Illowa APBA League.
Yes, winning is fun but the people is what makes it important. The IAL is made up of some diverse people folks coming from different backgrounds and beliefs but somehow our love of baseball ties us together. Our diversity spreads to our team loyalty as well. Between the five us, I think we represented the Cubs, Angels, Cardinals, and Dodgers.
Enough of waxing philosophical. It was good to see DonS who drove into town Friday night. It was even better to see my Thunderchickens defeat his Marauders 6 games to 3. Pitching and timely hitting was the key.
Saturday we played two more nine game series. The commish and his son, Marc came barreling into town early enough for us to get a good start. Well, we didn’t do so hot against Marc’s. He informed me that he was resting Helton and was playing Russ Branyan. See, I drafted Branyan way back when and though he’s never been an MLB star, he’s still a fav of mine.
…except when he plays against me. Between him and the Jones’ “brothers” (Andruw and Chipper), they crushed us. All told the Upperdeckers hit 22 dingers in 9 games and won 5 games to 4.
Side note: while we were playing our games, we had the ESPN on in the background and they were showing last year’s Home Run derby (the one where Abreu won). I have to admit I’ve never watched a homerun derby. Never had the urge. Now I can see why. Yikes! Talk about homerun overload!! I felt like I was watching a video game or something. That spectacle was not the aspects of baseball that I enjoy. Guess I’ll just be skipping this year’s derby especially if I have to hear Berman’s homerun call ad nauseum… it’s hit, it’s back… back-back-back-back-back-back-back-back, gone!
The commish with his Bombers. He made the mistake of insulting of few of my players (Ray Durham is NOT a jerk) and they responded in kind. We took six of nine quite easily. I do admire his pitching staff. L. Hernandez, Marquis, Zambrano. Not so much for their pitching ability but they’re pretty much a 9th hitter in his lineup. No point in walking the 8th place hitter to get the pitcher when he can hit like they can.
Final results for the weekend: 16-11
That puts my Thunderchickens at 55-41 and in good shape for the homestretch.