It’s been a few days now, I just wanted to reflect on a week of baseball with a super bunch of guys. It’s always a fun week at Hobbs, but it was a particularly great week this year. It’s often a hit-or-miss proposition trying to put together 20 personalities and temperaments that can play the game a bit, and we lucked into a great situation this year.

5-0 in the seeding round is a team record, and we seemed perfectly poised to make a serious run at the Triple A bracket crown, which is the highest level we’ve ever competed in. But we ran into a hot pitcher who threw a great game, and an ex-pro who hit almost 300 home runs in the bigs, and that proved too much this time, and we got bounced first round.

With the benefit of hindsight we might have been better off in a lower bracket, particularly with the way we had the pitching set up, but personally I wouldn’t have done anything differently. That’s tournament baseball, which is a big part of the fun of it all, I suppose.

In any event, I wanted to brag on you guys a bit, if you’ll indulge me. First off, a huge thanks is owed to our scholarship guys. Rick Sanders came down Sunday, tossed a beauty at the Oakville Canada A’s, with Kenny Cripps closing it out with relative ease. Rick deserved a better fate in the playoff game, I thought his line wasn’t reflective of how well he pitched. I thought the ump got real tight on some of those ball/strike calls, and a few extra chances for a hard-hitting club like Glory Days was all they needed with that tough lefty on the hill.  Kenny and Scott Cervenka stayed down the whole week, and it was crucial having two guys to run and slot for the guys who got a little banged up. Scott threw parts of 2 great games, and only allowed 1 run over the last 4+ innings in the playoff game, but the outcome had pretty much been determined by the time he came on. Finally my old pal Steve Haugh came down twice, got a win in the infamous blowout game in the City of Palms Stadium, and was ready to go if we’d advanced to the Saturday games. I feel guilty having him come all the way down for a DNP, but you had to think we had a great shot to move on. I thought these guys were critical to the team’s success, and all four were nothing but a blast to hang with, thanks men!

Lilio Alvarez was a great guy to play with, always hustling, made some great plays at third, and had some big hits for us. My old pal Tony Caruso got back to his old ways, ripped out a .435 average, made some great sliding catches in center, and was poised to bring it home with a well rested arm if we had made it to Saturday. Always a pleasure playing with TC! I’d seen Ruben Correa around a bit over the years, but what a ballplayer this guy is, settled in to the leadoff spot, and just made it happen all week, a tidy .444 average, all the plays made at second, and a gem to be around, thanks Ruben!

Scottie Donelick is just as steady as they come, another great tournament at the plate, and a sparkling performance on the hill in Game 5, which was crucial to setting up our pitching for the final run. Sounds redundant, but another super guy to have on the ballclub. I hadn’t seen Rob Gonzalez in a few years, and while he hasn’t got any prettier, he did a helluva job at short and at the plate for us. Another .400+ hitter, and a blast to hang with. Joe Hamilla was a late add, a Georgie Kerst recommendation, and he was sensational behind the plate as our #1 catcher. Better than advertised in all areas, and George built him up high, so would love to have Joe back anytime he cares to come!

David Johnson (DJ) was a beast in the 5 hole, made all the plays at 3^rd, caught a couple of games in stellar fashion, hit nearly .400 and he just makes me laugh, something about his schtick kills me. As a dude and a ballplayer, DJ is aces in my book.Tim Lysik was Mr. Versatility and a tireless outfielder. He was a clutch hitter, and along with Dennis was out in the outfield for virtually every inning. Great guy to have on the ballclub, he kept everybody up and in the game, and made a couple of great grabs out there!

Bill Mussacchio, aka Moose, is tremendous, fun to be around, consistently gives you a tough AB, and played a great first, and caught the better part of 2 games as well, no easy feat in these tournaments.  He took a couple of years off, but he’s one of the Hobbs Old Guard now, and he gets a bonus for bringing his lovely wife, who was officially our only fan until the last game!

Carlos Ruperto, is my boy, hit .300, played a great 1B, lent his insight in just the right measure, and was an awesome coach, except for sending the old guy home to be gunned at the plate in the deciding game when we’re down 7 or whatever it was. Fortunately that didn’t figure into the outcome, or we might not be speaking at this point….Love ya C!

Jeff Shebovsky had a tough first Hobbs as a Blazer, got hurt literally on the first day, but bounced back to hit .375, made some great catches in left, and threw a few innings of quality work. Plus he provided free chiropractic therapy to guys who asked, so he’ll get the Team Doctor discount next year, thanks for joining us Jeff! Dennis Smith came down this year for the first time, and it was great spending that much time with a guy I had known for so long, played with and against, then finally came down for  the tournament. Great guy, great hitter, (.467 average), hot coals, gotta love Dennis!

Which leaves us with the big 2. As you may or may not know, we have to pick a team MVP for the Hobbs archives. How in the hell do you choose between George and Marty? I purposely didn’t even ask Carlos, Tony or Moose, because I didn’t want them to be as torn about it as I've been. First off, both are super gracious gentlemen, who are as competitive as they come, with social graces to match their prodigious baseball skills. Everybody loved playing with them, and boy was it fun to watch! George hit .640, that is not a misprint, with 16 hits in 25 AB’s, including 3 doubles. Additionally he made every play at short, and oh yeah, threw 2 and a 1/3 scoreless on the bump, and was set up nicely for the Saturday that never came.  But this year I flipped a coin and gave the award to Marty Jones, who was off the charts good. A badly strained groin/quad/muscle thing severely hampered his ability to run and even swing early in game 4, but he hung in there, and we simply would not have done what we did without him. Looking for an eye-popping stat? How about 16 RBI in 6 games! A double, 2 triples and a homer! .810 Slugging…the list goes on. Plus a scoreless 3 innings on the hill., also in preparation for a Saturday date.  But choosing Marty over George was tough, you can argue this all day. Eenie, meanie….

I just hope we get the chance to do it all again, it was an absolute honor and pleasure to serve in the capacity of manager, and I want to thank each and every one of you for making one more baseball memory for me and for the Blazers.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on a field someplace soon!

BlazerBall!