Category: Game Results

 

August 10 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

Commish Silverman set up a shrine to the sun God Helios in his backyard and it must be paying off as we had another night of softball last night without rain. Keep it up, Ryan. We all are grateful for your sacrifice to the gods. 

 

Now onto the games.

 

On Field 1 we had Team Weisser vs. Team Zawatsky.

Mark, as usual, keeps it simple for the winners:

We beat Team Zawasky 8-2 yesterday. After giving up 2 in the first we held them scoreless with solid defense. Brad Wagner had two big hits and 4 RBI, and Duffy Wolf had a big two-out hit with 2 RBIs.

 

On Field two it was the game of the season as Team Fogel battled Team Solomon.

Jeremy for the winners:

In a highly anticipated matchup between Team Solomon and The Men in Navy Blue, there was not much offense left on the table and trace amounts of defense brought to the field. A shootout from start to finish, Team Fogel prevailed by a final score of 20-19. Let’s get to the action…

 

Jumping out in front early, The Men in Navy Blue hit around in the first inning and had five players cross the plate. It was a hit parade early and that persisted for both teams through the first few innings. The score jumped from 5-4 to 8-8 and just like that it was a good ol’ fashioned offensive duel. Through four innings Team Solomon lead 14-13 and they would hold onto that lead by a score of 19-17 heading into the last frame.

 

Captain Fogel led off the seventh with a base knock and came around to score on a Tait Cunningham hustle double. With the tying run on second and two outs, “switch hitter” Andrew Gage stepped up to the plate and channeled his clutch gene with a game tying double just inside of the bag down the first base line. Gage would come around to score on a single by Bryce Anslinger and The Men in Navy Blue carried a one-run lead into the bottom of the seventh.

 

With the meat of their order coming up and having scored in every inning thus far, Team Solomon stepped to the plate with a chance to walk-off this back-and-forth game. Jamey, as he always does, kept his composure and stuck to his gameplan of firing missiles to Mark Franklin and dotting the black edge of the plate. The first two hitters were retired via towering fly balls to Fogel and Nitzberg in left and right center field before a two-out single kept the game going. A groundout to third ended the game and The Men in Navy Blue celebrated around the mound.

 

The interim manager, Spark Fogel, had this to say after the game. “I love the resilience of this team.  Top to bottom everyone contributed last night and has been doing so all season.   I’m working feverishly to rejoin this group of guys for a championship run.”

 

Stats and shoutouts:

• Jeremy and Tait scored four times each in the shootout last night, with Scott and Pat scoring three times a piece, seemingly on base every time
• An outstanding catching performance by Mark Franklin who did not let up any past balls, although it came at the cost of his hitting as he said he was unable to bend his knees at the plate due to all the crouching while catching
• Shorty with three base hits yesterday started and continued many important rallies, not forgetting to point to the sky after each knock

 

On Field 3 it was Team Brafman vs. Team Grefer vs. Team Sun

Kyle for the winners:

We beat team Brafman 21-13 in a total team effort. Down 10-4, our team showed great fight to come back and get the win in a long game that took all of two hours. MVP goes to Chris Kunkel who went 5-5 and had a great running catch in short right field. AJ Goldhoff had 2 hits and 3 walks in the leadoff spot, Ben Margolis went 4-5 at the plate, and Josh Rosen, Howie Schwartz, Zach Michelson, and I all had big hits. Sub Cam Kirzner also had a great game with a lot of action at shortstop.

Capt. Brafman adds that we played a hard game but the bats of Grefer and the sun didn’t help the cause. Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley had a great game at SS and at the plate. A big shoutout to Todd “The Mayor” Wasserman who hung behind the plate in what was the longest 7-inning game in JCC history and also had a couple of knocks. 

 

Finally, we move to Field 4 where Team Kamrass played Team Roger

 

On a lovely night for softball, Team Kamrass vanquished Team Rosenthal 14-9. Highlights included a diving catch from Adam Heldman, a few web gems at third base from Scott Raskin, an over the shoulder catch from Jared Kamrass, and a critical slide into first base by Mark Levine. Eppy pitched a great game.

Lots of strong hitting performances throughout the lineup.

Watch out. Team Kamrass is heating up for the tournament run.

 

League notes:

I’m sure by now most of you know but Rick Lefton’s sister-in-law lost her battle with cancer earlier in the week. We are all thinking of Rick and his family this week.

 

Ryan “The One-Man Gang” Marcus starts a new job at Princeton Jr. High this week. Good luck, big man. Try not to scare the kids.

 

A BIG and I mean BIG week for James “Lynn” Swan. First, it was his birthday and then he got engaged. Congrats and happy birthday!

 

Happy 21st anniversary to Corey Norris and happy 15th anniversary to Bryce Anslinger.

 

Somehow in one of the funnier mailing issues I’ve ever seen, Roger, who as we all know eats, sleeps, and poops XU basketball got mailing labels sent to him from UC with the UC logo on them and everything. He plans to sell them next week on his blog for $25 cents so if you want to be Roger Rosenthal when you mail out your bills, he is happy to share them with you. 

 

Call out to all JCC softball historians…has this ever happened in our league? Last night in Amarillo, Texas a kid in the Cards organization named Chandler “Can I hit anymore homeruns” Redmond pulled off a homer cycle. That’s right he hit a solo, 2 run, 3 run and grand slam homer all in one game. It’s only the second time in the history of baseball at any level that someone has done that. Amazing…and to think the Reds haven’t had a player hit for the cycle since Eric the Red did it in 1989. To put that in perspective Christian Yelich has hit for the cycle twice THIS SEASON vs the Reds.  

 

David “BP” Snyder doesn’t like me talking about the Reds in our team chat. He would prefer we talk about FC Cincinnati which honestly might be better for all of us.

 

Scott “why can’t we be” Friend(s) got to play golf on the old course in Scotland. Even for someone like me who doesn’t play golf, that is a pretty cool bucket list item, especially the picture of him and his family on the bridge. 

 

If you want to watch a special on how not to run a music festival, check out Trainwreck, the 3-part special on Netflix about Woodstock 99. 

 

Finally big shout out to Mike “Flash” Creemer and Eric “Jeter” Goldstein for leading all the Cincy kids out in San Diego for the Maccabi games.  They looked like they had a blast and came back with a lot of wins and medals. 

 

See everyone on Sunday.

 

August 3 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

A nice night for softball last night. Ryan must have sacrificed a live chicken or something to get us a Wednesday without rain. 

 

Let’s get right to the action. 

 

On field one we had Team Weisser vs. vs. Team Stu

 

Stu for the winners once again:

 

What a game from Team Solomon, as they continue their undefeated second half 11-8 against Team Weisser. ROY Frontrunner Ryan Marcus had this to say after the game. ” This was a gritty win for this team. We never got down on ourselves and knew we could and would fight back.”

 

Team Solomon started very sluggish on both sides of the ball (I know this is a football expression, but it works). On offense we only had 8 hits through 5 innings. On D we had several miscues in the outfield including 2 flat out drops by the man writing this recap. 

 

Through the first 5 innings, there were some great defensive plays to keep the game close. Jeff “Captain America” Weisbrot had a great running catch in deep RCF. Ryan “Macrodosing” Marcus had three very nice putouts at third after not having a ground ball hit to him in 4 weeks. Adam “The Mad Scientist” Cronstein had a great outfield assist to 3rd to nab the career stolen base leader Scott Wolf. Some offense was provided by Matt “007 aka Swaggs aka Swaggy G aka Ms Wagner aka The Accountant” Wagner with a huge double to RF scoring two.

 

Then came the top of the 6th with Team Solomon down 7-4.  After a long flyball out from future Teach of the Year, Ryan Marcus, Stuart “El Capitan” Solomon roped a triple to LCF in what has been called the hardest hit ball of his season. Corey “Chuck” Norris and Gregg “Triple G” Harris hit all game going 3-4 and 4-4 respectively. Corey had a single next, followed by a Gregg Harris double. Adam “The Bad Guy” Cronstein’s infield single scored one, followed by a huge two out single by Jeff Weisbrot, plating two to put Team Solomon aka The Purple People Eaters on top 9-7 (this may be a run-on sentence, but I’m too stupid to know how to fix it and I don’t care.). In the top of the seventh, we added two more to seal the game 11-8.

 

Big shout out to Corey Norris who pitched and fielded his position expertly. I’m not sure who rated him as an 8, but thank you.

 

Our whole team looks forward to playing for other teams on 8/14. Call them today captains because they are going fast!

 

On field two it was Team Kamrass vs. Team Grefer

Kyle for the winners:

We beat Team Kamrass with a final score of 15-12, I think. It was an overall ugly game with a lot of defensive miscues on both sides. Offensively the top contributors were Chris Kunkel and Zach Michelson each going 3-4, with Chris getting a JCC homerun on a ball to right field that was nearly caught. Everyone on the team chipped in offensively with some key hits. 

 

Apologies to Mark Tenenholtz for intentionally walking him 3 times. They were missing some of their top hitters, so he wasn’t as protected in the lineup (and last year I think he had nearly 10 RBI’s in a game against us).

 

On Field three

It was Team Brafman vs. Team Lefton

 

Marc for the winners:

Team Brafman held on in the bottom of the 7th to force an extra frame where their bats came alive for a 16-10 win. “It’s always a close game when we face Lefton,” Brafman said post game. This game was no different. Neither team ever led by more than 3 runs in this back-and-forth affair. Big hitters for Team Brafman were Eric “The Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen who set the table for us with 5 hits I believe, Todd “The Mayor” Wasserman with a booming double and a go ahead single in the 8th. JZ hit his first homer of the year a three-run shot in the gap. And David “BP” Synder also had three hits. On defense, sub Tait Cunningham made a couple of key plays at 3rd, Alex Krause was great at 2nd base and combined with Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley for a great 4-6-3 DP in the bottom of the 7th. “Handsome” Sam Castellini continued his outstanding fielding in the outfield this season and sub Jamie Kurtzer kept Lefton off balance all night. 

Team Brafman would like to give props to both Griff Harris and Cam Kirzner from Team Lefton for seemingly being everywhere on defense and for Alan “King Salsa” Lessure for his fine catch in the 1st inning off the bat of Brafman. 

 

Finally on field 4 we had Team Roger vs. Team Z

 

Pinch hitting for Roger this week is D-Sol for the winners

It was a complete team effort.  Ace, Keith Kombrinck, and battery mate, Brian Goldberg, kept the opposition off balance all night allowing only 3 runs and 1 walk.  We were flashing the leather all day in a gold glove caliber game across the board that saw 0 errors.  3B Norm Frankel made some great throws for putouts and RCF James Swan showed off his basketball skills with a couple of leaping grabs.  The team OBP was .513 led by SS Evan Pierson going 3-3 with a walk, LCF Michael Askin 2-3 with a walk, and 2B David Solomon going 3-4. 

 

League notes:

 

Ryan informed the captains last night that we have had 8 games rained out this year. That is half the season for those of you keeping score. Let’s hope the next couple of weeks are better…

Congrats to Todd “The Mayor” Wasserman on his 19th wedding anniversary.

 

If you are in the market for good baked goods and enjoy Marx Bagels make sure you grab some Sweet Butter Bakery goods on the way out

 

Congrats to Weston “Big Bad” Wolf on getting married a couple of weeks back. The wedding had a Mardi Gra parade built in and looked like a lot of fun. 

 

Jeff “Capt. USA or The Natural” Weisbrot, depending on which nickname he is going by that day, won Bronze at the Maccabiah games in Israel. Just like the Reds, Team USA was done in by bad pitching. But Jeff reports that he had a great time, and we are all proud of him for representing our league on such a large scale. Next time we expect to see Grff, Mark Tenenholtz or Anton out there. Come on boys, make it happen. 

 

Speaking of Maccabiah games, kudos to Mr. Mike “Flash” Creemer and Eric “Jeter” Goldstein for taking kids out to San Diego from Cincy for the Maccabi games. Eric’s daughter is playing softball and former players’ Aaron “Straight outta” Compton and Greg Leader (of the Pack) sons are playing baseball. What a great experience for the players and for Mike and Eric. Good luck Team USA and Cincy.

 

More news on the Wolf Family. Duffy Wolf last week had some of his art deco pictures on display here in town. If you haven’t seen Duffy’s pictures before, make sure you check out his Facebook page. They are really something.

 

Disturbing news from Mr. Bearcat, Cam Kirzner. He keeps posting pictures of himself with his arms around a pretty girl. When League notes asked who she was, he said, “It’s my girlfriend.” When asked if she too was a Rally Cat (Bearcats cheer team) he told us, “No she goes to Miami!” Cam might get his Bearcat card pulled for that answer.

 

Things you don’t know about your teammates until you ask. Fink has been out the last week and when I asked why, he told me he has been a collector of sports cards for years and he and his son were going to the National Convention in Atlantic City. I can’t wait to hear what he comes back with and what he sold. 

 

Congrats to former Commish Brad “The Human Rain Delay” Wagner on the birth of his first daughter Maddie. We all can’t wait to meet her.

 

Random Twitter picture of the week. For some reason I follow Weird Al Yankovic on Twitter and yesterday he posted a picture of himself, Pee Wee Herman and Little Stevie Van Zandt bowling. So many questions need to be asked about this. Why were those three together, why were they bowling and what in the world did they talk about? (FYI…if you have XM radio I highly recommend Little Stevie’s Underground Garage. You get some amazing music and great stories. 

 

Finally, let’s discuss the Reds and the moves they made. While I sort of understand them trading Castillo, and they should have traded Pham and Drury, I can’t understand why they traded Tyler Mahle. If you go to a game the Reds have a minor league report and if you believe Nick Krall he keeps talking about building from within and keeping it with player development. Well, Nick-TM was the 3rd best home-grown pitcher the Reds have had since Tom Browning. (Cueto and Leake where better). Anyway, he is under team control for at least one more year after this year and with the three rookies formed a pretty good rotation. But nope, let’s get more prospects which stand for haven’t done JACK SQUAT yet and start planning for 2025. Since we are giving up on the next two years or at least next year when they are still on the hook for Fat Moose and Joey, here is my advice for the Reds front office. Just like Darth Vadar did in Empire Strikes Back, they need to hire Boba Fett and freeze the three rookie pitchers and Tyler Stephenson in carbonite, hang them in the Reds Hall of Fame so we can come see them like Jaba Did to Han Solo in Return of the Jedi and then, in 2025, unfreeze them at Redsfest. This way they won’t get any older, get hurt or require Tommy John surgery before the next round of “prospects” are ready to go. Even in retirement Doc writes way better than me so I’m going to quote him from his Facebook page here:  “This team has offered no proof that it can turn the 19-year-old bus rider into anything but a 24-year-old bus rider. Without that credibility, the most recent trade deadline wasn’t reassuring. It wasn’t a reason for optimism. It was a dispiriting march toward further irrelevance. Some of us (ALL) are tired of waiting for a future that always arrives elsewhere.

 

See everyone next week, and remember UC has their home opener on September 10. Hell, I’m even excited for OSU vs. Notre Dame the week before.

 

 

 

July 24 Recap

By Marc Brafman

It’s a minor miracle we’ve actually played 3 scheduled games in a row!

On field 1 it was Team Fogel vs. Team Buttermaker

Joel, pinch hitting for Jeremy, leads off.

I’m pinch hitting for the younger Fogel as he was out of town attending a friend’s wedding.

 

On a steamy Sunday morning the men in navy were a bit short handed, using 4 subs, and persevered to beat the Team Rosenthal 11-9.  The bats and defense were both on point early for team Fogel.  Tait Cunningham continues his hot hitting and was on base 4 times as Team Fogel got off to a 11-1 lead going into the 5th inning.  Rosenthal wouldn’t quit, scoring 4 runs in the top of the fifth to avoid the run rule.  The offense for Fogel cooled and the comeback was on for Rosenthal.  Up 5 runs in the top of the 7th, Rosenthal plated 3 and had the tying run at the plate but Jamey Kurtzer masterfully worked through the jam and Fogel prevailed 11-9.  Thanks to Mendel Creeger who made his JCC debut as a last-minute sub for Fogel.  Creeger was on base twice and made a few key catches in RF.

On Field 2, it was Team Weisser vs. Team Lefton

Team Lefton won 10-7. Report will be included on Thursday’s blog.

On field 3 we had Team Grefer vs. Team Z

Kyle for the winners:

Team Grefer defeated Team Zawatsky 14-8. Howie pitched a great game, with about half of their runs unearned due to some errors. Offensive MVP was Chris Kunkel, who didn’t make an out and had two triples. It was a close back and forth game until the 6th inning when the offense exploded scoring 8 runs. Josh Rosen made some nice running and sliding catches in left center and AJ Goldhoff played a solid shortstop with a slick play up the middle showing off his range and flipping the ball to second base. The defense improved as the game went on and it was capped off with a smooth double play in the last inning where Zach Michelson made a great scoop at first.

And on Field 4, it was Team Solomon vs. half a team Brafman

Stu for the Winners:

Team Solomon continues to roll in the 2nd half, beating a depleted Team Brafman 13-3. 

Team Solomon jumped out to an early lead scoring 4 in the 1st and 4 in the 2nd inning. The top 6 of the line-up produced 13 runs. Tyler ” The Wonderkid” Stansbury, Ryan “ROY” Marcus, Stuart “El Capitan” Solomon and Gregg “Triple G” Harris were on base 3 times each. 

Defensively, Corey “Chuck” Norris pitched another great game. The best defensive play came from Ian “McKellen” Cromer. There was a flair to RF, he turns and on a dead sprint makes an ice cream cone, over the shoulder catch. 

Capt. Brafman would like to add that Todd “The Mayor” Wasserman continues his impressive hitting with two knocks and would like to thank his subs who did their best yesterday in the losing effort.

League notes will return on Thursday but while I’m thinking about it, if you would like to pitch next season, Jimmy Lefton has volunteered to help anybody that would like to learn or improve their pitching.  Let us know if you are interested. 

 

Fingers crossed the rain holds off…

July 20 Recap

By Marc Brafman

I don’t know what Commish Ryan Hi Ho Silverman did to piss off Mother Nature (maybe leave the toilet seat up or call her fat?) but man when it’s not raining it’s hotter than hell on those fields. Ryan, do some sort of dance to get some nice 75-degree weather out there for us, will ya!! I think this might have been the first time since May that we played two weeks in a row, so we have that going for us, right?

The action on the field was as hot as the air. Let’s get right to it.

On Field one we had Team Lefton vs. Team Kamrass

Jimmy for the winners:

Lefton 13 Kamrass 2

 

Team Lefton beats Kamrass by run rule in the 5th, 13-2.   Team Lefton shuffled the time of the order and it seemed to help reignite an offense that was very hot at the start of the season and cooled off significantly during the run of double headers.  This was a total team effort both offensively and defensively.  Game ball was given to Zach Zakem who had some great at bats and an awesome catch on a ball hit a mile high by Mark Tenenholtz in right field.  Going into the game, Lefton was 4-1 in 7 inning games and 1-5 in 5 inning games…winning this game by run rule in 5 innings brought up a great question from Team Secretary Ryan “Hammer” Baum… “does this win count for our 7 inning record or our 5 inning record?”… Good stuff!

On Field two it was Team Brafman vs. Team Weisser

Marc B for the winners: Team Brafman finally got a win in the second half of the season, 15-5 over Weisser. As is usually the case when it comes to Team Brafman, it was a total team effort. From Todd “The Mayor” Wasserman’s 3 hits, to “Handsome” Sam Castellini continuing his torrid hitting, Team Brafman jumped on Weisser early and never looked back. Other hitting stars were David Snyder, Fink, who had a couple of RBI Doubles, Eric “The Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen, who had 2 doubles and could have had an inside-the-park homer had he not had base runners on in front of him. In his first game back from foot surgery, Jack Cohen had a couple of knocks as well. On defense Team Brafman played a near error-free game. Super Sub David “Slim Shady” Wertheim made all of the plays at SS, JZ showed off his cannon of an arm at 3rd and Dr. Bob Pelberg with a great smothering play at first off the bat of Tyler “Big Bad” Wolf. 

Not to be overlooked was an inside-the-park homer by Wes “Hungry Like a” Wolf and Scott “Dire” Wolf who added to his all-time JCC steals record. And Brad Wagner turned a nice 5-3 DP on a hot shot down the line. 

“I’m proud of my team,” Brafman said. It took us a couple of weeks to get back on the right track. Now we need to turn our attention to Team Stu on Sunday. Brafman hopes he can avoid being thrown out of this game.

On field 3, it was the game of the night as Team Solomon took on the revamped and recharged Team Rosenthal.

Stu for the winners.

We now go to our live man on the scene, Less Nessman, aka Gregg Harris:

“This is Les Nessman live at Triple Creek Park where the excitement is mounting. Team Solomon has narrowly defeated a much-improved Team Rosenthal 10-9. People familiar with the situation say this game was a back-and-forth affair with Team Solomon going down early. It has also been reported that Super Sub Yitz Creeger was everywhere defensively along with his subbing partner Harry Meisner. Is that a turkey falling from the sky?! No, it’s Ryan Marcus with another superb day at the plate. What really has this reporter buzzing is Matt “007” Wagner. Why are we calling him 007, you ask? Because he has a Golden Eye at the plate. Let me set the scene: Team Solomon had been chipping away all game after an early deficit . They load the bases in the bottom of 7 and up steps Matt (S)Wagner. On a 3-2 pitch he lays off on a ball to walk the winning run in! What a time to be alive for Team Solomon as they stay undefeated in the 2nd half. 

When asked if he was going to miss the game this weekend because his roommate was not playing, 007 said “Yup I’ll be there. I got a championship on my mind, unlike JZ.” Could there be trouble in paradise? Stay tuned next week to find out.

This is Les Nessman signing out.

and Roger for the losing team:

TEAM SOLOMON 9

TEAM ROSENTHAL 8

(might have been 10-9…..check with other team…..)

I owe it to you as a captain to report on the game………

We jumped out with an early lead and held it until the very end……a hit here or there and a defensive play here or there and we might have had our second straight win.

Kudos to….. 

EVAN PIERSON……cranked a homerun over the LCF fence and came close a couple of other times……

MARC SIMONS……had his best offensive game of the year with at least three hits…..

JAMES SWAN……..had a couple of hits and played well in RCF……

DAVID SOLOMON……solid once again behind the plate and had a couple of hits…..

RAFI GOLDFARB…….solid at SS and had a couple of clutch hits……..

KEITH KOMBRINCK……had a good game pitching, but the third baseman (who would that be?) couldn’t move on a few grounders to him or they would have been outs……

MICHAEL ASKIN…..played a solid LF and got a couple of hits……

ROGER ROSENTHAL……MIA

Special thanks go out to subs, GARY ASKIN and MATT MILLER…….

QUOTES AFTER THE GAME……

“I think we’re getting it together. That was a good team we played this evening,” said SIMONS.

“I’m proud of the way we fought out there. We didn’t get the results we wanted, but we hung in there against a good team,” ROSENTHAL said.

It should be noted that afterwards, ROSENTHAL asked one JACOB BRAFMAN, son of MARK “MR. BLOG” BRAFMAN, if he could sub for him the rest of the year.” He can’t do any worse!?

Also, it should be noted that one of the bigger XAVIER fans, ROSENTHAL gave up the TBT game the XAVIER alumni were playing this evening to play softball……rumor had it that his team wished he would have gone to the basketball game….”I wish I would have too. I could have gotten a sub that wouldn’t have done any worse than I did. I stunk….again.”

Finally on field 4 it was Team Grefer vs. Team Fogel

Kyle for the winners:

Team Grefer beat Team Fogel 7-2 with Howie pitching a great game to earn his first win of the year! It was a total team effort with generally great defense and only a couple defensive miscues. AJ Goldhoff had a great game at shortstop and his flexibility has been invaluable moving from catcher to outfield to shortstop this season. Yair Richler also had a great game in right field making a couple huge catches on hard hit line drives. We did most of our damage in one inning scoring 5 runs, with Dan Grefer having a triple to right field, and Chris Kunkel, sub Ian Conwell, Josh Rosen, and myself all with base hits. Chris Kunkel also made a nice putout at second base to stop a potential rally.

League notes:

Happy birthday Evan Weisser. He celebrated by making a very nice shoestring catch to rob Fink last night

Israel reporter Ken “let it” Groh reports that Team USA is 3-0 in the fast pitch softball Maccabiah games. Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot is more than holding his own and keeping his 5th round draft pick grudge going. It will be interesting to see which holds a grudge longer, Jeff or JaMarr Chase for his Madden ranking which means nothing to me but A LOT to Jacob.

Congrats are in order for Phil Ganson on the birth of his son, Emmett, last week.

Also, Brad “The Human Rain delay” Wagner and his wife Brooke are expecting their first kids any day now. 

Continuing a story that was reported on last week, The Wolf family was on the front page of the Israelite this past week. A great story and picture of all of them and showcasing how long the league has been around and what it means to all of them. I know I speak for a lot of guys who are jealous of the fact that Duffy is playing with his two sons while Scott has played with his sons in the past. Every week when I wake up on Thursday with a sore shoulder or knee I think I can do this for a few more years to play with Jacob, right? 

An interesting story that Dr. Bob told us last night. When he was in med school and doing his residency at Parkland Hospital in Dallas (Where JFK Was taken when he was shot) a very large women came into the ER complaining of stomach pain. As Bob was examining her, he realized that she had a rotten apple stuck in her let’s just say large folds of skin around her stomach. Not in her stomach but hidden in her skin. Reason number 465 that I could never be a doctor.

Did anyone find the ASG broadcasters incredibly boring? I have never been one to turn on a game because so and so is on the air. But man, the Fox team was awful. Micing up the players was fun but where was the excitement? 

This week’s Ron Rose Story comes from Gary Grefer.

Ron contributed to the league in many ways. While he was on the commission and served as Commissioner, Ron was able to navigate the JCC political landscape for the league’s benefit. He always had the ear of the Executive Director and President. Whether we needed new lights, various safety initiatives, or better staffing – Ron was often the guy who ran the point on these initiatives.

Finally in this week in Roger land…

a 2014 NY Rangers Eastern Conf. Championship hat could be yours for the low, low price of $5. 

Reminder that we play Sunday at 9:30 AM

See everyone out at the fields

Marc

 

July 13 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

What do you know…we got another week of games in! Of course, it still rained on Wednesday night and those of us at the Spring House had to dodge the monsoon that hit around 9:30. But that is better than 6:30, right?  

 

First, before we get to the action on the field. A tip of the JCC hat to Team Solomon who won the first half title last night. Well done guys…

 

Now on to the recaps:

 

Field 1

 

Game 1: 11-3 Team Solomon

 

It was a tight game through the first 2 innings. It was another great pitching and fielding game for Corey “Chuck” Norris. He got the outs when it counted. In both the 3rd and 4th, we scored 4 runs to break the game open. Super Sub, Zach Hiudt, had a double over 1B to score two. Ryan “ROY” Marcus, Tyler Stansbury, and Greg “Triple G” Harris led the offensive surge to bring home the first half championship. Other play of note: I, Stuart Solomon, tried to steal home on a passed ball and was easily tagged out by the spry Ben Margolis to end the inning. On defense, Dan “Why is everything so” Green (this is a History of the World Part 1 reference. It a hilarious Mel Brooks Movie), Stansbury, and Corey “Chuck” Norris turned several double plays and one to end the game. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fGkPp3t6y4

 

This championship is the first championship of any kind for 17-year vet Jeff ” 5th Rounder” Weisbrot.

 

Game 2: 12-9 Team Solomon

 

This one was a little more interesting. 

 

This was a back-and-forth battle. Team Solomon started slowly and was in an early hole. Our defense was a little shaky in the beginning of the game, but we found our groove in later innings. Offensively, we had big 3rd and 4th innings. It all started with Mark ” Mr. Kroger” Wolfe and Swagner getting back-to-back hits and both scoring. Ryan “ROY” Marcus went 3-3 with a walk and seemed to be on base all day. In the 4th inning, the top of the line-up went to work scoring 3 runs with 2 outs. Adam ” The Mean One” Cronstein rocketed a ball to the wall in RF for a HR scoring Dan “Why Is Everything So” Green to put us up 4. The following inning, we could not hold the lead and it was tied going into the 5th. Team Solomon was unable to score with another great hit by Mr. Kroger himself, Mark Wolfe, and a great walk by Swagner aka Swaggy aka MS Wagner aka Matt The Accountant. The defense shut the door in the bottom of 5 when Mark Wolfe threw out a runner at 2nd base on a very strange steal attempt. 

 

To Extras we go!

Adam and Tyler hit a single and double, respectively. We have runners on 2nd and 3rd and no outs. The team’s fearless leader and spiritual guru, Stuart Solomon, pops up weakly to SS. Sources close to Solomon say he was not very happy with himself. Grefer walks ROY Ryan Marcus to load the bases followed by a weak infield popup from Gregg Harris. Up steps the man of the hour, Corey Norris. With bases loaded and two outs Corey ropes a ball to left field getting past the Left Fielder for a bases clearing double. The defense slammed the door in the bottom of the inning and Team Solomon is 3-0 in the second half. 

 

When told about his first championship, Jeff Weisbrot had to hold back the tears. He was able to mutter out ” I’m so proud of this team, I couldn’t imagine being with a better group of guys.” The rest was too hard to understand due to the sobbing. 

 

Lastly, it’s Adam Cronstein’s birthday on Friday. He will be 15.

 

Field Two was Team Z vs. Team Fogel

Update pending…

 

Field 3

Team Brafman vs. Team Kamrass

 

The two teams split the doubleheader with Team Brafman winning the first game 12-5. A special note about our two games is that “Handsome” Sam Castellini for Team Brafman went at least 8-8 if not more in the two games and played a very, very good LCF. “The best two game performance I’ve seen,” said Capt. Brafman. “Sam says it’s all due to his pre-game meal of Triple Creek Hotdog and Bud Light. If that is his secret, count me on board for the next game.” Besides Sam, David BP Synder had a huge two out two run single, Dr. Bob Pelberg had a couple of hits as did Eric “The Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen and Joel Buckley. Team Brafman finished the 1st half of the season all alone in second place and would have beaten Team Solomon if Capt. Brafman hadn’t gotten tossed out of their game. 

 

In Game Two, Team Kamrass led by pretty much their entire lineup and some AMAZING catches by Adam Heldman in RC and Mark “Big Blue” Tenenholtz in LC kept Team Brafman off the board. “The sun hurt us in the second game,” Brafman said but kudos to Team Kamrass who really put the ball in play. And man, their defense was really good. It should be noted that both Danny Gilbert and Mark Tenenholtz played in this game just to stick it to Team Brafman as they are moving after the season. (Thanks guys and good luck in Denver (Gilbert) and Austin (Mark))

 

Finally on Field 4 after an eventful week Team Roger vs. Team Jimmy

 

After losing for the 9th straight time in the first game of the twin bill vs TEAM LEFTON, TEAM ROSENTHAL gutted out a one run victory to finally see the other side of the scoreboard….

 

It has been a crazy last few days for captain ROGER ROSENTHAL in trying to pull off a trade to help better the team. 

 

KYLE GREFER, captain of TEAM GREFER, was looking for a pitcher after MIKE GRAY went down for the season with an injury and approached ROSENTHAL about a trade involving pitching legend, HOWARD SCHWARTZ. 

 

To make a long story short, a deal was made…..SCHWARTZ for first round pick TAYLOR POLICE. 

 

POLICE is also out for the season with an injury, so ROSENTHAL had a choice to either get a temporary sub each week or a pemanent sub and he elected to get EVAN PIERSON on a regular basis.

 

“I wish HOWIE the best, but I think we needed a spark, and a change was the best for both parties, ” ROSENTHAL said.

 

 

Now to last night’s games…..

 

The first game was a pitcher’s duel between STU WEINSTEIN (LEFTON), who was filling in for regular pitcher and captain JIMMY LEFTON, and KEITH KOMBRINCK, the new pitcher for TEAM ROSENTHAL……

 

TEAM LEFTON won the game 5-2? and the losing streak continued, but in the second game, it was a different story……..

 

“It was a total team effort from top to bottom as we finally found a way to win and lift that load off our backs. It feels great,” ROSENTHAL said afterwards.

 

“I’m proud of the way the guys hung in there. I never doubted the effort. We just had some bad breaks along the way and couldn’t overcome them. I couldn’t be happier for the team to finally get that first victory,” he added.

 

Kudos go out to the entire team…….

 

KOMBRINCK….for pitching two great games!

 

SIMONS…………for throwing out a runner trying to score in the last inning that was huge!

 

GOLDFARB…….for hitting like a monster and making every play at SS!

 

PIERSON………..for providing a much-needed spark on offense and playing a solid LCF!

 

ASKIN…………….for coming up with a huge two out RBI hit that proved to be the difference in the game!

 

GOLDBERG……for playing a solid infield, both at 1B and 2B and executing a perfect bunt!

 

SOLOMON…….for keeping the energy level high and once again, being solid behind the plate!

 

FRANKEL………for playing a solid 2B and 3B!

 

SWAN……………for getting on base in the leadoff spot a few times to set the pace!

 

 

The game ball went to KOMBRINCK, who pitched two great games and to my knowledge didn’t walk anyone………..

 

League notes:

 

A very nice article on the First Family of JCC softball, The Wolfs, from the JCC newsletter. It was a great history and shows why our league is so special. 

 

Let’s all wish Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot good luck as he takes on the world once again in Israel for Team USA in the fast pitch Maccabiah games. Bring home that gold Jeff. Use your draft slot as motivation. 

 

Some Reds news to brighten your day: This week Jason Stark, the HOF writer for the Athletic, had his mid-season awards/non awards. Cy Young, ROY etc. Here is what he wrote about the Reds as an offense which he voted as the anti-MVP of the entire National League. Other words he gave the ENTIRE Reds team the un-MVP

Going into last Thursday’s game: They had been outhomered 115-73, outslugged 451-375 and outscored by 105 runs. 

The Reds position players are minus, let me repeat, minus 8.4 WAR

14 players have a negative WAR

And finally, my favorite stat the legendary Mike “I look more like a Moose” Moustakas has a whopping 7 home runs at home in 3 years. One of which was Sunday, when he finally hit his 200th homer. 

 

Where does Howie getting traded rank as far as Hall of Famers getting traded? Behind Frank Robinson but ahead of Tom Seaver? Or Ken Griffey Jr? Either way it was a wild week in JCC softball when the living legend switches teams.

 

I bust Roger’s chops all the time for the weird things he sells (read below) but did you know that Mark “Little Gig” Franklin sells high-end Pokemon cards? He showed me last night and is doing really well for himself. 

 

Riley “The Big Man” Able informed me last night that for a cool $400 or so dollars you too can sit center stage or center pit for the Bruce Springsteen tour starting this fall. You can catch Riley and I going to see The Boss in the last row of an arena near you.

 

Anton, Sam “The Hitman” Hecht, Eric “Jeter” Goldstein and Greg “Follow the” Leader all have family members in Israel right now through Camp Livingston. Oh, to be 16 again and on that trip. We think we are living large? Ah no, those kids are.

 

Next time you see Alan Lessure at the field please make sure you stop by and ask him to tell you his Beastie Boy joke. Trust me, it’s a real winner.

 

And finally, as promised Roger today posted that he is selling a Mark Jackson NBA “Chips” poker chip from 2005-06. Roger, please update me next week if anyone buys that. 

 

Let’s hope we are done with the doubleheaders. See everyone next week

 

Marc