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Recap Game'09-14: Scoresheets | Play-by-Play Summary* | Audio of individual plays

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Turkeys Beat Tigers, 21-15, to Even Season Series

recap by Sam

Tonight the Wild Turkeys took an early lead and held on to win a high-scoring game against the Paper Tigers, 21-15. This evens our 2009 season series with the Tigers. Three weeks earlier, the Tigers beat the Turkeys, 14-8, so this series is also dead even in total runs scored by each team, 29-29.

In contrast to last week's shortened game, tonight's game started just before 5:45 and finished just after 7:45, for a total duration of about 2 hours and 5 minutes. Even though the game ended after 6 innings, there were a total of 90 at-bats: 43 by the Tigers, 46 by the Turkeys, and one unofficial at-bat erased from the records after we realized belatedly that the mercy rule should have ended the Turkeys' final inning after the previous batter. This contrasts with only 60 total at-bats in last week's abbreviated game. So tonight everyone got their money's worth! From the Turkeys' perspective, it was poetic justice for the bottom four hitters in last week's batting order, who only got one at-bat apiece last week. This week the bottom four were moved to the top, and the top four were the only Turkey hitters to get 4 official at-bats this week (except Sean was a no-show and Mark took his spot in the top four and got his extra at-bat!).

Robert made an auspicious debut for the Turkeys with a couple hits on offense, some stellar play at first base in his only inning there, and a fantastic throw to Bartt from rightfield to nail a runner at the plate, as Bartt held on and applied the tag despite a collision with the oncoming runner. Bartt and Jose also made impressive catches of a line drive and fly ball to deprive a couple Tiger batters of base hits during their stints in the infield. The Turkeys' most memorable play on defense occurred in the 2nd, when Bill retreated from third base to catch a popup, but the ball bounded off his glove and into the hands of shortstop Mark, who was alertly backing up the play. Defensive highlights for the Tigers included a couple good plays apiece by the Tigers' leftfielder (Steve) and third baseman. But the most outstanding play of the night was one that didn't even make the official boxscore. In the first inning, Tiger first baseman Dee made a clean pickup of a grounder by Matt and then dove headfirst to the bag just a split second too late to get Matt, who was running at top speed. Not only did Dee execute this play flawlessly (despite not getting the out), but more importantly she assessed how fast Matt was approaching and she made the correct play to avoid what could have been a serious collision (if she had just run to the bag instead of diving). So hats off to Dee for making the defensive play of the game!

There was plenty of offense for both teams, but Jose got the only home run. The Tigers' #3 and #6 batters each went 5 for 5 and got 5 RBIs apiece. Bill, Matt, and Sam led the Turkeys with 3 RBIs each, and Matt, Gerardo, and Sam reached base on all of their at-bats.

This game was mostly a lot of fun, but it got off to a rocky start with several controversial calls and ensuing verbal altercations in the first two innings. Sad to say, the Turkeys contributed more than our share to the negative tone at the beginnng of the game. Lessons that everyone should learn from this game include the following:

• Under no circumstances should any player or spectator hurl unfriendly words or actions toward any member of the opposing team. If a participant feels wronged by a bad call or an overly aggressive play, your only recourse is to direct your anger to your own team's manager, who then takes the responsibility to discuss the issue in a calm manner with the manager of the opposing team.
• The three designated umpires (catcher, first and third base coaches) should always act as their own neutral team not beholden to either of the competing teams. Just like professional umpiring crews, the three C League umpires each take primary responsibility for calling plays within their own jurisdictions, but they are also available to assist the other two umpires if needed. Any time there is a disagreement between umpires, they should first try to resolve it among themselves just as a professional umpiring crew would do: give deference to the umpire with primary jurisdiction, but offer any additional observations that might be helpful to your umpiring teammate. If the umpiring crew cannot resolve a disagreement, then it's up to the two managers to make the final decision. Players and spectators who are not the managers or the designated umpires can offer their opinions but cannot insist that their opinions should count. All decisions belong entirely to the umpire(s) or to the managers if necessary.