The Lost Boxscores of SFL

Like The Lost Engines of Roanoke, the lost boxscores of SFL were eventually found. They were hidden in one of my books for my fall league, and here they finally are:

Hewes 10, Melendez 5
Ian Parfrey was 4-for-4 with 4 runs scored, a double, and 2 RBI, to lead Hewes's team. Bob Holzwasser had 3 hits for Melendez's squad.

Lawrence 8, Nilva 4
Cid Rivera's 3-run HR in the 5th inning broke a 4-4 tie.

Appell 9, Connor / Hewes 9 (5-inning tie)
Eric Schulman (3-for-4, 4 RBI) hit a 2-out, 2-run double to tie the game for Appell's team. Cid Rivera was 4-for-4 with a HR and 5 RBI for the Connor / Hewes team.

Games of 10/7

Hewes 14, Parfrey 8
Hewes's team scored 7 times in the 6th inning to blow open a one-run game. Cid Rivera homered and drove in 5 runs, Eric Schulman was 4-for-5 with 3 RBI, and Bob Holzwasser had 3 hits. Chris Hall was 3-for-4 with 3 RBI for Parfrey's team.

O'Connor 9, Nilva 6
O'Connor's team scored 5 times in the 5th inning to erase a 5-4 deficit. Nilva's defense committed 5 errors and allowed 7 unearned runs.

Games of July 29

We played a tripleheader at the Dewitt Clinton field, with Heckscher under water. Several dramatic finishes occurred.

Rosengard 7, O'Connor 6
Rosengard's team trailed 5-2 after 5 innings, but rallied to tie on an RBI triple by Sam Magnus, and took a 6-5 lead when Russell Rivera singled him in. A two-out RBI single by Dave Sommers tied the game in the seventh, but O'Connor lost the plate in the bottom of the inning, walking the bases loaded before Sam Melendez won it with a walk-off infield single.

Melendez 4, Parfrey 3
Freddie Melendez prevailed in a pitcher's duel, stranding the winning runs on base in the bottom of the 7th when he induced Joe Geller to ground into a game-ending DP. Parfrey lost despite allowing only four hits.

Martinez 10, Hewes 9
In another dramatic finish, Sam Melendez came all the way around on an infield hit and two errors to break a 7-7 tie in the top of the 6th, and Gil Schmerler singled in an insurance run in the 7th. Martinez's team rallied for three runs and the win, with Bob Holzwasser singling in Ian Parfrey with two outs to end the game. Derek Martinez homered and drove in 3, and Joe Geller was 3-for-4 with 3 RBI. Phil Ciccone and Sam Melendez had 3 hits and 3 runs scored each for Hewes's team.

Games of July 8

Nilva 7, Hewes 6
Bob Holzwasser drove in 4 runs, and Alex Rivera had 3 hits to back Zach Nilva's pitching. Sam Melendez had 3 hits for Hewes's team, who stranded the tying run at first base.

Melendez 13, Lawrence 9
Freddie Melendez won his 10th game of the year. Eric Schulman was 3-for-5 with 2 triples and 6 RBI, and Sam Melendez was 4-for-5 with 4 runs scored.

Also note that the Heckscher hotline was unreliable this week. They claimed to be opening late at 11:00, and then opened at 9:15. When in doubt, call someone, or just show up.

Opening Day-- Games of 4/8

Parfrey 17, Hewes 4
Ian Parfrey backed his pitching with 4 hits, Don Weiss also had 4 hits, and Alex "Cid" Rivera drove in 5 runs. Parfrey's team scored 9 times in the 2nd inning to blow the doors off of this one.

Nilva 12, Melendez 4
Zach Nilva scattered 9 hits for the win, Sam Melendez was 3-for-4 with a grand slam, and Bob Holzwasser also homered in his return to SFL after missing all of 2011. Freddie Melendez was victimized by his defense-- only one of the 12 runs was earned. Eric Schulman was 3-for-3 with 2 RBI.

Lawrence 4, Connor 3
Glen Lawrence picked up the win and hit the winning sac fly to score Alex Rivera.

Games and Notes of 8/29

Important-- all Labor Day games will be played in the morning at Heckscher. There will be no extra games on Labor Day weekend. We will try to play 3 at Heckscher in the morning, and that's it.

Martinez 13, Melendez 3
Derek Martinez (4-5) rode the red hot bats of Eric Schulman (4-for-4, 4 runs, 2 2B, 3B, 3 RBI), and Glen Lawrence (3-for-4, 4 RBI) to an easy win. Don Weiss and Bob Holzwasser each added 3 hits, and Ian Parfrey was 2-for-3 and scored 4 runs.

Nilva 11, Appell / Parfrey 10
In a stunning comeback, Zach Nilva's team scored 8 times in the bottom of the 7th to erase a 10-3 deficit and avoid a sweep. Nilva (5-for-5) tied the game with a 2-run double to right, and Chris Rouger's 3rd hit of the game, a single up the middle, won it. Both hits came with 2 outs off of reliever Ian Parfrey, who took the loss. The winning rally featured four consecutive errors, a costly bases-loaded walk to Mike Palma, and then the two big 2-out hits. The losing team got another big game from Eric Schulman (3-for-4, 3 RBI), with Derek Martinez and Ian Parfrey also contributing 3 hits each.

Appell 4, Parfrey 3
In a 4-inning game, Jeff Appell (3-3) shut down Parfrey's team after allowing a 3-run homer to Derek Martinez in the top of the first. Freddy Melendez (3-for-3, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI) was the offensive star, and Jeff Appell ripped a walkoff 2-run double to win the game.

THE GOLDEN SOMBRERO

One of the interesting awards we have here is the pennant. How do you win one? You have to be a good, but underrated player, who gets traded inbetween games a lot. Gil almost stole one this year by playing one half of every doubleheader. Bob, who did win, was frequently traded when the losing team requested a good infielder. I came within 1 game of the pennant by going 18-7 as a pitcher, and many of the previous pennant winners-- Gil, Jorge Loarte, Pete Bochan, Havelock-- have been pitchers. The pitcher can control his destiny a little better than the fielders can.

The dark side of this award is the negative pennant. I can't take credit for coining the phrase; it's Seung's. Only one player has won three positive pennants (Bobby Naranjo), but three different players have "won" four negative pennants. Pete Bochan, Bobby Naranjo, Havelock, Gil, and Bob have all won both awards. Havelock, in his "winning" season, was 24 games under .500. That was also the year he walked 63 times. Karma? You tell me. The negative pennant has been won by some good players. Alltime OPS leader Phil Kotik won one, while never winning the actual pennant. Alltime RBI leader Jose Balento is one of the unlucky four-time winners. I guess his bat was asked to cover some outmatched teams over the years. Rich "Wrong Way" Rowlands set a record of sorts in 1999 by winning the negative pennant and only playing 13 games; he went 2-11. We all know Rich can play the game-- that couldn't have been his fault.

Taken together, the positive and negative pennants can measure how well balanced the team-choosing is. 2009 was a well balanced year, with the two pennant winners a total of 19 games off of .500. This makes it the most balanced year since 1993. The most unbalanced year was 2007, when Carl won the pennant at +17, and Marvin won the negative pennant at -20. I think it took all of Havelock's skill to hold Carl to +17 that year, as Carl also led the league in doubles, triples, homers, and RBI.

COMMISSIONER'S REPORT

Players,

Thanks to all the people who have helped move us into the twenty-first century. A year ago our on-line presence was our e-mail list and LarrySavell.com. Then we were on Heywoodtheband.com (Ian Parfrey's site) and we had a Facebook page, thanks to Tony Connor. Now we have our own web site, thanks to Sal Cipriano.

Also this year we were discovered in The New York Review Of Books as a "curious collection of players" whose game is more compelling than the Mets or Yankees. These "curiosities" can be seen on the first Softball For The Love Of It softball cards, thanks to the work of Don Weiss.

Besides achieving all this fame, the on-field experience of playing our game has never been more fun. Despite two horrific injuries (dramatic limb dislocations to Phil Ciccone and Marvin Cohen) and lots of rain, we managed a full and glorious season. Derek Martinez hit seven homers in one morning on his way to breaking Phil Kotik's single-season homerun record. Martinez, Parfrey and Alex Rivera all had historic seasons which will make for an interesting MVP vote. We are considering a ballot with only those three names, to insure that no one loses because he was entirely left off one ballot.

Going into the last week of the season, Parfrey, Alex Rivera and Bob Holzwasser were tied in the pennant race at ten games over .500. Holzwasser's strategy was to stay home. Parfrey and Rivera both lost two games, handing Holzwasser the pennant with his Sunday breakfast and newspaper.

We welcomed back Richard Tedesco on a regular basis this season, but I am coming to the conclusion that, for a number of our players, the single biggest factor in attendance is geography. When we move to Westchester, Richard Rowlands, Dan Schneider and Larry Savell show up. Bill Vernick is a Manhattan-only player. We had not seen Joe Balento in a couple of years, until Joe Gerber got us a permit for Lowenfish Field at 108th in Riverside Park and here comes Balento! Could it be that we finally got within Joe's geographical sphere (he lives 5 blocks away).

In the past we have had several theme games. Most notably the Capitalist/Communist game in which the commies scored one run in virtually every inning, only to lose 8-7 because the robber barons put up two boom innings among their goose eggs.

This season, we played the first-ever "Backwards" game. Several players could not remember to run to third out of the box, inspiring at least one new nickname, Richard "Wrong Way" Rowlands. My favorite moment of the 2009 season came on the last day. Game One was our backwards game. In game 2, Alex Rivera hit a line drive and ran to third base! That's what I call a fast learner.

-Havelock Hewes