Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #15

Game: July 29, 2012

‘On the air’ Ol’ Buzzards claw young Giants, 8-2

On a nice warm Sunday afternoon with temps in the high 80’s, the Gold Country Buzzards circled-in on James Field in Auburn for Giant prey at 2 o’clock. For the fifth time the local radio station, KAHI 950AM, broadcast a ‘live’ Buzzard baseball game. This time the opponent was the Fair Oaks Giants (11-5), a second year team in the single-A 45+ division that came up from 38+ division, so a younger bunch of guys.

Both teams wore orange jerseys with gray pants and black hats with an orange bill. At a distance the only difference was the Buzzards’ black sleeves under the orange vest vs. the Giants’ full orange jerseys. It would have made for a lousy TV game, but it worked on the radio.

Local radio personality and afternoon show host on KAHI, Dave Rosenthal, was the play-by-play announcer. Alongside him, Dave ‘new local radio personality’ Kelley was the ‘color man’ for this game being broadcast at 5,000 watts from the top of Pilot Hill. And available to the world on the internet streamed 'live' on KAHI's web site.

The starting pitcher for the Giants was big right-hander, Jim 'Wild' Scott #41. Taking the mound for the Buzzards was southpaw, Dave 'Keppie' Kephart #21.

The Giants jumped on top in their first at-bat with two quick runs. The lead-off batter, Dimo DiMiceli hit an 0-2 pitch to the left-center field gap for a double. Batting second, Larry 'Chief' Rehberg, former Buzzard, walked on five pitches. The next batter, McMuller, singled up the middle to knock in the first run.

Up next, the big right-handed clean-up hitter, Jim Scott, bounced a grounder with spinning-English to the right-side hole. Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir, playing second base, went far to his left to field the ball and threw back toward second base to get the force-out on a close play with the shortstop, Dave 'Evy' Everingham covering the bag.

With one out, runners at the corners and Mike Scott at the plate, the Giants pulled off the double steal play. The throw to second was high and the throw home was late, as the second and last run of the inning scored. The Buzzards had two walks in their half of the first, but were held scoreless in the first. The team threatened in the second dig with the bases full of walked Buzzards, but again no score. Through three innings Wildman Scott was throwing a no-hitter, but with six walks and leading 2-0.

Evy led-off the fourth with a bouncer to the left-side deep in the hole for an infield single. Taylor 'Welzy' Welz, up next, swung at the silent balk call by field umpire Carlos (former Reds Manager) and grounded out on a close play at first. But because of the balk call, the runner, Evy, moved to second and Welzy batted some more. One pitch later, a high fly ball to the shortstop was out number one.

Another walk to Kevin 'injured Flash' Krantz put runners at first and second. Bob 'Woody' Wooden then hit a ball hard down the third base line, but right into Dan 'the Greatest' Hasey's glove playing third base. The Greatest, former Buzzard, then stepped on third for the force and threw to second base for a quick double-play to end the inning. The score after four was 2-0 Giants.

The Buzzard offense finally came alive in the fifth. Tony 'Honey Badger' Brashear hit a 3-1 pitch on a line into right field for a base hit. Welzy ran for Tony and promptly stole second base. After a pop-up to short, the Giants changed pitchers. The other Scott brother, Mike 'Wilder' Scott #10, came in and got injury warm-up time on the mound before getting a fly-ball for out number two. Batting next, Keppie got hit by a slow curve in the dirt.

The radio announcer had fun with Kep not moving and getting hit by such a slow pitch. Later with beers in hand, Rosenthal asked Keppie about the play. DK pointed out that he did not know which way the ball was going to bounce, so not moving could have worked out just as well as moving in the batter's box. Good baseball sense, but too late for the radio audience that heard Rosenthal's original play-by-play.

The next three batters, Mike 'Big Mac' McCabe, Wookie and catcher Scott 'Donut' Reeves walked on full counts. Wook and Donut's base on balls scored runs and tied the game. Still with two outs and the bases full, Don 'Redondo' Colbert was coming to the plate. On an 0-2 pitch, Redondo hit a flare to short right field scoring two runs. Mark 'Weeder' Fowler then walked on five pitches to re-load the bases. Jim 'Milli' Milligan followed with an infield single to the left-side hole scoring Donut from third.

The radio announcer would often say with runners on base, there were 'ducks on the pond'. This time there were three 'ducks on the pond' for Evy. On a 1-1 pitch, Dave knocked in two with a line drive single to center field. The Buzzards had just scored seven runs after two outs and with just one runner on second base. With three more hits and four walks plus a hit batter, the Buzzards put up a nice big crooked number on the scoreboard for a 7-2 lead.

Keppie started mowing down the Giants in the fourth inning. Kep was throwing a lot of pitches, but there were no Giant threats after the third inning. There were runners in every inning for both teams, meaning there were no short innings. And there were lots of high pitch-counts in nearly every inning. After four innings, DK had thrown 85 pitches.

The Ol' Buzzards added a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. A lead-off walk to Flash - his third of the game - with his bad wheel (lower hamstring pull - left leg). Welzy ran for Kevin. Woody followed with a double down the left field line putting runners at second and third. One out later, TWelz scored on a fielder's choice by Mike 'Bake' Baker to make the score 8-2.

The three-hour time limit kicked-in and the game ended after seven innings with the score 8-2 Buzzards. A nice win after falling behind on the radio. The Buzzards have not lost a radio game.

Buzzard pitching and the defense were terrific. The offense only had seven hits, but enough timely ones with runners in scoring position, to win comfortably. Kephart, with family in attendance, pitched a seven-hitter giving up only the two runs in the first inning. Kep walked four and struck out eight in facing 31 batters and throwing 136 pitches (82 strikes & 54 balls).

The offense did score eight runs on seven hits. And the 12 walks certainly helped. The hit club for the game included: Donut, Evy (2), Honey Badger, Milli, Redondo, and Woody. The always crucial RBI's were knocked in (in order) by: Wookie, Donut, Colbert (2), Milli, Evy (2), and Bake. The Ol' Buzzards getting walk(er)s were: the Baron, Big Mac (2), Donut, Flash (3), Redondo, Weeder, Woody, and Wook (2).

Top notch Buzzard defense was shown in the first inning. Two runs had scored and a runner was in scoring position at second base. The next batter hit a screamer into deep right-center field that appeared to be falling in for a hit and roll to the fence. With a good angle to the ball, Flash raced a long way, but he still had to use his turbo booster to reach up and snag the ball just as the hamstring muscle went twang. Great catch and it saved a big inning, but the catch was kind of painful to watch as the left leg stiffened on the just-in-time reach-out to catch the ball.

Flash was receiving leg treatments in the dugout by team trainer, Milli, but there was no need to push it by playing in the outfield anymore. This hammy injury is in the lower left leg. Last year's major hammy injury in the Phoenix World Series was in the right leg. Heal quickly.

Keppie fielded his position well and had two nice assists from around the mound. Evy went to his knees in the second inning, on a tough hopper up the middle to field the ball and then threw out the runner at first. For the last out that inning, Evy went into short left field to catch a pop-up, looking into the sun then with a couple of back-pedals to make it look easy. With Flash in the dugout after the second inning,

Welzy moved from third to center and made two excellent catches in the fourth inning - both long running catches and looking toward the sun in the fourth inning. In the fifth with one on and one out, Welzy made another running catch of a sinking liner in right-center field to surprise the runner on first going to second. A nice catch followed by the throw to Bake at first base for the inning ending double-play was the only DP of the game for the Buzzards.

Excellent pitching, good defense and timely hitting was the recipe for a well done win. Good job Buzzards. Field clean-up and prep progressed while Honey Badger tended to the grill. Sausages and dogs with fixings and cold drinks followed. A couple of hours later and most were still sticking around enjoying the team and family gathering. The Buzzard curfew is dark and no beer, so at dark with no beer left, the remaining Buzzards dispersed. Another good day to be a Buzzard.

Buzzard Note #1: Thanks to our radio sponsors for their commercials. Granite Bay Energy, Keys Plus, NABA baseball, RAH Environmental, Sierra Carpet Care, Those Were The Days vintage clothes and antiques, Pioneer Costumes, and Welz Financial Services.

Buzzard Note #2: This Sunday's game is at El Camino High (El Camino and Eastern) at 2 o'clock against the Rancho Cordova Dodgers. The Valley Cats lost last week to the Mudville Nine 10-7. With three games left in the regular season, the Dragons are 15-2 (we play them in two weeks); Valley Cats 11-4-2; Buzzards 11-5-1; and coming on strong, the Mudville Nine at 10-6-1.

Buzzard Note #3: Thanks to Tony and Wook for the team gathering afterward and for the food and drink. Management thanks you for no mutiny, temper tantrums or getting caught drinking on school campuses again this year, so far. Your continued cooperation is appreciated. Thanks to Tony and his son, Chase, for the grilling and set-up and for the field prep along with Pete.

Buzzard Note #4: To make a copy of the radio game or to listen again, go to KAHI.com and cclick the Audio On Demand button, then select NABA Baseball 2012 and then download.