Patrick's Post Game Wrap
- May 13th, 2009
-Submitted by Mike Tollefson
Editor’s Note
Typically, I try to keep the Post Game Wrap (PGW) fairly short.
This usually isn’t a problem since most of you really aren’t
all that interesting to write about anyway.
However, there was simply no way to describe this week’s game in
a couple short paragraphs so please forgive the length.
Game Summary
After three innings of play, Patrick’s was trailing the Flame Bar team
by a score of 22-5. Patrick’s
defense had been shredded. Balls
were passing through the infield like invading armies through France.
Mike Tollefson had been exposed for the aging, slow, washed up
outfielder that he is. Steve Guimond had been caught in a run-down between first and
second in which he eventually collapsed from exhaustion and was mercifully
tagged out. Gary
Schmiesing’s ERA was approaching triple digits.
While extra-base hits by Geem, Schmeze, and T-Lip, all of whom
scored, helped Patrick’s narrowly avoid being “20-runned” after
three innings, it appeared that Patrick’s had about as much chance of
winning the game as Tom Lippert did of ending his home run drought . . .
Patrick’s needed to score three runs in the top of the fourth in order to avoid being 15-runned. The situation looked bleak however when Lippert stepped to the plate with two outs, and still no runs scored. It was at this moment when the tide of the game, and maybe the season, turned. With “Joe Crede-like” timing, T-Lip launched a three-run bomb that easily cleared the fence, preserving the game. The team went on to hit five consecutive 2-out singles, bringing Rocket to the plate with the bases juiced. In his own personal “moment of infamy,” Rocketman laced a shot to the outfield that split the defenders for two more RBI’s. All told, Patrick’s would score 8 runs in the inning, all on two outs.
After holding Flame
Bar scoreless in the bottom of the fourth, Patrick’s entered the bottom
of the fifth inning behind by seven runs and in real danger of being
10-runned. However, the
defense held, allowing only 1 Flame Bar run to score, leaving Flame Bar in
the lead 23-15.
Patrick’s would go on to score seven runs in the top of the 6th inning, leaving them just one run behind Flame Bar at 23-22. However, while Patrick’s had narrowly avoided the "mercy rule” for three innings, another problem was looming. Games are called after an hour and the 45 runs that had been scored cumulatively by the two ball clubs had used up 56 minutes of that hour. Patrick’s was running out of time faster than Obama is spending our tax dollars. The team sprinted out to the field, needing to record 3 outs in the bottom of the sixth inning in 4 minutes to avoid having the game called on time and loosing by a run. Patrick’s called upon their ace pitcher, Gary Schmiesing (yep, the same pitcher whose ERA just a couple innings previous was approaching triple digits) to get those 3 quick outs. Schmiesing responded with what might be his most impressive clutch pitching performance ever by inducing three outs on just three pitches. The team sprinted back into the dugout to begin the final inning, still down 23-22.
In order for
Patrick’s to have a chance at completing the comeback, they needed at
least one run in the top of the 7th.
Thus, when Jamie Williamson stepped to the plate with 1 out and
nobody on base, the moment was tense.
Williamson instantly brought the dugout to their feet when he
deposited a solo home run over the right center field fence to tie the
game. Patrick’s would
eventually take a two run lead into the bottom of the 7th, a
lead they would not relinquish, completing the 18-run comeback and winning
the game by a final score of 25-23.
Key Stats
Several long standing “streaks” were broken during this game, none
more notable than Tom Lippert’s home run drought which ended at 13
games. Jamie Williamson’s
clutch home run in the 7th was his first with the team.
Later, it was learned that it was in fact his first home run in 17
years! Finally, this week
will also mark the first time since the inception of the PGW that Rob
Moline hasn’t done anything worthy of shame and mockery.
In fact, the start of this season has seen Rocket’s batting
statistics soar to near the top of the stats page with an OBP of .714.
However, Las Vegas has reportedly put the odds of it staying there
just below the odds of Janet Napolitano winning the Miss USA Pageant.
One thing that has
remained a constant is Gary Schmiesing’s uncanny ability to lead the
team in triples. With a
strong wind blowing out to straight away right field, Schmiesing made a
“Bert Blyleven-like” call before the game that he would record a
triple that night. True to
his word, Schmeze burned the right fielder in the third inning and seemed
assured of a three-base hit. However,
things got a little hairy (“hairy” seemed like an appropriate
descriptive term for Gary) when Schmiesing rounded second and had to face
the wind head on in his journey to third base.
With gravity and aerodynamics working diligently against him, Gary
persevered on to third base, filling a time span in which I’m fairly
certain Ma Tollefson could have knitted two sweaters, a scarf, and a pair
of mittens.
Injury Report
Pitcher Gary Schmiesing is reporting neck stiffness from straining upward
to see Mike Tollefson’s OBP number on the Stat’s page (as we all know,
it’s all about OBP).