Won One, Lost Too

Under a rainbow canopy, the Cougars took the field for a doubleheader on Tuesday.

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The Cougars matched up with Templeton Rye for a fast paced game in the opener.  

We held our opponent scoreless in the first three innings allowing only two singles.  One of those two baserunners was eliminated in a dazzling fashion by Martini when he hurled a no-look pickoff to JD who, in one smooth motion, grasped the ball and plopped the tag on the runner. 

The Cougars were quiet in the first two innings with only solo hits by Rads and Bobi.  In the third, Pastor Ted and Flandog led us off with singles.  Ski and Boom followed suit and to score Flandog and give us a 1-0 lead.

In the top of the fourth, Templeton Rye tied it up.  They added two more in the fifth and one more in the sixth.  They would have added a few more if not for an over the shoulder wide receiver catch by Boom in center field.

We pretty much went down in order over the last three innings. 

Cougars lose 4-1.

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In the nightcap, we faced Old School for another swift match.  Defense was the key to this game along with some clutch hitting.

We held Old School to 6 total hits and they only pushed one run across the plate. 

Two of those hits were negated by Martini to JD pickoff plays.  One of the pickoffs was what we call the “‘ol’ wheel play.”  This play can only be executed against newbies and it was first played on us by the Shackers back in 2008.  So here we go…men on first and second for Old School and Martini purposely fires a wild pickoff throw to JD at first base.  Now, the rules state that only the runner who is played on can advance, however, in this case, the runner on first base can’t advance on the wild throw because the next base is occupied.  Old School enthusiastically sent both of the runners.  (We joined in and yelled for them to run, too.)  All we had to do is merely tag any runner for the final out.  Boy, that was fun!

On offense, Philthy knocked in Martini for our first run in the second inning.  In the fourth, Rads got on base and scored the go ahead run on hits by Joker and Bobi.  We added two tallies in the fifth with sweet back to back hits by Pastor Ted and Flandog, followed by a double down the left field line by Fort.  In the sixth, we duplicated the prior inning with Martini and Joker back to back hits and Bobi knocking them in.

Cougars win 6-1.

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During the games Martini, served his best to the plate and at the postgame he served up the wurst to our palate.  

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As always with the Cougars, it was a team effort and we proved once again it takes more than one to win.

  

All Poetry, No Motion

The Cougars tried to make it on ESPN,

But the Shackers scored three plus ten.

We tallied a trio plus zero-

No game highlights, no rally hero.

The game was a bit too concise,

And now we’ve been slaughtered twice.

We raced to the postgame with a zoom;

The food and drinks were on Boom.

We gobbled vittles and tipped our cup,

Talked about the next game and how we might actually show up.

We'll eliminate the games that are slaughtery

And play hard for our fans, because with them we hit the lottery!

Late Night with the Cougars

David Letterman once said, "Anything worth doing is worth overdoing."  

With a 15-10 victory over Valley Lodge, we present a late night with the Cougars.

Top Ten Cougar Moments Last Night

• Boomgaarden:  Boom had three hits, one run
• Watrous:  Johnny had four hits and two runs
• Radtke:  Rads had three hits and two runs
• Danielsen:  JD had two hits and one run
• Lipsey:  Thejokewriter had two hits and two runs
• Bobis:  Bobi had four hits and two runs
• Radtke:  Li’l Rads had four hits and three runs
• Kirchberg:  Pastor Ted had two hits and one run
• Flannery:  Flandog had two hits and one run
• McDonnell:  Philthy had four hits and one run

Stupid Human Tricks

Sure, we have those every week.  The winner this week was Philthy.  With a harshly pulled hamstring, Dr. Phil went 4 for 4 with a double and beating out an infield hit.  Runners up were Watrous fielding a cutoff and firing on a line to Rads blocking the plate to throw out the runner, as well as Thejokewriter getting robbed of a homer by ridiculous catch the opponent’s left fielder.

Albert Achievement Awards

No need for Marv Albert to be at the field last night.  No bloopers in the field for the Cougars!   

Viewer Mail

Dear Cougars,

Why do you always wear green?

Name Withheld, Wilmette, IL

Well, Name Withheld, that is a terrific question.  In fact, all the other teams wear green too.  We are green with clothing while the rest of the league is green with envy (insert rimshot here).

Heeeeeeerrrrrre’s David

You can’t have a nighttime event without the star of the show.  Our host, Melchiorre, went with the Late Night theme and played "Know Your Cuts of Meat" with competing crockpots full of succulent goodness.  Our Dave will never retire and will always be on top!

Next week the Cougars continue the quest to be the undisputed Kings of Late Night!

Cold Bats, Warm House

We lost to Miller Time 18-6.  The game was actually closer than the score reveals.   I mean, if you take away two of their innings, we would have won the game 6-2. 

Oh sure, our bats were cold at times but we had our moments of glory.  Boomgaarden and Fortier crushed a couple hits each while Bobis, Radtke (the li’l one), Otsuka and Kirchberg all smacked singles. 

In fact, our Johnny-come-lately, donned Cougar green for the first time and may have had our best game.  Watrous patrolled center field and stopped the thugs (after they dropped straight seven runs) by tracking down a long fly ball to record our first out of the game.  John also bashed a base hit and demonstrated the Cougar spirit by smiling even in a slaughter.

My guess is that he was smiling and looking forward to the postgame.

The Lipseys are such a generous and kindhearted family for hosting the Cougars.  These traits were also quietly represented in a corner of their home.

Peter was recognized this past weekend for his community work by the Warming House.  Interestingly, we share Howard Park with the Warming House and it resides just behind the soil he safeguards in right field.

Over the last few years, in order to raise money, Lipsey founded and organized the Wilmette Pub Crawl to benefit the Warming House, which is a center for teens providing a supportive environment.

Last night, in order to raise spirits, he organized a pub crawl to his warm house, which is a center for old men who act like teens and need a supportive environment after a tough loss.

Next week the Cougars will lose our warm and charitable character and unleash our unmerciful nature.  Our hot bats will burn down the house!