Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #18 Game: August 25, 2013 Buzzards prevail over Solons 16-10, end season in first place On a pleasant morning in Galt with temps in the low 80s, the Ol' Buzzards were playing the last game of the regular season. The Buzzards, as a species, are not known as early birds, however, a truck load containing half of the team and a car pool arrived before 9 am for the 10 o'clock game at the Galt Community Park baseball field. The Gold Country Buzzards (12-5) were facing the Sacramento Solons (4-13) for the third time this year. In April the Buzzards won 12-0 in Davis and 17-10 at James Field in June. The pitching match-ups for the game pitted two veteran hurlers, meaning lots of experience and over a million throws on those right arms. The Solons' starting pitcher was the stocky, Ken 'Wrong' Wright #1. For the Ol' Buzzards, the always tough, Mike 'Big Mac' Mc Cabe #15 was on the mound. The schedule showed the Buzzards as the home team. The Solons scored first by opening the inning with three singles, a walk, and a single to score two runs and load the bases with no outs. A tough pop-up caught by shortstop Taylor 'Welzy' Welz in short right-center field was the first out of the inning. Two clutch strike-outs followed to end the inning without further damage. In the bottom half of the dig, the Buzzards matched the two runs to tie the game at 2-2. Welzy led-off with a sharp single down the left field line. After stealing second, he advanced to third on a groundout. Dave 'Evy' Everingham then ripped a base hit to left to score Welzy. Evy stole second before Charles 'CJ' Jackson was walked on five pitches. After a fielder's choice put runners at first and second with two outs, Tom 'TK' Keatley nailed a full-count fastball for a single down the left field line to score CJ from second base to tie the score. The Solons re-took the lead with a run in the second inning on two hits and an infield error. The Solon rally was cut short with a terrific running, back-hand catch in right field by Ray 'Bull Dog' Henry, before tumbling to the ground and hanging on to the ball with both hands. The Buzzards put a three-spot on the board in the third inning to re-take the lead. Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri, the catcher all game, opened the frame with a single to left. Two outs later, Welzy ran for Salmo at first. Taylor then stole second and third before Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir walked. With Evy batting next, Wookie stole second before Evy crushed a double over the head of the left fielder driving in Welzy and Wook. CJ then launched a fastball into low-earth orbit and way over the center fielder's head for a long double that knocked in Evy for the third run of the inning. CJ was slowed by sore legs and butt from over-extending himself during his first game of the season, last Sunday. The score after three frames was 5-3, Buzzards. In the fifth inning, the Solons fought for a run to close the gap to 5-4. The run scored on two hits, a wild pitch and a fielder's choice. In the last half of the fifth, the Ol' Buzzards added the crooked number, three, to the scorebook for an 8-4 lead. Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny started it off with a single up the middle. Ray 'Bull Dog' Henry ran for Surf Dawg at first. Batting next, Steve 'Cookie' Cook walked on a full-count to put two runners on. Up next, Salmo hit a flare to left field for a single to load the bases for Paul 'Youngin' Lee. Youngin' then slapped a single to center field to score Bull Dog. Welzy followed with a line-drive single to left-center to knock in Cookie and Salmo. With one out and one on, Wookie hit a long liner into right-center for a single. On the play, Bill Holland in center, running hard for a catch, tried to stop as the ball hit the ground. As the ball bounced away and he was still moving toward right field, he planted his right foot to turn to his left and get the ball. That is when the knee buckled and Bill went down in a awkward and painful heap, as play stopped. After a long delay, Bill was helped to the dugout and the game resumed. One pitch later, a 6-4-3 double play ended the inning with a four-run Buzzard lead. John Mason, the manager of the Solons, reported that Bill hobbled to his car and went to emergency. Nothing was broken, but lots of swelling. He was released with a sprained right knee a few hours later. More tests are planned by his own doctor later. In the sixth inning, the Buzzards added a quick run. CJ smashed the first pitch down the left field line for a base hit. Batting next, Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray was robbed by the third baseman, big and lucky John Hagen, for the third time on a hard hit ball leading to a fielder's choice. With one out, TK laced the first pitch to right field for a single to put runners at the corners. Big Mac followed with a sacrifice fly to left driving in the Baron. After six digs, the score was 9-4 with the Buzzards on top. Entering the seventh, Big Mac had thrown 102 pitches, but the last four frames had gone well, so the skipper sent Mike to the mound for one more inning. A full-count walk and two hit batters later, Wook was changing pitchers. Veteran, righty Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny #1 was warmed up and took the hill with the bases loaded. It took eight more batters to end the inning including four hits and a walk before the Solons scored five runs to tie the game, 9-9. The Ol' Buzzards responded with four runs to regain the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Surf Dawg led-off with a flare to right for a single on the first pitch. Cookie surprised the infield with a 2-1 count bunt for a base hit. Up next, Salmo slapped a single through the left side to load the bases. Youngin' then hit a squibber, off the end of the bat, toward first for an RBI ground-out sending Bull Dog home on the play. Batting next, Welzy singled to left to score Cookie and put Buzzards on the corners. Taylor then took second base, putting both runners in scoring position, before Wookie drove a 2-2 pitch through the drawn-in infield for a two-run single scoring Salmo and Welzy. The score after seven innings was Buzzards 13 and Solons 9. In the eighth dig, the Gold Country gang scored three more to take a 16-9 lead. Jackson started it off with a deep-deep double to left field. Von Zboray singled up the middle putting runners at first and third. Keatley then blasted an 0-1 pitch for a two-run double to deep center field to score CJ from third and the Baron all-the-way from first base with good hustle, huffing and puffing, while rounding third base. Up next, Mc Cabe singled to center to score TK from second base for the last run of the game and the 2013 regular season for the Ol' Buzzards. The Solons scored once more in their last at-bats in the top of the ninth, on four base hits, to make the final score 16-10, Buzzards. The game was tighter than anticipated and it ran for a little more than three hours. Evy and Welzy had to leave the game at the end of the seventh inning, as they turned into Pumpkins, no ... umm, Pirates an hour later. Pete was able to stay behind for this game. The Ol' Buzzards finished the regular season with a 13-5 record. Shortly after the game was over, the team got the word that the Miners had defeated the Reds at C-Bar-C Park to push the Reds into second place with a 12-6 record. There were high-fives all around with cold beers in hand to celebrate. Wookie had an especially big smile on his face. After trailing the Reds all season, starting with the 2-1 loss on opening day to them, the Buzzards finally passed the Reds on the last day of the season to move into first place and the number one seed in the NABA playoffs. Congrats to everyone. Another good day to be a Buzzard. The Solons are a good hitting team (18 hits) and the mound was an uneven, worn bump with a deep hole for the landing spot, making it tough on the hurlers. Big Mac faced 34 batters and threw 109 pitches (70 strikes & 39 balls) in six plus innings of work. The Solons scored seven runs (five earned) on nine hits with three walks and three hit batters against Mike. Mc Cabe struck-out three. Surf Dawg threw the last three frames and faced 18 batters in throwing 60 pitches (34 strikes & 26 balls). Novotny (3-1) got the win and gave up three runs on nine hits with two walks and one strikeout. The Buzzard offense was strong with 23 hits including four extra-base hits. The hit club for the game includes: the Baron-1, Big Mac-1, CJ-3, Cookie-1, Evy-2, Salmo-3, Surf Dawg-2, TK-4, Welzy-3, Wookie-2 and Youngin'-1. Salmo and CJ were 3 for 3, while TK was 4 for 4. A good day with the bats. The always important RBIs were knocked in by: Charles-2, Dan-2, Dave-2, Mike-2, Paul-2, Taylor-3, and Tom-3. The runs were scored in the book by: the Baron-2, CJ-2, Cookie-2, Evy-1, Salmo-3, Surf Dawg-2, TK-1, Welzy-2 and Wookie-1. With courtesy runners, one of Salmo's runs was scored by Welzy and Bull Dog ran the bases and crossed the plate, both times, for Surf Dawg. The three eagle-eyed Buzzards walking to first base for some offense without using a bat were: CJ, Cookie and Wook. And base thievery was successfully used by: Evy-1, Wookie-2 and Welzy with four. The Solons defense stopped Buzzard rallies with four double-plays to end the 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th innings, while the Buzzards managed to get one double-play in the fifth. The Buzzards' defense was good with some dazzling plays to get outs. Evy showed off his fabulous glove work four times at third base with rocket shots and tough hops, all scooped up and all for tough outs. In the eighth inning after a single put two runners on with two outs, Cookie, playing second base, got the throw from the outfield. Without calling timeout, Steve walked over to Gregg near the mound and pretended to put the ball into his glove. Surf Dawg then slowly bent over and rubbed his ankle, while Cookie walked over to Wookie playing shortstop and standing near the bag. After a quick pep-talk with his throwing-arm around Wook's shoulders, Cookie went behind second base. With Surf Dawg still on the grass and moving toward the mound, the runner took a couple of steps off of the bag. Steve slapped the tag on the surprised runner, and the surprised umpire called him out for an inning ending, defensive gem, play of the day. In the top of the ninth inning, Surf Dawg picked-off the runner trying to steal third base, at third base, in a nice heads-up play. The Solons argued, balk, that a pitcher can't throw to an unoccupied base from the rubber, even though the runner was heading there. The Baron, playing third, got the ball just before the charging and standing-up runner, big John Hagen, arrived. The same guy that robbed the Baron three times during the game at the hot-corner was now dancing in the third base area trying to avoid Pete's tag and get to the bag. The Baron Von Zboray danced the pirouette just for a moment, then bull-rushed the dude and performed the body-bounce tag for the out. There were just three outfield fly-ball outs in the game and four infield pop-ups for outs. The infield was busy with 12 ground balls for assisted put-outs plus two unassisted outs. With five strikeouts and one hidden ball trick, that was the defense that defeated the Solons. Another good Buzzard victory, especially after the Solons caught up in the seventh inning with five runs. Good job. The playoffs are now next. Buzzard Note #1: Since the Buzzards are seeded number one for the playoffs, the first round game against the Solons will now be played at James Field on September 8th at 2 o'clock. Buzzard Note #2: The championship game is still scheduled for September 15th at 2 o'clock at Playfields Park in Davis. Buzzard Note #3: Diane took 53 photos of mostly swinging Buzzards during the Red Sox game on August 18th. Those are available at: wukmir.com/photos/ Buzzard Note #4: The web site shows the team batting average at the end of the season is an awesome .407. Other team and individual stats are at: eteamz.com/gcbuzzards/ Buzzard Note #5: In the Aug 26th issue of Sports Illustrated there is a six-page article entitled, The Swing. It is an article about the current 'best swing' in baseball, Chris 'Crush' Davis of the Orioles. The six-page story is about Davis' swing, but it also has a couple of interesting tid-bits about hitting a baseball. Like, a 90-mph fastball will get to home plate in 400 milliseconds, but the eye needs 200 of those to see the ball, send the image to the brain and process its speed, spin and location. The swing takes about 150 milliseconds - literally, the blink of an eye. That leaves 50 scant milliseconds to decide whether to swing and, if so, on what path. The goal is to connect a 2¼-inch-diameter bat barrel squarely with a three-inch-diameter baseball - without actually being able to see the ball right before contact. The eye can't follow an object moving that fast that close, so a hitter cannot track the pitch in its last five feet before it reaches the plate. The batter loses sight of the baseball just when the pitcher wants the pitch to break off its path. So, a 60+ mph NABA pitch in perspective gives you nearly 550 milli-seconds to make that swing count. That does sound hard and fun.