Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #5

Game: May 18, 2014

Young Phillies lose in clash with Ol' Buzzards, 11-5

On a breezy evening in Davis, the Ol' Buzzards were up against a younger team, the Phillies, as they enter the inter-divisional play portion of the schedule. For the next six games, the Gold Country gang will face teams from the 42+ division of Sacramento NABA. So, after a Mothers' Day break and before the Memorial Day weekend break, the only 6 pm game on the schedule started at Playfields Park.

On the mound for the visiting Buzzards was the hard-throwing righty, Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny #1, riding a four-game winning streak. The Phillies countered with lanky right-hander, Scott 'Potty Mouth' Fanning #12.

The Buzzards wasted no time and jumped on the scoreboard first with a crooked number to put the younger Phillies on notice for a tough game. Taylor 'Welzy' Welz started it off with a drop-in single near the line in short left-field. On the next pitch Welzy stole second base. Batting next, Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir with a 1-2 count hit a high chopper to second base. The hustlin' Wook forced the second baseman to rush his throw, which short-hopped the first baseman and scooted through the legs and rolled to the fence, for an error and allowed Welzy to score from second on the play. Wookie moved to second on a ground-out. Up next, Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray scalded a 2-1 pitch down the third base line to score Wook for an early two-run lead.

The Phillies fought back in the bottom of the first inning with a run. A lead-off hit, followed by a walk and two wild pitches, led to the Phillies' first run.

The Ol' Buzzards came back with two more runs in the second inning to keep the pressure on the Phillies. With one out, Norm 'Burner' Tucker hit a bouncer wide of first base. The first baseman fielded the ball well away from the bag, so a foot race to first base was on. As Burner went into fourth gear, a collision appeared eminent at first base as the pitcher also got into the picture to make it three guys racing to the same spot. Even though Burner does not shy away from contact, he smartly slid head-first into the bag beating the ball and avoiding stepped-on fingers for a hard-earned base hit.

Up next, Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri slapped the first pitch into left-field putting two runners on. Mike 'Mickey' Wilson walked to load the bases with one out. Batting next, Paul 'General' Lee hit a full swing bunt towards third that scored Burner with the 40-foot hit. Next, Welzy's grounder knocked in Salmo with a fielder's choice out at third base. Wookie followed with a short looper into no-man's-land on the left-side of the infield for a single to fill the bases. Dave 'Evy' Everingham then hit a smash to deep center-field for a long out to end the frame with a 4-1 score.

The Phillies got on the scoreboard again in the bottom half of the second dig with one run. A lead-off double was followed by a pop-out and strike-out. However, a former Buzzard Mike Hayworth, after fouling off three 1-2 pitches, ripped a liner into left-field to score the run. A runner then took Hayworth's place. Then right before play resumed, Diane, our excellent and cute score keeper, told the skipper that the replacement runner was not correct. However, the pitcher was on the mound and ready, so Wook did not protest and hoped it would not matter.

Two pitches later, the young black Phillie, Tyril Sherman, took a big swing and with grunting sound effects, launched a ball that he thought was going over the left-center-field fence. Just after the blast, the first base coach was yelling at Ty to run hard. Ty replied he didn't need to because the ball was going out. But, the soaring ball landed on the warning track and the two runners then picked up the pace. The lead runner, certain to score, then tripped half-way to home and had to retreat to third base on a close play.

So, on the long double, the wrong runner turned out to be the right runner after all. The Buzzard defense then held firmly and the score after two innings was 4-2.

The Ol' Buzzards added another run in the third dig. After an out, Jim 'Milli' Milligan lined a 2-2 pitch deep down the left-field line for a single. The young left-fielder quickly got to the ball and threw a laser to second base to prevent any thoughts of a double. Pete then ran for Milli. Barry 'Crush' Forman then took a full-count walk to put Buzzards at first and second. David 'mMumbles' Kelley, a good bunter, was up next with one out and only a two run lead. The bunt play was called and mMumbles executed it to perfection with good ball placement and running speed to make the fielder rush his throw. The throw was in the dirt and the ball skipped past the first baseman and allowed the Baron to score from second on the play to make the score 5-2.

The Phillies kept up the scoring with a run in a long third inning. After a line-out to Surf Dawg on the mound got the quick first out, the top of the order spot, Martinez, singled. The second out was a nice three-pitch strike-out with some really nasty pitches. The next batter was Butt-head Larson. During Butt-head's eight-pitch at-bat, he managed to drop the f-bomb nearly an equal amount of times. He got furious with Norm behind the plate when Burner referred to him as a 'pretty boy' for taking sooo long to get ready in the batter's box, then step-out and do it again.

Well, that might not have been the best thing to say under those circumstances. For the record and on advice from counsel, management strongly discourages saying funny or mean things (or both) about other players when they can hear it and are standing nearby with a baseball bat. That kind of behavior may lead to an injury and may not be covered in the small print of the insurance. Who would know what kind of injury that could lead to?

A short time later during that long at-bat, a pitched ball got loose and rolled behind Larson. The runner made a dash for second and strong-armed Burner wanted to nail the runner. However, big Butt-head was standing tall and legally holding his ground in the batter's box with the bat up, as Norm threw the ball from behind. A loud thump told the fans that Norm's hand came in sharp contact with the bat on the throw and the throw was not close to second base. Burner had to come out of the game and ice the thumb and hand injury. It swelled up quickly and did not look good initially.

Milli replaced Burner as the game came to a stop for quite a while to deal with the situation. As fate cruelly intervened, Butt-head then hit a rocket-shot to the deepest part of left-center for a biting triple that scored a run. Larson was then stranded at third base after one last strike-out by Surf Dawg ended the inning. The score after three digs was 5-3 Buzzards.

The Gold Country Buzz scored for the fourth consecutive inning by adding three runs to stretch out the lead. With one out, General Lee beat-out another infield hit to start the attack. After Welzy singled to left, Wookie chopped one to third. The slowly developing play got exciting on the rushed over-throw at first base that rolled down the fence and allowed Welzy to hustle from first to score. Wook rounded first and took second on the play. Batting next, Evy crushed a double to left-center that scored Wook. The Baron followed with great bat work by fouling off four pitches in a seven-pitch at-bat before smacking the ball sharply to center with a run-scoring single to drive in Evy and close-out the scoring in the fourth frame with the Buzzards leading 8-3.

The Phillies scored one in the fifth inning on a double, a wild pitch, then a grounder to the right- side to pull within four runs at 8-4. The scored stayed that way until the top of the eighth inning.

In the eighth, Milli led-off with a line-drive single to left-field. Pete then ran for Jim. A wild pitch and two outs later, the Baron was at second when Surf Dawg hit a flare to center for a single. Pete hustling with two outs got a good jump on the play. However, a strong throw made for a close play with the Baron safe, stand-up style, and bumping shoulders with the geared-up catcher blocking home plate without the ball. The Phillies whined about the play and a few more choice words were exchanged.

The Phillies never quit and scored one more run in their half of the eighth frame. An inning opening walk was followed by two infield errors to score the late unearned run.

Ol' Buzzards don't get young Phillie meat much anymore, as they liked it and tallied two more runs in the ninth. The General led-off with a five-pitch base on balls. With one out, Wookie shattered his bat with a loud crack as the ball and half of the birch bat went flying toward the left-side of the infield. The spinning bat provided cover for the trailing ball as Wookie reached first with an infield hit to put runners on the corners. Evy singled next with a looper to right-field to score Lee. With runners at first and second and one out, Wookie stole third base putting runners at the corners again. The Baron hit a long sacrifice fly ball to deep center-field and easily score Wook with the final run of the game.

The closer, Welzy, then mowed 'em down 1-2-3 in the books in the ninth inning for the fifth victory of the season. This was a good win over the 42+ Phillies. The final score of the nine inning, 3-hour game, was the Buzzards 11 and the Phillies 5.

Buzzard pitching was excellent again and held the Phillies to 10 hits and just two walks. Surf Dawg was on the hill for the first three innings and faced 16 batters while throwing 56 pitches (41 strikes & 15 balls). The Phillies got three runs on six hits with one walk while striking out three times. Salmo threw three innings and faced 12 Phillies with 35 pitches (23 strikes & 12 balls). Rick gave up one run on three hits with no walks and one pissed-off hit batter. Welzy closed it out with the last three innings. Taylor faced 13 batters and threw 40 pitches (29 strikes & 11 balls) in giving up one run on one hit and one walk with three K's.

The Fightin' Buzzard offense was solid in facing these younger arms and managed to bang out 17 hits to go with three walks. The Buzzards scored in the first four innings and the final two for the 11 runs. The hit club for the game included: Baron (2), Burner, Crush, Evy (2), General (2), Milli (2), Salmo (2), Surf Dawg, Welzy (2) and Wookie (2). The always key ribbies were driven in by: Baron (3), Evy (2), General, Surf Dawg and Welzy. The 11 important runs were scored by: Burner, Evy, General, Milli (2), Salmo, Welzy (2) and Wook (3). The free passes to first base were issued to eagle-eyed Buzzards: Crush, General and Mickey. Two Buzzards were sacrificed during the game: mMumbles' sac bunt in the third and the Baron's sac fly in the ninth.

The Ol' Buzzard defense was solid and backed up the excellent pitching with good glove work and throws. Surprisingly, all of the 27 outs of the game were made in the infield. No fly ball outs did not mean the outfield was bored. Half of the Phillies' 10 hits were for extra bases and hit deep. There was a little too much time spent on the warning track chasing balls. There were also four of those dangerous pop-ups that were handled nicely. In the first inning, Burner used his cat-like reflexes to snatch a high pop-up with a basket-catch near home plate for an impressive second out of the game. The other three pop-ups in the second, fourth and sixth innings were caught like a smooth pro by Welzy playing second base.

The put-outs were interesting with Pete at first base with nine as expected, while Welzy had eight to go with three assists. Burner had four put-outs before leaving the game in the third inning. Milli had three, Surf Dawg had two, and Evy had one put-out. An honorary put-out has been awarded to Kelley for noticing the runner miss first base on the way to his momentary double in the ninth. Good call.

The most exciting defensive moment came in the sixth inning. Salmo was on the mound and there were two outs with the bases empty when Butt-head came to the plate. With a 1-1 count, an inside fastball slipped and sailed toward the batter. Rick yelled, look out, but Butt-head stood his ground and ducked at the waist. The chest-high pitch glanced off the back of his shoulder and Larson then went f-word ballistic and made a move toward the pitcher's mound. The home plate ump jumped in front of Butt-head and led him toward first base. Salmo apparently wanted a piece of the much bigger and younger Butt-head at that point, and yelled as he approached Larson, who was still being escorted by the ump. The base ump then came charging over to get in front of Salmo and escorted him back to the mound.

Thankfully, this was not our radio game. The amount of f-bombs and other mean statements in this game by a couple of the Phillies would have broken the bleeper machine or resulted in lots of FCC fines, and probably a lifetime ban from radio.

It did feel good to beat the Phillies. The 5-0 record is a great way to start the season. More tough games to come after the Memorial Day weekend.

The next game is at home on June 1st at 2 pm at James Field against the Red Sox.