Challengers 8, Bandits 1

He's the Juan for Us - De La Rosa the difference maker in Game 2 rout

Now you may have noticed that I spent a lot of time going on about how lousy the Challengers' hitting was in Game 1 - and it was. But one thing that I didn't mention is that that game was played without the C's own "Big Papi", Juan De la Rosa who was suspended following an ejection in the previous game against the Eagles (As a side note, can we do something, as a league, about all these "tough guy" umpires who seem to be thumbing people out left and right? It's a competitive sport, people are going to argue, just chill!). Anyway, after receiving a fiery pre-pre-game pep talk from Sato (it was before Game 1, so that's why it's pre-pre), Juan came out angry and looking for blood (or RBIs). After Kovac and Sarmiento reached on consecutive HBPs, Juan crushed a double to left center, scoring both runners. He then, in typical Juan fashion, stole third (basically walking lead, then a light jog before the pitcher even begins to throw, ending up on the base just about as the ball crosses the plate), and then scored on a wild throw from the Bandits' catcher (gotta loving the scoring here...he gets credited with a steal of home despite the advance coming on an error...whatever). Azuma followed with a single, stole second, took third on a WP, and then scored on a RBI ground out by Sato. Gordon then followed with a booming double over the head of the center-fielder (where the F was that in the 9th inning of the first game?!!?!?!?), and took third on a "steal" (looked like a wild pitch to me, but hey, I'll take it). Ryan Koley grounded out to end the inning, but by then it was 4-0 Challengers.

The C's got right back to work in the second inning, despite some base-running difficulties of their own: Romang led off with a single, but was thrown out trying to steal second after getting a poor jump. Kovac then singled, but was picked off first on an absolutely atrocious call (the field umpire is simply not in a position to make the calls at first from their spot between the mound and second. He can't see the bag). Undeterred, Sarmiento followed with a double to off the glove of the left-fielder, who had taken his own sweet time jogging after the ball (man, I wish I could get scoring like this when I was batting, I'd be hitting .700!!), stole third, and then scored on another error by the Jona catcher (one of our MVPs for this game). De la Rosa singled and stole second, and Azuma singled, but Lehmann flew out to deep center to end the inning.

In the bottom of the second, the Bandits wrested the "Craptacular Base-Running" trophy back from the Challengers. After a single and a walk put two on with no outs, Azuma coaxed a rather soft liner out to Gordon in center. Gordon caught the ball and threw to De La Rosa at first in an attempt to get the trailing runner, who was safe...but the lead runner was then nailed trying to take third. Do I get an assist for that? I say yes.

The Bandits finally broke through for a run in the bottom of the 4th. A lead-off walk, a single and a steal put runners at second and third with no outs. After a fielder's choice to Sato at second brought one run in, Azuma got the second out with a pop to third. However, the next batter sent a sinking liner out into right that Koley looked to have no chance on. Just as I was prepared to unleash a slew of profanity regarding Ryan's inability to properly cover ground, he reached out and somehow snagged the ball on the run to end the inning. Tremendous catch! Contrary to the principles that we're taught in practice, but tremendous catch nonetheless!

The Challengers broke the game open in the top of the 6th: Gordon reached first on an E-6 (hey, what happened to that charitable scoring), but was then promptly erased when trying to advance on an errant pick-off throw (I was just standing on the base when all the sudden, the ball goes flying past my face. Hearing my teammates frantically screaming "GO GO", I took off towards, second, forgetting that the fence in Jona is about 3 feet away from the base. After getting caught in a run down (and then trying to play if off to the umpire as if he's called time) I stomped back to the bench, looking for someone to blame. I settled on Yusuke. I will accept his formal apology at a later date :-) Three consecutive singles loaded the bases (and further fueled my rage, because I would've scored). After Sarmiento struck out, De La Rosa reminded everyone who was boss by sending a towering fly over the fence in right for a 2 RBI ground-rule double. Azuma walked to load the bases, and then Lehmann drove in the final run of the inning by doing what he does best - getting hit by a pitch, and making it 8-1.

Kovac came on in relief of Azuma in the bottom of the 6th, and set the last 6 Bandit hitters down in order. The defensive highlight came in the bottom of the 6th, when Sarmiento AGAIN flashed the leather, snaring a nasty one hop grounder and firing to first for the out. Even better, from a comedy stand point, was when Sarmiento went over to celebrate with Azuma at short, only to have the "send it around" throw from De La Rosa fly into the outfield. Good times.

With the split, the Challengers improved to 7-5 on the season, still behind the 9-5 Bandits and the 10-6 Mustangs in the division (although the C's have played 2 less games than Jona and 4 less games then Embrach). After a 2 week lay-off, the C's will be back in action against Jona again...but this time on a real field!