|  Over,
it ain't over... nothing's done until we decide it is
Uh John, it's Over.
Rebels
end Black Sox Season 21-20!
Recap | Your
Thoughts
Like one of those epic Ali-Frazier,
Ali-Foreman, Hearns-Hagler, "Balboa-Creed"
prizefights the Rebels and Black Sox each weathered
several knockout punches before the Rebels finally prevailed
21-20. (recap)
Congratulations to the Rebels and
good luck in the final.
Highlights
For the second time this season, every
Black Sox batter got at least one hit. Six Black Sox
got three hits or more.
- Perhaps the highlight of the season
was an awesome 5-run rally to tie the game with two
outs in the 9th inning.
- Bob was 4 for
5 including a HUGE single in the 9th inning to tie
the game. Bob reached base 6 times with two walks
as well.
- Nestor - 3 for
7 with a double and triple.
- Steve - 3 for
5 with two walks.
- Phil - 4 for 7.
- Jim M. - on-base
4x.
- Mike G. - 3 for
4, on-base 5/6.
- Lance - complete
game. More below.
Team Batting
The Final Stats are in and they are
impressive. Six Black Sox batted over .400 for the season
and the team average was a sizzling .391.
Team Batting (Sorted by OBA)
..........AVG...OBA
Steve P ..0.516 0.638
Mo .......0.500 0.607
Pedro ....0.453 0.552
Nestor ...0.443 0.498
Jim W. ...0.409 0.498
Phil .....0.426 0.494
Jim M ....0.339 0.468
Bob ......0.279 0.461
Lance ....0.333 0.434
Dan ......0.320 0.432
Mike Gr...0.359 0.413
Mike Gar. 0.346 0.368
Ricky ....0.333 0.366
Joey .....0.222 0.222
Totals
...0.391 0.461
Home
Runs
Jim
W. .3
Mo......2
Lance...1
Congratulations to Steve for winning
the batting title and Jim W. for leading the team in
home runs and leading the entire league in "foul
ball" home runs.
8/3 Recap
The game featured five (5) lead changes
and 23 hits for the Black Sox. As has been the case
in most of our losses this season, a bad inning or two
killed us. In this case, the Rebels 9 run fifth innning
and 7 run eigth did us in. Worse yet, 12 of the 16 runs
scored in those two innings were unearned.
Still, the two out comeback in the
9th was one for the books. The inning, in summary: Mo
(fly out), Jim M. (hit), Mike G. (walk), Dan (fly out),
Nestor (hit), Pedro (hit), Steve (hit), Bob (hit), Phil
(hit)., Mo (FC)
Pitching
 As
mentioned earlier, Lance pitched a much better game
than the score would indicate. As discussed earlier,
Lance is a battler as shown right in an early 1980's
prize fight vs. Apollo Creed. For the game Lance recorded
8 strikeouts vs. only 6 walks, and you will recall most
of those walks came on full counts with foul balls.
But for two innings (where errors played a key role),
he held one of the best hitting teams in the league
to 5 runs.
Why did
Lance pitch the entire game? A couple of you
privately expressed concern during the game about the
number of pitches Lance threw. By the way, thanks for
doing this privately, the only way it should be done.
I would imagine some of you question leaving him in
for the entire game, perhaps even wondering if we could
have/should have won the game with someone else in relief.
I don't blame you for wondering, I wonder too, but most
of you don't have all the information that went into
the decisionmaking process.
Here's the deal...
- Lance is our #1 pitcher and one
of the top pitchers in the league. Nobody doubts that.
Because Lance would not be available for the championship,
it was decided he would continue pitching as long
as he was effective.
- Our #2 pitcher Bob has had shoulder
problems off and on over the course of the season.
He threw with his son Zach in the morning and did
not feel like he had full strength. Our #3 pitcher
Jim W. "allegedly" had
his appendix removed on Friday.
- Because of the high pitch count
and even with a limited set of relief options I would
have replaced Lance if he was tired or ineffective.
Lance felt great and did not want to come out of the
game. Although the pitch count was high, Lance
has a rubber arm when healthy. On more than
one occasion he has pitched both games of a double-header.
- Bob also felt that Lance was pitching
well and was our best bet to get the win. Bob felt
that the umpire made several questionable ball/strike
calls and had an unusually small strike zone. I concur.
- Finally, consider this:
the Rebels changed pitchers four times in the last
five innings and we stuck with Lance. During those
five innings, we outscored them 16-10. Some of those
guys the Rebels threw out there were pretty good.
Facing fresh arms didn't keep us from hitting and
probably wouldn't have kept them from hitting either.
Give the Rebels hitters some credit too... it was
just one of those kinds of games.
Jim's "Surgery"
A number of you privately expressed
skepticism about the timing of Jim's "alleged"
ailment, even going so far as to suggest that maybe
Jimmy had nothing more than a bad case of "post-season
jitters." I mean, who ever heard of a 42-year old
man getting appendicitis. Or perhaps he was psychosomatically
acting out a desire to be younger. What'll it be next
Jimmy, Tonsils?
Others suggested that perhaps Jimmy
opted out of the lineup to keep his batting average
above .400 for the season (he finished at .409).
I want you all to know that preliminary
investigations reveal Jimmy's claims to be sincere.
I do plan on contacting his youngest son Chris to get
the real dirt. If there is any, he'll let us know.
Moving Forward
Upon further consideration, Bob and
I have decided not to field a team this Fall/Winter.
Between injuries and guys needing to take time off for
family and other personal reasons, I just don’t
see how we could field a team and retain the essential
character of our ballclub. I would be hesitant to go
out and pick up 4 or 5 new players for winter ball,
especially given that (as far as I know) everyone wants
to return for the Spring – and it should go without
saying, that we’d love to have you all back. It
took me a while to figure this out but I have come to
the realization that the best way to keep the club together
right now is to take the time off.
Plus, I’ve *reluctantly*
come to the conclusion that I also could use some time
off. I say reluctantly because it has been a pleasure
to help put together such a great bunch of guys. Do
you realize that not even one time did one of you miss
a game (or even arrive at the field late) without me
knowing about it??? And this is without having to call
everybody every week to tell them what time the game
is, where the field is, etc., etc. I just put together
a little website and sent out an email every week and
everybody showed up, like clockwork.
Over the course of the season, no
one ever complained about not playing enough, or wanting
to play some other position, or where he batted in the
order. Not once. I guess that’s the difference
between managing boys and men. Thanks for being men.
Thanks for keeping a clubhouse I could bring my family
into with pride.
Thanks for making this a season that
exceeded my every expectation.
More final
thoughts on the season...
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