Superlative Game Story

A post from Glen.

Like the pairing of Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck or Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman or Georgie Jessel and Sophie Tucker, the seemingly indestructible duo of Dave and Kurt, those Titans of the Tarmac, those Alexanders of the Asphalt just can't seem to get the job done.

In Saturday's statistically insignificant game Dave, Kurt and new man Jeremy (henceforth known as "Human Rain Delay") went up against Pete and Glen and dominated the morning, going into the last inning with a 5-0 lead.  With "HRD" on the mound in the top of the third they managed to surrender 7 runs (along with their pride, dignity and reputations), conceding what some around the league are now calling the "greatest" comeback of the season.

Perhaps in the future, these Sultans of Stats will opt to oppose one another instead of joining forces.  If not, the blog has one word for them: Ishtar.

Warning: Blog Stat!

Just this week, no kidding, "This Week In Whiff" passed the 10,000 views mark.  This is momentous in the same way it was momentous when the Phillies passed 10,000 losses. Something to behold.

And it was a team effort; everyone of you reading this now, are part of our next 10,000. So, thank you!

Speaking of team efforts, there was a game in a hot wind at Nance Bradds' Field this evening, and it was NOT a shutout. Indeed it was a back-and-forth five inning affair, complete with a couple of lead changes. Yup, it was in fact .. exciting.

This game, the 21st of the season, saw the return of "The Artist" to the asphalt, and was the debut of Rookie of the Year candidate, Jeremy Long.

The Visitors got the scoring started in the second with a very looooong home run off Kurt's bat (did I mention Glen was back?). They tacked on a third in the third, christening Mr. Long's debut in the pitching stats.

They gave 'em all back and then some when Brent took the ball in the bottom of the fourth, allowing six runs on nine singles. Credit Glen with 3 RBI, Dave with 2 and Jeremy with 1. 6 to 3 after four innings.

Dave repeated his 3 up, 3 down, 3K performance from the first in the fourth, but Glen, called upon to hold the three run lead in the fifth, could not get it done.  He gave up another dinger to Kurt (this one not so long, but a crushed line drive), as well as a 2-Run double to Kurt to tie the score.  Then, with two out, bases loaded, Brent Mack pulled a single down the line for the difference maker!

After Kurt's 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth, it was all wrapped up.  A 7-6 win for the visitors, and a nice night for Krash: 4-for-8, 2 HR, 2B, 6 rbi.

Kurt, Matt, Pete, Brent - 7 runs, 15 hits

Dave, Glen, Jeremy - 6 runs, 12 hits

W: Mackintosh

L: Cebulash

S: Mosser

BS: Cebulash

HR - Mosser (2)

Try Not To Let It Get To Your Head

Astute observers of the Wiffle game will note a number of similarities between this game and another popular pastime: Base Ball. Both, for instance, are played in the United States of America. A keener eye will note that both involve small spheres called "balls" and thin cylindrical "bats." Finally, Spalding (2006) published an eloquent piece spotlighting the fact that they are both invariably associated with Ale, tattoos and expectorating. 


With me so far?


One can see they they are the same, really, but just vary in degree. Wiffle is played before small crowds in niche venues. Base ball is played in front of tens of thousands of fans in stadia that do not allow for any meaningful interaction with the athletes.


And now to my point: in each wiffle at-bat many things are possible; in each base ball at-bat many many things are possible. And in both games, most of the possible things .. are bad. Think about it. There are four kinds of hits and six ways to be put out. It has to be that way; if outs were hard to come by the first Wiffle game would still be going on.


So a Wiffler must not dwell on the last game, the last inning-pitched or the last at-bat. Did you ground into a double play with the bases loaded last week? Forget it. Did you go 18-for-31 in your last two games? Put it out of your mind. Strike out the side did you? That was then, this is now.


You are in this at-bat, in this inning, in THIS game.


In today's play, some players put early strikeouts aside and assembled a nice string of ABs. Others dwelt in deepening pits of gloom through much of the game. Some were throwing bats in the second inning.


Home standing Dave E., Kurt and Brent hosted Pete, Stats and rookie of the year candidate Kevin "Kid" Campbell in a six inning affair in perfect weather. Kurt and Dave lived up to their pitching reputations, combining on four scoreless innings, but neither really got the bats going. When they weren't pitching, the Visitors were putting together three-run innings against Brent.


Kid Campbell capped off the scoring with a 2-out, bases-loaded triple in the fifth, filling out the 6-0 final score. A nice start to his Wiff career Kevin C. went 5-for-11 (including a 2B and a 3B) and 3 rbi. But, don't let it get to your head. Next week is a whole 'nuther game.


Pete, Matt, Kevin C. - 6 runs, 16 hits
Brent, Dave E., Kurt - 0 runs, 5 hits


W: Lindsay
L: Mackintosh


HR: none (when does Glen come back?)

Let it go. Just let it go.

Bastille Day Blowout

Wherein we witness the emergence of the new Brent Mackintosh

Our special season of guest wifflers in celebration of the da Commish's Golden Jubilee continued with visits from Stat's long time friends - Dave and Barbara. A long time follower of the blog and the stats, Lt. Col David Guarriello, stationed this summer at Ft. Knox, KY, drew a 48-hour pass and came up to play a little wiff, and catch a Reds-Cardinals game in Cincinnati. Barbara Russo flew in from Washington for a weekend with Dave, and got caught up in the wiffle excitement, too.

Stats, the Poet and our guests took on Brent, Krash and the Commish. Only in the first inning would Brent and his boys fail to score, plating 13 total runs in the second through the sixth.  In contrast, Stats and the newbies only scored in the bottom of the sixth, avoiding the second straight shutout by only a couple of outs.

But let's look closer at Brent's week, shall we? Brent appeared in both the All-Star game on Wednesday and Saturday's drizzly (sometimes rainy) Bastille Day game. All told here are his stat lines:

18-for-31 (0.580), with a double and a triple (slugging: 0.677) and 8 RBI. Two-game OPS of 1.257!!!

Lest you think his pitching line offset these Ruthian numbers, here they are:

4 IP, 12 hits and 4 runs allowed three strikeouts. A two-game ERA of 9.00!!!

If we made player of the week awards (which I am NOT suggesting) I think Brent would win it this week.

Brent, Kurt, Peter - 13 runs, 27 hits

Barbara, Dave, Fred, Matt - 4 runs, 13 hits

W: Mosser

L: Russo

HR: None

I don't always play wiffle, but when I do... I kick butt.

All-Star Game - July 11, 2012

In an eerie case of Art imitating Life, the game declared as our All-Star game was a blow-out, shutout and was over pretty early.

AL starter, Matt Lindsay did manage to escape a first inning bases loaded jam, but after that the NL All Stars scored 2 runs in the 2nd, 4 in the 3rd, 2 in the 4th, and 1 in the 5th. Kind of a piling on situation, one might say, as all they needed was 1.

AL batters were hitless into the fourth.  I really thought we might have the OW&AC's first ever PERFECT GAME. It was not to be as Kev Gutekunst managed a seeing-eye single off NL pitcher Mosser to lead off the 4th. In the bottom of the sixth, the AL managed to load the bases, but Brent Mack induced a game ending grounder to preserve the shutout.

Brent, Eric, Kurt - 9 runs, 24 hits
Kevin, Matt, Peter - 0 runs, 4 hits

W: Mosser
L: Gutekunst

HR - None

Mack - 8 for 15, 3 RBI
Bandit - 7 for 14, 3 doubles, 2 RBI
Krash - 10 for 14, triple, 4 RBI

Guts - 2 for 8
Stats - 0 for 7
Commish - 2 for 7

A rare Saturday game - June 23, 2012

So four wifflers gathered to play what is now three weeks ago or something.  High scoring, six-inning affair which featured a lot of hits.  The guy who went 12-for-22, 0.545 (Herr Cebulash) had the WORST day at the plate - average wise, as Kaveman Kvalheim hit at a .550 clip, da Commish put up a .555 and Dr. Mosser went for a cool .600.

There were other events of note, I suppose. Mosser gave up five runs, blah blah blah. Glen drove in 10, yadda yadda yadda.  But hey!! Look at this:

That is Matt "Stats" Lindsay sitting at the Official Scorer's seat at FENWAY PAHK, baby!! That is an awesome Saturday by any statistic.