The Chemist Always Wins

Idiot Nation.

You all know what I'm talking about. 2004. The biggest come back ever. Kevin Millar's Jack Daniels shots. Pokey's flip. Mientkiewicz's own hidden ball trick. Johnny Damon's hair.

The players involved in the Red Sox' 2004 World Series victory had the most chemistry, camaraderie, togetherness, stick-to-it-iveness, goofiness and team-wide buffoonery that I have ever seen in my sports viewing lifetime. But you know what? It worked perfectly.

All those guys trusted each other and they would have gone to Hell and back for anyone, even for Curtis Leskanic. (Maybe they would have left Nomar there to rot, but you get the point.) These guys had the ultimate chemistry going.

I think the Sox were down 15 games-to-one in a best-of-31 series, Millar still would have said "give us game 17, then we go home for eight more, then we win all those, get to game 31 eventually, and you never know what'll happen... Don't give us the chance..."

Millar was a whack job then, and he still is now, but that's almost what a team needs. We'll call him a "loosener-upper." His job is to, when shit gets tight around the clubhouse, give himself a wedgie, make a joke about the second baseman's facial hair, make everyone laugh and that reminds them just to play baseball.

We have one on the McKay Club, and his name is Brad Gerbus. He's our Kevin Millar. We could be getting no-hit and losing by 10 runs, but he'd be out there, laughing it up, making some insane out-of-deep-left-field comment that had absolutely nothing to do with baseball and talking about some sexual experience from a few years ago that he can't fully remember. The guys is a goof. But aside from that, he's a very good baseball player and he keeps us loose and he contributes to that chemistry that can never be fully explained.

I mean, how do you think the Colorado Rockies made it to the World Series in 2007? Sure, they got hot, but they were able to run it off because their team was so closely knit. They all trusted each other, picked each other up, everyone had confidence through the roof and there were no cancerous players in the club house.


The Yawkey League is no different. In order to win, you need (talent, obviously. and) that close knit group of guys that has been jelling for either four months or four years, doesn't matter to me. If there is trust, mutual respect, an even level of confidence throughout the whole team and an eagerness to win, success will follow close behind.

I just have a quick story before I get to the Pitcher and Hitter of the Week awards. (if you're reading this, thank you for not scrolling down to the awards section.)


I was talking to a former member of the McKay Club today. He plays for the Malden Bulldogs and wears number 4. Well, he does now. At the beginning of the season, catcher Joey Eugenio had the number and actually sacrificed it to him (for a bag of chew in return) since he had been in the league a lot longer. It was a show of class, a show of reverence and respect and it no doubt helped the chemistry on the team.

When it came to pitcher and catcher of the week, it just happened that the two guys that won are good chemistry guys, guys who sacrifice, and who understand what it means to win and lose as a team.

I could use a lot of superlatives and adjectives to describe the way Adam Del Rio pitches. Nasty is a good one. Del Rio, after having surgery on his knee last season to repair a torn ACL, has come back this year and shown the league what he is made of. It's not quite plutonium, but something very hostile and deadly.

"Donkey" Del Rio, as his coach and players like to call him (because he just acts like a donkey, apparently) is the first YBL pitcher to make two appearances on the bump in one week and win the POW award.

Del Rio made two starts last week -- against the Brighton Braves and Medford Mad Dogs -- and dazzled in both. Last Tuesday the 17th, The Donkey muled his way to five innings of one-hit ball against the Braves. No hits through four, then a "blooper" to start the fifth. He didn't walk a batter and he struck out 10 Braves. He got the win, as the Bulldogs plated five and held Brighton scoreless the rest of the way.

Later in the week, on three days of rest, Del Rio took the mound against the Medford Mad Dogs and led his breed past Medford's in a decisive 14-1 drubbing. The Donkey once again went five innings, giving up four hits, one unearned run, and one walk. He didn't record a strikeout, but when your team plates three runs in the first inning and 13 after three, the idea is to let the other team hit the ball, so he did just that.

Total for the week: 10 IP, 10 K, 1 BB, 5 H (four singles) and two wins.

Del Rio moves to 4-0 in four starts this season, accruing 23 K's in 22 innings, while walking only four batters and having a 0.63 ERA. Goodness gracious, those are gaudy numbers.

While on the topic of things of a gaudy nature, Tony Iafolla is doing his best to tear the cover off the baseball right now. In medias res an 11-game hit-streak, the Brighton Brewers catcher and team stalwart has been swinging his best bat in the last week.

The Yawkey League All-Star played in four games last week (the Brew Crew won three of them) and put together a line usually only seen in MLB 2K8: 7-for-15 (.466 ba), 9 rs, 7 RBIs, 4 bb, 2 2b, 1 3b, 1 hr and a slugging percentage of .883. Now that's carrying your team to victory, if I've ever seen it.

The 11-game hit-streak is just as impressive as the last week of games for this Brighton beast. The Brewers clean-up hitter has flaunted a .463 (19-for-41) batting average during the streak and has racked up five doubles, 12 RBIs and 16 runs scored. Want another impressive number? Only six times has Iafolla struck out during the streak, and never more than once in one game.

Now only if one of these teams could knock off Somerville....

Crooked Voters! Bah!

I thought popularity contests ended in high school.

But they didn't. I've learned this as I've matured; that life is full of popularity contests and a great example of this is voting for any All-Star team. In particular, for Major League Baseball's All-Star teams.

Just because Japan's population is roughly 137 million (holy crap sprawl!), that doesn't give them the right to overload MLB.com with internet votes for Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka (even though I'm a Red Sox fan).
There have been two or three years when Ichiro deserved to be All-Star bound, and he was. But there have also been two years that his numbers weren't All-Star caliber, but he started because of the Japanese population's absurdly frequent voting online.

The Japanese aren't getting singled out. There are plenty of other players who are/were voted into All-Star games when they did not deserve to be. Manny Ramirez in 2007 is a great example. Pre-All-Star break, Manny was hitting under .300 with 11 dingers and 45 batted in. Not All-Star numbers by any means, but with his reputation, there he was, on the team for his 11th go-around.

Pudge Rodriguez is the classic example. At the break last season, the Indians' Victor Martinez had more hits, home runs and runs batted in than Pudge (not to mention he smoked the Tiger in batting average too), but the well-known, perennial All-Star catcher got the knod and Martinez was on the All-Star bench.

It should have been the other way around, but the "fans" that vote for All-Star teams are just that: Fans. And fans of their own teams first.

I'm a Red Sox fan through and through, but Manny wasn't on my ballot in 2007, and for good reason. There were other, more deserving candidates who would cherish the opportunity 1,000 times more than Manny. And I love Manny as a player, but to be frank, it doesn't seem like he cares much about the "All-Star festivities" when that time of year comes around.

Yawkey League All-Star voting might not be on as grand a scale as MLB's, but it would be an honor to see some of the guys I have mentioned the past few weeks get some consideration at their respective positions.

One week's worth of stats shouldn't make an All-Star, but neither should a name.



Hitter and Pitcher of the Week for the week of 6/09 - 6/15

This is a big deal for us, here at Yawkey League News and Action. By us, I mean me, and by big deal, i mean that this week marks the first week there will be co-players of the week in a category. And the two players could not be more different, in terms of league longevity, overall speed and savvy.

Al Becker of the East Boston Blue Fish and Drew Tambling of the McKay Club Beacons have each won half of a Yawkey League News and Action trophy made out of fusilli pasta and pine tar.

Congratulations to both of you.

Both Becker and Tambling had monster weeks for their respective clubs, as each hit .500 or better in their three games. Becker, an elder statesman of the YBL had himself a week for the books.

In three games (all wins, including one over The Somerville Juggernaut) last week, Becker was 6-for-11 (.545 ba) with a double, a triple, a grand slam, five driven in and four scored. He neither struck out nor walked during that span.

Becker, in his last three full seasons with the Bluefish, hit .328 combined; but this season he's at .436 through 11 games and on pace to garner a (wink, wink) spot on the Yawkey League All-Star team.

Tambling, a young first-year player in the Yawkey League got his first taste of success last week by batting .500 (4-for-8) over three games (all wins for the Beacons). Known for his speed and agility, and not home run power, young Andrew drove a ball into the right field lettuce at Brighton's Rogers Park for his first YBL long shot. His line for the week was two home runs (the other was inside-the-park), five RBIs, four runs scored, two steals and one walk.

Playing for UMass Boston this past season, Tambling hit over .300 and stole 10 bags for the Beacons. His background story is an interesting one, and his excursion to the Gay Pride Parade is even more interesting.

The first place Malden Bulldogs now have another accolade to add to their Wall of Fame: A Pitcher of the Week award!

Young Evan Tardungo dealt strikeout hands to the Brighton Black Sox all game last Wednesday, June 11 en route to a complete game four-hitter. The former UMass Boston and Fisher College pitcher allowed only four hits and four walks, while striking out 11 in his second win of the season.

Tardungo is a horse on the mound. In his last three years of collegiate level pitching, the righty has 13 complete games under his belt to go along with 14 wins.

In seven career Yawkey League games and 31 innings pitched, Tardungo has an itty bitty 0.54 ERA to go along with 46 fanned.

This just in: The Malden Bulldogs have a lights out pitching staff.

Ooohhhh-Keeeeeeeeeeeefe

Nick O'Keefe returned to action for the first time in over two weeks, and everything went well. Well, maybe not if you ask him.

Nick, being the young, over-zealous whacked-out left-handed pitcher that he is, wanted to continue pitching but after four innings of two-hit, four strikeout baseball and the Beacons having a sizable cushion in the run column, the youngster's evening was through.



O'Keefe then pined to get an at-bat, and after that proceeded to bother a teammate for sunflower seeds. What dude, you can't bring your own or something?

Well, O'Keefe is back, and ready to be the Beacons' token lefty. Way to be, youngster...

Oh, Those Savvy Vets

The old adage in Major League Baseball used to be that experience and service time were more valuable to a team than youth, potential and the exuberance that young (early 20s) players brought to their teams.

That may have been true at one point, even as recently as three or four years ago. But once drug testing became prevalent, MLB cracked down on the use of amphetamines by players and the Mitchell Report was released, a lot of things have changed in the game.

No longer are veteran players who may be on the down slope of their careers valued higher than young, healthy, prospects who can contribute at the Major League level. At the beginning of the season, the two may seem even, and maybe the veteran player would get the edge, because of his experience.

But wait until the dog days of summer, day games after night games and those grueling August and September tilts that either put veterans into slumps they can't ever seem to get out or land them on the DL.




Johnny Damon is the perfect example.

A guy with 14 years of Major League experience that can do many things for a ball club. But is contributing everyday at 100 percent in August and September one of them? Don;t think so.

On the other hand, someone like Jacoby Ellsbury is the exact opposite of a player like Damon. Ellsbury may not have the "seasoning" or the "experience" that Damon has, but managers, owners and fans can probably rest assured that 120+ games into the season, a 24-year-old Ellsbury will be in a much better position than Damon to run out an infield single, track a gap shot in the late-innings or steal a base when the team needs a runner in scoring position.

Damon, now a 34-year-old left fielder, will most likely be battling a calf pull, knee sprain, back spasm, sore elbow or a case of dyslexia at that point and won't be able to perform like Ellsbury would without the assistance of amphetamines or some other performance-enhancer.

The days of veterans in the latter halves of their careers being more valuable than rookies and young guys who may make a "rookie mistake" sometimes is over. Guys like Ellsbury, outfielder Jay Bruce and first baseman Joey Votto of the Reds and third baseman Evan Longoria of the Rays will replace the Damons, Scott Rolens, Juan Pierres and Adam Dunns of the world.

In this day and age, youth equals extended health and sustained energy. And without amphetamines and other "useful" substances, the old guys just won't be able to keep up in the latter third of the season.

Apparently this theory doesn't apply to the Yawkey League though, as the weekly awards are being dished out behind-the-back style to two Yawkey League pillars of longevity.



The slate of games for this past week was a small one because Mother Nature felt the need to soak New England in the middle of baseball season. What a crude bitch. To make matters worse, she then hit us with July's weather in the first week of June, officially confusing the hell out of everyone.

With Wednesday being a wash and only three games total between Thursday and Saturday, the sample size for the YBL's Pitcher and Hitter of the Week was reduced.

There were still some impressive numbers out there though, as the Brighton Brewers, Somerville Alibrandis and McKay Club Beacons all put up at least a dirty dozen in their Monday games.

The offensive Man of the Hour is someone who you could say earned himself a Kobe Byrant-like life-time achievement award this past week for his performance against the Brookline Dodgers. Ted Tracy, a 12-year Yawkey League veteran, hit his first ever YBL home run to propel his Brighton Braves to a 7-3 win last Tuesday.

Tracy finished the game 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBIs when his three-run shot cleared the fence in the fourth inning.

What a relief, huh Ted?

What took you so damn long?

Tracy, in 11 games so far this season, is hitting a rather robust .424 (14-33) with six extra-base hits and his OBP is a Barry Bonds-esque .545. His 14 hits are third behind Dave Scioli of Somerville and teammate Jeff Cashman, who both have 16.



Another Yawkey League veteran earned himself honors this past week for his performance against the Brighton Black Sox. Steve Szathmary of the juggernaut Alibrandis did his best Bob Gibson impression as he baffled the Black Sox for six innings last Monday, fanning 11, walking two while giving up five hits (all singles) in six innings.



The Alibrandis, who have won 812 of the last 815 Yawkey League Championships (or something like that), won the game 5-0. The win ran Szathmary's record to 2-1 on the season and he has 25 punchados (seventh in the league) in 23 innings.

Boy am I Lazy

Life is busy. We all work for a living, or at least for the summer, those of us in college. Mix work with playing baseball, enjoying life and acting like a college student, and you've got yourself a schedule busier than Bono's.

The point here is that I haven't been holding up my end of the bargain. How are you supposed to enjoy and laugh at my writing when it's not there? My point exactly.






Now that everything is relatively calm, I can dedicate some time to musing about the Yawkey League, our heart and soul (and cause of cerebral hemorrhaging sometimes, too). I mean, we're almost a month into the season and I have made an effort similar to that of Mark Blount after he signed his 6 year, $38.5 million contract a few years back. Kind of hard to do.

What's going to happen is that each week a Committee of One (me) will determine a hitter and pitcher of the week. These are stat-driven and win-related awards so don't expect one if you go 4.1 innings on a gimpy calf or you hit a home run with a sprained left pinky finger. And of course, if you help propel your team to victory, that's a plus.

Winning is the point, after all.

Awards for the week of May 26 - June 1.

The Yawkey League is now officially hot. As the temps creep, so do pitcher's ERAs. And that means offensive production. Seven different games this past week saw one team put up a baker's dozen or more, so that means lots of RBIs and extra-base hits for those of you holding the sticks.

It was a tightly contested race for Hitter of the Week this week, as multiple guys helped mash their respective teams to victory. But when it came down to it, I had to go with a certain high-number wearing New Hampshire-native from Dorchester's own McKay Club Beacons.

From one Beacons uniform (UMass Boston's) to another, Connor Reinfurt has been hitting the ball extremely hard since he came into the Yawkey League two weeks ago. The first baseman/DH had himself a week for the ages.

The majority of the damage off of Renifurt's absurdly large bat came against West Roxbury on May 28, when he launched a grand slam at Ronan Park that cleared the left-centerfield fence by a considerable margin to break open the game.

Renifurt finished the game with two singles, a double, the grand slam and five RBIs. He himself crossed the plate twice too. Number 99 finished the week going 7-for-11 in three games with three runs scored, three extra-base hits and 9 RBIs.

While at UMass Boston this past spring, the 6' 2" 215 pound Reinfurt hit only .206 in 30 games, but led his team with five home runs while driving in 15 runs.







Four starting pitchers eclipsed the 10 strikeout plateau this past week, but only one pitcher K'ed 12 hitters en route to a complete game shutout for his team.

Greg Potts, a rookie in the YBL and a freshman at Bridgewater State, went the distance for the Al Thomas Athletics against the Chelsea Cyclones. The win, his first ever as a Yawkey Leaguer, came at a perfect time, as the Athletics' offense (.247 BA) hasn't been able to pick up much of the slack.

Potts gave up hits over the seven innings, walked two and blew away 12 Cyclones to dominate in his team's 4-0 victory.

The start was important in the big picture too, because Al Thomas had allowed 30 runs the previous two games and the complete game (I'm guessing) gave the A's staff much needed rest.

Potts, a Milton resident, made eight starts for Bridgewater State this past spring, posting a 4-2 record and a 4.85 ERA.

Apparently, he also loves to smile




If you disagree with my assessments of players or teams, feel free to rant and rave below.