Gap Bridge

LINCOLN, Vt.(LDP) On a stormy Sunday morning, it was a case of the constant drip and the torrential downpour flooding the Loggers hope for a home victory. Hot Rod provided the constant drip going a near perfect 9 for 10 from the plate. Crossroad teammate, Claudio Chin Music Frank, brought a deluge of runs despite going 2 for 9. The two hits were scathing, a towering grandslam and a powerful double for a total of 6 RBIs.

The game got off to a ripping start for the hometown Loggers as they racked up a quick 4 runs while OX shutdown the Lagers. Through 2 it was 4-0 Loggers on the sunny side.

The 3rd would see the Lagers earn back 3 of the runs off the OX but surrender another in the 4th off Guap. 5-3 through 4. The Lagers lit it up in the 5th. A double from Claude to drive in deux. Guap's only hit of the day, a solid double to drive in 2 and more singles from Beck accounting for another run. The top half ended with Guap getting dead bugged by the Commish. An unmedicated Guap lost control of bodily funcitons and commenced to unleash a bevy of blows to the unsuspecting strike zone. It was something like this video:

At the conclusion of the tirade, Guap solemnly drifted back to the bench plainly stating, "I need help."

Hot Rod took the mound in the bottom of the inning and finally started to click. Through 7 batters in two innings, 6 went to the bench with souvenir K's.

The Wing came on in the 6th and looked strong, k'ing two and getting the only out of the game of Hot Rod (though I protested, it was legit). Through 6 the game was tight at 8-5 Lagers smelling better.

With the Surgeon set to take the mound, young Wing needed to continue to lock the Lagers down. Despite loading the bases, he quickly rebounded to put two O's on the board and looked to be on his way to another blanked inning. Then the skies opened and with one swing Dom sent the Loggers home with no soup. The longest grand slam I have witnessed at the Gap. The Loggers made a valiant comeback attempt in the bottom half, grabbing three runs off of the stingy Surgeon. Unfortunately, the game was called after 8 with the Lagers triumphing 15-8. Hot Rod with player of the game and winning pitcher honors posting an extremely high WAR of 0.640 while batting 0.900 and pitching perfect from the mound.

Dom's grand slam landed way back here, a long, long way from way up there

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.

In case you didn't already know, I like the wiffle quite a bit. There should be no question of the dedication of the LowBall faithful after yesterday's game. In near freezing temperatures, in intermittent drizzle, a host of the old school wifflers showed up and fought through a game of epic proportions. In true LowBall fashion, the teams were randomly drawn at the start of the game, pitting the Loggers (Trot, Ox, The Surgeon, Unit, Wingman, Sharp) against the Lagers (Hot Rod, Lonichiro, J-Mac).

Temperatures at Gapbridge were at just about bone shattering levels. Wiffle balls were cracking in practice and hands were constantly numb. Only the truly brave or insane play in conditions like this, while I would like to say I am mostly the former, I believe most would conclude the latter.

The front nine played out with the Loggers leading 15 to 11. Ox was on fire, knocking 3 balls out of the park and standing strong on the mound. The pitching was on point with a total of eleven one and dones being recorded in the first half of the game. Honestly, it was so cold I don't remember much else, other than me getting thumped for 5 runs.

After a short recess, the back nine continued at Hunter S. Thompson in sunny Bristol. The Loggers quickly added to their lead with 3 runs in the tenth while Wingman only allowed 1. As is often the case in LowBall, things shifted quickly in the eleven with the lagers putting 7 on the board powered by strong doubles from Rod and Ich.

The teams continued to battle and arrived in the 16th with the Lagers trailing the Loggers by one run. J-Mac put three K's on the rack and the Lagers came to bat in the bottom facing the freshly rebuilt arsenal of the Unit. Despite a strong showing earlier in the game, the Lagers now had Unit's number and rallied 5 runs on to the board behind strong drives from all three players. Now down by 4, the Loggers brought a fierce offensive onslaught against LonIchiro on the backs of opposite field dings from Sharp and Unit.

Leading by a mere 1 run, the Lagers looked to pad their lead in the bottom of the inning but faced a focused Unit. After holding strong, the Loggers came into the 18th down by one and down to their last three outs. Hot Rod was on the mound, having recorded 13 K's on the day, but giving up 10 runs. Ox drove a shot to the left field corner that LonIchiro was able to run under and snag for the first out. Unit got walked and the winning run arrived at the plate in newcomer Sharp. Sharp made contact sending a ground ball to right, Beck dove off the mound, snagging the grounder, flipping it to Lon on the mound, who quickly converted it into a game ending double play. A fitting way to end a great communal battle, with the only play in wiffle that actually involves two players. The Lagers retained rights to the trophy 29-28, but everyone won.

Three pillars to the trophy, three players in the field, a truly team game.

Trot had the play of the game, self described as the moon. I would like to clarify this as being the eclipse as the humor factor eclipsed the quality of what was certainly the best defensive play of the game if not the year. Hat's off, there is no shame in a great play, none.




Until next season...

Another glorious Vermont summer day greeted the first Belgian Wiffle at Gapbridge, setting the tone for the day. The game would come to exemplify all that is right in wiffle; scoring, defense, pitching, comebacks, and good beer. In short, it was a classic.

NOTE: THIS GAME WAS SO GOOD IT GETS TWO WRITE-UPS, I FULLY RECOMMEND READING LONICHIRO'S GREAT SUMMARY OF THE DAY FIRST HERE.

The waffle stand at Gapbridge

Lonichiro shows off the bounty of a fine morning

The game got off to an explosive start as the Away side jumped to a 6-0 lead in the first. With a strong breeze blowing across the field from the North, the game would quickly turn into a battle of pitching and defense. The pitching was downright nasty for the bulk of the game.

The home side rallied in the 5th to rack up 4 runs. Guapo looked to have a deep ding to left. The wind held it up enough for Beck to mozy over from right field to make the catch in triple land. The home side would add a run in both the 6th and 7th to even the score at 6 a piece entering the 8th. Dan "The Plastic Surgeon" sent the away side packing on three consecutive K's, while Hot Rod knocked the home side down in order with a GO, FO, and K.

After Guapo made quick work of the away side in the top of the ninth, it came down to the last three outs of scheduled play knotted up with J-Mac on the hill. Things were looking good for the home boys as they quickly got two runners on with just one out. Then things got interesting.

"The Catch" - generally I don't like writing about my own play, so I am going to describe this part of the game from the first person. I was playing right field and knew that any extra bases hit was going to end the game. I cheated as far towards left as I felt I could get away with. Trot Thompson was at the plate and already had shown he was hitting with power. Soon as he swung, I knew he had made solid contact and I started to run for left. It was as solid a hit as you could expect in the wind and started to drop abruptly. Everything timed out perfectly, I laid out into a full dive and just caught the ball before crashing into the ground. I still am not sure how it all played out, but I know it was one of those moments that makes you truly love the game. Only in LowBall would the opposing team run onto the field in celebration after you robbed them of a win with a completely luck driven play. What a game.

The game went on into extra innings. Though El Guapo got a bit of a scare, things remained tied after 11. It was decided that due to constraints, the game would be called as a tie, a fitting end to a contest fought equally hard on both sides.

No wins were awarded, however I have elected to award a dual player of the game. For the home side, Dan "The Plastic Surgeon" was the obvious choice. Despite a slow game at the plate, The Surgeon dominated from the mound. Racking up a whopping 10 Ks while only giving up 3 hits in 4 innings of action. For the away side, Hot Rod Beck is finally finding his mark and has racked up some solid numbers. In today's game, Beck sent 9 batter's away KO'd, deadmanned 2 batters, only walked 3, while giving up a measly one hit in four innings.

El Guapo, owner of a shut-out through 4, throws to the league's top batsman, LonIchiro

The Beck Opposite Field Swing. On a signature drive just foul off the right field line, Trot Thompson would make a phenomenal running/diving catch to kick Beck to the bench.

LonIchiro with the steady camera work