Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen

 

Today’s American League game featured some razzle-dazzle, some hit and whole lot of miss, some sleight of hand and a play that you won’t see again, maybe ever, unless the catcher happens to be Les Jacobson.

A good place to start is with the lineups.

The Visiting team: D’Herin, Parker, Jacobson*, Gazarak, Pepin, Coffman, Regan, Leversque, D. Hill, Constantine and Wells.

The Home team: S. Hill, Laffoon, Giordano, Jacobs, Butler, Scarbrough*, Schapeler, Matta, Shaffer, Hartley and Simon.

(*denotes manager).

The opening act featured the Visiting team, they scored 3 runs, thanks in large part to the magical bats of D’Herin, Parker, Jacobson, Gazarek and Coffman. The Home team tried to pull a rabbit out of their hat, but they came up a hare short. The only player to score for the visitors was Jim Laffoon, he crossed home plate on a Frank Jacobs single.

After 1 inning the score was Visitors 3-Home 1.

After that first inning, the Visiting team had a whole lot of miss, while the Home team had quite a few hits. The home team scored 5-3-5 runs in the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th innings. Pitcher, Nick Matta, must of had some sleight of hand working on the mound, because the Visitors were shut out in the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th innings. Every good magician has a few tricks up his sleeve, Nick’s best trick was his defense. Giordano, Laffoon, Scarbrough, Simon, Shaffer and Butler all made some nice defensive plays in those innings.

The 4^th inning  had one of the most unusual plays you will see in a game. Les Jacobson, who was playing catcher for the visitors, tagged out Denny Shaffer at 2^nd base, unassisted. You just don’t see too many catchers tagging guys out at 2^{nd ,} do you?  After singles by Schapeler, Matta and Shaffer, Dave Hartley came up and drilled a line drive hit into right center. There was a play at the plate, trying to get the Matta pinch runner out. Denny Shaffer stopped at 2^nd base, while Hartley tried advancing to 2^nd, on the throw to the plate. Shaffer then took off for 3^rd base, about mid way Shaffer decided he could not make it to 3rd, when catcher Les Jacobson cleanly fielded the ball at the plate. Denny was caught in no man’s land.  Les was on top of the situation defensively. He ran out with the ball trapping Denny and tagging him out.

After 5 innings of play the score was Visitors 3- Home team 14.

In the 6^th inning the Visitors decided they would perform a hitting trick of their own.  Instead of sawing a body in half, they cut the home teams lead in half.  D’Herin, Parker, Jacobson, Gazarak, Pepin and Leversque waved their wands, or in this case bats, at the ball and made 5 runs appear. The Home team could only answer with 1 run.

After 6 innings of play the score was Visitors 8- Home team 15.

In the 7^th and 8^th innings we had a little more razzle-dazzle, Ron Butler made two spectacular defensive catches. In the 7^th inning, Ron, playing the short fielder position, drifted way back into LC field, to catch a towering pop fly, that looked like it was going to fall in for a hit.  In the 8^th inning, a line drive hit off the top of Butler’s glove, the ball then bounced off his shoulder and rolled down his arm, into his hand for an out. He is no longer Ron Butler, but the great Svengali, juggler extraordinaire.

With good pitching and solid defense, the visiting team was shut out in the 7^th, 8^th and 9^th inning. While the Home team added a few more runs. The final score was Visitors 8- Home team 20.

Leading players:

Les Jacobson:  4/4 with a triple and a double.

Steve Hill: 3/5 with a triple.

Jim Laffoon: 3 / 4 with a double.

Charlie Giordano: 3 / 4 with two doubles.

Frank Jacobs: 4 / 5 with a double.

Don Scarbrough: 2 / 4 with a HR.

Deano Schapeler: 3/ 5.

Nick Matta:  4/5.

Denny Shaffer: 4/5.

WP: Nick Matta