Screw the dramatics: NumbNutz end Game 2 in 1st

McGillicuttys prove new balls weren't juiced

SANTA CLARA -- At least for one game, the McGillicuttys/NumbNutz series veered away from the gritty, hard-fought nail-biter that so many predicted (and hoped for) would trademark the series. Rather, in true 2006 fashion, the Nutz laid the hammer to the Cutz--surprising even themselves at holding the Cutz to 6 runs, the fewest any team (series or exhibition) has posted in the 2006 season.

Cav's McGillicuttys...6, NumbNutz 20    NumbNutz lead series 2-0

At 10:30 a.m., exactly 5 BAD ASSes were present. Slowly--and I mean slowly--the rest of the league began to filter in--except Trinh, who was slow to wake up. To help kill time, Minor presented DaRosa with his HR Derby Trophy, and the self-admittedly "shy" DaRosa gave a brief, emotionless speech as the cameras rolled. Finally, just as Lynas was prepared to take the field with Stauffer at SS, Trinh arrived, and BAB was at last able to commence Game #2.

After losing a close Game 1, Manning took an unorthodox approach with his lineup, stacking all his sluggers except for Ledee at the bottom of the order. Of course, not a whole lot of slugging has been done this season but the Nutz found it odd Manning would so drastically alter a lineup that worked relatively well in Game #1.

In the early going, the shuffle seemed to work as the Cutz took a 2-0 lead. However, in the bottom of the inning, every break went the Nutz' way--up and down the lineup singles fell, with a 3-run ITPHR by DaRosa and a long 2-run 3B by Bernal mixed in. When the inning finally ended the score was 10-2 Nutz. Little did anyone suspect it would be all they needed.

After going scoreless in the 2nd, the Nutz went on to score in all but the 7th innings, while the Cutz just could not get big hits or breaks. Yow's 2nd-inning bloop which looked to be dropping was snagged, almost accidentally, by BS Flores over his shoulder. After the first two men reached in the 3rd, the Cutz went down 1-2-3. Ledee cracked a tape-measure homer in the 4th, but it came with 2 outs and the bases empty.

In the bottom of the 4th, DaRosa brought in two more runs when neither 3B Ledee or BS Yow could handle his hard whack to left. By that time, it was 15-3 Nutz, and Lynas began to empty his bench (Hamilton).

Top 5th: Kuzmiak, who batted righty all day long for the first time in recent memory, took full advantage of the short porch by lining one off Ed's hand about a foot or two over the fence (DaRosa nearly met the pole face-first while chasing it). But it was too little, too late; though the Cutz were fired up by a double play to end the 8th--Hamilton was thrown out by Manning going from 1st to 3rd on a Bernal hit, then Ledee picked off Bernal at 1st--they went down in defeat 20-6 to fall behind in the series 2-0.

SERIES GAME NOTES:

• Flores' logic-defying catch on Yow--he was running out towards LF as the outfielders were converging and just reached up over his shoulder--earned him a Gold Glove.

• There were several near Gold Glove plays in the game by both sides--left fielder DaRosa nearly made a spectacular running grab on a Matsui foul up the cement road, BS Yow nearly returned Flores' favor on a foul, and Bush nearly pulling a Flores catch of his own...

• In the bottom of the 5th, Minor dumped one into the invisible triangle between the SS and outfielders. SS Bush raced out at 100% speed and nearly made the catch of 2006 over his shoulder, but the ball fell. As Minor headed towards the vacated 2B, 1B Sacramento took off to cover. Both men and the ball arrived at 2B simultaneously, and Minor's slide up-ended Sac--fortunately, no one was injured (Minor was safe).

• Hamilton suffered a PLK, the only K of either type in the game.

• Kuzmiak's HR was only the 4th in 5 games to take full advantage of the "short porch" in LF. He becomes just the third BAD ASS to homer from both sides of the plate in his career, joining Javier ___ from 2003 and Jason LaRose.

• Ledee's blast would have cleared the fences practically anywhere--it dinged off a slide on the playground beyond the field, and only BAB's shouting prevented a family from potential injury. After missing the previous 3 games, plus the derby, Ledee became the first BAD ASS to reach double-digit homers this year.

• Two BAD ASS veterans, Yow and Chowdhury, narrowly missed oh-fers. Yow went hitless after his first AB, and Chowdhury had to beat out a DP ball by a step in his last AB to register his only knock.

• The Max Factor: Lynas' dog was again present.

• For the first time that I can remember, and I've seen all his games but one, Ledee played 3B, as Manning handled BS.

• Cav played the doubleheader in a Faust10 jersey, the result of losing a bet with Yow.

• Towards the end of the game, a group of adults and several children gathered for a birthday party in the picnic area. Clearly expecting the diamond to be empty, the kids waited around with their bats and gloves for the game to end. Of course BAB ended up playing two, forcing the kids to play soccer up the road.

• The McGillicuttys played without SS/OF Nick Collins and OF Brian Simas, the latter of whom missed his first games since joining the league in early March.

• The NumbNutz played without SS/OF B-Rid.

With only Stauffer and Ledee departing and 15 BAD ASSes available to continue, an exhibition game took place afterwards (despite the fact each team had enough to field 7 and play a catcher-rules series game). This time, there were no walks to Safeway--Bush and Trinh were selected as captains (since each missed last series) and things kicked off roughly 10 minutes after the first game ended.

Bush-led Team 10, Trinh-led Team 8

Purely coincidentally, the exhibition teams were almost identical to the series teams--trade Yow for DaRosa and Bernal and you've got Cutz vs Nutz.

The Bush-led Team (BLT) started slowly with the sticks, as the Trinh-led Team (TLT) jumped to a 5-0 first inning advantage with help from Lynas' 2-run ITPHR over a semi-shallow outfield. It would be the last offense they showed for a while--starting the 5th they still led 5-1. However, BLT dropped 3 that inning, and 4 more the next using good situational hitting (if there is such a thing in BAB) plus another long Bernal triple. Going into the 9th BLT led 8-6.

In that inning, errant throws by TLT led to BLT pushing two across, though BS Hamilton impressively threw out Bernal at the plate keeping it 10-6 going into the home half of the 9th. B-Ham had another chance to make a big play when he stepped up with the bags clogged, two down and the score 10-8. With two strikes he hit one that off the bat looked like it had HR distance, but fell harmlessly in foul ground for his 2nd straight K to end the game.

EXHIBITION GAME NOTES:

• After narrowly missing a homer in the 1st when his liner hit the wall, 3B Trinh made a sensational diving catch to rob Cav of an RBi in the 3rd.

• Hamilton flew out to LF early on, significant because in the first game, it would have been an ITPHR over the at-times extremely shallow outfield.

• Hamilton K'd twice to up his league-leading total to 7. Kuzmiak also went down on strikes.

• The BLT was about to really break things open with the bases loaded in the 8th when Manning's grounder hit Chowdhury as he ran from 2nd to 3rd base.

• That same inning, SS Trinh raced nearly into RF for a Bush foul, flying through the air and landing hard as he missed. Fearing for his health, his NumbNutz teammates warned him not to ever do anything like that again, especially in an exhibition.

• 3B Kuzmiak began barking at Max, who naturally barked back.

• Davis got in an inning at SS, fielding a Manning chopper up the middle and throwing him out. Manning, in disbelief, argued he was safe and the ball was foul, anyway.

• Hamilton also played some short in the early going, and did OK. Later he nearly hit Yow with a foul as the latter snapped photos in the dugout.

• A week after three foul tips to catcher (two caught, one let fall for strike 3), there was not a single one in either game.

• Quote of 2006: With Davis and Sacramento standing side-by-side at 1B, each in black cleats, gray pants, black hats and red shirts, DaRosa declared the scene to resemble "The Evolution of Man." JD

* Players of the Week *

BAD ASS of the Day

Ed DaRosa, NumbNutz

5-for-6, 6 RBI, 3 runs

Rob Flores, NumbNutz

5-for-6

Greg Minor, NumbNutz

5-for-6

Gold Glove

Rob Flores, NumbNutz

Outstanding catch, overall D at BS

Greg Minor, NumbNutz

Great D in CF

Torance Matsui, McGillicuttys

Fantastic falling catch in CF

Small Penis

Soonam Chowdhury, McGillicuttys

Narrowly missed oh-fer