Playoff Results: Doublewide Wins

Funny, they couldn't play worth a crap when we needed them to beat PT to get us in the playoffs, but then the very next week they hold the same team to 5 runs and then go on to beat Dead Money in the championship.  Congrats on the victory though... too bad we weren't able to play this fall.  See you next spring... back to Randy Moss coverage!

Playoffs Tonight... Not that we care.

The much anticipated Fall Ball playoffs are tonight...unfortunatly the most dominate team down the stretch will not be participating.  Nevertheless... the event is worthy of a slightly sarcastic blog post.

How it will go down:

The first game will be #1 Dead Money vs #4 JJ's Orange.  At first glance, you might say that Dead Money is a lock to advance, however there are some red flags....  JJ's beat Dead Money once already,  Dead Money struggled down the stretch, JJ's has stepped up and won some big games (including a must win last week against the Donkey Mob which determined whether or not they made the playoffs).  On the other hand, JJ's has also lost a few head scratchers...and I am not quite sure they are prepared for the post-season atmosphere...the question is, what type of Line-Up will Dead Money bring to the game.   Will they try to field the most dominant squad possible, or will they play with the unproven guys??  My guess is that Dead Money brings out the big dogs and JJ's folds like a cheap set of lawn chairs.

Prediciton:  Dead Money 12, JJ's Orange 3

The second game is #3 Doublewide vs #2 PT General Mortgage.   This is a rematch from last week that few of us unfortunatly had the displeasure of watching.  Doublewide seemed to have the game under control, but inexpicably fell apart down the stretch, limping themselves into the playoffs.  It seemed to us that the 5 man umbrella infield wasn't working against PT, and the inability to make the adjustment, or atleast tighten up the defense cost Doublewide.  There is no question that the offense can come to play, scoring the most run's in the leauge...however, can they hit in the clutch?  They couldn't hit in finals during the summer league, and they couldn't hit down the stretch last week in a important game.  PT has also shown that dispite thier age and girth, they do have the ability to play defense....surrending the fewest runs in the league.  If I was putting money on this game (and I am, its on the book at Mystic) I would say that  this is a lower scoring affair than last week.  I am guessing that down the stretch PT takes away some extra base hits from Doublewides better hitters, and shuts down the bottom half of thier lineup. PT will come out ahead in the HR battle, and as long as they have guys on base, they will will win by 3 or more.

Prediciton:  PT General Mortgage 11, Doublewide 7

Championship Game.  Dead Money vs PT General Mortgage.  These teams met in week 6...with Dead Money pulling it out at the end 16-15.  This game will be very similar, or it could be totally different...  Predicting this game is like predicting whether or not I would update the stats promptly after having a bad game.  Like predicting whether or not Nelly would throw his bat after popping up, or whether or not fosmo would come to another game after getting the lead in the batting race... actually, those things aren't that hard to predict... this game shouldn't be either.  Dead Money will be happy just making it to the championship during a season in which they know they didn't exactly earn it in a very convincing fashion... Don't believe me? They are 8-2 dispite giving up 5 more runs than they scored throughout the year. 

PT is a team full of seasoned... cagey veterans. Alot of them can't run, but they can hit. The guys that can't hit can play defense... and most importantly, they have been in games like this countless times before. (FYI, we have not played PT all year so I really have no idea what I am talking about...anyway) Dead Moneys comeback during the summer playoffs will benefit them mentally...but by the time this game is over thier warm weather championship will be a distant memory. The cagey veterans pull this one off....shutting down Dead Money during the late innings after thier homers are used up.
Prediciton: PT General Mortgage 15, Dead Money 10

Its been a bad couple of years for the mortgage industry...maybe this will help turn things around.

Tiebreaker Breakdown.... Grizzlies Dead

Here is the official statement from the Rec Department... 

Softball Managers:
Attached are the final scores and standings for the Tuesday Men’s Softball League, as well as the updated playoff schedule. With three times finishing at 7-3, final standings were determined first by head to head competition, followed by total runs scored for the two teams (Doublewide & Dirty Grizzlies) that did not play each other. Therefore, the 4 teams moving onto the playoff round are: Dead Money, PT General Mortgage , Doublewide & JJ’s Orange. For these teams, please note that the game times have been moved up to 6:15 p.m. & 7:15 p.m.

For those teams not moving on, thank you very much for participating this fall season!

Tonights Recap....

We won all 3 games like we needed to tonight.  We scored lots of runs like we needed to.  We basically did everything we needed to do....except get some help.  We needed the Amish Donkey Mob to knock off JJ's Orange....they didn't, losing by 1 run 8-9.  Then we needed Doublewide to not score a lot of runs.... they did.  Then, as we sat on the picnic table watching the PT / Doublewide game we needed Doublewide to hold onto thier 16-10 lead in the 4th.  This would have put us and PT in a tie and brought the total runs scored  tie-breaker into effect... (which we were comfortably ahead of them at that point).   Unfortunatly, Doublewide fell apart down the stretch, giving up countless hits and making multiple defensive blunders.... including but not limited to launching a ball into the trees from 3B to allow runs in.   It was tough to watch....and to cap it off, with the winning run at the plate in the bottom of the 7th, the Doublewide guy watches his last strike cross the plate and gets called out looking to end the game....  Season Dead.

We played 3 awesome games in a row tonight...and really 5 great games down the stretch with the pressure on us as all were must wins.... but at this point it looks like the BCS is going to keep us out of any meaningful bowl games.  Now we know what Boise State feels like.  There is still hope, my math could be wrong or I could have misinterpreted how the rec deptartment will breakdown the games so there is a chance we still get in.... but no matter what we did all we could do.

I will post something as soon as I hear it from the Rec Dept.  Who knows....maybe they will do a play-in game....  If not...it was a good season guys.  Thanks for playing.

Week 7 Scores

What a fun week of softball.  Its amazing what a few pregame beers will do to bring a team together.  Our mission to make the playoffs is well under way, and it looks like the Wild Turkeys almost did us a huge favor by nearly knocking off JJ's, unfortunatly it didn't happen and now it will be up to the Donkey Mob next week.  Dead Money must have been off thier game last night in a big way, playing a close one to the hapless CPC squad and then getting murdered by the aformentioned Donkey Mob... 31 to 6???  Wow.  Big 10 Silver bounced back from there loss to us to take down the Donkeys in the late game...which basically leaves just us and JJ's as the final 2 teams in the running for the last playoff spot....unless of course we both win out and overtake Doublewide or PT in a tie-break senario.  Also, much props out to the boyz at Mills Church.  The boombox intro music is truly ingenious...and the postgame scrimmage that lasted until 10:30 was fun as well.

Fall Playoff Outlook: Unfinished Business

Ok... as the playoffs approach I thought I should break it down and see if we still have a legit chance of making it into the top 4.  As I see it, Dead Money has locked up a spot as they have 2 winnable games tonight and should end up with atleast a 8-2 record.
1.  Dead Money
2.
3.
4.

PT General Mortgage and Doublewide both are very likely to be in the top 4 as well.  They do play each other however, so one of them will have atleast 3 losses and that would make them vulnerable to a tie-breaker....
1. Dead Money
2. PT General Mortage
3. Doublewide
4.

That means there are 4 teams left fighting for the 4th and final playoff slot.  JJ's, Big 10, Amish Donkeys and the Dirty Grizzlies. Whichever teams can finish with a 7-3 record as well should make it in.  That means all teams need to win out to make it.  Problem is, some of them play each other...
 
JJ's Orange 5-3
vs Wild Turkeys (4-5)
vs Amish Donkeys (3-3)
 
Big 10 Silver 5-3
vs Dirty Grizzlies (2-3)
vs Amish Donkeys (3-3)
 
Amish Donkeys 3-3
vs Dead Money (7-1)
vs Big 10 Silver (5-3)
vs Dirty Grizzlies (2-3)
vs JJ's Orange (5-3)
 
and the last team with a chance....
Dirty Grizzlies 2-3
vs Big 10 Silver (5-3)
vs Mills Church (0-8)
vs Amish Donkeys (3-3)
vs Cargil Dow (1-6)
vs Cargil Dow again (1-6)
 
We have alot of work to do but if we win out we would have a fair chance because of who we play...we would just need JJ's to lose and we would be in for sure with a 7-3 record.  If JJ's wins out, I believe they would be in for sure since they beat us head-to-head.  However, we have not played PT General Mortgage OR Doublewide at all this fall, so our head-to-head record is 0-0 and it would come down to a tie-breaker....most likely largest point differential.  They are at +45 and +33 respectively.  We are at -1.  But we have 5 games to go, they only have 2...and for which ever team loses in there matchup its more like 1 since a loss doesn't really help your differentail.  We on the other hand play the 2 worst teams in the league 3 times down the stretch.  If we can have some large blowouts in a couple of those games we could easly get to a +40 or better.  But again, non of this matters if we lose again, and I would have just wasted the last 15 minutes of my life.... wouldn't have been the first time though.

Week 5 and Week 6 Scores

Here are the scores from the last couple weeks.  It hasn't been the greatest for us, but our schedule is favorable, but if we win out I think we can get the #4 seed and make the playoffs and we would be team that nobody would want to play....  More on this later.

Week 4 Scores

I am in a hurry but lets see what happend here last night.  PT stays hot crushing Cargill Dow to improve to 4-1.... Turkeys bounced back after there loss to us at 6 to knock Big 10 below .500  Doublewide crushes....again.   BMW squad got some new t-shirts, but continues to struggle after a hot start.  Wow...the donkeys shut down Mills Church...oh wait, Mills has yet to come close to winning a game.  JJ's does deserve a wow...winning again and further causing former alliance squad to struggle and drop in the standings.  Last but not least, it looks like Dead Money hasn't stretched themselves too thin as they still have the ability to 10 run people. 

On the Rebound: 2-1

With a fantasy draft weighing on the minds of many of us, we found a way to rebound from last week by jumping out to an early 7 run lead after 2 innings.  The return of Fosmo sure helped, as he was crushing the ball.  Funny, the two ringers Wild Turkeys brought in for the playoffs during the summer were absent, and we cruised to a smooth victory against thier normal lineup.  They did mike a run to close the gap on us, but our attitudes seemed to adjust to a slightly more positive level this week, making it easier to hold them off and also reduced the risk of  injurys from flying bats.
Final Score: 14-8

We all hit the ball better this week, but one guy stood out.  The only time he actually got out was because he crushed another ball over the fence when we were over our limit.

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Eric Fosmo
3-4 with a 2 HR, single, 3 runs & 5 rbi.
Thank you for protecting this house.

Week 3 Scores

Another crazy week, looks like quite a few tight games in there...alot of upsets too.  Only 1 undefeated team remains as we lost along with PT General Mortgage and BMW.   BMW actually lost twice, once to the previously winless Donkey Mob.  This week definetly tightend things up and should help keep things interesting down the stretch.  Not sure what their magic number is but Doublewide is simply looking to lock up home field advantage at this point.

The Circus is in Town!!! 1-1

Just in time for the state fair, we rolled out our own version of the circus last night.  Yours truly head-lined the act by fouling a ball off my shin for a strike out.  Other attractions included, botched grounders, numerous pop flys, getting burned by routine fly balls, missing cut-off men, grounding into double plays, and many many more head scratching attractions.  JJ's must have felt like kids again with all of the entertainment going on around them... to bad we couldn't hand out any cracker jacks and tie some ballon animals to complete it all.  The clown show was easily our most frustrating game in years... but it is only softball and I am sure we will re-group by next week.

Final Score: 8-16

Week 2 Scores

There are now 4 teams that remain undefeated.  3 of the teams of are from our same summer league, but PT General Mortgage is a and unknown, but the based on the teams they have beaten is (0-2 Donkey Mob, 1-2 JJ's), they may be a slipping by with an soft early season schedule.  We will get a better idea next week when they play the Wild Turkeys as part of a double header.  Also, after getting rained out last week, Doublewide looks poised to continue their strong play from the summer league, going 2-0 this week and outscoring their opponents by 25 runs.

Playoffs Added for Fall Ball!!

The recreation deptartment has been nice enough to add a few playoff games at the end of the season so we can determine a champion.  It is much more limited than the summer playoffs, but should add some excitment.  It was supported by all managers that responded.

• Playoffs will be on October 5th
• Only the Top 4 teams make it to the playoffs
• Semi Finals at 8:15, Finals at 9:15
• No extra fees
• Single elimination

 See below for the full emails....

Managers:

I am fine with scheduling a playoff round as Brad has suggested, so plan on this taking place on October 5th (unless there are additional rain-outs). There will be no extra fee charged for teams. I’ll send more info as we get closer to the end of the season.
Thanks,  Ann

Hi Ann,
Thanks for rescheduling the games... Our team was wondering if it would be possible to play a championship game on October 5th (since we are scheduling games that day anyway now?)

Our idea was that the top 4 teams with the best regular season records could play at 8:15 that night... and then the 2 winning teams would play at 9:15 for the title?? If money was a concern, I am sure the 4 playoff teams would be willing to pitch in a few bucks more to pay the umps to have the playoff games... It would only be 3 more games and would make the season much more enjoyable. It would be especially nice since not all teams play each other during the falls season, so this would give us a chance to crown an official champion.

If there is anything we can do to make this happen, please let us know. Other managers, if you would be in favor of this please reply all. Thanks.

This will give us some interesting games down the stretch as teams fight to make it into the playoffs.  Nothing like meaningfull softball in October.

Offensive Explosion: 1-0

It had been nearly a month since we last played together, and just like Joe Mauer, the time off and rested legs translated into increased offensive production.  The game was boxed in by two big innings for us...12 in the first, and 11 in the 6th.  CPC seemed like a kind-hearted, church oriented team, but unfortunatly for them, they met us on a night when mercy was not on our hearts. 
Final Score: 26-8

It was a big day for Minnesota sports yesterday.  Favre flys in to Eden Prairie to save the vikes.  Thome crushes a bomb to steal one from the Chi-Sox... and Hofmiester goes yard in route to big evening...  A good night for the Grizzlies, a good night for Minnesota.

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Scott Hofmeister
4-4 with a HR, double, walk, 5 runs and 5 rbi.
Not a bad start.

Week 1 Scores

The first week of fall ball was interesting, but unfortunatly we were not able to unleash our fury onto Cargil Dow since mother nature unleashed her fury onto us in the form of torental rains and lighting strikes.  No word as to when our game will  be made up.  The fall season is usally more competitive since the most dysfunctional teams drop off the map after the summer league, and that can be seen by the current champs getting knocked of in game against JJ's.

Summer Awards

Fall ball starts tommorrow, so its time to officially put the summer league to bed....  I know you guys love your stats, so here you go. Congrats to the new record holders.

Batting Champ 
Scott Hoffmeister
.831 [NEW TEAM RECORD!]
(Runner up: Timmy at .633)
Most Home Runs 
Scott Hoffmeister
9 [Team Record: 21 - Wunder in '08]
(Runner up: 3 tied with 5)
Most RBI's 
Scott Hoffmeister
47 [Team Record: 70 - Wunder in '08]
(Runner up: Nelly with 36)
Most Triples 
Tim Erickson
4 [Team Record: 5 - Joey in '08]
(Runner up: 2 tied with 2)
Most Doubles 
Brian Wedewer
9 [Team Record: 10 - Fosmo in '09]
(Runner up: Hof with 7)
Most Runs Scored 
Tim Erickson
41 [NEW TEAM RECORD!]
(Runner up: Hof tied with 39)
Most Web Gems 
Brian Wedewer
10 [Team Record: 13 - Hof in '09]
(Runners up: Hof and Tim with 8 each)

Dead Money Wins!

We obviously were not there last night to witness it, but word has gotten out that Dead Money has won the summer league championship.  Congrats!  Funny, I couldn't find a picture of the actual celebration, but this team does have orange jerseys...so close enough right??  Looking at the bracket it looks like Doublewide did win the first game at 6 oclock, but Dead Money fought back through the losers bracket to beat them twice in a row in the finals....with the last game being a deciesive 10 run victory.  It seems that Doublewide ran out of gas at the end, while Dead Money must have stayed well hydrated to battle through 4 straight games to win the title sometime around 10 last night.

Grizzlies.... DEAD.

The season is over, ending in a game against the "Wild Turkeys" that was both frustrating and heartbreaking.  As of right now I don't have much to say... but feel free to post your comments below....  Overall, it was a fun season though... 14-5.  Thanks to everyone for playing.  Fall ball starts on August 8th.

Alittle Inspiration for next week...

Playoff Action: We gotta keep battling...

Sorry for the delay in posting this,  I am actually busy at work again (which should be good news to you guys in the construction industry).  Here it goes...Playoff Style.

Round 1, weather is sunny, field in great shape, Alliance looks more pissed off than usual. The game started out tight... we were down early and only had 5 runs after 3 innings...down by 1 at that point.    In the fourth thier pitcher seemed to lose control of the zone and proceeded to walk the bases loaed, our bats found some gaps as we proceeded to score 4 in the 4th and then exploded for 8 in the 5th to put it away.  With the exception of Prince Fielder hitting 2 bombs we basically held thier offense punchless down the stretch.
Final Score: 17-7

After an hour break (enough time for Nelson to eat 3 king size Snickers and take 2 dumps) we were on the field against Dead Money for Round 2. Early on things looked promising.  After 2 quick outs in the first, we proceded to load the bases and then Brian ripped a liner to the right-center gap, clearing the bases and giving us a 3-0 lead.  We shut them down in the bottom.  In the second we were shut down in order, and they scored 2.  Top of the third 2 more for us, but it could have been more though as Mr. Snickers was doubled-off of second for the third out... Middle of three, 5-2 Grizzlies.
Then came the trouble...

The nightmarish bottom of the third went something like this.... Dead Money gets a couple hits, we get an out.  Couple more hits, they score 2 runs.  They hit a couple that should be outs, but we make some uncharacteristic errors loading the bases.  Then they hit one to the outfield and we nearly throw the ball over the top of the back fence trying to gun down someone at home...  I blacked out after that.  At the end of the nightmare Dead Money scored 7 runs....5 of which we basically handed to them on silver platter.

After that inning our bats were nearly silent.... going 4-16 in the last four innings.  Without a 2 run bomb by Timmy in the 6th we would have been shut-out down the stretch.  The thing is, we shut them down as well, holding them to 0 runs and setting them down in order atleast twice.  Unfortunatly our bats couldn't take advantage and the one inning of below average D cost us.  The question is, did they beat us, or did we beat ourselves??  Well, they probably beat us, but I always love that one.

Final Score: 7-9

Back to Mike Tice for some inspiration... next week is gonna be a street fight, we better start getting ready now.  We have proven that we can beat any team in the league....as long as we keep battling, and battling.  Its double-elimination for a reason, and we are now the team the nobody wants to play.  We played well against Dead Money, and a few more hits or tighter defense that one inning could have changed everything.  But now it will take 3 wins next week to get us to the Championship... if I need to find a poster of that chick in Major League I will.... maybe I will just have to find a picture of Scotty... oh wait, he will be back from Germany next week...we will be fine.

Playoff Preview: Bottom 4 Seeds

#5 Seed: Ballz Deep
2010 Record: 7-9 (Current Streak: 1 Wins)
Scoring: #5   Defense: #5  Diff: -37
10run Wins: 2   10run Losses: 5
Big Wins: 17-4 vs Wild Turkeys
Bad Losses: 6-22 vs Doublewide, 2-23 vs Doublewide
Ballz Deep is a scary team to play because of thier power.  But this year they been more inconsistant than years past...fortunatly for them the one team they always play well against is thier first round opponent: Wild Turkeys.  They are 3-0 against the Turkeys in 2010 outscoring them by a 40 to 21 margin.   Unfortunatly if they win they have to play Doublewide in Round 2... a team they have not played well against.

#6 Seed: Team Alliance
2010 Record: 6-10 (Current Streak: 2 Losses)
Scoring: #6   Defense: #6  Diff: -58
10run Wins: 1  10run Losses: 6
Big Wins: 12-6 vs Ballz Deep
Bad Losses: 5-16 vs Wild Turkeys, 3-13 vs Dirty Grizzlies
For the second week in a row Allaince will go against the Dirty Grizzlies.  Considering last weeks nail-biter, this week should be very tight as well.  In-fact, 2 of the 3 games against the grizz have been close, losing by the score of 12-14 both times.  Alliance has only won 2 games against teams seeded higher than them this year however, and both of those wins came against Ballz Deep.  They have been close many times though, and they did win a playoff game against the Dirty Grizzlies in 2008...a team not to be underestimated.

#7 Seed: Silver Bullets
2010 Record: 2-14 (Current Streak: 10 Losses)
Scoring: #7   Defense: #7  Diff: -131
10run Wins: 0  10run Losses: 8
Big Wins: 18-11 vs Team Extreme
Bad Losses: 0-11 vs Doublewide, 2-22 vs Wild Turkeys
The Silver Bullets are a team I greatly admire, mostly because they named thier team after my favorite beer...however, I do think they play hard all the time and thats not easy to do.  Dispite only 2 wins, they have played some close games against some very tough teams....losing many games by 5 or less runs, including a 3 run heart-breaker against the Wild Turkeys and a 5 run back and forth battle against Dead Money.  They have worn cinderella's slipper before however, upseting #1 seeded Dead Money in last years first round...and somehow fate has brought these two together again this year... a team to watch.

#8 Seed: Team Extreme
2010 Record: 0-16 (Current Streak: 16 Losses)
Scoring: #8   Defense: #8  Diff: -153
10run Wins: 0  10run Losses: 8
Big Wins: 1-5* vs Doublewide (*Moral Victory)
Bad Losses: 2-22 vs Wild Turkeys, 1-21 vs Dirty Grizzlies
When the schedule came out this spring everyone was wondering, "Who is this Team Extreme?" There name was alittle intimidating, and we naturally assumed that they were going to be extremely good.  As we all know, they aren't...but alot of teams struggle thier first year... just as Dead Moneys name harkens back to thier ineptitued from thier first season.  They have played some close games though, highlighted by a game where they held #1 seed Doublewide to only 5 runs on June 22nd.  If you can hold that team to such a low score once, they can do it again... and if you hold a team to a low score, its usually easier to score more runs than they do.  BUT, if  they do win a game in the playoffs I am sure they will celebrate like there is no tommorrow (which, considering the age of alot of those guys, is no guarantee. : ) 

FYI: Don't look for any future major playoff previews, recaps, or game by game descriptions in the future....this was way to much typing and I doubt I will do it again....unless of course the Dirty Grizzleis defend there title, then I will find a way write a new post every day for the next week and a half.  Also, If you are wondering if something controversial about a team was meant to be sarcastic...you can pretty much gurantee it was.  Good Luck!

Playoff Preview: Top 4 Seeds

The 2010 Playoffs are sure to be exciting and full of surprises.  Last year's #1 seed Dead Money lost in the first round to the 8th seeded Silver Bullets.  This years #1 seed Doublewide was 10 runned in thier first 2 games and knocked out early.  The eventual champions, as most of you remember, defeated Ballz Deep 14-13 in a do-or-die final game that was more intense than 3 game sevens played at once (not sure that makes sense).  Anyway, for a preview of this years playoffs see below...

#1 Seed: Doublewide
2010 Record: 15-1 (Current Streak: 11 Wins)
Scoring: #1   Defense: #2  Diff: +123
10run Wins: 8   10run Losses: 0
Big Wins: 5-3 vs Dead Money, 13-10 vs Dirty Grizzlies
Bad Losses: 9-12 vs Dirty Grizzlies
Doublewide got some sharp new uniforms this year.... apparently they got a new attitude as well since thier record last year was 9-8.  An upgraded roster along with a shift to a 5 man infield has seemed to help there defense immensly.  They are definetly a solid team, and as you can see they have a knack for winning tight games.  My only question is what thier name stands for... I am not positive, but I'm pretty sure one of the girls I dated in high school lived in a doublewide... maybe it has something to do with that.

#2 Seed: Dead Money
2010 Record: 13-3 (Current Streak: 7 Wins)
Scoring: #2   Defense: #1  Diff: +131
10run Wins: 10  10run Losses: 1
Big Wins: 17-2 vs Wild Turkeys, 16-3 vs Dirty Grizzlies
Bad Losses: 10-20 vs Dirty Grizzlies, 8-10 vs Doublewide
Dead Money doesn't hang thier banner on the fence anymore this year... which in my opinion, is the best move they have made in years.  Besides that, there team is very similar to previous years.  Solid defense, deep line-up, lots of power.  Doublewide has shut them down twice this year though, proving that it can be done.   They have been very hot lately though, and that may help them overcome last years let-down at the end of the season.

#3 Seed: Dirty Grizzlies
2010 Record: 13-3 (Current Streak: 2 Wins)
Scoring: #3   Defense: #3  Diff: +93
10run Wins: 8  10run Losses: 1
Big Wins: 20-10 vs Dead Money, 12-9 vs Doublewide
Bad Losses: 3-16 vs Dead Money, 11-18 vs Wild Turkeys
By all accounts we have lost some of our swagger from early in the season... but the playoffs are great chance to regain that. We have some positives going in our favor.. our offense is getting back on track, albeit slowly... our defense has started to tighten back up. We are the only ones who have beaten every team in the league besides the #1 seed. We have won close games and have blown people out. If we play up to our potential there is no reason we can't defend our title.

#4 Seed: Wild Turkeys
2010 Record: 8-8 (Current Streak: 1 Loss)
Scoring: #4   Defense: #4  Diff: +24
10run Wins: 4  10run Losses: 3
Big Wins: 18-11 vs Dirty Grizzlies
Bad Losses: 2-17 vs Dead Money, 4-17 vs Ballz Deep
The Wild Turkeys have always seemed to be one of the better teams in the league, but now poor managing has seemed to affect thier game.  While thier offense has turned it around lately, several negative factors have taken hold in their organization due to apparent lack of leadership.  The most noticable has been thier pre-game drinking, which has resulted in atleast 1 arrest (or citation) and slurred speech during thier trash talking.  But now they have started to completly forget about games, relying on opposing teams to stop them in the parking lot to keep them from driving away.  Lets hope thier front office can get these issues under control in time for a playoff run.

Week 11 Scores

No major upsets during the final week of the regular season....however, we have had a team make history.  Nobody thought that anyone would ever be able to match the Detroit Lions in '08, but Team Extreme has found a way to match thier 0-16 record.  I do have to say that there team has stayed very up-beat during what has got to be a miserable year, and dispite all the losses they seem to have fun and keep things positive.  Round 1 is there chance to make thier year memorable...and they did give the #1 Seed Doublewide a close game earlier in the year. Upset special..... ??? It has happend before...

13-3 Playoffs Next Week

The last game of the regular season was a very tight game against Team Alliance. Down by 4 after two innings, we stormed back with one of our best innings in a long time by getting 9 straight hits and scoring 7 runs in the third.  From there it become a very defensive battle, trying to limit each base and each run.  Late in the game, a 2 run triple by Timmy followed by a 2 run homer from Nelson gave us what we needed as our D tightened up to finish the comeback.
Final Score: 14-12

It looks like we will be playing Alliance again in the first round of the playoffs next week.  Our games have been tight against them, but our left fielder has been strong in all three games....combining for 6 RBI and 7 runs scored.  We will need another strong week from him to advance...

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Tim Erickson
4-5 with a 2B, 3B and 3 RBI.
Every time he steps on the field he has a chance to make a play.

Week 10 Scorez

It seems like only yesterday when we were in sole possesion of the #1 seed, unfortunatly that is only a memory as the playoffs are only 1 week away and we have lost 2 of our last 3.  Our guaranteed win match-up against either Team Extreme or Silver Bullets in the first round is likely dead.  However, lets look at the bright side:

• We no longer have the pressures of an unbeaten season weighing on us
• We have gotten our losses out of the way before the playoffs
• Whenever we play an easy team we usually follow it up with a sub-par performance
• We have beaten both higher seeded teams this year
• We proved we can win it all last year
• We have yet to wear our championship T-shirts yet...idea for next week?
• We get our starting pitcher back next week who has been gone since mid june

As the great leader of men Mike Tice likes to say, once you are in the tournament, anything can happen... and, if your going to get ready for a street fight, you better start getting ready now... and  the good captain's got to pilot the ship through the rough waters and get it to home port. Go EAGLES...E.A.G.L.E.S... and last but not least... ok, calm down!

12-3 Now looking at the #3 Seed.

The long 4th of July weekend wasn't enough to snap us out of our slump as the Turkeys seemed to make solid contact on nearly every swing and scored 10 runs in the first.  We tried to crawl back into it but could never put together the big inning we needed.  Next time we will have to let them go when a team doesn't realize they have a double-header and begins to drive out of the parking lot...
Final Score: 11-18

Game 2 went much smoother as we got to play our favorite opponents.  We have never lost to the Bullets and this game was never in question after we scored 10 runs in the first two innings.  A walkoff HR by Tim put it away.  This game helped us stop our losing streak, but only time will tell if its enough to bust us our of our mini slump before playoffs.
Final Score: 13-3

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Chad Nelson
5-7 with 1 HR and 6 RBI's.
Another solid week from Nelly who managed to get in his signature head first slide into 3 base.

Week 9 Scores

Not a lot to say here... we have 3 games left in the regular season and seeding is not set.  By my calculation, Doublewides magic number for the #1 seed is 2.  We are still in the #2 position, however Dead Money could pass us if we lose again since we are tied head-to-head and thier scoring differential is unreal.

11-2 Belated Update

The first game was completly one sided and Team Extreme didn't score a run until the last inning as we cruised to a very easy victory. 
Final Score: 21-2

Game 2 was the complete opposite was we were on the other end of the stick.  After leading 3-2 after the first, we proceeded not to score another run as Dead Money continued to place balls perfectly and run up the score.  The game was over after 5 innings. 
Final Score: 3-16

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Aaron Miller
5-8 with 2 HR and 9 RBI's.
His bomb against Dead Money gave us a brief lead and kept us from being shut-out.

Week 8 Scores

Alot of blowouts last night.  Doublewide 10 runned Allinace.... Ballz Deep 10 runned the Silver Bullets (thier mountains are definetly blue).  We won by 11 over the Extreme... and Dead Money outscored thier opponents 31-3 in dominating fashion. 

10-1...More games tommorrow...

This will be a quick update since we have 2 more games tommorrow.  Both teams only had 9 guys but our defense was able to cover more ground than they did as we cruised to laid back win.  With home runs from Miller, Hof and Nelly, the game ended after a quick five innings.
Final Score: 12-1

Even though he made one of the few errors in the game, we gotta give the clean up guy him some love since it seems like forever since he hit his last home run.  See you guys tommorrow, pre-game drinks at Lone Spur around 6:30.

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Chad Nelson
2-3 with a BB, HR, 3 runs and 2 rbi.
Hamstring seems to be fine lately... quick, now knock on some wood.

Playoff Seeding Update

As you know the team with the best record gets the #1 seed in the playoffs. What you probably don't know for sure are the tie-breaking procedures for teams that have the same record at the end of the regular season. Here they are according to the Rec Department...

1. Head to Head Record (We are 1-1 vs Doublewide)
2. Total Point Differential

Amazingly, according to my numbers, we are both +70 in point differential. However, they have played 2 more games than us (and we haven't even played Team Extreme yet) so we should be able to improve upon that number faster than they do (as long as we keep winning). Therefor, in my opinion, if we take care of business the rest of the way the odds are we will still get the #1 seed....  I think we can all agree it would be nice to be on the opposite side of the bracket from Dead Money... luckly, as PA likes to say, we control our own destiny.

For those of you wondering about the status of Tom's brother after the accident Tuesday, here is a link.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joebarber

Week 7 Scores

Doublewide continues thier meterioric rise to the top of the standings...winning 2 more games to improve to 11-1. Their only loss came in the third week to us.  Unfortunatly, our only loss came to them...I will post more about potential playoff implications later.  Dead Money went 1-1 and seems to be destined for the #3 seed.  Wild Turkeys seem to be turning things around signifacntly and thier run in with the cops has obviously strengthend team unity...either that or they just aren't as drunk for the games any more.  One thing that does jump at you is the 5-1 score between Doublwide and Team Extreme.  That has to be the closest game the winless Extreme team has played all season, and only scoring 5 runs against a such a hapless team is a definite sign of weakness for Doublwide. 

9-1 and we can build this thing together...

The weather was steamy and the Grizzlies bats were even hotter last night.  Even though the high humidity prevented any long balls, everyone hit and nobody had a bad night which was evident in our team batting average of .645 for the game.  After we built any early lead of 10-1 through two innings, we coasted to a comfortable victory that ended after 4-1/2 innings.  The vuvuzelas from the dugout obviously fired up our O-Fense and got in BD's heads as there middle infield made several miscues that aided in the easy victory.
Final Score: 15-5

A lot of guys played well last night as we rebounded nicely from our loss last week, but its hard not to recognize the presence of our long lost 6'-5" first basemen.  His presence not only solidify's our infield, but he also fills up the middle of our lineup better than a giant chipotle burrito stuffed to max capacity fills up Nellys belly.

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Aaron Miller
2-3 with a double, 2 runs and 2 rbi.
Nice to have him back in the line-up and he will help us out down the stretch.

Week 6 Scores

The Wild Turkeys got hot against the Silver Bullets, crushing them by 20.  Doublewide wins 2 games which propels them into first place in the standings.  Oh, and big surprise here, Dead Money crushes again.  Overall, the standings have tightened up alittle bit and things are starting to get interesting....

8-1....Undefeated status dead.

Well, the '78 Dolphins can pop the champagne...the Dirty Grizzlies will not go undefeated.  It was a fairly tight game, and many great defensive plays were made on both sides, but one fatal inning with sub average D cost us.  Giving up 6 runs in the bottom of the 2nd put us in a hole, and lack of clutch hitting from yours truly kept us there.  Dispite a late rally which brought us within 3 with the tying run at-bat, another line-drive hit right at a fielder ended all hope.
Final Score: 10-13

Its hard for me to find a bright spot as I type this, so we will give it to the man who has done a great job keeping book and keeping people from running themselves into outs this season despite his surgically repaired shoulder.

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Brent Wunderlich
0-0 with perfect bookkeeping and 1 nice t-shirt.
His handwritting leaves alot to be desired but you can't question his heart.

Rain-out Gate 2010

Here is the explaination I recieved from the Recreation Department as to how they decided to postpone the games last tuesday...atleast she tried to get them in...

I know that not everyone was not happy about the decision to cancel games on Tuesday, but after all of the rain we received throughout the day Tuesday, we determined it was the way to go. Here is how the decision was made…

At approximately 3:45 p.m., when it was lightly drizzling, I talked to the maintenance staff at Big Willow and told them I’d like to get the games in if possible. They said they would go and work on the standing water that had accumulated on the two fields and would let me know if they thought they could make the fields playable. While I was waiting to hear back from them, I contacted the cities of Edina, Plymouth and St. Louis Park to see what the status of their games were. All 3 cities had already canceled their games. About 10 minutes later the Big Willow staff called and it had started to downpour again while they were trying to get the field in decent shape. We made the decision at that point to cancel the games.

These are difficult decisions to make and I know I’m about the least popular person in the city when it is sunny and warm a few hours after games have been canceled. Nice weather later in the evenings doesn’t necessarily mean the fields are in good, safe playing condition, which is something people don’t always consider.

I hope this helps. I appreciate you being flexible on the reschedule date.

Games Cancelled Tonight

Games are cancelled tonight, no word yet as to when they will be rescheduled...but be prepared for it to be this weekend sometime.  I will let you know when I hear more...

Week 5 Scores

Looks like the ump forgot to record our 2 runs from the 6th inning... the score definetly was 13-7.  Doublewide wins again and stays tight on our tail only 1 game back in the standings.  Dead Money also wins again to seperate themselves from all the rest of the teams below.  It is going to be really important to get that #1 seed since that would put DW and DM on the other side of the bracket.  As long as we keep playing great defense we should be good though... the second game next week is going to be big.  Since its a late game Miller will be there, that should help.

Hamstrings and Homeruns: 8-0

It was another gorgeous night in Hopkins as we took the field, the only think more beautiful was the sight of our opponent. It seems that we always play well against the Silver Bullets and have never lost to them. The game had a laxidazical pace to it, but we always seemed to keep our distance. The top of our lineup performed well, going 10 for 13, highlighted by Tim's 3 run bomb in the 2nd inning. A late show of power made the score seem closer than it really was.
Final Score: 13-7

The second game last night brought alittle more focus to our game as we played a dangerous Wild Turkeys team.  Fortunatly we got off  to a fast start with a 3 run bomb in the first by Scott.  After 2 innings we were up 6-0 and our great defense was clearly frustrating them.  The only major mishap happend in right field and that can be blamed on Nelly's hamstring snapping like bungie strap.  Regardless, it was pretty much over after a grand slam in the 4th cleared the fence (again by Scott) and the game was called a few minutes later after we shut them down 1-2-3 in the top of the 5th.
Final Score: 13-3

A few guys played great, but when someone doesn't have an out and drives in almost half our runs he should get the nod...

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Scott Hoffmeister
8-8 with 2 HR, 4 runs, and 10 RBIs.
It's hard to raise your batting average when your above .900, but he did it.

Week 4 Scores

Looks like Doublewide stayed hot and knocked off both Dead Money and the Wild Turkeys.  Silver Bullets get another win against Team Extreme who has yet to taste the sweet nectar of victory.

No Berube, No Problem

It wasn't the smoothest game ever played, but the grizzlies continued thier undefeated season with another win against Team Alliance.  The bats were fairly silent except for a 9 run second inning, all of which were scored after the first 2 guys got out.  The most exciting moment of the game came when an Allinance player aggressively argued that we he was safe on play at 2nd base.  Tim's throw easily beat him by a foot and the ump got it right and immediatly yelled back at the player for what seemed like 5 minutes.  The entire exchange was very entertaining seemed to take all of the fight out the thier squad.  

Derek was not present for this game and so at the bar we sprung the idea for the false game report which was posted last week.  He says he knew we won all along, but according to Sam he hasn't been sleeping well and I hope this news makes him feel better.
Final Score: 13-3

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Sam Schaetzke
2-3 with 2 Singles and 1 run and 1 RBI.
Sams last game proved to be his best... and it wasn't wasted in losing effort.

Week 3 Scores

Nothing too earth-shattering... looks like the Wild Turkeys get off the schnide to beat the cocky Alliance squad, and the once high scoring Ballz Deep team averaged only 5.5 runs over last nights games.  This year they are averaging 7.8 runs per game... Last year they averaged over 13.  Incase you are wondering, this year we are at 15.0, in 2009 we were at 14.6 runs per game.

5-0 and still undefeated...barely.

The first game against the undefeated Doublewide squad was tight as expected... the only thing that wasn't expected was that neither of us could hit worth a crap. We were losing 6-7 after 4 innings, but we "exploded" for 6 runs in the last 3 innings to give us the win.  2 dingers in the 6th by Tim and Chad helped give us the final spark we needed to squeak by and take the overall lead in the standings.
Final Score: 12-9

Game 2 figured to be a slugfest since it was a match-up of last years finals.  Not the case.  The weather was hot but our bats were ice cold.  Don Beebe was grounding into double plays, the umpire refused to call strikes, and Hofmiester even got out once.  Dispite all the misfortune and the fact we only scored 7 runs, the story of the game was our defense.  There were nice catches in the outfield, but the SS made countless plays including a few very dificult catches over his shoulder running out to left.  The great D held the aging Ballz Deep team to only 5 runs and preserved our undefeated status.
Final Score: 7-5

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Brian Wedewer
3-7 with 3 doubles and 5 webgems.
Brians defense was huge and he probably saved about 7 runs with the plays he made.  Nice work man.

Games Cancelled Tonight!

Buzz-kill. Game is cancelled tonight due to wet fields. It will be rescheduled for June 29th. We have a double-header next week.

House of Speed

After thinking about Dereks embarrassing miscalculation this week when he tried to stretch a single into a triple, I thought we should help him out.  Those of you who listen to KFAN regularly have probably heard a commercial for Don Beebe's House of Speed mixed in between bits for Pilgrim Dry Cleaners and Mauer Chevrolet.  A quick glance at there website shows that they have "Speed Pass"which is basically a free training session... It may take a sit down intervention, but we need to find a way to sign him up before the next time we play Dead Money.
http://www.houseofspeed.com/

Week 2 Scores

It looks like Doublewide may have improved this year...and they now join us at 3-0 atop the standings. I guess we will find out how legit they are in two weeks...  Lets not look ahead though, our opponent next week lost a nailbitter to Silver Bullets, somehow holding them to only 18 runs.

A win is a win...

Our first ever win against Dead Money was nice... but its hard to feel that great about it though since they only fielded 8 guys.  They got alot of at bats in, but our 11 run 4th inning put the game out of reach.  When they didn't score in the 5th it was officially over. 
Final Score: 20-10

Hof stayed hot and hasn't gotten out once this season, Cary destroyed a ball for a 3 run home run, but one guy deserves some recongnition after battling through some emotional and mental hardship the last few weeks...

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Eric Fosmo
3 for 4 with 2 HR and 7 RBI's
It just goes to show you that sometimes the biggest opponent we ever have is ourselves.  Way to go man.

Weather Update

Looking at the radar and hourly forecast it seems that we should be fine.  The rainout number is listed on the right side of this page if you need it.  I will let you know if something changes...  Stay sharp.

Week 1 Scores

The most interesting things I see here are that the new team (team extreme) got man-handeld, and that Ballz Deep got 15 runned by Doublewide.  For you new guys, Ballz Deep is the team we beat in the championship last year.