We're Goin' Streaking!

Couldn't decide which "streaking" picture should stay... Lemme know. Anyway, the Bad Gnus have now won consecutive games after their 11-8, wire-to-wire victory over the relatively tough T-Sox! The Gnus are peaking just in time for the post season tournament starting next week. Watch out old men, roadies, meatheads, crappy-beer drinkers and Brett!

The Gnus were set up with good karma from the get go. The promotions department at the last minute switched the promotion from Big Sexy Leather Thong night to the much more watchable, Throwback Night! All Bad Gnus were encouraged to wear a vintage Bad Gnus T-shirt from the bottom of their painting clothes drawer and take pride in the long history of this remarkable collection of softball talent. There was a nice variety on hand, but nobody reached back for the colorless effort of the Hardball era. The best part of the promotion was the dusting off of two, first-ballot Bad Gnus Hall of Famers (Hall of Fame inductions will take place in fall... stay tuned). Kevin Bakkie and Derrick Rebensdorf made their first appearances of the year. It was dang good to see my old buddies!

The Gnus went 1-2-3 about as quietly as a team could possibly go in the first, but turned the same trick on the T-Sox in the home half. But in the second inning, keeping with the throwback theme, the Bad Gnus reached into their past and put together a "Gnu Inning". The team pieced together 4 runs on solid hits, walks and misplayed balls. It was going smoothly until the top of the order once again weekly ended things, capped by Mike not being able to keep it on the fairway and hitting his third strike foul.

The Bad Gnus kept a solid 3-4 run lead until they exploded for 3 more in the 6th by long shots by Mike (he kept one fair!) and Keith to give them an 11-4 lead. The T-Sox quickly answered with 4 of their own to cut the lead to 11-8. A quiet top of the 7th for the Bad Gnus set the stage for the a come-from-ahead loss, but they quickly put the T-Sox down in the bottom half to preserve the victory.

The Newcastle Player of the Game is a clear choice this week. Obviously, for the Bad Gnus to win there needs to be contributions for several players and I'll try not to overlook them. Bill came out and toughed out a stiffy (calf from what he's saying) and knocked out a few hits and seemed to always be calling for a pinch runner. Erik played very well. Making some big catches and getting some hits. Sean made a couple nice catches in the outfield and had at least one hit. Seems like I saw him pinch running for Bill a lot. But the hands down winner of the frosty brew has got to be Keith. I think half of the outs we got were Keith making catches a varying difficulty all over the unmowed grass in left field. Plus he drilled a triple that he turned into a double for a needed insurance run. Great game, Keith.

Keeping up with Gnus around the world, here's a picture of me at the beautiful Jackson Meadows Lake north of Truckee. That is a very special place for me and it never gets any less beautiful. Thumbs down for Greg not bringing his shirt. I know there are lots of traveling Gnus in August. Take your shirt and send me the pics. I don't want the next picture posted here to be of me again.

The next post will be on the upcoming post season tournament. That will be up tomorrow at the latest. First game is Tuesday, August 5 at 7:00 against WIN Financial.