I'm no scientist, but there may be a correlation between my blogging and the absence of our teams mojo.
I will be taking a sabbatical until the playoffs, or until we get a few wins under our belt.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Game 12: Hopkins v Eden Prairie
We went to Round Lake Park (the relatively new Eden Prairie complex) to take on the Eagles for the second time. It's a very nice field, and to tell you the truth, I like it better than Veteran's Field, the former EP stadium.
We faced the same pitcher as last time, the kid who throws in the high 80's with hard slider. Their coach said that his elbow was bothering him. All I can say is that I'd love to throw like that when my arm is bothering me.
Chris Code took the bump for his for his first Varsity start and pitched very well. He kept us right there with them the entire game.
The game was relatively same old, same old until the 5th inning. We had put a rally together while the score was 4-1 in favor of the Eagles. Tanner got a hit to the outfield which scored Benny Christopher and Mike Larson. But the umpire thought differently. Mike came around third base and he was chuggin'. The Eagles made two nice relays to get the ball in. Mike clearly slid under the tag, but the umpire paused for a second and yelled, "HE'S OUT!" which ended the inning. Needless to say, the crowd and our bench were outraged at the horrible call.
Coach Lerner walked up to ask the umpire about his thoughts on the play and the umpire claimed that the catcher had gotten Mike on the helmet before his (long) legs reached the plate. I think the umpire just had dust in his eyes from when Mike slid. This chitchat brought Coach's season total to 7.5.
The rest of the game went on without any crazy stories, and we lost 6-4. If that run had scored, the score would have been 4-3 with us still rallying and the middle of our order coming up. It may have been a different game, or it may not have been, but one thing is for sure: the umpire rained on our parade.
Up next is Minnetonka at home followed by a BBQ for players, coaches, and friends of the program. Come on out to cheer on the team and enjoy a burger.
We faced the same pitcher as last time, the kid who throws in the high 80's with hard slider. Their coach said that his elbow was bothering him. All I can say is that I'd love to throw like that when my arm is bothering me.
Chris Code took the bump for his for his first Varsity start and pitched very well. He kept us right there with them the entire game.
The game was relatively same old, same old until the 5th inning. We had put a rally together while the score was 4-1 in favor of the Eagles. Tanner got a hit to the outfield which scored Benny Christopher and Mike Larson. But the umpire thought differently. Mike came around third base and he was chuggin'. The Eagles made two nice relays to get the ball in. Mike clearly slid under the tag, but the umpire paused for a second and yelled, "HE'S OUT!" which ended the inning. Needless to say, the crowd and our bench were outraged at the horrible call.
Coach Lerner walked up to ask the umpire about his thoughts on the play and the umpire claimed that the catcher had gotten Mike on the helmet before his (long) legs reached the plate. I think the umpire just had dust in his eyes from when Mike slid. This chitchat brought Coach's season total to 7.5.
The rest of the game went on without any crazy stories, and we lost 6-4. If that run had scored, the score would have been 4-3 with us still rallying and the middle of our order coming up. It may have been a different game, or it may not have been, but one thing is for sure: the umpire rained on our parade.
Up next is Minnetonka at home followed by a BBQ for players, coaches, and friends of the program. Come on out to cheer on the team and enjoy a burger.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Games 10 and 11: Hopkins v. Wayzata and Hopkins v. Edina
It's been a busy few days so I'll regale the past two games at the same time.
Last Friday (Wow, I'm very late), Wayzata's Trojans came to PBMF to play some ball. Good ol' Maris Blanchard (first baseman), Coach Bobby DeWitt, and the rest of our favorites were among the cast and crew for the Trojans.
It was a shootout. We ended up winning 14-8, our first game scoring over 10 runs, but also only our second game where opponents scored 7 or more runs. We ended the game with 13 hits (most of the season) and three guys each had 3 hits. It was refreshing to see us score in all but one inning.
Then, after a nice weekend, the Hornettes came over for a grudge match. Hammy pitched for us and some sophomore with a decent curveball pitched for them.
Very little happened in the game, nothing that I would normally blog about, other than the fact that in the middle of the game, a Hornette base runner broke for third base. I wasn't going to let him break and enter into my home without a fight. Sinderson fired the ball to me, I made the pick out of the dirt to catch the ball and put the tag on. To be honest, I'm not sure whether or not we got him, it was an extremely close play, but the umpire called him safe. Coach Lerner walked out to talk to the umpire and asked him about the play, bringing the season total to 6.5.
We ended up losing 6-5, our fourth one run loss of the season.
On a happier note, Christmas came a little early for Coach Berger. Yesterday, the new John Deere grounds-keeping, field sweeping, all purpose four-wheeled cart arrived. The E-Z Go (the old grounds-keeping cart died a tragic death earlier in the year, so we had been living without one since the beginning of the season. Coach Berger took it on it's maiden voyage after Coach Strong christened it by cracking bottle of champagne on the nose. I will here by name it the Berger Mobile.
Last Friday (Wow, I'm very late), Wayzata's Trojans came to PBMF to play some ball. Good ol' Maris Blanchard (first baseman), Coach Bobby DeWitt, and the rest of our favorites were among the cast and crew for the Trojans.
It was a shootout. We ended up winning 14-8, our first game scoring over 10 runs, but also only our second game where opponents scored 7 or more runs. We ended the game with 13 hits (most of the season) and three guys each had 3 hits. It was refreshing to see us score in all but one inning.
Then, after a nice weekend, the Hornettes came over for a grudge match. Hammy pitched for us and some sophomore with a decent curveball pitched for them.
Very little happened in the game, nothing that I would normally blog about, other than the fact that in the middle of the game, a Hornette base runner broke for third base. I wasn't going to let him break and enter into my home without a fight. Sinderson fired the ball to me, I made the pick out of the dirt to catch the ball and put the tag on. To be honest, I'm not sure whether or not we got him, it was an extremely close play, but the umpire called him safe. Coach Lerner walked out to talk to the umpire and asked him about the play, bringing the season total to 6.5.
We ended up losing 6-5, our fourth one run loss of the season.
On a happier note, Christmas came a little early for Coach Berger. Yesterday, the new John Deere grounds-keeping, field sweeping, all purpose four-wheeled cart arrived. The E-Z Go (the old grounds-keeping cart died a tragic death earlier in the year, so we had been living without one since the beginning of the season. Coach Berger took it on it's maiden voyage after Coach Strong christened it by cracking bottle of champagne on the nose. I will here by name it the Berger Mobile.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Game 9: Hopkins V. Minnetonka
Last night's game went late and I figure that if the Star Tribune is allowed to say that a given game ended too late to report about in the paper, than I'm allowed to say that this game ended too late for me to blog about it.
We traveled to Veteran's Field to take on the Little Sailors, pardon me, Skippers of Minnetonka.
It wasn't exactly ideal baseball weather. In all my years on the diamond, I can in good faith say that last night was the first game I've ever played in the snow. You heard it hear, there was snow flakes flying during a baseball game at the end of APRIL. April fools, right? Wrong.
A few things that I noticed upon arrival at Veteran's: 1) Minnetonka has continued the tradition of warming up and doing their pre game routine without their uniform tops on (I suppose you could say they were topless), 2) They had a big sign on the side of their dugout that read "US" and they all touched it when they entered the dug out, and 3) There was a hole, nay, a crater in the right handed batters box.
Don't worry, I let the umpire know about the hole in the batter's box during each of my four at bats.
We jumped out to an early 4 run lead by stringing together a few walks, a few hits, and six stolen bases in the first inning. Tim Shannon got out there and pitched well despite the snow. There were a few pitches that he lost control of because of the wetball, but he managed to pitch very well through the fifth inning.
Somewhere in the middle of the game, Country Mike Larson was up to bat. With two strikes, he check swung at a pitch and the catcher dropped the ball. Not until the catcher had tagged Mike out did the umpire make the call that it was a strike. Mike wasn't sure whether or not to run, and the late call by the umpire didn't make it any clearer to him whether or not he should have ran. Coach Lerner called time, walked over to the umpire and asked if it was a strike on the swing, or a called strike on the pitch. Before Coach could even finish his question, the umpire got defensive and firmly stated, "It was a strike on the pitch, Coach! NOT a called strike!" That brought Coach Lerner's total Umpire Chit Chats to 5.5 on the year. For those of you who are interested in statistics, Coach Lerner averages .611 Chit Chats per game.
Once Tim left the game, Matt Sinderson came in and went to work. Matt has been money on the mound for us this year. He has done a great job of coming in late in the game and putting a stopper in the other team's offense. Until this game, no team had scored on him. He was money this game, but unfortunately, the last play of the game was a successful suicide squeeze by them. Matt still pitched three strong innings and managed to make a lot of Skippers look silly.
We ended up losing 5-4 in the 8th inning which makes our last 4 games all loses by 2, 1, 1, and 1 run respectively. We've been so close, but close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. We have Wayzata tomorrow at home, a great chance to get back to our winning ways.
We traveled to Veteran's Field to take on the Little Sailors, pardon me, Skippers of Minnetonka.
It wasn't exactly ideal baseball weather. In all my years on the diamond, I can in good faith say that last night was the first game I've ever played in the snow. You heard it hear, there was snow flakes flying during a baseball game at the end of APRIL. April fools, right? Wrong.
A few things that I noticed upon arrival at Veteran's: 1) Minnetonka has continued the tradition of warming up and doing their pre game routine without their uniform tops on (I suppose you could say they were topless), 2) They had a big sign on the side of their dugout that read "US" and they all touched it when they entered the dug out, and 3) There was a hole, nay, a crater in the right handed batters box.
Don't worry, I let the umpire know about the hole in the batter's box during each of my four at bats.
We jumped out to an early 4 run lead by stringing together a few walks, a few hits, and six stolen bases in the first inning. Tim Shannon got out there and pitched well despite the snow. There were a few pitches that he lost control of because of the wetball, but he managed to pitch very well through the fifth inning.
Somewhere in the middle of the game, Country Mike Larson was up to bat. With two strikes, he check swung at a pitch and the catcher dropped the ball. Not until the catcher had tagged Mike out did the umpire make the call that it was a strike. Mike wasn't sure whether or not to run, and the late call by the umpire didn't make it any clearer to him whether or not he should have ran. Coach Lerner called time, walked over to the umpire and asked if it was a strike on the swing, or a called strike on the pitch. Before Coach could even finish his question, the umpire got defensive and firmly stated, "It was a strike on the pitch, Coach! NOT a called strike!" That brought Coach Lerner's total Umpire Chit Chats to 5.5 on the year. For those of you who are interested in statistics, Coach Lerner averages .611 Chit Chats per game.
Once Tim left the game, Matt Sinderson came in and went to work. Matt has been money on the mound for us this year. He has done a great job of coming in late in the game and putting a stopper in the other team's offense. Until this game, no team had scored on him. He was money this game, but unfortunately, the last play of the game was a successful suicide squeeze by them. Matt still pitched three strong innings and managed to make a lot of Skippers look silly.
We ended up losing 5-4 in the 8th inning which makes our last 4 games all loses by 2, 1, 1, and 1 run respectively. We've been so close, but close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. We have Wayzata tomorrow at home, a great chance to get back to our winning ways.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Game 8: Hopkins V. Eden Prairie
Again, I'm sorry for the delay. Coach Lerner told me after the game that I was to go home, not blog, and not think about baseball for the entire night. As always, I obeyed like the good boy that I am.
The highly touted Eagles of Eden Prairie came to PBMF on Monday to take on your own Hopkins Royals. Hammy toed the bump for us and Tyler Ruemmele pitched for the Eagles. Ruemmele had been hitting 87-89 MPH on the gun and even hit 90 a few times. He will be going to the University of North Dakota to pitch and play outfield.
The problem with us was that our bats never woke up. Ruemmele kept us off balance with a hard curve that looked a lot like his fast ball and he ended up pitching a complete game no hitter. What was really remarkable, though, was that even though we didn't get a hit, we hung in there with arguably the best team in the state for the entire game. We ended up losing 2-1 but we had every chance to take that game.
Somewhere in the middle of the game, a pinch hitter for the Eagles squared to bunt. Hammy went inside on him and it hit the kid's bat and possibly him. The behind-the-plate ump claimed that he had seen it and that it was a hit by pitch. Coach Lerner called time and walked out to discuss the play. This brought the total to 4.5. It turns out that the field ump had a better view of it, seeing as he didn't have to use his x-ray vision to see what happened, and he declared that the kid had, in fact, offered and that it was a strike rather than a hit by pitch.
Hammy pitch extremely well. He pitched the entire game, gave up 0 earned runs, and left a lot of Eagles on base. His effort went unnoticed for the most part because the other guy threw a no hitter and we lost, but nonetheless, Hammy pitched a gem.
Next we travel to Minnetonka to take on the mighty Skippers at the "House that Twenge Built" a.k.a Veteran's Field.
The highly touted Eagles of Eden Prairie came to PBMF on Monday to take on your own Hopkins Royals. Hammy toed the bump for us and Tyler Ruemmele pitched for the Eagles. Ruemmele had been hitting 87-89 MPH on the gun and even hit 90 a few times. He will be going to the University of North Dakota to pitch and play outfield.
The problem with us was that our bats never woke up. Ruemmele kept us off balance with a hard curve that looked a lot like his fast ball and he ended up pitching a complete game no hitter. What was really remarkable, though, was that even though we didn't get a hit, we hung in there with arguably the best team in the state for the entire game. We ended up losing 2-1 but we had every chance to take that game.
Somewhere in the middle of the game, a pinch hitter for the Eagles squared to bunt. Hammy went inside on him and it hit the kid's bat and possibly him. The behind-the-plate ump claimed that he had seen it and that it was a hit by pitch. Coach Lerner called time and walked out to discuss the play. This brought the total to 4.5. It turns out that the field ump had a better view of it, seeing as he didn't have to use his x-ray vision to see what happened, and he declared that the kid had, in fact, offered and that it was a strike rather than a hit by pitch.
Hammy pitch extremely well. He pitched the entire game, gave up 0 earned runs, and left a lot of Eagles on base. His effort went unnoticed for the most part because the other guy threw a no hitter and we lost, but nonetheless, Hammy pitched a gem.
Next we travel to Minnetonka to take on the mighty Skippers at the "House that Twenge Built" a.k.a Veteran's Field.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Game 6: Hopkins V. Prior Lake and Game 7: Hopkins V. Edina
I apologize for my late posts, it's been a busy past few days. It's easy to blog about winning, losing is another story.
On Thursday, we traveled to Prior Lake for our first away game of the year. It was a little bit of a drive to Prior Lake, so we left before we had the chance to take BP. We got out there and started to warm up despite the cold. The game got going and got progressively colder.
In the middle of the game, Tanner Holmquist got a hit to shallow left field with 2 outs. Steve-O Palkert was on first so he ran to second and decided to try for third. The left fielder made a good play on the ball and threw to the third baseman. Steve-O swerved out of the way and the third baseman missed the tag, but he umpire thought different and called him out. Coach Lerner walked out to have a little chit chat, bringing the total to 2.5.
We had plenty of hard hit balls, but none of them wanted to fall. I also have to give Prior Lake credit, the played good defense. We did too, though, Andrew Glover pitched well and stranded a lot of runners, but we can't win a game by scoring only 1 run. Prior Lake handed us our first lost of the season 3-1.
We turned the page and traveled to Edina the next day to start conference play.
We had been scheduled to play the Hornets on Tuesday, but they cancelled the game at 11 o'clock that day because it was supposed to rain a little bit. It didn't end up raining till late Tuesday night. Because of their girly fear of a little rain, I have named them the Hornettes.
We went to Edina's Braemar Field to take on the Hornettes and, once again, it was freezing and drizzly. One thing I never forget about the visitor's dugout at Braemar is that someone painted on the wall, "Krempa=Gay." I'm not sure who or what Krempa is, and I'm not sure if they mean happy or homosexual, but for some reason, I can never forget that "Krempa=Gay."
We got all stretched out and warmed up and we started to take infield. During infield, the Hornettes were playing their warm up music. Whoever was in charge of the playlist didn't get the memo that their music should be appropriate. There were F-Bombs, S-Words, A-Words, B-Words, and racial slurs being blared over speakers at a family park. Certainly a classy way to start the day if I do say so myself.
In the 3rd inning, Tim Shannon threw a pitch that hit the one of the Hornettes on the knob of hit bat. I could obviously tell that's what it hit because there was a dull crack (the sound of a ball hitting the knob). One of the Hornette parents said, "Didn't sound like metal to me!" The dull crack didn't exactly sound like hand either. The behind the plate umpire rightfully called it a foul ball. But the base umpire, who was upwards of 150 feet away, came in and decided that he had seen it, and that it was a hit by pitch. Coach Lerner went out again and picked the umpires brains. For those of you counting at home, the total is:
Umpire Chit Chats for Coach
3.5
For the second day in a row, we hit the ball hard, but it wasn't falling. We showed a lot of moxie by scoring three runs in the last inning on Tanner Holmquist's base-clearing double, but it wasn't enough this time. We fell to the Hornettes 5-4.
We have Eden Prairie and Minnetonka in the upcoming week which gives us two chances to redeem ourselves.
Happy Easter to all those who celebrate.
On Thursday, we traveled to Prior Lake for our first away game of the year. It was a little bit of a drive to Prior Lake, so we left before we had the chance to take BP. We got out there and started to warm up despite the cold. The game got going and got progressively colder.
In the middle of the game, Tanner Holmquist got a hit to shallow left field with 2 outs. Steve-O Palkert was on first so he ran to second and decided to try for third. The left fielder made a good play on the ball and threw to the third baseman. Steve-O swerved out of the way and the third baseman missed the tag, but he umpire thought different and called him out. Coach Lerner walked out to have a little chit chat, bringing the total to 2.5.
We had plenty of hard hit balls, but none of them wanted to fall. I also have to give Prior Lake credit, the played good defense. We did too, though, Andrew Glover pitched well and stranded a lot of runners, but we can't win a game by scoring only 1 run. Prior Lake handed us our first lost of the season 3-1.
We turned the page and traveled to Edina the next day to start conference play.
We had been scheduled to play the Hornets on Tuesday, but they cancelled the game at 11 o'clock that day because it was supposed to rain a little bit. It didn't end up raining till late Tuesday night. Because of their girly fear of a little rain, I have named them the Hornettes.
We went to Edina's Braemar Field to take on the Hornettes and, once again, it was freezing and drizzly. One thing I never forget about the visitor's dugout at Braemar is that someone painted on the wall, "Krempa=Gay." I'm not sure who or what Krempa is, and I'm not sure if they mean happy or homosexual, but for some reason, I can never forget that "Krempa=Gay."
We got all stretched out and warmed up and we started to take infield. During infield, the Hornettes were playing their warm up music. Whoever was in charge of the playlist didn't get the memo that their music should be appropriate. There were F-Bombs, S-Words, A-Words, B-Words, and racial slurs being blared over speakers at a family park. Certainly a classy way to start the day if I do say so myself.
In the 3rd inning, Tim Shannon threw a pitch that hit the one of the Hornettes on the knob of hit bat. I could obviously tell that's what it hit because there was a dull crack (the sound of a ball hitting the knob). One of the Hornette parents said, "Didn't sound like metal to me!" The dull crack didn't exactly sound like hand either. The behind the plate umpire rightfully called it a foul ball. But the base umpire, who was upwards of 150 feet away, came in and decided that he had seen it, and that it was a hit by pitch. Coach Lerner went out again and picked the umpires brains. For those of you counting at home, the total is:
Umpire Chit Chats for Coach
3.5
For the second day in a row, we hit the ball hard, but it wasn't falling. We showed a lot of moxie by scoring three runs in the last inning on Tanner Holmquist's base-clearing double, but it wasn't enough this time. We fell to the Hornettes 5-4.
We have Eden Prairie and Minnetonka in the upcoming week which gives us two chances to redeem ourselves.
Happy Easter to all those who celebrate.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Game 5: Hopkins V. Minneapolis South
What started as an uncomfortably cold day turned out to be a pretty nice day to play baseball. The sun was out, the grass was somewhere between brown and light green, and your own Hopkins Royals geared up to take on the Tigers of Minneapolis South.
Right off the bat, the Tiger-kitties committed one of my biggest pet peeves. When they were warming up, they had their jerseys off and hanging up in the dug out. I've always been of the school of thought that teams should be ready and fully dressed right when they hit the field. The Kitties join the Skippers in this dumb practice.
Our guys were calm and loose. Pre-game activities included playing catch, fielding ground balls and fly balls, stretching, and dancing. Ben Christopher and I were dancing the "Cat Daddy" and the "Bernie". If you'd be interested in joining us, check out this video to learn how: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb8RSVD3rQ0&feature=related.
In the first inning of the game, I was up to bat and Kyle was on second. Kyle took off from second early to throw off the pitcher. The pitcher jumped out of his skin as if Matt "Dino" Molzahn had let out a terrifying roar. The pitcher clearly balked, but the umpire thought differently and Kyle was thrown out because of it. Coach Lerner called time, walked out and gave him the famous line, "Can you tell me what you saw on that one?" The umpire was taken aback, and I think he realized he had made a mistake. He said that the pitcher might have moved his front foot, which, in that case, would be the plate umpire's call. The umpire was quick to pass the buck.
Umpire Chit Chats for Coach
1.5
In the middle of the game, the poor umpire got hit right in the babymaker by a foul ball. He took a quick breather and got back to business, but every strike call after that was an octave higher.
The good guys (us) came away with a resounding 6-0 victory. Hammy was able to "Step over the chair, Skip" and pitch a 2 hit shut out. Conference play is coming up next, so come out and support your favorite ball club.
Right off the bat, the Tiger-kitties committed one of my biggest pet peeves. When they were warming up, they had their jerseys off and hanging up in the dug out. I've always been of the school of thought that teams should be ready and fully dressed right when they hit the field. The Kitties join the Skippers in this dumb practice.
Our guys were calm and loose. Pre-game activities included playing catch, fielding ground balls and fly balls, stretching, and dancing. Ben Christopher and I were dancing the "Cat Daddy" and the "Bernie". If you'd be interested in joining us, check out this video to learn how: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb8RSVD3rQ0&feature=related.
In the first inning of the game, I was up to bat and Kyle was on second. Kyle took off from second early to throw off the pitcher. The pitcher jumped out of his skin as if Matt "Dino" Molzahn had let out a terrifying roar. The pitcher clearly balked, but the umpire thought differently and Kyle was thrown out because of it. Coach Lerner called time, walked out and gave him the famous line, "Can you tell me what you saw on that one?" The umpire was taken aback, and I think he realized he had made a mistake. He said that the pitcher might have moved his front foot, which, in that case, would be the plate umpire's call. The umpire was quick to pass the buck.
Umpire Chit Chats for Coach
1.5
In the middle of the game, the poor umpire got hit right in the babymaker by a foul ball. He took a quick breather and got back to business, but every strike call after that was an octave higher.
The good guys (us) came away with a resounding 6-0 victory. Hammy was able to "Step over the chair, Skip" and pitch a 2 hit shut out. Conference play is coming up next, so come out and support your favorite ball club.
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