Close Games by Havelock Hewes

Last season two-thirds of our games were close (within three runs). Our overall percentage of close games in 2011 stands at 57%. This season has been the tale of two boroughs. In Manhattan (Heckscher, Great Lawn and 54th street) our record is 22 close games and 8 games decided by four or more runs - 73% close games. We played 15 games in Riverdale. Four were close and eleven were not. That's just 26% close games.

To add to the mystery, several of the Riverdale games were shared victory blow-outs. Team A would beat team B 7-1 and then, in the second game, team B would beat team A 11-3. My current theory is two-fold.. in a park with a reachable fence multiple run innnings are more likely, giving a team a greater chance of racking up a big lead. Secondly, if total runs scored is higher, the case in Riverdale, then a 5-2 game in Heckscher (considered "close" because it is within 3 runs) is not considered close if twice as many runs are scored and each team has the same percentage of runs in Riverdale, say, 10-4 (considered a blow-out).

Since close games are our goal, we need to give some thought as to whether we should ever play in a reachable-fence ballpark.

Milestones

June 4-- Jeff Appell beats Havelock Hewes 7-2 for his 100th win as a pitcher.
July 24-- Ian Parfrey's 500th hit is a single to right off of Jeff Appell.

Also this season:
Havelock Hewes, hit #1700
Gil Schmerler, hit #1200, probably on July 17. I will check on this.
Mike Palma, hit #600
Derek Martinez, run #500
Dave Rosengard, 500th win as a player

Games of 7/24

Appell 5, Hewes 2
Jeff Appell (7-4) scattered 10 hits, and went 3-for-3 with an RBI. Brian Hernandez-Sandercock was 2-for-3 with a double and 2 RBI.

Parfrey 3, Nilva 0
Ian Parfrey (5-4) threw a 4-hit shutout, retiring the last 9 batters, and allowing only one runner to reach third base. The only runs Zach Nilva gave up were in the bottom of the 1st-- Mike Sulyman led off with a single, Derek Martinez (3-for-3) doubled, and both scored on a comedy of throwing errors. Dave Sommers (3-for-3) then tripled to deep left, and scored on a Solomon Sarway sac fly.

Games of 7/17

Melendez 7, Appell 2
Carl Weinberg's 5th inning 3-run HR broke open a close game. Mike Palma was 3-for-3 with an RBI, and Brian Hernandez was 2-for-3 with 2 RBI. Freddie Melendez (7-7) scattered 8 hits for the win.

Nilva 7, Hewes 5
Shaky defense in the bottom of the 5th ended Havelock Hewes's bid for his 13th win. Trailing by two, Ian Parfrey (3-for-3, 2 RBI) plated Chris Hall with a 2-out single, and Cid Rivera got caught in a rundown between third and home. Rivera and Parfrey both ended up scoring on an overthrow. On the other side, Carl Weinberg was 2-for-3 with a triple and 3 RBI. Zach Nilva improved his pitching record to 7-4 on the season.

Game of July 10

Hewes 6, Nilva 5 (14 innings)

Zach Nilva's 14th inning curse is alive and well. Zach lost for the 3rd time in the 14th inning since October 2010. Mike Sulyman (3-for-6, 2 RBI) hit a 2-out single in the top of the 7th to plate Brian Hernandez (5-for-5, 3B). The game was tied at 5 and stayed that way until Cid Rivera controversially scored from first on a single in the top of the 14th. Plate umpire Freddie Melendez called him safe, claiming that Rivera's foot touched the plate before catcher Dave Rosengard tagged him. This touched off a lengthy argument and provided one of SFL's most exciting finishes. Havelock Hewes (12-5) retired the middle of the order 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 14th. Hewes allowed 3 earned runs on 16 hits; Nilva allowed 4 earned runs on 20 hits. Here is the scoring breakdown:

Bot 1:
P.Ciccone singled to shortstop, Z.Nilva scored. On M.Sulyman's throwing error, B.Indek scored, P.Ciccone to second.
I.Parfrey reached on a throwing error by M.Sulyman, P.Ciccone scored.
Nilva 3, Hewes 0

Top 2:
M.Cohen singled to left, F.Lang scored.
B.McLaughlin grounded to short, M.Cohen out at second, J.Balsam scored.
Nilva 3, Hewes 2

Top 3:
E.Schulman singled to right-center, B.Hernandez scored.
Nilva 3, Hewes 3

Bot 4:
D.Martinez hit a sacrifice fly to center, P.Ciccone scored.
Nilva 4, Hewes 3

Top 5:
M.Sulyman singled to left-center, B.Hernandez scored.
Nilva 4, Hewes 4

Bot 6:
P.Ciccone grounded to shortstop, S.Melendez out at second, Z.Nilva scored.
Nilva 5, Hewes 4

Top 7:
M.Sulyman singled to center, B.Hernandez scored.
Nilva 5, Hewes 5

Top 14:
B.McLaughlin singled to center, A.Rivera to third, B.McLaughlin to second on the throw. A.Rivera scored, B.McLaughlin to third on the throw.
Hewes 6, Nilva 5

Games of July 4

Two big innings made the difference. In Game 1, Jeff Appell's team scored 5 times in the first, and hung on for a 5-4 victory over Havelock Hewes. The winning run was stranded on first base. Zach Nilva went 4-for-5 to back Appell's pitching. In Game 2, Derek Martinez's team scored 6 times in the second, and won 6-2 over Ian Parfrey. Don Weiss was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI.

No Game 7/3

fortunately there's tomorrow, great lawn 8, at 530pm.