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Dramatic Weekend Brings Sox Back In
KEVIN DILLON - The Black Sox on Saturday re-entered the 2005 Championship race with a dramatic pair of victories
over the Mariners in Greystones. The Mariners, previously unbeaten on the season were devastated by an on form Sox side
looking to make amends for last weeks two loss debacle against the Hurricanes. In a short second half of the season
(6 games) even a single loss would have taken things out of our own hands.
Game one was won in the early innings as
the Sox bats took advantage of young Dennis Donnelly. Dennis lasted just two innings and left with a substantial deficit.
His opponent Eoin O'Connor on the other hand, cruised through the first 4 innings, had some trouble in the fifth, a
scoreless sixth and won it by the seventh.
Not even the early exit of Pat Nolan, Sox third baseman and potential
MVP,
in the fourth inning could put a stop to the Sox offensive surge.
Just as importantly the defence turned up this week and
errors were kept to a minimum.
Final score 16-8.
During the break Jason gave us a history lesson on what happened
last time the Sox beat the Mariners so easily in game one of a double header; they came back and kicked our asses in game
two. He also promised to buy the team a beer if we could get it done in less than 2 hours.
In game two, after a couple, it did seem like history was going to
repeat itself, the Sox down 6-1 as the Mariners
began to hit and hit
big. Mike Kindle immediately settled down and put confidence back into our line up who repaid
him by tying it up at 6 each next inning. That was a huge score because over the next 3 innings the Mariners scored steadily
to build a 12-6 lead going into the sixth. Get 3 here was the call and 3 we got to reduce the deficit to 12-9. Another
scoreless inning in the seventh for Mike gave the Sox a fighting chance. With the bottom of the order due up the most
important thing was base runners and hand it over to the top of the order guys who were getting it done all day. Jayro
Gonzalez did his job, leading off with a double. Two quick outs later and we turned it over with Jayro on third.
A tough task for any team to expect success now but the fun was only just getting started. Next batter,
Jayro scores on a wild pitch, Jason Nebenzahl walks and Brian Moore gets a ground rule double to leave two runners in
scoring position. Salvador Rizo smacks a double to tie the score at 12 runs a piece. That brought Eoin to the plate,
winner of game one and eying the big gap in left field. Eoin took a strike, then a ball and then drove the next one
past the third baseman into the gap in left. Salvador ran hard round third and the whole team crowded the plate area to will
him home which he did standing up. Final score 13-12 and the Sox's second last at bat win of the season (and their third
1 run win too).
It sure is exiting to be a Sox player this season. For the record, game
duration was 1 hour
and 40 some minutes and Jason will honour that beer for the team promise before the season gets done.
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I Doubt You'll See A Game Report
On These Games
Hurricanes 11 - 7 Black Sox
Black Sox 4 - 16 Hurricanes
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New Name, Nearly New Result
Black Sox 8 Giants 7
Kevin Dillon - Hey, the Tigers changed their name over
the winter, becoming The Giants (no, not to The Los Angeles Giants of Dublin Anaheim) and something else changed along with
it; they got real good!
For years a fixture of the Black Sox schedule was a fairly
comfortable victory over our Cuban friends but there was nothing relaxing about today’s ‘W’, The Giants
(3-2) came in with a pretty good record on the season and on the back of a 17-5 trouncing over the Panthers the previous week
so there was no surprise when the Sox found themselves trailing by a run after 4.
The game started off pretty well, the Sox scoring 2 in
the 2nd and 3 in the 3rd to spot themselves a 5 run lead. All credit to the Giants who came right back
with a couple of runs of their own and then in a big 4th inning, albeit with the aid of errors, scored 4 more to
take the lead.
Down by a run, 2 outs and 2 on, who would you most like
to have come to the plate? Hint - read lasts weeks report. In a near mirror image of his heroics against the Spartans, Pat
Nolan once again smacked a double plating the tying and go-ahead runs. Pat fought off pitch after pitch until he got one he
liked and left it in the gap. After that, Eoin shut down the Giants in order to improve his own impressive start to 3-0.
Final score, 8-7 Sox.
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Defeat vs Hurricanes Too Poor
To Warrant A Game Report!
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‘Early Season’ Effort Enough for Victory
Panthers 6 Black Sox 10
Kevin Dillon - While the Sox efforts at the plate looked like the first game of the season, seven solid innings from starter Eoin
O’Connor was the foundation for a 10-6 victory over the Panthers. Eoin relied heavily on his ground ball for outs and
a sharp infield didn’t disappoint.
By necessity the Sox infield had a very different look to it today;
Pat Nolan moved over to SS for the fist time to replace Sal Rizo who went behind the dish, Mike Kindle took over the hot corner
and only 1B had a familiar look with Paul Peake. New recruit in 2005, Brian Moore made his first Black Sox start in 2B and
had a heck of a day playing a central role in 2 DP’s and an assist on a play at home. The sharpness of the Sox infield
was the key difference in the game as nothing was given away. In contrast, the Sox had 4 hits off of the Panthers infield
and took full advantage of a few passed balls & dropped 3rd strikes too. The loss of the Panthers starting catcher midway
through the game, injuring himself diving for a foul ball, was a major blow to them and somewhat helped the Sox to pad a 2-1
lead with 4 runs in the 5th and again in the 6th.
The Sox outfield was solid enough, executing successfully the lone
chance that went out there. Everything else that came out there was solid hits albeit aided by a swirling breeze. There was
a new face in RF too with Senan Dormer making his baseball debut. Senan hustled after everything and rounded off his day by
coming around to score his first ever run. Bob Kennedy picked up where he left off from his rookie year by getting the offence
started in the 3rd with a lead off double and coming round to score. Bob played CF today, another first.
Yours truly played LF today; not much happened.
Editors notes!
This year I have decided to add a 'plays of the game' or 'player of
the game' section after each report, so here goes!
This week its the 'Top 3 plays':
3rd. As I am deciding, I get the 3rd spot for my first ever 5 pitch
inning in the fourth!
2nd. Our new infielder, Brian, gets 2nd for his assist for the out
at the plate.
1st. And our first winner(s) are, Pat and Brian for their two double
plays which came at crucial stages of the game.
Note: Mike gets a gold star for effort for his diving play at 3rd.
He would have been included in the top three only a 'super fast' runner beat out the throw! Better luck next time Mike!
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