Quick Thursday Post

Thursday is a big day at camp -- this is where the teams jockey for position as they are getting ready for the first round of the playoffs on Friday.   So many teams with 2 wins and 3 losses made this day especially important if teams wanted to get into the top four bracket for Friday's semifinals.

We played the Bombers this morning -- both teams were 2-3 so this was a big swing game.  The morning game worked out pretty good for  us -- I started on the mound and pitched well, I don't have my official stats but I went 5 2/3 innings, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB's, 5 K's -- I labored a bit in the fourth inning but escaped by only giving up one run.  I gave way to Curt Sampson who came in relief.   Curt is 79 years old and has been to camp (I think) 22 times over the years.  Curt is an amazing man and friend.  The original plan was for him to pitch one out -- but it turned into pitching the rest of the game -- 1 1/3 innings.  What a joy it was to see him out on the bump.  Our bats finally came alive in this one as we cruised to a 8-2 victory. I had 2 hits (including a double) and 2 runs to help my cause and secure the game 6 victory.  We did our part and won game 6, so a win in the afternoon would secure a spot in the top 4 teams.

The afternoon game started off great -- we lit up the other team for 4 runs through 2 innings.  We could have scored a lot more runs but left many runners on the bases.  We felt OK thought and had Ralph on the mound pitching well -- they scored 2 runs off of him in the 3rd inning but into the bottom of the 5th we had a 4-2 lead.  The Battery Mates woke up their bats and knocked it around good and after the dust settled they had put up 6 runs for a 8-4 lead.  Our bats went quiet -- I think we ended up running out of a gas and the game ended with a 8-4.   The Battery Mates ended up with a 4-3 record and pushed us to a 3-4 record.  We are still holding out hope we have secured a 4 seed based on runs against (the first tiebreaker).

Tomorrow we play just one game (in the morning) and it is the semifinal round of the playoffs -- the 1 seed plays the 4 seed and the 2 vs 3 -- in the upper bracket -- then the 5 vs 8 and the 6 vs 7 in the lower bracket.

Here are my unofficial playoff seedings:

1)  Stay Thirsty My Friends
2)  Panama Stingers
3)  Battery Mates
4)  Canterbury Clan

5)  DreamWeavers
6)  The Warriors
7)  Hrbekskis
8)  Burnsville Bombers

The only seed I am not positive is the 4/5 seeding -- we will wait for the official results by the camp director Stan Dickman -- I am thinking he may update the Minnesota Twins Fantasy Camp Facebook page with the official results.

I will put up a couple pictures but I am going to put up one of them --

Papa Smurf, 73 & Paul Bennett

This is one of my favorite teammates at the camp -- Lloyd "Papa Smurf" -- he will be 73 next month -- he plays catcher and has been fun to throw to during my time on the mound.   One of the many fun stories of the camp!!

Thanks Papa Smurf for all the fun and laughs.....

PB

~~ "Baseball statistics are like a girl in a bikini.  They show a lot, but not everything." - Toby Harrah ~~