Game 4 Live Diary

[Hitmen]

Bottom 5:

Hansen mmmPops out for the second time today, and Lewis and Cline strike out. Not the way to try to come back.

New Orleans hasn’t seen this many people sitting unhappily in a ballpark since Hurricane Katrina. That turned into a rebuilding year. Here’s wondering if New Orleans collapses here at home if GM Paul Tanner won’t just do a little rebuilding himself.

[Hitmen]

Top 6:

Jesus Marquez leads off. Jesús, I like him very much, but he no hit curveball. He flies out to center.

Kichida steps up, and shadoobie, his bat is shattered, shattered. But it dies a hero as he singles to left. Clark puts a charge in one to deep center for a double, but Kichida trips going around third and has to crawl back on his hands and knees.

Pace steps in with 2 homers already, and lines one hard to the left side. Gagne snares it, and Kichida falls down again near third, allowing Gagne to walk over and tag him for an unassisted double play.

What else could one expect, though, from a team named Crystal Lake? Cursed by Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th, the namesake Sovereign League team's baserunners appear similarly cursed. Watch out for mass murders by GM Dean Giesey if the team keeps making those mistakes on the basepaths. It may not cost them this game, but they need to win 3 more (including tonight).

[Hitmen]

Bottom 6:

Conard leads off with a huge 436 foot blast to left field. While he rounds the bases, how about another e-mailbag.

Q: Where does the rushing of Marcus Hancock to the majors fall in the realm of professional sports career tragedies? Is it worse than Kwame Brown or even David Clyde?

A: That’s an interesting question, one that probably won’t be answered for a few years yet. Some guys don’t need a lot of time to develop, especially if they’ve played in a solid college program. There are plenty of examples of players in baseball or basketball who made an impact without any college or minor league development (see Bryant, Kobe; Winfield, David; and Garnett, Kevin). I agree that rushing a young pitcher is very risky, especially for a team that needs to build a solid rotation, but so far, the results look promising, if not yet overwhelming. But I wouldn’t wish a David Clyde comparison on anyone.

Q: Is there any truth to the rumor that Jessica Biel and Cal Edwards are breaking up?

A: Get in line. Way back there at the end.


Anyways, the hopes of the Trendsetter faithful are soon multiplied as Gagne turns a single into a double with hustle out of the box, although Kichida did seem to lob it in, not realizing Gagne was running. Granted, Gagne running looks like him standing still, but Kichida better pay attention.

That hit chases Anderson and brings in Floyd Jackson, who immediately gives up a single to right to Valdez, with Gagne moving to third. Where he remains, breathing quite hard. Martin grounds to short, but Valdez breaks up the double play. Gagne, however, never moved. He may need oxygen. Or a defibrillator.

Ruiz singles to center and finally Gagne gets moving again, trotting home and collapsing on the Trendsetter bench.

The crowd rises to its feet as the Great Gatesby comes to the plate. He swings mightily. And hits a soft grounder past the mound. Castillo charges, fires to first, and he's out. Runners on 2nd and 3rd, 2 out.

Time for Hansen, 0-3 on the day. But no, it's pinch hitter Desi James. He smacks the 0-1 fastball to third, and Marquez retires him to end the threat.

But New Orleans makes it 6-2, chipping away. Mardi Gras may start this Tuesday night if New Orleans comes back to win and goes up 3-1 in the Rodriguez Cup tonight. I may have to hit the French Quarter tonight with some beads and see if I can find some accommodating young ladies to, um, interview.

[Hitmen]

Top 7:

Thomas starts off with a deep drive to left, but Lewis makes another amazing catch, diving and catching it with the webbing. He comes up a bit dirty and perhaps bloody, but if New Orleans comes back, his pitchers owe him big time.

Especially when they walk the next batter. Then Olivas rips one past second, but no, Gates dives and makes the stop and then the throw and omigod canyoubelieveit he's out! Frazier to second, but 2 outs now.

Lopez singles to right and new right fielder Cooper Scott gathers the ball, and looks up to see Frazier heading for home. Scott unleashes a bullet to the plate, and Cline blocks the plate. The ump takes a second, and HE'S OUT. OMIGOD, he's out too! Wayne Kedsch is coming out from the Sandgnat dugout to argue, and Frazier is laying in the dirt in tears, but the ump is not budging. They're toe to toe, and Kedsch's face is scarlet, but the ump is not giving him the satisfaction to throw him out. Bench coach Fernando Cruz steps in and reminds Wayne that he has a 6-2 lead, and he slams his cap to the ground as he heads back to the dugout. The fans are going absolutely crazy, can this push their team to come back now?

Frazier is still on the ground, refusing to move like a South Korean boxer. Finally, hitting coach Enrique Sanchez drags him to the dugout as Frazier's tears have made a mud puddle in the right hand batters box.

[Hitmen]

Bottom 7:

I guess not, New Orleans goes 3 up, 3 down. I missed most of it discussing that last inning with the fans sitting around me.

So, to the e-mailbag:

Q: Do you think the Hitmen just mailed it in this year? I mean, I know they turned over a lot of their roster and some guys must have wanted to win it all again, but there was no sense of urgency with this team.

A: Well, I don’t like the phrase “mailed it in”. It’s hard to mail it in nowadays – finding a stamp, walking to the mailbox, etc. When’s the last time you actually mailed a letter? How about the “texted it in”. No hassle, no effort. And to answer your question, yes.

Q: How do you feel about the recent rumor that a PEBA player will come out of the closet? Even in this day and age, don’t you feel that most players won’t want to share a locker room with a homosexual?

A: I wouldn’t worry about it. I’ve been around these guys for years. They are too busy being enamored with themselves to worry about checking out their teammates. But seriously, while some guys will no doubt have reservations and express them, and others will have reservations but keep them to themselves, for most guys, it’s about the money. If the guy helps the team win, and it means more money, then they’ll be fine. Trust me, major league locker rooms are not the hotbeds of social discourse that you might think.

[Hitmen]

Top 8:

Groves hits one too hard, it never had time enough to rise to get out of the park, but he ends up with an easy double to right. David Parks brings in Rodney McLeod to pitch, and Kedsch counters with pinch hitter Antonio Alfaro.

Alfaro swings hard at the 1-2 pitch but comes up empty as Groves takes off for 3rd. Cline's throw is high, and the play is close, but Gagne slaps down the tag quickly to get Groves by an inch, your classic strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play with the catcher trying to steal third. Kichida then flies out to deep center and the Trendsetters keep the deficit at 4

[Hitmen]

Bottom 8:

defensive realignment for the Gnats: Frazier moves to left, Alfaro stays in and plays right, and Suzuki comes in to play 3rd, Kichida out.

The defense won't matter as Gagne homers to right, another ball hit out against the wind. But Jackson doesn't give in to Valdez, striking him out looking on three pitches. Martin follows with a routine groundout to short.

Ruiz lines one to center, and Pace dives, but the ump rules a trap and he's safe with a single. Which once again brings up the Great Gatesby, and the crowd is going nuts. But Gates can't handle the fastball at the knees and Jackson strikes him out. It looked like a fastball, but it dropped from the armpits to the knees with tremendous speed. That 0-2 pitch dropped so much, I bet Floyd put snot on the ball.

Heading to the top of the 9th within 3, though, not all is lost. Yet.

[Hitmen]

Top 9:

Crystal Lake will try to tack on some more runs, even with Chacon in the bullpen. And Clark leads off with a single to right. The crowd is on edge, wanting to erupt, but anxiously waiting to see if New Orleans can keep the Gnat lead to 3.

Armando "Vacuum" Otero is in to pitch. Let's hope the Vacuum sucks less than Nicholson did. He gets Pace to dribble one back to him, but his only play is to 1st, allowing Clark to get into scoring position. And he promptly scores as Thomas lines a single into shallow center.

Gates stops the smash by Frazier from reaching right field, but he can't make a throw, and that leaves 2 on with 1 out.

Castillo is next and he takes a 2-2 fastball deep to right. But this time, it stays in the park, and Cooper Scott runs it down in deep right center. Thomas tags, but Gates and Scott again make great defensive plays to save runs, which are in fact saved when Lopez pops the first pitch up to first.

But the Trendsetters need 4 to tie, a tough prospect since they have only managed 3 runs all game so far.

[Hitmen]

Bottom 9:

The fans are on their feet, cheering for their team to come through. Jackson remains on the mound despite his 40 pitches, and he promptly retires Cooper on a fly to right. Lewis gets more of the ball on his at bat, and rips a gapper to right center. Alfaro sprints to the gap, makes a tremendous stretch and the ball ticks off his glove as he loses his balance and falls to the ground. Pace is backing up the play though, and...

WAIT...Alfaro holds up his glove and the ball is stuck in the webbing! He made the catch. He is struggling to get the ball out of his glove, as it appears to be stuck. Maybe the ball caught him. He and Pace are having fits of laughter as they try to pry the ball from the glove, but they are having no luck. Alfaro throws his glove in to the second base ump, and they are calling the trainer Cody Watts out to the field. He brings Alfaro another glove, and cuts the ball out of the webbing of his old glove. That ball had to be wedged in their pretty tightly for Alfaro to agree to major glove surgery like that. The fans have grown quiet, and hopefully Cline won't be affected by the delay.

Well, I doubt the delay had anything to do with that. He can't lay off the high heat and Jackson sets him down to end the game. This series is tied at 2 games apiece, and I would bet that it will go all 7.

Anyways, one last e-mailbag:

Q: I understand Ángel Chacón is one of the best closers in the league, but “(Just Call Me) Angel of the Morning” as his entrance song? C’mon. Mosley has “Enter Sandman”, Dave Phelps has “Purple Haze”, and even Manchester’s Augusto León has “Hell’s Bells”. Can’t someone give Chacón something better? Maybe “Thunderstruck”?

A: Well, it could be worse. It could be Sarah MacLachlan’s “Angel”. I’m with you though, he needs something more intense. Maybe “Wild Thing”, an ironic homage to his pinpoint control. “Welcome to the Jungle” has always been a fan favorite, as is “Bad to the Bone”. But I would pay good money to see him adopt M.C. Hammer’s “You Can’t Touch This”. As long as he wears those pants and Hammer-shuffles his way from the bullpen to the mound.


And with that, I bid you farewell from New Orleans. Drive safe. I'm walking to Bourbon Street myself. And hopefully I won't be by myself for long. And if nothing works out, I can probably run into Bill Shatner down there somewhere and we can both drown our sorrows or whatever other emotion we care to put out of its misery.

[Duane]

And with that said .... I remind you the IL still RULES

Time for Bourbon!!!!

[John]

In no way meaning to belittle the myriad of wonderful contributions we've been graced with, this right here has to rank right at the top in terms of the most enjoyable articles I've read since this league started nearly a year ago. Matt, Phil... bravo. You've created something PEBA can point to and be proud of. This will be going front and center on the homepage tomorrow, and I'll be doing whatever I can to draw attention to your work on the OOTP forums. Simply outstanding.

[Hitmen]

Thanks for the kind words, it was a little different trying to do this live for real this time instead of taking a box score and game log and trying to recreate the live feel. I know I missed out on providing some of the depth I usually attempt, but I did do some research before the game to at least have things to add from outside of the game to keep it from being too dry, I hope.

Oh, and I hope I didn't ask for too many quick pauses between some of the innings...

[John]

The pauses were well[i/] worth it.

[John]

The fully linked Game 4 live blog has been placed as the lead story on the homepage. Easter eggs abound, so check it out!

[Hitmen]

Well done! Love the Easter Eggs, there wasn't really any way I could link anything that fast typing live, so I appreciate the work!