Rounders

With four games left in my team's softball season, the Rounders are an inexplicable 10-10, by far our best record this late in the season in the decade or so since the team was originally formed by Rudnick and me and some guys from our office who had never held a softball mitt in their lives.  The team has obviously dramatically improved from the days when we had a soccer player roaming the outfield because at least he had the speed to chase down the long smashes and hold home runs to triples, but we do have basically the same exact team that we've had for the last several years and yet we're finally competing on a level basis with almost all our opponents.  Is it truly the "new" Rounders as our erstwhile manager likes to claim?  Or is it just a weaker league/easier schedule than we've faced in years past?  Let's go to the videotape...

The lineup this year is largely the same as last year's, when we won about 5 or 6 games on the whole season.  I think I've played more regularly than in any year in recent memory (despite coming off ACL reconstruction surgery), but that couldn't have helped, and we lost our catcher combo from last year's squad, but other than that, it's the same players.  Brunner and Cheese have been hitting well in the middle of the order, but they did so last year, and I don't see any huge improvements in our lineup otherwise.  We do seem to have strung together several two-out rallies and have won a number of close games, so perhaps -- even though it's not a major league skill -- we have been more "clutch" than in years past.  Certainly our manager was about as clutch as he's ever been when he hit a grand slam in the 7th of a tie game on Monday, but perhaps the steroids are just finally kicking in.  Either that, or he wisely gave up on his strategy to emulate his hero Derek Jeter in everything he does, including aiming for right field with every at bat.

So we might be getting some more clutch hitting, possibly, but overall the lineup's the same.  How has the defense been?  I think this has probably been an area of bigger improvement.  Admittedly, we've had a couple games where the defense has looked like its shabby old Rounders self (and we got killed in those games), but for the most part our defense has been solid, and dare I say, even strong.  I will agree with Jan that moving Lenny to first has been a big help.  Not that Shawn didn't do a good job there, but he wasn't as -- let's just say "attentive" -- as maybe you'd like your first baseman to be, especially in the area of cut-off throws and backing up the catcher and covering the base at all times.  As a result, we haven't had nearly as many "ball rattling around the backstop while the runners circle the bases" incidents this year as in years' past.  In fact, I think handling the "don't let runners take extra bases" part of the game has been one of our biggest improvements this year.  Plus, Lenny's presence at first -- and Jan's confidence with him -- has had a HUGE impact on our shortstop's play this year.  We all like to make fun of Jan's defense, and admittedly, he really should have stopped playing short years ago (we just had no one to replace him), but this season, especially in recent weeks, he's been excellent.  This week he even made the double play pirouette that he's tried many times and never, ever, ever come close to achieving before.  So if Lenny at first has helped Jan play better (especially in the "throwing to first" part of his game), then it's been a big move.  We have had trouble filling in the third base spot with Cheese missing several games (and sick this week), so that is a concern.  But the infield D has been much improved with basically the same players, just rearranged a little.

Freeing Shawn from first base has also been a boon to our OF defense.  We threw Shawn out there last year on an emergency basis (and had some players not nearly as good on an emergency basis as well), but this year, he's turned into a very strong outfielder, who we can safely put in RC and expect him to make all the plays.  He's also probably our second or third fastest player (which is saying something), so having him in the OF makes a lot of sense.  Plus, he likes crashing into the fence every once in a while, so as long as he doesn't get hurt, that helps.  And with Shawn and/or Brunner in RC, we've had our most consistently strong OF in... well, probably ever.  Rich makes at least one diving catch in LF a game.  Bones is solid in LC.  And RF rarely gets any balls, but whoever has been playing out there has done a fine job.  All around, the OF defense has turned from a liability in years past to a team strength. 

The pitching performance has also been strong this year, but I'm not sure it's any stronger/different than in years past.  Tice has pitched in more games probably, and I think the idea of switching pitchers between games is a good one since hitters can get in a groove against a pitcher (most of our opposition seems to be doing the same thing).  But Matt and Tice were our pitchers last year, so that's a bit tougher to evaluate.  Pitching and defense are obviously inextricably linked in either case.  And our run prevention overall seems to have improved, although I'd have to check the stats to find out for sure.

But is that why we're 10-10?  Or is there a larger, more obvious reason?  (insert Switsky joke here, Lenny).  For reasons I don't remember (I think maybe I had class), team manager Jan went to the pre-season league meeting instead of me last year.  According to Switsky (and I 100% believe him), Jan waited until the end of the meeting when everyone wanted to leave and go home, and accosted the head of the league with a request for 38 or so dates that the Rounders couldn't play on, which were almost all related to his own personal conflicts, Jewish holidays, or days in which he planned to worship Jeter in the privacy of his home.  The head of the league can't stand Jan, by the way, because he once made a minor umpiring mistake in our game two years ago and admitted fault, and Jan has reminded him of that every time he's seen him since.  Way to get on the head of the league's good side, coach.  So anyway, when the league schedule came out, the Rounders (one of the worst teams in the league the year before) were scheduled consistently against the toughest teams, including all four teams in the "B" (upper) division.  We went on to win 5 or 6 games, but on the bright side, due to the scheduling prowess of the Manalapan rec league, Jan didn't have to miss a single game (god forbid).  This year, I went to the meeting, alone, and ignored Jan's pre-meeting request of 38 dates he couldn't make (he doesn't know that I never gave it to Simon, so I hope he doesn't read this!)  As a result, we suddenly ended up with a schedule facing all the lower quality teams in our league (like ourselves).  And now we're 10-10.  We could have Ozzie Smith playing short and Torii Hunter in our OF and we still wouldn't be 10-10 with last year's schedule.  So is it the "new" Rounders?  Or the same old Rounders with an easy schedule?  Well, no one can say for sure, but perhaps the playoffs will tell.  We did win our first playoff series in the history of the Rounders when we beat the Young Guns in a best of three in the fall league two years ago in 40 degree temperatures.  We'll see if we can beat a similarly skilled team in the playoffs at the end of this month.  If not, same old Rounders.  If so, same old Rounders with a playoff victory!  Which is definitely worth something.  I guess.  I'll just be happy to rest my knee when the season is mercifully over.

Comments

[LegFuJohnson]

What is this crap? There is a bike race going on!

[switsky]

Trust me when I say this. I was there when Jan gave Simon the dates he couldnt make. If you saw the look on his face after the first 15/16 dates came out and he was still going strong you would know for sure he screwed us last year. Of course the look of amusment on his face when he saw the 38 dates were written on a 1 inch by 1 ince piece of paper was priceless.

[Bill]

Gotta love Simon.

[Ira]

How many times has Jan pulled the outfielders in while a batter from the other team was stepping into the box?

[Bill]

Only every single game, at least 6 times an inning. We've probably been burned about 20% of the time. If he didn't speak at all during a game, it's probably worth an extra 2 or 3 wins for our team.

[Jan Aronson]

We almost certainly would have 2 more wins if the author of this story did his job and confirmed with the people he was responsible for that they would be showing up...needless to say we were forced to play with 9 fielders one week and ended up losing both games because of only having three outfielders.......

[Ira]

I would have played. Why didn't you call me?