Game 10: TCBC 3, Riverside Dodgers 2

So I guess the old adages are true: in Baseball, all things come back around, and the calls even out. Finally, it seemed like the errors didn't totally destroy an inning for Three Cities, and the bad calls didn't knock the team out of the game. . . This time, it was the the Dodgers who ended up on the short end of things, with a costly throwing error in the 6th breathing life to a 3-run inning TCBC and nullifying a solid pitching performance by their starting pitcher.

After breezing through the heart of TCBC's order twice without issue, Chris Miller and John Millin led off the 6th with back-to-back walks, bringing up Matt Willbond, who squared to put down the sacrifice bunt. The ball was fielded cleanly by the Dodger pitcher, but with Tim Zeitz running for Miller, the throw to third had to be rushed, and the combination of a sliding Zeitz and a ball in the dirt knocked the overthrow out of play, scoring Zeitz, and moving Millin to third (and an alert Willbond into scoring position himself). As has happened time and again this season, the top of the Three Cities batting order did not dissappoint, with John Stewart and Lou Gerig knocking in an RBI each and giving TCBC a 3-2 lead in the process. This was enough to put Three Cities on top for good in this game.

Another solid start was put in by Josh Taylor, bringing his record to an even 1-1 on the year and dropping his ERA to an even 3.00 on the season (in 21 IP). In a bit of the old switcheroo, John Toth was credited with the save, and in pitching 3 scoreless innings to close out the game, brought his ERA into the single digits (in a team-leading 24 IP).

Fielding gems were the norm again for Gerig, but new comer Nate Kievman also made his presence known in putting in a good showing at first base, and especially in connecting on a rare 5-3-2-4-3 throw-'em-out tag-'em-out double play with Chris Elliott, Miller and Millin to end a rally in the Dodger 4th.


Here's the Boxscore

Here's the updated season (to date) stats.

Here's the Game Results.

Game This Saturday

This week's game is Saturday at 4pm in Akron at Prentiss Park vs. Riverside Dodgers.

Seems like this is news to everyone I've spoken to, but it's been on the schedule, so I don't know what else to say other than please check your (updated) schedules. Hopefully I'll see you all there!!!

Games 8 & 9 (Different Paths to the Same Destination)

Dunno what to say about these two games other than I wish we'd won them both.

The game a week ago against the league leading A's could be considered one of TCBC's finest defensive showings (despite the score), as gems abounded, errors were few, and John Toth was in control on the mound through 7 innings (Lou Gerig even showed a bit of promise from the hill in the 9th). The 8-2 score sure doesn't tell the whole story. When the 8th inning unraveled, it was almost as though the team had held on for as long as it could, and then, bloodied and bruised (literally), watched the A's take the game from TCBC's hands . . . It'd be difficult to say it was as disappointing of a game as the score might imply.

Here's the boxscore from Week 8

The 7/19 game against the Indians was a different story altogether. Although Josh Taylor put in a good effort in relief, John Toth's trickery and deception just wasn't fooling the Indians hitters to start the affair, and by their second time through the order -- TCBC couldn't buy an out. Offensively, despite cutting down on the 14 K's from a week prior, only 4 players breaking through will always make it difficult to put a tally in the "W" column.

Here's the boxscore from Week 9

Here's the Overall Stats

Here's the Game Results

“What team do you play for?”

The Indians
“Here in Cleveland? I didn’t know we still had a team.”
Yeah, we have uniforms and everything. It's really great.