SB Debate LEADOFF vs CLEANUP

What is tougher to find in Softball an excellent leadoff hitter or a top notch cleanup batter? Inquiring minds want to know.

Let's put the 3 hitter aside for now, b/c that's usually your best batter, and by default for the most part the best batter hits 3rd in most lineups.

My personal initial reaction is a leadoff batter, but lets look at it more closely.

Let's Look at Qualification's

Elite Leadoff Batter Skills:
(1) Speed
(2) Ability to hit deep in counts, AKA Take pitches
(3) Line drive hitter with reasonable pop. In other words, he's not a slap hitter, he can drive in runs and the other team cannot play shallow. This will allow him to get his share of bloop hits and bloop hits plus speed leads to doubles and more runs scored.
(4) Hit to all fields. Combine this skill with #1 and this puts a lot of pressure on the defense.

Guys who fit these skills are Lefty, Hector,Elvis, Dusty, Vic, Eric Z, Cabezza, and my old skool favorite Jack Steinman

Elite Clean Up Hitter Skills
(1) Line Drive (LD) power. There is no defense for line drive power. If you have LD power to all fields, then your a major threat that the defense has to play straight up.
(2) Good RBI man. In other words, likes to hit with men on base and comes through in those situations. "Clutch"
(3) Offer protection to the 3 hitter. If he has characteristics #1 & 2 above, then the other team will have to pitch to the 3 hitter. If your 3 hitter gets going, then your offense is really clicking on all cylinders.
(4) Will take his walks, usually the more power you have the more walks you get. In other words, smart hitter.

Guys with these skills are Ricky Nen, Carlos Con, Castillo, Sito, Danny Vasquez, Eddie Brown, Jamie & Wayne from the "Cardinals"

There are other factors to consider like the field you play on, and the other needs on your team, but if I had my druthers I would probably pick an elite leadoff batter. I believe you need to start the offensive fire as quickly as possible, but hey to each is own. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject

Holler!!!!!!

Softball GroundHog Day on May 21st

It's the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, but last night I couldn't help but feeling the way Bill Murray did in the classic movie Groundhog Day.

In the movie Murray's character was a selfish news reporter forced to cover a quaint little human interest story about how a small town celebrated Groundhogs day. However. he thought the story was beneath him and acted like an asshole to everyone and just wanted the story to be over. As punishment the magic of groundhogs day forced him to relive the same day over and over again. At first, he thought it was cool b/c he could eat, drink, and do anything he wanted without worrying about the ramifications of tomorrow.But that charm soon wore off, and he started going mad

Well last night turned into a Softball Groundhogs day for me.

I had it all planned out. I would 1st play in a modified game in Red Hook in the Wall Street League (WSSL) (http://www.eteamz.com/wssl/index.cfm?) and then take a quick 5-10 minute ride and umpire a non competitive division II Yorkville Men's modified game on grand street . I was thinking this would be the Best of Both World's - Play ball and make some easy money on the same night, and for a while everything was going according to plan. We played a brisk 1 hour game in Red Hook and I was on grand street in my umpire uniform 10 minutes before game time.

Things even got better as the men's modified game I was umping looked to be a mercy as the Flex Bruisers got out to a commanding 12-2 lead after 2 innings over a team called the Cough Drops ( I can't make that up). Like I said Easy money.

Yeah right.

As the Agent of Chaos the Joker would say "And Here we Go" and soon Chaos erupted!!

The Flex Bruiser pitcher could not throw a strike, Not a single goddamn one. It turned into every umps groundhogs day nightmare. A long poorly played and walk filled game. The Cough Drops rallied for several runs and they game turned into a seesaw back and forth marathon. After 4 innings the score was 18-17. Let me repeat that, 4 inings and a 18-17 score, Brutal.

I just wanted this day to be over, built SB Groundhogs day continued. I had hope in the 5th when the Bruisers launched an 11 run assault and got the score to 29-17, which was right at the 12 run mercy rule limit. All I needed was 3 outs and I was out of dodge. In the bottom of the 5th, the Cough Drops loaded the bases with 2 outs, and their 3 batter lined a shot to LCF and the game appeared to be over, but the kid dropped the ball and it went for a grand slam. No Mercy. No Justice. No Peace. The game must go on.

This two plus hour "offensive" display finally ended with the Bruisers winning 29-24, and the game only ended b/c the lights went out.

Groundhogs Day for me on May 21st was finally over and my lesson was learned, as an ump never wish for a mercy

Judge Mountain CJ Landis

Last week I wrote a blog

http://softballinsider.blogspot.com/2009/05/dumb-ump-jokes.html

blasting EMS and Saturday Central Park Softball umpire James Flowers for terrible officiating in the WolfPack-Cavalier game. Well I was mad as hell an wasn't going to to take it anymore so I emailed EMS commissioner

CJ Johnson @ CJCOMMISH@AOL.COM to complain. I didn't expect CJ to act as aggressively as legendary MLB commissioner Judge Mountain Landis

but to his credit he did.

CJ took control. He researched the matter, verified my story, and suspended James. CJ gets dissed and criticized a lot, at times for good reason, but this time he got the job done right.

Well done.

The road to Hell's Kitchen is paved with good intentions

They say "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions". I guess that means good ideas go wrong, and with Hell's Kitchen (HK), softball (my team) the jury is still out, but yesterday we got a little heavenly help to earn a doubleheader sweep over the Bombers in the Big Apple League to improve to 4-2 overall. A long winter of recruiting and over recruiting (is there such a thing as over recruiting???) paid off for HK as despite being without Joe Soto, George Colon, Sito Baez, Issac "Gubi Delgado , and Mike McDonough the new players plus established veterans got the job done.

In game one, new pitcher Andy Muldanado gave the HK a big boost by throwing 4 strong innings before having to go to work. Before Andy departed, HK jumped all over Bomber Ace and softball pitching legend Cedric to build a commanding 8-0 lead. The 8 run explosion was capped by a three run blast by new HK player Walter Mercado. Please do not confuse our version of Walter Mercado with the outlandish Spanish horoscope guy

Our Walter is a much better hitter, dresser, and a Hell of a lot more honest.

On a side note, one of the more entertaining moments of game 1 was the confrontation between me and Cedric. During my at bat he start yelling Johnny Castillo as he pitched, he eventually walked me and really pissed me the fuck off. Whatever, its my fault I should have ignored him, like Jay-Z raps "you shouldn't argue with fools b/c from a distance you can't tell who's from who ".

In game 2, the Bombers jumped out to a early lead as Angry Jack tripled in 3 runs against an over shifted HK outfield. HK ace Edgar Jr held the Bombers at bay the rest of the way and its a good thing he did b/c crafty lefty Bomber veteran hurler Teddy had HK sleeping and reeling all game by limiting us to 2 scratch runs over the first five innings. In the bottom of the sixth, Bomber manager Rudy Randolph properly went back to his ace, Cedric, to close out the game. Cedric was about to survive some hard hit balls and walks to safely get out of the 6th until HK caught a break on misplayed fly ball and a booted grounder to take a 5-4 lead that we never relinquished.

Good Sweep.

Hell Tidbits

John Sheppard resumed his role as team manager..... Angelo Gonzalez continues his stellar defensive play at 1B... Aaron Fernandez finally wore a hat during a game -- sideways of course, Aaron was also late - of course :)), Alfi Hernandez has the fast track at winning rookie of the year in the Big Apple league with his solid play at SS...... Edgar Jr is carrying the pitching staff, hopefully Andy will ease his burden and Meyers will return, Issac "Gubi" Delgado had to sit out the double header with a back injury, unfortunately he stayed at the game and told everyone how good he is all day long. Ricky is kuku ... As expected Mr Johnson umped the game and Ricky, Shepard and Angelo didn't argue or say a word to him. I gotta give him credit he did a good job, is better/smarter than Ump Mr. James, but is still

Dumb Ump Jokes

Recently stunning Miss California Carrie Prejean

has said & done a lot of dumb things like bashing gay marriage and have nude pictures surface that have negatively affected her career.

While I know you might not have noticed b/c your eyes where elsewhere but the young lady is a blond and as everyone knows "Dumb Blond" jokes are famous.

Here are some corny Dumb Blond jokes :

A Blond was Fired from pharmacy job for failing to print labels b/c ....."duh".....bottles won't fit in typewriter!!!

A Blond got excited b/c she finished jigsaw puzzle in 6 months.....the box said "2-4 years!"

A Blond tried to go water skiing.....but couldn't find a lake with a slope.

A Blond lost breast stroke swimming competition.....she learned later, other swimmers cheated, they used their arms!!!

A Blond got locked out of car in rain storm.....her car got swamped, because top was down.

When a blond was asked what is the capital of California she said "C".....isn't it???

Why do Blonds Hate M & M's.....b/c they are so hard to peel.

A Blond baked a turkey for 4 1/2 days b/c the instructions said 1 hour per pound and she weighed 108!!!

A blond was in danger but Couldn't call 911 b/c .."duh".....there's no "eleven" button on the phone!!!

Ok Ok Ok enough already with the dumb blond jokes b/c blonds aren't the only ones who are dumb, there are dumb umpires out there.You all know about how I feel about Mr. Johnson

http://softballinsider.blogspot.com/2008/07/christmas-in-july-thanks-to-mister.html

He's awful, but now he has company ... Umpire James Flowers from EMS and the Saturday Central Park League is just as bad. Maybe dumber.

I hate blaming umps. Players make or don't make plays that's what decides over 95% of the games. I'm an ump I know umps do make mistakes and blow calls. I can deal with that. But what I can't stand more than anything is an ump who is bruto (ignorant), confrontational, and lazy. That pretty much sums up James ... so CJ and Steve if your reading get rid of him b/c he's a a walking lobotomy.

Top Ten "You Know your Ump is Dumb" jokes

10. He yells play ball & throws a basketball out to the pitcher instead of a clincher softball

9. When asked when a slinger is throwing illegal he replies "He's good"

8. When you ask for time and he tells you its 3:30 pm

7. When he tells you he missed the call b/c he was looking at his clicker - Howie Pelham Bay did this once and it cost us a game - liar and idiot

6. When he calls foul on a ball that starts foul and rolls back fair in the IF before it passes 1st or 3rd base that was not touched. James did this last night. Know the rules moron

5. When he yells safe but makes the out sign - dumb.. happens so much

4. When he makes you play in a snowstorm or blatantly unplayable weather. Actually he's not dumb here just greedy. He wants to make a lousy $40-$50 bucks and doesn't care if anyone gets hurt. In Spanish its called "Se Hace el Bobo" - he plays the fool/dummy

3. When the count is full and men on base, he hears a coach say take off on the release so when the pitcher throws the ball he runs to 1B

2. When he walks up to ump partner to help get a call right and he still gets it wrong. This makes him look so bad and incompetent. Truly a joke

and the Number One "You Know your Ump is dumb" joke

1. This one is actually not a joke, it's dangerous. When an ump let's a team argue balls and strikes every play rather than issue one warning to both teams. This leads to tension and him losing control of the game. The game ends up a goon fest with the potential for a riot. Sure fire idiot move