Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #17

On a warm afternoon in Auburn with temps in the low 90’s, the circling Buzzards (13-3) landed at James Field for a supposed slaughter of the last place Astros (1-15). The Lastros did beat the Yankees 12-8, two games ago, on July 19th in one of their three face-offs so far this season. The Astros are managed by the former League Commissioner, Barry 'No more ponytail' Spiller.

The team has good hitters and fielders, but it is short on reliable pitching and could use a younger catcher than the 67-year old JT Tijan, the father-in-law of Rob Segura. The Astros lose their best players annually, so Barry does a great job of seeding other teams, and a crummy job of improving the Astros.

 The highway traffic going west starting in Roseville and going past Rocklin to Loomis was backed-up and crawling down I-80 due to the end of Reno's Hot August Nights. There were lots of cool ol' 50's and 60's cars on the road or on trailers heading home from the party week. Going east to Auburn for the game was a breeze, but west, well not so good.

 

On the mound for the visiting Astros was the tough righty, Roy 'Dutchman' Van Kempen #10. The Ol' Buzzards sent the new guy, picked-up from the Pony Leagues last month, right-hander Fred 'Freddie' O' Donoghue #32 to the hill to make quick work of the Astros. The drought is having an effect on the infield grass, as several spots of worn and crispy grass are showing.

 

The Buzzards put runs on the scoreboard first, but it was in the second inning. The two-out rally began with a frozen rope to left-field by Freddie. Up next, Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray sliced one through the middle for a single putting runners at first and second. Dave 'Evy' Everingham followed with a base-on-balls to load 'em up for Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir. Before the second pitch, Dutchman separated his hands while in the set position on the mound for a balk, which moved-up each Buzzie 90-feet. Freddie strolled across home from third for the first run of the game. On the 2-2 pitch, lefty-swinging Wookie was hit on the left knee by the pitch to reload the bases, but the inning ended on a long fly-out to center-field for a 1-zip Buzzard lead.

 

The Astros battled for four runs in the third inning to go on top. The Stros banged out four singles and a double on some solid, but mostly timid hits, to surprise the Ol' Buzzards and take a 4-1 lead.

 

The Buzzards bounced back and matched the four runs in the last half of the third inning. Kevin 'Flash' Krantz led-off with a smoking flare toward the line in right-field for a single. Batting next, Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri returned from his three-game hiatus to get nailed across the back with a fastball after Flash stole second. Salmo gets a courtesy runner when he is pitching or catching, and in this case – both, so Tom 'Tomahawk' Keatley was the last batted out and subbed at first. With Kelly 'Cagey' Garcia at the plate, Flash and Tomahawk moved into scoring position before Cagey cracked a liner into left-center-field for a double to drive in both runners. The sliding double included a nifty avoidance tag move and an effective reach-out with the extendo-arm to grab second base. Cagey then stole third base before Barry 'Brooklyn' Forman walked on a full-count to put Buzzards on the corners.

 

The Astros’ pitcher was replaced by the long-time, right-handed soft-tosser, Ron 'Count to 3' Turner #13. Brooklyn stole second base on the first pitch to Jim 'Milli' Milligan, but apparently forgot that Cagey was at third, or he needs to start wearing glasses. On the next pitch, in the dirt but not far enough away from the catcher to run home from third, Brooklyn got a great jump at second and then went flying into third base to discover Cagey still on the bag. Soon to be 'Blue' Barry for the Burning Man Festival, Brooklyn was then tagged out returning to second base, and then proceeded to use 'blue' language in the dugout after the play.

 

Ironically, a couple of pitches later, Cagey did score on a wild pitch during Milli’s plate appearance. With two outs, Tomahawk then bagged an infield single to the left-side and took second on the bad throw. Freddie followed with a smash down the left-field line for a single to score Tomahawk from second and make the score 5-4 Buzzards after the third inning.

The Gold Country gang prospected for three more runs in the fourth to add some cushion to the score. After one out, Wookie swung out of his shoes at a 2-0 fastball(?) and launched the sphere well over 900 millimeters from home plate. It took the ball a couple of split-seconds to travel the 36 inches and almost made it to the infield grass, while the catcher scrambled for the ball and Wook ran for the bag. The oldest Buzzard beat the throw for an infield single to start the scoring rally. Up next, Taylor 'Welzy' Welz hit a blistering liner to center-field that put runners at first and second. Wook and Welzy both advanced into scoring position before Salmo went with an outside-pitch and slapped it into right-field to drive in both runners. Flash ran for the pitcher, Salmo, and took first base. Kevin stole second before the next batter, Cagey, pulled the 2-0 pitch to land on the left-field line for a run-scoring single. The score after four was 8-4 Buzzards.

 

The Astros played good defensive baseball and kept the game close. The Astros infield made some impressive plays with a 1-2-3 fifth inning of the Buzzards, and in the sixth a rare doubling-up of the fleet-footed Flash on a sharp infield grounder. The Stros tacked on two more runs in the sixth dig to tighten the score. A double and three singles led to the two runs to make the score 8-6 Buzzards after six full innings of play.

 

The Stros went quietly in the top of the seventh, as the fired-up Buzzards returned to the dugout from a nice double play and were determined to score more runs.

 

Salmo started off the inning with a chip shot to left-field for a base hit and a 3-for-3 game at the plate. Flash ran for Salmo. Cagey, up next, laced a lined single to left-center for his fourth hit of the game. Brooklyn followed with a cue shot single to the left-side hole to load the bases. Batting next, Milli scorched one past the third baseman for a single to score Flash. Flash then ran for Milli at first base. Up next, Tomahawk skipped a bouncer through the middle for a run-scoring single as Cagey crossed home plate.

 

After five consecutive hits to open the inning, Freddie continued the string with a hard grounder through the right-side for a hit to knock in Barry. After an out, Evy poked a fly ball to right-field. The running basket-catch failed as the ball bounced away and Flash scored again from third for the second time this inning. The score was 12-6 and the bases were full as Wookie came to the plate. Wook, so far at the plate, had been hit by a pitch on the knee, struck-out on a high one, and hit the ball almost a total of four feet during the frustrating at-bats. With a quick 0-2 count and after fouling off a third pitch, Wookie choked up on the bat handle and held the lumber back long enough to rake the next pitch deep into the right-center-field gap for a clear-the-bases long triple.

 

The score was now 15-6 with one out and Welzy coming up. The Astros changed pitchers to the right-handed hurler with the sling-shot motion, John 'Slinger' Schwefel #40. While the pitcher was warming-up, the Buzzards were planning their strategy to finish the game this inning with the team needing just one more run to end the contest with the 10-run mercy rule. The safety squeeze was discussed, as was a sacrifice fly versus the other options available. It was thought the Astros might play up to work against the bunt strategy or even walk the next two batters to load the bases for potential force-outs to extend the game. The one-out plan was for Welzy to swing-away for a sac fly, if he saw any pitches.

 

The first pitch to a salivating Welzy went into the dirt and scooted past the catcher. Wookie with a good jump ran for home. He scored the run as the throw came in and the pitcher's feet went flying as the hard slide sent Slinger tumbling on top of the safe-at-home Wook to end the game. Slinger then said to Wookie in a heap at the plate, “damn, I only got to throw one pitch”.

 

The final score of the seven-inning, two hour and 40 minute game, was Buzzards 16 and the Astros 6.

 

The two Buzzard pitchers did an excellent job of throwing strikes and getting ground balls. The first three frames were handled by Freddie as he faced 17 batters while throwing 56 pitches (37 strikes & 19 balls). O' Donoghue got the win and gave up four runs (two earned) on seven hits, two walks, and one hit batter with two strike-outs. Rick got back on the bump (last time was July 12th) for four rounds with the Astros. Salmo earned a rule-book save and threw 52 pitches (35 strikes & 17 balls) in facing 16 batters. Salmeri gave up two runs on five hits with no walks and two strike 'em outs.

 

The Buzzard offense scored in four of the seven innings, but struggled to put more early runs on the board. The Astros' defense made several excellent plays and had one double play to keep the game fairly close through the sixth inning with an 8 to 6 score. The 16 runs were knocked in by 22 hits, two walks and two Astro errors. The hit club for the game included: Baron-2, Brooklyn, Cagey-4, Evy, Flash, Freddie-3, Milli, Salmo-3, Tomahawk-2, Welzy-2, and Wookie-2. The always delicious ribbies were served up by: Cagey-3, Evy, Freddie-2, Milli, Salmo-2, Tomahawk, and Wook-3. The runs were scored by the hustling ol' birds: Brooklyn, Cagey-2, Evy, Flash, Freddie-2, Milli, Salmo-3, Tomahawk-2, Welzy, and Wookie-2. The eagle-eyed Buzzard walkers using the free passes to first base were: Brooklyn and Evy.

The Buzzard defense was solid and fabulous plays were made to frustrate a good hitting Astros team. There were two double plays and only one fly-out in the game. The double-out plays were in the fourth and seventh innings. In the fourth frame with one on and one out and infielders shifting positions, a grounder skipped to Welzy at short. Taylor fielded the bouncer and threw to Evy covering second base for the turn and the follow-on throw to Cagey at first to complete the play and end the inning.

 

In the seventh dig, it was one on and one out when the grounder was hit to Evy at shortstop. Evy fielded the roller and threw to Welzy at second for a quick turn and bullet-throw to Kelly at first to end the inning. Of the 21 put-outs in the game, there were four strike-outs and the one fly ball out. That was a high fly in the sun to Flash in center-field to end the fifth. Left-field was patrolled by Brooklyn and right-field by Tomahawk. There was one blast over Brooklyn's head in left-field, but the other 11 hits were in front of the outfielders or through the infield.

 

There were 14 ground ball outs with 12 assists including the two double plays. Cagey was busy at first base with seven put-outs, one unassisted at the bag. Welzy and Evy traded off at second and shortstop during the game. Dave had five assists and three put-outs, while Taylor had four put-outs and four assists. Wookie had one assist of a sizzling grounder in the third at third. The Baron also played third and had one put-out and one assist in back-to-back outs in the sixth. The first was an unassisted grounder with runners at first and second. Later with the bases loaded and two down, Pete fielded a high bouncer to his left and away from the bag. Too far from third to beat the runner, so the Baron turned and took the short throw home to nail the runner by a step and put an end to the two-run scoring rally by the Stros.

 

The battery included three different catchers during the game. Milli Vanilli with his vanilla baseball pants in honor of the infamous duo's recent announcement caught the first couple of innings. Milli Vanilli's remaining member recently announced a new album with the real voice of the original hit songs. That apparently was just too exciting for name-sake Milli to ignore and honored the occasion with white baseball pants.

 

Salmo caught the third inning, right before he took the mound in the fourth, to show his versatility and find a spot on the team after his month-long sabbatical from the squad. Freddie finished up behind the plate with three solid innings. Pitchers catching and catchers pitching in the same game is a fairly common Buzzard occurrence, but it is not seen on a lot of baseball fields. This game had it twice with Freddie as the starter and later catching, while Salmo caught an inning before pitching the last four.

 

The two evil pop-ups were both handled by excellent running catches in the tricky 'no-man's land' area between the infield and the outfield. In the first frame, Welzy ran a long way to short center-field to snag the third out on an excellent play with runners on the move. And Evy ran quite a way, fearlessly, toward center-field to snare a tough blooper for the first out in the fifth.

 

Good defense, a late explosive offense and solid pitching were the key ingredients in the 14th Buzzard victory of the season. The Buzzards did start the game on cruise-control and were apparently hoping for an easy victory. The Astros brought 15 players and they played a pretty good game considering their weaknesses. They did not hand the game to the Buzzards.

The season record is 14-3 with just three games remaining in the regular season. There will be just one more home game at James Field. Next week, the team is on the road at Rocklin to play the Solons at 10 o'clock at Tri City Park.

 

The team’s total stats are awesome. The individual statistics are close in some categories and the team has generally kicked butt, hence the fabulous stats. The team batting average is stratospheric at .447. The rest of the stats are available by Googling: Gold Country Buzzards, or going to: eteamz.com/gcbuzzards/

 

Buzzard Note #1: The three remaining games on the schedule are: Aug 16 at Tri City in Rocklin at 10 am vs. Solons; Aug 23 at James Field at 10 am vs. Yankees; and Aug 30 at Playfields Park in Davis at 2 pm vs. Astros. The only play-off game is scheduled for Sep 20.

 

Buzzard Note #2: The batting order was reversed for the game and the team may have a tough time reversing it again with the results from the Astros game. The new first three batters (Krantz, Salmeri and Garcia) got eight hits, scored six times and knocked in five runs. Buzzard Note #3: There was plenty of discussion after the game regarding the 2017 World Masters' Games in New Zealand. The Games are in Auckland from April 21-30, 2017. Many Buzzies and their wives or significant others are already planning on it, or talking about going on the fun team trip to Kiwi Land and beyond.

 

The Buzzards had a wonderful time at the Games in Sydney, Australia in 2009, and came back with a cool gold medal and lots of great memories and new friends from the tournament. Seriously, the Games' are huge regarding participation and events. In Sydney, there were over 25,000 participants in hundreds of competitive Olympic-sport events and games including baseball. The opening ceremonies and the parade of athletes took hours, but what a neat experience. More info to come, but you might consider leaving a spot on the calendar for late April 2017.