Happy Hat Day

Betcha didn't know that January 18th was National Hat Day.  We needed hats this morning, a hood was nice, too, not to mention long johns and mittens.

 

Field C

Giants Vs Cubs
The Giants, on a 3 game winning streak, played the Cubs today.  Weather was cool with a good breeze coming out of the northeast.  Manager Bloom's team scored 3 runs in the first inning on a homer by Dick Mahon.  The Cubs came back with 4 runs on singles by Kline, Mundy, Rutan, Leggett, Taylor, Barnes and DePlama.
 
After 3 innings the score was Giants 8 Cubs 6.  

The Giants scored 5 in the top of the 4th on a walk  two single  and  homer by Ed Guspyt.  The Cubs answered with 3 singles and a Grand Slam Homer by Bill Rutan.   Bill a pool player was picked to replace one of 3 players for the Cubs on the DL(Evans, Wolf and LaMay).  The Giants also scored 5 runs in the 5th inning that ended with a double by Thompson.  The Cubs scored 3 on a  homer by Wayne Mundy.  

Giants tallied 4 runs in the 6th on a double by Guspyt and singles by Miller and Black followed with a three-bagger by Jerry Remington.  Cubs again carded 4 runs with a three-bagger by Kline, singles by Fulton, Rutan, Taylor and Barnes.  

Four runs in the 8th for the Giants ended the scoring for both teams.  

Final score was Giants 26 and Cubs 18. 

Notable plays by the Cubs:  

A fly ball to Left Center fielder Ed Kline followed by a relay throw from Wayne Mundy and a great catch by 89 year old Joe Deforge playing catcher for the Cubs to get the out.

Another fly ball went to Right fielder Ken Wilson who made a shoe string catch and fired a bullet to first base to catch the runner scrambling back to first base. 

Giants

• Thompson 3 for 6 with triple
• Guspty 3 for 6 with homer, double
• Mahon 5 for 5 with 2 homers and 2 doubles
• Black 3 for 5
• Remington 3 for 5 with triple
• Lee Baker 3 walks

Cubs

• Kline 6 for 6 with triple
• Mundy 5 for 6 with homer
• Rutan 5 for 6 with homer
• Leggett 4 for 6  

Field E

The Braves and the Pirates played an exciting game with the Braves winning the game in the bottom of the ninth by one run.  

It started with the Pirates scoring 5 runs in the first inning.  Ducham, Stepp, Burrell, Wilcox And Waddell all singled.  Rogonese walked and Ayer singled for the five runs.The Braves come back with five runs themselves.  Peterson and Whitter singled and Lautenschlager hit a triple.  Stewart later hit a triple in the same inning.  

In the second inning, the Braves scored five runs again with singles by Moots, Mills, McPartlan, Sullivan, Peterson, Whitter, and Lautenschlager. 

The third was  pretty calm but in the fourth the Pirates come back with vengeance and scored six runs to tie the score.  They sent Morey, Gene Baker, Ducham, Stepp, Burrell, Wilcox, Waddell,Rogonese, and Augentine to the plate. In the bottom of the fourth, the Braves got singles from Peterson, Whitter, Lautenschlager, Miller and Ravo to score five runs. Then they scored five more runs in the bottom of the fifth with hits from Stewart, Hill, Moots, Mills McPartlan and Yartletts.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Pirates came back and scored nine runs to tie the score again. (I said it was a good game) Two hits each from Stepp, Burrell, Wilcox, and singles from Waddell, Augentien, Ayer, Smith, Morey, Ducham.
 

In the bottom of the eighth, the Braves came back with singles from Lautenschlager, and Miller to tie the score. 

With the score tied in the ninth the Braves got a hit from Ravo and the game winning hit from Stewart. 

Stewart and Burrell both got home runs for their teams.
Outstanding hitters for the Pirates were Burrell and Gene Baker and for the Braves Lautenschlager went 5 for 5 and Moots 4 for 4.  

  

Field B 

Sarasota, Florida is known as the home of the American Circus.  Well, cue the calliope music, I am here to tell you the Greatest Show On Earth moved a bit eastward, to Winter Haven, Field B, for Friday’s game between the Rays (Hitting team), the Red Sox (Sitting team) and the Rangers (Home team).  We had juggling catches, stunning feats of speed, power and ability, as well as a big finish to the game.

The Sox jumped out to an early lead over their competitors, scoring 4 runs in each of their first two at bats.  If that was not enough Tommy Hamilton, playing SS for the Sox, made a great behind the back catch on a ball hit by Ron Butler, (Rangers), into shallow left field. The Red Sox defense and solid pitching by George Radlein, helped keep the Rangers in check through most of the game.

The Red Sox were like the circus strong man, seemingly unbeatable in this game.  They had a feat of marvel turned in by Denny Shaffer, who hit for the cycle, great job Denny.  The “Ringling Brothers”, Red Sox, added 2 more runs in the third inning and 5 more runs in both the fourth and fifth innings.  After five full innings of play the score stood at Rays 9 – Red Sox 20 and Rangers 8.  It looked like the Rays and Rangers would have to fight it out for 2^nd place.

The last two innings were a different story.  The lion was let out of the cage, as the Rangers bats came to life.  The “never say die” Rangers scored 6 runs in the sixth inning and 10 runs in the seventh inning, to capture the win.  The big blows came from Tommy Wise, who hit an inside the park grand slam and from Regis Finnegen’s game winning hit.  Regis drove in Kirk Coffman all the way from first base, after hitting a double, with two outs, in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Final Score:  Rays 13- Red Sox 23- Rangers 24

Leading Hitters

Rays:

• Roger Edwards, 3 / 4.
• Frank Jacobs, 3 / 4 with 2 doubles.
• Don Erb, 3 / 3.
• Art Zakrowski,  3 / 3.
• Bobby Downs, 3 / 3.

Red Sox:

• Steven Hill, 3 / 5, with a double.
• Tom Hamilton, 3 / 4, with a triple.
• Bobby Zelazny, 4 / 4, with a triple and a double.
• Denny Shaffer, 4 / 4,  hit for the cycle*.
• Bob Hite, 3 / 3, with two doubles and a walk.
• Ari Harris,  3 / 4.

 

Rangers:

• Jose Rivera,  5 / 5, with a double.
• Kirk Coffman, 4 / 5.
• Regis Finnegen, 3 / 4 and a walk.
• Nick Matta, 3 / 3 and a walk.
• Steve Pinnick, 3 / 4.
• Don Ing, 3 / 4 with a double.