RED LIKE YOUR EYES

The Pen & Pencil was represented at the fabulous Center City Softball League All-Star Game by the above collection. Nevins apparently never left the chair but still had two home runs. Cheering on Nevins, B.J. Clark, Tom Hickey, Brian Donlen and Julie Dugan were Eddie Cascarella and pre-op Ron Goldwyn, who sported the team togs and his starter set of knees.
Nevins filed this report (which was edited somewhat because some other teams in the league have infiltrated our top-secret blog and we want to appear vaguely sportsmanlike):
"The sides were Franklin Douchestitute, P&P, and NCC against everyone else. So the other team had players from five different squads. That’s because FI brought 11 players. I’m not joking. At one point, they were half of our team.
"Anyway, our side pretty much killed them. Not sure what the final score was since we didn’t really keep an official book. It was kind of mass hysteria. Ed from FI did a decent job of getting everyone in and making sure everyone played. I managed to convince him to let me pitch which was doubly gratifying because I’m awesome at it and it took (edited sequence) Candy out of the game.
"The P&Pers did us proud. Donlen hit well as did Hickey and Julie. B.J. was also there. I was 2 for 2 with two home runs and I also struck out the side in one inning. Half of that last sentence is actually true."
A fine report and a good showing by our lads and lady. Those who accused me of only inviting B.J. so that Julie would have a ride are obviously jealous backstabbers.
We are still going to try to have the combo intrasquad game/cookout sometime soon. We have to get Ron out of Magee first and back on his titanium legs. Stay tuned.

STARRY BEERY NIGHT

Tuesday, Aug. 5 is the annual league party and all-star game. The game and the partying will begin at 6 p.m. at Edgeley 8. Bring some beer, hang out, scarf up league-provided snacks and cheer on our red reps. Taking the field for the alliterative legions will be Julie Dugan, B.J. Clark, Brian Donlen, Tom Hickey and Mark Nevins. How did we ever lose?

WELL, THAT HAPPENED

Yes, it did. Good thing I got up on the bench and gave that pregame talk. Wow, who knows what might have happened otherwise? Could have been bad.

Where to start? Perhaps with the 11-run Franklin Institute first inning. That would make sense. On that pace, assuming no bottom of the seventh inning (fairly safe), that put them on a pace to score 66 runs in this game.

Well, we held them to less than half that, so we've got that going for us.

Franklin had 36 hits in six at-bats, which is impressive. They batted around five times. We batted around three times. We had just 12 reach base safely. It was a combination of things. They caught the ball very well, which helped. On the other side, they just pounded us. Thirteen extra-base hits.

And, so, we lost, in a repeat of last year's first-round playoff defeat to Franklin. The final was 30-5 and it felt like every bit of it.

But we went out as a team. We went out with two hits each from Brian Donlen (robbed of a third), George Miller, Jon Clark and Mark Nevins. We went out with some good defense when the ball was in the same area code, and with class, which made one of us.

Hey, it's softball. We'll be back.

A CORKER OF A FINISH

There were a whole lot of things that had to happen wrong for us on Tuesday night to miss out on the playoffs. Most of those options involved backing into the final postseason slot because South Philly Tap would tame the Zoo, eliminating the only reasonable team with a chance to catch us. The rest of them involved the Art Museum, which was mathematically alive but needed to not only beat us, but beat us by at least seven runs.

The best option was to simply win the game in front of us and clinch it ourselves. Incredibly enough, we took that option with a crisp, efficient 7-1 win over the Arties. This was accomplished 15 minutes before they shook hands over there on Dairy 4, so we not only made the playoffs, we avoided the dreaded back-in.

For the second straight season, we will face the Franklin Institute in the opening one-and-done round of the playoffs. This would be a nice game to win, so very nice.

But before we get to that, let's get back to Tuesday and the complete game win twirled by Chris Yasiejko. Just twelve scattered hits in seven innings for Art, and zero for extra bases. Toss in an acrobatic rules-be-damned putout at the plate on a strike from left field by George Miller and you do have a complete game. Behind Chris was great defense, no stupid throws, no dropped balls, smart decisions. Brian Donlen and Julie Dubin particularly strong up the middle of the infield.

Offensively, we should have scored more, but got impatient at times. The game was a slim 3-1 lead for us after five innings. We scored our first four batters in the sixth inning to give Chris some breathing room and he faced just eight batters in the final two innings.

Tom Hickey had two hits and started the sixth-inning rally with a triple. George Miller was 3-for-3, all line drives, and he knocked in a pair of runs. Brian Donlen had two hits, and Mark Nevins had two RBIs on a triple that almost ended with Nevins being thrown out at home.

We only had 14 hits, and that won't be enough next week. But let's deal with that next week. For now, let's enjoy this week. If you like the pictures you see here, visit the user-friendly site where you can find this team's photographic blog history for the past two seasons.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

The correct answer is, of course, "Mark Nevins appears to be pitching in this picture." Very good, class. You all got it. Take a good look. You won't be seeing this again. Astute observers will also see Brian Donlen standing behind Nevins at shortstop. This is a place between the bases on the left side of the infield that Nevins likes to refer to as "second base." More on that later.

A good win Monday night over a somewhat dispirited, but game National Constitution Center team, which was reminded that actually playing is a lot more fun than forfeiting. We win 12-2, easing past without being dopes about it. (Actually, the general manager thinks there was too much sportsmanship involved, but he says that at steel-cage wrestling matches, too.

We got terrific play at third base from Ed Cascarella, three solid at-bats from commissioner Ron

Goldwyn and pretty tight defense all around. Chris Yasiejko was the starter and winning pitcher, holding NCC scoreless on just six hits over the first four innings.

Nevins gave up two runs in the fifth, which he claims are unearned, thus preserving his perfect mark. Well, the book disagrees. There was a spritely 1-3 to start the innning, with Nevins correctly identifying first base and its guardian, Chris Brennan. Then there was a single, followed by another comebacker to the mound. The NCC runner was pretty fast and it would have been a close play at second, with Tom DiNardo coming over to accept the throw. However, we will never know how close, because Nevins chose to throw the ball to the shortstop, and not just to the shortstop, but behind him and into left field, allowing the runners to both move up to scoring position. The book insists that there was no routine play involved (no kidding?) and that the batter is given a hit, with the runners advancing on the E1. After a pop to Eddie for the second out, there followed a single and a double, making both runs EARNED. Decisions of the judges are final.

As indicated in the flimsy post below, we had 21 hits in 40 at-bats, pretty good raking, but will need to do better Tuesday against the Art Museum as we try to clinch the playoffs. Bad news is we're cutting it awfully close this season. Good news is Nevins won't be pitching.

A HARDY CONSTITUTION

There's something wrong with Mr. Blogspot tonight. He won't let us upload any pictures. That will be remedied as soon as he feels better, maybe tomorrow morning. Without proper inspiration, I can't do justice to Monday's 12-2 win over NCC.
It's like a bad tequila dream, in some ways. Did Nevins really pitch? Hoo boy.
We took care of business in this one, getting ready for the Arties on Tuesday night. If we win, we clinch.
Kerry O'Connor was 4-for-4 against the Constitutionalists, three hits for Chris Brennan, Brian Donlen and Jon Snyder.
Star of the game honors to Ed Cascarella for stellar play at third base and an RBI in our four-run first inning. We got up early 7-0, coasted a while, scored five in the sixth to close things out. I could say a few things about Brennan running through a "go" sign and Nevins throwing the ball into left field, but that would be churlish. Good fielding, for the most part, and sensational beer drinking. Not necessarily in that order.

THE MOOKIE SITUATION

All right, this isn't easy to talk about, but I keep all sorts of stats. My wife is in Europe for five weeks, so I've got some time on my hands. Some of it I spend in the hallway of the Marriott Marquis, some of it I spend poring over our statistics, looking for answers.

George, I'm sorry. Mookie is 1-6 this season. This week, no Mookie, two wins. Coincidence, or something more? You decide.

Now, I like Mookie, you like Mookie, we all like Mookie. But the Mookster's record sucks. I don't want to say he's not welcome. Who doesn't enjoy seeing him get after that darn frisbee? But 1-6 is 1-6. Next week, when we can clinch or be clinched, please make the proper decision on his attendance. Licking one's nose is a fine talent -- always popular when meeting people in bars -- but this is the team we're talking about here.

Now, we win, we win, we win again, beating the Fighting Griffins of the Art Museum, 17-10, to even our record at 6-6. We trailed heading into the bottom of the fifth, 8-7, but rallied to score eight runs and never looked back. Well, maybe a little.

Mike Galan had another three hits, as did Tom Hickey and Mookie's dad. Kate Fagan smacked her way aboard in all three at-bats and scored three runs. Two hits, two runs for Chris Yasiejko and two trips around the bases for Ellen Kenney, who pulled off the rare make-them-think-you're-falling-at-third-then-get-up-when-they-look-somewhere-else-and-score ploy. Eddie Cascarella got one at-bat and cracked the ball solidly into left for a hit. Jon Snyder, two hits, two scores in two at-bats. John Hall, another hit in his farewell performance for the season. He's off to Hong Kong for the next month and, even by our rain-delay schedule, the league will be finished by then. Great season, John. Two hits for Tom DiNardo. I'm leaving out some details, probably, but here's the short version: we doinked around for a couple of innings, got behind, got annoyed with that, took control, finished well.

The big news, naturally, was the return of Brian Donlen (above), from Panama or whereever he went on his honeymoon. In fact, this blog was going to be titled, "The Newlywed Game," after he had two big hits in his first two at-bats. (And you wonder what I'm thinking about standing there staring at the clipboard.) Great return, though, even if his body clock hasn't fully adjusted to this lack of daytime beer. Mix in a 6-3 now and then.

So we even our record at 6-6, with games Monday (NCC) and Tuesday (Art) left on the schedule. The playoffs are in our future and Mookie might be in our past.