6:40 next year. 

In not-so-great news from baseball I got an e-mail last week from the Reds (mind you from a company called WynnBET) the official gambling sponsor of the Reds. That’s right folks…the same organization that won’t touch Pete Rose with a 10-foot pole is now offering betting on baseball from your phone. Hypocrisy has no bounds, I guess. 

Finally, now I do admit that Roger has a lot of good stuff for sale but I ask you how much would you pay for your own version of Scott Hillman, the coach of some team called the Indy Fuel, bobblehead? is 25 cents too much?

See you guys at the field this week for the final game. Come out and cheer on Team Grefer vs. Team Kamrass

Marc

August 22 Recap

By Marc Brafman

And then there were 4. 

After a very hot morning on fields that were both hard and hot, we have our final 4 in the post season. 

On what we’ll call Field Three, #1 overall seed Team Grefer took on Team Solomon

Kyle reports in:

We beat team Solomon 7-6 in an intense back and forth game. They got off to a 4-1 lead early, but Wes Wolf led the comeback effort with a huge home run over the fence in left field. Howard Schwartz pitched a great game like usual, and I had one of my better games of the season going 3-3 and making a diving catch in right center. Defensively Scott Wolf made a nice running catch, and Wes Wolf made all the plays at shortstop. In the bottom of the 6th inning Duff Wolf had a huge hit to score Brad Gallop in what would turn out to be the game winning run. Team Grefer takes on the winner of Team Lefton vs. Team Schwartz

Jimmy reports in:

First round wins for Team Lefton have been hard to come by over the years. With an 8-run lead in the 7th Lefton went with Heath Hembree to close it out. That was a mistake as Schwartz came back to make it close 18-16. Lefton had to bring himself back in to get the final out vs. the cagey vet, Jerry “Doc” Kirzner, who was 9/10 against him during the season. In a titanic battle that resembled Dave Stewart vs. Eric Davis, Jimmy was able to get the best of Kirzner who grounded out to Dee to end it. After spotting Taylor’s crew 7 runs in the first we came back to score 9 and never looked back. We look forward to playing Team Grefer next week.

On field 2 it was Team Brafman vs. Team Groh

Brafman reports for both teams

Team Groh jumped all over Team Brafman early and often and won going away 15-7. Groh got 5 runs in the first with hits all up and down their order and never looked back. But the key to their winning was their defense. a perfect 9-1-2 relay in the bottom of the 1st set the stage for multiple good plays by Groh defense. Marc Simons made a snowcone catch, Zach Michaelson made a running scoop at 2nd to end an inning Jim Beckett tossed out a guy from his knees and David “The Doc of style” Weil threw out a runner at 2nd. It was THAT type of defensive game for Groh. On offense just about everyone got at least one hit to keep the runners moving all game. “This was a JCC softball game to the max,” Groh said after the game. “Brafman crushed us both games in the regular season and today we had their number. I’m just glad we could move onto another game.”

For the disappointed Team Brafman, Rabbi Yitz almost hit for the cycle, Andrew “The Macho Man” Gage had a couple of knocks as did Capt. Brafman.  The highlight of the game for Team Brafman was watching Jeremy “Hamilton” Fogel attempt and fail on multiple throws to get a frisbee golf disc back over the fence in RC. 

Team Groh will take on the winner of Team Kamrass vs. Team Weisser.

Micah reports: 

Playing with 9, Team Kamrass dug itself another hole early against Team Weisser but was able to climb out of it with a walk off win in extras. Zach Mayer looked like the league MVP spraying the ball to all fields and with smooth fielding at shortstop. Mayer delivered the walk off hit to score Adam Heldman. Rafi Goldfarb also crushed the ball and flashed some leather. Eppy threw strikes and induced a lot of weak contact.

“We continue to hang in there and grind out tough wins,” said Captain Micah Kamrass. “It was a total team effort today.” The second half champions are ready for their semi-final match up with Team Groh.

So, Wed. night at Triple Creek we will have the following

Team Grefer vs. Team Lefton on Field 2.

Team Kamrass vs. Team Groh on Field 4.

Come out and watch if you are out. 

Two quick updates. 

Rick is working on dates for the ASG. Please stay tuned, and…

If you want to play fall softball, please reach out to Ryan “Hi Ho” Silverman as he is looking to gauge interest in a fall league.

Normal game notes will return on Thursday

Marc

 

August 18 Recap

By Marc Brafman

Sorry for the delay in getting this up. Just in case you didn’t see Rick’s e-mail here is the address to the fields on Sunday morning:

 

1223 N. State Route 741 Lebanon, Ohio 45036

Make sure you bring $3 per person in cash if you are over the age of 16. 

 

The matchups are set for the post season

Team Loon vs. Team Solomon in the play-in game

#1 seed Team Grefer vs. the Winner of the play-in

#2 seed Team Brafman vs. Team Groh

#3 seed Team Kamrass vs. Team Weisser

#4 seed Team Lefton vs. Team Schwartz 

Good luck to everyone.

Now onto the brief recaps:

On field 1 it was Team Grefer vs. Team Schwartz

Kyle chimes in:

We beat Taylor Schwartz’ team 18-13 in an offensive showdown. Wes Wolf led the way offensively with 4 hits including a home run to right field. Everyone contributed offensively (except me), with key hits coming from Howard Schwartz, Dan Grefer, Scott Wolf, Duff Wolf, Eddie Gallop and Brad Gallop. Defensively, we played a solid game, and I was able to help out the team with a couple nice catches in right center. (Editor’s note: I saw one of Kyle’s catches from field 2 he is selling himself short it was a great diving catch complete with a somersault finish that would have made Simone Biles proud) 

 

I’m incredibly proud of my team this season finishing at 12-4, with three of our losses coming by a combined margin of 4 runs. Time to see if we can carry that success into the tournament. Team Grefer had the best overall record this season. Well done, fellas. 

 

On field two it was Team Brafman vs. Team Weisser

 

Team Brafman bounced back well in a very clean 10-4 win over Team Weisser. The offense was paced as usual by Mark “Big Blue” Tenenholtz, Pat “Sunshine” Feldman and the “Macho Man” Andrew Gage who had a couple of big hits.  On defense, Fink, Rick the Commish and Ben “Raindance” Rosenberg all kept the Weisser squad off the bases with nice catches. A special note on Eric “The fastest guy in the league” Zied who hustled himself into asking to be taken out of the game for an inning to catch his breath. “I don’t know what happened to me out there,” Zied said. “I just got so winded” It should be noted that Zied goes all out no matter if it’s BP, playing first base or running out a pop up. We should all hustle like him. Team Brafman finished the year 10-6, and clinched the 2nd seed in the post season. On a side note, Team Brafman’s kid-friendly team policy might need to be revised for next season as there were more kids on the bench than players on the field. 

 

On field 3, it was the best game of the night as Team Kamrass took on Team Groh in a game to decide who would win the 2^nd-half title. The game was played in front of a packed set of bleachers since it was the last to end. Here is the recap:

 

In a wild game, Team Kamrass came back from an 8-run deficit to beat Team Groh and to lock up the second half championship. Team Kamrass came storming back to a 5-run lead heading into the top of the 6th and managed to hold on to win by 1.

Eppy and Kombrink continued the run of being the dynamic duo in the mound. Eppy also had some great hitting and added to his stolen base total this season. Riley Able was the player of the game with some timely hits and a few nice plays in right field. Adam Heldman made a nice barehanded play to throw out a runner at first from the outfield.

“It was not our prettiest game of the season, but we got the job done,” said captain Micah Kamrass. “Champions know how to grind out tough wins, and that’s what we did tonight.”

It was a remarkable comeback for Team Kamrass, who finished 8th in the first half. Winning the second half and locking up the 3 seed were both major accomplishments. It’s been a fun season playing with this group of guys. Now we’re ready for a little tournament magic. Well done Team Bachelor Party on an amazing 2nd half. 

 

Finally on field 4 it was Team Solomon vs. Team Lefton

Stu reports in:

Team Solomon was victorious last night to the tune of 13-10. 

 

We shook up the line-up a little bit and got some great production from Zander Wold. He went 4-5 after being moved to the 2 hole. Tyler Stansbury had another great game both offensively and defensively. Mark Wolfe and Evan Gildenblatt had some huge hits, and both made some very nice defensive plays in the field. 

 

As always, Mike Gray had a great day on the mound. He capped it off with a stellar play in the field for the last out of the game. A sharp grounder hit off Mike. In one motion, he slid, got to his feet, and threw a dart to first. 

 

With all that fun and excitement, we had the opportunity to draw a card to be out of the play-in game. I failed to produce the right card and now we are playing in the playoff game. If we win, there will be Orange Slices.

 

Once again, the first round is Sunday. It’s on different fields and please bring $3 (this is what Rick is going to do to you if you don’t (Start the clip at 1:17)   

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z9Cg46Nktw

 

Congrats to Jared Kamrass who once again was quoted in the paper talking about the Mayor race. Now if only he can fix the Reds’ front office.

 

A HUGE shout out to Mr. Mike “Flash” Creemer on his 20 years working at the JCC. Any of us who have kids who have ever played a sport or gone to camp at the J over that time know how great Mr. Mike is. Congrats again. 

 

I keep forgetting but please e-mail me at mbrafman14@gmail.com if you are going to Dead and Co. next month. We’ll meet up and take a picture for the record (whatever record that is).

On another music note…for those of you with HBO, watch the doc on Woodstock 99. First the music is beyond awful but man I forgot what a shit show that concert really was. A very interesting movie.

 

You’d think after being married to me for 20 years, Shana would know a little bit about sports but earlier this week when the AP college football poll came out and UC was ranked 8th she asked if that was in fact the same poll that had Alabama #1. As in no way UC and Alabama could both be in the same top 10 poll right? I’ve still got work to do, I guess.

 

Reminder that the JCC Oy Vey 5k is this Nov. Get those running and walking shoes on fellas and help out the J.

 

Finally, the other night post game we were debating the hot topic of the day…if Joey Votto is a Hall of Famer. He is, but for those of you who still think that he isn’t take a look at these stats provided by Jason Stark:

 

Hall of famers with 3000 hits – 25

Hall of famers with under 3000 hits – 135.

So far just this season Votto has passed Bill Dickey, Lou Boudreau, The Great Hank Greenberg and Hack Wilson.

This is my favorite stat. Vintage Votto led the league in OBP 7 times and missed an 8th by 1 point. Here is the total list of guys that have led the league in OBP more than Votto

 

Ted Williams – 12

Babe Ruth – 10

Barry Bonds – 10

Rogers Hornsby – 9

 

If the name of the game is not to make outs that is a pretty good list to be on. 

Finally, one for those that think he walked too much. Here is the TOTAL list of players that have 2000+ hits with the most times reaching base per game since 1900

 

Ted Williams – 2.06

Lou Gehrig – 1.98

Ty Cobb – 1.823

Wade Boggs – 1.822

Tris Speaker – 1.792

Joey Votto – 1.789

 

So, Jimmy Lefton, take your “He’s in the Reds Hall of Fame and maybe Cooperstown” and shove it. Because I feel with the DH coming to the NL next year Votto could break the team record of homers (outside shot, but he might) and hit well enough to get his other numbers up. Plus, he is going to finish in the top 3 in the MVP voting which would be his 4-5 top 5 finish.

 

Last but not least it was a slow week for Roger (well, they are all slow with him) but to his credit he did find a Nick Senzel knee ligament that may or may not be injured. It depends on the source and the day of the week. Roger plans on selling that along with a combined Shogo Hamilton Bobblehead at next year’s Redsfest

See you Sunday, and don’t forget $3 dollars

Marc 

August 11 Recap

By Marc Brafman

It was a HOT night at Triple Creek and the scores reflect it as a lot of runs were scored across the 4 games. Let’s get to the action. 

Let’s start on field 1 with Team Lefton taking on Team Weisser.

Roger leads off 

In perhaps one of the worst defensive games of the year, TEAM WEISSER fell to TEAM LEFTON, 17-7…..

Leading the way with about 12 (it seemed like that many) dropped balls at first base, was ROGER ROSENTHAL, who had a game for the ages…..in a bad way….

On the positive side, HARRY MEISNER, hit a grand slam in the top of the fifth inning to extend the game, only to be run ruled in the bottom of the inning…..

Enough said about this game…….captain MARK WEISSER was reportedly going to get the video of the game from the ESPN crew filming and having it burned immediately….. Team Lefton has now scored 51 runs in the last two games which might be a large enough number for the Reds bullpen to not blow..

On field 2 it was Team Loon vs. Team Groh

Ken reports:

Team Jekyll and Hyde played like the good doctor today and came back to win tonight’s game. With 2 outs in the 1st, Jeff Weisbrot made his JCC return after missing 13 games and lined a single to RF. He later scored on a wild pitch as Groh took a 1-0 lead. With 1 out in the bottom of the 1st Anton Loon hit a ball to the fence and Jeremy Fogel caught it, but as he hit the fence the ball fell over for a HR. Not to be outdone, Matt Brodof hit a 2-run shot that Fogel had to watch sail way over the fence as Loon led 3-1. In the 3rd inning Team Groh batted around as the first 5 guys all scored with RBI singles by Weisbrot and Groh and Baum’s triple drove them both in. Loon answered with 2 and after 3 it was a 6-5 game. Team Groh scored 3 in the 4th and sent 12 batters up in the 5th to get to the final 16-5 victory. Joel and Jeremy Fogel each scored 3 runs and had 2 hits and 3,4,5 hitters Jeff, Ken and Ryan went 9-9 with 8 runs and 9 RBI’s paced the offense! Bryce Anslinger and Jim Beckett also had 3 hits. Mark Simons had 2 RBI’s and Todd Wasserman had an RBI single and was robbed of extra bases as Stu Solomon made a diving catch in left that was the defensive play of the game. Jason Esterkamp and Loon each had 3 hits to pace Team Loon.  “I’m just glad I didn’t have to go to Doolittle or AG in this game,” Groh said. Even with an 11-run lead, I’m not sure those guys could hold it for us.” 

On Field three it was Field it was Team Grefer vs. Team Brafman

Marc reports for both teams

Team Grefer won 18-10 in a battle of second place teams. Grefer got hits all up and down the lineup, but big blows came from Weston “Hungry like a” Wolf with a JCC homer and Brad Gallop who smoked one to deep left and beat the relay to the plate. It was a total team hitting night as many balls were hit just out of the reach of the Brafman defense. “When we get rolling we are tough to stop,” Kyle said post game. Plus Howie pitched a great game as usual.  Tyler “Big Bad” Wolf also smoked two of the hardest hit balls of the season to Brafman playing short, one of which bounced off his foot resulting in Brafman getting an x-ray post game (not broken… just ice and rest). But the star of the game was Weston who played a great SS and made at least 9 put outs. For team Brafman, Mark “Big Blue” Tenenholtz paced the offense with two JCC homers and one Joey Votto homer that was WAY over the fence for 9 of the 10 RBI’s for team Brafman. He also threw a runner out at the plate for what I can imagine is his league leading 4-5 assist of the year.  With a 9-run lead in the bottom of the 7th Howie was able to throw strikes and let his defense do the job for him, something that the Reds bullpen should take note of. 

Finally on field 4 it was Team Kamrass vs. Team Schwartz 

Micah files this update

Playing with nine guys, Team Kamrass beat Team Schwartz 18-8 in 5 innings. Every player on the team hit the ball well. Adam Heldman had a home run, and Scott Sadler and Keith Kombrinck both blasted doubles over the heads of the outfield. The three-man outfield of Heldman, Ryan Silverman, and Micah Kamrass covered a lot of ground. Eppy shut out Team Schwartz in the final three innings of the game.

“Tonight was a total team win,” said Captain Micah Kamrass. “We’re right where we want to be. A win next week against Team Groh makes us the second half champions.” Amazingly, both Eppy and Kombrinck continue to throw more strikes than the Reds bullpen. “We were brought up in an era of making the other team hit the ball and not try to strike everyone out,” Keith said post game. Sure, I look like Phil Niekro out there, but he won 300 games throwing strikes.” 

Post game notes from Roger:

1. GRIFF HARRIS, celebrating his 21st birthday with a few ladies of the night afterward, reportedly was going to be taken out on the town by a few close friends…..NO curfew was in place for his special night….

2. It’s always fun listening to DAVID WEIL talk about how bad a manager is for the Reds……really, could he do a better job?

3. JEREMY FOGEL was as patient as could be…..he had to wait and wait for his dinner to be served to him and was one of the last to receive it, but did he get upset…..NO…..”I’m 

pretty patient when it comes to service. It was worth the wait.”

4. JEREMY’S father, JOEL FOGEL, had one of the biggest portions of hamburger and fries I’ve ever seen…..I don’t know if he ate the whole thing, but if he did…………

5. STEVE EPPSTEIN’s son, DAVID and daughter in law, NIVEA, are cruise bound to Alaska next week and will miss their father’s possible second half clinching game…..what kind of family is that for you?……a chance to see history or a chance to see eskimos………

And league notes:

Speaking of Alaska our very own Commish Rick was on an Alaskan vacation last week. When asked about the trip he said, and I quote “Alaska is amazing…the cruise not so much. It was filled with 40-50 year old Jewish singles who kept coming up to me asking me if I’d like to go up to the poop deck and watch for whales. I don’t know what it is about me, but I had to beat them off with a frozen seal.” But to be honest to quote my personal guru Bob Ross “God had a good day when he created Alaska.”

Happy 21st birthday to our own Griff “Benedict Arnold” Harris today. It’s good to know Griff can legally drink his disappointment away when OSU loses to Purdue or Northwestern this year.

A couple of happy anniversaries this week. Cory Norris and Bryce Anslinger both have been married a long time (but not to each other).

If you want to donate to a good cause, talk to Eric “Jeter” Goldstein as he is working on raising money for the Jewish National Fund, which if you ask me sounds a lot like the Human Fund from Seinfeld which as we all know is “Money for People.”

For those of you who have caught the pickleball bug, post season Mark “Hello” Newman is starting a pickleball league. 

if you remember, a few weeks ago it was reported that at the recently completed Olympics they were providing the athletes with an amazing amount of condoms that they could use even with Covid running wild in Japan. Our friends over at the Israeli baseball team wanted to test to see if the “unbreakable” beds were in fact unbreakable” so instead of inviting Natalie Portman or Wonder Woman or Babs Streisand to test it out, they did this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtWDzRugV_c

One of the nice things about the league that I think we all enjoy is the longevity of the league and how dads, sons and now sons of sons have all played in it. This was brought home last night when Fink and I were talking about how our dads played together. Now we are on a team and our sons have met through the league and are now friends and will one day play as well. Like the Boones and the Bells in baseball, the league also has many three-generational families. 

I’d like to get Joel “The Wrath of” Kahn to comment on the recent run that Joey Votto has been on, but he couldn’t be found.

It was nice to see “The Natural” Jeff Weisbrot back on the field last night. He’s been on the DL longer than Senzel (and he hits better than Senzel as well) 

Who knew that Billy Preston https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX2bE-OBtwk came back to life in the form of Rafi Goldfarb’s hair…

Finally, if there is a baseball god please, please, please let us enjoy Hunter Green for a long time as a Red. Reds fans don’t ask for much but baseball god we humbly ask that you permit Hunter to have a long Randy Johnson or Roger Clemens like career for the Reds. Why do you ask that we pray to the baseball gods? Because of this. Last week in one START he threw 37 pitches faster than 100 MPH including 73% of them for strikes. Had this been in the majors he would have set the record for most 100 MPH pitches in a single game in history. Let’s hope the Reds are smart enough to keep him down in Louisville until Sept. and then use him only out of the pen from time to time. 

Last but not least, this week Roger has some good stuff for sale. Used hockey chewing gum from Gump Worsley, a Martin St. Louis autographed cap when he played for the St. Louis Blues and of course a President Santa Ono bobblehead (he was the former President of UC) because really what dope would want that????

See ya next week for the final week of the season.

Marc

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.