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| May 3rd SATURDAY (10:00am) Game 3 (6 innings): Dan-Joel-Gerald v. Paul-Ian-Anthony 6 1 A bit cold and early for a game, but a good day nonetheless. Paul struggled a bit today, in part because he was constantly making sure his charge did not consume any harmful substances (see pictures for day 2). Paul's fielding skills were nothing if not abysmal. Multiple popups dropped within catching distance, but Paul's delayed reactions cost him dearly. Yet another day where poor pitching meant more than good hitting. No homeruns were racked up in this game. Poor pitcher management was the culprit for the losers. Ian caused the bulk of the damage for his team, giving up the first 3 runs. Anthony, Ian's greatest critic, gave up the other 3 in a later inning. Best lines: Ian "I can't pitch because the kid's crying." Joel "The kid's crying because you can't pitch." Game 4 (5 innings): Dan-Anthony-Gerald v. Joel/Paul/Ian 9 2 An amazing disaster. The homeruns started flowing in this game, beginning with back to back HRs from Dan against Joel in a single inning. To make things worse, Anthony and Gerald also woke up this game, each recording a homerun (Anthony's dropped into the street while Gerald's powerful hit smacked a tree in center), with Anthony almost having scored two if it were not for an amazing, blind, back-hand catch by Joel. Once the damage was done, there was little the losing team could do. Each inning seemed longer than the prior and, unfortunately, Ian missed multiple opportunities to shorten several innings (perhaps a little weight loss to speed up the reflexes?). Not to be completely shut-out, Joel smacked a 2 run homer (just enough juice to make it to the street) in the final at bats, but it wasn't nearly enough to keep the score respectable. Two man catch: continuing the tradition from day 1, a ball was bobbled and it took two men (this time, Gerald and Dan on the blacktop past the gap) to complete the catch. HR count: Dan 2 (3 total), Joel 1 (2 total), Gerald 1 (1 total), Anthony 1 (1 total) -- to clarify - Paul ZERO! HRs Given up: Joel-2 to Dan; Gerald-1 to Joel; Ian-1 to Gerald; Paul-1 to Anthony |
| \/---PRIOR GAMES LISTED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER--------------\/---------\/---------\/---------\/--------\/ |
| \/---MOST RECENT GAME RESULTS-------------------------------------------\/---------\/---------\/---------\/--------\/ |
| Next Game: Sat August 2nd |
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| Name: Dan S. Height: 6'1" Weight: 190 lbs Age: 31 Homeruns: 7 |
| Name: Joel G. Height: 5'8" Weight: 167 lbs Age: 29 Homeruns: 2 |
| Name: Paul B. Height: 5'10" Weight: 190 lbs Age: 29 Homeruns: 3 |
| Name: Gerald K. Height: 5'10" Weight: 165 lbs Age: 32 Homeruns: 2 |
| Name: Rich S. Height: 5'7" Weight: 160 lbs Age: 29 Homeruns: 0 |
| Send any inquiries to: questions@thejoelzone.com |
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| Name: Ian C. Height: 5'11" Weight: 200 lbs Age: 27 Homeruns: 0 |
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| Name: Anthony V. Height: 5'9" Weight: 200 lbs Age: 29 Homeruns: 1 |
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| MOVE MOUSE OVER IMAGE FOR PRIOR YEAR'S IMAGE IF AVAILABLE |
| April 19th SATURDAY (12:15pm) SEASON OPENER Game 1 (6 innings): Dan-Joel-Ian v. Paul-Rich-Anthony 7 1 The weather was perfect for the first game of the season. Not only did we have 6 players, but we had more spectators than ever before. The was a dearth of hits today, at least until Anthony was allowed to pitch midway through. Once the torrent of walks and easy hits started, it seemed unending. Dan snagged a grand slam home run clocking in the first HR for anyone this season (left of center, in the street). All 7 runs were scored in this inning, several of which would not have occurred had Rich put a little more effort into fielding and a little less effort into counting the number of foul-ball dingers he may have had. To his credit, he did score more hits than the rest of his team together (Paul racked up zero on the day). Ian seemed to take over for Bill G. of last year, insisting on pitching a little too long. He allowed the only run to the losing team, walking in a run before Dan finally stepped in to shut down the game. [All runs for the losing team given up by Anthony, including Dan's 1 HR; while Ian gave up the 1 run for the winning team.] Game 2 (4 innings): Paul-Joel-Ian v. Dan-Rich-Anthony 1 0 This game was a continuation of the poor batting shown in game 1. Joel swiped a nice homer off of Dan (dead center, across the street), scoring the only run necessary for the win. Ian's unusually wide pitching zone almost allowed the other team to catch up, but thankfully they went down easily. [Dan gave up the single run (home run) in this game.] Two man catch: Somewhere throughout the day, Rich had an error saving catch, when a quick shot back to Anthony (pitching) was bobbled into the air, only to be caught by a waiting and ready Rich. Catch of the day. HR count: Dan 1 (1 total), Joel 1 (1 total).... HRs Given up: Anthony-1 to Dan; Dan-1 to Joel |
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| July 12th SATURDAY (10:30am) Game 6 (1 1/2 innings): Dan-Paul v. Rich-Gerald-Anthony 12 0 Paul had 2 grand slams in this game. I (Joel) wasn't there, but I suspect you need some BATTERS or at least more than one pitcher and sad fielders in order to compete. No wonder the losers got pummeled. Game 7 (3 innings): Dan-Gerald v. Paul-Anthony-Rich 5 0 (Gerald had to leave early, forcing the end of the game at 3 innings). Game 8 (7 innings): Dan-Rich v. Anthony-Paul 6 5 Good competitive game. Dan and Rich started off slow, but Anthony and Paul soon tired. In the 7th inning, Dan & Rich nabbed 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th for the win. According to Dan, Rich made a number of errors with his "swipe like" defense, but managed to hit "pretty well." Paul complained that he and Anthony got "jacked by a bogus foul ball call." HR count: Dan 1 (5 total), Paul 3 (3 total), Gerald 1 (2 total). HRs Given up: Rich-2 to Paul; Anthony-1 to Paul and 1 to Dan; Paul-1 to Gerald |
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| July 5th SATURDAY (10:30am) Game 5 (~2 innings): Dan v. Paul v. Joel insufficient game data (see below) Well, this day was a ridiculous attempt at a game day. Neither Ian nor Anthony showed up AND Paul decided to bring along a toddler, effectively removing any way to play a decent game. Joel and Dan each had two at-bats before Paul called it quits. Dan knocked in a few runs off of Paul (due in part to fielding errors -- the ball just hung in the air all day), before Joel came in and finished him off. Joel got the bases loaded, but ended up out nevertheless. Joel pitched to Dan for one last set, giving up a homer in the process. Joel landed zilch in the final at bats, as Dan decided to blow his arm on a couple of pitches with heat. Note for next time: don't bring little kids unless the mother comes too -- they don't want to be there. HR count: Dan 1 (4 total), Joel 0 (2 total), Paul 0 (0 total)! HRs Given up: Joel-1 to Dan |
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| July 19th SATURDAY (12:30am) Game 9 (9 innings): Dan-Ian v. Gerald-Anthony 7 0 Dan and Ian swabbed the deck with Gerald and Anthony in this 9 inning shutout. Dan, coming off a hot practice "session" with Anthony where he hit something like 5 non-official homers, put that practice to use clobbering in 2 homers off of Anthony into left field. Ian was HITLESS on the day, a VERY SAD showing considering he had 9 innings to adjust to the pitching. Dan claimed 9-10 hits while Gerald+Anthony together cobbled up 6-7 hits. Since Gerald claims 3-4 doubles and a few singles, that leads me to believe that Anthony provided little offensive assistance and was detrimental vs. Dan on defense. (Note: Ian remains mired in the doldrums with Rich as the only two people yet to claim a homerun.) HR count: Dan 2 (7 total), Gerald 0 (2 total), Anthony 0 (1 total), Ian 0 (0 total) HRs Given up: Anthony-2 to Dan |
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| \/---KEEP ON SCROLLING FOR PRIOR GAMES--------------\/---------\/---------\/---------\/--------\/ |
| July 25th FRIDAY (11:30pm) EXHIBITION GAME... mOnKeY in the middle: Dan-Gerald-Joel-Paul score not kept Well, Friday night at Ian's pool, the first 4-way game of monkey-in-the-middle took place among the speedball elite. Joel, Dan, Paul, and Gerald were topless in all their glory. Joel showed off his new belly while Paul seemed to become a (back)hairless ape since last year (Paul actually tried to claim that he did NOT have any hair on his back naturally, despite the fact that it looked like he plucked himself clean!). Gerald was as translucent as always -- he could hire himself out to anatomy schools. Nothing new for Dan-o, save for decidely less hair on his head (yes, he actually took his hat off for once). Paul spent the least time in the middle, playing a decidedly cheap and defensive game all evening. He rarely threw the ball anywhere interesting. While on defense he also chided the monkey, including pulling on some arm/back hair of one monkey in particular (Joel). Gerald, meanwhile, loved being in the middle and thrashed around like the T-1000 at the end of Terminator 2 in the molten metal. It was amazing that he ever caught the ball. Dan enjoyed some time in the middle as well, though he seemed to have more fun jumping off the upper deck into the pool. On his second such jump, not only did he slice open his forefinger, but he got all of the nearby spectators soaked from his backflop. Ian, oblivious to the pool action in a hammock, was too gracious a host in providing both the location and food, while doing little but sleeping through the party, waking up only to clean up the remnants of the revelers. Perhaps he knew something about the pool water that kept him out? Only he knows for sure. |
