It's a Beautiful Night

A lot has happened in the world of the Bad Gnus since this reporter has opined on the events. The Gnus had actually crawled back to .500 at 3-3. The league was talking about the Gnus. This time it was actually good things. Sure, there were still comments about the tye dye, our constant player whoring and Pete's ponytail hat. But this time there was a buzz that the cool dudes in cool shirts with the cool beer sponsorship had some hot skills. Luckily, we were able to quickly put a stop to all of that nonsense.

Surprisingly, the injuries that we had endured has not hampered us. Erik's been playing with a cast on this hand. Pete played with a foot the size and color of Shrek's. Doug Hart... Well, Doug's going to be healthy in the spring. Fall youth sports have crept in and made the roster less predictable. Between soccer and the nurturing of the future second baseman for your Sacramento River Cats, Jared Rebensdorf, many Papa Gnus have missed time.

Tangent alert: We may need to start thinking about a different last name if JReb is going to take a step to the show. Something with an "ez" at the end of it like Rebenez, perhaps. I know my business career took off after I changed my last name from Oxard.

So five straight losses, led us into a game on a beautiful fall evening against of talented T-Sox team that the Gnus edged in their first meeting. After setting batting orders based on order of appearance to the field and alphabetical order in previous weeks, the manager went with the longest lasting Gnus. Some may cynically say that is the only way Mike could bat first. Fastest, no. Best hitter, no. Tallest, no. Youngest, no. Founder, yes! Sadly, batting clean up on the team was a guy who joined us last year.

The Gnus learned a lesson about the loyalty of whores as our #1 "player of the evening" left during warmups to play on the other team. That left the Gnus with 9 players against the T-Sox' 10. It didn't matter in the first inning as the beautifully constructed lineup resulted in the Gnus batting around, but stranding the bases loaded. The defense came to play and put the T-Sox down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first. The next few innings resulted in much of the same hard hit balls by the Gnus and stranding runners on the bases. The T-Sox, especially their third baseman, continued to field hard hit balls and make clutch outs. After 4 innings the score was 6-2 and it seemed like it was 16-2.

Slowly, the T-Sox pulled closer and closer to the lead. The Gnus had tired of all the baserunning and were going to rest on their laurels and get ready to crack some beers. In the 6th inning, with the sun below the horizon, the T-Sox pulled within one run. The umpire said there was time for one more inning, but forgot to tell our bats. After another quiet inning, the Gnus had a one run cushion to protect. After a lead off single, the Bad Gnus turned in the Defensive Play of the game. A simple two hopper to third turned into a double play of a fast runner because of the wonderful pivot by Bill Moebs at second. That was the second double play of the game that Bill turned from a grounder to third. This one looked like it would seal the game. Way to go Bill!

Two outs in the bottom of the last inning and the last batter on the T-Sox at the plate looked promising. But after a walk, the top of the order put together consecutive singles to tie the game before Sean, in his second game with the Gnus hauled in another nice catch in right field to force extra innings.

In the eighth, the Bad Gnus bats came alive again, scoring 3 runs before Mike could end the inning with a bases loaded double play to the third baseman. No fair putting their best fielder at the only place I can hit the ball! In the bottom half, the T-Sox threatened after one guy put one to the tennis courts for our second rule aided hit that prohibited a home run. But the T-Sox were only able to put one across, giving the Bad Gnus an excellent 9-7 win over a quality opponent.

The Samuel Adams Player of the Game was down to two people. Howard Hughes was back! He was hitting everywhere. Taking extra bases including a very important extra base in the last inning as a pinch runner for Bill. He was the first run in that key inning. One of our smaller fans at the game, Ted Giberson, was overheard saying "Dad, he's just like Ichiro". He is just Ichiro - runs down balls in the outfield, cannon arm, basehits every time up and a limited command of the English language. However, the award this week goes to Bill Moebs. Sporting the tye dye for the first time prompted Bill to put in his best effort with the Gnus. He had 3 solid hits and played and flawless second base, including the defensive play of the game. Great game, Bill.

It was nice to play so well near the very end of the season. We only made one error and up and down the order people were hitting the ball hard. The last game of the season is Monday at 5:15 (!!!) Please be there and help Bill finish some Sammies. What we don't drink, he will have to, so let's do Bill a solid.