New Year's Eve

Gold's Gym Field

Freddy Gonzalez's Angels played Don Witmer's Tigers in a game that was decided by the zeros posted by the Angels. Five scoreless innings and only 10 runs total and that is including a 3 run Homer over the left center fence by Gerry Deridder.

Don's Tigers jumped out to a three run lead thanks to a few uncharacteristic fielding errors by the Angels. But the Angels kept it close after that with excellent defense and after a very quick 6 innings the score stood at Angels 5 to the Tigers 6.  It looked like the Angels might have a chance to get the bats going especially after Held and Jacobs went with back to back triples.

But Alas the Tigers posted 11 more runs over the last three innings on a series of gap shots that went for triples.  Three-baggers by Wolfe, Jacobson, Witmer and a homer by Fred Dampier closed out the Tigers scoring.  Meanwhile the Angels could only muster 5 runs.

Final tally Angels 10 to the Tigers 17.    

p.s. this game was over by 10:30am ... also note that this game's winning pitcher was Jimmy Lafoon, now there's a stat you don't see every day.

Top Hitters

Parker 4 for 5 double, triple
Wolfe 3 for 4
Jacobson 2 for 3 triple sac fly
Dampier 3 for 4 homer
 

Howdy Doody

On this day in 1947 - The children's television program "Howdy Doody," hosted by 'Buffalo' Bob Smith, made its debut on NBC.  Just thought you'd like to know.

Gatorland Field

You would think these two teams would provide for a slugfest and score runs up in the 30s but that was not to be the case.

The Visitors under the guidance of Freddy Gonzalez, fielded Gazarek, Edwards, Toro, Jacobson, Held, Deridder, Parker, Butler, Benson, and Dampier against a squad headed by Don Witmer that included Rivera, Jacobs, Wolfe, Finnegan, Giordano, Torres, M. Gonzalez, Coffman, Goodhue, Levesque, and Reagan.  

Like I said you'd expect to see some scoring.  But Donnie Witmer's home boys failed to score in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th and had dug themselves a 5-13 hole before plating 4 in the 6th off triples by Reagan and Rivera leading off the inning. The visitors big shots came off a homer by Fred Dampier and a triple by Freddie Gonzalez earlier in the game.

The final Score ended up Visitors 21 Home 14.  

Top Hitters

Finnegan 2 for 3 double, Sac Fly
M. Gonzales 3 for 4 triple
Reagan 3 for 4 homer, double

Gazarek 4 for 5 triple, BB
Edwards 4 for 6 double
Toro 5 for 6  2 doubles
Gonzalez  4 for 5 triple 2 doubles

Christmas Eve

Gold's Gym Field

The Christmas Eve turnout gave us two, two team games although the National League game had rather large teams at 13 players.  Still we couldn't quite see our way to do it any other way with 50 players.

On the American League side we had 12 players per team and another closely fought contest.  Some hitters got their Christmas wish early; like Frank Jacobs hitting for the cycle or Jose Rivera going 5 for 5 not to mention Donnie Held's 4 for 4 day or Juan Toro's spectacular theft of an extra base hit from Mike Wiltshire.

The lead was held by Donnie Witmer's Visitors through the first 5 innings before Freddy Gonzalez's Home team rallied to go ahead 12 to 13 in the 6th. In the 7th both teams posted 3 runs but then the Gonzalez crew racked up 5 to a goose-egg for Witmer's squad.  

With the Home team up by 6 at 15-21 going into the ninth, Donnie's team had their work cut out for them.  They scored 3 with only one out and a runner on third. The next batter SAC Flied in the 4th run but then a 6-3 ground out ended the game right there.

Final Score 19-21 for the home team.  Winning Pitcher, JD Davis. 

Top Hitters

Jose Rivera  5 for 5 two triples
Don Witmer  3 for 3 BB Sac Fly
Frank Jacobs  5 for 5 Hit for the Cycle

Ron Butler 3 for 4 Sac Fly
Fred Gonzalez 3 for 5 triple, double
Held 4 for 4 2-doubles
Coffman 3 for 4
Grabb 2 for 3 BB
Levesque 3 for 4 3-doubles

National League Draft Results

Here are the results of the NL Draft for the 2014 season.  Note that while teams appear to have 16 or 17 players per team, most teams have 2 or 3 players that are not likely to play at all in the January-February time-frame.

2014 - NATIONAL LEAGUE TEAMS
BRAVES	CUBS	GIANTS	MARLINS
LARRY POWELL	DON LaMAY	MARSHALL BLOOM	JEFF SIMON
DAVE ABNEY	LEE BAKER	ELMER BLACK	JIM ALTEMOSE
GENE  BAKER	REG BARNES	VASSURI BESS	GERALD ANDREWS
DALE BENNET	RAY DePALMA	BILL BOWLEY	RON AUGENSTEIN
W C BURRELL	SAM LOPEZ	NIC BURNS	BILL AYER
MIGUEL GONZALEZ	RICHARD MAHON	RON CARROTHERS	LARRY CHREST
H LAUTENSCHLAGER	BILL McLELLAN	FRED DUCHAM	JOHN FULTON
CLAUDE HEARN	STAN MICHALSKI	ED GUSPYT	JOHN GIBSON
MILO MACKO	BERNIE MOHAN	GLENN HOLLAND	DUFF HILL
JIM McPARTLIN	BERNIE PETERSON	DENNIS HOLDER	WALT LEGGETT
GENE MOREY	MIKE STEPP	ED KLINE	HECTOR MARINACCI
PENNY PELLETIER	TED TAYLOR	JOHN MERRITT	RICHARD MARINO
DAVE PODBIELSKI	RON THOMPSON	RAY MILLS	FRANK MILLER
DEAN SCHAPELER	ELMER WILCOX	DAVID RAGONESE	RICHARD MOOTS
DENNY SHAFFER	RICHARD WILHELM	JERRY REMINGTON	GISELE SEGUIN
ARVIL WADDELL	CHUCK YARLETTS	DON SCARBROUGH	JOHN SMITH
JERRY WITTER			RAUL TORRES

NL Draft Day

Servicemaster Field

 

What a beautiful day to be playing ball on the ServiceMaster Field.  The day was great and the score was lopsided.  The home team( Herbie O, Andrews, Pepin, Schaffer, Wells, Berrelli, Fabian, Bess, Zakrowski and Byrd), managed by Al Andrews, could only manage 6 runs.  Maybe it was cold bats, or was it good pitching from Waddell and good solid defense from the infield of Simon, Kline, Scarborough, Remington and Duff Hill.  The visitors(Marino, Reagan, Scarborough, Duff Hill, Patton, Schnepler, Kline, Hite, Remington, Waddell, Simon) managed by Richie Marino looked like a modern version of the 1927 Yanks with every batter getting at least 3 hits.  The final score was 22 to 6, with the Visitors running away with the victory.

Top Hitters

 Visitors:

Marino 3 for 6

Reagan 3 for 6, HR

Scarborough 4 for 5

Duff Hill 4 for 5

Patton 3 for 5

Schnepler 4 for 5

Kline 3 for 5, HR

Hite 4 for 5, 2B

Remington 4 for 5

Waddell 3 for 5

Simon 3 for 4

Home:

Andrews 2 for 4, 2B

Pepin 3 for 4

Schaffer 3 for 4

Wells 3 for 4

Berrelli 2 for 4, 2B

Gold's Gym Field 

Likewise for the teams on Gold's Gym.  You couldn't ask for a better day to play ball. It's just that our game was closer.

Freddy Gonzalez's Visitors made up of Gonzales, Rivera, Edwards, Finnegan, Witmer, Giordano, Butler, Deridder, King and Levesque started things off with a 5 run first while holding the Home Team of Hamilton, Gazerek, Wiltshire, Jacobson, Toro, Coffman, Parker, Dampier, Hill and Davis, to a goose-egg.

The game went back and forth with neither team establishing any sort of dominance.  After 4 innings the score was 8 to 9.  Freddy Gonzalez's Visitors tied it up by scoring a single run in the 5th.  Then put up 4 in the sixth against Tom Hamilton's team's 3 to take the commanding 13-12 lead.  

The Home squad then went ahead 13-15 with a 3 run 7th but the visitors tied the game with 2 in the 8th only to allow the Home Team a pair of runs to go into the ninth with a 15-17 lead.

The Visitors got the first two batters on base in the ninth but then couldn't score them and went down on three straight outs to finish the game were we stood after 8.

Home Team 17, Visitors 15

Top Hitters

Gazarek 4 for 5 DB

Jacobson 3 for 5

Coffman 3 for 5

Parker 4 for 5

Rivera 4 for 5

Edwards 4 for 5 2 DB, TR

Finnegan 3 for 4 Sac 2 DB

Witmer 3 for 5

Giordano 3 for 5 DB

Butler 3 for 5

 

AL Draft Report

Here are the results of the American League Draft held after today's Games.  Note that Nick has one more player than the other managers.  That is because Nick is on injured reserve and likely won't play until his knee surgery heals up.  Looks like we're in for a very competitive season.  

The National League will Draft Players on Friday before the Games so those line ups should be available by the time the games end.

Angels	Rangers	Tigers	Rays
Gonzalez	Matta	Hamilton	Witmer
Bombard, Greg	Butler, Ron	Andrews, Al	Borrelli, Fran
Davis, J D	Coffman, Kirk	Benson, Jack	Brock, Rick
Denny, Greg	Constantine, Chris	Busch, Brian	Byrd, John
DeRidder, Gerry	Diaz, Eddie	Carpenter, John	Cuscovitch, Samuel
D'Herin, Joe	Drouilard, Paterick	Dampier, Fred	Gazarek, Ed
Fabian, Loren	Erb, Don	Giordano, Charlie	Goodhue, Jim
Gonzales, Freddy	Gatto, Micheal	Hamilton, Tom	Held, Don
Hicks, Ray	Hill, Stevan	Hartley, Dave	Jackson, Brian
Jacobs, Frank	Ing, Don	Hite, Bob	Levesque, Ray
Linton, Keith	Jacobson, Les	King, Russell	LoPiccolo, Patrick
Moss, Alvin	Laffoon, Jim	Pinnick, Steven	Oesterreich, Herb
Pepin, Ron	Matta, Nick	Rodriguez, Poke	Ota, Ken
Rivera, Jose	Patton, Lance	Wiltshire, Michael	Reagen, Robert
Seguin, Scot	Toro-Morales, Juan	Wolfe, Bill	Smith, Terry
Wise, Tom	Wells, Larry	Zakrowski, Art	Witmer, Don
	Zelazny, Bob

Draft Day

With the American League draft scheduled to begin following today's games, this years managers were out with clip boards and stop watches evaluating talent in hopes of finding the next Mickey Mantle. The flipped back and forth between Gessler and Servicemaster Fields and saw some great hitting and fielding.

Don Witmers visitors (Rivera,Constantine,Witmer, DeRidder, Butler, King, Coffman,JD Davis, Shaffer, Levesque, and Jackson) broke on top with five quick runs. The Home Angels (Andrews, Gonzalez, Toro, Held, Smith, Pepin, Wiltshire, Dampier,Hill, Lopez,and Marino) responded with three of their own. The second inning saw the pitchers dominate as no runs were scored. The home team had no more luck in the third while the Puerto Rican connection of Toro and Gonzalez both scored for the Angels. The home team out scored the visitors two to zero in the fourth in the fourth to close the gap.

The bats came alive for both teams in the fifth as the visitors scored two and the home team won the inning by tallying three. The outcome of the game was decided in the next two innings as the visitors were unable to score in the fifth and sixth.Meanwhile the home team scored seven off doubles by Constantine, DeRidder, Butler, Shaffer, and Jackson. In the eighth Ron Pepin hit a triple that helped Donnie's team score twice. Meantime the home team went three and out. With the score 9 to 15 favor the home team, the visitors managed to get close by scoring two. The game ended on a strike out with two runners in scoring position. Not having to bat, The Home Team Angels won 15-13.

Key Performances

Jerry DeRidder    3 for 4

Ron Butler        2 for 3

Denny Shaffer    3 for 4

Freddie Gonzalez    3 for 4

Juan Toro                3 for4

Don Held            4 for 5 with a double aand triple

Freddie Dampier        3 for 4

Sam Lopez                3 for 4

Servicemaster Field played host to a close game between the visitors(Borelli, Patton, Schapler, D. Hill,Holder,Wells, Bowley, Byrd, Bess, Leggett, and Gibson) and the home team of Zakrowski, Linton, Fabian, LoPiccolo, Poke, Kline, Witter, Mohan, Michalski, and Bennett. Bill Bowley's first double in two years helped the visitors score five runs in the first. Despite three singles, the home team failed to score.The next two inning saw the bats go cold for the visitors as they failed to score. Meanwhile, the home boys scored six powered by Poke's home run. The fourth inning saw the home team outscore the visitors four to one, giving them a four run lead.

Things changed as the visitors had eight singles en-route to scoring four runs. With the home team shut out the score stood at 10 -10.

Each team managed one in the seventh and were held scoreless in the eighth so going into the final frame it was all tied up. The visitors manged to get a runner to second in the ninth but couldn't get him home. In the bottom of the inning after one out, Poke drove in the winning run. Final score...Visitors 11 and Home 12.

Key Performances

Frank Borelli        5for 5 with adouble

Dean Schapler     3 for 4

Duff Hill                4 for 4

Josh Wells            3 for 4

Bill Bowley             3 for 4 with adouble

Kieth Linton            4 for 5

Pat LoPiccolo        5 for 5

Jerry Witter            3 for4

Unfortunately there are no box scores available for the game on Golds Gym Field where the National League Teams battled it out.

Friday the 13th

ServiceMaster Field

The Visitors on Servicemaster today included Marino, Pepin, Byrd, Wells, Hite, Poke, Patten, Borelli,
Lopez, Guspyt and Witter against the Home Squad of Coffman, Oesterreich, Hill, Wise, Levesque, Smith, Reagan, Kline, Lopiccolo, Zakrowski and Stepp.

The game looked a little one side as the score was 3 to 10 after 5 innings and 5 to 13 in favor of the home team after 6 but the gap closed  in the 7th with a nice 7 run rally by the Visitors to only 3 for the Home team.

Then both teams failed to score in the 8th but the Visitors put together a 7 run 9th to go ahead for the first time in the game 19-16.  The Home Team then plated two runs off an Ed Kline triple but then left him stranded on third as the final out left the score at Visitors 19 and the Home Team 18.

Leading Hitters

Coffman 3 for 5  2B
Smith 4 for 5
Reagan 3 for 5  HR
Kline 3 for 5 3B
Marino 3 for 5
Pepin 3 for 5 HR
Wells 4 for 5
Patten 3 for 5

Gold's Gym Field

The National leaguers played a very competitive game on Golds Gym field. Rich Moots visiting team of Taylor,Fulton, Bess, Hill, Duchan, LeMay, Black, Merritt, Moots, Morey, Bennett, Mills, and Gene Baker started strong with four runs aided by Duff's double. Marshal Blooms home boys (Miller, Bloom, Burns, Remington, Thompson, Augustine, McClellan, Michaelski, Barnes, McPartlan, Smith, and Lee Baker) responded with four of their own to even up the score. Neither team scored in the second. The  next two innings saw the home team build a substantial lead as the visitors failed to score  and the home team ran up seven runs with Michaelski's double driving in three. In the fifth, Rich Moots helped his team score three with a triple. In the bottom of the inning Marshall's team scored five to increase the lead.

The sixth saw the visitors pound out enough hits to score three with Duff adding his second double of the day. With the top of the line up for Marshall they were only able to score one. The seventh saw a reversal of fortune of sorts as the visitors were shut out and the home boys tallied two. The eighth was a draw as G Baker and Ray Mills both scored for the visitors and Marshal and Frank Miller did the same for the home team. Down by nine, the visitors started strong by getting the first four batters on base. Unfortunately only three were able to score leaving the home team with enough runs to declare victory without batting in the 9th. Final score, Team Bloom 21 and Team Moots 15.

Key Performances

John Fulton    3 for 4

Vassier Bess    3 for 4

Duff Hill    4 for 4 with two doubles

Freddie duchan    3 for4

Don LaMay    3 for 4

Elmer Black     3 for 4

 

Frank Miller    4 for 5

Marshal Bloom     4 for 5

Nic Burns    3 for 4

Stan Michaelski    3 for 4 with a double

John Smith    3 for 4

Ron Thompson    winning pitcher

 

 

Gatorland Field

Gatorland Field saw  a great game between Donnie Witmer's visitors( Gonzalez,Gazarek,Duff,Edwards, Witmer, Zelazny, Constantine, Andrews, and Waddell) and Ron Butler's Home team(Wiltshire, Rivera, Jacobson, Held, Wolfe, Dampier, Jacobs, Butler, DeRidder, Benson, and Schapler). With these line ups, one would have expected a slug-fest but it did not turn out to be the case. Freddie lead off for the visitors and managed to score the only run in the first as the home boys went three and out. The next inning saw the visitors score three while the big bad home team went scoreless again. In the third, Don's team batted around and manage to post five runs on some well placed singles. Ron's bats came alive as they too batted around and scored six runs to tighten the game considerably.Defense took over the next two innings as the only runs were scored by the visitors and there was only two of those.

 

In the sixth, Roger Edwards home run helped push three runs across for Don's team. The home team responded with four as Gerry DeRidder cleared the left field fence. With the visitors shut out in the seventh, Don Held hit a triple and scored the only run for the home team, leaving the score 14 to 11. In the eighth, Freddie lead off with a double and scored the first of their two runs. The home team unfortunately went three and out. 

 

In the ninth and with the game still close  and a good chance to build on their lead, the visitors went out in a puff of smoke as they went three and out. Ron's team had no quit as the first three batters got on and scored.. Unfortunately with the tying run at the plate, the batter hit a slow roller to Donnie who quickly made the put out to preserve the win. Final Score Team Witmer 16 and Team Butler 14.

 

Key Performances

 

Chuck Duff    4 for 5

Roger Edwards    4 for 5 with a home run

Arvil Waddell    winning pitcher

Don Held    4 for 5 with a double and triple

Gerry DeRidder   4 for 5 with a home run and double  

The 2014 League Rosters

Here are the 2014 League Rosters as of the pre-draft board meeting today.  As it currently stands (subject to finalization and last minute pleadings) we will likely have 4 teams in each division.  This will mean 15 players per team. Please review the list to insure your playing status is correct. Let the BOD know if there is a problem no later than Friday. I want to remind those that have indicated they want to play in the pool that if you can commit to 75% of the games you should indicate you want to play as a rostered player. I do not see a lot of opportunities to play otherwise.  The roster will be available on Friday at the field as well for your review.

Managers have also been selected.  Their names appear in bold faced type.  

American League            National League 1 Andrews, Al 1 Abney, Dave 2 Benson, Jack 2 Altemose, James 3 Bombard, Greg 3 Andrews, Gerald 4 Brock, Rick 4 Augenstein, Ron 5 Busch, Brian 5 Ayer, Bill 6 Butler, Ron 6 Baker, Bennett/Lee 7 Byrd, John 7 Baker, Eugene 8 Carpenter, John 8 Barnes, Reg 9 Coffman, Kirk 9 Bess, Vassurl 10 Constantine, Chris 10 Black, Elmer 11 Cuscovitch, Samuel 11 Bloom, Marshall 12 Dampier, Fred 12 Bowley, Bill 13 Davis, J D 13 Burrell, W C 14 Denny, Greg 14 Carrothers, Ron 15 D'Herin, Joe 15 Chrest, Larry 16 Deridder, Jerry 16 DePalma, Ray 17 Diaz, Eddie 17 Ducham, Fred 18 Drouilard, Paterick 18 Fulton, John 19 Erb, Don 19 Gibson, John 20 Fabian, Loren 20 Guspyt, Ed 21 Hearn, Claude 22 Gatto, Micheal 22 Hill, Duff 23 Gazarek, Ed 23 Holland, Glenn 24 Giordano, Charlie 24 Kline, Ed 25 Gonzales, Freddy 25 LaMay, Don 26 Goodhue, Jim 26 Lautenschlager,H 27 Hamilton, Tom 27 Leggett, Walter 28 Hartley, Dave 28 Lopez, Sam 29 Held, Don 29 Macko, Milo 30 Hicks, Ray 30 Mahon, Richard 31 Hill, Stevan 31 Marinacci, Hector 32 Hite, Bob 32 Marino, Richard 33 Ing, Don 33 McLellan, Bill 34 Jackson, Brian 34 McPartlan, Jim 35 Jacobs, Frank 35 Merritt, John 36 Jacobson, Les 36 Miller, C. Frank 37 King, Russell 37 Mills, Raymond 38 Laffoon, Jim 38 Mohan, Bernie 39 Levesque, Ray 39 Moots, Richard 40 Linton, Keith 40 Morey, Gene 41 LoPiccolo, Patrick 41 Pelletier, Penny 42 Matta, Nick 42 Peterson, Bernie 43 Moss, Alvin 43 Podbielski, Dave 44 Oesterreich, Herb 44 Powell, Larry 45 Ota, Ken 45 Ragonese, David 46 Patton, Lance 46 Remington, Jerry 47 Pepin, Ron 47 Schapeler, Dean 48 Pinnick, Steven 48 Seguin, Gisele 49 Reagen, Robert 49 Shaffer, Denny 50 Rivera, Jose 50 Simon, Jeffrey 51 Rodriguez, Poke 51 Smith, John T. 52 Scarbrough, Don 52 Stepp, Michael 53 Seguin, Scot 53 Taylor, Ted 54 Smith, Terry 54 Thompson, Ron 55 Toro-Morales, Juan 55 Torres, Raul 56 Wells, Larry 56 Waddell, Arvil 57 Wiltshire, Michael 57 Wilcox, Elmer 58 Wise, Tom 58 Wilhelm, Richard 59 Witmer, Don 59 Witter, Jerry 60 Zakrowski, Art 60 Wolfe, Bill 61 Zelazny, Bob 61 Yarletts, Charles 61 Gonzales, Miguel 62 Michalski, Stanley 63 Sessink, Richard Pool Players 1 Abney, Elvis 2 Alumbaugh, Brent 3 Ayers, Bobby 4 Brennear, Bard 5 Chamlee, Doug 6 Duff, Chuck 7 Edwards, Roger 8 Freedman, Joel 9 Gallagher, Tim 10 Grabb, Larry 11 Keller, Don 12 Miller, William 13 Mundy, Wayne 14 Nichols, Roy 15 Rickard, Ralph 16 Westberry, Mickey 17 Wheeler, Michael 18 Finnegen, Regis