MCSN: June 25, 2011

Rout 70

Week 4 Recap

Mon, Jul 5, 2011

No drama, no nail-biters, no contest.

After 5 of the first 9 games of the season featured close games, Week 4's matchups, played in cool 70-degree temps, were decidedly less close.

The Minor Prophets kicked off the day with a 15-5 whipping of the Nitros. Just two weeks ago, the Nitros (0-2-2) scored the maximum 5 runs in each of its first two innings against the Home Invaders. On this day, though, the Nitros had the favor returned as the Prophets (2-1-1) scored a record-setting 11 runs in the first two innings even while playing without Chris Cormier.

"They may be the Nitros, but we came out on fire, crossing home plate 11 times in the first two innings," remarked Minor Prophets manager Dan Coughlin.

Contributing to the Prophets' run production was Les Carter, who racked up a game-high 5 RBI, and Jeff Martin, who powered another home run over the fence, his second of the season.

"Jeff's soles were literally coming off his cleats so I am pumped to see what happens when he has solid footing in the batters box," Coughlin said.

The Minor Prophets played major defense to go along with their strong run production, limiting the Nitros' formidable slugger Eric Bartl to just 1 RBI despite a 3-for-3 day.

"This was another true TEAM win," Coughlin emphasized. "We were short several players who have contributed a lot of hits and good defense, but other players stepped up and we still generated 15 runs in 6 innings while limiting the Nitros scoring. Daniel Stalker made a great basket catch and went 3-for-3. Ellie Manabat scored a run for us."

The Nitros' loss left manager Sam Baturoni speechless. Perhaps he'll have end his self-imposed speech strike when the team wins its first game.

In the middle game of the day, the Friars routed the Home Invaders 18-4, a showing made even more impressive by the fact that the Friars played without both Chris Carter and Jacob Dodds.

"We're playing really well," said the Friars' Robert Martinez, who now leads the league in batting average and is 5th in RBI.

The Friars nearly joined the Carter Administration, Nitros and Minor Prophets in scoring the max 5 runs in each of the first two innings but came a wee bit short by "only" scoring 4 and 5 runs in their first two innings. But that was already enough for the Friars (2-1-1) to cruise the rest of the way against the Home Invaders (1-2-1).

"What went well?" Home Invaders manager Ovi Tisler mused. "Lots! The weather was nice, no one got injured, our uniforms stayed cool in the sunshine, the opening prayer was meaningful. What went bad? The game started. Also, we were missing two of our top guys, [Rob] McMahon and [Steve] Portokalis; that killed us on both sides of the equation. Our hitting was anemic and our defense, Cub-like."

The Friars now boast 5 players in the top 13 for batting average, and those 5 (Martinez, Erik Summers, Isaac Rodgers, Dodds and Jerry Hodge) all have an on-base percentage of at least .800. What's more, three of the top 5 in RBI are Friars (Summers, Hodge and Martinez), and Summers currently leads the league in home runs (four). Tisler, though, noted that Chris Carter is not among the team's batting leaders at this point.

"The Friars had an unfair advantage with Chris Carter out," he said. "They can be competitive every game without him holding them back. If Jerry decides to bench himself too, they'll be unstoppable!"

As for his own team, Tisler had another hypothesis for his team's uncharacteristically tepid effort and the season-low four runs by the Home Invaders.

"Jerry' persistent taunting the week before the game must have been the X factor," he said. "Either that or the fact that three of the Home Invaders had a late night at Comiskey [not the Cell!] watching the White Sox 5-hour 14-inning debacle the night before. [Assistant manager] Andy Tisler said he is going to institute a 10pm curfew the Friday night before all future games. We can't invade homes without our beauty rest. What kind of Home Invader stays out past 10pm anyway?"

The final game of the day featured a mild upset, with The Usual Suspects suffering their first loss of the season, a 12-6 loss to The Franchise.

The Franchise pulled one the week's best strategic maneuvers against the unsuspecting Suspects: Ryan Dollard at pitcher. And Dollard shut down the Suspects' offense, which had entered the game with a lofty 12.7 runs-per-game average.

"Best (unplanned) strategic decision was to only have 8 players show up for the first inning," joked Franchise assistant manager Kristen Huntington. "The Usual Suspects had an easy time scoring for one inning and probably looked forward to more of the same for the rest of the game. I think it surprised them when we our whole team got there in the bottom of the 1st and we were able to turn the tables so quickly. I was proud of our team...We didn't look back from there!"

The Franchise (2-2) got consistent play defensively and contributions up-and-down their lineup. Huntington noted that everyone but one player got at least one hit, and everyone but just three players had at least one RBI.

"There was (also) a key player: Marie Heffern," added Huntington. "[She] had a break-out game going 3-for-3, scored a run and drove in a run."

Despite having just four fewer hits than The Franchise, The Usual Suspects (2-1-1), who were again without Rob Tong, scored much fewer runs, and just half the runs of what the team had been averaging previously. However, one bright spot was that Suspects pitcher Gary Lockwood was able to keep Franchise power hitters Steve Haake and Jeremy Huntington from hitting any shots over the fence.

“The game started.”

- The Home Invaders' Ovi Tisler on what went poorly in his game

With a week off for the Independence Day holiday, Ovi Tisler made a bold prediction.

"I'm pulling a Joe Namath," he said. "I guarantee we will not lose [on July 3rd]! I don't even know who we're playing this coming 4th of July, but I know we will not have to fly an 'L' this week. Guaranteed. Take it to the bank. To whichever bank is still solvent as of this publishing." Now that games resume in Week 5,
some stellar matchups are on tap: the high-flying Minor Prophets challenge the high-octane Friars, the Nitros
try to get on track against the rejuvenated Franchise, and the Home Invaders and The Usual Suspects will
see who can right their ship first.

"Ali [Dollard] and I are looking forward to the July 4th break and don't think it will break our momentum," Kristen Huntington said. "Looking forward to playing the Nitros. I know Sam got a good look at our team, despite pushing our kid around in the stroller during our game, so they will be prepared."

In the middle game, two of the top offenses face off, so something will have to give.

"[The Friars] have one of the hottest offenses in the league right now so it will be a good test to see where our defense is half-way through the season," acknowledged Coughlin.

And the Suspects' Tong is chomping at the bit to play this Saturday.

"I'm looking forward to playing Home Invaders," he said. "That was one of the legendary video games of the '80s so it will be fun to play that again."