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Oh, Mercy! Sluggers mercy-rule State Street 32-8 in 4½ innings --BOSTON, May 28, 2002 Is the ball juiced? Yes. Are the players juiced? Yes, according to this week’s Sports Illustrated. Do the fans love it? Yes. When they last met on July 31, 2001, the Sluggers completed a season sweep of the State Street Capitalist Pigs. In that game, Isaac “The Tool Man” Taylor redefined sliding. Unfortunately, he tore up his leg in the process. Two hospital visits later, one would think that Taylor learned his lesson. Flash forward to Tuesday’s match-up with State Street. The Capitalist Pigs first two batters cranked home runs--the first two home runs given up by Slugger pitching this year. State Street had a commanding 5-0 lead after the top of the first. The Sluggers took their turn at the plate--every one of them. The Sluggers sent 20 batters to the plate. (Four of their 16 batters got a second crack at the plate.) In that legendary bottom of the first, Taylor, the seventh batter in the order, hit an apparent fielder’s choice with the bases loaded. A close play was due at first base. Taylor decided it was time to bring back the slide. The umpire made the correct “safe” call, blood oozed from Taylor’s leg yet again, and the rout was on. “There are four key factors to winning at this level,” Tony “Skip” Vinciguerra said during a pre-game radio interview. “They are, in order: 1) a “softball is fun” attitude; 2) defense; 3) pitching; and 4) offense.” The Slugger skipper then went on a tirade. “Playing State Street is like playing a team of 15 DHs. To say that State Street is a one-dimensional team is an understatement. Sure they’ve got a good offense, but that’s the least important key to winning. Their pitching is suspect at best, their attitude is all wrong, and their defense is squalid. Their quote-unquote awesome hitters spent a lot of time out in the field getting frustrated. Yes, yes, I know that we have a much higher salary than they do, but that shouldn’t mean that we beating them by 24 runs per game. They decided to spend all their salary on old, slow players with big bats. If they picked up one young, good defensive shortstop instead of yet another aging, high-salaried veteran who can’t run to first base or bend down to play a grounder, they’d be in a much better position to win. Yes, we have corporate sponsorship. Yes, we have a big salary. Yes, we’re supposed to win these games against the small-market teams, but don’t give me that “Haves vs. the Have Nots” crap. With the revenue sharing in this league and the free-agent market the way it is, there is no reason that all teams shouldn’t be competitive. State Street is a victim of poor team design.” Due to a personal engagement, Coach Tony was not able to stay for the game, but he left a lineup card on his desk for bench coach, Dan “Dinger” Landesman. Landesman seemed very comfortable in the manager role. “This team basically runs itself,” he said during the post-game press conference. “Wighty throws strikes, the defense backs him up, the offense gives him tremendous support, and Wendy and Tamara keep a good, clean book. Everyone takes care of his or her job, and it all gets done. This is the way it’s supposed to be.” Offensive Play of the Game Other Offensive Highlights With no outs in the bottom of the third inning, “Good Stan” Hunting, batting tenth, also got up with the bases loaded, and he also hit a three-bagger. Are you sensing a pattern here? Three bases-loaded triples in one game is enough to mercy-rule any team in this league. Besides Wightman, these other Sluggers batted 1.000 on the day:
Defensive Play of the Game “It’s a good feeling to get into the seventh inning. I don’t want to be known as a five- or six-inning pitcher, which is what I was doing most of last season,” the veteran right-hander, who threw 98 pitches last night, said after the game. Apparently he is in a time warp because the game was called after five innings due to the mercy rule. “It’s definitely the strongest I've felt all year. I was able to mix up my pitches. There were a couple of pitches I wish I had back, but for the most part, when I missed I wasn’t missing by much.” Those two pitches Wightman wishes he had back were to the first two batters of the game. They each launched home runs into the gap in deep right-center. It looked like it was going to be a long night at that point, but Wightman settled down and threw strikes. “No kidding he wasn’t missing by much,” catcher Isaac “The Tool Man” Taylor said. “His misses were by no more than a nanometer.” Taylor has a penchant for obscure measurements. Honorable Mention Teddy Points “This week’s first Teddy Point goes to Isaac “The Tool Man” Taylor. His willingness to sacrifice his body on that slide into first won the hearts of the thousands of fans in attendance. One thing we can all learn from Isaac’s heroics: Drawing blood will almost always earn you a Teddy Point. In a close vote, Meghan “Mad Dog” Donnelly was also awarded a Teddy Point for her text-book pop-up slide in the first inning that got a nice rise out of the crowd. Several committee members were opposed to the measure as she was out on the play. In the end, the point was awarded for the pure hustle.” This is noteworthy because it is the first time a player has received a Teddy Point in that player’s league debut. It should also be noted here that Donnelly was called out on an obscure rule. The rule states “Sliding players are called safe or out based on the original location of the base, not the location after the play is completed.” This rule was put in place for the purposes of players that slide into a bag safely but in the process kick the bag away. This rule was not intended to be used in situations like Tuesday’s game in which Ted “Ruxpin” Johnson moved third base while rounding it to run home. Donnelly, who was running directly behind Johnson then slid into third apparently safely, but was called out because the base was not in its original, proper location. Injury Report Michelle “Ball First, Base Second” Zoltowski, is still recovering from a nasty bruise she received when she put her body in front of a wicked throw that may have gone wild. The bruise is said to be a nice purple with yellow highlights. “I’ll be ready to take on the Crappers on Wednesday,” she said. “The coach knows that I’m no wussy. I’ll get in there and knock some heads.” Another non-wussy, Kristen “Killer” Smith, pulled a quadriceps legging out a grounder in last week’s game against Fidelity. She’s listed as day to day. Stats from the Maniacal One
Player of the Week See Baer’s Player of the Week stats and photo here. It should be noted here that this was the closest PoTW voting in team history. Many committee members voted for Brian “Wightman Can’t Jump” who threw strike after strike and was a power house offensively. A game like this comes together in a true team effort, which makes choosing a PoTW most difficult. In fact, several committee members wrote in “the whole team” on their ballot. “The whole team” came in third in voting. The Rumor Mill Quotes of the Week
Next Game Batting Summary
Pitching Summary
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