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Monday, June 18, 2012

June 15-18

Friday evening: Jenny and Helen were along as the R-Phils opened a series with the Akron Aeros. The boys got the weekend started the right way with a 7-2 win. Sebastian Valle had a home run and two RBI, Leandro Castro hit a two-run double, Jiwan James hit a solo homer, Troy Hanzawa contributed an RBI single and Tim Kennelly picked up a ribbie on a sac fly. Trevor May won it with relief from Colby Shreve and Frank Gailey. The game was over shortly after 9:30, the ladies and I were gone ASAP as the other 9700 in the park stayed for fireworks. Saturday was a long (spell that L-O-N-G) day in Baseballtown, we started at 10:00 in the morning with the annual high-school All-Star game. For the first time in this game's history there was no winner, the score stood 7-7 after ten innings when curfew was reached (ten innings or 1:00, whichever came first). The Pioneer Athletic Conference and the Berks County Interscholastic Athletic Association will have to wait another year to resolve the issue. After some lunch and a brief rest we cranked it up once again as the Aeros and R-Phils hooked up for a doubleheader beginning at 5:30. In the opener Darin Ruf hit a solo shot in the second innings but Akron tied it in the fifth. In the seventh (the last regulation frame of a doubleheader game) Brandon Tripp hit a lead-off home run to give the ballclub a 2-1 walk-off win, Michael Cisco won it in relief of David Buchanan. The nightcap was your typical "wasn't the world just waiting for this" game as the boys lost 5-4 in nine innings. Jiwan James had a double and three RBI, Darin Ruf had a run-scoring groundout. Juan Morillo was the losing pitcher in relief of spot starter Jordan Whatcott. With it all we were done shortly after 11:00, thirteen hours after the high-school game had started. On Sunday the ladies were along again (Saturday would have been way too much for them) as the ballclub made it three-for-four with a 4-2 win. Miguel Abreu and new outfielder D'Arby Myers (up from FSL Clearwater) had RBI hits, Valle had a sacrifice fly, the fourth run scored when Abreu crossed the plate on the front end of a double steal. Julio Rodriguez struck out ten over seven innings for the win, Shreve and Gailey each worked an inning in relief. On Sunday evening the light was out by 10:00, in the morning I was on the road by 6:15 as we wrapped up the series with our annual 9:35 morning game. We've been doing this since 2002 and I maintain that only a sadist could enjoy it. The boys finished off the series with another walk-off victory as they took it 4-3. Darin Ruf had an RBI hit, infielder Jeremy Barnes had a sac fly RBI and another run scored on a error. In the tenth inning Troy Hanzawa doubled and scored the winner on Migual Abreu's hit as Justin Friend picked up the win in relief of Jonathan Pettibone. This game wrapped up the homestand but my day was only half-over, in the evening we had street hockey playoffs at the rink. One division's championship series ended, the other two continue on Tuesday but that's other story for another time. As for me I believe I'll sleep very well overnight. Take care, thanks for reading.