A great, great comeback in the first playoff game, followed by a dominating performance in the finals -- fantastic end to a terrific season! The updated Stats page will
First, the playoff game. Down 9-1 going into the bottom of the third inning, we ended up outscoring Jemstar 13-2 to finish the game. A fantastic effort by everyone on the team — with three starters stuck in traffic at the start of the game, the rest of the team really picked it up Stephen came out of his season-long slump to smack two doubles, Kendrick homered, and George doubled twice and knocked in three runs as we put up six in th 4th inning and seven in the 5th inning. A terrific defensive effort, especially at the end of the game, put them awy.
Now, we moved on to face the Swingers in the Championship game. They had beaten down the previously undefeated Cougars in the mud and muck of the second game, so we were looking a team that's won four of their last five games (their one loss was to the Cougars).
They had also put up an 8-spot against us in the first inning of Game 10, and had a 7-run to finish us off then. We'd given up a lot of big first innings going into the playoffs, and my one big worry was that they'd get off to a fast start, forcing us to play catch-up all game.
In my mind, I figured if we just held them to six or less that first AB, we'd probably win the game. They came up with just three runs. So what do we do? We put up 12 runs in the bottom of the first. When the Swingers responded with a big ZERO in the top of the 2nd inning, the game was over.
Congratulations, guys. This team, this season, was more in control of ourselves — more confident going into games, more calm in the face of deficits, more focused in close games — than any team we've had before. Every single player had big moments this season when they really came through, when they were one of the key guys in a win. Congratulations.You guys should be really proud of yourselves!
If I had updated this page last week, we would have played that game Friday night. Not updating this page is just someone's way of saying, "Hey, update the damn page, stupid monkey." So here we go.
Game 8 gave us the season sweep of the Sluppers, which in and of itself is no big deal at all. The Chinese Jr. National team seemed intent on beating themselves with their awful defense, and we just took what they gave us. The game was notable for a few great moments, though.
And best of all...
Gallery. A prelim gallery is up. We'll need more pictures, but at least the page isn't totally empty anymore.
Jerseys. New versions of the two jerseys, B and C, are up with our logo. Most of the team hasn't voted on the forum or gotten back to me, so if that's you, make sure you go check them out.
Missing Sam, Lyno, Stephen, George and Minh?
No problem.
The remaining Hitmen, along with guest Hitman Viet, tossed a 15-0 white wash at the Bulldogs. Once again, the depth of the team really came through as back-up starter Mike did a great job of keeping the ball in play and Tuan was able to come in and take up space at shortstop.
Offensively, it was the guys behind Kendrick who came through. The Bulldogs walked Kendrick intentionally the first three times up, but talk about protection: Tuan had a mammoth three-run homer, Leo lined a three-run shot of his own, and Edgar had a no-doubt-about-it solo shot. To top it off, Viet skipped a line shot past the outfield and had his first homer ever as a Hitman.
Defensively, Arnie, Kendrick and Edgar were once again fantastic, catching nearly everything their way. Peter made a nifty play on a short pop into right-center, and I actually, finally made a diving play to my right. Yay! Mike tied an unbreakable record by throwing just three pitches in the first inning, inducing two pop outs and an easy flyout. It was part of a very strong performance, exactly the type of stuff a short-handed team needed. Super-sweet.
Jerseys. Okay. New versions of the two jerseys, B and C, are up with our logo. It doesn't look like we'll have them done before the end of the season, so I'm aiming for the beginning of next season, if at all. The enthusiasm for new unis doesn't seem to be there, so we may just forget the whole idea.
Facing a tough match-up is a challenge. Doing it after a three-week layoff makes things doubly hard. Going into last Friday's game, we were tied at 4-1 for second place against Team Jemstar, a team whose only loss came at the hands of the first place Cougars -- just like us. In a league with only three winning records at the half-way point, Game 6 was going to be a big statement game.
Turns out we made several statements. Our outfield defense was fantastic, our pitching was outstanding, and our roster depth showed itself to be a real strength. On a day where our bats were rusty and we managed to make four (FOUR!) outs on the basepaths, we still managed to beat a very solid team, 13-7. Sam came in after the first inning and allowed only two runs the rest of the way. Much of that credit goes to the outfield where practically everything in the air was caught by Arnie, Kendrick, Edgar or Tuan, and Mike came off the bench and made several nice plays at third.
The offense was a bit rusty, but the top of the lineup was ready to play: the first five in the lineup combined for ten runs scored. Kendrick had five RBIs with two long homers. All in all, not a great game for us, but that we came away with a solid win says a lot of good things about the team.
Unfortuately, we'll be missing some people for the next game. Lyno, Stephen, George and Sam will all be abandoning us for a snowboarding trip (Why do they hate America?), but we should still have more than enough to beat down the Bulldogs next game. I'll look into finding a 10th guy. Please don't promise someone playing time before talking to me!
Finally, yeah, there's yet another new layout. Lemme know what you think.
Coming off our first loss of the season, the Hitmen showed no ill effects, putting the hammer down early and often against the 2-2 Warriors in a convincing 30-13 smackdown. How bad was it? Kendrick finished 6-for-6 with 4 doubles, Leo had three triples to go with another 3 hits and 6 RBIs, and Sam had a career-high three doubles in one game as everybody got into the act with at least one run scored and one batted in. Edgar was en fuego, running the bases for everybody, and George continues to sparkle in his rookie season with a 5-for-5, 5 RBI game. (Though he did run into an inning-ending double play, lowering my batting average and taking an RBI away from me. Thanks.). The 39 total hits represent an all-time
Hitmen record. We are bad, bad men.
(Which leads me to point out that this music is a Christmas gift to all the white guys on the team. Leo, Arnie, Kendrick — knock yourselves out.)
So at the halfway mark, it's crystal clear what separates the good teams from the bad: defense. Teams like the Warriors can definitely swing the bat, and have consistently managed to put up runs against their opponents. As we saw last week, though, they're not able to catch the ball very well, and they had real problems cover ing the outfield. That's a killer flaw that we've had to deal with ourselves, so it's a good reminder, when looking at other teams, to remember to keep working on our own defense.
Jerseys. For those of you were at the game, you already know that the high price of the jersey we agreed on makes it a non-starter. I've re-posted the jersey page so we can have a second vote on which jersey we like. Please pick two options.
Schedule revisions. The new schedule, with updated scores and dates, is on the Games page. Knock yourselves out.
Finally, a reminder that the December 23rd game has been called off, and our next game won't be until January 6th of next year. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, New Year, or whichever holiday you'll be celebrating this year. Doesn't matter — I've declared war on all of them. Happy winter, everyone!
Link to the Jersey page. Let me know what you think.
The Swingers came into the game having lost their first two games, and seemed to be an easy target for the Hitmen Victim of the Week. With a light but stead drizzle coming down onto the field, then the first guy steps up, and homers to left-center. The next guy triples to deep right. In the top of the 2nd inning, after falling behind 9-2, the Swingers reeled off 10 runs. How'd these guys ever get to be 0-2??
The answer, of course is that (1) they play shorthanded half the time, and (2) they can't catch the ball — two problems the Hitmen generally don't have. Despite the wet conditions, the Hitmen managed to "hold" the Swings down to 14 runs in 4 innings (just 2 runs in the last two innings), while pouring it on on offense. 11 guys had at least one extra-base hit, 11 guys had multiple hits, 11 guys had RBIs, and everyone scored at least once. Taking advantage of some horrible defense, the Hitmen scored 29 runs in just three innings. The coup de grâce was the Hitmen's first back-to-back-to-back-to back-homeruns in the bottom of the 2nd inning. First, a three-run shot by me, then Arnie had his first homerun in human memory, then Lyno followed with his second homer in two games, and Kendrick skipped a line drive off the right fielder that rolled forever.
So far, we've scored 74 runs in three games, or about half the total of two seasons ago. Keep in mind, however, that our opponents' combined records at this point is
1-8, so it's not like we're taking down the champs. Still, it's always good to be in first place, and it's giving a lot of guys the chance to get off to quick starts — 10 players are already in double-figures in RBIs. Heck, Sam's still sporting a perfect batting average.
The next game will be against the only other 3-0 team in the league, the Cougars. Check out the full scoreboard and standings on the Games page.
I wasn't happy with the first site change. I thought if I just used the old layout, things would go much faster. They did, but the site looked ugly. I think this is much better. I've added navigation for the main page on the side, so you can move quickly from update to update if you wish to go backwards.
Again, I will also be posting jersey images for the team to look at and, ultimately, to vote on. Quick note: once we decide on jerseys, I'm going to wait until everyone actually pays for theirs before I order them. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.
And if I don't see you guys beforehand, have a great Thanksgiving!
2-0 after the first two games is, for this incarnation of the Hitmen, no big deal. The easy Game 2 victory was marked by a lack of intensity — as Sam put it, with people missing, nobody around, our opponent was the Sluppers ... it seemed like an exhibition game. I don't disagree. Fortunately, even though we only had nine players, the Hitmen ran on cruise control to a 21-9 victory of the Sluppers. Leo and Peter hit homers as the team churned out 40 total bases on a night where Kendrick had just one single. In fact, if we had a 4th outfielder, we wouldn't even have given up more than 5 runs.
As you can see, the website is under construction. I'll be adding more on as the season progresses, so feel free to send me your comments and suggestions on the look, feel and sound of the site.
I will also be posting jersey images for the team to look at and, ultimately, to vote on. Hopefully we'll have a decision made in the next few weeks, and we'll be able to play the second half of the season in beautiful new uniforms.