The Phat Monkees

The Manhattan Beach Little League will host the 2007 Section 4 - Baseball 9 & 10 All Star Tournament at Marine Sports Complex located at 1751 Marine Avenue. The games will begin July 14th. The 2007 Section 4 - Baseball 10 & 11 Year Old All Star Tournament will be hosted by the Culver City Little League. The tournament is played at 9800 Jefferson Blvd and begins on Saturday, July 14th. Manhattan 11's will play at 11am vs. San Pedro East View.

July 12: Will Proctor might have been bloodied in the pre-game, but never came close to being bowed, pitching a five-hit gem to lead the Manhattan Beach 9-10 Baseball All-Stars to a 2-1 victory over El Segundo to take the District 36 title Thursday night. The team’s youngest player, Proctor was unfazed after attempting to stop an errant warm-up throw with his nose, bloodying both ball and his face. His opponents may well have wished him worse for that wear, as Proctor dusted himself off, ascended the mound, and shut El Segundo out over five innings of masterful work. "I wanted to keep pitching," an ebullient Proctor said after the game. "Before the game, I was just thinking about pitching strikes, and that’s kind of what happened." It had been years since Manhattan Beach Little League could claim a District championship, but this was to be a special night as both the 9-10 Baseball All-Stars and the 10-11 Baseball All-Stars took District 36 titles within hours of one another. "This feels very, very great. It’s really unbelievable," noted an enthusiastic Kyle Grafton of the 9-10 All-Stars squad. "We now get to play at our home field in Manhattan Beach for the Sectionals, and it’s great to be coming home as the District champs." The 9-10 Sectionals tournament begins this Saturday at the Marine Complex with an early 10 a.m. contest, followed by the MB Lumber Company taking the field for its first Sectionals game at 1 p.m. Manhattan Beach went up 1-0 in the top of the first when lead-off man Duncan McKinnon singled the second pitch of the game sharply down the third base line. El Segundo starter Noah Stone, who was equally as impressive as Proctor, hit Will Deseran in the helmet two pitches later to advance McKinnon to second. Catcher Jason Clebowicz then singled to left, loading the bases with nobody out and threatening a big inning. But then clean-up hitter Dylan Tyrer sky-ed a pop-up in foul ground to the third baseman, and left fielder Zack Loversky grounded to second with a fielder’s choice that scored McKinnon. In a heads-up play, El Segundo first baseman Alex Rios threw the ball quickly to second base, catching Clebowicz who had strayed from the bag for an inning-ending double play. El Segundo came back in the bottom of the first with singles by Lars Noosbaar, Dean Abramson and Nick Karsseboom saddled around two foul-pops to third. With two outs, Proctor enticed Griffin Martes into a ground out to short to end the threat with no runs in and three men left on base for El Segundo. Manhattan Beach threatened again in the second with a single, fielder’s choice and Stone’s second hit batsman of the contest, but Stone got Duncan McKinnon to fly out to the centerfielder to end the inning without any runs. Proctor began to cruise at that point, setting the El Segundo line-up down in order in the second, and then giving up only one hit in another scoreless third. Manhattan touched Stone for one unearned run in its own half of the third, when Will Deseran singled and then advanced to second on a throwing error by the right fielder and then another error on the shortstop left him atop third with nobody out. He scored when Clebowicz hit the next pitch into left field for an RBI single. Kyle Grafton forced Clebowicz at second; Zack Loversky advanced Grafton with a single; and Mitchell Myer hit a soft liner to shortstop Lars Noosbaar to end the inning. Proctor began the fourth with a strike out, but then yielded a single to catcher Griffin Martes, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. Proctor walked pinch hitter Zack Edwards on four pitches and appeared to be tiring. The next batter Joey Garza forced Proctor into a full count, but Proctor retired Garza with a high fastball strikeout and got the next hitter, Tanner Stevens, to force out Edwards in a grounder to shortstop McKinnon. Manhattan Beach, meanwhile, went down relatively quietly in its own fourth and fifth innings, as Grafton was the only one to break through with a single just behind the bag at third base to dislodge the monkey riding his back for the prior few games. Proctor took a 2-0 lead into the fifth, when he would face the top of the El Segundo order. He walked lead-off man Alex Rios, who was immediately eliminated at second on a subsequent bounce-back to Proctor, the pitcher. With one away and a man on first, Proctor walked El Segundo third baseman Dean Abramson. That was it for Proctor, as Manhattan Beach went to reliever Dylan Tyrer to try to get the next two hitters and preserve the lead. Tyrer went 0-2 on the first batter, clean-up hitter Noah Stone, but then saw a nice 3-2 offering called ball four to send Stone to first. Nick Karsseboom rapped a clean single up the middle to score Noosbaar and log the one blemish to Proctor’s score sheet. Duncan McKinnon relieved Tyrer, who switched to the catcher’s position, sending Jason Clebowicz to shortstop. McKinnon struck out the next batter, and then Noah Bergren bounced what looked like a sure single over the outstretched glove of the third baseman, but Clebowicz made a strong play to get to the ball, throw to third and force the lead runner to retire the side with no more damage. Manhattan Beach went one-two-three in its top half of the sixth, setting up a dramatic one-run ball game and last opportunity for El Segundo. Ben Holt lined the first pitch from McKinnon hard to right field, but right at Will Proctor who made the catch. Pinch hitter Tanner Stevens bounced a 1-2 pitch to Manhattan Beach second baseman Nathaniel Johnson, setting up the final hope for El Segundo in the form of always-dangerous lead-off man Alex Rios. Rios jumped on the first pitch, but the fly ball settled into the waiting glove of left fielder Zack Loversky for the final out, and the Manhattan Beach celebration – and march onto the Sectionals – was on. In a true sign of sportsmanship, and the tone Manager McKinnon sets for his team, Loversky went to Rios and bumped fists as a measure of consolation and mutual respect for a hard-fought three-game championship series. Manhattan Beach took the first game of the series 11-7 and then El Segundo came back to take the second 10-5. With Manhattan Beach’s 2-1 victory in the third and rubber game of the contest the teams wound up scoring the exact same number runs, 18-18, over the three-game tilt. Winning Manager Mike McKinnon, coaches Chuck Myer and Mark Deseran, were joined on the post-game field by Manhattan Beach Vice President of Baseball Mark MacDonald who had customized District Champion shirts for all of the coaches and boys. McKinnon handed out candy cigars, and the entire squad took a well-deserved victory lap around the outfield, carrying the District 36 championship banner, as the El Segundo parents, coaches and team also applauded. "Good luck in the Sectionals," the El Segundo announcer shouted, "You’ll be representing us all." __________________________________________________________________________________ July 10: El Segundo Holds off Manhattan Beach 9-10 Baseball All-Stars to Force Deciding Game By Max Mercy The Manhattan Beach 9-10 Baseball All-Stars went to a 0-2 count on the El Segundo lead-off man in the top of the first, only to have Alex Rios single sharply to left in what was certainly a premonition to the rest of the game. Manhattan Beach came into the contest having defeated El Segundo Sunday afternoon to send them to the consolation brackets, meaning El Segundo had to play Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to have any hope of the District 36 championship. But El Segundo was more than up for the challenge, getting timely hits and scoring six runs with two outs in the top of the third to break the game open 9-1. The early advantage proved too much for Manhattan Beach, which battled back with a spirited relief performance by pitcher Ryan Verbeist, who locked up the El Segundo bats for the entire second half of the game. El Segundo starting pitcher Dean Abramson was equally as formidable for the game’s first half, holding the dangerous Manhattan Beach Lumber Company to only one run on one hit through the first three innings. Manhattan Beach starter Will Deseran worked several long pitch counts, but was touched for only three runs through the first two innings, and got the first two outs to begin the third. But then El Segundo broke it open with a five-hit, six-run barrage as two singles, wrapped around an error, loaded the bases for lead-off man Rios who delivered a long double over the leftfielder’s head to bring everyone home. El Segundo followed with another two singles, scoring two more, and Deseran ran out of steam and the maximum 75-pitch limit at the same time. He was relieved by Will Proctor, who came in and pitched one pitch, enticing El Segundo’s Noah Stone into the elusive third out when he grounded to second baseman Nathaniel Johnson. Manhattan Beach could not answer back in the bottom of the inning, going one-two-three and looking for all intents and purposes as if El Segundo was going to pad its lead and cruise to a lop-sided win. But then Ryan Verbeist – who had yet to pitch in the tournament – took the mound. Verbeist carried Manhattan Beach the rest of the way, giving them at least an outside opportunity to bounce back, as he allowed only one unearned run on two hits and three strikeouts for the rest of the game. That comeback began to materialize in the bottom of the fourth when Dylan Tyrer made his first trip to the plate and lashed a long double to right center. Mitchell Myer coaxed a walk, and Proctor grounded to short to force out Myer but score Matt Beuder, who was pinch-running for Tyrer, making it 9-2. Another Manhattan Beach error to begin the third put a man on first to open the fifth, and he ultimately came around on a single to make it 10-2, going into the bottom of the frame. Manhattan Beach’s one-man gang NJ Johnson opened the inning, popping out to the catcher Nick Karsseboom who made an outstanding catch in foul ground. Trying to shake things up, Manhattan Beach manager Mike McKinnon called for a bunt from his son Duncan, who executed perfectly and wound up on first base. Deseran followed with a single, and El Segundo starter Dean Abramson hit the maximum 75-pitch limit and gave way to reliever Alex Rios, who’d shut Manhattan Beach down the prior game. But catcher Jason Clebowicz greeted Rios with a single, loading the bases for the heart of the Manhattan Beach order. Clean-up hitter Ryan “Chief” Kawahara coaxed a walk to force in McKinnon, and then Tyrer worked the count full before drawing his own walk to force in teammate Deseran, making it 10-4 with the bases still full. Manhattan Beach first baseman Mitchell Myer tapped back to the pitcher Rios, however, who threw home to force Clebowicz with the second out, and the next batter struck out to end the inning. Rios then worked a scoreless sixth to preserve the El Segundo victory, allowing but only one hit to Manhattan Beach’s Johnson, who extended his tournament hitting streak to five games. Manhattan Beach and El Segundo will now tangle for the third and deciding game Thursday night at 7 p.m. at George Brett Field in El Segundo. Manhattan Beach took the first game 11-7 and El Segundo roared back to win the rematch 10-5, which promises a tight championship contest. __________________________________________________________________________________ July 8: Manhattan Beach 9-10 Baseball All-Stars to Play for District Title By Max Mercy Led by a clutch performance by shortstop-turned-reliever Duncan McKinnon, Manhattan Beach’s 9 and 10-year old Baseball All-Stars put seven runs on the board in the first two innings and held on to win 11-7 over a spirited El Segundo squad to advance to the District 36 tournament championship. McKinnon paced the Manhattan Beach attack with two runs scored in the first two innings, and came in to pitch with one out in the fifth in a one-run ball game. Taking over a 3-2 count to one batter, McKinnon enticed a ground out and then retired three of the next five to earn the save. “I didn’t really want to pitch,” McKinnon said after the game, “but it really felt good to get this win. I think we have a pretty good chance to win [the District championship] on Tuesday because we have a good team.” Dylan Tyrer started for Manhattan Beach, working one and two-thirds, allowing three runs on five singles. He was relieved by Bowen Boulliane, who made his third consecutive relief appearance. Boulliane pitched another solid two and a-third innings, giving up three runs on three hits. Neither Tyrer nor Boullaine trailed once their own teammates came to the plate. After allowing one run to begin the first, Manhattan Beach came back to plate three in the bottom of the inning, as El Segundo starter Lars Noosbaar walked the bases full and Tyrer’s squib single found eyes to pass first and drive in two en route to a 3-1 lead. Manhattan Beach fell one batter shy of hitting around in the second, as Matt Beuder, Nathaniel Johnson, McKinnon, Will Deseran and Boulliane all singled. But then El Segundo began chipping away, scoring once in the third and twice more in the fourth and once again to open the fifth, as El Segundo reliever Alex Rios quieted the Manhattan Beach bats. El Segundo came as close as 8-7 and threatened more in the fifth when McKinnon relieved Jason Clebowicz. Clebowicz was quite literally all over the field Sunday afternoon, beginning the game as catcher before hurting his hand and moving to left field. That led to a move to right field, back to catcher for a brief moment, on to pitch to begin the fifth, and then to shortstop to exchange places with McKinnon. En route, Clebowicz and McKinnon teamed on a brilliant play with El Segundo runners on first and third to end a threat in the fourth. The El Segundo runner on first broke for second, and Clebowicz came up firing. McKinnon cut the ball off between the mound and second base and fired back to Clebowicz at the plate to retire the man attempting to score from third. In one of the game’s other highlights, Boullaine came in to pinch run for Mitchell Myer who drew a walk to put two Manhattan Beach men on to start the bottom of the fifth. A wild pitch moved Boulliane to third, where Nathanial Johnson hit a sharp ground ball. Boulliane was caught off the bag but broke for home, with El Segundo attempting to catch him in a run-down. The ball went back and forth between catcher and third, pitcher and short covering third and then back to the catcher and third baseman once more. But the third baseman for El Segundo bobbled the ball for just a moment, and the quick Boulaine was able to score. It proved the difference as Manhattan Beach broke open a 8-7 contest in the bottom of the fifth, scoring another two runs behind Boulliane, and McKinnon worked a scoreless sixth to post a final 11-7 victory. Manhattan Beach's 9 and 10-year-old All Stars will play the El Segundo All Stars on Tuesday evening at 7:00pm at El Segundo’s George Brett Field. ___________________________________________________________________________________ July 5: Manhattan Beach 9-10 All-Stars Advance to District Winner’s Bracket Final By: Max Mercy El SEGUNDO, Calif. -- With the clock nearing 10 pm. Thursday night, Nathaniel “NJ” Johnson drove home teammate Matthew Beuder with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the final inning, propelling Manhattan Beach’s 9-10 All-Stars to a 4-3 win over a never-say-die Lunada Bay squad and into the winner’s bracket final in El Segundo Sunday afternoon. Beuder battled back from a 0-2 count with one out in the bottom of the sixth to lash a seeing-eye double down the leftfield line, bounding into second with a stand-up double. In what would prove the difference, Beuder advanced to third on the next pitch when Lunada Bay reliever Lance Brown bounced a wild pitch to the back stop. Beuder then scored when Johnson drove a 3-0 pitch into mid-centerfield to score Beuder by inches in a dramatic play at the plate. Johnson stands tall in having yet to have been retired in the entire District Tournament, going six for six with three walks and tonight’s game-winning sacrifice. “They were a very good team, but in the end, it came down to who was able to do the little things, and that’s really why we were able to win,” said Manhattan Beach starting pitcher Will Deseran, who drew a hard-luck no-decision after going four innings, yielding only one unearned run on two hits with three strikeouts. Lunada Bay entered the winners’ bracket semi on the heels of a convincing 7-0 shutout of Palos Verdes last weekend. Manhattan Beach entered the game having outscored its prior two opponents – Redondo Central and Hermosa Beach – by a combined 23-3 tally. Manhattan Beach jumped on top in the second, stringing together a two-out rally to bat around and score three. NJ Johnson knocked in two of the runs with a single and Duncan McKinnon had the other RBI with a sharp single to right. The Manhattan Beach defense proved to be reliable with three nice catches by centerfielder Zach Loversky and a beautiful force play at 2nd base from first baseman Mitchell Meyer to SS Duncan McKinnon to cut down the lead runner. As usual, Jason Clebowicz was steady behind the plate and did not allow a stolen base. Deseran cruised from there, allowing only one Lunada Bay single, only to have catcher Jason Clebowicz eliminate that runner trying to steal to end the second inning. But in the fourth, Deseran showed signs of tiring, walking Lunada Bay lead-off man Sam Crocker on four pitches, who came around to score on two throwing errors and a Deseran wild pitch. Manhattan Beach fireballer Will Proctor came on in relief in the fifth and struck out two of the three Lunada Bay players he faced. But Lunada rallied back in the final frame, as lead-off man Sam Crocker’s double and consecutive hits by catcher David McCann and starting pitcher Alex Lowe relieved Proctor of his mound duties. Manhattan Beach’s Bowen Boullaine came in to close his second straight game and shut the door on Lunada Bay’s rally, inducing a ground out and then striking out his two final batters, before Beuder and Johnson’s bottom-of-the-sixth heroics rewarded him with the hard-earned win. Manhattan Beach now faces El Segundo in the winner’s bracket final of the District Tournament Sunday at 1 p.m. at George Brett Field in El Segundo. El Segundo held on for a 16-15 win over Rolling Hills in the first game of the twi-night doubleheader to earn its place in the final. ____________________________________________________________________________________ July 2nd: MB 9-10 All-Stars Advance in El Segundo District Competition By: Max Mercy El SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Manhattan Beach’s 9-10 All-Stars rode the right arm of starting pitcher Dylan Tyrer and clutch hitting of second baseman Nathaniel Johnson to a workmanlike 11-1 victory over Hermosa Beach in an abbreviated five innings Monday evening. Manhattan Beach won its second District tournament game in as many outings by outscoring its opponent by more than ten runs before the sixth inning, and advances to play Lunada Bay Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. at El Segundo’s George Brett Field. Tyrer (1-0) worked three scoreless, no-hit innings, notching six strikeouts before Hermosa Beach broke through in the top of the fourth with three hits to knot the score at 1-1 heading to the bottom of the inning. Hermosa’s Spencer Baklar, who had matched Tyrer with a one-run performance, finally yielded as the cool Manhattan Beach bats broke out for eight runs to end the frame. Second baseman NJ Johnson continued his torrid tournament hitting with a sharp single to center to lead off the bottom of the fourth, making him five-for-five in tournament play to date. Shortstop Duncan McKinnon followed with a bunt single on the next pitch, setting the table for catcher Jason Clebowitz whose single plated both teammates. Tyrer helped his cause with another long single to center, advancing Clebowitz to third and knocking out Baklar. New Hermosa pitcher Max Miller induced Manhattan outfielder Zack Loversky into a ground ball that found its way past Hermosa’s shortstop who – like many others throughout the evening – played hard luck with the waning sunlight and infield shadows. Pinch runner Ryan Verbeist scored on a pass ball, and Loversky came home when Bowen Boullaine singled sharply to center, advancing to second and then to third on successive wild pitches. Matt Beuder drew a walk and stole second, and Manhattan first baseman Will Proctor grounded to second, scoring the speedy Boullaine, with Hermosa’s Miller yielding the mound to Ben Verbrugge. After a walk to “Nails” Johnson, Verbrugge enticed McKinnon into a fly out to right to end the big inning. Tyrer left the mound for right field to begin the fifth, allowing only one run on three hits, two walks and six strike outs. Boullaine entered to retire three of the next four batters, allowing only one walk to Hermosa starting pitcher Baklar. Manhattan took up where it left off in the bottom of the fifth, as Clebowicz and Tyrer drew walks, followed by a run-scoring single by Loversky. Loversky moved into scoring position, and Tyrer scored immediately after on a wild pitch to make it 9-1. Boullaine walked and moved to second, and Proctor walked to fill the bases. Johnson – who’d begun the inning – came up yet again, and walked to force in another run and place the early ending in sight with the recently shorn Boullaine at third base. Boullaine, known for his long blond locks, earlier this week donated his hair to help people battling cancer and whose treatments cause them premature hair loss. Hermosa Beach went to the bullpen once more, only to have new pitcher Will Lauritson entice Manhattan shortstop McKinnon hit a soft grounder to short that again caught a glint of sunlight and forced Hermosa into an error to end the contest. Game star Johnson and pitcher Tyrer both remained unequivocal in summarizing the contest, saying they were pleased with the outcome but could improve their team performance with more consistency as tournament play moves forward. “It wasn’t our best game, but it shows that we’re a pretty good team because we rallied in the late innings,” Tyrer told this publication in an exclusive post-game interview from his home in Manhattan Beach. ___________________________________________________________________________________ June 30th: The MLL 9/10 All Star team started the District Tournament with a convincing 12-2 victory over Central Redondo in El Segundo on Saturday afternoon. El SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The game was well played by both teams, but the MLL Stars just had too many big bats and overwhelmed the CRLL Stars with seven extra base hits. In the bottom of the 1st inning, Duncan McKinnon lead off the game with a bunt single. After he was forced at 2nd base on a nice play by the CRLL shortstop, Jason Clebowicz drove home Will Deseran with a double. With two down, Zach Loversky walked, and Matt Beuder drove home Jason with an infield single. Mitchell Meyer drove home two more runs with a double and Kyle Grafton drove home Mitchell with an RBI single. A triple from Nathaniel "NJ" Johnson drove home Kyle and Duncan added a 7th run on a run scoring single. The MLL bats went silent until the bottom of the 3rd inning when back to back doubles from Dylan Tyrer and NJ lead to two runs. CRLL fought back with single runs in the 4th and 5th inning, but MLL added three runs in the bottom of the 5th inning by Dylan Tyrer, Will Deseran, and Jason Clebowicz to claim victory by virtue of the mercy rule. Starting pitcher, Will Deseran pitched three scoreless innings for the win and Jason Clebowicz and Bowen Bouilliane finished up the last two innings. The MLL 9/10 Stars play again on Monday night (5pm) versus Hermosa Beach at recreation Park in El Segundo. El Segundo Little League is a great tournament host and Recreation park is a beautiful facility. Please come out and cheer the boys on.

The Manhattan beach Junior All Stars captured the District 36 title on Wednesday night with a convincing 9-1 victory over Central Redondo Little League. The Manhattan Juniors travel to North Venice for the Sectional tournament (directions below). Game time is 2pm. Junior Tournament hosted by Hermosa Beach started with a bang by our boys beating Hermosa 20-2 Friday night. Bret Collins pitched a complete game giving up 3 hits, and a couple of unearned runs. Great hitting from top to bottom, the boys pounded out 8 extra base hits. The next morning the kids had to face a tough Redondo Beach team but prevailed 14-4. Great pitching by Sean Issacs left the Redondo players in a daze, and left the game for Chase Madden to close it out. Once again, the hitting was well balanced from top to bottom in the lineup. Manhattan finally got a rest until Wednesday night when they took on Redondo for the Championship. Chase Madden started and pitched 5 strong innings and turned the ball over to Steven Kuckowitz in the 6th inning with bases loaded and he got out of the inning by giving up a sac fly, and striking out two. In the top of 7th inning Steven came out firing and the closed the game out with 3 quick outs on 11 pitches. Final score in the Championship game was 9-1. Directions to the North Venice fields can be found at the attached link. www.northvenice.org/nvll/information/directions.html

July 9: You could hang out at the Little League fields for another fifty years and never see it happen again. One father called it the equivalent of being hit by lightening and winning the lottery at the same time. Ahead by a score of 6-2 in the sixth inning, with two out, no one on, and two strikes on the Silver Spur #9 hitter, the Manhattan 12's saw their lead disappear within ten pitches on a double, home run, home run and another home run. They did re-group to get the final out of the sixth. Only to lose the game on the second pitch of the seventh inning on another home run. The final score was Silver Spur 7....Manhattan 6. None of the Manhattan 12s can hang their heads. They played an error free game with Travis Bradford contributing two highlight plays in center field. In fact, the only place the Silver Spur batters could hit the ball, where the Manhattan boys didn't catch it, was over the fence. All the Silver Spur runs scored via the home run. The pitchers didn't hang easy pitches. The Silver Spur hitters hit good pitches over the fence. It was truly a herculean effort by the entire Silver Spur team. The game started well for the Manhattan 12s. In the top of the first, they jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Travis Bradford lead off the game with a double. A Jack Hadley single and Braden Casady single scored Travis. And then Jackson Casady hit a three run home run for a 4-0 lead. Manhattan loaded the bases a second time in the inning, but couldn't score. It looked good for Manhattan at this point, as the #1 pitcher for the Silver Spur team, MacKenzie Menthem, needed to throw 49 pitches to escape the inning. He reached his 85 pitch limit in the third inning. Gordon Cardenas was pitching for Manhattan and he had an easy first inning. He gave up a single runs in the second and fourth on, what else, home runs. After four innings, Manhattan was up 4-2. Travis' thumb injury had forced him to give up catching and he moved to the outfield. Christian Herrera caught the fourth and C Mac caught the fifth and sixth. In the fifth inning, the Manhattan 12s tagged on two more runs. Carter Casady lead off with a single followed by an Austin Schoff single. With two out, Travis Bradford drove home a run with a single. Austin scored the sixth run on a wild pitch. Gordon went to the mound in the 5th. He retired the first two hitters before reaching his pitch count limit. Carter Casady came in and recorded the final out. The sixth started well. Travis make a circus catch on a line drive to center field. After a second out ,it got weird. On a 0-2 count, the #9 hitter for Silver Spur hit a ball to right field. He was almost thrown out trying to stretch the single into a double. This brought up the heart of the Silver Spur line-up. They are big boys who can stand eye to eye with grown men. Perhaps the Manhattan boys are just small. Silver Spur had shown their quick strike capability when they had mercied PV in four innings by a score of 13-0 with six home runs. The lead off hitter , Josh Norwood, hit a home run to make the score 6-4. The next hitter, Jack Seaton fell down 0-2, but then hit a home run that barely cleared the center field fence. Jack Hadley came in to pitch. On his first pitch, Ryan Fuhrman hit a home run that, again, just cleared the center field fence. Manhattan recovered to get the final out. In the top of the seventh, they were obviously pressing as they went down easily. On the second pitch of the seventh inning, Silver Spur hitter, Max McHugh, hit a Jack Hadley knuckleball over the center field fence. The Manhattan players will recover quickly, as they are 12-years old and they have a lot of baseball in front of them. And no one was to blame. They made good pitches and fielded every ball that stayed in the park. It will take longer for the coaches to recover, but again they did a great job. It was just meant to happen. The Silver Spur team demonstrated their quick strike offensive ability the next night with three more home runs and a 11-7 win over Lunada Bay. For the tournament, the Manhattan 12s placed third. They ended up playing the three best teams in the tournament and knocked two of them into the losers bracket. Their other loss was to Lunada Bay, who will play for the championship tonight. Congrats to the boys and thank you to the coaches, Tim Bradford, Gus Cardenas and John Whitaker, for a job well done. ___________________________________________________________________________________ July 8: The Manhattan 12-Year Old All Stars gave it everything they had, but came up short versus a very strong Lunada Bay All Star team on Sunday afternoon. The final score of the game was 5-3. Hope is not lost as the Manhattan 12-year Old All Stars can still fight back through the consolation bracket. They play again on Monday night at 7pm versus Silver Spur at the Marine Complex. The game was scoreless through three innings. Philip Prendergast was pitching well for the Manhattan Stars and he was supported with a strong fielding effort by the Manhattan team. Jack Hadley turned an unassisted double play to get the Manhattan team off the field in the first and Travis Bradford threw out a runner in the second. At the plate, the Manhattan 12s were frustrated, leaving a runner at 2nd in the first inning and the bases loaded in the second. In the top of the 4th, Manhattan again loaded the bases on two walks and an error. Austin Schoff put Manhattan up 3-0 with a bases clearing double. The lead was short lived. In the bottom of the 4th a single and back to back home runs tied the game. Philip, closed out the inning. Grant Southwood came on to pitch the bottom of the 5th inning. Lunada put two more runs on the board on a single, walk, error and a double. Manhattan fought hard, but couldn't put any runs on the board. ____________________________________________________________________________________ July 5: The Manhattan 12-Year Old All Stars persevered for a hard fought victory over a very good Silver Spur team on Thursday night at the Marine Complex. The game was decided on a two-out, walk-off, double by Jackson Casady in the 7th inning. The final score was Manhattan 3.....Silver Spur 2. The Manhattan 12-Year Old All Stars play again on Sunday at 1pm. All the District 36 All Star games are at the Marine Complex. Gordon Cardenas started the game for Manhattan strong, striking out four over the first two innings. In Manhattan's bottom of the second, with two down, Braden Casady walked. Philip Prendergast lined a triple to left field to score Braden. Philip then scored on a wild pitch. Manhattan was in position to do more damage after consecutive singles by Greg Whitaker and Travis Bradford followed by a Jack Hadley walk. But Jackson Casady struck out with the bases loaded. In the third inning, Manhattan had two more hits from Jack Dulgarian and Gordo. But pinch runner Christian Herrera was thrown out trying to score on a wild pitch and Gordon was thrown out trying to stretch his single into a double. In Silver Spur's top of the 4th, an error and two walks (the second one intentional) loaded the bases with two out. But the next Silver Spur hitter grounded out to 3rd baseman C Mac ending the threat. Gordon was cruising along in the top of the 5th after a strikeout and a nice play on a foul ball by first baseman Carter Casady. A single by Ryan Fuhrman and a two run home run by Jack Seaton tied the game in a flash. Gordon bounced back to strikeout the Silver Spur clean up hitter. In the bottom of the 5th, more base running problems hurt Manhattan. Shortstop Jack Hadley was hit by a pitch to start the inning. On a wild pitch, Jack was thrown out at 2nd base on a close play. To make matters worse, Jack was hurt on the play and needed to leave the game. A strike out and ground out ended the inning for Manhattan. Carter Casady came on to pitch for Manhattan in the top of the 6th and held Silver Spur hitless over the last two innings. The game moved into extra innings. In the bottom of the 7th, the first two Manhattan hitters went down easily. Travis Bradford drew a walk and moved up to second on a wild pitch. Austin Schoff walked to bring Jackson Casady to the plate. On a 0-1 pitch he lined a double into the right field gap to score Travis. In the game, Gordo pitched five innings giving up four hits, three walks and two runs. He struck out eight. Carter pitched the final two innings. He didn't allow a hit or walk and struck out four. In the field, C Mac, Greg Whitaker and Carter Casady contributed great plays. Travis also threw out a runner trying to steal. For much of the game, luck or fate didn't appear to be on Manhattan's side. But the boys kept battling and pulled out a tough victory over a very good team. ____________________________________________________________________________________ June 30th: The MLL 12-year old All Stars started their District Tournament with a well played win against a tough Palos Verdes team. The final score was 9-1 in a game that was much closer than the score showed. It was a team victory with every boy contributing with either their glove or bat. Grant Southwood was on the mound for Manhattan and found himself in immediate trouble after a double and single. The PV runner at first base tried to take an extra base, and was caught in a run down by catcher Travis Bradford. When the runner at third broke for home, Travis threw to Grant for the out at home. There was still more trouble as PV loaded the bases with two out. Third baseman Gordon "Gordo" Cardenas made a nice play on a grounder to get Manhattan out of the inning. In the bottom of the first, Travis doubled and scored on a clutch two out hit by Gordo. Again in the top of the second inning PV had runners on 2nd and 3rd with two out. This time third baseman Christian " C Mac" Macdonald made the play to close out the inning. PV tied the score at one in the top of the 3rd, but Manhattan grabbed the lead right back in the bottom of the 3rd on a Jack Hadley walk, stolen base and a single by Jackson Casady. In the bottom of the 4th, Manhattan broke the game open. Gordo and Grant lead off the inning with singles. Braden Casady doubled in two runs to push Manhattan's lead to 4-1. A Philip Prendergast single scored Braden. Philip was caught stealing. After an Austin Schoff walk and a single by Travis, Jack Hadley sent a ball down the first base line for a two run triple. Jack scored on a wild pitch to bring the score to 8-1. Manhattan added its 9th run in the bottom of the 5th when Braden was hit by a pitch, Philip walked and Greg Whitaker singled. Grant pitched four innings of one run ball for the win, with Philip throwing two innings for the save. Jack Hadley turned an unassisted double play to get the Manhattan team off the field in the 5th inning. Philip, Grant and Jackson all made nice plays in the outfield. Jack Dulgarian and Carter Casady handled all the throws at first base. The Manhattan 11/12 All Stars play again on Thursday, July 5th, at 5pm against the tough Silver Spur team. All the of the District 36 All Star games are at the Marine Complex.

I’ve arrived at an important decision. I’m giving away my three tickets to see professional baseball’s All-Star Game this Tuesday night to attend my son Dylan’s Manhattan Beach 9-10-year-old Baseball All-Star Final in El Segundo instead. That might seem an easy decision – a dad’s obligation to his son and all – yet it was a little more difficult in my case. To me, the MLB All-Star Game represents a true awe and appreciation for baseball that links little boys and professionals alike. It’s where people who love baseball – the game of baseball – see the game’s true titans spend three hours in mutual admiration and admonishment to personally strive to be the epitome of their game. No father should ever watch an All-Star Game without his son, because every dad aspires to have his son perceive excellence, achieve excellence and – somehow, please, some way – see that there’s some very small measure of excellence in the Old Man that he might hope to have passed along. So six months or so ago, I thought I’d try to tap three seats to the MLB All-Star Game in San Francisco so my sons and I could see our very first All-Star Game firsthand. I’d have gotten four if my own dad was still alive, but I lost him way too soon fifteen years ago this July 27th, well before either of his grandsons was born. There’d have been three generations of Tyrer boys in AT&T Park Tuesday night, because my dad was the one who taught me my love and respect of baseball and the many life’s lessons it has to teach. Baseball is one of our common denominators between fathers and sons, even in those slack years when the kid tends to look someplace else. It’s the small measure of my dad’s excellence that I try to cross-pollinate with my sons. My dad grew up on the “Gashouse Gang” St. Louis Cardinals of 1934 when he was just a seven-year-old boy – the same age as my son Brogan -- traveling by cable car every summer day to Sportsman’s Park. He paid a nickel to ride and nothing to get in, courtesy of the Cardinals who gave all of his fellow “Knothole Gang” free seats in return for their loyalty. It would sure have been great to catch Tuesday’s All-Star Game with the once and future Tyrer men, but I’m staying home because my son – a ten-year-old boy -- needs me. Dylan’s team made the District Finals Sunday afternoon, which meant his Manhattan Beach 9 and 10-year-old Baseball All-Stars play for the first championship in many years at the exact same time as Jeter and Ramirez and Rodriguez and Soriano and all the rest of them will be crossing the chalk lines Tuesday night in San Francisco. Talk about the luck of the draw. We’d gotten plane tickets, changed them once (doubling the cost) and cut short an originally week-long trip to San Francisco to a one-night excursion to accommodate Manhattan Beach All-Star protocol and rules. It was a great honor for Dylan to make the team. So when his squad made the District Finals, we’d originally thought of leaving him with parents of one of his best friends and All-Star teammates, while my wife Kathy and youngest son Brogan and I went to San Francisco. But then I considered my original intent, and the unique bond that links me with my sons and how a baseball always seems to be floating in the background. And it just couldn’t be. If Dylan couldn’t go, then none of us could. If the Manhattan Beach All-Stars take the District title Tuesday night, I couldn’t bear missing the excitement on his face. If they were to lose, I couldn’t miss being there to help reassure him that they have another elimination game to bounce back. And if he – God forbid – caused the final out or an untimely error – or maybe even stroked a game-winning RBI – well that’s right up there with missing a first step. So I’m staying home this Tuesday night to support my son. And I am also staying home to support three other men who’d be equally as enthusiastic about attending the MLB All-Star Game but are here managing their teams in the South Bay. I don’t even know one of them personally, but something I saw the other morning tells me he appreciates the bond that links a true love of baseball and helping great boys to become good men. I’m staying home in support of the manager of the Silver Spur 11-12 Baseball All-Stars, Manny Balderas. On Saturday morning, I was helping out with the tournament at Marine Central, and I saw Manny bend to one knee to help console the opposing pitcher from Palos Verdes, who Manny’s team rocked for five runs including three home runs in the first inning of their own tournament elimination game. What you need to know is that same pitcher was coming off a two-hit win in his prior performance; a dominating victory for perennial power Palos Verdes. That boy took the mound on Saturday morning ready to repeat his All-Star performance, but the baseball gods intervened, and he left the game moments later, shaken and crying until Manny – the opposing manager – helped to pick him back up. I’m also staying home in support of Dylan’s All-Star manager Mike McKinnon, who I ran into coming out of the movies later that Saturday evening. Mike is positively giddy about his team, and how good they are. But not about how good they are as baseball players. How good they are as teammates and human beings. “They are all such good kids,” Mike grinned. “I’m really so lucky.” And I like to think every one of those boys – including my son – is lucky to have someone like Mike at the helm. I’m also staying home from the MLB All-Star Game to support another baseball dad who I know very well and who has helped my two sons develop a love and passion for baseball but, far more importantly, a respect and genuine dedication to the game, Wil Aaron. When it came down to it, I gave Wil my three seats to the MLB All-Star Game so he could reward his wife for all the time she allows he and his son, and Wil and my sons, and all the rest, with a nice trip to San Francisco. But I also gave them to Wil so he could sit in those stands Tuesday night with his son, Hakeen, and enjoy the exact same feeling that I would have with my two boys – or that I would have experienced with my dad. Wil hails from some awfully good baseball stock. You might have heard of his cousin Henry whose own MLB homerun record is about to fall to one of the other folks who’ll be sharing AT&T Park with Wil and his family Tuesday night. If you ask him, Wil’s got no bitterness toward Bobby Bonds’ son. In fact, Wil’s only complaint is that Barry Bonds’ legacy as one of the greatest – if not the greatest – natural hitters in baseball has now become tainted. When I extended those All-Star tickets to Wil, it reminded me that beneath every one of our son’s larger than life dream of Big League honors and professional careers lies the raw emotions, the hopes and fears of a little boy who needs guidance and coaching and reassurance from their dad. And that’s where the love of fathers and sons and their love of the great game of baseball collide. I love baseball because I love my dad. And I’m fortunate my sons share the same with me. Dedicated people like Mike and Wil and, probably Manny, do the same with their baseball families. So when all is said and done, I’m happy to be sitting at home on Tuesday night, watching young kids like Duncan McKinnon, Kyle Grafton and Ryan Verbiest – and of course my son, Dylan – try to bring home a championship to Manhattan Beach when I could be watching Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols. We have so many All-Stars on our local diamonds, there’s really no need to seek them elsewhere.