For clarification on what Andy is talking about: There was a great game between the Dodgers and the Cubs that ended poorly due to running up against the rules for curfew at Bob Moore. After six complete innings, the score was Cubs 5 Dodgers 4. The home plate umpire asked for the ruling on time before starting the 7th inning because it was already 10:22 pm. Dodgers manager, Mick Novac, called Commissioner Tommie Smith for the "low down." Tommie said that the game had to be over by 10:40 pm, so that we could fulfill our (CDMSBL's) commitment to Bob Moore officials regarding having the lights go out no later than 10:50 pm.
What would transpire over the next 20 minutes would take all of the fun out of the great game that went on over the first two hours and 5 minutes. With a runner on first and two outs, Ryan Johnson drilled a liner into the right center field gap for a game tying triple. Andy Sardella was called on to pinch hit because Jimmy Keegan had earlier had to leave the game. With two strikes, Andy dribbled a ball down the first base line, just out of the reach of Cubs first baseman, Dave Mitchell. That scored the go-ahead run for the Dodgers.
That was the last we saw of any good baseball. The rest was gamesmanship, plain and simple. Carlos Llera yelled from the dugout for Andy to keep running (though it was obvious that Andy had a lower body injury and would not make it safely to second). Everyone in the ball park knew that Carlos wanted Andy to keep running until he was tagged out, so that he would make the Dodgers second out and expedite the end of the Dodgers half of the inning. The Cubs refused to tag Andy out at second. Andy, being a class act, stopped at second and refused to make the second out a farce, by continuing on to third as he was urged by the bench.
Ron Massaroni got the next two outs,with a walk mixed in, and the Dodgers half of the inning was over. The Cubs returned to the dugout, checked a cell phone and saw that the time was 10:42 pm, and reported such to the home plate umpire.
Regrettably, the home plate umpire asked us if we wanted to go out for the bottom of the inning. Putting us in an unenviable position. If we try to get the bottom half of that inning complete in the last 8 minutes before the lights needed to be out, it may have happened, but it may not have (the Cubs had scored 5 runs in the previous six innings), and we would have violated the direct order of the commissioner, given just 20 minutes earlier. So, we just re-iterated the commissioners edict to the home plate umpire, and the game was ruled over.
Of course the Dodgers were upset that we chose not to directly disobey the commissioners ruling and try to finish the game.
I get it! Hell, if I was on the other side, I would have been upset too. It didn't sit well with any of the Cubs either, that the onus of deciding whether or not we should follow the ruling was put on us.
I feel that the umpires need to be aware of the letter of the law before coming to Bob Moore, and make the ruling without any input from the players. That way these hard feelings between two groups of fierce competitors wouldn't arise.
I will report on the rest of the game (the good part) when I get the score book in front of me.

I know that last year there was a set protocol with specific times and all of the managers and the umpires were aware of the rules and lived by them.

We have had issues at Bob Moore in the past and it is mission critical that we not abuse this field because we have been close to losing it in the past.

The umpires had no business offering to do anything that would put us past our time limit and endanger our future and all of the managers on that field are also responsible for making sure that we are off of the field on time ..... no game matters enough to risk losing the field.

I am sure Tommy will see this but i would suggest all of the 35 managers address this with him and make sure we don't have a repeat because we play a lot of games at Bob Moore.

This is my first year in this league: The Capital District MEN'S Baseball League. Last time I checked, running out the clock is not the way to win a baseball game, but then again MEN choose to decide the game on the field. Cubs had 2 visits to the mound (with no pitching change), slow walking to the dugout, and general stalling tactics that were an embarrassment to MEN who play baseball for fun. And then I read the post mortem from the Cubs and it sounds like they "had to" make sure the game was over because it was "mission critical". What a joke. Everyone really knows that the Cubs could have hit if they wanted to try to hit. It was easier to stall. Understood. You got the win. Congrats. Now come and get the title.

Lalo Reyes

Lalo Reyes wrote:

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This is my first year in this league: The Capital District MEN'S Baseball League. Last time I checked, running out the clock is not the way to win a baseball game, but then again MEN choose to decide the game on the field. Cubs had 2 visits to the mound (with no pitching change), slow walking to the dugout, and general stalling tactics that were an embarrassment to MEN who play baseball for fun. And then I read the post mortem from the Cubs and it sounds like they "had to" make sure the game was over because it was "mission critical". What a joke. Everyone really knows that the Cubs could have hit if they wanted to try to hit. It was easier to stall. Understood. You got the win. Congrats. Now come and get the title.

Lalo Reyes

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I want to be clear that i am not a Cub. My comments have nothing to do with this particular game.

My comments are made as a board member who knows we have come close to losing this field in the past and that we depend on it.

I will repeat my statement .... it is mission critical that we are off of this field on time during the night games and do not lose this field. I know for a fact that the neighbors that ring the lake will call the authorities when they see issues like the lights being on too late ...... they call the police in the winter when people use gas augers when ice fishing which are not allowed.

Lest the Dodgers forget. The gamesmanship started here with the Dodgers manager yelling from the on deck circle for Andy to keep running until he was tagged out. How is that playing the game just for the fun?! That sounds like someone who puts winning way before being a "MAN".
Lalo, I know that you were not aware of our previous issues with this nearly losing this field due to your newness to this league. Many of the Cubs wanted to go ahead and attempt to get the bottom of the inning, so as to not look like we were "chicken". I can assure you that nobody on the Cubs wanted to end the game prematurely because of they were affraid to lose! That is not how this team rolls! However had we tried to get the inning in (starting at 10:42) and gone past 10:50 pm, when we were told to get off the field by 10:40 pm (by the commissioner himself just minutes before) and had lost the field for the league, we would be made out to be the villains by more that just the Dodgers. Wasn't worth the risk.
You will have one more chance in the regular season, and probably 2 or 3 more chances in the playoffs to compete against the Cubs. We aren't going anywhere.
Tommie, to answer your question about how this game took so long . . . there was a pitcher (to remain nameless here) that takes an inordinant amount of time between pitches (we call him the human rain delay). He is the same pitcher that caused a 2-1 game between the same two teams to run up against the curfew last year at the same location. The Dodgers were more than happy to walk off the field in that one after 6 innings with the win, and none of the Cubs questioned the Dodgers courage in that. Maybe a lesson to be learned about sportsmanship there somewhere.

The difference here is that MEN get up in the top of the 7th and come back to take the lead. What do men do in the bottom of the 7th? Get their watch out? As soon as you did not tag out the runner, was as soon as we all figured out that you had no plans of ever getting up to bat. It is simple. You PLANNED TO STALL THE INNING, especially after we took the lead. I UNDERSTAND IT. But it is not what men do. Men run in to the dugout, rally their team, and get up to bat. That is not what happened. This goes back to our half of the inning. Not tagging Andy out means your team TALKED ABOUT not tagging him out so you could stall. It is plain for everyone to see. EVERYONE knows what happened. So let's dispatch with the talk about losing the field. It is about losing the game. Which you would have done if you would have batted in the bottom of the 7th. No sport in the world rewards the losing team for stalling. Except for CDMSBL baseball at 10:42 of course... If you feel so bad about the thing then call the game a draw instead of take the fake win.

Lalo Reyes

Back in the day,before he retired from the life of a rock and roll star, he was known for his swagger,his style, his,how you say...juene se quois. It was a persona he embraced,and it embraced him..................
Fast forward a few years,and the cdMEN'Sbl was where he now roamed,still with the style,swagger,and yes,the.............moustache. still a lightning rod for attention.still willing to stand and take the hit.
Now a whole new generation, a generation that feels the rules don't "really' apply to them, who thinks feels and actually BELIEVES , that when things don't work out in their favor??????
Well , after all, who can really blame them.


So Freddie beat you to the clean end of the stick and you got the poopy end . Awwwwwww
Always next time.


Meanwhile, everybody enjoy this great game we are still lucky enough to play!!
I am looking forward to the 60 and over league,knee replacement tomorrow...........

Pete Westfall

Andy,
No need to defend. I am a big boy. I know the rules. I respect them. That was why we tried to give the Cubs their "fair ups" within the time constraints. They chose to stall instead. In their heart of hearts they know what they did. If they are unsure, tell them to go and grab any 10 strangers and tell them the story. See what they say. We don't need guys like you and me to explain it. No disrespect to guys on the Cubs team, it just needs to be acknowledged what actually happened. 2 visits to the mound without a pitching change? Is that even legal now that we are talking about "rules"? And if they really wanted to respect the game, then they play until the lights go out, right? We come out at this age to play hard and win for our team ON THE FIELD. That's all. Last time I checked there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for someone not taking a free out except for to stall, right? So if the Cubs were just respecting the rules, then why didn't they tag you out? Only logical reason is to stall, right??? YES, that is RIGHT.

I thought Marcus Aurelius was a conspiracy theorist and he was the only one who had a problem with the way the league treats teams?

Even pkw1217 makes mention of constantly taking hits and coming back from them. How many times do complaints have to be raised before action is taken and not just chalked up to "another complaint?"

Patterns are hard to ignore - they just have to keep getting covered up, I guess...

Take out your "ace" to pitch to me? Lol! Who were you gonna bring in? C'mon.....lets just bury it and play on.

And one more time for the record: Why did you not tag Andy out when he left the safety of first base?

First of all, I as a manager respect the curfew. This topic is not about the curfew, this is about blatantly stalling when the manager walks in from left field, has a meeting, takes his time walking back to left field while the pitcher is standing there watching him, and then after the next at bat he repeats himself again by walking to the mound once again and should I say (walking slowly with no hustle). What would one think you were up to? As far as last year when we ran out of time during the Dodger and Cubs game, did you see me calling a time out and stalling? Absolutely not. We the Dodgers don't play that way. It's not about a loss, it's about the way the Cubs handled themselves that night.

I tried to ignore the mis-information coming from the Dodgers but I have to respond when the Manager states how much he respects the curfew.

To the Dodger Manager's' credit he was the only one who knew what the curfew was! He told us all at the pre-game conference with the umps.."you cannot start an inning after 10:15" He said that!....they didn't know, I didn't know. (yes, I should have known) Of course when you are behind and it is after 10:15 everything changes...now it is time to get on the phone with the Commissioner to extend the curfew you so respect.

It is also OK for the real MEN to run around the bases and make outs to shorten the inning, but we can't go to the mound to supposedly extend the inning.

I have great respect for your team and many of the players on it but the tone and content of these comments is in poor form.

Jim McQuade
Cubs

Bats here..............get yer bats here!