Storm puts on show against Broadway

Apparently the long walk from K2 o K1 was enough for Storm players to clear their heads or shake things off, because they looked like a different team against Broadway. The offense was solid, and the defense was tight, not to mention there was some stellar pitching.

In the top of the 1^st it looked like it might be a long game for Storm. Duran’s triple was the only real sign of offense, and Storm only managed one run. The bottom of the inning, however, saw Storm get some clutch defense as they were able to hold Broadway to one run and force them to leave the bases loaded.

In the 2^nd inning Storm still hadn’t recovered offensively and put up no runs. In the bottom of the 2nd, Broadway had the chance to blow the game wide open. They had the bases loaded with only one out. A hard grounder up the middle was snagged by the pitcher and thrown home for the force. Storm then managed to end the inning without surrendering a run and forcing Broadway to leave the bases loaded for the second consecutive inning.

In the top of the 3^rd Storm found its bats. Seven consecutive hits started the inning on the inning, producing seven runs. Broadway would get nothing. Storm only managed one in the top of the 4^th, but Mike’s pitching became dominant in his second inning out there. He was one pitch away from striking out the side. That’s a rare feat for slo-pitch. The third batter hit a weak grounder to short in his effort to avoid the fate. Still, two strikeouts in an inning is an achievement.

In the 5^th and 6^th, Storm blew it open. They scored seven in the 5^th and eight in the 6^th before running out of steam in the 7^th. Still Storm won 24-2. Quite the opposite achievement to the first game of their double-header.

Notable Boxscores:

Bob – 2/3, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 runs

Duran – 4/4, two triples, 4 runs, 3 RBI

Jeff – 2/4, 4RBI 2 runs, double

Joey  2/4, 3 RBI, 2 runs

Craig – ¾, 2 runs, RBI

Brian – 4/4, 2 runs

Mike – 3/3, 3 runs

Kenny – 2/3, 2 RBI, 2 runs

HR's: Bob (2)

HR Outs: None

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	1	0	7	1	7	8	0	24
Broadway	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	2

The Storm got spanked and a monkey played the organ!

Scoops Jockovitch reporting from high a top my summer retreat in Nepal on the side of Mt. Meoften.

From what this reporter witnessed on a moist, humid night in the wilds of north Whitby Sunday evening the game between our intrepid Stormy boys and the only team that can be said to have beautiful plumage, reminded me of an ill fated weekend in Nevada that included a Dominatrix and a monkey.

The Storm got spanked and a monkey played the organ.

Not to be confused with spanking the monkey and a Dominatrix playing with my organ…that was in Utah and the restraining order has elapsed.

And like that lost weekend it would be painful to go into too much detail, suffice it to say what started out as an even, if highly offensive first inning soon turned into a rout by the El Halcones Azules. ( google it)

Where does the monkey come in you may ask?

Well it seems throughout history that when the defence of the Might Pylons commits an error it becomes something like I did  after a heavy make-out session with Edith Finklestein…highly contagious. 

And when the itchy rash of bad defence starts to spread a small monkey appears and begins to play circus calliope music on his organ (he’s a very flexible monkey).

** Of Note** Did you know that Falcons are a birds of prey in the genus of Falco

So needless to say the Falcons Rocked the Storms Amadeus after scoring 17 runs in the 2nd inning…Oh, did I forget to mention that those 17 came after the first 2 batters of that fateful inning had been outs!!

Le Garçons en orange ( it’s french ask Rene) tried their darnedest to mount a comeback. But like the midget said about Kim Kardashian “It was too big a hump to get over!"

A game well played by Der Kommissar with timely hits and well executed offence and a game by the Storm that Jerry Lewis would have been proud of.

HR's: Lance, Joey (2)

HR Outs: None

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	7	2	1	0	0	3	3	16
Falcons	7	0	17	4	0	1	x	29

Your biggest athletic supporter,

Scoops Jockovitch

Storm returns to form

Storm would have made Doug Ford proud showing “resiliency” and bouncing back after being demolished on Sunday night. Storm took the field in the top of the first saying things like, “Okay guys, 15 runs or fewer would be good,” and “Let’s see if we can stop them from going through the order two and a half times.” The first inning wasn’t the greatest inning in Storm defensive history, but it was lightyears away from Sunday night’s massacre. Storm allowed only three runs and went to bat confident that they could take the lead.

In the bottom of the first, Jeff led off with a short fly ball that Brew Crew’s left fielder over ran trying to make the catch and Jeff hustled around to third. Duran singled him home. Joey then hit into a double-play. It’s unclear who is more to blame for this double-play.  Is it Joey, who hit a useless fly ball to shallow right field, or is it Duran, for overestimating his speed (or underestimating the strength and accuracy of the right fielder’s arm). Either way, very quickly the inning looked like it was going to end. Craig turned it around quickly with a double, followed by a triple by Bob, a single from Lance, and a double from Al. Three more singles followed, capped off by a double from Kevin, and Storm scored seven runs.

In the top of the 2^nd, Storm decided to flex some defensive muscles. On a short fly ball that looked clearly like it was going to drop in, Lance came out of nowhere and made a fantastic sliding catch. Duran then ran a long way up the 3^rd base line to make an out at catcher, and Storm shut out the Brew Crew.

The bottom of the 2^nd might have seen the most important moment of the game. After Greg got out and Jeff uselessly grounded to the pitcher, Duran hit a fly ball to deep right-centre field. The outfielder camped under it and the ball went right into his glove. Then popped right out again. Duran ended up at 2^nd and the inning would continue. And continue. And continue. Storm got two more doubles followed by two singles. Then, Al, who had just been heard on the bench preaching the value of the double and single approach, smacked a three-run home run. Six runs scored after what probably should have been the third out. Storm was up 13-3 after two.

Storm stayed in control on both sides of the ball for the rest of the game. They only three runs in the final five innings, and the offense stayed pretty consistent, putting up big numbers in the 4^th and 5^th on their way to a 24-6 victory.

Cycle Watch:

Duran missed the home run.

Bob missed the home run.

Al missed the triple.

Notable Boxscores:         

Bob – 4/4, 3 RBI, 4 runs, triple, 2 doubles

Lance – 4/4, 2B, 3 runs, 2 RBI

Al – 4/4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI, 2 runs

Joey – 3/4, HR, two doubles, 5 RBI, 3 runs

Duran – 4/5, 2B, 3B, 3 runs, RBI

Craig – 3/4, three doubles, 3 runs, 2 RBI

Kevin – 4/4, two doubles, 2 RBI

Kenny – 4/4, 3 runs

Brian - 4/4 RBI

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Brew Crew	3	0	1	1	0	0	1	6
Storm	7	6	1	5	4	1	x	24

Storm gets A’s kicked

Storm took the field on a beautiful Sunday afternoon unaware of the absolute catastrophe that was about to befall them. Storm went into the game averaging fewer than 10 runs per game (a statistic aided by a number of forfeits, but still…) so what happened in the top of the 1^st was A’stonishing.

The A’s brought only eight players to start the game, but those eight players were ready to hit. The A’s batted through their lineup two and a half times, scoring 16 runs and hitting two home runs plus a home run out. Storm’s defense wasn’t particularly bad. There were a couple of hard-hit balls that went off of gloves, but for the most part, the A’s hit A’stoundingly well. The 16 runs is more in an inning than Storm has given up total in 19 of their games (not including defaults).

It’s tough to be down that much BEFORE YOU EVEN BAT, but Storm took a positive attitude to the plate, and mounted a strong rebound. A single followed by a two-run homer and a ball that took a Joey bounce off the fence that allowed him to get an inside the park home run had Storm score three runs on three batters. Storm would add four more including another two-run blast to recover seven runs. If Storm could just close the floodgates they were still in the game.

Unfortunately, the floodgates would not close. A(‘s)mazingly, the A’s would bat though their lineup two and a half times again in the 2^nd. Cam showed up late and stepped pretty much immediately to the plate to knock out a grand slam. The A’s added nine more to go up 25-7.

With the game apparently out of reach, the top of Storm’s order decided to play for themselves and not the team. Duran, Joey, and Craig hit back to back to back solo home runs (when you’re down by 18 you kind of need to cash in more than one run with each dinger!). Bob, to prove he was more of a team player, hit a double. He’d score on the next pitch that Lance hit out for a two-run shot.

Storm could not keep the A’s from scoring. In the 3^rd they score 11 with lots of solid hitting and more home runs. It was really hard to keep track of what was happening by this point in the game. Everything was a blur as by the end of three innings all but the bottom two A’s batters had batted six times.

Storm sort of kept trying. Joey hit his third home run of the game in the 3^rd. Bob, who apparently was no longer playing for the team, or just to prove he could, smacked a solo home run. After that not a lot happened. Four innings of baseball and Storm lost 39-17.

Fun facts:

Storm scored 17 runs. That would have been enough to win 19 of their games this year.

Storm gave up 39 runs. That’s not only the most runs they’ve given up this year (and likely ever, though the statisticians are still digging through the archives), that’s more than they’ve given up in their six best defensive games this year COMBINED.

Bob was a triple short of the cycle, but he never even got a chance to hit for it, because he only came up three times.

Joey hit three home runs (including an inside the park home run that bounced off a fence post away from the A’s defenders allowing him to easily trot around the bases). Of course, it’s kind of meaningless when your team get slaughtered.

Notable Boxscores:

The entire A’s roster. Seriously. They all hit well.

Joey – 3/3, 3HR 5RBI, 3 runs

Bob – 3/3, HR, 2B, 3 runs, RBI

Duran – 2/3, 2 HRs, 3 RBI, 3 runs

Lance – 2/3, HR, 3 RBI, 2 runs

HR's: Joey (3), Duran (2), Lance, Bob, Al, Craig

HR Out's: None

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
A’s	16	9	11	3	x	x	x	39
Storm	7	5	4	1	x	x	x	17

Storm win close one against Coulas

With Jeff sauntering in late because of one of:

      a)       Just returning from his family vacation

      b)      Returning late from his legally enforced 14 day program

      c)       His daughter’s softball game going late

      d)      Inability to get off his lazy ass

Al  stepped in at 3^rd. And of course, as fate would have it, the first ball of the game was hit to him. He snagged the sizzling shot and recorded the out. Kenny would make two outs in left and Storm would put down Coulas in order. Storm loaded the bases in the bottom of the 1^st. Duran came up and smashed a hard line drive down the 3^rd base line which nearly took off Jeff’s head making him wonder why he had forgotten his helmet. Two runs scored.

Coulas matched the two runs in the top of the 2^nd, and Storm also scored two runs in the bottom of the 2^nd as Mike, batting last, took out some aggression and smacked a two-run homer.

Coulas started living up to the back half of its name as they started crushing balls in the top of the 3^rd. Rob hit a grand slam and then Dave followed it up with a solo shot as Coulas plated five and took the lead 7-4.

Storm struggled to score in the 3^rd and 4^th as they were only able to plate one run in each inning. Down 8-6 going into the bottom of the 5^th, Storm remembered it was more fun to score, and that they had lots of home runs to play with. Craig smacked a two-run blast, and Duran knocked a solo (after batting with the bases loaded in his first two plate appearances). Brian doubled home Al and Storm took the lead for the first time since the 2^nd inning.

Coulas would not stay down, however, and they started crushing the ball again. They scored five runs to take the lead again, but a 3^rd to home double-play limited the damage and helped get Storm back to the bats.

In the bottom of the 6^th, Storm started strong with a pair of singles. Craig ran straight through multiple people telling him to stop at 2^nd and extended his hit to a triple scoring two runs along the way. Kenny hit a sac fly that advanced everyone with the bases loaded and Brian drove two more runs home. Those two runs were critical as they were the go ahead runs.

Coulas came up to the plate with the top of the order in the top of the 7^th. The first batter grounded out, but the 2^nd doubled, which brought their 3 and 4 hitters to the plate as the tying runs. Both recorded outs and Storm held on to the lead winning 15-13.

Notable Boxscores:

Craig: 4/4, HR, 4 RBI, 3 runs

Duran: 3/4, HR, 4 RBI, 2 runs

Brian: 2/3, 3 RBI

Mike: 1/2, HR, 2 RBI

Cycle Watch: 

Craig missed the double.

Kenny missed them all.

HR's: Mike, Duran, Craig
HR Outs: None

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Coulas	0	2	5	0	1	5	0	13
Storm	2	2	1	1	4	5	x	15