|
Pitching,Defense and Good Execution Gives Giants 1-0 Lead In Series vs Bulls
September 10, 2011 —
The Giants put together a complete game to beat the Burlington Bulls 4-1 at home on Saturday to take a 1-0 lead in the Conference Semi Final.
SP Mario Mainelli, gave up only 1 unearned run in his best outing of the year. Mainelli was able to get out of trouble a few times in the first few innings to keep the game scoreless heading into the bottom of the 4th. Thirdebaseman, Triston Hackett, playing his best defensive game of the year, threw out a runner at the plate in the top of the 4th.
In the bottom of 4th, SS Mike Pigott led off the inning with a walk. He and EH Kevin Horton executed a perfect hit and run leaving runners at 1st and 3rd with none out. CF, Mike Drzazga then had a run scoring groundball to give the Giants a 1-0 lead.
The Bulls would tie the game in the next inning with a walk, throwing error and groundball rbi out. The Bulls would not really threaten for a run the rest of the way.
In the bottom of the 6th, the rally would start with Hackett hitting a hard ball at the drawn in 3rd baseman of the Bulls who was defending against a bunt. The ball bounced of the glove of the thirdbasemen to allow the runner to be safe at first. RF Greg Harcourt then put down a perfect SAC bunt to move the runner to 2nd base.
Horton then brought Hackett home with an RBI single to right field to give the Giants a 2-1 lead. The Giants would had 2 more runs as Drzazga, C Chris Micolino and 1B Rick Boutilier would all beat out infield hits to give the Giants the 4-1 lead.
Mainelli would retire the Bulls in the 7th for the win and the 1-0 lead in the series.
The Giants head to Burlington on Sunday to play at 1pm for game 2 and if necessary game 3 at 3:30pm. Hopefully the Giants can put them away in game 2. Zach Bannon takes the mound on sunday trying to finish off the series.
Giants Come Back From Home Loss to Win Series on Vikings Home Field
August 28, 2011 —
The Forest Glen Giants are moving on to the Western Conference Semi Finals versus the defending OSBA champions, Burlington Bulls after their upset series win versus the Vaughn Vikings. The Giants lost game 1 at home 20-11 but showed a lot of character in beating the Vikings in Vaughn twice on Sunday by scores of 5-4 and 13-6.
In game 1 on Saturday, the Giants had very little going. They fell behind early 3-0, but scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 2nd to take a 4-3 lead. It was all down hill from there as the Vikings continued to score runs with timely hitting and poor Giant's defense. The Giants headed to the bottom of the 7th down 20-7. They scored 4 runs in the bottom of the inning to make the score a little more respectable. The Giants did hit well in the game, and the hope was that their bats would continue to hit the next day and tighten up the defense and pitching.
In game 2 on Sunday, SP Zach Bannon pitched his best game of the season by blanking the Vikings bats for the first 6 innings. The Giants took a 3-0 lead into the top of the 7th when they scored 2 runs on 2B Matt Klas' 2 out, 2 strike, 2 RBI double to give the Giants a 5-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 7th.
The Giants defense was drastically improved as SS Mike Pigott, 2B Klas and OFs Greg Harcourt, Triston Hackett and Mike Drzazga all made great plays to keep the Vikings off the board early.
The Vikings put together a rally in the bottom of the inning with some earned hits, an error and 2 bloop hits late to put the score at 5-4 with runners at 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. However, Bannon struck out the final batter to end the game for a Giants win.
In game 3, it was a combination of good hitting and great relief pitching by Mario Mainelli. The Giants jumped out to 6-0 lead in the top of the 3rd inning and were never really tested the rest of the way as they went onto the 13-6 win. Every time the Vikings pulled a little closer, the Giants would answer back to take a 13-3 lead into the 7th.
SP Kevin Horton had to be pulled in the 4th inning after colliding with the Vikings 2nd baseman at first base in the previous inning. Horton started the 4th but could not continue. Mainelli, after pitching the day before came in to pitch the final 4 innings for the win, giving up only 3 meaningless runs in the 7th. Every starter for the Giants reached base by either a hit or base on balls.
The Giants have the Labour day weekend off and will play the Bulls Saturday September 10th at 9th line at 7pm and then travel to Ireland "D" in Burlington on the 11th to play games 2 and 3 if necessary.
Another Mixed Bag for Giants in 1-1-1 Week
August 15, 2011 —
The Forest Glen Giants had an up and down week as they finished the week 1-1-1. It started off with a 6-5 loss to the York Diamonds on Thursday and ended with a 10-10 tie and a 12-2 win versus the Burrlington Bulls on Sunday.
On Thursday, the Giants pulled out in front of the Diamonds, 5-0. SP Zach Bannon held the Diamonds off the scoreboard through 4 innings. In the 5th inning, Bannon became a little wild as he walked a couple of batters. With the score 5-2 and 2 out, he was able to get a ground ball, however an error was made which made the score 5-4.
The Giants lost it in the bottom of the 6th inning, (last) as the Diamonds scored 2 runs with none out.
The Giants hosted the Bulls on Sunday. In game 1, the Giants bats were working. The Giants pulled out to an 8-4 lead. The Giants received clutch hits throughout the game. In the top of the 5th inning, (last), the Bulls scored 6 runs, on several Giant's errors to take a 10-8 lead.
The Giants were able to tie the game in the bottom of inning on a 2 run, 2 out double by C Chris Micolino.
In the nightcap, the Giants put all 3 aspects of the game together to mercy the Bulls 12-2 in 5 innings. The Giants wrapped out 14 hits to support the great pitching performance of SP Mario Mainelli who picked up the win.
The Giants will look to move up in the standings this weekend as they host the Ajax Indians on Sunday at 2pm and 4:30pm.
Micolino,Horton and Pigott Respresent Giants in OSBA All Star Game
August 13, 2011 —
The annual OSBA All Star Game took place on Saturday at the Rogers Centre. The East prevailed over the West 7-6 in 8 innings to gain home field advantage for one of the Teams in the league finals.
The Giants were represented on the West Team by Catcher Chris Micolino, 1B Kevin Horton and Infielder Mike Pigott. All of them got into the game in the second half of the game.
The East scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to win the inning shortened game.
Giants Lose to Diamonds and Then Majors Default Doubleheader
August 8, 2011 —
The Giants started the week by heading to Keelesdale to play the York Diamonds on Thursday. The game was only close until the 3rd when the Giants made three errors in the inning to give the Diamonds a 6-0 lead. The Diamonds never looked back as the York pitcher kept the Giants off balance and they went onto a 9-1 win.
The Giants were then scheduled to play the Majors on Sunday in the Valleys. Rain poured down all morning, but as noon approached the rain stopped and the Giants headed to the diamond. Upon arrival, it was obvious that the field was unplayable as the infied was under water.
No one from the Majors showed at the diamond, and neither did the umpires. Obviously they were notified early enough, not to show. The Giants did not receive any communication.
The league deemed the games a default to the Majors not contacted the Giants at least 1 hour prior to the game.
These 4 points put the Giants into 5th place with 5 games remaining. The Giants record now stands at 9-10-4.
They travel to the York Diamonds again this Thursday to try and get some revenge for their 9-1 loss last week. They will then host the Bulls on Sunday at 5 and 7:30pm at 9th line.
Giants Are Swept and Sweep on the Weekend
July 24, 2011 —
The Forest Glen Giants split their 4 games this weekend, getting swept by the Bulls on Saturday and sweeping the Expos on Sunday to put their record at 7-9-4 over 20 games.
On Saturday, the Giants were only able to muster 2 hits over the double header versus the Bulls, losing 1-0 in 8 innings and 10-0 in 5 innings in the nightcap.
Mario Mainelli pitched great for the Giants, going into the 8th inning in a 0-0 tie. Unfortunately, he walked and hit the first 2 batters in the 8th and eventually gave up the winning run with 1 out in the bottom of the 8th.
The Giants had nothing going in nightcap as the pitching, hitting, and defense was not up to the task and lost 10-0 in 5 innings giving up 6 runs in the first inning. Marcus Dirollo, in his first start of the season was tagged with the loss.
The Giants needed to put Saturday's games behind them on Sunday, and that is just what they did, although it did not look good early for the Giants.
The Giants let a bad umpire call at the plate early in the game, which should have been the third out, affect their defense as they gave the Expos an 8-2 lead heding into the 5th inning. The Giants would not give up as they scored 5 in the 5th and 4 in the 6th to take an 11-8 lead into the 6th inning, which would be the final inning.
Andrew Showler, pinch hitting for the ejected OF Mike Drzazga hit the 1st pitch he saw for an rbi single. The Giants continued to get clutch hits. Secondbaseman hit a bases loaded clearing double to bring the Giants all the way back.
Showler, in relief of starter Kevin Horton, pitched 2 innings of 1 run ball to pick up his first win of the year.
In the nightcap, the Giants again received some clutch hits and solid pitching by SP Zach Bannon, as they won the game 4-2. Tied 2-2 going into the 7th, the Giants recieved 2 out clutch rbi hits from Bannon and RF Greg Harcourt to take the 2 run lead.
Bannon loaded the bases with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th, but struck out the fianl two batters to sweep thye doubleheader.
The Giants improved their record to 7-9-4 and into a playoff spot. The Giants are of this next weekend for the Civic holiday. They play 3 games the following week as they play the Diamonds at Keelesdale on Thursday August 4th at 7:30 and then play their traditional Sunday game versus the Majors at the Valleys on the 7th of August.
Giants Undefeated Streak Extended to Four Games
June 26, 2011 —
The Forest Glen Giants have extended their humble undefeated streak to four games with and 3-1 win and a 6-6 tie versus the Mississauga Twins. The Giants have won 2 and tied 2 during the streak.
In game 1, it was all about pitching. SP Mario Mainelli pitched his best game of the season going the distance for his first win of the season. Mainelli gave up only 1 run,(HR) on 4 hits and 2BB. Mainelli struck out only 5 in his effort, but it was his ability to continualy to get ground ball outs that helped him go the distance. The Giants defense, which has been a weak point most of the year, played a flawless game in helping Mainelli get his first win.
The Giants were paced by the rbi hits from Rick Boutilier, Chris Micolino and Marcus Dirollo.
In game two, the Giants reverted to their early season ways. Good pitching by SP Kevin Horton and some timely hitting allowed the Giants to take a 5-1 lead into the eventual final innning.
The Giants jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the 2nd when they scored 3 runs. They would add another in the 5th. Horton was pitching out of jams most of the night, but the Giants defense continued its strong play and were full marks for their 5-1 lead.
In the top of the 6th the defense fell apart. The Giants made 3 errors on makeable plays in the 6th to allow the Stars take a 6-5 lead. Marcus Dirollo had to come into the game in relief of Horton to get the final out with men on 1st and 2nd.
In the bottom of the 6th, Micolino led off the inning with a single. After an out, Dirollo worked a walk to push Micolino to 2nd. With Triston Hackett at the plate, Micolino caught the Twin's pitcher sleeping and stole 3rd. With the pitcher rattled he attempted a pickoff at first but threw wild as it clanked off the 1st baseman's glove to allow Micolino to score the tying run. The Giants would fail to get Dirollo in as the next 2 batters were retired.
Horton not only pitched a good game, (no earned runs), he was 3 for 3 with 2 doubles.
The Giants are off this weekend. They will try and get back into the playoff race as they play host to the Mississauga Stars on Sunday July 10th.
Mike Drzazga Wins Western Conference POTW
June 23, 2011 —
OF/C Mike Drazga has been awarded the Western Conference Player of the Week for the weekend of June 18-19. This is the second time Mike has won the award.
Mike won the award with hisperformance versus the Mississauga Stars this past weekend. Mike was 4 for 5, with 2 doubles, 3 runs scores and 1 RBI on a SF. Mike had a .667 OB% with a 1.867 OPS. Mike played CF in game 1 and Catcher in game 2.
Congratulations Mike.
Giants Pick Up First Win of season vs Stars, Take 3 of 4 Points
June 19, 2011 —
The Forest Glen Giants finally picked up their first win of the season in game 1 of their double header versus the Mississauga Stars. They held onto the lead to take game 1, 8-7. The Giants then took another point against the Stars with a 7-7 tie in the night cap.
The difference for the Giants in the doubleheader was their bats. The Giants belted 12 hits in game one and had an 8-4 lead going into the 6th inning, which was the last inning.
The big plays of the game were executed by OF Greg Harcourt. Harcourt hit a 2 out, 2 rbi single in the top of the 6th to give the Giants an 8-4 lead. The Stars scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th with the tying run on 1st base with 2 outs. The Stars' batter hit a low line drive to right field. Harcourt got a good jump on the ball and made a head first dive to make the catch and give the Giants their first win of the season.
SP Zac Bannon battled the umpire's inconsistent strike zone to pick up his 1st win as a Giant. Mario Mainelli pitched the final 2 innings for his first save of the season.
The Giants were led with 2 hits each by Graham Magee, Rick Boutilier, Mike Drzazga and Kevin Horton.
In game 2 the Team's battled back and forth to a 7-7 tie. SP Kevin Horton piched well enough in his 5+ innings of work so that he should not have given up 7 runs. The Giants could not get any breaks in the 1st inning giving up 2 early runs. Horton pitched out of the jam giving up no more runs in the 1st.
The Giants took a 4-2 lead in the 4th ninning only to give up 4 runs in the 5th to trail 6-4. However, they continued to battle back scoring 3 runs in the top of the 6th to once again take the lead. The Giants were lead offensively by C Mike Drzazga with a single and a double and 1B Chris Micolino with a double and a triple.
Matt Klas came into the game in the 6th with one man on. Although he allowed the tying run to score, he was able to start a double play in the 6th to get out the inning with the score tied at 7s. The final inning was scoreless and the game ended in a tie.
The Ginats will try to build on their recent success as they are home to the Mississauaga Twins on Sunday at 5pm and 7:30pm at Cardinal Field at 9th line.
Giants Continue to Struggle with Bats in Losses to Chiefs
June 12, 2011 —
The Forest Glen Giants continue to struggle in the 2011 season as the bats remain relatively silent in two losses to the Whitby Chiefs by the scores or 6-2 and 6-1.
In game 1 the Giants only offense came from C Chris Micolino who hit his first homerun of the season in the loss. The Giants again could not get the hits needed to keep the game close in game 1.
In game two, the only bright spot was RP Zac Bannon's 3 1/3 innings of shutout relief of SP Matt Klas. The Chiefs got all 6 of their runs in the 2nd inning after 2 quick outs and an error. All of the runs were unearned. This game was typical of the Giants season so far. One or two plays sink the Team.
The Giants look to get untracked as they play vistors to the Stars at 9th line this sunday at 5pm.
Giants Finally Pick Up First Point in 2nd Game vs Pirates
June 5, 2011 —
The Forest Glen Giants continue to struggle to get their first win of the season. They did manage to pick up their first point of the season with an 8 inning 4-4 tie against the Pickering Pirates in the night cap. The Pirates edged the Giants 5-4 in the opener.
Giants starter Kevin Horton struggled in the early innings giving up 4 runs in the first 3 innings as he gave up only 3 hits, but hit back to back batters in the 2nd and also walked 2 batters. One run was unearned as the Giants let the lead off hitter in the 4th to reach base on an error. The 4 runs that scored initially reached base by a walk, 2 HBP and an error. Horton basically shut down the Pirates offense the final 4 innings by only giving up 1 run on 4 hits and only 1 walk.
The Giants had a chance to take the lead in the 6th as they had pulled to within one run with 2 outs and men on 1st and 2nd.The Pirates brought in a reliever with 2 on base in the 6th. He was able to get the first 2 outs before giving up a 2 run single by C Chris Micolino. After a walk, the Giant batter then popped up to end the inning. The Giants then went out in order in the 7th to give the Pirates a 5-4 win.
In the nightcap the Giants came out strong by taking a 3-1 lead after 1 inning by getting three hits off Pirates pitching. The Pirates made a pitching change in the bottom of the 2nd by bringing in the late arriving Wil Mariani. Mariani pitched a strong 7 innings by giving up only 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 14.
Giants starter Mario Mainelli, also pitched well by going the distance ( 8 innings), giving up 4 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk.
The Giants had more than a few chances to win the game. In the 4th, the Giants had men on 1st and 3rd with none out but ended up with a triple play going against them with a strikeout and two caught stealings on the same play. The Giants kept on coming in the 6th as they scored a run as leadoff hitter Andrew Showler hit a double to the base of the fence in left centre field to tie the game. They then loaded the bases with none out. Unfortunately, there was a fielder's choice at the plate and then two pop ups to end the inning.
Both teams only had 1 base runner in the 7th and 8th to end the game in a 4-4 tie.
The Giants record now stands at 0-5-1. They head to Whitby to face the Chiefs this Sunday at 6:00pm.
Bulls and Giants Rained Out-AGAIN
June 4, 2011 —
The Giants and Bulls were rained out for the second time on Saturday June 4th. This double header was rescheduled from earlier in the season. The double header will again be rescheduled for later in the season.
Giants vs Bulls Rainout, Rescheduled for June 4th
May 25, 2011 —
The Giants games that were rained out versus the Burlington Bulls have been rescheduled to June 4t at 1;30pm and 4:00pm in Burlington at Milcroft B.
Games Versus Bulls Rained Out
May 14, 2011 —
The doubleheader versus the Burlington Bulls on Saturday was rained out as the field was unplayable. No make up dates have been scheduled as yet.
All games in OSBA were rained out this weekend.
The Giants are off until May 29th when they travel to play the Vikings on Sunday night.
Giants Drop First Two versus Express as Hits Scarce
May 9, 2011 —
The Forest Glen Giants began the 2011 OSBA season with a double header loss to the Newmarket Express on Sunday by scores of 6-3 and 2-0. The Giant's offense was held in check for most of the day except for rookie SS Mike Pigott and 3B/OF Triston Hackett who had 8 hits between them.
Ftrst game starter, Matt Klas, pitched well enough to win, allowing only 1 run in his 4 innings of work. He left the game with the Giants leading 3-1 as C Chris Micolino hit a 2 run single in the bottom of the 4th to give the Giant the lead. Micolino also threw out 2 base stealers in the game.
Rookie pitcher Andrew Showler picked up the loss in his debut by giving up 5 runs in his 1+ inning of work. Two errors contributed to the Express rally in the 5th inning. Zac Bannon pitched 2 scoreless innings in his debut.
In the nightcap, SP Mario Mainelli also pitched well enough to win as he pitched 5 scoreless innings before giving up only 1 run in his 6 innings of work.
The Giants had a few chances to score runs but just did not get the big hits. The Giants had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th but again were stopped by the Express pitching.
The Giants look to get back on track as they travel to Burlington on Saturday to face the Bulls at 1:30pm.
Eight Giants Drafted in OSBA Fantasy Pool
April 26, 2011 —
OSBA conductd its first ever Fantasy Pool Draft recently and eight Giants were picked in the draft. The Giants were led by 1st round pick, Rick Boutilier.
The other Giants that were selected included Matt Klas, Mario Mainelli, Chris Micolino, Mike Drzazga, Martin MacKenzie, Triston Hacket and Kevin Horton.
To review all of the Fantasy Team picks and the round by round developments, go to the OSBA website.
http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=ontarioseniorbaseball
League Schedule for May on website
April 23, 2011 —
The Giant's May schedule is available on the Giants website. The entire league's May schedule is available on the OSBA website. The Giants open at home versus the Newmarket Express on May 8th.
They travel to face the defending champion Burlington Bulls the following Saturday and end the month after the long weekend as they travel to Vaughn to play the Vikings on 29th.
The rest of the schedule should be available by the first week of May.
GIANTS CLOSE TO FINALIZING 2011 ROSTER
April 17, 2011 —
The Forest Glen Giants are putting the final touches on their 2011 roster. The Giants have added several players to the roster including SS Mike Pigott, 3B Marcus DiRollo, P Andrew Showler, OF Anthony DoTomasso, 1B Duncan Craig and OF Blake Emmerson. The Team has been bolstered with these new young players to join the core players who have been on the Team for many years such as Chris Micolino, Mario Mainelli, Matt Klas, Greg Harcourt, Martin MacKenzie and Mike Drzazga.
They are also joined by returning players Rick Boutilier, Rob Uggenti, Albert Thonert, Kevin Horton and Triston Hackett. The Giants are looking to add 1 or 2 more important parts to the Team before they complete their roster for the upcomimg season.
Coaches Allan Micolino, Ron Smith and Tony Mainelli look forward to the 2011 season and feel confident with this new Team.
See you on the field.
| |
