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Liberty Bell Taketh and Liberty Bell Giveth…
In what was supposed to be a DH played at LaSalle University then rescheduled for Deptford, NJ skin diamond was instead played at Liberty Bell Field. The home of the Reds played host to two games both decided by one run played on it this past Sunday. As a result of the rescheduled game the Red Sox were the “home” team in game 1 which they were able to use to their advantage by scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning. The game was close, well pitched and well defended for the most part but unfortunately the Red Sox scored 1 more than the Reds could and pulled out a 6-5 victory. In game 2, however the game would be even closer and definitely more dramatic. Pitching dominated most of the game as it was 1-1 entering the 7th inning. The Red Sox led the top of the inning off with back to back doubles and made the score 2-1 but went quietly after that allowing the Reds to still having some life. After 2 quick outs and down to their last out the Reds had Dave Rusthoven come to the plate where he engaged in a seemingly endless at-bat. He fought off several pitches in order to get “his pitch” and when he got it…HE GOT IT and hit a game tying line drive HR to right centerfield and send the game to extra innings. No runs were scored in the 8th but a solo HR with one out in the 9th put the Red Sox on top 3-2. The Reds again made 2 quick outs and were down by one. In a move that can only now be described as sheer genius the Reds manager decided to bat himself in place of Anthony DiBacco. With one mighty swing Kris Sharpe simultaneously tied the game, took the wind out of the Red Sox sail and gave an opportunity to the Reds best hitter to come to the plate…his name…Dave Rusthoven. Before the Reds could finish congratulating Sharpe on his HR and sit down on the bench Rusthoven took a swing that sent the ball over the LF fence and the Reds home with a win in game 2*. In an UNBELIEVABLE case of deja-vu the Reds were able to beat the Red Sox for the 2nd time this season on a walk-off HR and earn a 2-2 split in the season series. The Reds have 4 games left in the regular season and getting at least one win this weekend was HUGE!!!
*The author of this piece actually never even saw the HR but only heard it…as he was looking down in his bag for some Icy-Hot to relieve his arm from the 9 complete innings pitched all he heard was a *crack* of the bat. Right then he KNEW what had happened but even if he did not the eruption of cheers from the Reds bench and the morbid silence of the Red Sox was a dead giveaway.
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1 hitter vs Rusthovens Law
This weekend’s schedule vs. the A’s was scheduled for 2 games of 7 innings each. Apparently the Reds forgot as they only showed up for 12 2/3 innings. Game 1 was dominated by pitching as Vuernick had a no hitter going into the 7th inning. He was able to retire the first batter before giving up a walk and hit to end his bid for a no-no. He retired the next two batters to give the Reds a 4-0 victory. The score should probably have been 7 or 8 to zero but thanks to AT LEAST 3 runners getting caught stealing (including the first runner of the game) and 5 botched sac-bunt attempts the A’s were able to make the game appear closer than it should have been. CJ lead off game 2 by hitting a double but he could not be brought around and was stranded there. The beats were quiet or least not in harmony…not many back to back hits or hits with RISP. Rusthoven came close to hitting another HR but he *just* missed it as the wind held it up and the CF was able to catch the ball while leaning over the fence. In the field, several walks and errors combined with a misjudged fly ball lead to an early 7-0 deficit that could not be overcome. The A’s were able to score a pair in the first and 5 in the 2nd. The rest of the way the Reds scored 2 and the A’s scored none. Needless to say it was a big loss because the win would have put the Reds at over .500, placed them in a tie for 3rd place and 2 games back form the division leaders…Other Notes: What was the deal with Kris and Joe not knowing who were allowed to have a designated runner for and who were weren’t? Thanks to three timeouts and Kris being on the ball, had Ben run for himself and all was well. In his last AB of the 6th inning Bailey asked the umpire if the pitcher was allowed to wear a white hat…Bailey you had 2 hits did it matter? Dave will be conducting bunting lessons at practice Wednesday because he believes that trading outs to advance runners is good strategy…
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1 step forward 2 steps back
.500 still eludes the Reds as the team split yesterday with the Yankees. Game 1 was a ho-hum game that seemed to move faster than many games this year. Solid pitching and defense along with some timely hits and good hustle were at the forefront of what led the Reds to a victory. Not to be overlooked however is the fact that base running mistakes still made their weekly appearance…aka the first runner of the game going on a “hit and run” that was NOT called and getting thrown out at 2B…especially after a 4 pitch walk to lead off the game. Enough harping on the negative a win is a win...even with Rusthoven batting in the 4 hole rather than his preferred 3 spot. Game 2 on the other hand was a mess…the downward spiral began with the ump who was supposed to work the field informing Joe that he received a “phone call” and saying he had to go, leaving 1 ump for the 2nd game...”HEY BLUE, I know it was out but all you have to do is stand in the field…phone call my @$$.” As a result, the Yankees caught a pretty big break. With a runner on first base the Yankees call a steal and the runner breaks as Dave, the pitcher is receiving the sign from Bailey who is catching. He steps off the rubber, runs at the runner and fires to Fein who is playing SS and covering 2B. The runner stops and runs back to first where Carter is covering the bag. Fein throws to Carter and the runner goes back towards second. A run down of proportions never seen before ensues…no lie, about 8 throws were made, all 9 fielders were in the IF, an assist was made by the fence and a tag of the runner who was called safe because there was only 1 ump (who in that whole debacle NEVER moved from behind home plate!!!). If he had been correctly called out the book scoring would have gone 1-6-3-4-1-5-1-6-4-fence-3-6 but instead the runner ended up safely at first and later scored. Despite the 95 degree heat there was a STRONG breeze going out to LF…as evidenced by Ben and Carter who went Ya-Ya back 2 back. Ok, despite the breeze both balls were gone right off the bat…not bad for a guy who took 2 weeks off and another who before last week hasn’t hit in a game in over 3 years. Aside from the B&C Connection there isn’t much positive to write home about game 2. The final observation for the day is that while the heat is on, Reds players remain gone…DiBacco, C.J., Mahler, Cole, Wilson, Knecht, Wertman and Pinnell were all missing…some were on vacay, some were M.I.A. and some were being investigated but the DEA…
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Manager bashing? What the hell!!
Smiles all around after taking 2 from the Colts…however it’s only a start and there is still much to be improved upon. Again poor attendance makes you have to play 2 guys with SLOW feet at 2B making it hard for them to turn the doub…catch the ball???? How many doubleplays were lost by having the throw dropped by the warm body playing 2B? I think my ears are still ringing form Bailey yelling: MAKE SURE YOU GET THE FIRST OUT!!! Yesterday was also possibly the WORST display of base running I have EVER seen!!! There were about 9 runners picked off, 5 caught stealing (one which was not Wertman’s fault…every other runner was so late that the ump just assumed he was out too), 4 runners thrown out at a base and the time Pete Pinell started and stopped about 6 times, running between first and second…frightening. The icing on the cake however goes to the tandem of O’Connell and Sharpe. Bases loaded 2 outs…Sharpe is on 2b and the ball is hit to RF on the ground…Sharpe breaks for second but trips and stumbles…Sharpe manages to stay up and starts to slow down to pull up at 3B yet UNFLINCHINGLY O’Connell is waving his arm in a circle and pointing at home telling Sharpe to run!!! Despite EVERY player on the bench yelling HOLD, with his back to the ball, Kris turns the base and attempts to pick up speed…meanwhile the RF has now already picked the ball up and tripled pumped before making his throw to the cutoff man…he in turn throws the ball home…AND Sharpe is out by about 105 feet!!! Keep in mind bases are only 90 feet apart…it was a play that defied both physics and logic. Pardon my French but as I said during the game…Reds base running = retarded. It wasn’t all bad however as the bats seemed to come alive a little bit…well aside from Fein and Vuernick who were the only Reds to not get a hit on the day…both have agreed to take lessons from Mike’s son Shane on the ESPN batting machine…yes the one that includes Stuart Scott’s voice yelling “Boo-ya!” when you hit the ball. Ok, maybe I’m making that up but seriously that machine did everything else…Other notes from the day include Kris informing people that he is taking Dave’s bat with which he hit his HR and auctioning it on eBay (according to Kris, Rusthoven’s HR tied him for the career lead in HR’s), Fein played great defense at SS and although he did not have a hit he may have saved 3 or 4 runs, Joey O. was inactive…apparently he hurt his back playing baseball but rumor has it that he really hurt it playing naked twister…with dudes. Carter and C.J. were both missed…we wish them well as they have eloped to the outer banks together. The Reds are also putting out a missing persons report: Has anyone seen Joe Wilson? No one seems to have seen him since 3 weeks ago when he had said he’d taken a blackberry from someone’s front stoop and was contemplating selling it...he may be incarcerated and meeting Bubba…IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!!
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Sink or Swim
Bueller?...Bueller?…Bueller??? Not many red shirts at the game Sunday…wait is that someone comi…nope, faaaalse alarm. Bailey went 0-2 as acting manager because Sharpe was “shopping”…in Rick’s defense when you don’t know who’s going to play 2B, 1B or OF and you’re batting Vuernick in the 4 hole you’re in for a long day. Iin the field, Rusthoven fielded dribblers like Mahler field’s pop-ups…if you put them together would you have someone you could field everything or nothing…just asking. At the dish, the REDS had more K’s (13) than hits (11) in between both games…C.J. had 5 of them because according to Fein his head was in his ass…but at least C.J. stayed for both games rather than go play with cow pies. All in all a bad day but at least we played some soccer, I mean baseball...General Notes: O’Connell may be going on the DL with what’s being called brokenitis…not sure what’s wrong with him besides his finger, leg, quad, hamstring and neck…you’d think this guy does hard work for a living…SUCK IT UP!!!, OF’s have a new motto: “We catch fly balls or people die!” ***, Scientific study by David Rusthoven, MD., has shown that 2006 American League Championship Series MVP Palcido Polanco is a known HGH user (it’s apparently because his cranial muscles are big now). Also because Albert Pujols is the Godfather of Polanco’s son he is now being investigated by MLB, last but certainly not least Joey O. still wants to eat cornmeal out of Scarlett Johansson’s ass…or was it Jessica Biel or Elisha Cuthbert or Eva Longoria or Angelina Jolie or Jessica Alba or…no Mahler, computer generated images don’t count!!!
***The Bucks County Reds apologize for all lost love ones past, present and future however they also claim no responsibility for them (due to a glitch in the bookkeeping fielding statistics are not kept).
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Blue Rocks game
Good Sunday to say the least... We split with the Blue Rocks... We had a pretty good team show up..... Our pre-game looked good... Our bats,,well still dead.. I guess the real question would be: What would MacGruber do? I'm thinking if we grab some pubic hairs, a hand full of crap and put them on our bats, we really will stink... or the other team just won't want to play us...... time is running out!!! Let's get our crap together guys...!!!!!
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Reds split with the Red Sox
Ok, so we split with the Red Sox today. Did I mention the fact that I had a 2 run game winning home run with a broken bat..... Rusthoven still has not replaced my bat... Did I mention what a great job we did as a team the first game... We played small ball in the beginning and executed flawlessly. Then when the tough got going we played Big Ball. We played BASEBALL... Game 2 I think I set the stage by falling flat on my face while running to first base... the rest of the team fell flat on their face as well the rest of the game. Things to work on: 1. I GOT IT... that works wonders when calling off your team mate... 2. Two hands when catching fly balls helps. 3. Pete Pinnells back.. 4. Swing level... we might need to take lessons from Mahler who seems to have his crap together (his bat has his name on it). Notables of the day.. Bailey did not strike out. (we have a bet on who will strike out more). C.J. Ryan...where did we pick this guy up... Keep up the great work C.J.
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REDS take 2
Ok, we won 2 games this Sunday, but who cares about the games... I want to talk about Dave Rusthoven... Last week he is a super star. This week... well lets just say he owes me a new bat.. What nerve using my brand new composite bat for BP. Has he ever heard of Pine Tar? Dave let MY bat fly, and wouldn't you know it.. it hits a metal pole and splinters. He ruined it!! A composite, Brett Gobon. All I can say is I can't wait to get ahold of his cheap Xbat... probably bought it in Mexico anyway.. Did anyone notice CJ Ryans arm.. Can you say HOLY SHIT.. Where did he get that? By the way CJ, you owe Carter a new mit!!! Last thing.. Keep an eye out for Mahler.. he was eyeing McCuskers glove.McCusker has a glove with his name on it. I would put money on the fact that we will be seeing a new glove for Pete. Only this time his name will be embroidered in it like his shoes and bats!!
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How to start a 2007 season
How the 2007 season gets started: Dave Rusthoven starts the season off with 3 HR's and an unassisted Triple play, and 8 RBI's... The Team hits an amazing .374 in the first 2 games.... We get an amazing pitching performance from first year starter Kevin Vuernick... We get 4 innings of all most perfect relief from Pete Pinnell.... We execute a PERFECT suicide squeeze. Yet, we can only squeeze out a 1 and 1 day... What went wrong? ERRORS!! Stupid Mistakes!! Lack of Hustle!! That pretty much says it all... I can name 3 plays in the outfield where if we run our asses off to the ball we get to it and get the out... I can name 3 base running mistakes that were just mental errors!! I can name 2 throwing ERRORS that if we take our time and know the situation we get the out!! In the past, the off the field comments were funny and picked on someone... well here it is... there was nothing funny about Sunday.. Quite frankly we looked like those damn Phillies!!!
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A stroll in the Park
Damn it was HOT. I think we broke a league record on broken bats between the two teams. I do believe there were close to 7 broken bats. One of them had Russ' name all over it as the bat was looking to impale him at first base.... The other bat was looking for either the pitcher of the Second baseman. I was thinking that maybe the guy walking his dog in center field was looking for some sticks for his dog to chase. Moving on to Steroid Testing, I mean how about Dave Rusthovens home run... and Anthony’s ability to pitch forever, and the other Anthony’s ability to steal bases(tied for the league lead). Good thing there isn’t a Steroid Policy, maybe I will write a book! Little Joe, catching 8 innings in the heat… there was a sweat pool behind home plate when he was done. To end this little “off the field session”, Rick Bailey nice “K”!!!
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I got It!
I got it! Dave or Jason? Winner Dave....Jason was flattened. Note the nice stitch marks on Dave's face when the ball hit him there... winner Ball! I got it! Barn at first base.... ez ground ball back to the pitcher.... 16K's later and 2 for 2 at the plate, Dan can throw the ball where ever he feels like it!!! I got it... June thrown out at home on a tag up, the easter bunny is real.... Travis got it! I got it...so says Anthony "Flash" Dibacco trying to steal home....Flash, I think your bulb burnt out! ...and for the umpires today..I got it, right...wrong!!! Someone needs to wake those guys up, go back to umping High School games.... that was a sorry job!!! and only if you could hear Peter and Drew talking about the Dave and Jason play... or was that Travis and Damien....?
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The NeverEnding Story
Where do we start.... Peter Mehler, what a come back...first pitch, a mile high pop-up and what does he do.....he catches it!!!!! The Mehler bat..well it paid for itself today by putting the ball in play.... I would have lost money on "hobblin joe" today, Peter made it to second, or was that Drew I was betting on losing to Joe. Did anyone see Peter trip over the foul line coming home. We should go easy on the chalk next week. Fix your tire Peter maybe this was a sign! How many bats shattered today.... poor guy on the other team, first swing and "bam", breaks at the handle...well spent money on that timber from Modells! Go get your money Back!!! How about Lopez.... "Ya, how about Lopez", how can anyone say anything bad about him, I guess CLUTCH is a word that comes to mind!!! Jones, wow and I thought we shipped all of our cannons to Iraq, what a throw to home...... O'ya Jones, he either strikes out or hits a triple.... thats just like the old eagles reciever who only catches TD passes..idiots... we won't trade Jones though..... I all most forgot.... Anthony "Flash" Dibacco can you say speed!! Another nick name coming down "Too Tall Tom"... No Drewisms to Report by the way... If I have missed anything feel free to email me and I will add it....Great Job everyone today...4-0!
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The Mahler Story
Ok again nothing personal here. Just some good loving fun!! Mahler gets 2 chances at infield pop-ups with some major spin on them. Round 1, step left, further left, even further left and ball drops in the infield for a hit (it wasnt even close to being caught). Round 2 step left, further left, even further left and Fein pulls the ball out of his mit making a closed eye, Merry Christmas, save that Pete's Ass catch for the out! To add fuel to the fire, "hobblin Joe", yells out at Pete on his next at bat and mocks the fact that he has his name put on his bat! Come on Pete you can hit it, your name is all over that one. Last thing, what would a post be with out picking on Drew. I think we have come to know these as Drewisms.... Drew claims he hurt his knee... but I think I would put money on "hobblin Joe" beating him in a race to second today.... On a serious note...thanks to everyone for coming out today and playing some great baseball!!!
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A Hiro's Welcome
I wanted to pick out an incredible play from this Sundays Scrimmage. I saw 2 great catches this afternoon. The first went to Nolberto Lopez along the first base line. The second was definately from our new player Tom Hiro. What a coordinated, timed, lay-out, get yourself dirty on a pop up in the infield catch. Bozo the clown would have been proud. Disclaimer: Anything said here is just for fun and should not be taken personally, unless your name is Drew! Quit missing EZ grounders!!
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Future News
Upcoming News and Events will be posted here for future laughs.
Nolberto hits a bomb to left on Sunday and yells, "d@#n" as if he hit it off the handle. Heck of Handle shot...I'm not sure the ball has landed yet!!! Even more funny, it looked like a shot Barry Bonds would hit on Steroids, Nolberto is 4'1, 85lbs....!!!
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Dead Kid on Sidewalk
Not sure who elses heart was racing today when the kid on the sidewalk wasn't answering anyone. I'm thinking we need to put up a sign that says, "no sleeping on the sidewalk". That scared the crap out of me.
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The Bucks County Reds
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