Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #12

Game: July 27, 2014

Buzzards beat-up the Yankees, 11-1

The 13th game of the season was played on the road in Citrus Heights against the last place Yankees. On a humid and hot day that hit 102°, the afternoon game is not preferred. Nor is a short-handed team, but the 10-man Ol' Buzzards team did have the advantage of playing the damned Yankees. This was the Buzzards' fifth and last game at C-Bar-C Park this season. The record at the field is 2-2 with wins over the Solons and Astros, and the Buzzards only two losses of this season - to the Dodgers and the Athletics.

Pitching for the visiting Buzzards was the veteran righty, Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny #1. And taking the bump to open the game for the Yankees was the big righty, Jim 'Dizzy' McAdams #26.

The Buzzards opened the game with three runs to take an early lead. Leading off, Tom 'Tomahawk' Keatley hit a sky-high fly ball to left-field. The fielder ran over to make the catch, but dropped the ball for an error and put Tomahawk at first base. Up next, Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir smacked the 2-2 pitch into right-center-field for a base hit. Batting next, Mike 'Mickey' Wilson hit a flare to left-field for a single to load the bases.

With the bases full of Buzzards and no one out, Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray came to the plate. Dizzy did not give the Baron a chance to swing at a good pitch, by pitching too carefully, and he walked the clean-up hitter on a 3-1 count to push Tomahawk in from third to score the first run. Jim 'Milli' Milligan followed with a fielder's choice at second to score Wookie. The Baron ran for Milli at first.  With runners at the corners, the Baron stole second base before Norm 'Burner' Tucker walked to load 'em up for Dave 'mMumbles' Kelley. mMumbles bounced into a fielder's choice at third, but scored Mickey from third to end the first inning's scoring.

In the second inning, the Buzzards added two runs to take a 5-0 lead. Paul 'General' Lee started it off by getting on base via an infield error. Tomahawk, up next, singled sharply to right-center. Wookie followed with a walk to load the bases with no outs. Batting next, Mickey bounced into a fielder's choice at third that scored the General from third base on the play. Next, the Baron slammed the first pitch into left-field for a line-drive single to score Wook from second for the last run of the second dig.

The stubborn Yankees also wanted to score. They did not score the last time the teams met on July 13th in Rocklin. In the second inning, the lead-off batter, John Davis, walked and stole second on a close play, then moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a grounder to first base. The score after two innings was the Buzzards 5 and the Yankees 1.

The Gold Country gang tacked on another run in the third. Burner led-off the inning with a hard hit grounder through the left-side for a single. Norm advanced to second on an attempted pick-off play at first by the catcher. The throw was down the line and Burner moved-up 90 feet. mMumbles got aboard via an infield error at third with Burner staying at second base on the play. Batting next, Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri chopped one sharply right-down the line. The third baseman bobbled it just long enough for Salmo to beat-out the throw to load the bases. The General then launched a high fly to center-field for a sacrifice to score Burner. Two ground balls later and the inning was over with the score, 6-1 Buzzards in the third.

Surf Dawg must have thought he was in his old landscaping business, with the way he effectively mowed down the Yankees like they were weeds. The pitch counts were low and Gregg was throwing strikes, as the defensive innings were quick, which is great on a hot day.

The Buzzards did not score in the fourth and were still looking for a big inning to put away the pesky Yankees with the 10-run rule. In the fifth, just one more run was added to the scoreboard. The Yankees changed pitchers and brought in a hard throwing lefty, Jerry 'Flinger' Whalen #11. After a strike-out, mMumbles lined one to left-field for a single. Norm ran for David. Salmo and General then followed with walks to load the bases with one out. Batting next, Tomahawk hit a sacrifice fly-out to center-field to score Burner. Wook walked on a 3-2 pitch to load 'em up again, but the inning ended without the big hit to blow the game open. The score after five was 7-1 Buzzards.

Finally in the sixth, the Ol' Buzzards broke through with a nice big crooked number (4) to put on the scoreboard and it gave the team a 10-run cushion. The inning started with the Baron lining an 0-2 shot into center for a single. Milli and Burner then walked to load the bases. mMumbles hit into a botched fielder's choice to score Pete and keep the bases full. Up next, Salmo knocked a 3-2 pitch into the right-center-field gap for a two-run single.

The Yanks changed pitchers again and brought their shortstop to the mound, a barrel-chested, right-hander, John 'Snarly' Davis #7. The General then bounced into a close double play, but scored a run. The dig ended on a strike-out, but with the score after six innings, 11-1 Buzzards.

Surf Dawg struck-out three Yankees in the bottom of the sixth after a lead-off single. The Buzzies did not score in the top of the seventh. Gregg then held the Yanks scoreless in the bottom half of the last inning by inducing three grounders to Wookie at short to end the 2-hour and 20 minute game with the 10-run mercy rule and the final score 11-1.

The team quickly adjourned to Felipe's for cold drinks and hot food to enjoy the victory. Thanks again, Paul, for letting the team enjoy Felipe's after the C-Bar-C games this season.

Surf Dawg pitched a complete game on this hot day against the Yanks. Gregg threw 79 pitches (51 strikes & 28 balls) to 24 batters in seven innings of work. Novotny gave up just one run on three hits with one walk and seven strike-outs. The pitch counts for the seven frames went: 9, 15, 12, 12, 9, 13, and 9. The game had the typical excellent Buzzard pitching and solid defense to speed the game along.

The Ol' Buzzard offense scored just 11 runs on nine hits and nine walks plus the help of six Yankee errors. The Baron, the clean-up hitter, had the only multi-hit game, going three-for-three. The hit club for the game included: Baron (3), Burner, Mickey, mMumbles, Salmo, Tomahawk and Wookie. The key RBI's were knocked in by: Baron (2), General, Mickey, Milli, mMumbles (2), Salmo (2), and Tomahawk. For stat purposes, runs are considered scored by the original batter/runner, not the courtesy runner. The 11 important runs in this game were scored by: the Baron, Burner (2), General, Mickey, Milli, mMumbles (2), Tomahawk, and Wookie (2). The eagle-eyed Buzzards getting free passes to first base were: the Baron (2), Burner (2), General, Milli, Salmo, and Wook (2).

The defense was a little different and short-handed for the game, but played solidly and without an error. The defense performed so well, that memories are already faded as to who the former starters were at second, third and shortstop. Playing different positions were mMumbles at third, Burner at second and Wookie holding down short.

At third, Kelley made a fabulous play to end the third with a back-handed snatch of a hot-shot down the line. The catch was followed by a nice long, one bounce throw to the Baron at first base. A definite Wow play.

Burner played second base well and made one great play for a double play in the fifth dig. After a one-out Yankee double, a line-drive was flagged down by Burner near the base. The long, quick reach caused Burner to fall down onto his back on the play, while the runner dashed toward third. Tucker calmly tossed the ball from his back to second base to the covering Wook for the only double play of the game by the Buzzard defense.  At shortstop, Wookie handled all four assists (three in the last inning) and two put outs at second. Wook also made a nice catch to end the first frame when he jumped high to snag a rising line-drive.

There was just one fly-ball out in the game. It went to Tomahawk in center-field to open the second inning. There was one pop-up to the Baron at first base in the first frame. Pete also got three tough grounders to handle for put-outs at first. The Baron had 10 put-outs for the game.

The catching held up under the heat with a good game caught and called, as usual. Salmo went five digs behind the plate and Milli went two. There were seven strike-outs to help limit the number of batters to three over the minimum at 24 Yankees. Great defense, Buzzards.

Gold Country Buzzards like victories, even easy ones. The extra hot weather made it interesting especially with the small crew. The Ol' Buzzards held up well, though, and easily beat the Yankees.

The season record is now 11-2 with five regular season games remaining.

Buzzard Note #1: The next game, this Sunday, is August 3rd at James Field at 2 pm against the Solons. The remainder of the games are: 8/10 at 10 am at Playfields Park in Davis vs. Astros; 8/17 at 2 pm at James Field vs. the Yankees; 8/24 at 10 am at James Field vs. Solons; and the last game on 9/7 at 2 pm at James Field vs. the Astros. Labor Day weekend includes August 31.

Buzzard Note #2: There will be two playoff games this season. The first place Buzzards will play the fourth place Yankees on September 14th. It appears at James Field. The championship game will be on September 21st at Playfields Park. Time and opponent to be announced.

Buzzard Note #3: The Buzzard team party with wives and girl friends, but please not both, will be at the Salmeri's on September 28th at 1 pm. More info to come. Mark those calendars.