Now the Blues Story

For you English majors, if you're questioning the grammatical structure of this title
it's not because I couldn't locate Frank. For those in attendance, you know the "Blues" story.
Now, For The Rest of the Story.
Blue did not win the tournament's final game. Playing the final two innings before all our loyal fans, to include the Gray team and spouses, Blue had one more gutsy rally left. Trailing 16-10 in the bottom of the ninth, my earlier vision was unfolding as hitter after hitter brought the game to 16-13. Tinker's destined triple, scoring run 14, exposed the true meaning of his vision (blurred and doubled) as both calves cramped enroute to first. Larry's early season words of "we all must play through the pain because we all feel it" still resonate in my ears.
In Jim's daily game words, "we all give thanks for what the Lord has given us."
The Blue chant summarizes who we are and what we have accomplished, "TEAM".
As any good safety knows, when you are beat on a fly pattern you gotta grab the guy's jersey! Thus, in Tinker's words, "Does anyone want to Indian Leg Wrestle at second base?"
We ALL gave it our ALL and we can stand PROUD! It has been a very good year!
And in respect for my teammates whose last names end in a,e,i,o,u I quote your country's poet laureate, "Goodnight Mrs. Mcgillicuddy wherever you are.
P.S. To my out of State followers....
To my loving sister Barb, the English Major who mentored me through soooo many college papers, I hope I got it right and that my dangling participle wasn't exposed and that I did you proud. To my brother-in-law, the journalism professor and NASCAR scribe: I thought of ending with; "With each and every Blue entering the final turn, all needles registered "E" and after completing their circuit the gas was fully spent."

The Fat Lady Has Sung

Today's games have concluded the season.
Let's start with congratulations to Gray who were first to complete three-fourths of Larry's Double-Double challenge. Trailing by a run going into the 9th, Gray defeated Dundalk 11-10 to win their tournament on the field adjacent to Blue's on-going battle wth Bel Air. Rumor has it that "Ray's Boys" will celebrate their division and tournament championships with a ticker tape parade.
Parade Marshall Owings will be leading with his Corvette Pace Car starting in Mayberry. The Procession calls for traversing through Frizzellsburg and Tyrone before detouring to pass by CC Sports Complex with an immediate left onto John Owings Road. The next deviation will be off Bachman's Valley Rd. to Old Bachman's Valley Road with a left onto Fridinger Mill then a short side rail onto "Old Fridinger" Mill. The terminus for the celebratory parade is to be in Fowblesburg, home to our sponsor Farmers & Merchants Bank. Kudos to Gray!! And many thanks to Farmers and Merchants! What a pleasure to have the F&M Bank Chairman in attendance for today's games.
Tinker is requesting consultation with Evers prior to posting the dramtic recapitulation of Blues game, so fans please hang in there. But just a little
teaser, in the fifth when yet another Tinker to Evers to Chance doubleplay took place, Tinker had a vision. And where's my proof-reading friend Frank when I need him? The Blues story is yet to be written.

2009 Accolades August 25, 2009

Rural Community Team Crowned League Champions
Carroll County Maryland is abundant with many recreational sports teams but none capture the hearts of the community like Carroll Blue and Carroll Gray. The players are not driven to practice or games by parents or grandparents but rather drive themselves or car pool. Blue and Gray are softball teams composed of very seasoned players from various walks of life who captured their respective Division Titles within the Baltimore Senior Slow-Pitch Softball League. From submissions by credentialed AP, UPI and Reuters scribes Blue manager and Gray manager were selected to be this year's C0-CROWN recipients. Carroll's founding member has been chosen as the banner bearer. Congratulations to Carroll Blue, manager Larry Bair, Gray manager Ray Owings and Harry Griffith. AP's card carrying member, Tinker, submitted this recommendation.

"THE TEAM"

Spahn & Sain and The 2009 Blue Team Members minus only the barrister.

There Is No Joy In Mudville

That is if Mudville is located in Bowie and Parkville as the boys from Carroll County disposed of both opponents handily today. Early reports have it that Gray hosted (roasted) Bowie 20-5 while, on the upper field, the boys in Blue were even less hospitable in whomping Parkville 34-8. Blue used their full roster to hammer hits and when needed pull off the superb defensive plays. Defensive play of the day is a tie between Tom's full throtle shoestring catch and Ever's sprint to nab the fly down the right field line. Quote of the day is also a tie: 1st from Parkville to
the umpire, "do they have anyone that's not fast?", 2nd, from Robbie Kidd standing on third after his triple when asked if he needed a designated runner, "I can handle it from here!" The award for greatest number of family in attendance today goes to Ray. And the moxey award to Murph who showed up in his Steelers jersey.
Tomorrow's picnic should be GREAT but stay focused as we both go for all the marbles in meeting Larry's challenge of a "DOUBLE-DOUBLE" on Wednesday. Wins are mandatory as I have just exhausted the "No Joy in Mudville" heading!!!!!
An aside to Neal: My retort to the barrister challenging the use of confusing names such as Tinker, Evers, Chance, Spahn & Sain is "Quid Pro Quo", for your use of procedendo, mandamus, habeous corpus and their ilk.

Sister Gray Clinches Their Division

Congratulations to Ray's boys who clinched their division today with a defeat of Dundalk. Gentlemen, we are half way to to Mr. Bair's preseason challenge to pull off a double double. With Division championships secured it is now time to win the tournament! The "Hicks From The Sticks" ROCK!!!!

Record Setting Win #34

Carroll County Blue has established a new season record for wins. The 9-0 beating inflicted upon Glen Burnie was not lacking suspense. Altough 7 Blue players were ejected from the game, the remaining troops faired well. Before the first pitch was thrown, Junior, wearing his NY Yankee cap, and Murph, sporting a Steelers jersey, were ejected for being out of uniform. In the top of the first inning, pitcher Larry and catcher Mike were tossed while arguing with umpire George Miller over a "brush-back pitch" call. In the bottom of the first, Tinker was tossed by Miller when he came to the plate just because he muttered something about "chicken excrement calls". The barrister, Mr. Hoffman, came to Tinker's defense only to be thumbed for contempt followed by the expulsion of the Reverend Pastor Pugh for uttering "Holy Mother of God". The remainder of the game saw Blue on their best behavior after Hank's speach about altering our habits. Hank then went 4 for 4, all triples down the right field line. Ray also went 4 for 4 with 2 hits each from the left and right sides. Tom Hall's single, which hit off the top of the fence, scored Harry who had hit a triple down the left field line.
In summary, A Win Is A Win, even though Glen Burnie was scared to show up and forfeited. Isn't fantasy softball G-R-E-A-T? See you all on Monday August 24th for our first tournament game at home.

Stuck on #33

Blue made a valiant comeback effort but finally succumbed to Howard Red 21-13 today.
Trailing by 12 runs going into the bottom of the ninth Blue struck for four runs and had the bases loaded with two outs remaining. After the game, Mike was quite the Man as he told Evers & I that he'd shoulder the blame for the loss for if he had been given two more chances to hit grand slam homers at that juncture it would have tied the game. Missing four players and having Pete play through his ankle injury didn't help our cause..........Monday is our last chance to set the record for wins so let's see of what we are made!!!!!! And,once again, thanks to our loyal fans who turned out in force to include a few Gray compatriots. An aside to Hank, "don't feel it necessary to send me a thank you card for the gift".

#33 Ties the Record

Blue's 10-5 victory over Gray was bitter-sweet in that Gray now has Dundalk within a half game of their lead. "Sain" (Robbie Kidd) toyed with Gray for the first three innings before shutting them out for the remainder of the game; "What A Competitor"!
Too many other contributions from everyone at the plate and in the field to enumerate
so this will be about our walking wounded. On Team Picture Day we were finally blessed with Al Stroud (in uniform nonetheless), Dave Keeney batting with his broken
finger to be surgically repaired tomorrow (remember to bring a Doctor's note to excuse you from Thursday's game), and Pete Morano batting off of his ruptured ankle.
Howard Red would be a perfect victim to fall prey to our record-setting 34th win tomorrow!!!!
And on a personal note; Thank you Hank the Yank for the compliment today! I'll bring you a sponge tomorrow.

One Game Losing Streak Snapped

Tinker here, writing in abstentia (proud Dad attended daughter's "White Coat Ceremony" at Pitt Med School). From telephone reports from teammates present, it looks as though Greenbelt felt the wrath of bruised egos. Congrats to all the "Blues" who participated! My only question: is Right Field truly the wilderness as Evers previously reported, as I understand we dispatched the Reverend Mr. Pugh to the outpost today? And what's the story with having to deploy FIVE outfielders to counter the opposition's shortstop? Wednesday is team picture day, so I have been advised that baths, shaving and laundry are recommended. One to tie the record and two to surpass it for most wins. GO BLUE!!!!! And, as a reminder, wear Blue shirt on Wednesday.

IMPORTANT DATES & FYI's

First, Tinker's apologies for being a "downer correspondent" Thursday but defeats are tough to swallow knowing our capabilities.

ALL remaining games are on our home field beginning with a doubleheader against Greenbelt Monday. Wednesday has us being hosted by Carroll Gray, ( I'm thinking they are not too happy with us losing to Dundalk so be prepared for a battle). Thursday, 8/13/09, we host Howard in a game for which we need to win to have a .500 percentage against A division. Let's take at least four of five remaining games to establish a new Carroll County record for victories! Team picnic is scheduled for Tuesday August 25th with time TBD, which is sandwiched between Monday's 1st tournament game and the championship game on Wednesday the 26th.

Dundalk-The Wilderness

Perhaps it was missing four key players, or perchance an intensity letdown after clinching the Division Championship, or maybe our focus was on the forth-coming lunch of Maryland's largest cheesesteak subs, but in the end, it was, we got beat by a good team today 12-8. With Gray's rep in attendance to spur our effort to keep Dundalk behind them we failed. The epitome of Larry's desperation with our lackluster performance surfaced in the ninth when trailing by four runs he called on yours truly to be a designated runner. Lethargy and stupor come to mind, but, in the vein of my good friend Evers thought process I equate our performance to BEER, we were flat and it was skunk!

Division Championship Secured

Blue's 22-0 blowout over Gold coupled with Catonsville's loss on Monday has locked up first place with a #1 seeding and bye going into the tournament later this month. This Wednesday is critical in that we need to keep Dundalk off of sister Gray's tail, (kinda like being the BIG Brother). Thursday's makeup game at Harford will be the true test of our mettle and competitiveness. Seven games to play with four wins needed to establish a new season record for most wins. And by the way, this is Tinker back from my wanderings.