1) U.S. Exporters vs Lollygaggers played on 08/28/12
Jason Boyd reports: "I am happy to report the Exporters recorded 2 wins last night."
We split with the Rounders. We hit well in the first game. They hit well in the second game. Early in the first game, Dan Meehan who now plays for the Rounders went down in the outfield with a pulled muscle. It forced them to play with 9 guys the rest of the night. Their three remaining outfielders were fast and covered a lot of ground. Our squad was depleted and Jason had a shoulder injury that greatly restricted his ability to throw overhand. We moved him between right field and second base in game 1, then had him pitch game 2 as throwing underhand caused no pain. These were games we should have won. We needed our full squad.
This week we had a fully stocked team and won two hard-fought games against Gray Plant Mooty. The first game had some solid defensive plays including an infield double play. Dennis had some great catches in left field. In the second game, we exploded for seven runs in the opening inning led by a towering 3-run homer by Dave over the left-center field fence. . .over the trees. . .and into the parking lot on the pavement. Then Roger posted his first homer since the spring of 2010 doing it the hard way inside the fence. He caught the right fielder playing shallow. The next inning, Jason hit a 2-run bomb over left-center. In the third inning, Glen scampered to stretch a double to right into taking all four bases by taking advantage of throwing errors to gain 3 RBIs. We held off GPM in the last inning to win by a run.
The Bungalow Exporters unloaded with the long ball in these games. It was the first time in quite awhile that we used up all our home runs in both games which were not played on Utah Field. In fact, in game 2, we used all three homers in the first inning. Max unfortunately found out what happens when you hit the fourth home run in a game. He is lobbying hard to have it count as a hit instead of an out. [Editor's note: Max will be even more unhappy when he discovers that we count "Home Run Outs" as strike outs!] When Dave was not sending the ball over the fence, he was hitting satellite shots that were so high their outfielders couldn’t get under them properly. One was so high that he was at second by the time it hit the ground and rolled away from the fielder. Dave turned that into a four-bagger.
We now stand at 7 -1 at the top of the division.
5) U.S. Exporters vs Dawgs played on 10/09/12
We almost succumbed to the 8-man curse again. The Bungalow Exporters started off slowly, unable to take full advantage of hitting against a team with only 8 fielders. However, the Dawgs got their ninth man in the middle of the game which seemed to lift the curse. Still, down 7 runs entering our last at bat, things did not look good. But in true Exporters fashion, the team came roaring back scoring eight runs without making an out to take the lead before the umpire called the game on time.
We were up first in game 2 and continued to pound the ball. In fact, Jason nailed a ball over the left field fence hitting a Metro bus on the fly while drive by. We opened game 2 with 9 runs and never looked back. Jason went on to use all three of our allotted homers for game 2. The twin wins keep us on top of the division at 9-1 with tough rematches against GPM and Rounders over the next two weeks.
Jason Boyd wrote: "...id like to take a run at the team [home run] record!"
We took an 8 run lead into the last inning of game 1. The Exporters got two quick outs and then failed to get the last out as GPM rallied to score 9 runs to win the game. In game 2, the bats worked at the wrong time. Two of our homers were wasted on solo shots and a fourth shot over the fence led to an out. We then failed to put any more runs on the board before time ran out. Two games that we should have won, but let slip away.
The Exporters eked out a victory in the opening game of small ball with a patchwork team. The same strategy did not work in game 2. We simply did not get enough hits. The Exporters do much better when they pile on the hits. This puts us at 10 - 4 with two more weeks left. We still control our destiny, but with a slimmer margin.
Jason Boyd wrote: To fulfill my duties as manager here is my version of the Roger Report:
Game 1 saw the Exporters squad come out hitting. Lots of extra base hits and deep shots from guys like Huy, Mike, Dan, Brad and Jason. Jason had a first inning HR and Brad had a second inning HR in game 1.
Game 2, the Exporters showed the all too familiar early let down after winning the first game handily. Against an inferior opponent, we just didnt hit the first few innings. Coupled with an early big inning by the other team, we were on the ropes.
Thinh, Paul, Brian, and Zach laced some hits together to close the gap in the 4th inning. Then with likely our last ABs of the game as time was expiring, we ran through the order. To my dismay in pursuit of the Bungalow season HR record, I was intentionally walked for the 3rd time in this big 5th inning. But big hits by Thinh, Brian, Dan, and Bob kept the big inning rolling and led to our come from behind victory.
Men - Our opponent has forfeited the games for tonight. The result is that we win the League Championship for the Fall Season. Great work team! Enjoy the off-season and see you in the spring.
Jason Boyd wrote: Bittersweet champs! Much rather win on the field. I also feel disappointed to not have a fair shake at breaking a couple team records.
Brian Garst wrote: How many of their players did you kneecap, Roger? I know you did this just to secure the batting title!
Final Standings, Fall 2012
W L T Pts
Bungalow Exporters 14 4 0 28
Fifth Base 10 7 1 21
Gray Plant Mooty 10 6 0 20
Rounders 9 9 0 18
Lollygaggers 8 6 0 16
Waterproofers 8 10 0 16
Dawgs 3 9 2 8
The Big Shots 2 13 1 5