2011 Playoff Preview

We all know that this season has been a battle. Blood has been shed (mostly on our knees from sliding). Lives have been lost (mostly mosquitoes). And we all have had to sacrifice time away from our families in a strange, desolate land (Hopkins). Furthermore, by the end of the playoffs in two weeks, 7 teams will be dead. Only 1 team can claim victory and all others must either surrender or face the consequences. Our job is to do everything in our power to ensure that the last team standing is the Dirty Grizzles. Not just for us, but for all those we are fighting for. For all those who came before us, and for those who will come after us in the future. Let's not just beat our competition, let's destroy their will to even exist.

With that in mind, here is the 2011 playoff preview:
#2 Doublewide (9-6-1) vs #7 Team Striechers (5-11)
Doublewide is a well balanced team with the 3rd ranked offense (13.9 runs per game) and defense (11.9 runs allowed per game).  They have not been the most consistent team though and must be delighted to have the #2 seed.  Their opponent has actually caught fire as of late, knocking off many teams down the stretch including Park Tavern.  Their roster has seemed to have been boosted in a few key areas and when thier leftys connect they can cause trouble.  Doublewide did make it to the championship game last year so it's hard to imagine them losing this first round game.

#3 PT General Mort (9-6-1) vs #6 BMW of Minnetonka (5-9-2)
PT was cruising toward the #1 seed, but back to back tough weeks have left them gasping for air (figuratively and literally).  Word has it that their players cannot handle the hot and humid weather.  Unfortunately for them, my girl Belinda Jensen predicts more of the same Tuesday night.  BMW may smell blood in the water as they rebound from a miserable stretch in the middle of the season that included a 7 game losing streak.  They have been playing better lately and that could cause this game to be much tighter than anyone could have imaged weeks ago when it looked like these two would meet in the 1 vs 8 game.

#4 Wild Turkeys (9-7)  vs #5 Ballz Deep (9-7)
This is your classic 4 vs 5 match up between two teams that don't like each other very much.  The Turkeys (who actually have a -17 run differential) swept BD during the season series, but only outscored them by 4 total runs in the process.  It should also be noted that this is also a repeat match up of the 2010 4 vs 5 game, in which Ballz Deep emerged victorious by a score of 15-4.  It is tough to beat a team 3 times in one season, especially when the team your playing averages 14.3 runs per game and you are only getting 11.2...  These games aren't played on the internet though, so we will have to see what happens.

#1 Dirty Grizzlies (11-5) vs #8 Amish Donkey Mob (5-11)

First off, let me say that the Amish Donkey Mob is not your prototypical #8 seed.  They have power, they can play D....and they have a former college football player leading off.  They have already beaten us once this season back on May 17th, by a score of 24-20....and you know they will be looking to do it again.  Furthermore, alot of their players wear baseball pants....and when you wear legit pants to a softball game it is clearly a sign you mean business.   We do have the #1 ranked offense on our side (15.6 runs per game), but we all know that we live and die by our D....giving up 19.0 runs per game in our 5 losses, and only 7.4 in our 11 wins.  It is time to erase last year's disappointing playoff run and replace it with a run to the championship, from there we will have a chance to hang our second banner in 3 years.  Remember...You gotta bring some to get some.  So let's go get some!

Get Some!! 11-5

Here are last tuesdays recaps.  We did secure the #1 seed but in no way are we gonna say "mission accomplished".  We have reached the compound but we still need to storm the building, gun down Osama, and dump his body in the ocean.  With that in mind, I will post a playoff preview sometime this weekend or early Monday... stay tuned....it will not disappoint. 

In the first game against Balls Deep we were very lathargic.  Our bats were cold, our fielding was sub-par.  We only had scored 4 runs going into the 7th inning. Despite a mild comeback at the end of the game with a GS by Wunder, we still fell quite short of victory.  Wake up call.
Final Score: 9-13

 In game two against the Wild Turkeys we had much more energy.  Our bats were still not has hot as they had been in previous weeks, but our defense was much more solid.  Our D is our key to victory, and when that is tight, we can even hold solid hitting teams like Wild Turkeys to low scores.  Much better game that should give us some positive momentum heading into playoffs.
Final Score: 8-4

Not a great night at the plate for hardly anyone, but one guy did manage to have a very consistent night...

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Eric Fosmo
7-8 with a double, 6 singles, 2 runs and 3 rbi.
Solid couple of games dude!

Week 11 Scores

Couple upsets during the last night of the regular season... Playoff brackets should come out later today, should be interesting.

Toasty Tuesday: 10-4

It was as humid as it has ever been in the twin cities yesterday...and it could of been a struggle to keep the energy level high.  Fortuanatly for us we were able to do that in a huge game that had major implications on the #1 seed in playoffs.  As a team we kept on battling, and battling, and we placed the ball well and played pretty darn good D.  It was a big win for us, but I am sure that if we meet these guys again in better conditions the game will be much, much tighter.  Hopefully thats not until the championship round of the playoffs though.
Final Score: 14-4

With our best player gone this guy filled in at the 3 hole very well by spraying the ball all over the field and driving in the most runs, thus earning his second such award in 2 weeks...
 
B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Brian Wedewer
3-4 with a double, triple, 1 run & 3 rbi.
Nice game in tough conditions!

Week 10 Scores

Not alot of runs scored last night by anyone....

Week 9 Scores

Ballz Deep wins twice, We win twice, Park Tavern gets upset....things are looking tight at the top of the standings.  Big game next week!

Our Chili is Hot: 9-4

Tim Brewster would be proud of our squad.  Our chili is on fire right now... its boiling!  It's all over the damn kitchen!!  The first game of the double-header got off to a great start.  We scored 11 in the top of the first and crusied to a early victory.  The donkeys didn't look like they had thier full squad intact, as a couple of thier subs looked as if they didn't know a softball from a soccer ball, but regardless, we will take it.
Final Score: 20-3

Game 2 was alittle more interesting.  Fresh off a big win at 7 over Park Tavern, Doublewide's confidence had to be at a high level....that is, until they had to sit on the picnic tables for an hour and watch our drubbing of the Amish.  Early on, thier legs seemed to be somewhat cold, as were thier bats.  Thier defense was rock solid however, holding us to only 4 runs in 5 innings.  Fortunatly for us, we finally got our big inning in the 6th, putting 8 on the board, and then followed it up with 5 more in the 7th.  The score was 17-4 heading into the last half-inning of the game as we seemed poised to cruise to a victory....

Then things got interesting...  Line drive after line drive, Doublewide was finally warmed up and they started crushing.  After what seemed to be 15 minutes of hit after hit and countless base runners we finally got our first out, eventually we had to ask the ump the score.  DW had put up 10 runs so far and had 2 more guys on base.  Our lead had dwindled to 3 and the situation was looking sketchy.  Fortunatly for us, our defense stayed tough and we got a couple balls hit at us as we then got back to back outs to prevent the would-be collapse.  An easy going victory turned into the biggest nail-bitter of the season.  Needless to say we were all very happy to escape with a victory and keep our winning streak alive.  Good game played by everyone on both sides though for sure.
Final Score: 17-14

Alot of guys played well last night...Jon played some amazing D in the outfield, Fosmo hit 3 bombs on the night and went a critcal 5-5 in game 2, but one guy has been playing great all year, and had a 4-hit cycle which included a grand-slam in the first game.

B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Brian Wedewer
9-7 with a double, 2 triples, GS, 5 runs and 9 rbi.
Awesome game man...keep it up!

Hot and Heavy: 7-4

It was a bit steamy out last night, and a few guys were gone on vacation this week... and our oppenent had to borrow a couple guys to fill out there team, but we still managed to maintain our focus and get our 3rd straight victory.  Due to the distraction of Derek and Cary showing up in the middle of the 1st inning we were losing 1-3 after 1, but we then scored 19 runs in the next 3 innings to push the lead to 20-11...7 more in the 5th gave us enough to end it early.

Final Score: 27-12
Our bats have been on fire since the unscheduled mid-summer break... scoring 58 runs in the last 2 games. One guy has been especially hot at the plate lately...


B-Dubs Playa of the Week
Brent Wunderlich
5-5 with a double, HR, 3 runs and 4 rbi.
Nice game...way to not kill anyone in the outfield too.

Week 8 Scores

Not many surprises this week. PT won twice to give themselves some breathing room... holding thier oppenents to only 3 runs all night.