Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #11

Game: July 20, 2014

Buzzards down the Astros, 11-1

On a strange weather day, the Buzzards gathered at the home field to take on the Barry Spiller led Astros. It rained later that evening and night, but the day was humid and full of thick clouds to cool it down to 80° in Auburn. The visiting team came with a large squad of eager Astros that warmed-up early and were ready to go.  Meanwhile, the Ol' Buzzard were down to 12 players for the game and a couple of those were running gingerly on their still-healing hamstrings.

The starting pitcher for the afternoon game for the Astros was ol' righty Rankin 'Fireplug' Lyman #01 and his 35 mph fast ball and slower curve. On the hill for the Buzzards was the veteran right-hander Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny #1 and 5-0 this season as a starting pitcher.

The Ol' Buzzards bounced on the scoreboard first with three runs in the bottom half of the first inning. With one out, Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir started it off with a stand-up double, hit sharply down the right-field line. Fireplug and Spiller, playing second base, kept Wookie close to the bag by stationing Barry right-near second base and Rankin throwing back or faking a throw before every pitch. Wook got tired of the hassle of staying on second base, so on the fourth pitch, with Dave 'Evy' Everingham at the plate working the count, Wookie stole third to surprise the Astros. On a 3-1 pitch, Evy delivered a run-scoring single to center-field. Evy then proceeded to steal second base and third while Jim "Milli' Milligan was batting.

Milli launched the 1-1 count pitch to right field for a sacrifice fly-out to knock-in Evy. With two outs and the bases empty, Tom 'Tomahawk' Keatley pulled a high fastball down the left-field line for a long single. Tomahawk then advanced to second on a passed ball. Batting next, Fred 'Freddie' O'Donoghue nailed a 1-2 pitch sharply into right-center to score a speedy Tomahawk from second to end the scoring and give the Buzzards a 3-nothing early lead.

In the third frame, the Gold Country gang scored two more to stretch the lead to 5-0. After an out, Taylor 'Welzy' Welz beat-out an infield hit to start the scoring rally. Evy followed with a two-out double to deep right-center to plate Welzy. Evy then aggressively stole third base and then scored on the over-throw by the catcher on the play.

The Buzzards put two more on the board in the fifth frame. Norm 'Burner' Tucker started the inning by getting on first base via a fielding error by the shortstop. Up next, Kelly 'Cagey' Garcia hit a line-drive single down the left-field line. Mike 'Mickey' Wilson followed with a sharp grounder that was muffed by the shortstop to load the bases with no outs. Fred ran for Mike at first. Next, Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri bounced one to the hole on the left-side that was snagged by the shortstop, who threw to third for the force-out, but scored Burner from third on the play. Surf Dawg, batting for the first time in the game, hit a flare to right-center for a single on the first pitch to re-load the bases. A fielder's choice scored the second run later in the inning to make the score 7-0 Buzzards.

The Astros had one hit through five innings before they strung together a base hit, a stolen base and a run-scoring single in the sixth inning to score the lone Astros run and make the score 7-1.

The awesome Buzzard pitching continued as the Buzzards continued to score more runs. In the bottom of the sixth, the Buzzies scored one run. The inning started with Evy using his patented inside-out swing for a looping and curving base hit to right field. Evy then stole second base. One out later, Tomahawk's chopper to the shortstop's backhand was muffed and that put runners at the corners. With Freddie at bat, Tomahawk stole second before O'Donoghue hit a laser to center that looked like a sure base hit. The center fielder, however, charged the ball hard and made a diving catch for the out, but that also made for an easy tag-up at third for Evy to score run number eight.

After a excellent defensive play to end the seventh inning squashed an Astro rally, the Buzzards were anxious to get more runs to end the game early. On the play, Fireplug Rankin got a nice hit to left-center with two on and two outs. The runner starting on second base got cold feet after rounding third base and decided he couldn't score on the play and then attempted to return quickly to third. The relay from Tomahawk playing center to Evy at shortstop and then to the right base at the right time, Evy threw a strike to Surf Dawg at third, who put the tag into the face of the diving runner to ignominiously end the Astros last real chance to score in the game.

With a seven-run lead and batting in the seventh, the team's goal was to get a 10-run lead and ensure a victory with the 'mercy rule' and end the game early. To open the inning, Burner smoked a grounder through the left-side for a base hit. With one out, Mickey hit a scalding liner into left-field for a single putting runners at second and first. Up next, Salmo slapped a single to left to load the bases. Surf Dawg, batting next, bounced into a fielder's choice at second base that allowed Burner to score from third for the only run of the inning. The score after seven digs was the Buzzards 9 and the Astros 1.

The thirsty Buzzards, needing just two more runs until cold beer time, came to bat in the eighth looking to end the game soon. After one out, Evy hit his typical looping-curving flare into right field for his fourth hit of the game. Evy then stole second base (call the cops, it was his fifth stolen base of the game). Batting next, Milli grounded one sharply to the left-side that the third baseman bobbled, putting runners at the corners. Tomahawk, up next, hit into a fielder's choice at second base and beat out the attempted double play at first while Evy scored from third. With a runner on base with two outs and the game to be won, up stepped big Freddie O to the plate.

Tomahawk stole second base on the first pitch putting a runner in scoring position. On a 2-1 pitch, Freddie sent a line-drive screamer to right-center-field for a base hit that scored a flying Tomahawk from second to end the game with a walk-off hit by the newest Ol' Buzzard, Freddie O. The final score was the Buzzards 11 to the Astros 1 in a 2-hour and 20 minute game.

The first place Buzzards are looking pretty good and really put it to the Astros. The previous match against the Stros was a closer 7-3 game on April 27th. Another good Buzzard game with a solid win and no injuries. The season record is now 10-2 with six regular season games left.

The Buzzard pitching was fabulous. Surf Dawg started the game and went four innings and threw 50 pitches (35 strikes & 15 balls) in facing 15 Astros. Gregg was supposed to pitch the first three innings, but when he only threw six pitches in the entire third dig, his time was extended on the mound to an extra frame. Novotny gave up no runs, no hits, and two walks while striking out three Astros. Salmo took the mound for three inning and threw 52 pitches (40 strikes & 12 balls) in facing 14 Stros. Rick gave up one unearned run on five hits with one walk and two strike-outs. The closer for the game was Freddie, who got only one inning in before the Buzzard offense ended the game early. Freddie O faced four batters and threw 14 pitches (10 strikes & 4 balls). Fred gave up no runs on one hit and with two strike-em outs to end the game.

The Ol' Buzzard offense was frustrated all-day by Rankin's slow stuff. The offense consisted of 14 hits and only one walk plus four errors. The hit club for the game included: Burner, Cagey, Evy (4), Freddie (2), Mickey, Salmo, Surf Dawg, Tomahawk, Welzy and Wookie. The key ribbies were courtesy of: Evy (2), Freddie (3), Milli, Salmo, Surf Dawg, Tomahawk, and Welzy. The always important runs were scored by: Burner (2), Evy (4), Mickey, Tomahawk (2), Welzy, and Wook. The lone Buzzard walked by Fireplug was Tomahawk leading off the fourth.

The Buzzard defense was solid again. Seven of the 24 outs were by strike-outs. There were three put-outs in the outfield. The opening out was a nice sliding catch by Salmo in right field. The other fly-outs were to Tomahawk in center to end both the third and fourth innings. Tom also quickly tracked down the base hit by Rankin in the seventh that resulted in the picture-perfect relay execution to nail the runner at third.

There were five infield pop-ups shared by Evy (3) and Welzy (2). And one line-out to Evy in the fourth. There were not as many ground-outs as usual. There were five ground-outs to infielders and one come-backer to the pitcher. The come-backer was a nice play by Salmo in the fifth frame to knock-down the grounder and from his knees throw out the runner at first. Evy had two assists, Welzy with one, and Surf Dawg and Burner each had one assist at third base.

Burner played third base in the last inning after catching earlier in the game. He was not that excited to play the position when he was sent out. Well, the ball nearly always finds the new guy, so with an 0-2 pitch the first batter pulled a sharp grounder right down the third base line looking like a sure double. Burner with quick reactions, stepped, reached and snagged the ball with a blurred back-handed catch and made the looong throw to Cagey at first base for the out, look easy and it brought a smile to Burner's face.

The rock solid catching corps of Burner and Milli called and fielded a good game, as usual. Kelly Garcia showed no rust at first base and played a slick game with some good glove work. Cagey ended the fourth frame on his butt after showing off his range and snatching a ball pretty far to his right. The final stretch for the ball by the lefty got the ball in the glove, but it put him on his butt. The pitcher, Salmo, was racing the batter to first base and getting closer to the bag as Kelly led Rick nicely with the toss for the out. Salmo's game opening catch and David 'mMumbles' Kelley's presence in right field apparently caused the Stros to adjust their game plan and stay away from hitting the ball in that direction.

Another good Buzzard baseball game. The next game is Sunday at 2 pm at C-Bar-C Park for our last game in Citrus Heights.

Buzzard Note #1: The team will be going to Felipe's after the game. This is our last game at C-Bar-C Park this year and maybe longer. The Parks District's plan is to convert the field to women's softball during the off-season.

Buzzard Note #2: There will be an end of season afternoon Buzzard team party with wives/girl friends on Sunday, September 28th at Salmeri's at 1 pm. Save the date.