FPLL Major Yankees

The Cubs ended their 2007 season today the way they started it, with a 10-0 victory in a game shortened by the 10 run rule. Story of the game...Relentless hitting from everyone ended this one early while the combination of Josh and Parker on the mound shut down the Royals with only 1 hit. Offensively, Marcus led the 13 hit parade with his 4th homer of the year and also added a single. Wyatt added two doubles, Will had a double and a single, Miles smashed a double, Robey had 2 singles and Cabell, Vince, Josh and Anthony all chipped in with their own singles. On the mound, in his first start of the year, Josh got the win by pitching 2 innings, allowing only one hit (a weak little hit that just barely stayed fair down the 3rd base line) walking none and giving up 0 runs. Parker finished off the game by throwing 2 innings of no hit ball in his first appearance on the mound this year. In the field, Robey led the way with two consecutive putouts from 2nd in the 3rd, Wyatt played a tough first base, Miles was solid behind the plate and Vince had a couple of plays at second that he easily converted to outs. There was also another sighting of the very elusive and rare left handed combination on the left side of the infield in the 2nd as Will was at SS and Vince at 3rd. So, with great team play and some superb individual accomplishments, the Cubs completed the 2007 Fleet Park Major season at 17-4, winning the NBLL Major crown and finishing second overall in the race for Fleet Park supremacy. Thanks to all for a great season.

Fleet Park's two best Major teams, the Ward's Corner Red Sox and your NBLL Cubs squared off tonight and put on another show for the ages. The end result was a 1-0 victory for the never-say-die Cubs. Story of the game...Will pitched a 6 inning complete game no hitter and Wyatt took care of things in the field and at the plate and scored the lone run of the game. On the mound, two of the better pitchers in the league (some would say the two best)staged a heavyweight pitchers duel, with neither giving any quarter. In the end, Will won with a 10 strikeout, 3 walk, 0 hit and 0 run performance. A masterful pitching performance was highlighted by well placed fast balls and a breaking ball that looked like it was dropping off of a table making it darn near impossible to hit. This performance was aided greatly by 2 All World plays at SS by Wyatt, a good play by Cabell at second and a big catch in CF in the 6th inning by Josh. At the plate, we managed only 2 hits, a double by Wyatt and a single by Vince. In the second, Wyatt smacked a high shot that fell in at left center for a double. One past ball later, he was at 3rd and one more past ball put him safe at home, in a very close play. That one run held up for the next 4 innings and the Cubs took home their 16th win of the year. Last game of the year is this Saturday against the Royals.

The Yankees proved to be in a generous mood tonight, providing the Cubs with several scoring opportunities that we took advantage of and the Cubs brought home a 7-1 victory. Story of the game...The Cubs had only 5 hits tonight, but coupled with errors and free passes from the Yankees, were able to plate 7 runs. Good pitching and defense enabled us to hold them to one run. Leading the offensive attack was Vince with a double and a single while Will, Josh and Sam also belted out singles. Marcus gave us 4 2/3 innings on the mound, striking out 7, walking 5, allowing 6 hits but only giving up 1 run. Vince closed out the final 1 1/3 innings with 1 strikeout, allowing 1 hit, 0 walks and 0 runs. One defensive play to note... Will, Miles and Josh turned in a very impressive double play tonight. Miles fielded a ground ball at SS, looked the runner back to 2nd and threw to Will for the put out at 1st. The runner took off from 2nd, trying to get to 3rd, but Will fired a strike to Josh at 3rd for the easy tag out. Next game is this Thursday against the Red Sox.

The Cubs played power ball today, rapping out 8 extra base hits, and won a squeaker over the Yankees in 7 innings, 7-6. Story of the game...Good hitting throughout the contest and very clutch performances when it counted most put the Cubs over the top in this one. The Cubs uncorked a 9 hit attack today, with numerous shots going for extra bases. Will and Wyatt had triples, Wyatt, Cabell, Vince, Miles, Sam and Anthony had doubles and Robey added a single to produce 7 runs over 7 innings. On the mound, Wyatt made his first start of the year and threw 4 good innings, striking out 6 and giving up 5 runs. Vince came on in the 5th to close out the game, throwing 3 innings, striking out 3 and allowing one run. Our pitching was helped by several good plays in the field...Will and Cabell collaborated on a put out at first, Wyatt played strong SS for 3 innings, Marcus, as usual, was a rock behind the plate and threw out a couple of would-be bunters, Cabell played a strong 2nd and Vince was all over Centerfield. The Cubs were up 6-3 in the 3rd when the Yankees scored 2 to cut the deficit to 1. They added another run in the 5th to tie the game and neither team scored in the 6th, sending the game into extra innings, with the scored tied at 6. If you looked at the scoreboard at the end of the 6th, you saw 6-6-6, which in biblical parlance, is the Mark of the Beast. Be that as it may, the Cubs had two beasts of their own that were about to explode in the bottom of the 7th to seal the win. After Vince had shut the Yankees down in the top of the 7th, he was the lead off batter in our half of the inning. He swatted a double to the left center fence and we were in business. A walk to Miles brought up Sam, who in a pressure packed situation, crushed a 1-1 offering to almost the exact same spot where Vince had 2 batters previous. Vince motored home and the Cubs had another extra inning victory. Next game is this Monday to finish out our stand with the Yankees.

On a night tailor-made for baseball, the Cubs' bats exploded for a 10 run victory over the NBLL Yankees tonight at Fleet Park. Story of the game...The Cubs unleashed a 10 hit, 10 run attack and great pitching held the Yankees at bay and the Cubs walked away with a 10-0 victory in a game shortened to 4 innings. At the plate, Marcus had 2 singles, Will had a double that bounced off the bottom half of the fence, Josh, Miles, Sam, Robey and Parker all contributed with singles, with Parker's producing 2 big RBI's in the 3rd. As impressive as all those hits were, they all took a back seat to Vince's home run and double in the game. In the first inning, on the very first pitch he saw, with a bat he had never used, Vince touched off a rocket shot that cleared the right center fence, not by much, but by enough to gain him entrance into the ever expanding Cubs Home Run Club. He now joins Will, Wyatt, Marcus and Josh in the dinger fraternity. On the mound, Will used only 48 pitches to get the complete game victory. After a somewhat shaky start (he walked the first batter and the second batter bunted for a hit) no other Yankee got a hit or even reached first base. His tally for the game was 1 walk, 1 hit, 0 runs allowed and 8 strikeouts in 4 innings. Next game is this Saturday against these same Yankees.