Friday, June 29, 2007

After further review . . .

After looking over the box scores and summary of (click on the title above) last night’s game, I found myself perplexed over how we could send one of our best pitchers, Cory White, to battle the bulls and lose so badly. I couldn’t believe what I was reading in the 3rd inning as Cory walked 2 and hit another 2 with pitches. Then it occurred to me something I’d heard (from reliable sources) from the night before when we won 2 games easily over the Bulls. This is not an excuse for not scoring runs, but probably a factor in our pitching. It seems the pitcher’s mound at VFW Memorial Stadium is not in very good shape. I was told that several of the Bull’s pitchers in the doubleheader on Wednesday actually hurt themselves during warm-ups. Now Cory, who pitches complete games, is 4-0 going into the game and throws 90+ mph fastballs, doesn’t make it through 3 innings of play. What’s wrong with that picture? John Sciba didn’t fair any better, and Arron Varnum only had to clear a couple of guys to end the game in a mercy killing. Gosh, I hope none of guys are hurt! One thing for certain, something really changed overnight (like the weather threatening our game tonight). Now I’m not saying the Bulls didn’t play well in the stampede over the Railroaders, but their pitcher must have studied that mound well and knew how to use it.

I’d be interested in hearing some of our guys give their observations on this. Meanwhile, my doctor has cleared me to play if called up. Don’t worry about the patch over my eye; Doc says it’ll be all right in a couple days. Besides, I never use that eye. I assure you I'm ready to play Pirates tomorrow night.

a bunch of bull@%#!

well I dont know where to start. Unbelievable is a good word. I cannot believe the RR were, beaten,drug through the mud,whipped or whatever you wanna say about it,as bad as they were. I dont know about you but that had to be the worst played game since our 23-2 debacle we got from Farmington. Well tonight is a different game, different opponent, different location. We play Tradewater tonight at Lohaus field. We have beaten them 2 of 3 this year already. Time to get back on track(no pun intended) and whip some Pirates booty. Hopefully we will have a big turnout for both games against the pirates and again on Sunday against the Wildcats of Chicago. I know I will be there. Maybe you all can join in on the fun.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Bulls must have been mad

I didn't realize that the Running of the Bulls was being held in Sikeston tonight. Never made it to VFW Memorial Field. As soon as I got out of the car, the cows ran all over me. I see the Railroaders didn't fair well either in the park, 10 to 0, oh my. Well, back home to face the Pirates tomorrow.....

yessssssssssss....

I dont know about all the other RR fans but I am a happy son of a gun today. Our team went in to Sikeston and bullhandled the Bulls. But there is one problem, was the score 5-0 or 6-0 in the second game. I know maybe it doesnt matter but which is it? The website has both.Either way, the RR are in 1st place by a full 2 games and need to keep streaking. We are on a roll right now. It seems to me that when our main guys aren't hitting the ball, our other guys take over. Which is what is supposed to happen. I think our leadoff batter has struggled as of late but some of the other guys have stepped it up. Good job guys. Zacdaddy had a fantastic 2 games yesterday. I see here on the stats he ended up going 3-3 and walking 5 times in both games.Our guys are geling at the right time and we have one more to go in Sikeston before coming home. You know if we keep winning we will not have to worry about who is in 2nd place. Let them all fight for 2nd. We will take first.

Tale of Two Games . . .

Well I got suited up and waited for the phone to ring, hoping the Railroaders would call upon me to help defeat the 2nd place Bulls . . . and the call never came. Darn, I was looking good too. From what it looks like, they didn’t need my help. Our guys just manhandled the Bulls and drove run after run across the plate in both games last night. At the same time they held the wild beasts to 1 run and 4 hits for 14 innings of play in the doubleheader at Sikeston. Two complete games of pitching by Chris Craycraft and John Selb chalking up 17 strikeouts total, allowing only 1 run and 4 hits and walking 7. Pretty good night’s work, I’d say . . so they really didn’t need me to clean up for them. And what about them Railroaders . . .Error Free baseball, it must have been fun to do that! And the offense. . . as aggressive as they should always be. getting 14 runs across the plate. The only down side would perhaps be the total of 20 men left on base. Thankfully, the Bulls were really stuck in the mud. I wouldn’t count on that tonight though. I heard after both the games, the Bulls had to execute extra running up and down the field. I’m sure they won’t want to repeat that again.

The Guys are playing well and appear to be getting better. I’ll probably have to hang my uniform back up for now. Since they can’t use me on the field, I’ll give my advice to them here: We’re 3 games away from Mid-point of the season. We have a 2 game lead in first place over the Greyhounds. It is time to widen the gap as much as possible and go into the second half of the season with the other teams chasing us. The Oilers did that very thing over the last good third of last year’s season. It’s much harder to play catch-up. You’re playing well, stay focused and you’ll win. And watch out for the Bulls’ horns tonight and see you Friday night at home.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

yeah

well we got a good win last night against the dawgs,6-1. We are playing in Sikeston against the bulls tomorrow night in a double header. Friday we play here against the Tradewater pirates and should be able to get easy wins. Lets hpe they will be easy. If not easy just a win would be nice. They were in 1st place earlier this year. First things first. The 2nd place bulls. I smell VICTORY.

From a Dog fight to a Bull fight

Time to consult the crystal ball again for the upcoming road games. I see an intense fight ahead as our Railroaders take on the raging Bulls in Sikeston. It’s a battle for first place in the standings with the Bulls in second just a game behind us. The first 2 of 3 games are a doubleheader on Wednesday. While our guys took Tuesday off, the Bulls have had 2 days off. Sikeston has been playing tough of late; winning 4 of their last 5 games played (they are actually 4 of 6 when you include a “forfeit” of one game they were late getting to). The Railroaders have a 1-1 record so far this season with the Bulls; a first game a loss of 2-4 and a 7-0 win in the second. I see no reason the Railroaders can’t take down Bulls in all 3 of the upcoming games. Attention to detail and clutch hits when we need them are keys to success I think. Let’s maintain the lead as the midpoint of the season approaches.

Now that's more like it...

What a pleasant night at the ole’ ballpark last night. The Railroaders were focused and the play showed it, something they lacked the night before. All areas of the team contributed to a solid win against a good team (the very one we have trouble with). Pitching was sturdy; Corey Brown tossed 129 pitches in 7 1/3 innings striking out 9. He threw 3 strikes for every 2 balls and allow only 1 earned run. Arron Varnum came in to finish off throwing 16 strikes, 5 balls and striking out 3.

Defense came through when needed. They kept 11 men on base from scoring, turned a nice double play, and the 2 errors did not result in runs scored. The extra field practice paid off (I noticed when I arrived at the park).

The bats will alive producing hits when we needed them. The 9 hits came from 6 players, with Drew Robertson, Kyle Bondy and Kevin Gillespie getting 2 hits each. There were still 7 men left on base but another 6 got across for a good win. Proud of them boys, I am. And they whipped them Hounds too. Great job! Now on to Sikeston, who by the way is one game behind us in second place. You know what do guys, . . . go do it!

Monday, June 25, 2007

A word about Stats

The stats are now updated with what the Railroaders have on file. Please see the website homepage or stats page for issues/problems concering this subject. I'm a little dismayed over the fact that some of the KIT league teams do not keep stats in the manner the KIT League has outlined. Because of these teams (and you can figure who they are by looking on the stats page at the bottom) we are not able to see a complete picture of the players preformance. Maybe next year they can get their *$%# together.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

still in first place

Despite losing tonight and ending our 4 game winning streak, we are still in 1st place. I dont understand how we can have the opposing team have 5 errors and we still lose by 3 runs. I know we left 12 or 13 runners on base. With bases loaded in the 8th,Jeff Reinke struck out on a very questionable call. The whole game was questionable, with alot of "blown"calls. Several were against us some were for us.We had a couple of killer errors. I say killer because after the error in the 4th inning the next batter tattooed the pitch over the fire department for a 3 run homerun. Errors kill you guys. Alright tomorrow is another day and hopefully get back in the win column.

Tonight

Our 1st place RR are looking good and feeling good. The way we have been winning lately has been awesome. We have been behind and made comebacks,we have been ahead and lost the lead and overcome. There is nothing that this team cannot do. Our pitching has been great,hitting has been great, but I am not too sure at our fielding. Since I havent seen the stats for the last 5 games, I am not sure if we have given away our runs or they have earned them. Either way the RR's are hot and I dont believe that the greyhounds can cool us off.

Looking forward to tonight

I’m so anxious about tonight’s game, thought I’d break out the ole’ crystal ball to see what might be in store. I see after the morning rainstorms have past, the afternoon drying of Lohaus field produces prefect conditions for an evening of baseball. The game view is a bit unclear though. Seems the combat between the Railroaders and Greyhounds is producing a big cloud. I guess I’ll just have to wait for the dust to settle at the park tonight to know for sure.