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 |
Senators Down Grays in Rain-Shortened 6-Inning Game |
June 23, 2008 -- Washington, DC. There is no mercy rule in the Clark-Griffith League. So perhaps the heavens decided that they had had enough of last night's matchup between the Vienna Senators and the DC Grays, when rain mercifully intervened and ended an 18-1 Senators victory in the seventh inning.
Over the past week, the Senators have won games a variety of ways. Sometimes their pitching has carried their offense. Sometimes the offense has outslugged the other team and carried the pitching staff. Sometimes each does just enough to eke out a victory. Last night both Senators pitching and hitting synced up and produced the 18-1 shellacking of the Grays.
The game illustrated the wide gap between the haves and the have-nots in the Clark-Griffith League. The Senators, who have won a CGL record nine league championships, play at Waters Field, which features a field turf surface, scoreboard, and a public address system. The Grays play at Banneker Field, which lacks simpler amenities, such as roofs to their dugouts. So when the game was delayed by rain at the start, Grays players hustled to the equipment shed to stay dry.
The same sort of disparity was evident in the performances of the two teams. The Senators had their pitching, hitting, and defense completely in sync. As if it weren't a tall enough task to beat the Senators when they are on, the Grays pitchers and fielders committed a litany of errors. Grays fielders committed four errors; their pitchers issued ten walks, threw two wild pitches, and hit three Senators batters.
Senators pitching had Grays hitters looking confused at the plate. They scored one run in the first inning on a Mike Bokman sacrifice fly. However, the runner had reached on an error, and the Grays didn't record their first hit until the sixth inning. Senators starter Ian Kadish pitched five strong innings, yielding only one run, and striking out five.
Kadish was unaffected by a thirty minute rain delay between the third and fourth inning. Kadish even appeared stronger after the delay, retiring all six batters he faced.
Senators hitters, when they weren't being walked or hit by pitches, were focused at the plate. The Senators batted around three different times in the game, and amassed fifteen hits. Gunnar Terhune, David Harris, and Eric Walker all went deep for the Senators.
I was just trying to swing as hard as I could in case I hit it, said Terhune. I had swung and missed on a couple of fastballs, and I managed to connect with one.
With the game out of hand, the Senators made a lot of substitutions to get players in the game. Even still, out of the twelve players who entered the game, all but two had a hit. Mario Williams, while he didn't have an official hit, was on base three times due to walks and a hit by pitch. Alfred Rodriguez only got two at bats as a substitute, but he also drew a walk.
After both Grays starter Zach Biery and reliever Jim Holben were ineffective, the team brought on middle infielder Jeff Diamond to pitch in the sixth inning. Diamond, who was making his first appearance on the mound of the season, started the game as the team's designated hitter. The Senators immediately loaded the bases off of Diamond without even having to swing the bat. Diamond walked the first two batters, and then hit Nick Kuroczko. However, he was able to induce Mario Williams to ground to escape further damage.
With the game clearly out of hand, Senators Manager Chris Burr brought on Will Krasne to pitch the sixth. Krasne was a little bit wild, but was able to keep the Grays off of the scoreboard.
Diamond allowed four straight hits to start the seventh, including Walker's home run to right field. Fortunately for Diamond, the game was suspended in the seventh with David Harris batting with runners at first and second and no outs.
The only thing that went wrong for the Senators was that centerfielder Nick Boullosa strained hamstring sliding into second in the second inning. Boullosa expected to be back within a few days.
With such a runaway lead, it was remarkable that the Senators continued to play at such a high level throughout. If not for the rain, the team would have more than likely broken the 20 run mark.
I think games like this test your mental toughness, said Terhune. It's easy to get lazy when you're up by that much, but it really shows a team's character if you can keep playing well.
Andrew Struckmeyer
Vienna Senators