Lonichiro's blog

It was another stunning day on Saturday as the 2008 season commenced at the hallowed grounds of Gap Bridge field. The field was in great shape and a full contingent of Lowballers showed up to do battle in what turned out to be yet another close game. The teams were chosen by secret draft by Lonichiro and the handsome one. It doesn't seem to matter how we choose the teams the games always seem to come down to a run or two in the ninth inning. The away team the Lagers consisted of Hot Rod Beck, Wingman Howell, Trip Atocha, and Lonichiro, playing against the formidable Loggers boasting the line-up of El Guapo in his first game back from the snip, The Surgeon, Trot Thompson, Vlad Oxley,and Bubba Okajima, from southern Japan sporting some snazzy pinstripes.

The game was a real roots outing as it was agreed not to worry about keeping stats and just to play some hard nosed wiffle. But boy, what a game not to have on record. Lots of plastic left the park buoyed by a fickle but forceful breeze that played havoc with the consistency of the pitches. Hot Rod Beck went yard two times including a towering grand slam shot off Trot that put the Lagers way ahead of the lagging loggers. Lonichiro also delivered a switch hit shot to left and both Trip and Wingman were on their games as the Lagers looked to be cruising to an easy win in the late going.

But, this is Lowball, and the tenacious Loggers were not going to just sit down quietly. Behind the ever intimidating Plastic Surgeon, the Loggers staged a comeback which I would say was of epic proportions if it wasn't something that seems to happen nearly every game. Coming back from an eleven to four deficit they chipped away at the lead with long balls by Trot Thompson and a very near home-run by the Vlox that was bobbled and caught just as it was about to leave the park by Lonichiro. All of the Logger players contributed to the comeback with steady hits and good plate discipline, taking walks when they could get them. The Surgeon virtually shut down the opposition until the bottom of the ninth when the home team Loggers came to the plate to face a late arriving Unit. Matt Brown took the mound in the bottom of the ninth with a two run lead, but his day at fire school left him unprepared to stomp out the flames of this surging Logger team. He didn't seem to have enough time to warm up, as he struggled finding the strike zone, blowing the save and loading the bases as a confident Trot Thompson came to the dish. The Unit dealt a hanging breaking ball over the heart of the plate and Trot turned on it sending it over the head of Atocha who was playing in the hot box at short stop. Lonichro circled under it looking to rob Trot of the double and Atocha ran back but the ball bounced in and out of Lonichiro's hands as Trip Atocha dove over to try and catch the bobble, but to no avail. Trot took a trot around the bases with a walk off double to end the game in stunning fashion, garnering a player of the game nod from his compatriots. The pitcher of the game award went to The Surgeon, in the first of what I think will be many such nominations this season. If even half of the games this season come close to this one for excitement and clutch hitting and pitching then this is promising to be one hell of a season.

Hey Lowballers,
Wisdom and I have a birthday party coming up on Jan 26th and you are all invited. The kid's party starts at Noon and the grown-ups are welcome any time after that. If you have a question about whether you qualify as a kid or a grown-up call me. We usually skate and play hockey on the pond during the day light hours (I realize it's not wiffle but I want women to come to the party too) There will probably be some music and dancing once the sun goes down. Bring a dish to share and come party with us.

***Conflict alert***

Dan Guy has his birthday party on the same day as mine, and this is terribly unfortunate. I'm sorry if you have to choose one over the other. Just think though, if you pace yourself you might be in for a great day.

Thanks to all the Lowballers that showed up at the Bristol Bakery gig. Barika Ensemble is playing at the Richmond Bakery on Thursday Jan. 24th in the evening.
Hope to see you there.

Lonichiro

Hey Lowball nation,
Come to the Bristol Bakery on Friday the 21st and let the Barika Ensemble rock your knee high socks off!

The sun was out in one of those glorious crystaline Lincoln evenings that makes one stop and ponder how it is we all got so lucky to live in this time and place. The game was called for an early start at 5:30 and people showed up early to warm up and talk about strategy. Hit the ball often and hard was the strategy most of us settled on. The DR Power team was looking pretty good in their matching shirts and shorts. Special K made a timely arrival in the official wiffleball K car with a delivery of shirts for the Middlebury Mountaineers. The game got underway promptly at 5:35 and the tension was palpable in the clear air of Bird's Eye Field. The Mountaineers won the toss and opted to be the home team. Mountaineer manager Lonichro took the mound in the top of the first facing the formidable DR Power line up of El Guapo, Trot Thompson, Bubba Okajima, and the first LowBall appearance of School Bus Moriarty.

Another fabulous day at the Friendly Confines of DR field. The game start time was reported to be precisely at 9:04 but, as usual it got delayed due to field maintenance and chit-chat. Everyone was very excited to see the big man Chris "The Ox" Oxley, back in the game after a two or three week haitus. The time off did him well, especially on the mound. He also blasted a solo shot in the third (I think) to a resounding call of "He's Baaaack!"
The teams were selected using the most high tech method we could come up with which was if your birthday fell in the first half of the year then you were on the Lincoln Loggers, if it was in the second half then you'd be playing for the Lincoln Lagers. Well a startling development happened with this seemingly random arrangement. Playing for the Loggers were four of the leagues leaders in hitting. Shoeless Jon-boy, wingman, west-coast, Howard Howell with a season batting average of .500, El Guapo with a stunning seven doubles, six homeruns, 28 RBI's and twenty walks, Lonichiro with a league leading 45 hits and the Vlox, whose stats don't begin to tell the story of his power and presence at the plate. Well, I can say it looked like a formidable line up to be taking the field at the Friendly confines.
That, however was not to be the case, as the Laggers, (whoops) Lagers comprised of J-Mack, Claudio "Chin Music" Frank, Hot Rod Beck and a surprise call up from the japanese leagues, Bubba Okajima. That's right folks the rumors are true. Randy Barnes has come out of retirement and everything you've heard about his pitching was confirmed today.
The Lagers put together a fantastic performance with each of the players both hitting and pitching solid games. The story of the game, though, has to be the break out performance of Claudio "Chin Music" Frank. Today he had a record tying three home run game, and he hit for the cycle. One of his yard balls was a grand slam and he was pushing the double digits as far as Rbi's go. It was impressive to watch.
Others who went Yard today were, the Vlox (welcome back Chris, were going to miss you this weekend.) El Guapo, maintaining his lead, Bubba Okajima, just a small display of his potential power, and Lonichiro. forgive me if I forgot anyone else.
All in all it was a game with a lot of fire works but as far as real grinders go it was not one of those. The final score ended up at 20 to 10 and so the game ended with a bit of a fizzle.
Right now everyone is looking forward to The Classic commencing on friday with simultaneous games at Mountaineer park, formerly Gap Bridge field, and Twin Oaks, Possibly Bird's Eye field by the end of the week. Game time will be at 6:00 PM sharp -no delays! The days are getting shorter as we speak.

Sunday's Belgian Wiffle represented, I think, a turning point in the Lincoln Old-School Wiffle Ball organization's development. Allow me to set the stage: The commissioner, Trot Thompson, called me a couple of times on Saturday evening to discuss the technicalities of manifesting such a momentus and complicated affair as the first annual Belgian Wiffle, a celebration involving masterfully handcrafted waffles and belgian beer. After the success of Sunday Bloody Sunday, an event in which we enjoyed incomperable Bloody Marys along with a fine game of wiffle -although for the life of me I can't remember anything that happened that day - and to a lesser extent the success of Gin and Tonic Wednesday, a crowd favorite, I thought there would be no problem bringing off this event. However the commissioner called me and said that there were some reservations being expressed by some of the participants about the timing of the game and a possible conflict with some sort of chicken barbeque going on down at the Lincoln Fire station. The commissioner mentioned that the people involved had said that we should just bag the whole event because it might cause the game to run over the allotted time - which usually corresponds to how generous our wives are feeling. Well now, I am a very understanding person when it comes to the "Widows of Wiffle" (W.O.W) and their needs, but the fire department? "Come on," I said to the commissioner, "don't you think we need to put our foot down when it comes to this kind of encroachment on our sacred time? Don't you think these guys need to get their priorities straight? I mean for god's sake they don't even get to man the barbeque! All they are doing is pushing mops around and taking out the trash." The commissioner agreed that, in general, the naysayers were being whining, snivelling wusses and that we should go ahead with the plans as scheduled which really only required a trip to the store for a twelve pack of Stella Artois, some batter, a waffle iron, and a couple of extension cords.
The dawn came bright and misty to the hallowed grounds of Gap Bridge field. The day was as perfect as anyone had seen for wiffle, with a brisk but uneven wind blowing from north to south across the field. This was definitely a pitchers breeze, as everyone throwing that day was a righty, and the wind added considerable break to the curve ball. At times the wind was blowing straight in toward the batter making well hit balls hang up and would-be home runs become long fly outs. Indeed this breeze would prove to be the deciding factor in the game.
The home team the Lincoln Loggers took the field consisting of Mike "El Guapo" Moriarty, Dan "The Plastic Surgeon" Guy, and the commissioner, Trot Thompson. The away team, the Lincoln Lagers, consisted of Seth "Hot Rod" Beck, J-Mack, and myself, Lonichiro.
Trot Thompson got off to a rough start, giving up six in the top half of the first, and then the game settled into what would become one of the more epic pitching duels of LowBall history. Notable pitching performances were given by El Guapo, Hot Rod, Lonichiro, and The Plastic Surgeon. Hot Rod and Lonichiro each turning in one-hit performances. Even Thompson came back after his rough first inning to throw two more scoreless innings. J-Mack's pitching was decent but he didn't drop the patented J-Mack H-Bomb, a pitch that comes in high and slow and drops into the strike zone for devestating effect. Perhaps the wind was a factor. Special mention must go to the pitching performance of Dan "The Plastic Surgeon" Guy. There is a reason for that nickname, and the reason became all too clear when he took the mound. He was nearly unhittable as pitch after pitch sailed in with a resound thump on the battered silver foam of the Gap Bridge strike zone; (A relic which should soon be retired to the hall of fame). He did this with apparent effortlessness, never breaking a sweat, and never losing his calm and affable demeanor as he stood out there with the wind helping to add a little extra zip and twist on his pitches.
He even made the spandex bike shorts look cool. J-Mack summed up the veracity of the nickname with the statement, "He cuts you open when he's at the plate and he sews up when he's on the mound."
The game went at a brisk pace, waffles not withstanding, and was the first LowBall game ever to go into extra innings. In total, it went eleven innings and ended in a tie, another LowBall first. It is my firm belief, after having watched this league from it's infancy, that this game showed that LowBall has finally arrived. There was mature pitching, excellent hitting and some fairly spectacular fielding, including two game saving catches from Hot Rod Beck in the final innings, one of which robbed Trot Thompson of what would have been a walk off double in the tenth. All in all I'd say this was one of the best games I've ever been a part of, and even though it ended in a tie, an offense we forgive the fire department for, it proves the addage that when you play wiffle ball, everyone wins.