Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #6

Game: May 3, 2015

Teary-eyed Buzzards stumble against Rays, 11-10

With David Kelley in our mind and hearts, getting together to talk and play in his honor was easy and helpful. The hard part was playing focused baseball, as the Buzzards were not sharp on a nice, but breezy afternoon in Davis. The pre-game memorial service for DK was well done and touching. Pete said lots of wonderful things about David as both teams gathered around the mound. Then Hayden Tucker, stepped onto the field with his bagpipes and played a touching rendition of Amazing Grace, followed by a long moment of silence. Tough way to start a game.

At Playfields Park where the mound is flatting-out, the starting pitcher for the visiting Gold Country Buzzards was the crafty right-hander, Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri #6. Taking the mound for the new NABA 42+ team in snazzy teal blue and white uniforms was 57 year old righty, Luis 'Stylin' Hernandez #53.

The Buzzards hopped on the scoreboard first with two runs in the top of the second. Tom 'Tomahawk' Keatley opened the inning with a nice liner into the right-center field gap for a double. Up next, Jim 'Milli' Milligan popped-up a 'sun ball' that landed next to the first baseman to put runners at first and second. Barry 'Brooklyn' Forman followed with a drag bunt that looked good, but was called out by the home plate umpire for being out of the batter's box at contact. It's a pretty rare call because it is really hard to be at the back of the batter's box and move-up out of the front of the box while a fastball is coming at ya. Barry is not that fast in his dreams and the call was the first of several bad calls at key times.

The runners then moved up on separate stolen bases before Mike 'Mickey' Wilson was hit by a pitch on the side of the chest, ouch, to load the bases. Later with two outs and the top of the order up, Kevin 'Flash' Krantz launched a sky ball to right field that found the precise sun-angle to throw painful sunrays into the right-fielders eyes for the temporary blindness effect necessary for the ball to hit the fielder and miss the glove. Two runs scored on the play to give the Buzzards an early lead.

The Rays stormed back with five runs in their half of the second dig. The inning did not start well with Salmo getting ahead in the count and the ump would squeeze the strike zone. The Rays took advantage and hit the 'down the middle' strikes for five solid hits plus a walk and a valiant try in left-field of a sinking flare by a sliding Mickey. The score after two was 5-2 Rays.

The Buzzards put one on the board in the third. Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir led-off with a two-strike flare to right-field. Wookie was thrown out trying to steal second base on a close play with a hook slide and an ump out of position to make a correct call. Of course, Dave 'Evy' Everingham followed with a deep double to right-center field. Later with two outs, clutch Tomahawk singled in Evy with a liner to right. The Rays answered with a run in the bottom of the third. The pattern continued with Salmo getting ahead in the count with two strikes, then the strike zone becoming the size of a child's shoe box. Three hits and a walk resulted in the run to make the score Rays 6 - Buzzards 3.

The Ol' Buzzard manager let the pattern go on too long as Salmo and the home plate umpire just were not working on the same wave-length. The pitches that the Rays' hurlers were getting, were not going the other way for the Buzzards. In the fourth frame, the calls continued to get even worse and the Buzzards became distracted and not play sharp baseball.

The Rays put four runs in the scorebook on four hits and a bad hop infield error. The score after just four innings of play was 10-3 Rays.

The Buzzards added a run in the fifth frame. With one out Evy ripped a singled to right-field. Up next, Mark 'Thunder' Weathers walked. After two were out, Milli drove a liner into left-center for a run-scoring single.

The Buzzards changed pitchers in the fifth and brought in the veteran righty, Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny #1. The pitching change was made earlier than planned, hoping to get off of the umps wrong wave-length and start getting some calls.

The Rays also scored a run in the their fifth inning after two were out. A flare single, walk and a looping single scored the lone run. The Rays were now ahead 11-4 after five innings.

The fightin' Buzzards jumped back into the game with three runs in the sixth. After one out, Salmo got on base when the third baseman bobbled the smash. Under a surgical dentist's orders or was that a suggestion, not-to-play, Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray was added to the batting order. The Baron then crushed the ball to deep, deep left-field where the fielder made a stupendous and crappy catch for the second out of the dig. Batting next, Flash sliced a single to right-field to put two runners on. Wookie, up next, walked to load the bases. Evy followed by picking on the third baseman again in this inning to score a run and leave the bases full for the clean-up batter. Thunder then proceed to clean two bases of runners with his patented sizzler to right-center field to tighten the score at 11-7.

The pitching change seemed to work and Surf Dawg was getting better calls from the plate ump, only to be burned later by the field umpire, Jimmy. Jimmy is high on the umpiring food chain and the scheduler of officials, and needs glasses. Surf Dawg held the Rays scoreless from the sixth inning on, allowing the Buzzards to play catch up.

With time running out, it appeared the eighth inning was going to be the Buzzards last opportunity to score runs. Salmo led-off with a well-earned walk. The Baron, batting next, hit a sinking looper to left-field. The young fielder charged, dove at the grass, appeared to trap the ball at best, then laid in a crumpled heap on the ground momentarily, while the infield dumb-pire appeared to freeze. Salmo was screaming at the ump to make a call, as he was hung-up between first and second base on the play. The ump claimed later to have signaled 'out' with his fist out in front (hidden from Buzzards view), so the Rays had plenty of time to throw over to first to double-up Salmo and put two controversial 'outs' in the books.

The Buzzards were short-handed players, and it took a lot of restraint by some of the hopping mad Ol' Buzzards to not get kicked-out of this game, right about now. With the yelling stopped and the bases empty, Flash re-started the rally with a smash to left for a single. Wookie followed with a sharp grounder through the middle for a single. Flash took third on the hit with the outfielder's throw on the play, way too late, but it did allow Wook to advance to second. Evy then hit a flare for a single to right-center to score Flash and Wookie. Evy moved to second on the play at home. Thunder, looking to make some more noise with the bats, knocked in Evy with a frozen-rope to right-field to make the score an exciting 11-10.

Up next, Tomahawk hit a line-drive single to right to put two runners on with two outs, still, and the line continuing to move. The game tension was high with 'hot bat' Milli at the plate. The long at-bat led to a walk on a full-count with ball four too high and inside to swing at. The bases were now loaded for Brooklyn, fresh off of the DL and playing with a hurt something nearly everywhere, but loving it. Barry was quickly ahead 3-0 and taking pitches like a good teammate, but suddenly the strike zone was accommodating the next two 'off-the-mark' pitches. At 3-2, it was a tough situation with a hard-thrower. Casey swung and missed at the next high-heater to put another 'downer' on the day.

The end result of the game sucked, but the unrelenting nature of the Buzzards, when down by seven after five in an eight-inning game, was impressive. The last six runs were scored off of their hard-throwing closer, big righty Frank 'Highball' Costa #22. The Rays got lucky this time. The Buzzards were about to steal this game, but the umps prevented a fabulous comeback. Next time will be different, which is: July 12th at James Field at 2 pm.

Buzzard pitching was solid. The home plate ump, though, not so good. The Rays were tough to defend in the outfield for this game with four long doubles and six short flare singles. Salmo pitched four innings and faced 26 Rays in throwing 92 pitches (74 strikes & 28 balls). The Rays banged out 12 hits in scoring 10 runs (4 earned) with two walks and two strike-outs in those four long innings. The Buzzards gave up three errors in those four frames. Surf Dawg pitched the last four innings and faced 18 Rays in throwing 66 pitches (38 strikes & 28 balls). Gregg gave up one run on four hits with two walks, one hit-batsman, and one strike-out.

The Buzzard offense banged out 16 hits, but came up short a key hit several times in the game. The hit club for the game included: Brooklyn, Evy-3, Flash-3, Milli-2, Thunder-2, Tomahawk-3, and Wookie-2. Two doubles were slugged by: Keatley (in the 2nd) and Everingham (in the 3rd). The runs were scored by: Evy-3, Flash-2, Milli, Salmo, Tomahawk, and Wook-2. The RBIs were knocked in by: Evy-3, Flash-2, Milli, Thunder-3, and Tomahawk. The four eagle-eyed Buzzard walkers were: Milli, Salmo, Thunder and Wook.

The defense made lots of good plays and some tough plays, but the D was not as sharp as usual. There was only one double play. In the seventh, the Rays were in position to score again with a runner at third and one out with the top of the order coming up. The batter then hit a line-drive to center. Flash, playing deep, charged the liner, snagged it at chest level, and threw a long bullet to Milli. The runner got a good jump, but the throw was on the money, as both came together with Milli looking to make a tag. The collision created a cloud of dust and Milli went rolling backwards, but held onto the ball for the important out and prevent a run.

The game had plenty of high-lights and more low-lights than usual. The ballgame did not come off as planned. We'll chalk it up to the Ol' Buzzards being partially distracted and carrying that lingering tune of Amazing Grace with a heavy heart.

Buzzard Note #1: The Celebration of the Life of David Kelley will be this Saturday, May 9th, at 2 pm on James Field. Buzzards are asked to wear their jerseys.

Buzzard Note #2: There is no game next Sunday on Mother's Day, May 10th. Next game is May 17th at James Field at 2 pm versus the undefeated Colt .45s. There is no game on May 24th with the Memorial Day weekend.

Buzzard Note #3: The Radio Game is next month on June 7th.  Circle that date and invite the family.