Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #6

Game: June 1, 2014

Ol' Buzzards come-back to top Red Sox, 8-6

On a nice June 1st afternoon, the Gold Country Buzzards hosted the Red Sox in their only meeting of the year. The league's inter-divisional schedule matched the 42+ Red Sox with the 52+ Buzzards for James Field at 2 pm. The Ol' Buzzards always look forward to playing the younger teams and usually do well. That extra competitive spirit kicks-in and appears to spark-up the Fightin' Buzzards.

The game time temps were in the mid-80s and there was a gentle breeze for perfect weather in Auburn for a baseball game. The starting pitcher for the visiting Red Sox was the wily veteran and hard-throwing right-hander, Louie 'Hammer' Hernandez #56. On the hill for the Buzzards and starting for the first time this season was the crafty righty, Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri #6.

The Red Sox got on the score board first with two runs in the top of the second inning. After two were out, a couple of 'seeing-eye' groundball singles found infield holes. The two runners scored on a blast to the fence in left-field. The long double was by the number nine batter in the order for an early 2-0 lead.

The Red Sox had good sticks throughout their line-up. After the Buzzards went seven up and six down in the first two innings, the Red Sox put two more runs on the score board in the third dig. A leadoff, short looping single into left-field by the bottom of their order was followed by two hard hit shots into left for base hits that scored one run. A sacrifice fly-out scored the second run before the Buzzards snuffed out the rally with two high infield pop-up outs.

Entering the bottom half of the third frame, the Buzzards found themselves down four to nothing to a good and clearly younger team. The Sox pitcher, Louie, was effectively dealing a variety of pitches and some with good heat, when Dave 'mMumbles' Kelley stepped to the plate to leadoff the third inning. mMumbles slapped a 2-1 pitch through the right-side for a single and put Louie in the stretch position for the rest of the inning. Barry 'Crush' Forman ran for 'limited lung capacity' Kelley.

After a strike-out, Mike 'Mickey' Wilson took a seven-pitch walk to put runners at first and second. After another strike-out, Louie's fourth in three innings, Taylor 'Welzy' Welz belted a first-pitch double to left that drove in Barry from second for the first run.

With runners at second and third and two outs, Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir sent a 1-1 pitch on a line into center-field for a big two-run single to score Mickey and Welzy. Next, Dave 'Evy' Everingham crushed an 0-1 pitch to the deep right-field corner for a triple to easily score a confused Wookie from first base.

On the play, the ball landed deep and near the right-field foul line and there was a slightly delayed call by the umps. The Red Sox second baseman, yelled 'foul ball' to Wook as he ran past him near second base. Usual baseball infield courtesies in the league do not include this level of deception, however, the oldest Buzzard believed the devilish opponent and stopped near the bag and turned-around, before the Buzzard dugout exploded with screaming advice to get moving. Wookie also rounded third base hesitantly because it took so long to get there, but the ball was still deep in relays as he took-off for home to tie the game at 4-4.

With the clean-up hitter, Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray at the plate, a wild pitch scored Evy from third to take a 5-4 lead. The Baron then smacked a 2-1 pitch into left-field for a hit and was thereby robbed of the ribbie by the wild pitch. A great Buzzard inning with three excellent two-out base hits to score runs.

The Fightin' Buzzards scored another run in the fifth frame to take a 6-4 lead. After a strike-out, Mickey hit a screamer into deep left-field for a nice double. After advancing to third on a ground-out to first base, Wilson easily scored on Welzy's double down the left-field line. Wook walked before Evy hit a long fly to right to end the inning on a nice running catch by the Red Sox right-fielder, whose real name is Eric Sex, #55. They called him 'Sexy'. It sounded strange on the field during the game.

Buzzard pitching combined with solid defense was doing an outstanding job of defusing the Red Sox' rallies. Of the 11 in their batting order, 10 impressively got base hits (two batters got two hits & a 12th batter was added mid-game). The Red Sox out hit the Buzzards 12 to 11 in the game. The Sox had runners on bases in every inning, except the fifth when Salmo struck-out the side on 14-pitches.

In the top of the sixth with one out and runners on second and first, Salmo was replaced on the mound by Welzy #26. On the first pitch, the clean-up hitter smashed a grounder toward third, Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny showed off his cat-like reflexes and scooped the ball, then took several steps to third base before stepping on the bag for the force and making an excellent throw to the Baron at first for a 'wow' double play to end the inning.

The Gold Country gang of 12 then scored two more runs in the seventh to increase the lead to four. mMumbles led-off for the second time with a solid single, this time to left field. Tom 'Tomahawk' Keatley then ran for Kelley. Batting next, Norm 'Burner' Tucker walked on seven-pitches, as Louie began to labor on the mound. Mickey then loaded the bases with a six-pitch free pass to first. After a strike-out, Welzy singled to right-center to send Tomahawk home.

The Red Sox then changed pitchers and brought in righty, Shane 'Slinger' Frieldt #33. Batting next, Wookie hit a slow bouncer to first base to score Burner from third and made the score 8-4 Buzzies after seven innings.

The Red Sox fought back with a run in the eighth inning to tighten the score. A lead-off single, then a wild pitch and walk were followed by two smooth infield plays by Wookie at second and Evy at shortstop to get the tough outs, but a run scored on a fielder's choice for an 8-5 score.

The pesky Sox went down fighting and battled for more runs in the ninth. The number three hitter led-off with a full-count blast to the left-field fence for a double. The clean-up hitter got his first hit of the game with a long single down the left-field line to drive in a run. The next batter hit a sharp grounder up-the-middle that appeared off-the-bat to be a base hit. Instead, Evy was positioned nearby to quickly snag the hot grounder near second base. An easy couple of steps to the bag and a strong throw to Pete at first base was a huge, rally killing double play that cleared the bases with two outs.

Up next, Mr. Sex swaggered to the plate and got his only hit of the game with a shot up the middle. The next batter hit a grounder to Evy and that ended the game on a flip to Wookie covering second base.

The nine-inning contest was a three-hour and five minute affair with the final score: Buzzards 8 and the Red Sox 6. Both teams played well, but the Buzzards played a little bit better and came back from an early four-run deficit to prevail. A fabulous win by the Ol' Buzzards. It made the cold beer after the game taste even better.

The Buzzard pitching was solid and did a great job of stifling the high-octane, quick-bats offense of the Red Sox. Salmeri started the game and lasted until one out in the sixth. In his first win of the season, Rick faced 26 batters and threw 81 pitches (51 strikes & 30 balls). Salmo gave up four runs on seven hits with two walks and four strike-outs. Salmo also struck-out the side swinging in the fifth inning. Welzy relieved Rick in the sixth and got the one-pitch double play grounder to Surf Dawg for the best inning-ending play of the season. Taylor finished the game with the save and faced 16 batters while throwing 56 pitches (35 strikes & 21 balls) in 3 2/3rds innings. Welzy gave up two runs on five hits with two walks. Terrific pitching, good defense and timely offense won this game.

The Fightin' Buzzards offense effectively banged out 8 runs on 11 hits and 7 walks. The hit club for the game was limited to six players and included: Baron, Evy, Mickey, mMumbles (3), Welzy (3), and Wook (2). The seven ribbies were knocked in by: Evy, Welzy (3) and Wook (3). The always important runs were scored in the books by: Evy, Burner, Mickey (2), mMumbles (2), Welzy and Wookie. Forman and Keatley ran for Kelley in his three-hit game. The seven 'eagle-eyed' Buzzards getting on-base via walks included: Burner, Evy, Mickey (2), Milli, Salmo, and Wookie. Interestingly, just three Buzzards had multiple hits and those three got eight of the total 11 hits or about 75% of the offense.

The hot sticks were swung by mMumbles with three hits and two runs scored, Welzy with three hits (one double), one run scored and three RBIs, and Wookie with two hits, one run, and three ribbies. The four extra-base hits were a beautiful thing to watch. Welzy had doubles in the third and fifth innings scoring and knocking in runs. Mickey's double in the fifth led to a run and was followed by Welzy's double. And not to be forgotten was Evy's huge two-out long triple in the third that tied the game at 4-4.

The Buzzard defense was solid as usual. The only error occurred ironically on the first play of the game as a throw from the shortstop popped-out of the Baron's mitt. After that play, there were no more errors and a bunch of good plays to consistently dampen any thought of a big Red Sox rally. The two double plays came at opportune times and really helped the cause. Surf Dawg's huge play at third to end the sixth, and Evy's smooth looking double play in the ninth showed those young whipper-snappers that the Ol' Buzzards still got it. Both of the plays were key and shut-down the Red Sox and were the defensive plays of the game.

Surf Dawg also speared a scorcher down the third base line to end the seventh. With two on and two outs, Gregg back-handed the flame ball and then attempted to tag the runner. The runner, trying to avoid a tag (it was close), went out of the base path and was declared out by the infield ump. There were three of those dangerous high pop-ups and all were handled easily by the infield. Welzy's and Evy's catches in the third inning and the Baron's nice catch in foul territory in the fourth frame hurt the Sox' rally chances.

There was only one fly-ball out, Barry's catch of a sacrifice fly in the third. The outfield chased a few too many deep drives for base hits, while the rest of the outs were made in the infield. The tough Buzzard infield had 15 assists and the Baron had 13 putouts at first base for a solid game. This was another nice win and a great start to the season, 6-0. The last Buzzard loss was on July 28, 2013 against the Astros at James Field. That's 12 victories in a row since then. No jinx, just the facts.

It's good to be a Buzzard.

Buzzard Note #1: The Radio Game is coming up later this month. At James Field on June 29th the game against the Miners will be broadcast live on KAHI 950AM and on the internet at kahi.com. We will follow the A's game on the station. This is an event for the wives, family and girl friends to be invited. The game will be from 2 to 5 with the bbq ribs and fixings to be served soon thereafter in the picnic area. The Gold Country bbq with the Miners will be similar to last year's good time. The cost is to be determined and will be based on how many sponsors the team can get to cover the costs for the game and bbq. More details to come and mark your calendars at home.

Buzzard Note #2: It was interesting having all of those college age players and coaches watching the ol' guys play as they got ready for their later game. Several complimentary remarks were made and over-heard. The Summer Collegiate Baseball - Auburn Wildcats beat the Sacramento M's 17-5 in the later game. Mike's son Andrew plays on the Wildcats again this year.

Buzzard Note #3: This Sunday's game is at 2 pm against the 42+ Dodgers at C-Bar-C Park in Citrus Heights. The plan is to go to Felipe's' after the game.