Redeeming Defeat

Hey A’s,

Even though we were slightly less victorious than I had hoped for last night, I think we had a redeeming effort in our loss to the SL Bees.  Your coach here again made the great decision to play against a team of people who are affiliated by nothing other than their love of softball, a squad that told us before the game they were “Going for the league championship this year.”  So we basically had a Phils-Nats type matchup on our hands.  However, despite our underdog status, the A’s played extremely well in the loss, and I’m sure we would have whupped a lesser team.

On a typical insanely humid DC afternoon, the A’s took the field against the Bees just south of the Truman Balcony, giving the –OTUSes (P and FL) a perfect view to watch the game, which I’m sure they did.  The D of the A’s was strong early yet again, clamping down to allow just 4 runs through the first 3 innings.  With a bit of offensive production, we looked OK heading into the fourth only down 4-1, but the juiced up Bees started poking holes through us and quickly put up another 9 runs over the next two frames.

The A’s fought hard.  Will “The Hammer” Horowitz really got things going with a blast in the bottom of the 4^th that landed somewhere in Arlington.  Picky Pants followed up that performance with his first dinger of the season, and all of a sudden the A’s were right back in the mix.  A few ridiculous defensive plays came from both teams, as Kelly Trout was completely robbed of a double by the Bees’ tryhard, and MVP Brian “Pattycakes” Patterson made not 1, but 2 web gems out in left field.  Struggle as we might, even Matt Pinder’s heroic last-inning home run could not help us overcome the Bees, and the A’s fell yet again.  But we really all played very well, and we should be very proud of our performance.

If we can just keep that momentum going into next week, there’s no doubt in my mind that we will embark upon our latest winning streak.  As of right now though, I don’t know exactly when the game will be.  Our opponents (Pitch Slap!) aren’t able to go on Tuesday, but have asked us if we can play Wednesday or Thursday of next week.  If you can come out, please let me know which of those days works better for you.  Also, please consider being our beverage sponsor for the game.  Whatever night we play, we’ll look to play around 6:30PM, somewhere near the practice bubble/Ellipse.

Also, let me know your thoughts on the playoffs.  If you want to play, I need a firm commitment.  I am more than down to tackle the CSL tournament this season, I just need to make sure I’ve got a squad behind me,

Effing A,

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Slight Change of Plans

Hey A’s,

Trepidation has overtaken the Naughty Fingers today, as they meekly backed out of their impending doom at the hands of the First Effing Amendments.  But fear not!  For I have found us a new victim, the SL Bees (no clue who they’re affiliated with).  So we’re going ahead with the game as planned, just not against the team planned.  We’re going to start just a few minutes later than usual, probably around quarter to seven, but should be on the same field.  I’ll email you if that changes.  If you need anything, feel free to text or call me

And two other things.  First, our opponents for next week, Pitch Slap!, have requested that we move the game to Thursday.  Please let me know asap if you’re willing and able to switch the game to Thursday of next week. 

Also, playoffs!  The playoff tournament for the CSL will begin on August 20 (A Saturday, like 3.5 weeks from today) or 27^th, depending on when teams want to go (don’t ask me how that works…).  If you would like to play for the playoffs, it’s a $45 registration fee, and I’ll have to pay an extra $24 to add in flex slots, so it’ll probably come down to about $5-10 per person.  But I need you to give me a firm commitment that you can play.  We will play at least 2 games, out in Arlington, and probably on the same day.  So you need to be available.  There are also slightly different rules (you can strike out, have to exchange lineups before the games, there’s umpires, etc.), FYI.  We can talk more tonight about it but I wanted to at least get this option on everyone’s radar.

That’s it for now.  See you all tonight

Effing A,

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A Laborious Affair

I know.  That was terrible.  Sorry.

Well the A's didn't fare any better last night than we have in our recent struggles.  We actually started the game out really strong, by our standards, with stifling defense through the first 2 innings to hold the Fearless LEADers scoreless.  But our offensive travails continued as we were only able to score one run in that time on, what else, the aggressive baserunning of Charlie Hustle.  MVP K-Dawg Roth, who went the distance on the mound, drove Shane in for her first RBI of the evening. Clinging to that slim one-run advantage, we had our typical bad first inning in the third as the LEADers' bats woke up (i.e. their two professional athletes came late) and they started swatting hits all over the field, driving in a dozen ugly runs.  Aside from that debacle, our defense was actually rather solid, as we held them scoreless in 3 innings, and only allowed 1 run in two others.

Unfortunately though those dozen runs would be all the LEADers needed. The A's battled heroically but could not muster any real offense until the 5th inning, when Bossman Sanderson started with the small ball.  A few more singles followed, and clutch hitting from Kelly Trout and Matthew Cain helped us put up 4 runs.  Three more followed in the 6th when Grizzly Owens and Charlie Hustle both got on with singles and used their speed to manufacture some runs.  Though we had finally gotten a few punches in on the LEADers, our effort fell short as we went down 1-2-3 in the 7th to close it out (but at least we didn't lose on a call

like this <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9LjarKHvTk> )

 

So, now we head into the home stretch of our season a few games below .500.  We've got a chance to start our epic playoff push tomorrow, as we square off against the Naughty Fingers on Thursday night.  Probably

the same place, at the same time.  If you have not already told me, in person or by email, that you plan on playing, please do so.  I've got a beer sponsor for this game but would like to encourage you all to consider sponsoring one of our upcoming games, all of which take place on Tuesdays through the rest of the summer.  We now sit at a depressing 4-6 on the season, but with 6 games remaining, we still have plenty of opportunities left to demolish the CSL and take our rightful place as champions!  Come on out for the fun.

So, I'll see you all tomorrow, hopefully.  Adios for now.

Effing A,

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Rough Night

Hi A’s.

Um.  Hmmm. 

We lost last night.  Bigtime.  I suppose you can’t win them all, but boy do I hate losing by 17 runs to a team called the Freedom Ticklers.  There weren’t a whole lot of bright spots in a performance like that, but we did have a few redeeming moments last night.  Struggling through the steamy mugginess of a DC summer evening, the A’s fought hard, but ended up being tickled into a 19-2 rout, dropping our record to 4-6 on the season.

The A’s started off in typical fashion, digging ourselves into a giant hole by giving up 7 runs over the first 2 frames.  Our only offense of the night came on a huge homerun by Matt Pinder, a 2-run blast that drove in Bossman Sanderson in the first inning.  After that, their pitcher started throwing some underhand curvey sort of thing, and the A’s recently thunderous bats fell silent.  On defense, the outfield played more than admirably, as Brian “Pattycakes” Patterson employed his laser rocket arm to gun out an overzealous tickler at home while Olivia Lenson cleaned up right field like a Dyson.  Our D clamped down, led by Sandy of the Pinder variety, holding the ticklers to only 3 runs over the 3^rd -5^th innings.  We scattered some hits here and there, but the A’s, with the exception of MVP Will “The Hammer” Horowitz, could not generate any consistent offense.

As the evening wore on and the soggy air took its toll, the A’s staunch D began to get a little porous, and the ticklers took advantage of some clutch hitting to score nine more runs and ice the game.  The A’s bats could not compete, and we failed to score a single run after the first inning.  We limped off the field in inglorious defeat, and we’ve now got a week to ruminate before we suit up again to take on the Fearless LEADers, the team of the US Dept. of Labor.  We’re going to go all Paul LePage on them.  We play them on Tuesday of next week, most likely at the same time and place as we’ve been doing all season.  We also have a game on Thursday of next week against the Naughty Fingers, and since I’m trying to keep this mostly PG rated, I’ll omit a clever hyperlink for them.  

So we’re still alive this season, and we can get right back to .500 next week.  Please, please let me know if you plan on coming out to one or both of these games.  We’ve been having some sparse attendance recently, so I want to ensure we’ve got a full squad before I commit to them.  Which reminds me, thank you very much Christina(sp?) for coming out last night to play – can someone please forward this to her?  Also, I’ve got beer sponsors for those two games, but please consider sponsoring a future engagement, as we’ve still got four games after those.  Wow, this season’s gone by so fast…

Effing A,

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So Close!

Good afternoon A’s,

What a game last night!  The A’s fell a half of a hair short of a comeback that would have been rivaled only by the 1980 Miracle on Ice team, falling to the One Hitters in an epic 12-10 defeat.

Practically swimming in the DC humidity, which I think was at 804% at game time, the A’s took the field against a bunch of these sorts of guys.  With the fresh aroma of… let’s say, love, in the air, the A’s and One-Hitters engaged in a pitchers’ duel for the ages through the first few frames, with a combined 4 runs in four innings.  The A’s only run in that span came on a monster homerun by MVP Matt Pinder to center field.  The A’s struggled to get anything going offensively, which didn’t bode well for us as the stoners finally came down enough to start hitting in the 6^th, and scored 9 runs on us to take a huge 12-2 lead into the bottom of the last inning.  Things were looking dark for the A’s, while the potheads seemed destined to walk off with a crushing victory to go home and rest.

But these A’s never go down without a fight.  Facing a team that fights for this insanity is daunting, to say the least, but the A’s, as always, were up to the challenge.  Leadoff man Will “The Hammer” Horowitz and MVP Matt Pinder both got on base early to start the rally.  Ole skip here drove them, and it was on like Donkey Kong.  Clutch hitting and aggressive baserunning by Charlie Hustle Kunselman and Kelly Trout promptly helped the A’s plate two more, and we were down by 4.  Stretch Moore and the Hoff kept things alive with two consecutive singles, and the weedheads began to get paranoid.  With an overeager third base coach, the A’s squeezed in two more runs on singles to bring the game within two.  But alas, ‘twas not the night for an A’s victory, as the stoners sealed the deal with the final out, and the A’s lost our fourth in a row, dropping us to 3-5 on the season.

Thankfully though we have a chance to get back on the winning track almost immediately, as we face off tomorrow night against the GorRILAs, of the retail industry leaders association.  Here’s a scouting report on their team.  So let’s get out there and show them who the dominant species is (liberal do-gooders).  Game time will be 6:30pm, probably on the same field we’ve been playing, or the Ellipse, which is just north of there.  Please let me know if you plan on coming out, but haven’t told me already.

That’s it for now A’s.  See you all tomorrow night.

Effing A,

Nats Style

Hi A’s,

Well it looks like this city’s baseball luck is rubbing off on us. The A’s fell again last night, this time to the Brookland Sluggers, dropping our record below .500 for the first time in nearly a year.  Even though the final score was 19-7, the A’s played admirably and the game was closer than the score would lead you to believe. 

We had a few folks bat .500 or better on the day, with production coming from all over the lineup.  We really only had 2 innings where we broke down defensively, letting in 16 of their 19 runs between them.  E-Dub Weiss made her glorious comeback, but we lost “One Night Only” Wes to a season-ending injury on literally the first play he was involved in.  He toughed it out though and played another 2 innings before having to bow out.  We had some great baserunning by the Hoff, who needed to make a statement after some cutting remarks by the Sluggers’ second basewoman, which we capitalized on a few times as MVP Bossman Sanderson kept driving him in.  We really all played pretty well, but again were simply outmatched.

But as you know, it ain’t over till it’s over.  We’ve still got plenty of ball left to play this season, starting with a double slate of games next week.  On Tuesday, we renew the rivalry that we missed out on last season as we take on the One-Hitters, a grab bag of drug policy folks.  After we steamroll the stoners, we take on the GorRILAs, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, who have a record of only 2-1 according to the CSL website.  So we have a chance to switch our trajectory almost instantly next week.  Please let me know if you plan on coming out to play either or both of these games.

OK A’s, that’s it for this week.  Go rest up over the weekend, and get your game face ready for Tuesday.  It’s time to take this season back.

Effing A,

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