Chuck Remembers

Manager Lucas brought his Northside Hitmen over to Crackerjack Park adding another chapter in the ongoing battle of APBA that has been going on for decades.  Being a History Major, Luke remembered one of the first times he came to my place to play shum APBA, it was circa 1977, the Midwest Monarchs hosted his River Park Solons, and Ed Figueroa tossed a perfect game against us.  My lineup included the likes of “Disco” Danny Ford, John “The Hammer” Milner, Rick Manning, George Brett, Jerry Remy, & Tim Foli.  But that was a lifetime ago, seems surreal, almost like a dream, who were those people, were they really us???

On this day it would be a nine game set featuring the explosive Chicago Champions taking on the Hitmen of the Northside.  The Hitmen wasted no time jumping out to an early lead when Alexei Ramirez hit the 1st pitch of game one off Tim Lincecum over the leftfield wall.  Interesting fact pointed out by Chuck: much maligned Alexei is batting .293, with power numbers of 24, 1, 14, while the highly regarded Hanley is batting .286, 23, 2, 16, I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.  In the bottom of the first AROD bit the hand that once fed him, giving the Freak a one run lead when he launched a two run shot, then hit another two run dinger in the 3rd, giving Chicago a three run advantage, which was upped by another when Justin Morneau, aka Jason Monroe, left the yard.  Lincecum left the game after seven, despite never having to pitch from the stretch, allowing only Alexei’s first pitch bomb.  Hidecki Okajima allowed a leadoff pinch double in the top of the 9th, followed by a one out walk, before giving way to “AK-47” “Papa Grande” Jose Valverde.  AROD booted a ball, filling the bases for Manny Ramirez, who took care of business, just Manny being Manny, as he belted a game tying grand salami.  Ryan Perry pitching in the 10th allowed two runs to give the Hitmen a hard fought game one win, despite AROD hitting a solo in the bottom of the 10th off closer Joakim Soria to make the final 7-6 Northside.

Dualing homers were the second game’s theme as the game was knotted at four thru four, courtesy of Chase Utley & Brian McCann two run homers for them and an RBI double by “Paul Bunyan” and solo shots by AROD & 2 by Grady Sizemore for us.  McCann can, thank you sir, may I have another?, did it again in the 6th off Josh Beckett was the difference as the Northsiders, behind former Champ Jake Peavy, took game 2, 5-4, series two to zip Hitmen.

Matt “Raisin’” Cain held the Hitmen to one unearned run over six as “El Caballo”, Carlos Lee, put it on the board, YES!, in the 4th, a two run tater, which put Chicago up 4-1, Champs scored two more in the 7th, and cruised to a 6-1 victory.  Still down in the series, 2-1.

Mark Buehrle lossed his shutout bid with one out in the 9th, but the Champions showed their power, scoring all eight of the runs playing long ball, two three run pokes, one by Victory “Hulk” Martinez, the other by “Lumberjack” Morneau, to go along with solos by G-Size & Jeff “Frenchy” Fracoeur. Series all tied up at two.

Did you ever not know what was going on until it was over, till it was too late???  This is a common phenomenon in my life, nothing unusual there for me, but in game five I switched my lineup around to take advantage of walks versus Wildman Micah Owings, who would earn another nickname after this game was through.  Jason Marquis, the leader in wins took the mound for the Champs opposing Owings.  The Hitmen loaded the bases against Marquis in the first, but the crafty veteran pitched out of trouble, allowing only one run.  Then they nicked Jason for another in the third when Manny hit into a doubleplay with runners on 1st & 3rd.  The Champs had a golden opportunity to get back into this thing in the bottom of the 5th, when Owings walked Ian “Stewie” Stewart, Miguel “Bombon’” Olivo, & Jason Marquis, but with two outs, Micah got Felipe “FILO” Lopez to ground to first.  Northside batters scored another run in the 7th when Miguel Cabrera doubled home Utley.  The Champions only managed two other bases on balls against Owings, outside of the 5th inning, so when Bombon’ bounced to 1st in the 9th, it was official, put it in the books, and give him a new nickname, Micah “No-No” Owings.  I had no idea a no-hitter had been thrown until Chuck told me, guess that’s called focus or called, lost in a fog.  A no-hitter for Owings, I can’t roll no friggin’ dice!!!  I think PaPa Bunchie will be rolling better dice next year for Josh Hamilton, Evan Longoria, Adam Dunn, & Delmon Young, funny how good dice rolls seem to be pretty much aligned with having good players to roll numbers on.  Now I needed to regroup, grab some water, guzzle it down, and get ready for the four games left to be played on the road in this series, trailing in the series 3-2.

“The Freak”, Tim Lincecum took the mound for the Champs, in an effort to right the ship, in a first game rematch against rookie lefthander Brett Anderson.  JROLL took Anderson deep to start the game and V-Mart also went yard in the 1st, 2-0 after one.  A 2nd inning sac-fly cut the lead in half.  Frenchy came through with a two out RBI single to plate AROD from 2nd base in the 4th, to put us up again by a deuce.  El Caballo put icing on the cake with a 7th inning big fly.  Lincecum went the distance for the complete game win.  Now the series was back to even with three games to be played.

Again the Champs played long ball, knocking four balls out, to pace a 10-2 win.  The four amigos doing yard work for Chicago were AROD, JROLL, Lopez (2-run), & Lee (2-run).  Josh Beckett hardly broke a sweat, allowing only one hit over 5+ innings, and was relieved by Dice-K, who worked the final four for a save.  Hitmen’s Hurler Hiroki Kuroda was hit hard & hit often, and it could have been worse had there not been an official scorer giving him the benefit on a couple of errors where it was questionable as to whether or not RBI’s should have been denied or awarded.  Advantage, Good Guys, 4-3.

Things looked bleak when things unraveled for Matt Cain in the 5th, a walk, a double, another walk, a couple of base knocks, and a 1-0 lead turned into a 3-1 deficit.  Manager Luke turned the game over to his team’s best asset, his pen.  With 2-outs & one on, MO, Olivo cracked one long gone, high & deep, off the leftfield foul pole off Joakim Soria, to tie this one up at three in the 8th.  Two batters later, a single by C-Lee & two basehit by Stewie, and it was 4-3 Champs.  Chicago’s pen was outstanding over the last four innings, making that lead hold up.  But not feeling all that confident, AROD gave up a day of rest in an effort to extend the lead, pinch-hitting in the 9th, when nothing came of that decision, a one run lead would have to do.  Colby Rasmus greeted Papa Grande with a basehit up the box and with 2 outs, Chase Utley walked after fouling off a dozen pitches, bringing up Cabrera.  Valverde dropped to a knee, pointed to the sky, screamed in delight, after getting Cabrera to swing at a slider in the dirt for strike three, ending the game, giving Chicago a 5-3 series lead, heading into the finale.

Miguel Cabrera hit a three run 5th inning bomb off Buehrle, then Manny being Manny knocked one out himself, to put the Hitmen up four.  Brad Penny held us in check, before surrendering a meaningless two out run in the 9th, when El Caballo’s ribbie double scored Morneau to end Penny’s bid for a shutout.  There was some controversy when Ian Stewart, with 2nd column 11’s, appeared to steal second, on a H & R 35, but was called out.  Manager Mallasch came sprinting out of the dugout, arguing the call, but to no avail.  Neither the president nor the vice president could be reached during the contest.  Interestingly, the vice president called after the game to say, he’d have ruled him out.  While the president said, he was safe, because the board states, the runner must have a 10 or 11 on his card, not necessarily in the 1st column, to be considered safe on a 35 Hit & Run.  Reading it’s such an important, necessary, skill, which is so often under utilized.  Final score 4-1 Northside.  But the Champions held on to capture the series 5-4.

Champs Tune Up for the Playoffs

The Chicago Champions ended the regular season strong, finishing with 99 wins on the year. Never in the history of the IAL have the Champions reached the coveted century mark. Ace Greg Maddux, the all time winningest pitcher in league history won his 19th game in his second to last start, a one hit shutout. The veteran failed to win in his final start before the playoffs, missing the 20 win plateau by one win. Some other notable achievements are as follows, leadoff man Jimmy Rollins stole 56 bases, scoring 112 times, with power numbers of 41-12-12, to go along with a .282 batting average, all the while playing Gold Glove caliber shortstop. Grady Sizemore was the #2 hitter for the Champs, all he did was score 118 runs & drive in 109, with 47 steals, walking 80 times, with big time power of 35-6-35, a batting average of .250, he was an excellent fielder in the outfield, if there was a chink in his armor it was the fact that he fanned 134 times. Answering the bell everyday for Chicago at Firstbase was Justin Morneau, Paul Bunyan led the team in ribbies with 124 knocked in on 49 doubles, five triples, & 17 home runs, often times shortening up his swing on the hit & run. El Caballo, Carlos Lee was injured much of the season, but really turned it loose down the stretch, taking over the cleanup spot, launching 30 long balls in only 113 games played, he even held his own with the glove in the outfield. ARod provided the big stick in the middle of the order, leading the ballclub with 44 homers, driving in 111, scoring 100 runs, hitting a respectable 284, with 76 bases on balls, for a nearly .400 on base percentage of .397. The catching tandem of Ryan Doumit & Miguel Olivo provided solid production, with 55 doubles & 27 long balls, with a batting average above .250. B.J. Upton was the third member of the outfield, the youngster didn’t disappoint, as the speedster had 48 SB’s to go along with 31 doubles, patiently walking 75 times, batting .250, scoring 67 runs. Newcomer Felipe Lopez turned it up as the season wore down, ending the year with a .220 batting average, after batting below the Mendoza line for much of the campaign. Buckeye Nick Swisher was often the first man off the bench and the switch hitter used his good eye to walk 40 times, although his batting average was just .193, he did manage 11 doubles & five home runs in 171 at bats, with an onbase mark of .346. Rookies Ian Stewart & Matt Joyce combined for good power, filling in at third & the outfield respectively, with power numbers of 26-6-18. Victor Martinez was relegated to bench duty by a series of nagging injuries throughout the season, but that didn’t stop this veteran from batting .310 in very limited action. Jose Guillen brought his potent bat to the plate, when a home run or a double was in order, he notched 3 of each in 76 at bats, driving in 14 runners. Bobby Crosby was the team’s pinch runner, along with playing shortstop when JRoll needed a blow.

In addition to Maddux, his mound mates were stellar when their turns came to toe the rubber. Tim Lincecum, assumed the #1 spot in the rotation, striking out 234 men in 227 innings, with a mark of 17-6, and an ERA of 2.74, allowing only 140 base hits. Following The Freak was lefthander Mark Buehrle, who narrowly finished above .500 with a record of 15-14. Righthanded hard throwing Matt Cain won nearly twice as many games as he lost, finishing with 17 wins against nine defeats, striking out 170 men. The aforementioned Maddux held down the 4th spot in the rotation. That left the five hole to be plugged by the talented Josh Beckett, who won 15 while losing seven. Rookie relievers Joey Devine & Cory Wade shared the closer’s role, saving 38 ballgames. Jose Valverde brought the heat to the setup role, fanning 66 out of the pen. Another rook, Sergio Romo joined Matt Capps in middle relief. Last, but not least, was Brett Allen Myers, known by his teammates as BAM, who pitched magnificently in long relief, coming up big with an ERA of 3.67, logging 162 innings, almost exclusively out of the pen, starting one ballgame.

So now it’s time for the second season to begin, while the postseason has not been kind to the Champions in recent years, there’s not the same sense of angst or urgency that has been there for many Chicago teams of the past. The Champions have shown themselves to be a quality baseball team, over the long haul of a 162 game season. Anything can happen in the playoffs, still the Champions are looking for more, a fitting end would be to be crowned with the IAL Championship, #11 for the Champs, still it has been a long time, and they’re not taking anything for granted & will certainly savor victory, if it were to come over the painful sting of defeat.