Barn Burner Win Over Burnstead

MBC 14's had their best win while playing their worst defense to best Burnstead 9-8.  

The game featured seven lead changes and had the surprise of seeing this team bunt, and make two additional bunt attempts; that is if you count giving the bunt sign THREE times to a hitter who failed to notice. The offense was spectacular, and the defense most likely gave the home crowd a deja vue moment from watching these boys play T-ball many years ago.

Tinoi Peleti pitched the first four innings striking out seven, and having the defense give him about 90% support.  Who knew they were peaking at this point.

The offense (and bad play) started early with a lead off double by Ben Thomson (3-4, RBI).  Ben promptly ran to third on Nick Reeves's (2-4, RBI) ground out to short.  Tino Peteti singled and Nick then scored on Jake Hawken's (2-4, RBI) single. Walks to Campbell Queen  and Mitchell Smith  brought home a second run.

Burnstead answered with a run in the second, with some help from our defense, 'nuff said.

MBC answered this run in the third. Tino lead off with a walk, stole second and scored on Stuart Fairchild's single.

Burnstead tied the game in their fourth with two more runs.

MBC responded again to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth.  After two quick outs John Peterson and Jimmy Sheldrup walked.  These walks were followed by three clutch base bits by Ben Thomson, Nick Reeves and Tino Peleti.  The only problem was the first base umpire believed Tino was out at first thus ending the inning.

In the fifth inning John Peterson entered to pitch, or in other words was thrown to the wolves. John pitched well and was reward with five unearned runs, three in the sixth and two in the seventh.

MBC rallied in the sixth to restore their lead. A lead off Mitchell Smith walk, a bunt by David Becker (that went for a hit!), and a walk to John Peterson (fortunately as he was being flashed the bunt sign throughout his at bat) loaded the bases.  Jimmy Sheldrup hit a deep sacrifice fly and the the clutch brothers Ben and Nick followed with singles.  A bases loaded walk to Tino ended the scoring.

After valiantly taking the lead back , MBC promptly gave Burnstead two more runs to tie the score.

Jake Hawken started the inning with a screaming hit.  Campbell Queen bunted foul, fouled off a hit and run (that Jake apparently did not know about) and then singled as Jake stole second, setting the stage for Mitchell Smith with runners on first and third.  Mitchell delivered a walk off single to send the home crowd home with a smile.

 

Something to Think About as We Prepare to Battle Again This Weekend

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.


"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.


Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.


Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke.
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back,
but not Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.


Copied from Poems of Alfred Tennyson,

Baseball Roots

My father was no baseball player. Did not know much about the game. Not his fault, his father passed away when he was 13 and he went to work to help the family. He dropped out of school after his freshman year (not sure if NY had high school baseball back then) and joined the service thus making me grow up as the son of a lowly enlisted man in the Coast Guard. He later did work his way through officers training school to earn an engineering degree.

My mother was the baseball fan. She was the one to inspire me. We probably played more games of catch thus making the movie "Field of Dreams" ineffective on me.

Sadly, neither one ever really saw me play much, not when it mattered. Not high school or college. My father left home when I turned 13 and my mother had her own issues through my young adult days.

But my father had ONE big thing to say to me about sports. Never a player, not much of a fan he did have ONE big comment about baseball and sports that has had the biggest impact on me. It probably had more to do with the hand he had been dealt in life than any insight into sports.

He had ONE word to describe sports and ONE word to measure who he liked on any given team. DESIRE. It never really mattered what kind of numbers a guy put up, or how good a guy was, My father was all about DESIRE. If a guy played hard, ran into walls, hustled and gave it his all, he was my father's guy. And they are my guys as well.

Show me what you got, give it your all and I am your biggest fan. It became the way I played, it has always been who I cheer for and it is what I hope to pass onto you.

MBC 14's Learn the Hard Way - Sleepwalking is Hazardous to Your Heath

After a wonderful morning win, MBC learned that they could not mail in a performance no matter who the opponent is.  Sluggish, sleepy and perhaps over confident, MBC dug an early hole against the Kirkland Merchants.

Down three nothing, the word finally spread, the team seemed to wake up and respond with one in  the third, one in  the fourth and finally five in the fifth. Alas it was not enough.

In the third, "Strike Zone" Mitchell Smith earned his fourth walk of the day.  He moved to third on Jimmy Sheldrup's single and was brought home by Ben Thomson's sacrafice fly to deep center.

In the fourth Stuart Fairchild singled and was driven home by Campbell Queen's double.

The fun for Magnolia started in the fifth. Lead off walks to John Peterson and Jimmy Sheldrup were followed by Ben Thomson's  RBI single.   Stuart Fairchild then hit a booming double to score two followed by hot hitting Campbell Queen's two RBI single. This gave MBC a 7-4 lead that seemed enough to the sleep walking crew.

John Peterson started and threw four innings.  Nick Reeves relieved and after throwing two easy innings ran into trouble in the seventh.  

The Merchants got a couple of cheap hits, a couple of questionable walks and despite a heads up call by savvy second baseman Keenan Heller to pick a man off second the Merchants final hitter still managed to somehow run into a ball to send the sleep walking MBC team home, wondering what happened.

O-Boy a Win Over O'Brien's

The 2010 MBC 14's came out smoking hot and ran up a 9-0 lead against last years powerhouse O'Brien's Auto Group.  They almost made it a five run mercy rule game, but they let O'Briens sneak back in, and then barely held on to win.

Ben Thomson (2-3, 2RBI, 2B) led the game off with a hit, and stole second.  The O'Brien pitcher then walked  Tino Peleti (1-3) and hit Stuart Fairchild (1-3, RBI) and Jake Hawken (1-3, 1 RBI) back to back to force in a run.  Campbell Queen (1-3, 2RBI) then drove in two with a scorcher up the middle.  The fun was not over as Spencer Hogger (1-2, RBI) then blasted a ball over the center fielder's head.  When the crazy inning ended MBC held a 6-0 lead.

In the third after two quick outs, Mitchell Smith (3 walks) walked and was moved along by John Peterson's base hit.  David Becker (2-3, 2RBI 2B) then launched a ball deep into the gap for a two run double, which was followed by Ben Thomson's double over the now tired center fielder.  After a walk to Nick Reeves the center fielder had just enough energy left to chase down Tino's tremendous blast into center. 

Tino Peleti pitched four strong innings allowing four hits and one unearned run. He was followed by Stuart Fairchild who pitched well, but had the misfortune to experience the now desperate bats of the O'Brien team.  Thing got a little dicey at the end, and Tino came in for a save once the tieing run reached base.

A big win against a big opponent in the first game of the season, can it get any better????

A Bounty on the Head of Campbell Queen!

The new look MBC 14's broke out for their first action on Saturday night under the lights at Hiawatha Playfield. There were some kinks to be worked out, but the early returns look exciting for this team.

The biggest and worst problem we had was absence of Vacation King, Cambell Queen The selfish, sometime cavalier international playboy not only left us in a lurch by not being in town, but he had also sneakily absconded with certain elements of our catching gear. Without shin guards or a helmet poor Tino and Spencer had to catch all night without gear. Fortunately no one was hurt too badly. And we discovered that although there may in fact be worse catchers on the planet, Spencer did his best to display his reasons for NEVER wanting to be thought of as a catcher EVER again.

Aside from that, the team came out swinging, pitching and played very good defense.

Pitching was VERY good for our first action. I was pleased by the strike throwing and the way the boys competed from the bump. John Peterson started and pitched well in his two innings. Stuart Fairchild rolled through two quality innings and Tino added two quality innings as well.

We hit and swang the bats very well. Spencer was 3-4, Stuart Fairchild hit a long triple and a double, Tino hit a moon shot for a double but later popped up* with the bases loaded and two out. John Peterson hit a double over the head of the left fielder, and after a vicious in-dugout argument over defensive positions with coach Cougan Newcomer David Becker lashed a single. Jimmy Sheldrup beat out an infield single and we got a hit from a potential newcomer Mason Mystery Boy.

On defense I am pretty sure we didn't have an error, we all threw to the right bases and most importantly of all...no one wet their pants, at least not that I was aware of.

* if you, like me, call hitting a screaming line drive right at a startled first baseman a pop up.

And of course I cannot write about a game at Hiawatha without:

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.


There the wrinkled old Nokomis
Nursed the little Hiawatha,
Rocked him in his linden cradle,
Bedded soft in moss and rushes,
Safely bound with reindeer sinews;
Stilled his fretful wail by saying,
"Hush! the Naked Bear will hear thee!"
Lulled him into slumber, singing,
"Ewa-yea! my little owlet!
Who is this, that lights the wigwam?
With his great eyes lights the wigwam?
Ewa-yea! my little owlet!"


Many things Nokomis taught him
Of the stars that shine in heaven;
Showed him Ishkoodah, the comet, Ishkoodah, with fiery tresses;
Showed the Death-Dance of the spirits,
Warriors with their plumes and war-clubs,
Flaring far away to northward
In the frosty nights of Winter;
Showed the broad white road in heaven,
Pathway of the ghosts, the shadows,
Running straight across the heavens,
Crowded with the ghosts, the shadows.

Baseball Digest - TIME MACHINE

As a young boy I could not get enough of Baseball Digest. It was great, it had everything and it spoke to me about everything that was baseball. Above is the cover of the March issue (you know, the month we are currently in) from the year when I was your age. Kind of like our own time machine. And you can go back in time and read them ONLINE!. You can go even further back if you want. Kevin Campbell (no relation to Campbell Queen) provided me with a link.


http://books.google.com/books/serial/by4DAAAAMBAJ?q=magazine_serial:by4DAAAAMBAJ&rview=1&lr=&sa=N&start=420

Kevin has also consented to come out and fungo baseball at you this weekend, and throw you some nasty curves. His curveball is just like mine only his actually breaks and make you fear for your life.

Kevin is a former SU pitcher who I used to catch. Actually I never caught him at SU, he is younger than I am, but we have played in various leagues together.

Kevin is a great guy, I am delighted he is coming out and hope you will welcome him and soak up any knowledge he has to share.