Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #6

Game: May 22, 2011

Buzzards shut down the Reds, 6-0

After another rain-out last weekend, the Buzzards had a home game against last year’s NABA champs, the Reds. The start time was earlier at 9:30 am because many of the Reds had a second game at 2 o’clock in Citrus Heights. The day was gorgeous and the field was in good shape for some top notch old man baseball. Pete spent time on Saturday making sure the field was in primo shape for Sunday, especially the mound. Got to make those pitchers happy. Thanks Pete.

The Reds starting thrower was the crafty veteran, Danny “Smiley” Harvey #25. Danny with the achingly slow curve ball and the occasional zippy fastball to keep you off-balance, does make it hard for a team to string together hits. We have beaten Danny every season, but he has beaten us in the last two NABA final championship games in 2009 and 2010. It’s been said revenge is best served cold. Revenge can also be served on a beautiful spring day. For a big step in that direction, the Buzzards sent their ace lefty, Jim “Moxey” Steiger #13, to the hill to hold down this good hittin’ team.

The Buzzards opened the scoring with one run in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Taylor “Welzy” Welz struck out but then used his speed to advance to first base on the passed ball. With Scott “Donut” Reeves at the plate, Welzy stole second base on the first pitch and moved to third later on a wild pitch. On the 2-1 pitch, Donut lined a shot into left field for the run scoring single. In the second inning, the Buzzards scored again to increase the early lead. Charles “CJ” Jackson started it off with a lead-off walk. CJ stole second base and scored when Jim “Milli” Milligan drove a 3-1 pitch into left field for a hit. Milli limped to first base in obvious pain and was replaced. Jim partially tore the Plantar fascia ligament (connects the heel bone to the toes) in the right foot. The doctor said hopefully a recovery in three months. Ouch! Nice hit Milli and the RBI was great, but what a lousy reward. The inning ended with the score 2-0 after two.

The Reds got their first hit of the game in the fourth inning, but that was quickly wiped out by a nifty double play by Dave “Evy” Everingham on a grounder up the middle. Moxey was effectively keeping the Reds off-balanced with the speed and location of his pitches. The defense was solid and Steigy also picked-off a runner in the second inning after a walk.

The Ol’ Buzzards put two more on the score board in the fourth. Welzy led off the inning with a hustlin’ double to left field. On the next pitch Donut laid down a good bunt to the left side that Harvey fielded and threw to third hoping to get a sliding Welzy at the bag. A good jump and too much speed ruined that idea and T-Welz was easily safe. Now runners were at the corners with no outs. The plan was to have Donut steal second and then Welzy could score if the throw went to second base. Well, Scott took off on the pitcher’s first move and left too soon. Danny threw the ball to first for the pick-off, while Donut was digging hard for second base. The throw to second was a tad high and late. The subsequent throw home to get the racing Welzy from third was also late allowing a run to score on the double steal. Later with Donut on second and two outs, Mike “Bake” Baker knocked him in with a sharp single for a 4-0 lead.

The Buzzards added two more runs in the fifth inning. Dan “Wookie” Wukmir started it off with a lead-off single to right field on a 2-0 pitch. Pete “Baron” Von Zboray then hit a high looper into short left-center field for a hit putting runners at first and second. Moxey then came to the plate and drilled a single down the first base line scoring Wook. Don “Redondo” Colbert then came in to run for the pitcher at first base with the Baron standing on third base. On the next pitch, the double steal play was called again. This time the throw was cut-off by Danny on the mound and he threw a bullet to third trying to get Pete off the bag. The still quick Baron slid back into the base as the ball bounced off his helmet and rolled into the out-of-bounds area next to the visitor’s dugout, allowing the Baron to get up and walk in with the last run. After five innings, the score was 6-zip and the Ol’ Buzzards were looking tough.

The Buzzards changed pitchers in the seventh inning and brought in Mark “Weed” Fowler #11 to continue throwing ‘good stuff’ and get those nasty old Reds - out. The terrific pitching continued and the defense was solid for the remainder of the game as the Buzzards shut-out the Reds 6-0.

The Reds only got three hits in the game, and only one runner even made it to second base, as the Buzzards shut down the Red machine. Wow, now that’s tough D. The pitching was key to this victory. Moxey went six strong innings in facing 19 Reds and throwing 71 pitches (47 strikes & 24 balls) in giving up two hits and one walk with four strikeouts. Weeder finished the game by working the last three innings. He threw 43 pitches (26 strikes & 17 balls) to 11 Reds while giving up one hit and one walk with two Ks. Great job.

With six K outs, the defense did step-up by making the remaining 21 outs, and only one fly ball out, without an error. There were plenty of opportunities for boo-boos, but the defense made the plays. Interestingly, there were 18 groundball outs in the game. Two infield pop-ups and one fly ball out to the Baron in right field in the eighth inning. Pete, playing mostly first base in the game, played just one inning in right field and caught the only fly ball out. The other bored outfielders complained later over beers.

Of the 18 groundball outs, Everingham was smoothly responsible for nine of them. Moxey handled three hopping come-backers with throws to Bake playing first and picked off the lead-off runner from first base in the second inning. That led to a sliding Red at second base and a tag-out by a hustlin’ Evy. Welzy had three assists on tough plays at third base after switching from center field in the third. Wookie had four grounders to field at second including a bare-hander on a slow roller to end the second inning. Donut started the game ‘playing the role today’ of Bobby Wooden, batting third and playing third. After Milli’s injury, Scottie went behind the plate and then later finished the game at second base. Really, all of that energy on donuts!

The offense was efficient in scoring six runs on nine hits and two walks. The multi-hit club consisted of one player – Donut with two singles. The other guys getting hits in order were – Milli, Welzy with a double, Bake, Wookie, Baron, Moxey and CJ with a double off the fence. The ribbies were knocked-in by Donut, Milli, Bake and Moxey. Clutch hittin’ with Buzzards on base is a good recipe for the rest of the season. Next on the Buzzard menu – Free Agents.