Finishing up a stretch of 5 games in 9 days, the SweatSox celebrated the mid-point of the 2016 season with a matchup against the well-rested Bytown Battalion, who hadn’t played a game since June 2nd, last night at the Sportsplex.
Gameday!!! The Battalion take on the Sweat Sox at 6:15 at the Splex. #NCBL #HoboBeer
— Bytown Battalion (@BytownBattalion) June 14, 2016
The SweatSox opened the scoring in the top of the 1st after a two out walk (Mark Bond) and HBP (Marc Lett) led the way for a Cory Bond RBI single. It was the 5th time in 12 games the SweatSox have scored the 1st run, but spoiler alert: we’d blow this lead just like the others. The Battalion would go on to score 4 in the 1st, 2 in the 2nd, and 5 in the 3rd to take a mercy worthy 11-1 lead.
After a scoreless 4th inning, the Bytown Battalion figured they weren’t ready to call it a day, and brought in their HBP specialist to help us plate a few runs in the 5th to extend the game at least another inning. HBP’s to Craig Cornell, Armando Navarro, Marc Lett, and Kent Johnston, combined with hits from Cory and Mark Bond, got the SweatSox 3 additional runs and a bonus 6th inning of play!
The SweatSox scored two more in the 6th, while John Groves pitched 3 innings of shutout ball to make the final score look much cleaner than it would’ve, could’ve, and should’ve been. SweatSox lose 11-6, and enter the midseason break 0-12.
FINAL: Battalion 11. SweatSox 6.
WP- Crabb
LP- Klein*SweatSox score 3 in the 5th to avoid the 11-1 mercy! #smallvictories#L12
— SweatSox (@SweatSox) June 15, 2016
After tying our season high with 6 offensive runs scored, the SweatSox are now at a personal high of 2.4 runs per game, and have dropped from 4th to 9th in the projected all-time worst plus/minus season rankings.
During the Après Baseball Hyjinx, Armando Navarro spotted something strange moving across the sky. We weren’t sure whether to turn around and look, after all Army was convinced there was a snake on his shoulder a few minutes earlier. It looked like the object could’ve been a drone or bird that was caught on fire, or perhaps even a firework or flare, but most were convinced it was simply a meteor. All those guesses were incorrect, it was actually just Alex Baldock’s HR from the 1st inning finally burning up in the atmosphere.
The SweatSox have now given up 6 HR’s to opposing teams this year, so we decided to rank them in terms of total distance travelled along the parabola.
Final SweatSox vs Bytown Battalion II Notes/Thoughts:
- Kent Johnston is curious.
- Craig Cornell played in dress socks.
- Jason Klein ate a bunch of pregame chicken.
- Chris Armstrong has been kicked out of at least 1 Blue Jays game this year.
- The Battalion looked younger, better, and in better shape.
- Mindy was not invited to the game.
- I, Shaun Keay, have never seen so many guys looking for a Band-Aid before.
- Craig Cornell took it in the ass.
- The only double I’m going to get from now will be via ground rule.
- Cory Bond may be awarded an honorary OM title after leaving the game with multiple injuries.
- I found out Dustin Paquette, Angus MacDonald, and Jason Fink are all big fans of the site.
- Battalion manager Ben Milinkovich finally got himself into the game in the 6th.
- Cory Bond is the first player to have multi multi-hit games for the same team in all 4 tiers.
- Kent Johnston is the first player to steal a base for the same team in all 4 tiers.
- “What are they going to do, arrest us all?”
- Marc Charbonneau was kind enough to ask if we won or not.
- Craig Cornell is going on a Boston trip without us. This is probably payback for Kent, John, and I not inviting him to golf with us this past weekend.
- The SweatSox have the worst base running, defense, pitching, and hitting in the Tier.
- We still crush Tier 2 pitching though.
- There will be steaks at the SPP.
- There is now a “no puking” policy at the SPP.
- “Fuck the bottom bun”.
- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is like Blue Mountain State for grown ups.
- I had my ponytail until at least the summer of 2003.
- Chris Lidstone lost his bank card.
- Mark Bond had a Beeramid (or is it Byramid?) fail.
- The closest thing to a sandwich that Cory Bond has ever eaten is an open-faced bacon grilled cheese. Other foods in the sandwich extended family that GLE has never eaten:
- Egg Salad.
- Ham and Cheese.
- Bologna.
- Pastrami on Rye.
- Tuna Salad.
- Club.
- Tuna Melt.
- Shawarma.
- Peanut Butter and Jelly.
- Meatball Sub.
- Chicken Salad.
- B.L.T.
- Ham.
- Pulled Pork.
- Grilled Cheese.
- Chicken Parm.
- Reuben.
- Cheesesteak.
…and don’t even think of asking him whether or not he’s ever had a slice of pie.
Next up for the SweatSox (0-12) is a matchup with the Capital City Cubs (7-2) Friday night right here in Kanata. Somebody who throws slow is scheduled to start.
Missed any game recaps from the first half of the season? Catch up here:
Haven’t seen the updated SweatSox stats? Check out the new stats page, updated minutes after each game, by clicking here.
The Battalion took a few pictures during the game last night, find them here:
See you Friday.