Big Game Alert

[Guest themetfairy]

Ya Gotta Believe!

Best of luck in the playoffs!

[Centerfield]

Edgy MD wrote: Good luck, Guzzlers. Don't give up on those non-hitters. Look down your roster. One of those kids is just one adjustment away from being the next Ben!

There is a ton of talent down there. Just hasn't clicked for them yet. I have three guys that are just a step away from being productive. It's a tough adjustment coming up from the minors (10 year olds pitching) to the majors (12-13 year olds pitching). Other than my superstar, most of my kids are 11 and it's the first time they are facing older kids.

They'll get it. Hopefully today.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, facing 13-year-olds on a Little League-sized field is brutal.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Good luck! Cheetos opening round playoff is tomorrow afternoon (12:45 at Prospect Park, tickets available on stubhub) and if we win, 5 p.m. same place Sunday

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Cheetos lost the final today, 3-0. They were a good team with 3 good pitchers and they shut down our heavy hitters, there was not much we could do after getting a few on in the first but we acquitted ourselves well otherwise. This team's strategy is to intentionally bat their kids on top of the plate hoping for hbps and walks then "stealing" in an attempt to draw bad throws and run the bases without hitting. They beat us twice this way in the regular season but it forced us to defend it better. And we did today. Best moment: they recklessly drifted the coach's son off second and we ran the D: catcher chases, pitcher covers home, middle infielders pinch. Kid stays off the base between 3rd and 2nd, our catcher has wheels, his grandmother was a 72 Olympian, and as he gains our head coach, tired of their bullshit, just shouts: TAG HIS ASS!! and sure enough their dumbass excuse for Fake Baseball results in a kid tagged out by our catcher 3 feet from where he started. Their coach flips out at our poor sportsmanship but it was just what they had coming. They won fair and square but fuck them and their lame game. Cheetos forever.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I'm fascinated by this... catcher sprightliness.

Do I understand you correctly? Your catcher caught the pitch, then ran directly at the drifting runner? And were their runs today cheapies?

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, I want video.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yes our league allows base stealing after the catcher possesses the ball. Often, this team doesn't try to straight-steal but instead drift between the bases in an attempt to force bad throws/catches. Every friggin pitch too.

Our play isn't for the catcher to chase the runner all the way to the bag but to get him back to where he started by pumping and threatening on those plays where they drift between bases. But the kid, obviously having been coached to, wouldn't commit till we threw so our catcher just kept coming and beat him. Wastes everyone's time and makes a joke of the rules but that's how they win. It was a victory all by itself to make them look that stupid and the TAG HIS ASS! was pure Buttermaker.

As for their runs 1 was "legit" (solo home run over out right fielder's head), 1 came by drift/throw, 1 was a lazy error on our part.

It wasn't our best game offensively, most of our guys were a little too amped and then played tentatively after we fell behind and their ace came in (having completed his travel-team committment) to close. Only hit off the Ace came from Ben, who's not scared of nothing.

[Centerfield]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: This team's strategy is to intentionally bat their kids on top of the plate hoping for hbps and walks then "stealing" in an attempt to draw bad throws and run the bases without hitting.

Complete bullshit. I know that being patient and drawing a walk is probably the best way for a lot of these kids to get on base. But dammit, no one ever remembers drawing a walk in Little League. You remember your home runs and your bases clearing doubles. What's the point of playing baseball if you're not going to swing. Shame on these coaches for making it about wins and losses instead of playing the game.

There are guys in our league who coach this way too. "Wait for your's Jimmy." Even as Jimmy has no intention of swinging. In our rec teams, we have a "swing from your shoes" policy. Get a pitch to hit, swing hard. Anyone taking a called strike 3 gets squirted with water.

Of course, for us, the "wait for your's Jimmy" team just wrapped up their second straight league title. And for all of the walking etc., the coaches do a great job drilling them on fielding. That team practices all the time and they like, NEVER, throw to the wrong base. Whatever. Our team is much cooler and would kick their asses in a brawl.

[Lefty Specialist]

I coached Little League for four years. Some kids just aren't ever going to be baseball players, hate the sport and are only playing because their dad made them, or are so uncoordinated it's a wonder they can put one foot ahead of the other.

I had a "must swing once" rule. Kids aren't stupid, they can see when the opposing pitcher is all over the place. It'd be easy to just stand there and take the walk, rather than the embarrassment of striking out. But knowing they have to swing once forces them to evaluate the pitches; it's a ball, but is it that bad a ball? Then swing.

Of course it meant I had a lot of kids swinging 3-0 at pitches three feet outside, but in those cases they usually walked on ball five anyway.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yeah to the extent we had a philosophy it was "go down swinging" but it's really a matter of getting the kids *prepared* to swing at every pitch because by the time they decide if it's a strike or not then start the swing, its often too late to swing and hit anyway. It is not easy for sure. I have to say, Lunchpail was good at this, rarely took a strike without at least starting the motion.

The bullshit from my POV was their positioning in the box. One kid I swear had a toe on the edge of the plate. This makes it harder for the pitcher to recognize a strike and tend to throw outside. All their shittiest hitters drew walks. Our league also has a rule that a pitcher after 2 HBPs in one inning/3 in a game has to come out, so there's little to lose except a few bones and it exploits the opposing team's worry that will hit someone.

[Frayed Knot]

Allowing base-stealing -- even with the caveat of not leaving the base until the ball hits the catcher's mitt -- seems a bit misguided for that age group. Kids that age can run a lot better than
they can do almost anything else. I can't say as how I can remember for sure, but it seems to me that stealing wasn't part of the game until more like age 13 or so.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

My kiddo's team is in the semi-final tonight against the team with the best pitcher in the league. It's gonna be a nailbiter.

[seawolf17]

Frayed Knot wrote: Allowing base-stealing -- even with the caveat of not leaving the base until the ball hits the catcher's mitt -- seems a bit misguided for that age group. Kids that age can run a lot better than they can do almost anything else. I can't say as how I can remember for sure, but it seems to me that stealing wasn't part of the game until more like age 13 or so.

Seriously. The stealing thing always bothered me as a coach because nobody had a catcher who could throw anyone out. So basically every baserunner got second -- and sometimes third -- roughly automatically.

[Edgy MD]

I didn't mind it. Although I also never saw a runner get flagged for leaving early. And they did and do, alla time.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

My son's team won the championship last night. Then both teams went to the local ice cream parlor to celebrate together. They even made the local news.

[Centerfield]

That, in a nutshell, is baseball.

Congrats Little WP.

[Guest themetfairy]

Your daughter is starting to resemble Jodie Foster ala Bad News Bears!

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

themetfairy wrote: Your daughter is starting to resemble Jodie Foster ala Bad News Bears!

Wasn't that Tatum O'Neal?

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

I can totally see it though.

[Guest themetfairy]

Mets Willets Point wrote: themetfairy wrote: Your daughter is starting to resemble Jodie Foster ala Bad News Bears! Wasn't that Tatum O'Neal?

You are right. Sometimes I conflate Jodie and Tatum's childhood roles.

[HahnSolo]

With Little Solo now playing 13u travel ball, I figured he was past the "cute and fun" stage to post in this thread. But last night they had their version of the Buckner game, with Little Solo playing a big part, and wanted to report on it.

His team trailed 7-4 in the bottom of the seventh--and last--inning. A runner was on second with two outs, I bet Fangraphs had their win probability at .00004%.

Then the following happened:

- tailing liner to left center; center fielder races over, reaches it, and promptly drops it. Runner scores from second and it's 7-5.
- next batter taps a two hopper to the left of the third baseman. He bobbles and drops it. Still makes a throw, but we have a guy with some speed running. He beats it out and the tying runs are on base.
- Next batter bloops one to the right side. First baseman looks at it; second baseman looks at it. Ball is not hit too high in the air, and by the time both of them realize the other isn't getting it the ball bounces between them. The pitcher fails to cover first and our guy reaches safely. Bases loaded, with the winning run on first.

[now a break in the action] As the dad of a sometime pitcher, my heart aches for this kid on the mound. To this point in the inning, he's given up one hit, gotten two outs, had two errors and one mental error behind him. Kid should have been out of the game and on his second hot dog by now.

[analyst commentary] After the bloop, the other team's manager calls time to walk to the mound. But wait! It's not to talk to the pitcher; it's to yell at his first baseman! That's not OK, coach.

- Next batter walks on five pitches. Did the coach's antics spoil the pitcher's routine? He'd been hitting his spots up to that point. It's now 7-6, tying run on 3rd, winning run on second. Little Solo is due up.
- I always tell him that either after a walk, or after a mound visit, the pitcher--especially a young one--will try to get ahead in the count and might aim a fastball. So I like him to be aggressive in those spots. He lines the first pitch to right field. Tie game! Or is it? The right fielder, seeing that his one chance to stop the tying run is to try to get the out at first, charges and hurries a throw. But the rushed throw is wide of the bag. Tying run scores! Meanwhile, both the catcher and the pitcher scramble for the ball--leaving home unoccupied. The catcher attempts to pick up the errant throw, now rolling toward the fence on the first base side, but it gets past him! No one goes to the ball as the winning run crosses the plate!

SO your scorecard for that inning would be: hit, out, out, error, error, hit (mental error), walk, hit (plus error).

Great win

[Edgy MD]

Man, those humiliating 9-3 putouts are always a danger in the Babe Ruth Prep League.

[HahnSolo]

Edgy MD wrote: Man, those humiliating 9-3 putouts are always a danger in the Babe Ruth Prep League.

Might not have gotten him, but it was worth a shot. Problem was, not only did he not get him, the throw eluded the first baseman and the catcher backing up.

[seawolf17]

Edgy MD wrote: Man, those humiliating 9-3 putouts are always a danger in the Babe Ruth Prep League.

I nearly made the last out of my team's season on a 9-3 putout one year in Little League. Two out, bottom of the sixth of the first round of the playoffs, and I hit a blooper into very short right field and had just enough moxie to beat it out. (I've never been fast.)

[Guest cooby]

Pretty sure Jodie foster was in the tv series

[Frayed Knot]

I threw out a guy at 1st [u:pxjkllsg]from LF[/u:pxjkllsg] in a softball game.
I had a gun back in the day.

[Edgy MD]

cooby wrote: Pretty sure Jodie foster was in the tv series

Jodi had aged out of Little League movies by 1979. Besides, she was too high end for the TV show. Heck, at that point, she was too high end for TV. She would have been hard at work shooting Foxes.

Tricia Cast was the TV version of Amanda Wurlitzer.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

Kind of stunning that the third Bad News Bears movie starred Tony Curtis.

[Centerfield]

Eight weeks after the Big Game, Short Center's broken finger seems to be more or less stable now. For the last two weeks, he had been batting with the finger taped and off the bat. This was the first weekend he could grip the bat completely. Went 6 for 6 with a walk in a doubleheader sweep. Still not ready to pitch yet, but maybe by next weekend.

Summer travel baseball is exhausting. I mean, it's nice to travel and see all these different places, and meet new people, but an away game really kills your entire day. We are at least somewhat reasonable in that we only practice once a week. Some of these other teams practice every day.

I really admire the dedication of some of those more competitive teams, but also kinda feel sorry for them at the same time. I mean, that is a lot of time to put into youth baseball.

We head out of town this weekend to visit my brother in St. Louis. The Hawks start a tournament, with a night game Friday, and a doubleheader Saturday.