Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #13

June 28, 2009 

Buzzards Use Two-out Rallies To Defeat Patriots, 8-4 

On the hottest day of the year with temps of 100 degrees in Colfax, the California Patriots travelled from Woodland to the Gold Country to take on division rival and the National Division leading Ol’ Buzzards.  The Patriots are grizzled veterans that would love to clip the Buzzards’ high scoring wings.  The Patriots noticed right away and several commented that Gary “Stoney” Stonebrook was missing from the Buzzards’ line-up and would not be pitching today.  The Patriots sent righty, Dave “Nolan” Ryan #12 to the mound and the Buzzards sent the ace left-hander, Dave “Keppy” Kephart #21 to face a strong team led by Lanny Ropke #25.   

The Buzzards were short-handed today with injuries to Jim “Milli” Milligan (still badly bruised wrist - throwing hand), Bob “Woody” Wooden (broken left foot & work) and David “mMumbles” Kelley (volleyball injury - sprained right thumb).  Stoney had to work.  Also missing the game but on the road traveling with their ball playing all-star kids were Ray “Bull Dog” Henry (daughter won the national qualifier in Folsom) and Pete “Baron” Von Zboray (in Colorado coaching his daughters’ team in a national tournament), were all unavailable to play in the record heat.  So, that meant that only 10 Buzzards were physically able and present to start the game at 10 am.  As they say in Aussie Land - No Worries, Mate. 

At game time it was pretty warm and quickly turning to hot while the Buzzards took the field with a pitching staff of one, Keppy, to carry the day.  Kep went through the first three innings with just one hit, a pulled curve ball down the right field line for a double by their number nine hitter, Dave “Curly” Franz #7.  The look-a-like of the Three Stooges’ Curly was 2-3 with a walk. Meanwhile, the Buzzards threatened in the first inning against the tough, hard throwing and crafty off-speed pitching of “Nolan” Ryan.  The guys in orange did break through in the bottom of the second by scoring all five runs after two were out.  The inning started with a line drive double to the right-center field gap by Charles “CJ” Jackson on a full count after fouling off several pitches.  CJ’s quad injury isn’t fully-healed and he was catching today, so Mark “Ronnie” Wronski ran for him.  Ronnie then advanced to third base on the grounder to the right side by Jim “Wags” Wagner.   

Next, Barry “Brooklyn” Forman walked on five pitches.  Buzzman stole second base before Steve “Cookie” Cook followed with a ground ball to a deep playing shortstop that ordinarily would have scored the run from third base.  Ronnie thought differently and did not charge for home plate once the grounder got past the pitcher.  Well, Brooklyn thought Ronnie was going to head home, so he raced to third base to discover Ronnie was also still hanging around the bag.  Since the rule book doesn’t allow this kind of base sharing, we had ourselves an early game pickle.  Ronnie was caught in the run-down between third and home for the second out of the inning, while Barry grabbed third.  Taylor “Welzy” Welz knocked in Brooklyn for the first run of the game and Cookie moved over to take second base.  Dan “Wookie” Wukmir then hit a laser over the right fielder’s head for a triple scoring Cookie and Welzy.  Keppy then hit the next pitch for a run scoring single and moved to second on a muff by the right fielder.  Keppy scored when Mike “Bake” Baker drove the next pitch to center field for the fifth run with two outs in the inning.  Excellent clutch hitting guys. 

The Patriots scored two in the fourth inning on three hits and a walk.  But thrown in for an exciting measure was a swinging strike-out that got loose and required CJ to throw the ball to first with a runner, speedy(?) Lanny, on second base.  The throw got away from Charles and sailed way over Baker’s head at first.  By the time Wags retrieved the ball down the right field line, Lanny had scored and the struck-out runner was standing on second.  “Nolan” Ryan, batting next, hit the second pitch for a single to left-center driving in the second unearned run to make the score 5-2 Buzzards. 

The Gold Country gang got one back in the fifth when Bake and Ronnie started the inning by both hitting sharp grounders to Lanny playing shortstop.  Well, Lanny let both balls ‘eat him up’ for E-6’s putting two runners on.  CJ followed with a base on balls to load the bases before Wags knocked in Bake with a fielder’s-choice.  The score after five was Buzzards 6 - Patriots 2, and it was getting hotter and vulture tails were beginning to drag. 

The Pats scored one more run in their half of the sixth.  A walk to Lanny and a double to left-center by “Nolan” drove in the run.  Keppy still looked sharp and had struck-out seven, but he had thrown 109 pitches and it was getting hotter. 

The Buzzards scored two more in the bottom half of the sixth inning.  Cookie led off with a walk.  Gregg “Surf Dawg” Novotny then hit a line drive single to right field moving Steve to second.  Welzy then hit a shot down the third base line that was snagged by the infielder who stepped on third base for one out and threw to second to get a quick double-play.  Welzy then stole second base before Wookie knocked him in with an infield hit to the left side hole, his fourth hit of the game.  Good hustle by T-Welz scooting around those bases and beating the throw home got that extra run.  Wookie stole second base and then scored on Keppy’s hard single down the right field line for the eighth run of the game.  Seven of those runs scored after two outs.  Good job Buzzards.  

The Patriots scored once more in the eighth inning on a walk, a couple of wild pitches and a tough, yet dropped, pop-up in the sun.  The Pats threatened in the ninth with bases loaded, but with Keppy still throwing heat to match the temperature and the defense making the plays, the Buzzards shut them down to secure the victory. 

Keppy did a remarkable job battling the hot sun and a curve ball that was not cooperating.  His fast ball and change-up though worked mighty fine.  He threw 165 pitches while facing 42 Patriots (99 strikes & 66 balls).  The pitching line was four runs (two earned) on nine hits with ten strike-outs and five walks.  Great job, Keppy. 

The defense did not melt under the heat and made good plays all day.  Of the 18 registered outs that were not strike-outs (fourth inning had a strike-out followed by the over throw at first base), there were only three fly ball outs.  Welzy made two nice running catches in the second and third innings, they then stayed away from center field.  Barry charged in and caught the first out of the ninth inning with the now standard Forman trademark flair of the hat flying off by his third step when chasing a ball in the air. Baker was busy at first base with nine put-outs and snagging all of the infielders’ challenging throws, even with that probably broken toe from last week’s diving stop of a key grounder.  Surf Dawg played a little second base and made the second out on a pop-up catch in the long (32 pitch – 8 batter) fourth inning. Cookie, playing second base in the seventh, had a nice assist on a hustle play on the lead-off hitter for the first out by charging hard to pick up the slow roller on the grass and quickly fling that ball to a stretched out Bake to nail the runner by a quarter-step.  Good looking plus a big play ‘cause the next two batters got singles. 

Wookie had three assists (1^st, 6^th, and 9^th to end the game) and two put-outs (7^th inning 1-3-6 run down play and a running catch ‘snow cone style’ of a liner in the 8^th).  Ronnie had an easy assist in the first inning (5-3) but had a more painful one in the sixth inning.  Lanny ripped a hot one down the third base line that Ronnie snagged with his bare hand as the ball took a funny hop.  He then threw to Cookie to force the runner at second base for the first out in the inning.  Then his hand screamed at him with redness and swelling.  Good looking play, but tough on the throwing hand.  Besides throwing like a young Ol’ Buzzard, Keppy fielded his position well with five assists including the pick-off in the seventh.  That good move to first led to the run-down.  He also gloved the four come-backers (1^st, 2^nd, and two in the 5^th) with the first one knocking him down.  Not to be forgotten was CJ’s work behind the plate for 9-innings.  Sometimes it’s not so good to be the youngest on the team.  Excellent job. 

The Patriots pitcher also went the distance as “Nolan” Ryan was effective in holding the Ol’ Buzzards to eight runs on 11 hits with four walks and one strike-out.  The four errors hurt the Patriots, but the two-out rallies hurt them more.  Only six Buzzards got base hits with the multi-hit group including Keppy and Bake with two and Wookie with four hits today.  Ribbies were knocked in by Bake, Wags and Welz with one, Keppy with two and Wookie had three.  Extra base hits were limited to CJ’s double in the second and Wookie’s triple also in the second inning. 

Terrific pitching was the key today with good defense and clutch hitting getting the victory for a season record of 12-1 and leading the National Division by four games.  Good overall game, however, the Buzzards were cooked ‘well-done’ when the nearly three hour game was over. 

Buzzard Note #1:  A big thanks to Wags for the outstanding after-game party.  His new place, on Humbug Way, where’s Scrooge Street, in Auburn is a good party place with multiple decks, lots of room and a pool.  The smoked and slow cooked ribs were wonderful and Beth was the perfect hostess always looking to make a tired Buzzard happy with another cool one and providing the delicious home-made salsa.  She also revealed her secret recipe for the salsa.  Thanks to everyone who brought appetizers, side dishes and desserts. 

Buzzard Note #2:  The team selected six representatives for the upcoming all star game.  Everyone received votes but we could only send six.  Probably every Buzzard would make the all star team if they played for other teams, but it is more of a pleasure playing on the winning and mighty Buzzards.  The reps for this year’s game are: Kephart, Milligan, Stonebrook, Welz, Wronski and Wukmir.  The game is Wednesday, July 8. 

Buzzard Note #3:  No game over the July 4^th holiday weekend.  A double-header is scheduled for July 12 in Sacramento.