Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #13

June 20, 2010

Buzzards beat up Astros 19-10

On a gorgeous Father’s Day morning, the Buzzards assembled at Antelope High for a game with the Astros. The Buzzards at 6-6 and needing a win to get above .500 were presented an easier target today with the Astros’ season record at 3-9. However, the last time these teams met in April, Astros’ pitching held the Buzzards to three hits in the nine inning game. Ron Turner threw the first half and Rankin Lyman finished the game. The Buzzards won the game 6-1 on Astros errors and tough Gold Country pitching to limit the Astros to four hits.

Taking the hill for the visiting Buzzards was the Fabio look-a-like, right-hander Bob “Woody” Wooden #22. The Astros countered with the tricky Ron “Belly” Turner #13 to start the game.

The Buzzards jumped on the Astros early with seven runs in the top of the first inning. Taylor “Welzy” Welz opened the game with a base hit and stole second base before Dan “Wookie” Wukmir grounded to the second baseman but beat the throw to first on the fielder’s bobble. Wookie stole second before Fred “Freddie” O’Donoghue walked to load the bases with one out.

Mike “Bake” Baker’s hit to shallow left drove in Welzy with the first run. Pete “Baron” Von Zboray followed with a single to left driving in Wook. With the bases still loaded, Barry “Brooklyn” Forman then smashed a 2-1 pitch right down the first base line and into right field for a two-run double plating Freddie and Bake. Barry shouted out “fair ball” right away and said later it was to help the home plate ump make the call without a chalked line on the field. That Barry is such a thoughtful guy.

Mark “Ronnie” Wronski and Ray “Bull Dog” Henry followed Brooklyn’s hit with walks to reload the bases. After the walks, the pitcher, big Turner, was done for the day on the mound. Last time against the Buzzards, Turner struck out four, walked four and gave up only one hit in five innings. This time, it was four hits, four walks, and two errors leading to seven runs in 2/3rds of an inning.

Randy “Coco” Crisp #33 came in from shortstop to take the bump for the Astros. Donnie “Redondo” Colbert then sent a 1-2 pitch into center field scoring Barry with the sharp single. With two outs, Wookie picked on the second baseman again by hitting another hard grounder that he bobbled allowing Wook to beat the throw for the second nearly identical error in the same inning, which also scored Ronnie for run number seven.

The Astros fought back with one run started with a double to the right field fence by their catcher, Craig Burford, and then followed by a flare to short right field by their clean-up hitter, Porter, for the run. Craig got beat up behind home plate more than normal when he was hit by a flung bat three times during the game by Barry’s over-sized and heavy club. Brooklyn was eventually removed from the game after the third time in the sixth inning upon umpire request. Barry apologized to Craig after the game and all is well.

Barry has a seemingly, semi-valid excuse; that grotesque-looking ligament that sticks out from his forearm is restricting the flow of blood to his right hand making it feel numb - to go along with that numb head - hence the occasional loose bat. Barry does have real flying bats at his house and that’s OK, but we don’t want flying Barry bats on the baseball field. Can #5 borrow some stick-um, pine tar or Velcro next game?

In the second inning, the not so Ol’ Buzzards then added three more runs. The Baron led off with a single down the left field line. The left fielder had to run to the foul line to get the ball as Pete rounded first base like he was going to second for a double, but then he remembered his age, and went back to the bag for a long single. Barry followed with a full swing bunt that barely went foul for strike two. On the next pitch, he drove the ball deep over the right fielder’s head for a double scoring the Baron. Next, Ronnie singled up the middle driving in Barry from second. With two outs, ol’ Bull Dog knocked the 0-2 pitch on a line into right field for a single scoring a hustlin’ Ronnie from second base. The score was 10-1 entering the bottom of the second inning, not a bad start with nine hits already.

The Buzzards threatened in every inning except the fifth, but did not score again until the sixth inning. With the score still 10-1, the Buzzards added five more runs and were looking to end the game early on the 10-run mercy rule after seven innings. Welzy started the inning walking to first base rubbing his hip after the first pitch. His hip got in the way of a slooow curve ball and several guys on both sides razzed Taylor as he headed toward first, on getting hit by such a slow pitch. In Taylor’s defense, he is getting older but that ball was waaay inside.

Wookie, batting next, took two high pitches for strikes and then hit the third high pitch into the right-center gap driving in T-Welz and putting a runner at second base. Bobio followed with a run scoring single to left field. With one out, Baker hit a high looping spinner to shallow right that put the Astros second baseman on the run. Barry “El Presidente” Spiller gave chase and appeared to have a good angle, but the ball landed several feet from his grasp. The ball hit near the foul line and spun back toward second base when his momentum carried him the other direction into foul territory. While the Astros scrambled for the ball, Bake never broke stride and pulled into second base with a stand-up double. Batting next, the Baron knocked two runs in with a hot shot down the line for his fourth hit of the game. Barry followed with a flare to left-center for another hit and RBI. With two outs, Ray hit a line drive to center field for a run scoring single. The extra five-run lead made for a comfortable last inning, or so we thought.

The Astros stormed back with nine runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Astros took advantage of five singles, five walks, and an infield error for one long inning. Ol’ Bull Dog started the inning on the mound, but struggled with a stiffing left shoulder and gave way to Welzy with two outs to finish the sixth inning. That long inning did stop short enough with four minutes remaining in the game time to start a new inning.

The Buzzards came to bat in the top of the seventh and saw a change of pitchers had put Mike “Sad” Laughbridge #24 on the hill. The Buzzards tacked on four more runs to widen the lead. Welzy started it with a two-out walk. Wook followed with a base on balls. Woody then knocked in T-Welz with a hot grounder to a deep-playing shortstop. With Bobio hustlin’ down to first and his ponytail wigglin’ out the back of his cap for aerodynamic control, he beat the throw putting runners on first and second. Next, Freddie walked on a full-count to load the bases. Bake followed by hitting the next pitch into left-center field for a single scoring two runs. Pete then stepped to the plate with four hits in four at-bats today and smacked a 2-2 pitch down the left field line scoring the final run with his fifth hit of the day. Now, the Baron did seemingly turn two doubles into singles, but we sometimes forget how old he is, but what a day at the plate.

Welzy pitched the seventh inning and quickly faced four batters by throwing 12 pitches in retiring the side to end the game with the final score 19-10. The game lasted 3 hours and 20 minutes, but what a great way to start Father’s Day.

Wins are always good. We played well for most of the game even with the lopsided score for much of it. It was good to get Jim “Wags” Wagner out on the field again. This was his first game of the season. His Arthroscopic surgery on the left shoulder was in March. He figures he’s at 80%, so he gave it a try on Sunday in the outfield and batting. He looked rusty at the plate, but BP (or is that now called hitting practice since the Gulf oil blow-out) will help with more swings. Thankfully his family gathering, that came to the game, did not take pictures of that rusty swing.

Also thankfully, the game ended before it got hot, and the cold drinks and snacks were nearby as we enjoyed the victory. Next week we finally get a home game again. This ends our streak of six consecutive away games. Last home game was May 16. Of the remaining eight games, six are home games. Taking us out of the Valley heat for much of July and August, should work out well.

Buzzard Note #1: All-star ballots will be passed out next game. Please fill them out promptly and return. This year the game is July 7th, Wednesday, 7 pm, probably at Playfields in Davis.

Buzzard Note #2: Next Sunday’s game will be at 10 am at Colfax against the last place Sultans. We almost lost to these guys last time. We were down 8-1 after five innings before scoring 10 runs in the next four innings to win 11-8. Beverages and snacks after the game at the Ball Park. The Coyotes play the Free Agents in the following game at Colfax High.

Buzzard Note #3: The KAHI radio game is coming August 1st. If you wish to advertise during the game, contact Wook or Pete. The radio station will produce them for free and the ad will play several times during the live broadcast to the Gold Country listeners and to the world via the streaming web. The game will be recorded and CD’s passed out to everyone who wants one, so the ad and the game will be recorded for posterity. According to FCC rules there can be no swearing during the game, and financial advisers, lock smiths and environmental companies must buy multiple ads.