Category: Game Results

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Game Results: September 24, 2020

September 23 Recap

By Marc Brafman
What a night of softball last night on Triple Creek. We had an upset win, and two walk-off hits including one in extra innings. Let’s get to the action.
On Field 1 it was Team Weisser vs. Team Lefton: 
Mark Weisser reports in:
 
Team Weisser jumped out to a 5-1 lead as a result of stringing several hits together including a solo HR by rookie of the year candidate, Josh Rosen. Team Lefton, with Eppy on the mound, struck back to tie the game at 5-5 with timely hitting by Brandon Guttman, Jimmy Lefton and Michael Rothstein. In the top of the 6th Team Lefton took the lead with a big double by sub Jeff Finkelstein. The lead stayed at 8-5 due to tremendous catch in deep RC by Griffin Harris off of the bat of Jimmy Lefton.
 
In the bottom of the 6th, Team Weisser tied the game at 8-8 as a result of a two-out bases loaded double over the left fielder’s head by Evan Weisser. “I couldn’t be more proud of my son,” Mark said. It almost makes me feel bad for trying to trade him to Team Fogel for Brad Gallop earlier this year…almost. 
 
Team Lefton failed to score in the top of the 7th due to Weisser’s new hand sanitizer pitch. “Look, Eppy and I are older and we can’t have this ball being touched by all the young guys all game. So now instead of hiding it I just squirt some on my hands on the mound and boy does that make the ball dance.” In the bottom of the seventh David “8 Mile” Wertheim (3 for 3 last night) singled and was driven in by a GW triple by Griffin “Benedict Arnold” Harris to deep LCF for the 9-8 win. 
 
It was a well-played game by both teams. Team Weisser moves on to play Team Loon on Sunday.
On Field 3 it was Team Schwartz vs. Team Groh
Pinch hitting for Taylor “May the” Schwartz be with you is Adam Cronstein:
In the top of the first Team Schwartz came out hot. The game started off with 5 straight reaching base including super subs Mitchell Evans and Mark Tenenholtz who went a combined 6 for 9 on the night. The rally was capped off by a 2-RBI double off the bat of pitcher, Randy Broyles. 
In the bottom of the inning Team Groh came out and scored 2 runs of their own but were stymied by solid defense highlighted by an excellent over the shoulder, running snow cone grab on a DEEP shot to left field by sub Dan Green making an appearance for team Groh. Cronstein remarked that he needed to remind the young outfielders that we middle aged guys can still chase down balls with the best of them, and that he was doing everything he could to maintain his status in the field since he was pushed out of his normal position by Mark T who was subbing for captain Taylor Schwartz who was enjoying a nice little vacation in the Arizona desert. Dan Green, who was making his first appearance of the season was heard saying that he just wasn’t interested in coming out to sub until the playoffs when the games actually mattered. 
In the top of the 2nd, Team Schwartz mashed another 6 runs starting off with hits by Eric Goldstein and Corey Schwartz along with Harry Meisner bashing a ball that almost left the park until the team batted around in the inning. Pitcher Randy Broyles kept team Groh off balance in the bottom half of the inning and holding them for no runs. 
Ken Groh held Schwartz scoreless in the next 2 frames and got off the mat scoring 1 in the 3rd before exploding for 7 runs in the bottom of the 4th.
Both teams were held scoreless in the 5th in part due to Corey Schwartz making a gutsy throw home to nail a runner at the plate with a great tag placed by catcher David Solomon.
Team Schwartz then plated 3 in the top of the 6th. Mark Tenenholtz and Randy had RBIs in the inning but the big hit in the inning came off the bat of Eric Zied to knock in a streaking Broyles who slid in just under the tag at home to give the team a much-needed insurance run putting them up 12-10.
Closing out the game in the 6th and 7th inning was no small feat. The play of the night came in the 6th inning by 1B Todd Wasserman, who had 2 huge hits himself on the evening including a smashed double that rolled to the wall in center field. On the play Wasserman made a back handed scoop that Joey Votto would have been proud of on a 1 hopper by Mitchell Evans to end the inning.
The victors held on in the 7th holding 2nd half champs Team Groh scoreless to earn a spot in the semifinals Sunday morning where they will meet Team Brafman. “I’m just glad that me not being there and having a “true” #1 like Mark Tenenholtz there helped us win,” Captain Schwartz said. I’ve been telling everyone for 3 years now that I’m not a 1, never mind that I’m hitting over .600 this season or playing an amazing SS week in and week out.”
Finally, in the game of the night on Field 4 Team Fogel and Team Brafman clashed
In a game that started late due to no umps (A huge shout out to Gary Grefer and the Commish for helping out), Team Brafman won on a walk-off single in the bottom of the 8th by Andy “Speedy” Heldman 10-9 or maybe 9-8 one of those two. 
In a pitchers’ duel from the first inning Mike “Go Cubs Go” Gray and Brandon “The Bird” Wolf kept both teams off the scoreboard. With some very good defense by the tag team of the Fogels (Jeremy who we come to expect each game and Joel who ran about 2 miles to make a great catch in the gap) and Weston “Hungry Like a” Wolf  who saved at least two runs with diving plays up the middle the score was close throughout the game. An opposite field home run by Chris Kunkel in the top of the 6th and a Triple by sub Matt Brodof in the top of the 7th gave Fogel a two-run lead heading into the bottom of the 7th. That is where team Brafman came off the mat for the first time. With two outs Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot doubled. Tyler “Big Bad” Wolf singled him home to cut the lead to 1. After a Brandon Wolf single, Capt. Brafman blooped a single into short center to drive in the tying run but a very heads up play and throw by Rabbi Yitz who made a perfect throw to the plate to nab Wolf to keep the score tied. 
After a scoreless top of the 8th, Team Brafman was back up to the plate. As darkness started to fall Team Brafman started their second come back of the night. All season Mike “Flash” Creemer has called the bottom of the Brafman order the “Spleen” and they came up big tonight. With one out Sam “the Hitman” Hecht beat out an infield single. Duffy Wolf then moved him along to second with a clean single of his own. Zach “The Wild Horse” Zakem singled again to load the bases. Andy “Speedy” Heldman then singled up the middle (his second hit of the game) to drive in Hecht with the winning run. “I was just trying to help out my team,” Heldman said post game. I know I’m not Carl Lewis on the bases, but I was running as hard as I could to first and I was just glad that I was able to hit it hard.” This is the first post season win ever for Capt. Brafman and he thanked his team for removing the Marvin Lewis comparison to his coaching record. “Anytime you can remove yourself from being compared to Marvin Lewis that is a huge monkey off my back. I’d like to thank The Wolfs, Rookie of the Year Joel Buckley, and the rest of my team for a great win. As usual it was a total team effort.” In defeat Joel “Sparky” Fogel had this to say to his team: I had a great time being a captain for this group of guys. We had an impressive group of vets and rookies including my own Rookie of the Year candidate in Adam Knecht. We gave it our all every game, but we just came up short tonight. I’m looking forward to next season already.
Team Brafman looks to break their own two game losing streak to Team Schwartz on Sunday.
League Notes:
Once again a huge thank you to Gary Grefer and the Commish, Rick Tenenholtz for being the umps out on Field 4 for the Fogel/Brafman game. Thanks guys.
For the past couple of weeks Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot has listened to music during warmups. While he claims it is the soundtrack to Rocky IV, I believe it is really a dentist’s podcast hosted by Tim Watley. 
I have no idea what type of car Joel “The Wrath of” Kahn drove up in last week but whatever it was it really impressed my 8-year-old son, Jacob. So, Joel if you are trying to impress little boys with your cool car, consider it done.
This has nothing to do with our league but how great was Trevor Bauer last night vs. the Brewers? When is the last time any Cincinnati athlete in any sport backed up his talk with a performance like that? Also, can someone look into the whereabouts of Taylor “Willie Mays Jr.” Trammel is these days? Thanks.
This has nothing do with our league, Part 2: On the flip side, are we seeing AJ Green turn into Joey Votto 2.0? I know he hasn’t played in 2 years but it sure didn’t look like AJ could get rid of his shadow on Thursday night, let alone the Browns. I sure hope I’m wrong about the Votto comparison (who, it should be noted, hit a huge homer last night) but so far not so good.
I Caught up with Dr. Bob this week for Where Are They Now. He told me he has taken up biking, that his favorite current athlete is Tadej Pogarcar and that he is really excited to get back into the league next year. He reminds everyone to keep their mask on and wash their hands. 
Finally, in What Roger has learned since he can’t play softball: While Roger grew up in Cincy, he somehow isn’t a huge Reds fan. That hasn’t stopped him from constantly calling the Reds Hall of Fame and the team to produce a line of bobbleheads of some of his favorite players from years past. “How many more Big Red Machine bobbleheads do we need? I’ve been actively trying to get the Reds to make bobbleheads of players the fans really want. So, if you’re with me please continue to call the Hall of Fame for these players:
Eddie Milner
Gary Redus
Brad “The Animal” Leslie
Paul Householder with his arm extended to give Johnny Bench the most awkward high 5 in history after Bench’s homer on JB night
Kal Daniels (with complete DL history included)
Bo Diaz (complete with detachable satellite dish) 
Chris Heisey sitting on the bench
Drew Stubbs trying to bunt with the pitch behind him
Jimmy Haynes (OK, no one wants his)
Co-Co Cordero 
David “Stormy” Weathers walking the bases loaded
The first 4-person bobblehead in history of a Private Eye, Dusty Baker, Corey Patterson and Willy Taveras, because the only way that those two guys should have been playing is because they had naked pictures of Dusty (or his daughter). 
A special Mother’s Day set since the only person that would want any of these guys is their moms: 
Chad Mottola
CJ Nitkowski
Brandon Larson
Ty Howington
David Espinosa
Dustin Mosely
Chris Gruler
Kyle Lotzkar
Nick Travieso
Nick Howard
Phil “Bust” Erwin
(Special bonus extra credit if you can name what all of these guys have in common)
And finally…
That Jewish catcher that had one great game last year and then was never heard from again. 
Hope to see everyone Sunday.
Stay safe Mask UP!
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Game Results: September 17, 2020

 

September 16 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

A great weather evening for softball last night as we finally got the last week of the 2nd half of the season finished. 

 

Brad “The Human Rain Delay” Wagner leads off for Team Weisser:

 

Weisser beat Schwartz 12-6 or 12-7.  Brad Wagner came in like Michael Lorenzen in a spot start and took care of Team Schwartz allowing only one walk over 7 innings.  Great defensive plays by Scott Friend, David Wertheim, Evan Weisser, the father/son combo of Griff/Dee Harris, and Ben Margolis.  Big hits by Team Weisser came from Mike Margolis who crushed a 2-out, 50 ft blooper to start a big rally late in the game, the Harris Family, James “Not Worthy” Swan, Wagner, Brian “opposite field” Goldberg, and David “8-Mile Reject” Wertheim.  Commissioner Tenenholtz is checking the record books as his predecessor may be setting a record for triples in a season like his Great, Great Uncle Honus.  The Commissioner Emeritus was asked after the game about it and said, “My ass is too slow and those should be homers. The off-season will be spent doing speed drills with parachutes, ankle weights, and verbal motivation from Scott Wolf.”   

 

Team Weisser is trying some new superstitions heading into the tournament as David Wertheim is sporting a Marshall Mathers’ hairstyle and Griff Harris is now a preferred customer at Shlomo’s Fool’s Gold and Pawn with his recent purchases hanging from his neck.  

 

Team Schwartz had big hits from their usual suspects of Adam Cronstein, Randy “Tex” Broyles, Captain Schwartz, and Harry “Hood” Meisner(s).  Team Schwartz’s key defensive play was a fantastic throw by the Captain to nail a tagging Ben Margolis out at the plate.  The league wishes B-Rod a speedy recovery after a shoulder injury.   

 

Great to see some legendary fans at the game last night.  Dave “Mays & McCovey” Wernick, Steve “We’re done using that ball” Ostrow, and Mark “Boychick” Gordon.

 

Over on Field 4 it was a battle royal between Lefton and Loon. Jimmy picks up the action for us:

 

Just a typical JCC game on Field 4 last night. Team Lefton led 20-5 in the 5th and then held on to win 24-14…yes, held on as Loon came off the mat and scored 9 in the fifth causing a brief meltdown for team Lefton, which regrouped and scored 4 in the next inning off Fink pitching in relief. “Fink has a future on the mound similar to Jose DeLeon,” Jimmy said after the game. Anton reports that had Rick Lefton been able to lift it he would have chucked the big gatorade jug onto the field like Sweet Lou during his 5th inning Lefton meltdown. Luckily cooler heads prevailed because we needed to continue the game and a game called on account of a puddle of gatorade would not have gone over well with Commish Rick.

 

Finally, in the game of the night on Field 1 first place in the 2nd half was on the line as Team Groh battled Team Brafman:

 

Ken reports first: 

 

In the top of the 1st, Sam Castellini and Tyler Stansbury scored on a 2-out single by Groh. In the bottom of the 1st, Joel Buckley hit a lead-off homer on a liner to right field and after a few hits Brafman’s single up the middle put his squad up 3-2. After hits by Ryan Baum and Bryce Anslinger and a walk to David Snyder, Mark Franklin, who had his best career game, drove in 2 runs with a big hit to give Groh a 4-3 lead which they took to the 3rd inning. After a Adam Knecht’s RBI grounder Groh, Joel Kahn, Baum and Anslinger had consecutive hits to push the lead to 7-3. Brafman scored two to make it 7-5 which held until the top of the 5th. Team Groh batted around for the 1st time all season and when the dust settled led 13-5. Joel Kahn’s 3rd hit and 4th RBI gave Groh a 14-5 lead heading into the bottom of the 6th. Team Brafman plated 3 in the frame and Groh got two back in the top of the 7th after an Anslinger walk and a Snyder single batting left handed. Mark Franklin drove in his 4th run of the game after hitting a line drive off the pitcher and Anslinger diving into home. Marc Simons’ sac fly made it 16-8. After the 1st 2 guys scored in the bottom of the 7th, Team Groh recorded the win and the 2nd half title. Great defensive plays were made by Kahn snagging a short hop (#6 on top 10), Weisbrot who made a great catch to end an inning with the bases loaded (#4 on top 10) and Tyler Stansbury had his own diving catch that hit #2 on ESPN list but #1 came in the bottom of the 1st with Marc Simons going over the fence in foul territory to snag a ball! My team always gets after me for my lack of pregame speeches to psych them up so I gave them 4 words before and throughout the game…”Don’t Ring the Bell”!  

 

Brafman chimes in that he was proud of his team’s effort and wishes that we could have fielded a little better during the game. Big hits by Sam “The hitman” Hecht, Duffy Wolf, and a stolen base by the always fleet of foot Mike “Flash” Creemer helped us stay in the game. A tip of the Yarmulke to Team Groh for winning the 2nd half. 

 

The post season is here, and this is who everyone is playing next Wednesday, September 23 at 5:45 PM (home team listed first):

 

Team Loon (1) is on a bye for the first round:

 

Groh (2) vs Schwartz (7) on Field 3

 

Brafman (3) vs Fogel (6) on Field 4

 

Weisser (4) vs Lefton (5) on Field 1

 

 

 

Brad mentioned it above, but it needs a second mention that David “8 Mile” Wertheim does look like a reject from the Slim Shady music videos.

 

As most of us know baseball legend Tom Seaver passed away last week. Scott Wolf has one of the coolest memories of Seaver as he was at his no-hitter vs. the Cards, kept score, kept his ticket stub and his game program all framed around a Hall of Fame autographed picture of Seaver. A very cool piece that Roger has been trying to buy off him for years. 

 

For those of you looking for a good place to eat during the week check out the new BBQ outdoor menu from the J-Cafe. Chef Drew “Cobra Kai” Brown will serve you up some nice kosher meats and teach you how to crane kick your neighbor all at once. (Editor’s note…for those of you with Netflix check out the show Cobra Kai. It’s really good) NO MERCY

 

Our thoughts are with Mike Rothstein and his family this week as his mom passed away last week. May her memory be a blessing, Mike. 

 

We have a special 2nd time catching up with this week with Dave “The Minister of Fun” Cohen telling me he is pulling a Frank Costanza and moving into Del Boca Vista, Florida. “I’ve traded in my P&G gear for the latest in the Jimmy Buffett line of clothing and I plan on making my way in the canasta tournaments and those guys better watch out on the shuffleboard courts. Without playing this year my arm is ready to push those round tiles down the court.” We wish Dave well this upcoming Nov. when the Rummikub world finals hits Del Boca Vista.

 

Finally, in what’s Roger been up to this week: It’s a very exciting week for Roger as the Reds have teamed with Kroger for fan appreciation week. At select Kroger locations starting this weekend you can get a Sonny Gray or Trevor Bauer bobble head. Roger will be camped outside each of these Kroger locations with his local girl scout troop asking people to go in and buy a bobblehead for him. People are used to seeing girl scouts outside of Kroger selling cookies. Well I figured I could use them to help me get people to buy bobbleheads at the same time. No one wants to buy anything from me. They just look at me, but cute little girls they can sell ice to an Eskimo.

 

Have a happy and safe new year’s everyone (And thanks for Rabbi Yitz for blowing the Shofar last night)

 

Stay safe. Mask UP.

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Game Results: September 3, 2020

 

September 2 Recap

by Marc Brafman


Sorry for the late post today everyone but better late than never right?

 

We had two games last night due to COVID popping up in our league again. Get better soon, JZ and everyone remember to keep your mask up and wash your hands.

 

On field one it was Team Loon vs. Team Fogel: 

 

Team Loon clinched the number 1 seed in the upcoming tournament as they strung together a number of hard-hit balls in the top of the first inning Wednesday night against Team Fogel. “We came out strong in the first inning,” Anton said. Lucky for us it was enough to carry us to victory. Fink, Mark Tenenholtz, Zach Hiudt and the Commish, Rick Tenenholtz, all contributed at the plate.   Team Fogel’s defense faltered a bit and the result was 7 runs in the first, as Team Loon batted around.  Fogel came back with two runs in the bottom of the frame.  Team Fogel scored a few more runs on well-placed hits up the middle and drives into the outfield gaps, but were unable to develop the big inning to match Team Loon. “You know after that 7-run first inning, we really won the game,” Joel Fogel said post game. “We outscored Loon 3-2 the rest of the way.”  Team Fogel was led by Jeremy Fogel who had an opposite field HR, but he also had a questionable hit by pitch which resulted in some outfield chatter by Loon, Mark Tenenholtz, and Mitchell Evans. The trio was wondering why Jeremy drove all the way from downtown to get hit by a pitch. Perhaps it was slow reflexes and he couldn’t avoid the 18 MPH pitch.

 

On defense the Loon outfield of Mitchell “Skip to My Lou” Evans, and Mark “The Big House” Tenenholtz, Anton and Joe Ahlers all made nice plays to keep Fogel at bay.

 

This observer (Keith Kombrinck) was impressed with the consistent velocity from Mike Gray. It was a challenge to hit him, but our big guys managed it. 

 

Special thanks to super sub Marc Brafman for filling in at 2B. While he wasn’t explaining why MLB hitters need to learn how to bunt to beat the shift, he found some time to make a run-saving diving stop which was reminiscent of his days as starting 2B for the Finneytown Wildcats. (if someone can tell me why Winker, Votto and Moose can’t lay down a bunt when no one is covering that side of the infield, I’m all ears) 

 

It should also be noted that neither Jamie nor Mike Gray gave up 23 hits in this game.

 

With the win, Loon moves to 3-2 and 8-3 overall.    

 

Over on field 3 in a bit of an upset, Weisser crushed Groh 15-0 to set up a battle between Groh and Brafman for the 2nd-half title next week.

 

Multiple hit games from David Wertheim, Griffin Harris, Scott Friend, Dee Harris and Josh Rosen (strong candidate for rookie of the year). Editors note: this is the best rookie class of guys in my 6 years in the league. Keep it up, fellas 

 

Flawless defense and the 24th JCC career shutout by Mark Weisser along with Scott Wolf’s steal record are sort of like Negro League records where Josh Gibson is said to have hit over 800 homers. Does anyone really know? But the legend is better than the facts. 

 

Even giving up 15 runs, Team Groh also didn’t give up 23 hits 

 

League Notes

 

Before we get into the fun of the week one update. I know that many of you are upset that we keep changing the schedule or that we might have a double header before the kickoff of NFL Sunday. Please know that Rick and Mike are working with Triple Creek to get in as many games as we can in before it gets too dark and anyone else in the league gets sick. Thank you for your flexibility 

 

It’s a big week in the league alumni club of guys celebrating wedding anniversaries: Howard Goldwasser, Zach Meyer and Pat “Sunshine” Feldman. Happy anniversary, guys!

 

Speaking of Pat, this week he is our guest in catching up with: I’ve started a new job with a startup company and am enjoying that very much. We have stayed pretty low key this summer and my Dad and I miss playing. We should be back better than ever next season. I also did get my hair trimmed once or twice but the man bun is still in play for next season.

 

Big shout out to Stu Solomon for starting a new job and his own company. Way to go, Stu.

 

Last week I mentioned that Brian “Yogi” Monk’s son’s bar mitzvah was at their house. Little did I know that Brian was recovering from COVID at the same time. I’m happy to report that he is doing much better and unfortunately COVID didn’t cure his love of the Yankees. 

 

Let this be a cautionary tale for all of us guys. Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley’s mom and my mother-in-law are best friends from way back. The other day, they were together, and I got a text from my mother-in-law asking me if Joel was behaving himself in the league this year because his mom was asking. So guys, just remember our Moms are always out there checking up on us…

 

Has anyone ever figured out how David “BP” Snyder changes so fast at the field. No sooner was his game over last night than I look over and he showered, changed his clothes and looked ready to go mooch off Eppy at the Silver Spring House. He’s like David Spade in Tommy Boy changing clothes on the airplane. How’s he do it?

 

Last night Adam Wolf (son of Scott) subbed for Team Fogel and had a couple of hits. The question we all need to ask is who will have more family members in the league, the Wolf’s or Rabbi Yitz, once his 6 boys are old enough. 

 

Finally, this week in the news someone bought a Mike Trout one of a kind Rookie card for 3.93 MILLION dollars (and no it wasn’t Roger) but with Roger’s help my crack JCC research team did find some other JCC rookie cards:

 

Did you know that Ron “Kiss from a” Rose’s rookie card was in the same pack as the famous Honus Wagner card? Like Honus, Ron didn’t like his card being in a tobacco card set so he had his switched to Manischewitz wine. 

 

Gig Franklin’s card was included in the 1965 Topps traded set since he was part of the famous trade when the Reds traded Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas. Gig was the player to be named later in that trade.

 

Ben “B-Rod” Rodriguez’s card is pretty unique as he is sliding down the golden escalator in Trump Tower that President Trump came down in 2015.

 

You have all heard of game used jersey cards. Well, Eric “Spuds” Zied’s card is filled with dirt from his infield practice 

 

Taylor and Corey Schwartz’s card looks like the famous picture of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly from the movie, Step Brothers. The only change is that Leon “The Bull” Seserman is in the background crying because he’s not the one hugging Taylor.

 

This year, Eddie Gallop’s card has him and his family in masks and PPE gear. 

 

“Handsome” Sam Castellini’s card is water proof.

 

Evan Reisenfeld’s card comes complete with a map and watch because he seems to have a hard time finding Triple Creek on time.

 

Jason Faust’s card will for now on glow in the dark so cars can see it at night


Both Mike “Flash” Creemer’s and Tyler “Bryce Harper” Stansbury’s cards come with a small comb so that we can all hopefully grow hair like they have. On the back, instead of their stats it has hair grooming tips.

 

Stay safe this weekend guys. Keep those masks on.

 

Marc

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Game Results: August 31, 2020

 

August 30 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

A great Sunday morning for softball as teams were in action yesterday. 

 

On Field One 

 

Keith Kombrinck checks in for Team Loon: Beautiful 70-degree weather promised a comfortable setting for Team Loon vs. Team Schwartz.  Home team Loon scored in the bottom of the first with hitting from the top of the lineup, Jeff Finklestein, Anton Loon, Mark Tenenholtz, and Matt Brodof. Team Schwartz stormed back with singles up the middle and carefully placed hits to right field.  Randy Broyles was on his game as he had Team Loon’s bottom of the lineup hitters popping up and grounding out but couldn’t contain Loon’s big boppers. Gappers by Anton and Brodof plated runs. Team Schwartz kept getting hits, but SS Jeff Finkelstein and 3B Brodof played great defense as they turned three double plays to snuff out rallies. Kudos to Ben Rodriquez in RF for Team Schwartz as he dove for a sinking liner. Couldn’t make the catch, but great effort. Going into the top of the seventh, Loon’s Kombrinck was surprised to learn from Brodof that Team Loon was winning 10-7 instead of down 10-7.  “Pay attention to the game, Keith!”  All was well for Team Loon in the 7th as Jamey Kurtzer retired the side in order which included a nice play by the veteran pitcher on a bunt attempt to end the game. Team Loon improves to 2-2 in the 2nd half, and 7-3 overall.

 

Taylor chimes in for his team: 

Team Schwartz was shorthanded and played with 9. It was a weird game for Schwartz with 3 outs coming from base running mistakes and 3 non-traditional double plays on hard hit balls. Team Loon got out to a 4-0 lead in the first and 7-2 lead in the fourth. The top of the order led the way for Loon, while Randy Broyles pitched a solid game and shut down the remainder of the lineup. Team Schwartz plated 5 in the top of the 5th to tie the game. The key hit was a 2-run homer by Adam Cronstein. Loon added a few more runs off solo shots by Anton and Mitchell “second-leadoff” Evans to regain the lead and eventually win 10-7. Mark Tenenholtz broke his streak of 2 games with 2 home runs over the fence against Team Schwartz. However, he did have an overly dramatic, unnecessary diving catch. “You didn’t fool anyone, Mark.” Team Schwartz had too many spirits on Saturday night and ultimately that is the reason for their sloppy play on Sunday.  

 

On Field 3 it was another comeback win for Team Brafman as they outlasted Team Lefton 16-15 (or something like that) 

“A couple of weeks ago Team Lefton beat us 14-2 in a game that wasn’t even that close, so today’s win was a nice comeback,” Brafman said. “This game was back and forth from the start. Team Brafman would take the lead only to have Lefton come back and then they would take the lead and we’d come back.” Going to the top of the 7th Lefton had a one run lead after a nice 3-run inning led by the top of their order. But back came Team Brafman who tied the game on a sac fly from Brandon “The Bird” Wolf and then took it with a big two-run single by sub Ryan “The Hebrew Hammer” Baum. The score for Brafman might have been bigger if not for the amazing defense by Brandon Guttman in LC, Gary “Fish” Fisher at 2nd, Jimmy Lefton at first and Eppy, who took one of the hardest balls I’ve ever seen hit off his leg, but he was able to recover to get the Speedy Mike “Flash” Creemer coming home. 

 

In the bottom of the 7th Lefton came off the mat to once again tie the score on a two-run single by Mike Rothstein leading to the 2nd extra innings game of the season for Brafman. A bases loaded walk drove in the go ahead run. 

 

In the bottom of the 8th Lefton was able to advance the tying run to third but that was as far as he got as Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot made a fine running catch on a LOOOONG fly ball hit by Jonathan Sussman to end the game.  

 

Team Brafman was led by Tyler “the Big Bad” Wolf who hit a grand slam, sub Ken Groh who had a couple of hits  and Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley who I believe went 5-5. Buckley also, for the second game in a row, took a hard grounder off his body; he might be the first JCC player to wear catcher’s gear in the field. 

 

Team Brafman improves to 4-1 in the second half and 6-5 overall. With a bye this week they look to win a share of the 2nd half when they play current first place team Groh in two weeks. Lefton falls to 0-4 in the second half.

 

Finally, on Field 4 Team Weisser defeated Team Fogel 6-5. Weisser was led by Josh Rosen (not the QB) who homered and Brad “The Human Rain Delay” Wagner who had a triple and at least 10 putouts at 3rd. “We barely hung on there in the 7th,” Weisser said post game. “It was my kind of game, though.  It was over quickly and both teams played well. I would also like to report that my dog, Muffet, didn’t get away from me today.” 

 

League notes:

 

Congrats to two members of Team Brafman, Tyler Wolf and Joel Buckley, for buying new houses.

 

Congrats to former catcher Brian “Yogi” Monk on the bar mitzvah of his son, Joey, over the weekend. It’s very strange to watch a bar mitzvah from someone’s house, but he did a great job 

 

Well done by Jacob “Orthodontist of the Stars” Stadiem for stepping up and being one of the sponsors of the JCC kids swimming program. 

 

On a personal note, if you guys or your family love Jewish baked goods, make sure you hop over to Jungle Jim’s and ask for baked goods by Erica. Not only is she my sister-in-law, but man she makes a mean challah. 

 

Let’s congratulate Roger on his wedding anniversary this past week. Roger was lucky that with the pandemic he couldn’t take his wife out to a nice dinner, but because he is a nice guy he did let her get the biggie fry when he took through the drive through window at McDonalds. “Nothing is too good for my bride.” 

 

See ya Wednesday. Mask up!

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Game Results: August 27, 2020

 August 26 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

We are in the home stretch of the second half of the season so let’s get right to the recaps:

 

On Field One Team Weisser defeated Team Lefton 13-11. “After jumping out to an early 12-3 lead we hung on to win,” Weisser said post game. “I had to use my new spitball technique I learned from my mentor Preacher Roe. He told me to wipe my hat and while I do that I spit in the palm of my hand. This way no one can see me. Although Z was looking at me pretty closely down the stretch last night.” 

 

Team Weisser was led on defense by James “Lynn” Swan who, like his namesake, made a pretty catch in LC to save 3 runs. Also, Dee Harris and David Wertheim kept Team Lefton off the board with some nice defense. Not to be overlooked was Brad “The Human Rain Delay” Wagner’s homer to help Weisser win their 1st game of the second half. Weisser stands at 1-2 in the second half and 3-5 overall while Lefton falls to 0-3 in the second half and 4-8 on the year. One note from this game…not a single player on either team who started at 3rd was thrown out at home by the right fielder on a single.

 

It should be noted that League Mascot, Kirby the dog (aka Muffett), interrupted play for the 3rd time this year. Might be time for a better leash, Mark.

 

On Field 3 it was a battle from start to finish as Team Brafman outlasted Team Loon 16-14. “I’m not sure how we lost that game,” Anton said post game. Between myself, Matt Brodoff and Zach Huidt we went a combined 12-12 yet somehow Brafman was able to pull it off. I know my team will rebound next week. Also, Scott “Shorty” Adams had at least 2 hits (and maybe 3. I can’t remember).  After jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first, the lumber of Team Loon answered with 6 runs in the bottom of the first. But Brafman battled back and went into the top of the 7th only trailing by 3 runs.  With one out is when the rally started. Scott “Dire” Wolf and Duffy “Clap at the Wolf” Man each reached on bunt singles. A single by Zach “The Wild Horse” Zakem brought the go-ahead run to the plate in Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley who also singled. Weston “Hungry Like a” Wolf and Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot also singled. After a walk to Tyler “Big Bad” Wolf, the star of the game, Brandon “The Bird” Wolf, roped a two-run double to LF to conclude the 6-run inning. Brandon went 4-5 and pitched a great game. “I know my job is to throw strikes, but tonight I was happy to contribute at the plate.” On defense Sam “The Hitman” Hecht made a great diving catch to rob Jeff Finkelstein of extra bases and Joel Buckley stopped a hot shot with his neck. While he didn’t make the out it was an impressive use of one’s body. “This was one of my favorite wins in a while,” Brafman said. All 10 of us got at least one hit and we made the plays in the field when we had to. Beating such a good team like Loon was our best of the season.” Of note, not a single player on either team who started at 3rd was thrown out at the plate on a single to right field, continuing the JCC softball trend.  Loon falls to 1-2 in the second half and 7-3 overall while Brafman improves to 3-1 in the second half and 5-5 overall.

 

Finally, on field 4 Team Groh defeated Fogel 6-5. After a scoreless top half of the 1st, Zach Swadner, in his last game of the season, got a single and scored on a Castellini hit. Zach will be missed for both his offense and defense! He paced the offense tonight going 3-3 and scoring twice. Tyler Stansbury scored 3 runs and finished the scoring in the 1st after a Pete Soltesz hit. The score remained 2-0 when the same trio all scored in the bottom of the 4th as Stansbury, Soltesz and Groh had RBIs. In the 5th, Team Fogel’s bats got hot with Dan Gilbert and Adam Knecht leading the charge as the lead was cut 5-3. In the 6th Joel and Jeremy Fogel helped even up the game at 5. Team Groh held Fogel scoreless in the top of the 7th and Stansbury scored off a game-winning single to right by Joel Kahn. Swadner, Stansbury, Snyder and a game diving catch by Sam Castellini paced the defense, but not to be outdone, both Joel and Jeremy Fogel had amazing over the shoulder catches that would have joined Sam’s in the ESPN plays of the day.  Amazingly no player on either team was thrown out at home while starting on 3rd base on a single to RF. 

 

For all of you Faust fanatics, please send him a text or a call this week as he really is missing the action. It will be a big pick-me-up. 

 

Swadner states that in the Denver air he will become a homerun legend like Donte Bichette

 

Team Schwartz on the bye this past week is 1-2 in the second half of the year and 4-5 overall 

 

League notes:

 

I never thought I’d see the day when anyone in this league rivaled that of Rick “Mr. Selfie” Lefton, but Mr. Nice Guy, Todd Wasserman, is giving Rick a run for his money. 

 

I enjoyed seeing all the pictures of everyone’s dog yesterday for National Dog day. Except maybe the Fogel’s dog who on Sunday pulled Mr. Fogel clear out of his seat during the Brafman-Fogel game. 

 

Each week I reach out to a guy not playing this year to see what they are up to. This week it is Greg Leader’s turn. Now I thought he was going to say that he is trying out for Thom Brennaman’s job or that he is excited to share his white-water rafting skills with the league. Boy was I in for a surprise when he reported that instead he has been living in a bunker during the COVID times with a number of other JCC softball players I’ll let Greg fill us all in:

 

JCC softball pandemic journal entry – 

August 23, 2020:

 

It’s day 150. Those of us who opted not to play are still on lockdown inside of the bunker. We miss our friends in the league but understand the importance of our mission. In an unthinkable, worst-case scenario, the future of JCC softball depends on us to rebuild the league. 

 

There are dozens of us safely residing inside of the bunker. We have outstanding medical care (Doctor Bob and Larry) and food, thanks to the Grefers’ regularly scheduled truck deliveries from Atlantic Foods and Alan Lessure’s homegrown salsa. Who knew he grew tomatoes in his beard? 

 

Fittingly, tickets can be exchanged for food inside of the bunker. We also received shirts to wear while in the bunker. They arrived a week late. 

 

With dozens of competitive guys living together for this long, fights tend to break out on a regular basis. While the umps living within the bunker never seem to see what happened, they always blame Zach Mayer. He’s been banished to solitary confinement in the storage room we refer to as ‘field four.’ It smells like garbage and there’s nothing there except for a bucket of water.

 

The bunker definitely lacks quality entertainment and it feels like time stands still – kind of like watching the speaker at our end of season banquets. Before MLB started back up, Ryan Silverman provided a full re-play-by-play of each Reds game in the 1980s. The fact that he has committed every pitch to memory is unbelievable. Conversations with Michael Askin are pretty brief. We’ve already been through all of the videos Scott Adams dropped off. Howie does let us sit in on his Zoom happy hours with Mark Spitz, though. As for me, I spend most of my time changing brass trophy plates from ‘League Champions: Team Loon’ to ‘League Champions: Team Leader.’

 

There are some group celebrations. It was Roger’s birthday last week. We’re still not letting him in, but did enjoy singing Happy Birthday to him from inside the bunker. 

 

We’ve formed a new commission inside of the bunker. Micah was named commissioner, with Jared serving as his campaign manager. He ran unopposed. Soon after the league’s COVID scare in June, the commission voted down the idea of mating with current players’ wives to replenish the league with new talent. We have now voted that motion down three times, but fully expect someone will raise it again in September.

 

All of us here inside of the bunker continue to read the blog. We miss the league and being on the field with our friends. We wish them all continued health throughout the remainder of the *season.

 

It was reported that this week that OSU suspended over 200 students for violating the COVID-19 rules, and while there are no reports that any guys in the league were included in that my extensive JCC reporting network did uncover some past history of guys betting in trouble in college:

 

For example, Jeff Weisbrot was once caught trying to use his dentist mirror to look at one of his fraternity brothers and his lady friend by sticking the mirror under the door.

 

Randy “Tex” Broyles was fined by OSU for using Careless Whisper by Wham as his walk-up music every time he entered class “I always wanted to make an entrance and nothing says that like a song by WHAM,” Broyles said.

 

Jerry “Doc” Kirzner was once fined for falling asleep as he says or passing out as his friends say at a Homecoming concert by The McCoys at OSU. “All I remember is having a couple of drinks before the concert and the next thing I remember Hang on Sloppy was over and I was getting carried home.” 

 

Mike Gray was fined in college simply for being a Cubs fan. 

 

In a strange twist to these stories Eric Goldstein was actually awarded money for marrying a great woman who went to Alabama. (Well done Eric) 

 

Sam “The Hitman” Hecht (my brother in law) learned how to make ice sculptures while at OSU. He was once fined for making an anatomically correct version of Greg Oden.

 

Joel “The Wrath of” Kahn was once fined for reenacting the famous Bluto scene from Animal House as he walked through the buffet line in his dorm. When confronted with a mouth full of mash potatoes Kahn said, “Hey I’m trying to become a chef. I need to eat all of this food to try it out to see what I like.”

 

Scott “Shorty” Adams was fined because he legally wanted to change his name to Dick Nicholson 

 

And finally, I may or may not have been fined for streaking a party (or 2) with somebody taking a picture of said act and then forcing me to wear that picture on a t-shirt during my bachelor party. I can neither confirm nor deny those charges.  

 

And last but not least, it was Rogers birthday this past week. He learned that the Happy Birthday song was the first singing telegram song of all time and that now you can have Western Union send one using his favorite singer, Snoop Dog, directly to your house. He also reports that he is working on getting the special Brewers limited edition bobblehead of Freddie Galvis being thrown out at home on a single to RF. “It hasn’t happened since 2009 and I know Reds fans near and far will be excited to have this special bobblehead to commemorate this great season they are having. I’m also in touch with Dinsmore and Shol to put together an even more special Joey Votto Sombrero 2020 statue since that is what he looks like at the plate these days.

 

See everyone on Sunday. Stay safe and mask up!