The Beatings Continue

This has been a rough few weeks to be a Bad Gnu or one of the many faithful fans who apparently watch from afar. Our number of wins equal the total attendance for the season. Two weeks ago, we had my impressionable 12 year old nephew at the game. He didn't sleep for a week after witnessing the 27-4 beatdown at the hands of some people who are just much, much better at this than the Bad Gnus. Greg had to listen to questions at the dinner table like "Dad, are those guys, like major league baseball players or are you guys just getting really old?" When my niece kicked him under the table to wake him up (it was past 6:30 after all), Greg could only flinch thinking the rolls that were being passed were another screaming line drive coming at his head. There was still a Newcastle Player of the Game! Doug Wormald had two hits. That was a complete stand out performance in that game. The Bad Gnus actually had a 2-0 lead after a half of inning, but they couldn't hold the lead. I think the lead was gone after three batters. I have repressed this game so deep in my memory, I don't even remember the name of the team. Or maybe Matthew is right and I am just getting really old.

This past week, the Bad Gnus came out with an answer to all of our latest opponents with their buffed arms and rippled six packs. They came with a chilled twelve pack. (Thanks Erik!) The first game of the day-night double header also pitted a team that shouldn't be on the same field with the Bad Gnus. But this time it was the other way. Now, I wasn't at the game, so I have to reply on the report handed in by field reporter, softball hall-of-fame catcher and OG (original Gnu) Kevin Bakkie. Despite most of everyone playing down to the level of the competition, the Bad Gnus, led by Kevin staged a last inning comback after Kevin's fourth smashed hit of the game which easily plated somebody who got on base somehow. He couldn't remember. The Newcastle Player of the Game goes to....Kevin! Good job, Kev. Also the Defensive Play of the Game is back this week after the lack of quality plays the week before. Once again, it was field reporter Kevin who made an excellent catch of a decent throw by whoever was playing leftfield and made a stellar play to tag the runner who was attempting to score. Sounds like a nice all around game for Kevin.

Between games, the Bad Gnus went back to their roots and do what they do better than anyone in the league. They knocked down some cold ones. Erik Carlson nearly wrapped up Player of the Game before the game began by bringing a twelve pack. Unfortunately for Erik, they were all gone by the time I got there. (PS Erik, there's always a chance next week. I hear Pyramid Curve Ball is exceptional!) Sadly, Howard Hughes had to depart before the second game as The O.C. was about to come on and his bottle of White Zinfindel had been chilling all day in anticipation for the moment when Tiffany caught Britt in bed with her boyfriend who was supposed to be donating his kidney to his adopted brother from Cambodia.

The Bad Gnus took the field against a team that just lost the first game of their doubleheader against the Rage. That apparently amped these fellas up. The Bad Gnus didn't get a hit until the third inning. That's always a bad sign when the other team is throwing the ball underhand. The rumor was that the Shortstop played AA baseball. He looked like it. Most of their team could hit and hit well. They only jacked one out of the yard, but another guy hit the top of the fence to the opposite field and the rest of the team smoked hits all over the yard. Yeah, that game wasn't much fun. It was easier to swallow with the beer appetizer the Gnus enjoyed before the game. Kevin especially appeared to celebrate the previous game victory with gusto. The final was 20-2 but the real score was 20-19, Bad Gnus. that was the number of intact nuts each team had after they left the field. I know it was a bit tragic at the time and Pete felt real bad about it, but hopefully enough time has passed that he can laugh as hard we can. Only One-Nut McGee took the shot harder than Pete. But let's recap. Dude who is too good to be playing D ball, smokes one in the corner in left field. Mike hustles over (why is Mike still playing leftfield?) and fires the ball to Pete who turns and smoked the ball to third. Doug at third thought we were playing whiffleball and saw that Pete's throw was right on line to drill the runner who came around third and deftly avoided the ball. I don't know why the runner was facing left field, but his package was getting a good look at the ball Pete had rifled to the infield. All 20 guys in the game and the umpire put their own hands to their junk and cringed as the ball popped him right in the twig and berries. I haven't heard such a hush hit a field in all my years at the complex. The silence only broken by someone, I think, it was Greg telling someone else to tag him. The runner was out and probably wished he had blacked out. On the bench, several Gnus, especially Pete thought it was bogus to take the out there. I agreed to a point, but thought it was more bogus that a team with this much softball talent would play in a D league instead of a league more fitting of their talent. I shouldn't give the Newcastle Player of the Game to anyone since everyone played pretty crappy. So I'll spread it to two people. The award this week goes to Bill and Pete! Bill drove in a run in the second inning with a sacrafice fly with the bases loaded and no one out when we were trailing by 7. That's half our runs! But mainly Bill gets it as he brought just about every bat we use and stayed later than everyone else cleaning up all the equipment out of the dugout. Pete gets the award not for his hilarious defensive play of the game, but because of the humanity Pete showed. He felt very bad about the guy's injury and made sure to apologize and try to make good with the opposition after the play. For the first couple innings, I thought the Gnus were afraid to get on base for fear of retribution. It turned out that we just suck. Later in the game, the umpire completely blew a call in our favor at second base, but Pete told the umpire he was safe and the team continued to run around the bases like a merry-go-round. It was the right thing to do and karma will be back on our side. But what pushed him to 50% of the award this week, was Pete stepping up and buying pitchers following the game. Way to go fellas!