After a summer season of games in various men's baseball leagues, the Long Island Athletics journey to Arizona in their quest for a Men's Senior Baseball league (MSBL)Championship.
The Long Island Athletics comprised of players from Connecticut ( Charlie Zunda, Jeff Carroll ,Steve "Doc" Parsons and your faithful correspondent ), Long Island as well as four players from Texas will open the 2010 Arizona MSBL World Series tournament on Monday November 1st at Peoria, Arizona. Peoria is winter home of the San Diego Padres. The complex is beautiful and while you ponder why San Diego would need a "winter home" you can at least feel comforted that they should be in good stead there.
The MSBL World Series in Arizona represents the peak of the season for men's senior baseball. There are various MSBL championships by age groups: 18+, 25+ ,35+,45+,55+,60+ and last but not to be slighted 70+. All together there are about 400 teams that travel to Arizona to compete over the three weeks of tournament action.
In our bracket there are 17 teams in two divisions competing for the championship. We have a 6 game "season" over 4 days which winnows the field to 8 teams who earn the right to play in the playoffs by virtue of their "regular season" performance in the 6 games. This year I think it will take a record of 4-2 to make the playoffs. In the past three trips our teams have made the playoffs but lost to the eventual winner.
Last year we lost to a better team and we were very disappointed.But there is no crying in baseball as Tom Hanks points out to his team ( see it here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWoD2sQ9LiU).
We believe we are taking a stronger team this year and hope the added depth and skills will help us get us closer to the goal of the championship.
Here is a peek at our schedule ( to be able to help set your TV to tape the games)
Regular Season
Mon Nov 1 Game 1 Snowbirds
Mon Nov 1 Game 2 Dodgertown West ( I will start this game on the mound)
Tues Nov 2 Game 3 Taos Solar Sox
Wed Nov 3 Game 4 Arizona Diamondbacks
Wed Nov 3 Game 5 Canadian Playboys
Thus Nov 4 Game 6 Texas Blue Jays
Playoffs
Fri Nov 5 Playoffs (quarter-finals and semi-finals)
Sat Nov 6 Championship Game
Last year, the Dodgertown West team made it to the finals with a 7-1 record only to lose to National Pastime,a team from Chicago. National pastime had beaten your LI A's in the first round of the playoffs. On past performance , the Dodgertown team looks to be among the team to beat in our division of 9 teams. The other division in our bracket has 8 teams and as noted earlier the top 8 from the 17 teams will make the playoffs. We have played the Snowbirds and Taos Solar Sox a few years back when we were competing with the Rhode Island Mavericks and do not expect them to be contending for the championship. The other three teams we are scheduled to play are unknowns for us and we shall just have to wait and see what they have. We are hoping we can handle them and not end up singing with Lady Gaga about being caught in a "Bad Romance".
As we approach game one of the tournament I thought it advisable to consider our strategies and have consulted Sun Tzu in "The Art of War". Sun Tzu advocated "kill one, frighten ten thousand." However, I suspect having a sniper take out the leadoff hitter might be a tad too extreme -even for the World Series. Then again, a sniper might serve to give the #2 hitter some hesitation when stepping in the box to hit.
I think lead-off hitters as well as the rest of us can be thankful Sun Zhu left baseball for something less rigorous like military strategy. We have modified Sun's strategy to "throw strike 1" and "get the lead-off hitter out". And we shall concentrate on executing that plan throughout.
Before the tournament begins optimism reigns as we all the teams come in with high expectations and a sense this is "our year". But baseball is a reality based activity and we will soon find if we are able to make the plays and score some runs. The challenge is very exciting to each of us and I hope we come together as a team. Baseball does not build character as much as it reveals it.
We will have ample opportunity to see what our character is as a team.
But additionally the trip offers the opportunity for a lot of fun. Baseball has it own pace and diverse personalities which opens the window for auxilary entertainment.
A couple years back while playing those Taos Solar Sox I strode to the plate and noticed the catcher was not wearing a chest protector. I mentioned to this the catcher as in :
Dave: "Say... you know you are not wearing a chest protector?"
Catcher : "Yeah... I'm from Nebraska!"
As if that fact alone served to be ample explanation. Of course, the rest of the week anything out of the ordinary was was said to be "because I'm from Nebraska!
Dave: "so Jeff... not having dessert tonight?"
Jeff: "No... I'm from Nebraska!"
( well, it was much funnier out there )
Your faithful correspondent will be on hand to provide a full report for this tourney and hope you enjoy tagging along for the adventure.
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