Storm Stays Strong - Sweeps Hanet

Game 1 - In which Storm scores 10 runs in the sixth inning to come from behind to win.

Storm started strong with a five run first inning. Duran and Rene each hit two run homers and Storm carried a 5-3 lead into the second. Storm almost kept that lead, but with two outs a dropped ball opened the door for Hanet to score six two run outs, including two two-run homers. Storm managed three in the bottom of the 2nd to pull within one.

The third so no scoring for either team. Hanet added four more runs in the top of the fourth and extended their lead to 13-8. A pitching change followed for Storm, and Mike put up a zero in the top of the 5th. This allowed Storm to put up four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Craig led off with a Han solo home run, followed by a pair of doubles by Rene and Bob. The bottom of the order came up with timely hits and Storm trailed by just one at the end of the fifth.

The sixth inning saw Hanet extend their lead to five as they put up a four spot. The bottom of the sixth is when Storm bats came to life. Joey and Bob each hit two-run homers to bring Storm to within one run. Storm then strung together seven hits, including a three-run blast by Duran, and Storm put up 10 runs to take a 22-17 lead. 

Storm blanked Hanet in the top of the seventh.

Defensive highlights (or not so highlights)

A pop fly with lots of backspin kicked off the heel of Brad’s glove. The runner was slow, so Brad had time to throw the runner out, but the ball kicked off the heel of Brian’s glove. Brad quipped that the play involved two heels, and that was the people involved not the glove. The following batter hit a ground ball to third. This kicked off the heel of Rene’s glove, and bounced up between his legs. Rene reached between his legs, found three balls, pulled out the right one and recorded the final out.

Notable Boxscores:

Duran - 5 for 5, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 4 runs

Joey - 4 for 5, HR, 3 runs, 2 RBI, 2 doubles

Rene - 4 for 4, HR, 4 RBI, 3 runs, 3 doubles

Bob - 4 for 4, HR, 2 doubles, 3 runs, 2 RBI

Cycle Watch: Joey missed the triple

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Hanet	3	6	0	4	0	4	0	17
Storm	3	3	3	0	3	10	x	22

Game 2 - In which Storm scores in every inning on way to sweeping the doubleheader

Storm scored in every inning and spread the wealth out across the lineup. The game was close across the first four innings. Hanet jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the first. Storm put up five in the second starting with a leadoff single by Kevin that set the table for the inning. Storm held Hanet to 3 in the second and after two it was 8-8.

The top of the third saw Storm put up another five spot. The rally was again kicked off by a single from Kevin, and was capped off by back to back home runs by Duran and Joey. For those keeping track, this means Joey selfishly smashed a solo home run. The inning came to a screeching halt, however, when Kraig struck out. With one strike, Kraig took a massive swing and completely missed as the ball hit off the mat. He then exclaimed, “Oh my god.” He assured the bench that it wouldn’t happen again. But it did. On the very next pitch. Kraig swung so hard that players on the Storm bench were nearly knocked over by the wind, but no Kontact was made, and Kraig slouched back to the bench. Kraig had a lot of success during the doubleheader, but he also had some interesting at bats. Earlier in the evening he had taken a mighty swing that missed the ball, but made contact on the follow through after the ball had hit the mat. It’s not cricket, Craig!

Anyway, back to the game. Hanet scored three in the fourth and Storm took a 14-11 lead into the fifth inning. The game wasn’t the primary focus for some players. Rene was very interested in the qualifying heat for Andre DeGrasse. He watched the false start and waited for the race to the point where he didn’t even go on deck because he was trying to watch the race. Alas, the break was too long and Rene went out to hit. He singled, and then the race started. Both the qualifying heat for De Grasse, and the race where Bob chased Rene around the bases. Rene had left his phone in Mike’s hands, and Mike and Jeff were trying to watch the qualifying heat, but when Bob’s hit skipped past the Hanet outfielder, a much more interesting race was transpiring right in front of them. Rene running on a bad hip, limped around the bases as Bob charged in behind him. Rene was waved home, and a few feet behind him, Bob was waved home. The ball had come in to second base and the throw came home. Thankfully, Rene crossed the line first in a photo finish with Bob just before the ball reached the plate. When Rene returned to the dugout he asked what had happened in the race. The bench responded that he nearly got lapped by Bob. Rene said, “I might the qualifier.” Mike and Jeff looked at each other and shrugged realizing neither had paid attention to the race because they were too distracted by the game in front of them. (Editorial note: De Grasse qualified in third). Storm would not relinquish the lead again, and would add six more runs in the seventh to cement their lead.

Notable Boxscores:

Kraig - STRIKEOUT, 4 for 5, HR, 3 runs, 2 RBI, 2B

Duran - 4 for 5, 2 home runs, 5 RBI, 4 runs

Joey - 4 for 5, 4 runs, 2 RBI

Bob - 4 for 5, inside the park home run, 3 RBI, 2 runs

Kevin - 4 for 5, 4 runs, two rallies started

Mike - 4 for 5, 5 RBI

Cycle Watch: After missing the triple multiple times this season, Duran hit the triple this game., But he couldn’t get the double. Instead he hit two home runs.

Kraig missed the triple. Instead he got the striKeout.

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	3	5	5	1	5	1	6	26
Hanet	5	3	0	3	2	3	2	18

Kurse Ends and Storm Splits

Game 1 - In which the Kurse ends, and Brad shows up in time to ground out in the last inning.

Baseball players are very superstitious. They don’t talk to pitchers throwing no-hitters, they don’t step on the foul lines, and they often wear the same underwear or socks if they have a good game. So it’s no surprise that Storm was looking for an explanation for their slower start to the season. At first, the team thought that there was a second game curse. It seemed Storm couldn’t win game two of a doubleheader. Of course, that would probably be more attributed to age, and injury, but why not call it a curse?

Then, once Storm finally won game two of a doubleheader, there needed to be a new explanation for the lower winning percentage. It was then proposed that maybe the curse was roster related. There was a certain correlation between roster and record of the games. However, today’s roster featured the supposedly Kursed player, and Storm managed to win, thus banishing any thoughts of a curse, either roster related or second game related.

Storm started strong, jumping out to a quick six run lead powered by a two run homer by Bob and a three-run shot by Rene. The A’s struck back with two home runs of their own, but Storm still led 6-3 after the first. Storm was blanked in the second. The inning was best represented by MiKe’s at bat. MiKe walked up to the plate and watched not one, not two, but three balls hit the mat. If I could figure out how to make this keyboard write a backwards K in MiKe’s name, I would do it, but alas, I cannot. Storm still managed to carry a lead into the third. Joey hit a two-run home run and Storm put up four more. This time Mike swung the bat. He hit the ball backwards for a foul out to the catcher, but at least he swung the bat!

In the fourth, Storm put up the max six again, capped off by a three run blast from Duran. In the bottom of the fourth, Craig leaped over the wall to steal a home run from John (who had already hit two home runs). Storm scored five more in the 6th and won 21-13.

Notable Boxscores:

Joey - 4 for 4, HR, 4 runs, 4 RBI

Duran - 3 for 3, HR, 4 runs, 4 RBI

Rene - 2 for 2, HR, 5 RBI, 2 runs

Bob - 3 for 4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 runs

Cycle Watch:

Duran was a triple short of the cycle yet again.

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	6	0	4	6	0	5	0	21
A's	3	2	2	0	4	2	0	13

Game 2 - In which Joey’s 181 game hit streak comes to an end, and Storm loses yet ANOTHER game 2 (but they’ve won one so it can’t be a curse. Or a Kurse!) 

After winning game two of the doubleheader against the Falcons on Wednesday, Storm can no longer attribute their lack of success to a curse. The only thing left is age, stamina, and/or injury. 

Storm started well with three runs in the first inning. They scored three more in the third inning, and led 6-5 after three. But they basically stopped scoring after that. Storm managed only one run in the fourth and sixth and was blanked in the fifth. Fortunately, the A’s weren’t exactly lighting up the scoreboard either. They were blanked in the fourth and sixth and only scored two in the fifth, which meant it was 8-8 going into the final frame. 

The A’s scored three in the top of the seventh. Brian led off with a single to get to the top of the order. Unfortunately, the top of the order didn’t do anything as Jeff, Bob, and Craig all popped up harmlessly. Harmlessly to the A’s. Not harmlessly to poor Joey, who stood helplessly on deck with his 181 consecutive game hit streak coming to an end. His reached base streak will continue as he walked twice.

Notable Boxscores:

Joey: 0 for 1 with two walks. Notable because it ends a 181 game hit streak, which started on August 25, 2014. His reached base streak continues. 

Nobody else did anything worth mentioning. Seriously

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
A's	0	1	5	0	2	0	3	11
Storm	3	0	3	1	0	1	0	8

Kevin thinks the game is Friday, and the Kurse is roster related, not game time related!

Game 1 - In which Kevin thinks the game is Friday, leaving Storm with nine players, one of whom recently had a heart attack, and one of whom pulled a hamstring and can barely move

Storm started the game shorthanded. The team already knew it would be playing with ten players because of work schedules and the fact that it seemed to be a popular vacation week, but when Kevin no showed due to the fact that he thought the game was Friday, Storm was down to nine players, one of whom recently recovered from a heart attack, and one of whom suffered a hamstring injury in the first game and has struggled to move since. With the sign-outs and the injuries to the players who were present, many players were forced to play out of position and the prospects of winning one of the games, let alone both, seemed to be low.

However, Storm didn’t let the situation deter them. After a solid first inning defensively, allowing only one run, Bob, Duran, and Craig put up back to back to back doubles and Rene singled to put Storm up 3-1. 

Storm’s solid defense continued in the second as they blanked the Falcons. I said defense, but most of the credit goes to Al as he struck out two batters in one inning. Storm then responded with three more runs, to stretch the lead to 6-1. No lead is safe in slo-pitch, however, and in the third and fourth the Falcons remembered how to hit. They put up three in the third and five in the fourth and Storm only managed four runs total in those two frames. At the end of four the score was 10-9. 

The fifth inning saw Storm pull away. They blanked the Falcons and then put up seven runs in the bottom of the fifth. Brian, Jeff, and Bob hit back to back to back doubles, then Duran and Craig hit back to back home runs. Storm kept rolling in the sixth, blanking the Falcons again and scoring six more runs powered by Craig’s second home run of the game and a slew of singles.

The Falcons put up three in the seventh, but it was too little too late as a depleted Storm held on to a 23-12 victory.

Notable Boxscores:

Craig - 5 for 5, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 4 runs

Duran - 5 for 6, HR, 3 doubles,5 RBI, 5 runs

Rene - 5 for 5, 2 runs, 2 RBI

Al - 4 for 5, 3 runs

Cycle watch: Duran pointed out that he was a triple short of the cycle going into his last at bat, at which point the team pointed out that he checked his heart monitor every time he came off the field, and so there was no way he should attempt to get the triple. One player even quipped that if Duran tried to get a triple in his last at bat, it might truly be his last at bat. Like ever.

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Falcons	1	0	3	5	0	0	3	12
Storm	3	3	0	4	7	6	x	23

Game 2 - In which Storm breaks their second game curse, leading some players to believe the Kurse is roster related, not game time related

Game two's of the doubleheaders have not been kind to Storm, and so Storm decided to pretend that they had just arrived at the park for their first game. Brad could be heard loudly welcoming players to the park and asking how everyone was to encourage the feeling that Storm had not just finished playing a game. However, the limps from most of the players implied that Storm had just played another game, and that there was the chance that they would run out of steam (or courtesy runners) before the game ended.

Storm started decently in the first with two runs. In the bottom of the first, it looked like Rene was going to get all three outs on the first three batters, but a dropped ball allowed the inning to continue, and the Falcons put up three runs to take a 3-2 lead into the second inning. 

Storm exploded in the second, getting the maximum six runs. Brad, Brian, and Jeff started with back to back to back doubles, followed by consecutive singles from Duran, Bob, Craig, Rene, and Lance and six runs were quickly up on the board.

The game then turned into a fierce pitcher’s duel as the teams combined for only one run across the next three innings. Storm created some separation in the sixth inning putting up eleven runs. Jeff, Bob, and Duran got two hits each, but Craig showed everyone up by getting two home runs. After Duran grounded to short, Jeff left off third enough to get the shortstop to throw home. Jeff returned to third and Craig came up with the bases loaded. He launched a grand slam. He hit a two run shot later in the inning. Those eleven runs were enough to propel Storm to 19-5 victory, and their first win in the second game of a doubleheader this season.

After the game, many people started to believe that the team is suffering from a different curse than initially believed. It is not a second game curse. But maybe there is a roster Kurse. There seems to be a Korrelation between the team’s reKord and roster for certain games. Whether this is truly Korrelation or Koincidence, and whether the Korrelation proves Kausation is too much for this writer to unravel. But the faKt is that there is a distinKt difference in the team’s reKord depending on the roster present. Either way, the nine players who played their hearts out (one of whom almost literally) demonstrated that Storm is capable of winning both games of a doubleheader, so there should be no more excuses for the rest of the season.

Notable Boxscores:

Craig - 2 for 2, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 runs. And that’s just the sixth inning!

Jeff - 4 for 5, 4 runs, 2 RBI, 2B

Bob - 4 for 5, 4 runs, HR, 2 RBI

Duran - 4 for 5, 3 runs, 3 RBI

Cycle Watch: Bob was a triple short of the cycle.

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	2	6	0	0	0	11	0	19
Falcons	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	5