Another season in the books: Finding success

Obviously this wasn't a great season for us in terms of wins and losses; at 1-6 we were tied for our worst record ever.

But there is a glass half-full way to look at it. We had to play a very tough schedule: Our opponents were 30-18-1. The team we mercy-ruled won 3 games. Really our only loss to a bad team was the Brew Crew game and we were only down 1 going into the last innings.

How good were our opponents? Look at it this way:

* How I Met Your Rubber: Defending league champ and undefeated again.
* Footjobs: Only loss was to HIMYR.
* G.T.K.: Only loss was to Footjobs.
* Where My Pitches At?: Only losses were to Footjobs and Rafters (who only had one loss and tied G.T.K.)

I point this out only to say that even though our record was bad this was not our worst team ever. I hope everyone comes back this fall and think we have a chance to greatly improve our record.

Our final game was an 8-2 loss to Footjobs. We played a pretty good game against a very good JV team. In fact, if the right fielder had just bobbled that ball I kicked in the fourth it probably would've allowed us to tie the game at 5. Nonetheless, a good final effort for the season.

Some of the highlights:

• Mark made his debut at shortstop and made some pretty good plays. He also had a two-out single in the sixth.
• Andrew had another great day at the plate, going 2 for 3 with a run scored.
• Becca also went 2 for 3 -- she finished the year batting .818!
• Matt singled and scored. He also missed an extra base hit by inches in the first when his drive just sailed foul.
• Ron aptly patrolled left center field yet again and had a good kick to left that he just got under.
• Angie posted a single to load the bases in the fourth and hit with a runner on again in the sixth.
• Jason kicked in our first run in the fourth.
• Katie's eagle eye scored another run on a walk the following plate appearance.
• Nate had a case of the "right at-ems" but at least he caught a few balls in the outfield.
• Jen played all over the field and made a good catch at third.
• Allie was denied a run but broke up a string of seven straight outs in the third.

Week 7 Preview: The Mad Kickball Experiment

Well guys, we will make a crack at playing our oft-postponed game against the Footjobs again this Wednesday.

Of course upsets can happen, but to be honest it is probably not too likely. They are 5-1 with their only loss being to the defending Wednesday night JV champ.

Since we will obviously not be in the playoffs in the outcome of this game is fairly irrelevant to us, I'd like to give everyone the chance to play any position they would like to try. If you would like to try pitching, first or somewhere else you don't normally play, just let me know. Maybe a new crazy combo will create surprising results.

It will also be team photo night, so make sure you rapscallions comb your hair! See everyone Wednesday.

Nate

Week 4, 5 and 6 Recaps: How the Season was Lost in Three Volumes

It's hard to believe it's been three weeks since we were sitting around a table at Don't Know brimming with hope. After a heart-breaking 2-1 walk-off loss we were 1-3 but with a chance to bounce back and make an improbable playoff run.

What followed has been called many things over the past few weeks. Meltdown. Fiasco. Shitshow (best described by entry #1). Meanwhile, several us took an additional kick to the nuts as the Caps pissed away a 3 games to 1 lead. That brings us to Volume I.

Vol. I: The Barefoot Beatdown (L 8-16)

We arrived at the field in a bit of disarray as the decision to double the amount of teams on the field seemed to result in 1/2 the parking. Of course once we got to the field the disarray didn't get much better as we were missing an umpire and trying to prevent everything we owned from blowing away.

Things still didn't improve once we actually get on the field. The Caps were still down 1-0 and then we went down even quicker -- 4-0 after five batters. Luckily Seal pitched his way out of a jam to limit the damage.

As I was scrawling out a lineup as quickly as possible it seems I accidentally dialed some of the right buttons. Mark led off with a walk, Jason added a single and two batters later Andrew drilled a 3-run homer into the night. That cut the lead to 4-3 after the first.

After reaching home, Jason noted that pitcher was perhaps out of shape and that we should work the count and wear him down. He was too tired to even put on shoes for goodness sakes!

It was a good strategy, as the team earned a franchise record six walks. The only problem was that we didn't realize the barefooted pitcher had an ulterior motive for pitching shoeless -- communicating with an evil gopher below the field that kept bumping our pitches outside at the last minute and moving the ground so our bunts rolled foul. And people say we should be cutting the Parks department budget? I'd like to hear what they say about these gophers and their willy-nilly abuse of kickball fields.

Nonetheless, we made a pretty good comeback effort. In the fourth, Ron walked, Angie doubled, Jeff singled and Mike tripled before Nate, Megan and Allie walked. We were down just 11-8 after 4.

However, all these walks and runs meant we only got to play five innings and a few sloppy plays allowed them to score five runs in the top half. Mark and Becca got on base to start the bottom half, but we could not mount a full come back.

I probably have to take some responsibility for this one; Andrew had suggested at the bar before the game that we not make any throwing errors. I can't believe I forgot to relay that coaching strategy!

Vol. II: Punched like Snookie! (L 4-15)

With our long first game we had to quickly move over to Game #2. Our opponents were already on the other sideline distracted by beating up the beat. I thought that was a good sign, and I was also hopeful that the coach was distracted too -- just listen to the choice words he had about the umpire, some of their other games and his gas for that evening.

At the beginning of the game, it seemed things were going our way. Andrew doubled in Mark and Becca in the first, then Katie and Jeff added a pair more in the second for a 4-1 lead.

Of course as his been characteristic this season the bottom dropped out and they scored nine runs in the second. They plated five more unanswered and all the Tan Gents, Orange Juices and DJ Douchebags in the world couldn't stop it.

Vol. III: 'A' for Effort, 'L' for Loss (L 6-12)

Last week we took to the diamond looking to earn our second straight win against the Brew Crew. We came as close to perfect attendance as we have all year and were ready to do two things: Drink beer and play kickball. And the beer was almost gone.

Unfortunately, it seems we didn't run out of beer soon enough because we fell behind first again, trailing 2-0 after the first half-inning. We loaded the bags in our half of the first but could only muster a Seal sac fly that scored Pat.

We held them in the second, then Jeff (a career 1.000 hitter against Brew Crew) led off our half with a hit before tagging up and scoring on Angie's sac fly to short.

Unfortunately, we trailed the rest of the way. We came back from down 7-2 to within 7-6, but a disastrous seventh inning left us a 12-6 loser. Here are some highlights to feel good about though:

• Mike scored in the fourth to start the comeback.

• Pat got a hit, run and RBI on a play in which he was robbed by their first basemen in a Web gem. He also made a sick catch in left and didn't even complain that he may have torn a ligament while doing it (I'm referring to the catch, jeez, dirty minds).

• Becca was a perfect 3-3 at the plate

• Mark also netted two key hits and made his mound debut allowing 2 runs in 2 innings

• Seal had a sac fly and nearly dropped an extra base hit into left

• Katie played through pain and held the defense up in the infield

• Jeff followed last year's 4-4 against the Brew Crew with a 2-2 night with a pair of lead off hits that led to 2 runs scored. He also applauded Allie's use of spirit fingers after Angie secured a catch

• Crook couldn't get his liners to the right side to fall, but he did bring back the Red Bull and Vodka tradition

• Wanner made the sick aforementioned catch and also had a hit, run and RBI

• Ron knocked in the run and also stayed on top of the cooler situation

• Andrew was RBI'd out from the previous week but he still made some good catches at first base

• Megan had a pair of good kicks up the middle, she just couldn't catch a break and get a drop

• Nate possibly gave himself scars for life (ask to see them! Only $5 per peak) but it was worth it because he slid safely into third and home on back-to-back plays.

• Allie was not able to score like she usually does, but she did go 2 for 2 at the plate

* Jen held down defense at the hot corner and behind the plate; plus she did a clutch job of getting us good tables at Taps!