Monday, July 13, 2009

Small Ball Derby

Tonight is the MLB Home Run Derby and all the Big Boys will be out to mash
Ryan Howard will be out to win another HR Chip
Josh Hamilton will be out to prove last year's show was no fluke
The Machine Pujols will destroy baseball's first and ask questions later
Often the long ball gets all the attention. Heck didn't MLB once have an ad that "Chicks dig the long ball" ???? Go ask the lovely baseball enthusiast Actress Alyssa Milano

if she feels that way.
Anyway, in Softball I've seen a couple of HR derby's and I'm sure the Ricky Nen's, Anthony, Wayne's, Jaime's, and Castillos of the SB world would put on a good show.
But what about the guys that do the little things? Don't the get there own derby?


That's what the insider is for ....

Top Ten Small Ball Derby Categories and Winners

10. Breaking up double plays - Winner Me!!!! Yeah I might take forever to get there but I take pride trying to cleanly break up double plays. Slide straight. Slide Hard. But most importantly you have to slide. Far too often many players just don't slide

9. Hitting to RF to advance runners - Winner Gil Gonzalez - Gil is a top notch SB hitter but he will move runners over in key situations. In fact Gil swears by it's importance.As Gil would say ¿Es fácil, poner panti's a una culebra? - translation is it easy to put panty's on a snake??? - funny but it means it ain't easy and requires skill

8. Cutting Balls off in the OF- Mickey Peckins gets to balls and fires them in before runners can advance. This saves runs and keeps the double play in order.

7. Taking the Extra Base - Hector Hernandez - yes Hector is fast but his instincts are uncanny. Bloopers are double, goes from first to third on hits, excellent base runner

6. Hitting the Cut-off Man - Eric Zarbarkas. If I saw Eric throw to the wrong base I think I would faint on the field. Anyone, can make a bad throw, but Eric would never throw to the wrong place on the field.

5. Catching Bloopers - this is a high skill small ball job. For years I though Jose Carrion was the best I played with but now that I have played with Georgie Munoz on Wolfpack I'm convinced he's awesome and fearless at it. Honorable mention Hector, Mickey, and Eric.

4. Taking pitches and drawing walks - I hate to admit it b/c I never thought he would make the blog but Little Dave Bergmann is the man for drawing walks. Unless he's facing a top notch pitcher he can purposely foul off pitch after pitch and draw a walk. Deep down I know this ain't right, but it's his thing.

3. Hitting Sacrifice Flies - this is a category where a power hitter can play small ball by using a big fly. Winner - Tie George Colon, Gubi and Castillo could hit sacrifice flies in their sleep.

2. Backing up Fielders - Gil wins again. Gil is one of the few pitchers he backs up and cut-off throws all game (sometimes too much). Also, he will cover 1st base on grounders. Little things that add up.

and the Number One Small ball Derby Categories and Winners

1. Tie - Keeping the Book and Positioning Fielders
Keeping the Book - John Sheppard - dude HK/West's score book penmanship is amazing, he knows what everyone did, where the play, and who's up next. Little things that help

Positioning Fielders - John Rosenmiller - quietly knows where he wants his guys to play and lets them know without offending anyone - shiesty but more often than not this subtle move adds up.

7 comments:

  1. L.D. the BB king.

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  2. Walks are overrated in softball. An "A" modified pitcher is not going to walk you, especially in a big game.

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  3. Even the best walk L.D.

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  4. I catch for Mike's Wednesday team, and I back up from that position with the best of em, if not the best. Ask Mike...

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  5. You should never ever hit into a double play in softball but if you do slide hard!

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