JCC Softball Cincinnati

What was that crazy yellow/orange thing in the sky last night? The SUN was actually out on a Wednesday night and that led to some hot action on and off the field, so let’s get right too it.

Let’s start with Team Wolf vs. Team Kamrass on Field 4. Wes for the winners:

Both teams started off the game slowly with no runs scored in the first two innings, when Team Wolf got on the board in the top of the third with a two-run homer by Wes Wolf and an RBI single from Tyler Wolf. 

Team Kamrass scored in the third, but Team Wolf came back quickly with a two-run homer from Eli “lil Z” Zawatsky and contributions from the rest of the team. Mike Gray capped off the game with a fifth inning to remember, striking out the side and leading Team Wolf to a 12-2 run rule after the sixth. 

Now onto the rest of the games:

On Field 1 it was a titanic struggle between Grefer and Team Solomon

Stu for the winners in a marathon game:

It was a real Rumble in the Jungle last night as Team Solomon defeated Team Grefer in a great 11-inning game, 5-4. 

The defense was solid all around. Ken “Anderson” Groh pitched an amazing game keeping Team Grefer off-balance all night. Team Grefer scored 3 runs in the 3rd and didn’t score again for 8 innings. 

The offense was bleak for the first 4 innings of the game as Team Solomon were held hitless until the 4th inning. Ben “Jarvus Green-Ellis” Charlton was a terror on the base pads, scoring our first run off of a walk, steal, and two flyouts. Team Solomon did not score again until the 6th inning when Ryan “Finley” Small had a bunt single stop on the foul line. Two batters later, Brandon “Tate” Lindsey ROPED a triple to bring us within two. The bottom of the 7th was started with Adam “Pacman” Cronstein hitting a triple to RCF. He scored off Stuart Solomon “Wilcox” single to RF. He scored on Ken “Riley” Groh’s triple, taking us to extra innings. 

Three scoreless innings later, Team Solomon walked off in a classic JCC manner. Ben “Utecht” Charlton hit a liner to LF off the glove of Zach “Carter” Mayer. Then, up steps “Sam Adams” Cronstein, who laced a “single” to RF. With the outfielders playing so deep Ben was able to score from first. 

Team Grefer played amazing. Oren had two great catches at second base, Mayer made an amazing diving play in shallow LF and Tim was amazing fielding his position. 

After the game an APB for a Missing Persons was sent out for Howard Goldwasser. He was last seen in the field in the 6th inning of our 11 inning game. If you know anything about his whereabouts, please contact Team Grefer. 

After the game AJ “Green” Goldhoff had this to say. ” This was one of the best games I have ever played in, but I knew our team would pull this one out. Our team is so tight knit and it’s amazing that we have the confidence to play all of our players even in the most critical times.”

Team Solomon will be rolling into the bye on a 4-game winning streak and look forward to continue our winning ways on 7/31.

On Field 2 Team Brafman did their best vs. Team Fogel unfortunately it wasn’t enough. Jeremy for the winners:

In the first game since the Red Sea was parted (seemingly), Team Fogel was able to fight off a pesky comeback from Team Brafman. Falling behind 4-0 in the first inning, captain Jeremy Fogel stepped to the plate and hit a missile down the right field line which was destined to be foul but quickly boomeranged inside of the foul pole for a home run. After loading the bases with nobody out in the second and failing to score, Team Fogel scored 8 runs in the third inning ignited by a leadoff single from Keith Kombrinck, which was the start of the team cycle in the inning. Keith singled, Scott Friend doubled, Jamey Kurtzer tripled, and Matt Miller hit a home run. Here’s to hoping for more sunshine than rain for the rest of the season. 

For Team Brafman Jamey Drennan had a great game going 4-4 with a bunch of RBI’s and also made two very nice plays at 3rd. Jerry Doc Kirzner also made a good catch at first. Team Brafman would like to thank Benji and Rick for their help in subbing. 

And last but not least on Field 3 it was Team Wagner vs. Team Harris

Brad leads off for the winners:

On a hot and humid Wednesday night, Team Wagner defeated Team Harris with a final score of 14-10. Captain Brad Wagner took the mound for Team Wagner in place of Corey Norris, who is currently sailing around Italy. Zac Hiudt played an outstanding third base, while Wagner, Michael “De La” Askin, Matt Leader (game-winning hit), Anton Loon, Zac Hiudt, and Bob Pelberg delivered big hits that contributed to the team’s victory. Daniel Hiudt also had a great game as catcher, calling great pitches which kept Team Harris off-balance for part of the night.

Team Wagner will play Team Tenenholtz next week, with Dan Hoard and Greg Hoard providing commentary. Meanwhile, Team Harris will face Team Grefer, with Mark Gordon and Mark Wolf on the call.

Roger for the losing Harris team:

After two weeks away from the field due to the weather, TEAM HARRIS came up short of a 14-10 score vs. TEAM WAGNER.

“We fought back at the end, but things just didn’t work out for us. I like this team and still feel our better days are ahead of us,” team captain GRIFF HARRIS said afterwards.

It should be noted that the losers left a very high number of runners on base and just couldn’t come up with the BIG hits at the time.

“We had our chances, but just couldn’t get that one big hit. We had the right guys up at the plate, but it just didn’t turn out the way we wanted, ” HARRIS added.

Kudos go out to RYAN MARCUS for parking one over the fence and playing a solid third base. Also, HARRIS made a nice running catch in LCF to turn a double play when one ANTON LOON wasn’t aware how many outs there were and got doubled up.

“I was thinking more about my post-game meal than the game,” LOON said afterwards.

It should also be noted that nephew, MATTHEW LEADER, hit the game winning three-run homerun to propel the victory to save the day for the LEADER/LOON family.

“I hope I see ROGER (ROSENTHAL) at the gym soon so I can get a bit of a dig in on that hit. He’s been badgering me a lot lately about how I’m the second best athlete in the family behind my younger brother, EVAN,” LEADER said.

In attendance were his parents, former player GREG, who couldn’t hold a candle to either son and wife, CARLA and grandfather, MARTIN.

TIDBITS….

*Next week, XAVIER UNIVERSITY fan ROGER ROSENTHAL and UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI fan JZ ZEINDENSTEIN have agreed to change their caps in order to change the team’s luck of late.

“You know it will really hurt my XAVIER pride to be wearing a cap of that other school, but if we can turn our season around, it’d be worth it,” ROSENTHAL said.

**CONGRATS go out to RICK LEFTON and his son NATHAN LEFTON on his recent engagement!

***Here’s a suggestion…..maybe JEFF WEISBROT’s father ALBERT could sing the national anthem at the JCC all-star game……he would do a lot better than what was heard at the MLB Home Run Derby…..

****Finally, ZACH MAYER was seen throwing batting practice to his young son before the game…..he’s almost ready to play in the league!

Until next week….take care and stay safe and GO X!!!!!!!

League notes:

I moved offices since our last game and I can’t find my notes for birthdays from the last couple of weeks. So, for all of you that had a birthday since our last game Happy Birthday and sorry that I missed it.

Roger mentioned it but congratulations to Nathan Lefton for getting engaged. 

It’s everyone’s favorite time of the year again. That’s right, the Oy Vey 5K will once again happen this fall on November 10. Please mark it down come out and run to support the JCC and all of the sports that happen each year, including softball. 

It’s a week late but a fond farewell and good luck to first sister of the league, Brooke Fogel on her new job and life out in Denver. 

I love Paul McCartney, I love the Beatles but unless the new opera he wrote has Beatles songs in it, I would rather hear the singer who sang the National Anthem at the Home Run Derby sing. (Sober please next time) His opera is opening in Cincinnati this week. 

Speaking of music, today the Kennedy Center Honors announced that they are going to honor the Grateful Dead this fall. I’m going to be curious to see what songs they pick performers to sing. My guess is Ripple, Touch of Grey, Sugar Magnolia and Truckin. 

It’s the All-Star Game break in baseball, so for 4 days my blood pressure and David Weil’s has been down. Won’t it be nice if the Reds looked at their team and said F’it we are going all in and went out and got some players and tried to make a run at it. Of course they won’t and I think they should be sellers but it would be nice to dream right? On the flip side, Rece Hinds is hitting homers like he is in our league. 

Finally, Roger is continuing to tell me that he is pricing his Brandon Larson Louisville bobble head at the proper price of 20 bucks or more…I can’t remember. For those that don’t remember, Larson was another in a long LONG line of Reds prospects that was going to be the next big thing when, as it turns out, he couldn’t A) hit or B) field at a major league level. But Roger says that people that collect minor league Reds players are hard to find. Which gets me onto my final topic of the day. Instead of the Reds making another Elly or India bobblehead next year, I want there to be a vote on the most random Reds players of the last 20 years series. Let’s go back to the wonderful 2022 62-100 season. Seriously, who wouldn’t want the following bobbleheads:

Max Schrock, Aramis Garcia, Alejo Lopez, Ryan Hendrix, Joel Kuhnel or my man TJ Zeuch who believe it or not actually started 3 games that season. 

See ya next week. Let’s hope for no more rain!

Marc

“Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey
Whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky” is a great line from Rain is a Good Thing by Luke Bryan, and I guess it also made the bats a little frisky as well last night. The ball was flying out of the park on all fields. 

On Field 1 we had Team Harris vs. Team Wolf

TEAM HARRIS started the game on fire by scoring three runs in the bottom of the opening frame and shut down TEAM WOLF in order in the first two innings, but couldn’t sustain it and lost the game……

The lack of hitting and one bad defensive inning spelled doom for TEAM HARRIS.

“We started so well. I don’t know what happened. I’ll have to check the video later tonight to see where things went wrong and try to fix it for our next game,” captain GRIFF HARRIS said after the game.

Part of the problem for the team has been hard hit balls are not finding the green and are being caught.

Not a lot to give kudos to, however catcher EVAN WEISSER did make another web gem on a pop up. RYAN MARCUS continued his hitting ways, but the rest of the team just never got it going.

“We’ll be fine. I like my team and we’ll figure it out. The boys are trying and that’s all you can expect, “HARRIS added.

TIDBITS……

*JCC softball league mascot, JACOB BRAFMAN, was wearing a HARVARD t-shirt at the games, when an unnamed player went up to him and said, “that’s as close to Harvard as you’ll ever get.”……wonder who that was?????

**The hockey season is over (I know not many care), but it was a Game 7 in the Finals and if you’re a “sports fan”, you should have been watching at least part of the game. 

I asked veteran STEVE EPPSTEIN that day if he was going to watch and he said, “No. The Reds have an important series with the Pirates and I’ll be watching them.”……..REALLY??????????????

I have no problem with being a Reds fan, but if you call yourself a sports fan and can’t watch at least some of a Game 7 in the Finals……?????

***MARC BRAFMAN was subbing on his team’s bye week for TEAM KAMRASS and it would have been funny if they had won and that was the only game he won all year…….I guess it wouldn’t have been so funny as I’ve been on teams like that too…..my own!

Finally, 

****I wish I would have taken a picture of this…….STU SOLOMON was visiting with BRAD WAGNER in WAGNER’S car before the game when STU found a stuffed animal (bear) in the car that belonged to BRAD’S daughter and started playing with it……he seemed to like it!……now you know what to give him for his next birthday……lol

On Field two it was Team Tenenholtz vs. Team Kamrass

Rick for the winners:

On Field 2, Team Tenenholtz was on the road tonight against a retrofitted Team Kamrass who was missing De La Cruz, Friedl and Fairchild.  Benji Kotzin, Harry Meisner and Marc Brafman filled in nicely for them, though, as the home team went up 4-2 in the first inning. The visitors scratched out runs in the third and fourth to tie the game before scoring 5 in the fourth while the Hall of Famer, Howard Schwartz, pitched a nice game to hold the home team down for most of the game. Team Kamrass did most of their damage with the long ball as Kotzin (2) and Meisner (1) combined for three home runs, but it was not enough to hold off Team Tenenholtz, who won 15-8, or something like that.

Defensive highlights came from:

• Jeremy Dock, who made several nice plays at 3B and LF
• Jack Cohen who patrolled RCF and got to everything
• Brian Goldberg, who continues his all-star season 
• Mike Rothstein, who caught the 7th inning without his glove…or maybe it just seemed that way when he got thumped twice in the inning

Team Tenenholtz will be back home to face Team Harris on Field 2 next week while Team Kamrass goes on the road to face first-half champs, Team Grefer.  

PS on this game. It was fun to watch The Special One, Mike Rothstein go Billy Martin on Benji Kotzin bat after his second homer. Not since the famous Pine Tar game in the mid-80’s has a player waited till after a big homer to ask the ump to check the bat. Now keep in mind, Todd “The Mayor” Wasserman has used the same bat for the past 2+ years and no one asked to check it. But after the second homer of the game the bat was checked to make sure it was softball approved. After some debate and the home run being disallowed Lee MacPhail stepped in once again and, just like he did in 1983, said in the spirit of the game the homer will be permitted. Lucky for us Capt. Kamrass didn’t go all George Brett on the ump. George Brett and the pine tar incident (youtube.com) As Handsome Sam Castellini said post game, “Benji could have hit that homer with a tooth pick.”

On Field 3 Team Wagner vs. Grefer

Brad for the winners:

Team Wagner took down Team Grefer 17-4 on Wednesday in front of a standing-room-only crowd on Field 3.  The rain held off for the most part, but the bats didn’t get that message as the victors hit five home runs, including four that cleared the fence.  Anton Loon, Matt Leader, Landon Hawkins, and Daniel Hiudt each gave Yitz’s kids something to do by fetching the flying balls.  Michael Askin added on with an inside-the-park homerun and played a great LCF.  A majority of Team Wagner had multiple hits.  Matt Leader also had a great running catch in LF.

Special shoutout to Ryan Silverman and Kyle Grefer, who made outstanding catches in the outfield for Team Grefer.

Team Wagner takes on Team Fogel next week on Field 1, with Steve Urkel and Kimmy Gibbler providing you the play-by-play.

Team Grefer takes on Team Kamrass next week on Field 4, with Junior Felix and Junior Felix Jr providing you the play-by-play.

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

Stu for the winners:

Do I have a Story to Tell…..

There seems to be something in the dirt on Field 4 for Team Solomon.

Team Solomon defeated Team Fogel 10-8 in a defensive struggle. 

The first big hit came in the first inning off the bat of Ryan “Biggie” Small(s) as he kicked in the door waving the 4-4 with a 3-run homer to cap off a 7-run first. The second big hit came from Stuart “I Love it when you call Big Poppa” Solomon as he waved his hands in the air cuz he’s a true playa, crushing a triple to score Dave “Hypnotize” Wertheim as his words must have hypnotized the pitcher, walking twice. Ben “ Gimmie the Loot” Charlton took extra bases without remorse. After the game Ben had this to say “What’s mines is mines and what’s yours is mine”. For Team Fogel there was “Life After Death” inching their way back to make it a 1-run game into the 5th. Team Solomon, which earlier in the year was “Notorious” for giving up a big lead, persevered. Up 2 in the top of the 7th, they got Team Fogels 3-4-5 to go 1-2-3 (4-5-6-7-8-9-10, it’s the Ten Crack Commandments).

Team Solomon told Team Fogel to Take Flight 504 Kennedy to LAX and go back to Cali with their great defense. Ken “Juicy” Groh is now having lunches, brunches, interviews by the pool after a great pitching performance. 

Team Solomon looks to gain more “Respect” as they have won 3 in a row.

League notes:

I talk about how special our league is all the time but that was once again driven home with the sad news about Jimmy and Rick’s dad passing away. It goes to show how much we all care about each other (off the field) when at least 25 guys showed up for the funeral to show their support for the Lefton’s. We are still thinking about you guys.

Wasting my time at the Reds game on Tuesday I’m glad that they make plays just like us. Bad/lazy throws from the outfield, missed balls in the gap, terrible baserunning, etc. Was it Tuesday at GABP or Wednesday at Triple Creek? 

Roger talking hockey is like the people who like soccer trying to tell everyone how great it is. (I like game 7’s in any sport and USA national team soccer) 

Yesterday some poor kid pooped in the pool at Camp Wildbrook. In my mind it went just like this: Classic “Caddy Shack” doodie in pool- Hilarious! (youtube.com)

Short and sweet this week guys. 

See everyone on July 3.

Marc

Boy, when Ryan calls up Mother Nature and says give us some summer weather, I’m not sure he meant last night. On what might have been one of the hottest Wednesday nights in recent seasons the action on the field was just as hot as the temp outside. (At least the little thunder we heard pre-game didn’t amount to anything)

On Field 1 it was Team Harris vs. Team Kamrass

Roger for the winners

TEAM HARRIS          6

TEAM KAMRASS      5

In a nailbiter, TEAM HARRIS tallied two runs in the top of the 7th inning and held on by the skinniest of margins in the bottom of the inning.

MARK WEISSER pitched another gem of a game and was the hitting star too. He got a two-out two-run double in the telling inning and then escaped a two-on no-out situation in the bottom of the frame, thanks in large part to a nice play on a bunt attempt when he fielded the ball and threw the lead runner out at third base on a bang bang play.

The following hitter hit a line shot to 3B RYAN MARCUS who couldn’t/didn’t catch it, stepped on third base and completed the game ending play.

Quotes from the two participants…..

“I might be an old man out there, but I take great pride in fielding my position and coming up with clutch hits,” WEISSER said afterwards. “It got a little sticky at the end, but we hung in there and got a nice win out of it.”

MARCUS, with his small band of fans in attendance said, “All I know is I did what had to be done and only the higher up knows if I couldn’t catch it or didn’t catch it. All I know is we got the victory after battling the whole game.”

Captain GRIFF HARRIS, who went 0-3 with three line drive outs said, “I can’t buy a hit. I must start eating lunch at a different place each week until the balls start dropping in.” 

The rookie captain added, “That was a big win for our guys. I tip my cap to Micah and his team for really battling the whole way. It was tough to lose a game like that.”

Kudos also go out to……STU WEINSTEIN who got a key double to help in the scoring and PAT FELDMAN who delivered a key hit at the end of the game and eventually scored the winning run.

It should be noted that FELDMAN tasted victory for the first time this season. He hadn’t played in any of the previous four wins. “I finally won a game and the jinx is over. I started to think I should have bought a voodoo doll to ward off the evil spirits,” FELDMAN said afterwards.

Also, ROGER ROSENTHAL chipped in with a big RBI, however he was gunned down at 1B on a “hit” to the outfield.

“I was never very fast in my younger years, but that was pretty bad. We won the game and that’s all that counts, ” he said while trying to get ADAM HELDMAN to buy a GIANNIS bobblehead……

Also of note, EVAN WEISSER made a great catch on a foul ball that would have made JOHNNY BENCH proud……are there players who don’t know who he was?

DEE HARRIS also played an all around good game playing 2B and RF and getting on base a couple of times……

TIDBITS….

*WES WOLF has a new job with the CINCINNATI BENGALS, similar to MARC BRAFMAN’S at the University of Cincinnati, in which he can’t bet on sports, not even in the JCC league…..

He was running his mouth before the games saying that his team would win the tournament and when I confronted him and said that I’d take the field even up, he said he couldn’t bet…….You need to ask him for further details…..

**It was nice to see JACOB BRAFMAN, the league mascot, back from whatever vacation he was on……rumor has it that he and his family were at a water polo championship in the Netherlands, but don’t quote me on that…

Speaking of Jacob, I asked father MARC if Jacob was able to play for his team if that would be an upgrade to some of his team and he said, “NO COMMENT?”……hmmmmmmm….

Also, it should be noted that JACOB’S grandparents, MARC’S parents, told a reliable source that Jacob is ready for the league…..can we have a new rule allowing pre-teens to play if ready???????

***It should be noted that BOSTONIANS COREY NORRIS and MIKE ROTHSTEIN were asked to be honorary parade routers for the city of Boston when they celebrate their most recent title…….

and finally, 

****For those who aren’t following the best sport on the planet…..HOCKEY, the STANLEY CUP is now 3-2 in favor of the FLORIDA PANTHERS over the EDMONTON OILERS and yes, WAYNE GRETZKY has retired…….

Until next time…..be safe and take care and of course…..GO X!!!!!!

On Field two we had Team Wagner vs. Team Brafman

Brad for the winners:

Team Wagner run-ruled Team Brafman 17-6 on a steamy Wednesday night.  The game was tight, with Brafman taking an early 2-0 lead.  Wagner came back to take a 5-2 lead only to have Brafman tie it up 5-5.  After Wagner went up 8-5, they added a 9 spot in the bottom of the 4th to put the game away. 

The hitting stars were plentiful for the victors, as everyone contributed with home runs from Corey Norris, Michael Askin, and Brad Wagner, who returned from injury and three weeks of rehab stints in Billings, Daytona, Chattanooga, and Sharonville.  The birthday boy, Mike Margolis, also provided a big hit to celebrate his 58th.  Rumor has it he wanted to go to Chi-Chi’s to celebrate, but their phone line wasn’t working.  Defensively, Matt Leader and Michael Askin held down the left side of the outfield with multiple putouts.  Super-sub Joel “The Leopard” Buckley was flawless at SS and ended the game with a circus-type catch that took him into LCF.  

Team Wagner takes on Team Wolf on Sunday with Tanny Boyle and Kelly Leak on the call.

Team Brafman takes on Team Tenenholtz on Sunday with Bip Roberts and Jacob Brumfield on the call.

For Team Brafman, Jamey Drennan hit two homers and Harry “hood” Meisner also went deep. Team Brafman looks to turn it around on Sunday. 

On Field 3 it was Team Tenenholtz vs. Team Grefer

Mike “The Special One” Rothstein for the winners

The final score was 17-7 but it was closer than that. Team Rick found their bats and everyone contributed. There were solid defensive plays all around from Bryce Anslinger, Rabbi Yitz, “The other” Brian Goldberg and Jeremy “Sitting on the” Dock of the Bay all made big plays. Fink filled in and pitched well for Howie and Joel “Sparky” Fogel also contributed as a sub.  Will “the Thrill” Coleman hit a homer for Grefer which may or may not have been a grand slam.

Finally on Field 4, Team Stu vs. Team Wes

Stu for the winners:

It has come to the attention of this author that Team Solomon has beaten Team Wolf 17-7 in 6 innings in the last game of the 1st half of the 2024 social season.

Even before the game, both teams were in scramble mode to field a team. Team Solomon received late news that Ken “And Barbie” Groh was not going to make the game due to an unforeseen private jet mishap. Team Wolf had to scramble to find 10 guys with 2 players missing and Steve Z on suspension. But back to the game.

This author must compliment himself. Forced into the starting pitching role. He struck out both Tyler and Wes Wolf in critical junctures of the game. This author also had a double play and a nice sliding grab in foul ground. Two other great defensive plays throughout the game. One by AJ “Heart of” Goldhoff making a diving stab of a  ground ball down the 3B line and a strong throw to 1st. Then in the top of 6, Team Solomon had the very common 9-6-3 double play to keep the 9-run lead. Some people are asking if there is a starting pitching controversy with Team Solomon.

This game may have had one of my favorite moves of all-time. Team Wolf loves putting their shortstop at 2nd with lefties at the plate. Gary “Reel Big” Fisher laughed in the face of Team Wolf and switched from batting left handed to bat right handed. He laced an RBI single to the left of the new shortstop.

Huge hits were abound. David “Hasselhoff” Wertheim fought  through the mental block of batting 3rd to go 4-4 with 2 of those hits with the bases loaded. Zach “Rock’em Zakem Robots” went 3-3 scoring twice. Brandon Lindsey “Lohan” had a huge triple in the 8-run 5th. Needing one run in the bottom of the 6th, Ryan “All The Small Things” Small launched a triple to left field followed by David “Past Temple President and Author” Snyder single to seal the game.

After the game Stuart had this to say, “This was a well called game featuring a lot of close plays. We didn’t run ourselves out of innings and played good defense.”

League notes

Birthdays galore this past week:

Mike Margolis, Scott “Hngry Like a” Wolf, Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley former player Mike “The Wrath of” Kahan and I had a birthday as well.

Happy anniversary to Rick, Jimmy, and Weezie’s parents, the elder Leftons. They produced about 200 years of JCC softball playing years combined 

Good luck to Matt “The” Miller on his new job with Pro Camps. I will miss texting him when UC players are getting parking tickets

Somehow Bryce has gotten to play the skyline shuffle game twice this year. Last Wednesday it was his son up on the big board winning his row coneys. 

David “Slim Shady” Wertheim continues his summer momentum by being on local news shows every week to promote the latest festival that Cold Iron Rentals is working. Keep up the good work, David.

Is there a bigger non-story in sports than Caitlin Clark being left off the Olympic team? There are 12 better women players than her right now. How is that so hard for people to understand? 

Did you all see the video of how they built a pool inside the Lucas Oil stadium for the swimming trials? Very cool to see and somehow it seems to be working. 

Remember that even though it’s a Wednesday night, Jewish night at the FCC Game is coming up. If your family wants to go, it’s a good time. And the way they are playing it should be a great night. Last night even if you don’t care about FCC the way they won was like a walk-off homer from Elly. Speaking of the Reds I’m going to let Paul Doc explain in way better detail how I feel about the Reds and more importantly their front office. Taken from his blog today:

The more I read what the Reds say about themselves and the season they’re having, the more I think they’re OK with their OK-ness. It’s the sort of willful delusion-ing that wears on a fan who experiences more losing than winning and has experienced it for three decades.

I’m sure players and management don’t mean to sound self-satisfied. Every self-laud comes with the obligatory, empty and obvious “we gotta do better.’’

Only, they aren’t doing better. No matter what they say.

“I thought we played really well on this trip, but we didn’t come away with as many wins as we wanted to,” pitcher Nick Martinez said, after allowing the game-winning homer in the 8th inning at Pittsburgh Wednesday. That L dumped the Club into last place, where it has been for a total of 19 days since May 17.

Oh, bullspit.

Martinez’ tiresome assessment sounds sane compared with the pronouncements of Nick Krall, published today in the Enquirer:

“I’m excited about what we’ve done and what we’ve set out to do. Build a sustainable winning organization. I feel like we’ve made good progress.’’

On April 24, the Reds were 14-10. They’re 21-29 since.

“Frankie Montas and Nick Martinez have done really well in their roles.’’

Montas is 3-5/4.62. The Reds are 4-9 in games he has started.

As a starting pitcher, Nick Martinez is 0-3/7.86. Teams have hit .348 against him in that role. Yes, he has done well as a reliever, especially in the role as Designated 2nd Guy Outta The Bullpen on Bullpen Days. Every championship aspirant simply must have one of those guys.

“I’m really excited about where we are.’’

Last place.

“We’ve got to continue to move forward.’’

So do ants at a picnic. What does that mean, exactly?

Such crapola.

I don’t think Krall is deliberately insulting your intelligence. He’s saying what he must. The result is the same, though. Krall-speak is a practiced mix of mandatory public confidence and requisite cover-your-assness. Gobbledy meets gook in the office at Great American Small Park.

Maybe Nick’s right. Perhaps three months from now, I’ll need a fork and spoon for my words. That’d be cool, or at least different. But I’m not a mind reader and the Ouija board is in the shop. If I could predict the future, I’d be in a sports book in Las Vegas, not in an office in my house.

We react to what is real, and what is real is the sustained and practiced history of bad. Since 2014, the Reds are 172 games under .500. They’ve had two winning seasons, 83-79 in ‘21 and 82-80 last year. (Sorry, I don’t count the 31-29 bastard season of 2020. The Little 60 was fraudulent, any way you sliced it.)

Finally as you know by now Willie Mays died the other night. While I am too young to have watched him here are a couple of my favorite stats:

He is the only player in baseball history to have hit a homer in every inning from the 1st all the way through the 16th. His homer in that 16-inning game came against Warren Spahn who was battling Juan Marichal in that game. Keep in mind both pitchers were still in the game at the time. Crazy

Mays is one of three players along with Hank Aaron and Ted Williams to hit 20 home runs for the same team in his 20’s and 40’s.

His average WAR was 9.5 for 13 years! He is also the only player to win four home run titles and 4 stolen base titles. and finally he had seasons where he led the league at some point in the following: hits, runs, homers, triples, stolen bases, average, obp, slugging, total bases and walks. 

I’d say he was the best of all time. Now for next week we can discuss who is now the greatest living player. For my money, it’s Glenn Braggs…

See ya Sunday

On a humid night for softball, the tension was high (at least on field 3). Let’s get to the action.

On Field 1 Team Fogel was the victor. Jeremy leads us off.

Resuming the game in the bottom of the first, Team Fogel got out of a second and third one out jam only yielding one run which was just the beginning of a masterful pitching performance by Jamey and defensive outing behind him. In a pitcher’s duel between Jamey and Howie, Team Fogel was able to scrape together a few runs which ended up being just enough to escape with a win. Timely hitting by both Fogels and Matt Miller was the difference in this one. The defense continued to be impressive as The Men in Black end the first half on a four-game winning streak.

On Field 2, it was the first half Toilet Bowl as Team Kamrass took on Team Brafman

Micah for the winners: 

Team Kamrass finally got in the win column with a 15-4 victory over Team Brafman. Team Brafman resumed the game with hot bats and went up 4-1. From there, Jon Ruben’s pitching and strong defense from Team Kamrass (playing with just nine guys) shut them down the rest of the game.

Tyler Stansbury was the offensive MVP. He had 8 RBI, including 7 in the same inning.  4 of those came on a grand slam hit out of the park. Drew Hart also clobbered a home run. James Swan returned from Ireland with a hot bat (and a perfect bunt).

“Time to begin our win streak,” said Captain Micah Kamrass. “Our team will be dangerous in the second half.” Post game Team Brafman Capt. said “I knew I should have walked Stansbury twice.

On field 3 the most interesting game of the night took place. Grefer vs. Wolf. 

Kyle for the winners:

We beat team Wolf 10-6 in an intense showdown. After starting the game in the bottom of the first down 3-0 we slowly brought the game closer until the 5^th inning where we batted around and scored 7 runs. Our defense was again great with only a couple minor miscues, and Tim pitched another solid game on the mound. Offensively Gary Grefer had a huge triple to right field, and Will Coleman one upped him with an inside the park homerun to center field. Once again it was a complete team effort as everyone had a play that helped contribute to the win.

After the game we got some good fortune with team Harris and Tenenholtz losing, locking us in as the first half champs. I’m really proud of our team with how we were able to do a complete turnaround after getting run ruled by team Harris in the first game where Jimmy also hurt his knee.

And finally on Field 4 it was Team Stu vs. Team Harris

Team Solomon Trashes Team Harris 23-13, as Chris “KunkelBomb” Kunkel leads the offense with an impressive 3-3 day including the game winner (to put us up 10 in the bottom of the inning). 

Hits were aplenty for Team Solomon as they started the day down 1-0. A six run first was capped off by Kunkels first of two triples. Ken Groh helped himself to a double and a triple.

Ben “Norm” Charlton and Adam “Metal Spikes” Cronstein set the table both going 3-3 with a walk. Both scored 3 runs from Stuart “World’s Best Captain” Solomon and AJ “Heart of” Goldhoff RBI singles. 

The top of the lineup wasn’t the only part of the lineup to get on the base paths. Brandon Lindsey “Graham” went 3-3 with two rockets and 2 RBIs. Zach “Rock’em Zakem Robots” was on base twice and scored twice. 

The drama began in the top of the 5th. Team Solomon was up 12 and Team Harris needed to score 3 to keep playing. After getting the first 2 outs, the defensive wheels started to fall off for Team Solomon letting up 9 runs to go down 3. Team Solomon responded in a BIG way scoring 7 in the bottom of the 5th. Big Hits from David “Bitter Herb” Wertheim on a bases loaded double scoring 3 and Chris Kunkel hitting a walk off triple to put us up 10.

Reports indicate several players took a shot of whiskey before the game to get loose. Some are saying this is the swing juice this team needs to make a deep run in the 2nd half. 

League Notes:

Once again a reminder we are off next week for the Jewish Holiday. Go to the Reds/Guards game instead for your Roger Rosenthal official Elly De La Cruz bobblehead.

Sad news as Jeff Weisbrot’s grandmother died this week. We are all thinking of you, Jeff.

Happy birthday goes out to Big Al Lefton (former player).

Congrats to everyone’s favorite league sister, Brooke Fogel, who is taking her talents to Denver at the end of the summer. 

Once again, a big thank you to Big Gig for wing night two weeks ago. 

I’m sorry to have missed Jewish night at the Reds game this year. One, they beat the Cubbies, and two, Elly looked like he hit one into our section. Unfortunately FCC night is on a Wednesday so we won’t be able to go. 

I’m not sure what to make of the Reds’ hitting this week, but I sure like how they are taking more pitches and, at least for now, aren’t striking out as much. Plus, as long as I don’t have Espinal and Mike Ford hitting everyday I’m happy with that. 

Finally, in Roger world, does he ever call or text you random pictures of people who say they know you? He did this to me earlier in the week and I had no clue who this clown was that he took a picture of. Roger is the ultimate match maker of the league for random people.  

See everyone in two weeks!

Sorry for the delay in getting the blog up this week. The Beaches of Charleston, SC were calling.

On Field 1 it was Team Harris vs. Team Wagner:

Roger for the winners:

After losing two games in a row after a 3-0 start, TEAM HARRIS had a nice bounce back victory over TEAM WAGNER in which there was plenty of credit to go around.

Let’s start with the excellent pitching of MARK WEISSER and the defense behind him……RYAN MARCUS made a great catch on a line shot, GRIFF HARRIS made a diving catch of a shot to centerfield……JZ ZEIDENSTEIN caught a couple of shots to right centerfield…..RYAN BAUM made a nice running catch in left field……and finally, DAN BERNSTEIN snared a line drive down the first base line.

On the offensive side, everyone contributed in one way or another with BIG hits coming off the bats of DEE HARRIS (3-3 and a BB)…….ANDY GOLLIN (run scoring double)….JZ (two shots to the left field fence)….WEISSER (key two-out hit)……and even ROGER ROSENTHAL, with a two-out bloop single to keep a BIG inning alive.

The game was close throughout until an outburst by the victors in the late innings to put some distance between the two teams.

QUOTES…..

“Great game in all areas. I like how we bounced back after two losses to beat a pretty good team. I think we have the ship righted now,” Captain GRIFF HARRIS said afterwards.

“I’m only as good as my defense and they played great behind me. And as usual, my son (EVAN WEISSER) called a great game and had no passed balls. I’m not putting him in the JOHNNY BENCH category yet, but he’s well on his way,” the elder WEISSER said after the game.

RYAN MARCUS ran into bad luck as he smoked a couple of balls right at fielders, “I can’t buy a hit. Maybe I should pray before the game, it can’t hurt,” he said afterwards.

TIDBITS…..

*Here’s hoping EVAN WEISSER is OK….he sat out one inning……those late nights can get to you…..lol.

*SPECIAL THANKS go to former commissioner GREG “GIG” FRANKLIN for providing the wings after the game……STEVE EPPSTEIN, who usually does the honor, saved a bunch of money and felt obligated to spend his fair share for the night so he ended up buying ten bobbleheads from ROGER ROSENTHAL……

*GRIFF HARRIS is like a softball playing machine…..he plays in like five leagues and when he was cornered by this reporter about which one he likes the most he said, “Of course, the JCC league. I love playing with my father and all the guys. How could I not like that?”

*RYAN SMALL’S mother came to visit her son and said she hadn’t seen him play ball since he was little….guess what?….he’s NO better than he was 30 years ago…….lol.

*While everyone in the league is following their baseball teams, there are a few that do know that other sports are going on, mainly the NHL and NBA playoffs…..MIKE ROTHSTEIN and COREY NORRIS ventured to Indianapolis recently to watch their BOSTON CELTICS win the Eastern Conference title…..just don’t ask them about the BOSTON BRUINS choke for another year…..lol……….speaking of hockey…..while most of the televisions at the eatery were on hockey, yours truly got excited after the EDMONTON OILERS scored and one DAVID WEIL said, “Who cares?”……typical comment from a Cincinnati sports fan.

AND FINALLY, it was strange not to see MARC BRAFMAN and son JACOB, the league mascot, in attendance after the game to enjoy the wings…..it was rumored that the two “boys” were on a cross country tour of every major league lacrosse team park…..speaking of parks, TODD WASSERMAN and a few of his buddies are going to four baseball fields in the upcoming week….have fun!

Until next time, take care and stay safe and GO X!!!!!!!

On Field 2 It was Team Wolf vs. Team Kamrass

I’m guessing Team Wolf won

On Field 3 we had team Grefer vs. Team Solomon

Kyle for the winners:

Team Grefer beat Team Solomon 17-6 in 5 innings. After a shaky start defensively, we were able to lock in for the middle innings and come away with the win. Offensively we were carried by Landon Krantz and Zach Mayer with 4 hits each. Dan Grefer and Ryan Silverman also contributed with some clutch hits, and Oren Shmoel showed some power on a triple to right center. Tim Trautman pitched another good game with only one walk, and we look to keep the momentum going on Sunday!

Finally on Field 4 Team Fogel took on the hapless Team Brafman

Jeremy for the winners:

In a battle with a Brafman-less Team Brafman on Field 4, Team Fogel continued to flash the leather as they have been in previous weeks which led them to their third consecutive win after an early season slide. The bats came out early, but it was two double plays which set the tone for this victory. Joel Buckley continued to dust off his gold glove at Shortstop, but Norm Frankel turned back the clock to 1980 (his quote) with a diving stop and throw from his back to nab what would’ve been a lead off base hit in the later innings. Clutch hitting throughout the order kept this game out of reach, and a shoutout to Matt Miller for registering his first home run of the season.

League Notes:

A HUGE thank you once again to Gig for the wings at the Spring House and for your continued support of the league. (My mom said she’ll even give you a kiss the next time she sees you). 

Another HUGE shout out to Rick Lefton and the entire JCC staff for another amazing J Classic. This event which at one point was named the Adams classic after Shorty’s Dad has turned into an amazing community-wide event. Well done Rick, and congrats to all of you who played yesterday!

Congrats to all of the Dad’s in the league whose kids graduated from whatever grade they are in.  Always exciting to see where they are going to college or the next school.

For the second time in a couple of weeks I was down in the trainer’s room getting my knee worked on (I’m back baby!…on Sunday) and the head trainer of the men’s basketball team saw me. He just shook his head and said let me guess…your softball league again, right? Add him to the list of our wives who say we should stop playing.

On that note, if Neil Young and Crazy Horse are still touring (along with the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones) we can still get out and play, right?

Your Reds notes of the week. When your front office releases Mike Ford because “they don’t have a spot for him” only to resign him 24 hours later and put him in the lineup hitting 3rd for a month you know you are in trouble. Which of course the Reds are. But hey it could be worse. We could root for the Mets who had a pitcher get thrown out of a game mid-batter, toss his glove into the stands on his way out of the game, then say in the locker room that he was playing on the worst team in the league. Shockingly he got released the next day.

See everyone on Sunday. Let’s hope Mother Nature cooperates.