Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzard Game Report #10

Game #2: June 24, 2012

Cats scratch Buzzards in late game, 8-1

After a 45-minute break, the second half of the twin bill was underway. The day was still gorgeous and in the mid-70s with a breeze on a usually hotter, late-June afternoon. Definitely a nice day to play two.

The Buzzards were the visitors for the second game (a seven-inning affair). The starting right-handed pitchers for the game were: Mark 'Weed' Fowler #11 for the Ol' Buzzards and Dave 'Nut Job' Nutter #12 for the Valley Cats.

Those feisty Cats scored first again with three in the first frame. That new guy, Mike De Necochea, led-off by hitting a two-strike change-up to the opposite field for a triple to right. Two walks and a base hit later and those whinny Cats were up 3-0.

The Buzzards scored a run in the top of the second. Welzy led-off with a sharp single to left field. With one out, Mongoose blasted a curve ball to the fence in left-center field for a double scoring a hustlin' Welzy from first base. Tony was disappointedly left stranded at second base with the inning ending score of 3-1.

The pesky tom Cats added a run in the bottom half of the second inning with three singles to make the score 4-1 after two innings. The Cats scored three more in the fourth by bunching four hits around a hit batsman (on a slow curve). And the Cats added a final run in the fifth on two singles and a fielder's choice to make the final score 8-1.

Meanwhile, the Buzzards made Nut Job look good on the mound with only five scattered hits. Nut Job does not need the help, but the umpire's strike zone favored Nutter's pitching. The Buzzards threatened in the fourth, but good defense and pitching shut it down. The Buzzards could not bunch together hits and get on the score board again after that second inning run.

The defense played well and the pitching gave up just 12 hits to a high-caliber offense. There were some interesting fly balls to left field for base hits at bad times. Weed pitched a solid five innings without much ump luck. There were lots of high pitch-counts leading to a 111 pitch five inning stint. Mark faced 29 batters throwing 61 strikes and 50 balls with four walks and two hit batters. Donut took the mound in the sixth inning. Scott faced four batters in throwing 10 pitches (7 strikes & 3 balls) while giving up one hit and striking out the second batter with a big high curve ball.

The Ol' Buzzard offense was pretty pathetic in game two. One run on five hits will not win many games and would not have won the earlier game either. The hit club consisted of singles by Evy, Welzy, and Wookie; and doubles by Mongoose and Weeder. The lone ribbie was courtesy of Tony B and scored by TWelz. Eagle-eyed walks were earned by Evy and Wookie to complete the small offensive production against Nut Job. Next time, Nutter goes down early.

There were two Buzzard double plays for a total of seven in 16 innings today. Some noteworthy defensive plays included three in the second inning. The first one was a tough ground ball to the right side that Donut took on one knee going to his left before jumping up to fire to home plate - not first base - to nail a startled then head-first sliding Nutter. A firm face tag by Milli ensured Nutter's wrath for awhile. A bruise is likely coming Milli's way, the next time the Buzzards face these *** Cats with Nut Job on the mound.

On the next play, a seemingly extra base hit to the left field corner resulted in a 7-6-4 relay play to get the hitter, Barry Worthington, at second stretching the single into an out. Nice hustle and relay throws by Caveman and Evy with a hard tag by Donut playing second. The third out of the second frame was a nice pick-off play by Weeder to Bake at first base. Not your typical inning, but very exciting.

Without a matching offense to the Valley Cats runs, the game ended in less than two hours. And after taking care of the field, it was off for cold drinks and snacks at the nearby Ballpark up the hill. This was the last time the Buzzards and Valley Cats will meet in the regular season. The Cats won two of the three games and will hold any tie-breaker in the standings. We will see these rangy Cats in the playoffs, though. Beware the Buzzards.

Buzzard Note #1: The All-Star game for the 45+ Division will be played on, Wednesday, July 11th at 7 pm at Playfields Park in Davis. Ballots will be passed out at the next game, July 8th, to vote for the three or four reps we can send to the game.

Buzzard Note #2: The KAHI Radio broadcast is a month away on July 29, James Field at 2 pm.

Buzzard Note #3: No games next weekend on July 1st. The following Sunday we have a double-header at Colfax against the Rancho Cordova Dodgers at 10 and 2. They are currently in a dog fight for fourth place with the Free Agents and Mudville Nine, right behind the Buzzards in the double A division. They just swept the Mudville Nine on Sunday.