Team RAKE successfully defended its 2012 Labor Day Tournament Trophy by winning 5 straight games (4 on Sunday). Jimmy Konstantakis was the tournament MVP by picking up two saves and starting a rally in a big game against the Dodgers. Jimmy also filled in in the infield, outfield, on the bases and coaching. Dude was all over the place. A true team player. Thanks Jimmy!!!
Sunday was a looooooong day we played our first game at 10:45am and finished up the 4th game around 11:00pm.
Highlights and Notable Performances:
Bob Davis hit a grand slam in his first at bat in the first inning of the first game. Not a bad way to start your tournament. Bob continued to hit throughout the tournament. This boy can hit!
Against the Dodgers, Derek Engle was awesome in a relief appearance of Joe Burns in the 2nd inning of that game after Joe was hit in his throwing hand by a ball hit up the middle.
Ron Smaka did his usual thing he just hit line drives and drove in runs.
Pete Geannelis threw a nice game against Maine and had some big doubles over the course of the weekend.
Tim Brown and Mike Labanowski played stellar defense up the middle for Team RAKE. Mike had a nice weekend at the plate and on the bases.
Mash Gadomski threw a hell of a game against the Yankees until tiring in the 6th inning.
The Yankees did hit three consecutive homeruns in that game (they have a bunch of very large players on the squad with lots of power).
Eric Kohls had some timely hits, driving in runs at crucial times in games.
Joe Burns and Jim Hicks played excellent defense in the outfield and both had nice weekends at the plate.
Scott Bonanno also made some impressive defensive plays in the outfield and hit the ball well.
Jim Hicks had a great relief appearance (of Pete Geannelis) against Maine to seal that game.
The Maine guys are terrific group of guys (thanks for making the trip, fellas! Eddie Simmons - class act!
The Championship game against the Yankees, played under a time constraint at Cook park was a collective defensive gem for Team RAKE (Labanowski gunning down the last out of the game at home plate, Joe Burns cutting down Joe Cariccia at 2nd base on a ball in the leftfield gap, Tim Brown just doing magic at 2nd base and Chris Dunn throwing a complete game win). The Yankees were hammered with two key injuries that not only hurt but .hurt, leaving them with only seven able bodied players. I was conflicted when asked if I would supply a player to fill in to make 9 on defense. After conferring with a few seasoned RAKE players, we decided in a Championship game, we just couldnt do it. I did feel bad but didnt think it was fair to my 16 guys who were in the midst of their 4th game of the day. Don Wixon, watching the game from the stands was Okd to fill in for the Yankees. If it was a regular season game, I would have gladly filled the vacant spot but just couldnt do it in a tournament championship game. Ryan Johnson and Jim Becker were absolute gamers trying to hit with severely injured elbows. We all hope you guys are ok and dont need any significant repairs.
Hats off the Tom Smith who did a great job getting fields to play on after rain screwed up the works on Saturday. Tom was up late on Saturday making calls, securing dry(ish) fields and then administered the rest of the tournament via telephone on Sunday. Thanks Tom.
Another great weekend of fun and baseball. Its late and time to shut it down. Until next year!
Congrats to ALL the Team Rake guys as yep, thought we were poised to take it to you and win it ourselves, but not to be this year...
And a special congrats to Jimmy K on the MVP as sheesh, you're welcome again for that idiotic bunt Jimmy, maybe you should share the trophy w/me?!?!
Ha.
Plus no worries on the substitution thing, it's our own fault for being down players as a couple bailed during the process for various personal reasons...
And you're right, your guys came to win a Championship...
And they deserved it...
And earned it...
After missing my first tournament in many years, I was looking foward to "hearing" about the trials and recaps on the board. Sadly, because of the rain and changes of venues,the board was the last place to find anything out until the final recap by Stevie.
The only suspense in the last two days was whether or not Jim Porter sold his father's ride on lawn mower. How's that going Jim?
Congrats to all the players who competed and Rake for bringing it home.
First, hats off to LD Tournament Director Tom Smith for enduring the rainouts to reschedule games, find fields, communicate with umpires, managers, travel to each location to sell shirts, etc., and for tolerating differences of opinion during the title game - all in about a 12-hour span.
Now my recap:
Mike Labanowski played every inning of every game at shortstop - 35 innings, 28 of which were in one day. He committed just one error and that was in the last inning of the last game with Team Rake comfortably ahead. Plus, he hit the ball all weekend - with authority - and stole bases. In one particular at-bat, Labs singled sharply to right, stole 2nd, stole 3rd and scored on a wild pitch. He's the epitomy of staying in baseball shape.
Tim Brown was lights out at 2B as well. With Timmy and Labs, it was like watching an MLB infield at its best. Tim's outstretched, over-the-shoulder catch on a blooper that saved two runs and stifled a rally was a true web gem.
Ron Smaka's clutch hits all weekend. This dude is a pure hitter and can play anywhere in the field, well, um, except pitch.
Chris Dunn's tournament clinching effort on the bump was nothing short of outstanding. And talk about keeping a team upbeat!
Phil Gadomski's big-time, big-game effort on the bump the first time around against the power-hitting Yankees was epic. Plus a solid OFer, and hitter.
The defense and bats of Joe Burns, Eric Kohls and Bob Davis were inspiring. Burnsie in the leadoff spot not only got us to the title, but got us started in the championship game as Team Rake took a 3-0 lead after one inning. Bobby's slam in Game 1 was unconscienable. First inning of first game. Now THAT'S a kick-start!
What I love about this opportunity to play with the youngsters is that while I've never personally met Jay Day of the 35 Dodgers, to come in and save his win vs Saratoga was a privilege and honor - especially if this truly was his farewell appearance. He was my motivation. JDay pitched his guts out for 4 innings. Talk about inspiring! And what a class guy, too. Jay, hope you heal up and can come back like your old self some day. But even hamstrung by arm woes, you're still among the elite.
Same for Phil Gadomski, a.k.a. Mash, and Eric Kohls. Mash and I have opposed each other so many times, to save his game was just as rewarding. Scoring a few times on hits by Kohls, who I had never met before, was very cool.
Scott Bonanno does so much work for the league and is the 45 Commissioner. He deserved to win a title. He hit the cover off the ball and played a solid OF.
Carlos Llera had many clutch hits and is a great catcher/OFer as we all know. He had a great weekend as well. And a tip of the hat to his lovely wife Michele, who brought us goodies and let us borrow her husband for the weekend. Thanx Michele.
Derek Englen, who I hadn't played on the same team since 2000 with the 28+ Cardinals. A great relief effort as Stevie mentioned and a web gem of his own at 2B in spelling Mr. Brown.
Pete G. DUDE! What an infectious personality. And damn he hits baseballs hard. He and Smaka damage baseballs when they square up - which is often.
Jan Friedman: Caught a terrific game on Saturday to give our other catchers a break. And what a job he did! Solid hitter and a couple of key hits to keep rallies alive.
And Jim Hicks, WOW. What a fun guy to be around. A great all-around player who kept us lively, yeah, let's call it lively - all weekend long. The dude is a baseball player. Nothing he can't do and does it with fun and enthusiasm.
And we defended our title without perhaps the best overall player in all of CDMSBL - our leader Steve Lounello. To fathom the Giants finished 14-2 without him even being in the mix is astonishing. He's on the mend, so look out boyz! What's impressive, too, is that he is happy to manage the Giants and Team Rake despite all the work it takes to run a franchise. So upbeat and positive.
17 guys all pulling together and never worried about playing time. Steve left it up to us to sub in and it worked perfectly.
Thnx Steve for having me and for a most memorable weekend.
Scores: Team Rake 7, Saratoga Reds 3 Team Rake 7, Yankees 3 Team Rake 6, Dodgers 3 Team Rake 8, Maine Indians 3 Team Rake 7, Yankees 1 or 3 (can't remember)
jimk
-- Edited by sfgiants on Monday 2nd of September 2013 09:48:49 PM
-- Edited by sfgiants on Tuesday 3rd of September 2013 12:35:17 PM
