2 Game Winning Streak!

First streak of this length all year! We should be able to spread it to 3 on Monday. Our opponent, Don't Panic, is rumored to have not won a game in 5 years. Hello, Bad Gnus!

This week's game was pretty ugly. The Bad Gnus, gutted out a 6-4 victory, relying on their 4th string pitcher. Mixing walks, strikeouts and barbs to the opposing batters, John was a strong presence on the hill. John raced over from the emergency room at Kaiser in his scrubs. He wore his tye dye under his scrubs all day. That's good mojo.

There was a story that John had to call a t.o.d. on the ER table at 6:40 so that he could make game time. Maybe another 15 minutes and a few more shots from the paddles of life could have saved her. But John knew where his priorities lay. Speaking of outstanding commitment to the Gnus, Todd Sanfilippo spent the evening of his 13th wedding anniversary at the ballyard! No word yet if he spent the night of his 13th anniversary on his couch. Now, I don't know about the priorities of the record 5 Gnus that were on vacation on a Monday night. Doug will argue he was on a business trip, but if you are golfing during the day and drinking at night, that's a vacation, buddy. Used to be that the Gnus would leave on vacation on Tuesday and return on Sunday. Those were the days. By the way, I won't be at the game this Monday, Ryan has soccer practice.

Nothing too exciting happened in the game to recap. Bill recruited Arden Park softball whore Greg (not our Greg) to play on the team. Good work, Bill. He also brought his friend Jeff, fresh off the set of Entourage. Dude had the very stylish LA style vans with no laces and faux-shoelace rings. Jeff actually missed an inning because he was on a cell phone call. Now give Bill credit for having his friend's back, but Bill insistance that Jeff is making a movie and is on a business call was shot down after Jeff was overheard saying, in a sweet voice "I got a hit and an RBI". I don't think Jennifer Aniston's agent cares how he was doing in the game. Or maybe it was Jenna Jamison's agent. There was discussion in the dugout as to the types of films Jeff might be associated with.

Despite all the grief that I can give to Jeff, I was very pleased that he was out there. Not only was he a good guy, but he is the rare "Rex Davis" that is taking the Sam Adams Player of the Game. He was 3 X 3 and knocked in a couple of runs. He always seemed to be up or on base in a critical time of the game. His quick reflexs resulted in the final out of the game as he snagged a foul tip before it hit the ground. Good game Jeff. I'm sure after crashing at Bill's house for a while, you have had all the Sam Adams you can take.

Remaining Arden Park Schedule

I guess I should've posted this a while ago, but for your reference here is the remaining schedule....

8/7 7:00 v. T-Sox
8/14 6:00 v. Don't Panic
8/15 6:00 v. Ahern Construction (It's a Tuesday!!)
8/21 7:00 v. The Long Islanders
8/28 6:00 v. Hanks
9/4 7:00 v. Silver Bullets (Yup, that's Labor Day)
9/11 7:00 v. T-Sox
9/18 6:00 v. Don't Panic

Plan your vacations accordingly!!

The Bad Gnus are Back!!

This has been one of the rockier stretches in the 15 year history of the Bad Gnus. The softball complex ran us out after repeated drubbings to Floyd Landis' and Justin Gatlin's of the softball world. Actually, I'm not sure if the other teams were fueled by steriods, meth or satan. Either way, the Bad Gnus are fueled by mind-numbing, reaction-slowing, gut-expanding, and might I add delicious, beer.

The new field held promises of closer games, older competition and a shorter commute. We found out that, contrary to popular the saying, 2 out of 3 was indeed bad afterall. After 3 games, the Bad Gnus record stood at 0 - 3. Two of the teams were even older than the Gnus. I felt bad yelling at and threatening the AARP member during the third game of the slide. I believe the mounting frustration was getting to me. In three games, the Bad Gnus scored 6 runs! Sure, it would be at least 7 if Kevin would have run to the stupid line instead of the plate as he has done for nearly 40 years. Yup. I know this is a tangent, but Kev turns the big 4-0 on September 22!! I can't really blame Kev. Oh sure, there is plenty to blame him for in the grand scheme of things, but touching the plate to kill a rally when the plate is the universal baseball symbol for scoring a run can be forgiven. I know there are those out there that might say "but hasn't he been the catcher during all of these drubbings in which opponent after opponent has touched the line and not the plate". All I can really say to that is, "Leave Kevin alone, he's my buddy."

This night would be different. There was a different feeling from the get-go. Bill had brought a full ice chest of chilled Sam Adams Summer. (The early favorite for the prestigious Mike Maves Beer of the Year award!) We were matching our Sam Adams sponsorship against a team called the Silver Bullets, who were sponsored by some watered-down waste of aluminum. There were 11 Gnus before the game started and all had on the tye dye. The oppressive heat of the summer had momentarily cooled for the most pleasant evening in weeks. Yes, tonight would be different.

The lineup was completed on bright pink paper and would remain so until the Bad Gnus pushed across 10 runs in a game. Would this be the night that turns the lineup into the typical writing frantically on a scrap of paper 2 minutes before gametime? Or would pink be our new signature color? After a maddening (for the Silver Bullets) array of bloop hits actually dropped for the Bad Gnus for a change, the bats started to come alive. With the bases loaded and one run already in. Keith lofted a deep sacrifice fly to score Kevin. But wait. No he didn't! Kevin once again stepped on the plate for the third out and killing the rally. Keeping with his season-long vigilance of helping the umpires make the right call, Pete pointed out the transgression to the Blue. Pete's the most honest real estate agent in history. I have heard a lot of adjectives that people use when describing commercial real estate agents. Honest is usually the first one and it is one of the few clean ones.

After a quick inning of defense the Bad Gnus finally broke lose. 8 runs were plated in the 2nd inning. The inning was highlighted by Kevin scoring and actually running across the line and not touching the plate. Good job, Kev!

For the first time in a long time, the Bad Gnus had a solid lead and could coast the rest of the way. The shutout was lost, but the hitting continued. The Gnus rolled up 6 more runs on their way to a 15-3 beat down of the Silver Bullets. Most people had a very solid night with the bat. Don't think it is unrelated to everyone but Howard refusing to use his cursed bat. I'm not sure what witch doctor on e-bay Howard purchased that bat from, but it is not doing any favors to our best hitter. Howard did sneak a ball through the infield in the last inning to avoid the sombrero. He has one hit in a row! Howard took his slump so hard, he refused the post game victory beer afterward.

I can't recall all that many great defensive plays this week. I should mention the amazing running catch Erik Grotte made the previous week in right-center. That was an awesome catch! This week, the Bad Gnus played very solid defensive but nothing too spectacular. Doug showed off his cannon as he threw out a guy trying to stretch a single into a double to start off the game. Bill made a nice strectch to complete a line out double play that Mike tried to throw over his head. I will give the award this week to Pete. No, not for his defense that kept Kevin from scoring in the first inning. Pete made a nice running, shoe top catch on a sinking liner in centerfield. Nice play, Pete!

The Samuel Adams Player of the Game this week is a bit of a tough one. So many people played well. However, the award this week goes to Kirk Giberson! In only his fourth game with the Gnus, he collected three solid hits and looks oh so smooth at second base. In one inning he made a nice smooth pickup on a grounder to his left. Then played a back hand to his right on the next batter. He made each play look routine. This week he was even in uniform. He finally received his Gnus shirt and immediately it paid off. Also, he has ditched his golf shoes for some softball shoes. That has to help. He is stil sporting the golf glove, but whatever works for him is fine with us. Great game, Kirk!

Next week's game is at 7:00 (not 6:00) as I was spouting after the game. Let's keep the winning going. We are missing at least 4 people from last week's game, including our pitcher and back up pitcher. Be looking for fill-ins now!