BSBD Expands to 1-0

All teams are expansion teams at some time. For most of the teams in the Arden Park Beer League, that time was quite a while ago. I can imagine a time when Ahern Construction was new to the softball league. Walt was flying around the bases. Mark was turning any ground ball in the 95864 zip code into an out. Robbie was wearing his big boy pants and chasing butterflies behind the bleaches while his dad deftly worked the pivot at second base.

This week, BSBD ran into the most recent expansion team, Alive & Kicking. Sounds more like a soccer team name and from the looks of some of their defensive plays, some of their players may be more comfortable in a sport where they don’t use their hands. A & K appears to be filled with good guys that are a welcome addition to our league. They will only head up from here. Chief among their players are two former Gnus, Caldy and Todd O. Needless to say, those were A & K’s most valuable players.

This game was pretty much a breeze for most of the Deadlies. There were plenty of hits in our bats and some outs were played into hits by the Kicks. I can’t remember much of it, as the curse of Teddy Ballgame reared its one-eyed head. I have never thought much about wearing a cup playing third base prior to a recent discussion with Ted regarding my testicular carelessness. We don’t always talk about our junk when we get together, but give a couple guys long enough and the talk will veer. At this game, I thought a lot about wearing a cup from the second inning on. Thankfully, I already have 4 beautiful boys and my only repercussion from the tough hop on (into) a hard ball is the pain and swelling that has lasted 3 days so far. I do know that I have some shopping to do.

The final score was something like 14-3. I don’t think the schedule is quite as easy over the next three weeks, but BSBD is humming along right now, keyed by excellent defense and pitching. The good times will keep coming. The Shiner Bock player of the game this week goes to B Diddy! Brett has been on quite a hitting streak since the middle of the playoffs. He kept that going with a 3 X 3 night this week. He’s not slicing anything. All of his softball drives are right down the fairway. Great job, B Diddles!

Second Runner Up

The Bad Gnus have a much prouder history than some readers may know. There are many teams in the Arden Park League who only know the Gnus as a rag tag bunch of happy-go-lucky middle-aged guys who could occasionally put together a big enough rally to not throw away a game in the last inning and could string together a few wins each season. Over the past 10 years at Arden Park, we were never in last place, but certainly we did not contend for the park title.

In a different generation, we were known as a rather athletic, softball savvy group of 30 year olds who nearly always finished in second place at the Sacramento Softball Complex. We might have even taken home a title once or twice, but I specifically remember losing the championship game and finishing in second place at least 6 times. As the Bad Gnus grew older and players who moved on were replaced with people of as high of character if not as high of batting average, the Gnus benchmarks for success were shifted from v-necks to long necks.

My first season with Be Silent Be Deadly has been a wonderful transition for the Big Sexy. There is still a fair amount of sorrow related to the demise of the Bad Gnus. However, the season could not have gone any better. Not only has the stress of fielding a team and positioning them been lifted, but the Be Silent Be Deadly crew has been remarkably successful, while maintaining a wonderful culture. After winning all 4 of my regular season games, BSBD was 3-1 in the playoffs going into Tuesday night’s semi-final match up with the Young Hanks. We nearly got a whole additional season of softball in these playoffs!

Coming off our impressive 11-2 dismantling of the Longshots on Monday, the Deadlies were quietly confident as the Young Hanks tweeted, facebooked and vined their way to getting 10 bodies on the field. These are not your Dad’s Hanks.

There is still a tremendous amount of talent on their side of the field. The Hanks shout out to the past by having GT and Jerry lead off the game, but the Young Hanks’ game is all about speed. They can chase down anything in the air and are a menace on the basepaths. During this semi-final game, the Hanks’ outfielders made several running catches. BSBD matched their defensive prowess with a complete lockdown of the Hanks. The YH scored 3 runs on one misplayed ball as there speed allowed them to touch all the bases on just one mistake.

Aside from that, the teams were deadlocked at a well-played 4-4 in the bottom of the 7th with the Hanks coming to bat, looking to steal a win. Team captain and possible sprint champion, Christian led off the inning with a deep drive to centerfield that he turned into 3 bases, but then the convergence of 3 things led to his downfall. First, he was so fast that he had a hard time stopping on the bag. As he reached the bag he was stretching his toe in an attempt to stay on the bag and not over run it. Second, Greg’s relay throw was a bit high to third base causing the Big Sexy to expend all 2 inches of his vertical leaping ability. Third, the Big Sexy is not that nimble. In an attempt to catch the ball, not hurt his knee any further and to not fall down, he kinda landed on the 100-pounds-lighter base runner. That momentum was enough to pull Christian off the bag while the glove holding the ball had come to rest on his back.

The umpire called the runner out for coming off the bag. I understand the runner’s dispute of the call. Though I didn’t intend to push him off the bag, it would be pretty easy for the umpire to say “the fat guy landed on him; safe”. We definitely would have Been Silent. I bet Christian feels bad for the un-Christian way he treated the umpire. The ump decided that he did not come out to the park for $30 AND to be degraded, so he invited the Young Hank to enjoy the rest of the game in a different area of the park.

BSBD were way too silent with runners in scoring position for the first 8 innings of this game. We had many more opportunities to score than our counterparts, but failed to cash on a number of occasions. Just one hit with runners in scoring position would have catapulted us into the Championship Game.

With the T-Sox, impatiently waiting for the winner of the semi-final game to be decided, the teams headed to the 9^th inning. In the top of the frame, BSBD finally cashed in, scoring 4 runs to take what appeared to be an insurmountable 8-4 lead. Sadly, we picked a bad time to stop playing good defensive. Our sometimes sure-handed third baseman misplayed a hard grounder and compounded the mistake by throwing the ball away, leading to the first run of the YH comeback. Several well-placed hits and another infield error brought the Hanks even with only one out and the winning run on second base. Paul got the next batter to fly out, bringing up the ejected player spot in the Hanks lineup. That automatic out, ended the inning and forced a 10^th inning.

The 10^th inning started off nicely with a double plating the “automatic” runner to give BSBD the lead. Again, the bats went cold and the one run was all they could get. The Hanks’ bats that were hot in the 8^th inning stayed hot. They plated their 2^nd run of the inning with only one out. The Young Hanks went on to lose the Championship game in the dark while BSBD was able to enjoy their beer and brownies while thinking about what could have been.

The Shiner Bock player of the game goes to Scott Harrison! Scott missed the first 8 games of the season. He popped up in his first at bat of his season and, unofficially, has a hit in every at bat since. Combining his hot bat with the cold beer Scott brought on a night with a very thirsty ball club and he rises straight to the top of most noteworthy Deadlies. Great game and playoff run, Scott!

Let's Play Two!

The goal was to NOT play two games this week. I also had a goal at the start of the year to not buy my lunch two times a week and to never drink two nights a week. Sometimes things are just better in twos. Just ask my twins!

The second game of the week can’t go worse than the first game. Game 1 started off with a dropped fly ball by Greggy O and was followed up with horrible throw by Big Sexy. Those two plays led to two T-Sox runs scored without getting a hit. That sure wasn’t better in twos. It also led to a game full of bad defense and maddeningly inconsistent offense.

The T-Sox were the first victim of this long BSBD winning streak and they would be the ones to end it. The 12-7 game was sloppy from both teams. The T-Sox were just a little better this time. Or maybe just a little less worse. The game ended appropriately with Mike hitting an easy ground ball that resulted in two outs.

The Shiner Bock Award this week goes to the Shiner Bock Trophy creator! John Ahern constructed a beautiful gold trophy consisting of wine corks, bottle caps and, of course, an empty Shiner Bock can. It is glorious!! I am honored that John took the time and the creativity to produce art in the name of Be Silent Be Deadly.

It is those types of events that turn a group of guys playing softball in a park into something closer to a family. Whether we win game two of this double header or not, we have many things to give us a warm feeling about this team. Sara making wonderful treats for us to share, the increasing number of fans in the stands (I almost feel bad about called them the Women of BS, but I not enough to rescind the name), and the overall attitude of the guys on the field. When I look at this team, all I see is a big win. Let’s go out an keep this season alive and play two games next week!