Month: April 2019

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

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

bye………..groh

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

GAME RECAPS……

LEFTON 10
SCHWARTZ, T. 5

by roger rosenthal……….

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

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

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

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

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

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

by taylor schwartz……

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

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

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

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

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

SCHWARTZ, H. 6
GROH                 2

by ken groh………..

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

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

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

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

by howard schwartz…….

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

by mike creemer……..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SOLOMON 10
KAMRASS 5

by micah kamrass……..

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

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

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

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

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

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

by stu solomon……..

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

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

MARK WEISSER had another great pitching performance……

GREFER 11
BRAFMAN 3

by marc brafman……..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

by kyle grefer……

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

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

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

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

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

SCHEDULE FOR WEEK 2……FIRST PITCH….6:15 P.M

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

bye…………leader

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

FAMILY NIGHT #1 SCHEDULED FOR JUNE 5…..

All members of the league are encouraged to invite family members to the first of two Family Nights for the 2019 season…..JUNE 5……

Food and drinks are provided for all……..via your concession cards…..

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

OPENING DAY GAME REPORTS……

LEFTON 13
SCHWARTZ, H. 7

by roger rosenthal……

After falling behind 2-0 in the opening frame, TEAM LEFTON got off the mat in a BIG way, by tying the game in the second inning and exploding with a game winning inning in large part from the bat of “newcomer” JOEL “SPARKY” FOGEL as he clubbed a grand slam…..after wards, FOGEL commented, “I’m almost 50 years old and didn’t know I had that kind of power. I guess working out with DAVE WERNICK has really gotten me this power.”

JIMMY LEFTON got off to a bit of a rocky start, but settled in and only walked one hitter. After wards, he credited his brother, catcher RICK LEFTON. “Without him back there, I don’t know what I would have done. He kept me focused the whole game on each hitter instead of all the chicken wings I was going to consume after the game.”

It was a total team effort as GARY FISHER, BRAD GALLOP, JEFF FINKELSTEIN, COREY NORRIS, ROGER ROSENTHAL, MICHAEL KAHAN and JEREMY FOGEL all played a solid defense which included a nice play at 3B by NORRIS, playing at a new position…..after wards, he said, “I closed my eyes and it hit my glove. I thought I was dreaming, but then I realized I had the ball and tagged third base for the force out.”

Kudos go out to RICK LEFTON who had some key base knocks plus a sacrifice fly and ROSENTHAL who got on base three times in four AB…..out, HBP (lol), hit to the left side (lol) and a BB……

Afterwards, ROSENTHAL, who once again had his BIG mouth open the entire game, stated, “I’m going to try to get on base anyway I can.”

by mike creemer…..

On the other side, STEVE ZAWATSKY was the late day replacement starter for HOWARD SCHWARTZ (see below) and worked a 1-2-3 first inning, but got roughed up later in the game. He threw strikes, albeit to a tough strike zone.

“”Big Tom” was calling a tight strike zone so I didn’t get many close pitches,” he said after the contest.

The big blow for TEAM LEFTON was the grand slam by JOEL “YOU KNOW I USED TO BE AS GOOD AS JEREMY” FOGEL in the 4th inning that broke the game open.

TYLER STANSBURY made the comment afterwards, “I think I left my bat in spring training, buy my show hair looked good.”

Next week……TEAM LEFTON plays on the road again at TEAM SCHWARTZ, T., while TEAM SCHWARTZ, H. battles TEAM GROH in a game to be televised by ESPN 8 “THE OCHO”…..

GREFER 15
SCHWARTZ, T. 0
(5 innings)

by kyle grefer…..

TEAM GREFER defeated TEAM SCHWARTZ, T. 15-0 as the winners got things started right off the “bat” with a grand slam of the bat of DAN GREFER, who finished four for four  with seven RBI’s….MIKE GRAY pitched the shutout with two strikeouts and had a solid defense behind him….

“It was a total team effort” stated captain KYLE GREFER afterwards.

Other offensive standouts were MARK “WOLVERINE MAN” TENENHOLTZ and MICHAEL “THE BADGER” MARGOLIS with three hits each and KYLE GREFER mimicking his older brother going four for four……You have to wonder how father GARY GREFER did…….

next up…..TEAM GREFER VS TEAM BRAFMAN…..TEAM SCHWARTZ, T. VS. TEAM LEFTON……

GROH 20
LEADER 16

by ken groh…….

The reigning MVP and the 2019 #1 draft pick GRIFFIN HARRIS didn’t waste any time in the top of the first inning  hitting a home run over the fence to kick of the high scoring affair between TEAM GROH and TEAM LEADER. He went four for four and scored four times.

Also, SCOTT BERGE went four for four including a triple and two doubles and three runs scored…rookie JIM BECKETT had three singles and had a sacrifice fly, one of four for the team….MARC SIMONS (3 runs scored), KEN GROH, TODD WASSERMAN and MIKE (KT) KADETZ (is he still playing?….lol) all had two hits apiece….KADETZ had three RBI’s and DAVID “DEE” HARRIS, not to be outdone by his son, had two RBI’s as did DAVID “CAN I HAVE A BEER?” WEIL had two RBI’S…..ALAN LESSURE scored three runs

Defensive highlights were presented by SIMONS, who made two great catches to save the game according to GROH…….

TEAM GROH never trailed….they were up 5-0 then it was 5-3 and then tied 7-7 after four innings….the winners scored six in the fifth inning, but TEAM LEADER scored five to make it 13-12 heading into the last inning….GROH plated seven runs to give them breathing room and it was too much to overcome……..

next up……TEAM GROH vs. SCHWARTZ, H., while TEAM LEADER has a bye……

SOLOMON 11
BRAFMAN 3

by stu solomon……

“We played a great game in all facets of the game,” said captain STU SOLOMON said after wards.

Timely hitting from MARK WEISSSER, DAVID SNYDER, TYLER WOLF and BRANDON WOLF and solid defense from DAN GILBERT and WES WOLF who made 16 out of the 21 outs.

WEISSER really worked the batters and kept them off-balance.

by marc brafman……

“It was a tough opening night for us. Just like the (Cincinnati) Reds, we couldn’t get our bats going last night, ” captain MARC BRAFMAN said the morning after.

“We look to right the ship next week vs an always dangerous TEAM GREFER,” he added.

“He continued by saying, “I feel good that next game we will start to knock the cover off the ball. Give DANNY GILBERT and WES WOLF credit as we peppered ball after ball to them and they made the plays.

The offense was led by ERIC “THE MOUTH OF THE MIDWEST” GRUEN, DAVE “THE MINISTER OF FUN” COHEN, AARON “STRAIGHT OUTTA” COMPTON and BRAD WAGNER who each had hits.

On defense, the father/ son duo of BOB “SUNSET” FELDMAN and PAT “SUNSHINE” FELDMAN made a couple of nice catches to stem the opposition attack.

“It was nice to get out and play again. I’m glad that we don’t play under the lights since the last time I played we were only playing day games” said the elder FELDMAN….

RANDY “TEX” BROYLES also made a great play coming in to dive a ball off the pitcher’s mound, but the play of the game on defense was by ZACH “ZZ TOP” ZACKEM’s acrobatic catch in right field that turned into a 9-8-6-1-4 double play…….what was that again??????…..lol

It should also be noted that JERRY “DOC” KIRZNER, a league veteran and catcher turned down his post game juice box saying, “I only drink juice boxes when we win and juice boxes are bad for your teeth anyway. I would hope (MARC) BRAFMAN brings healthy post game snacks next time……

next up……TEAM SOLOMON VS. TEAM KAMRASS……TEAM BRAFMAN vs. TEAM GREFER……

Our thoughts go out to HOWIE SCHWARTZ on the passing of his mother…..

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