Category: Raptors

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Raptors win exhibition games at Grovehill

 

Sun was shining bright at Grovehill despite dark clouds gathering and thunderstorms in neighbouring towns

With no league action for Hawks in the AA League and the Raptors and Eagles in the Single-A League, the teams were joined by members of the Herts U17 team to create a 4-team competition.

Herts Hawks were split in two and supplemented with U17 players to create two teams who clashed in the first semi-final.  The mixed team managed by Andrew Slater held on for a narrow 6-5 win. That took them to the final where they met the Herts Raptors who beat the Herts Eagles in the other semi-final.

In the final, the Raptors were on fire and put 6 runs on the scoreboard without reply from Andrew Slater’s boys as Raptors starting pitcher Zack Longboy had another outstanding day on the mound.

Trailing 6-0 in the final inning Andrew Slater’s team came alive.  They pulled back 4 runs and had a runner on 3rd and runner on second representing the tying run with 1 out.  A fly ball to centerfield seemed to be on its way down for a single, but Ken Pike came flying from centerfield to make a sliding catch. He followed that sectacular play by throwing the ball to second base turning a game-ending double play as the runner on second had gambled on Pike not making the catch.

The teams now look forward to their final round of regular season games next Sunday as the race for the playoffs reaches its climax. Stay tuned to hertsbaseball.com for full coverage of a crunch week in British Baseball.

by Rob Jones

The true value of the cliche

It’s been a rich and varied baseball season for me so far — but only when I have had the chance to play baseball, writes Rob Jones. And because those opportunities have been rather sparse, I have had far too much time to simply mull over the beautiful game, instead.  Games that I have played in have had highs and lows, swings and roundabouts, and plenty of talking points. To that end, I have been considering the validity of various truisms — some might call them cliches — about baseball, and about life.

Pitching and defense win ball games

I can’t claim any great insight in this one – any coach will tell you it’s true. Perhaps it’s the greatest cliche of all for anyone who plays the game. But it is worth highlighting, and here’s why. You often think about the differences between baseball at the Major League level and where we play it, at the nether reaches of the British game. Stealing a base is a very different proposition, for example. And the positioning of fielders is far more sophisticated – think about how often you have seen an MLB outfielder stand patiently to receive a room service catch, having already assessed the matchup and the situation.

Falcons v Mustangs
The Falcons defense comes up trumps against Southampton - but only by an inch

But this one is a truism which is equally true at all levels of the game. The fewer mistakes you make, and the more strikes you throw, the better your chance of getting a win. Even in a high-scoring league like ours, it is the defense which will make all the difference. In this year’s game against the London Marauders this was particularly true. Our first three hitters got bat on ball, but their fielders made every play. None was spectacular, perhaps, but they could all have gone wrong, and they didn’t.  On the other side of the coin, we failed to make a succession of close plays.

We were undone by walks too — in a previous year I remember us opening a game with six consecutive walks. You just can’t do that and get away with it. When the average viewer watches Major League pitching, you don’t appreciate how hard it is. Watching guys like us makes it abundantly clear! I should point out that I am not just criticising from the sidelines here — in my only pitching start last year I walked two of my first three guys, and I have always made it my special purpose on the mound NOT to give free passes. Once you are up there, it’s a different scenario.

Young pitcher Zack Longboy has been a boon for us this season with his tremendous consistency. More of him later, but let me give this final thought about pitching and defense. No matter how good the man on the mound is, he will need help.  When the San Francisco Giants’ Matt Cain threw his first perfect game last month, it was made possible by Gregor Blanco making a phenomenal diving catch in right field, and by Joaquin Arias making a series of excellent plays from third. Pitching and defense go hand in hand if they are to succeed.

It’s a game of inches

It’s been said that the set-up and measurements of the baseball diamond are perfect, and that this can be seen in the way a close play fifty years ago is still a close play today — even as fitness and strength and equipment improve, the margins of success and failure remain consistently small. Once again, this truism can be neatly transposed onto the rough and ready amateur game. We may be consistently less fit and powerful than Major Leaguers, but that means we end up just as close!

Stealing bases against the Essex Archers, I was often an inch from being out. My second time on base, the pitcher knew I was going to steal. He threw over four times, and the third time I was only just able to dive back, safe by an inch. An inch away from embarrassment. (I would have been more comfortable, except that I caught the peak of my helmet in the dirt — there are lots of reasons that the inches count!)  Later, as a runner at third base, I was pushing my luck as far off the bag as I could, and when a grounder went back to the pitcher, he looked at me, and I looked at him. He waited, just a few heartbeats, then went for the out at first. As soon as he did, I was off, going for home. I slid in, clattering into the catcher and scraping skin off my arm. But, by an inch, I was safe. As it was, a vital run scored. Had I failed, it would have been a foolish wasted out.

The cliche isn’t just true of base-running, either. A pitch which paints the corner can be given either way, depending on how the umpire sees it. How many times have you seen a pitch which just needed to be an inch higher, an inch lower? And it’s true when batting.  Against Essex, Glen Downer just missed out on a couple of big hits, because a potential homer becomes a pop-fly because the contact is just an inch further up the bat. In the same game, Gilberto Medina hit a beautiful drive out to left field. I was running from second, and stopped half way down the line to watch what happened to the ball. It carried past the fielder, onwards towards the fence, onwards, and then — by just inches — it fell short of being a homer. I think it was only a single. I am delighted to say that, since then, Gilberto has deservedly hit one all the way out.

Young stars
Longboy and Caress - two rising young stars for the Raptors

Age ain’t nothing but a number

Herts has some tremendous veteran players, and the Falcons have picked up some with golden track records this year. But the club is perhaps best known for its youth set-up, and the youngest stars have been some of the biggest for the Raptors this year. Zack Longboy has been a revelation on the mound. The league-leading Essex Archers marveled at his poise and accuracy, after he had pushed them close to defeat for the first time this year.  He has secured key strikeouts, thrown a variety of pitches for strikers, and fielded his position calmly.  His perfromance belies his years, and he has put a lifetime of preparation to good use.

And Zack is not the only young star in the ranks.  Brodie and Jake Caress have made the step up to adult baseball, with Jake closing out the win against the Old Timers with the game on the line (the Raptors had never beaten the Old Timers, and the come from behind victory was vital to playoff hopes).  Both have performed well with the bat, while Jose Morillo has matured enormously as an offensive weapon, and the team also had a little pitching help from GB’s Tom Everex-Armstrong in the win over Tonbridge. These players have shown a fearlessness and a technique which we can all look to emulate.

Winning isn’t everything

This was an issue I began to chew over as I considered the contrasting experience of winning at a stroll against the Tonbridge Bobcats, and then losing by a narrow squeak against Essex. Winning is a wonderful thing, don’t get me wrong — I am not here to extol the virtue of the gallant defeat!  When we thumped Tonbridge last season I thoroughly enjoyed it, as my first victory for two years. But whether you win easily or lose disastrously, you can come away with a similarly empty feeling.

It’s the competition which gives life and meaning to a win. It’s one of the reasons we always want to see a World Series go to seven games, or a Wimbledon final go to five sets. Winning a tough game is the best feeling of all. In that sense, I suspect the Raptors’ defeat of the Old Timers was an absolute corker. Sooooo sorry to have missed that one. The Eagles victory over the Essex Redbacks was the best game I have had this year, coming from behind to take a late lead, then clinging on for an 18-16 win. Those are the most exhilarating games. Just winning isn’t enough — we want to win with style, and after a battle.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

The greatest ever?

by Ken Pike

One of the wonderful things about popular sports is the debate that it causes. No matter whether listening to my girlfriend’s brother discussing the merits of the latest round of walk spoiling (golf), or hearing the commentators of Euro 2012 hailing Spain as possibly the greatest football team of all time, there is endless debate to be had thanks to the endless supply of ways to measure greatness.

Spain have won two world cups and a Euro competition back to back now and entered the record books for most goals in a final and many other reasons too, whereas the magical abilities of Pele et al in 1970 remain football legend over 40 years later. Whether Spain 2012 or Brazil 1970 is the greatest team of all time could only ever be settled by pitting the two sides against each other, but unless time travel is invented and applied to the use of measuring sporting greatness, it is both a sad fact and a beautiful thing that we shall never know.

The simple thing is that winning margins, statistics of accuracy, efficiency etc are all determined not only by the winning team, but by the class of the teams they face. It could be argued that Spain were phenomenal in 2012, but frankly much of their opposition was mediocre at best with their expected big final opponents Germany getting knocked out by the same France side that barely beat a poor England side.

In the world of motor racing, for much of the 90s Michael Shumacher dominated the championships winning race after race by enormous margins. He has records that will likely never be broken over a glorious career. However, his comeback into the sport three years ago have put all of that into question as he now races in a less potent car than the blistering Ferrari, he is regularly out qualified by his young compatriot teammate, and he has failed to get a win since his return. Was his amazing form in the 90s due to having by far the fastest car and weak opposition or was it due to a greatness and spark that he has now all but lost?

There are countless more examples I could go through of seemingly unbeatable records getting smashed: Mark Spitz’s five Olympic golds got ruined by Michael Phelps getting eight, youngest racer to win a grand prix Fernando Alonso got beat by some German lad called Sebastian who might be quite good some day, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron no longer have their names next to home run records thanks in no small part to medicinal advances helping the likes of Bonds to achieve improbable muscle mass, and so on and so forth. But does that mean the modern versions that superseded them are better, or do they face weaker opposition and are they helped by better sport science (or possibly steroids in some cases – let’s face it, some cases have been pretty clear cut, but even unproven accusations mean that whether Usain Bolt is a force of nature or a force of medicine is likely to be debated long after his career is over and he is just one current example of many such allegations among current sporting excellence.)

So it is rare the be able to unequivocally say that a team or player is the greatest ever. What is more possible is to say that a team is having its greatest year or period ever. The Spanish football team are certainly claiming that one right now, Bolt must be looking at London 2012 with a feeling of supreme confidence and young Mr Vettel can look back at last year as being an early pinnacle in his career that he can aim to surpass in future years.

It gets even harder when you talk baseball. Most wins in a season? 1906 Cubs/2001 Mariners. Most hall of famers? Complicated: as one of the oldest teams Giants have 56 that ever played for them, Yankees have 21 whose names are associated with them primarily, and 1927 Yankees had the most at one time including some blokes called Ruth and Gherig. Some recent current teams, notably the 98 Yankees, have line-ups that include a lot of future hall of famers but they are not yet eligible and can’t be discounted. Biggest winning margins? Again the ‘27 Yankees outscoring opponents by almost 400 runs. Win streaks? Dynasty eras? Overcoming the toughest opposition? Who knows.

Best players, let alone their best years are just as hard if not harder to measure even if you boil it down to position. Would you rather have hall of famers Aaron, Ruth, Gherig, Dimaggio, Young, Ryan, or current greats like Rodrigues, Puyols, Halladay, Hamilton or Lincecum on your dream team? Let’s face it, a large part of your decision making process in this question will be based on what shirt you choose to wear on your days off watching ESPN. Being a D’backs fan I would probably pick some names that would have experienced pundits (and many of you) in fits of laughter.

Some will analyse further looking at the stats, but do these take into account developments in the sport? Hamilton and Lincecum are pitching against the grain with modern sports science helping batters extract every last ounce of speed and power from every hit. Pujols and Rodrigues are certainly more athletic opponents than Ryan or Young faced back in the day. There are other metrics which can’t even be reasonably compared, for example the fastest officially recorded pitch is 105 mps by Aroldis Chapman in 2010 at PETCO ballpark, but anecdotally Nolan Ryan hit that speed regularly.

So what about Herts baseball club? I don’t have access to individual player records so I won’t go into that at this level but throughout the relatively brief (in baseball terms) history of the club, there have certainly been some impressive highs. The Falcons have won the double A league in 2004 and 2007 and the Triple A in 2008. The junior teams have had recent success with the Herts All Stars winning the Under 14s Futures Tournament and the 2010 National Baseball Championship heralding a very bright future. The club has been the largest club in the leagues by membership numbers, and in amateur sports that alone is a measure of success.

This year however, with the playoffs only a few short weeks away, all four senior teams have hit highs that were never expected 12 months ago. The Hawks and Falcons are fighting tooth and nail to gain top spot going into the post season, while in the single A both the Eagles and Raptors are in with a shout of making the playoffs. Admittedly the Eagles are facing very long odds that would require a mixture of other results going their way and some impressive upsets against top of the league teams, the Raptors have one toe in the door with a win against the mid table Mavericks next weekend all but securing their passage to the playoffs and a second win against barrel scraping Richmond sealing the deal.

As a club, rather than four individual teams, the Herts are experiencing a real renaissance after a difficult couple of years. Last year’s departure of many top players thanks in no small part to departing players forming their own team and pulling top class players with them left all three remaining teams struggling to compete at their respective levels. The Falcons finished 2011 with a 4-19 record that was not much to sing about, the Eagles taking a sabbatical from appearing at all thanks to a lack of players, the Hawks marginally bettered the Falcons record with 5-15 and the Raptors had started the season depleted of experience and getting beaten up by teams that should have arguably played at a higher level though they turned around the second half and finished with three wins to their name providing a glimpse of things to come.

The Falcons started the season with a win against Bracknell. Can they keep the momentum going as they face the Blazers again this Sunday?

This year has been a case of night and day. Impressive big name acquisitions in the pre season at the Falcons level had the effect of solidifying all the lower teams, allowing the Hawks and Raptors to cling on to players that might have ordinarily been asked to do their best at a higher league. The Falcons now boast some of the best players in the leagues and as such are fighting a pitched battle with the Nationals and the fading Mets for top spot.

The Hawks led ably by the managing partnership of Andy Cornish and Greg Bochan who both provide hitting power coupled with catching and pitching might respectively, are joint top with the Mammoths and Sidewinders with everything to play for in the last few games.

The Raptors started slightly shakily in their first two games but soon moved up the gears and now play with ever increasing confidence with a stunning win over the Old timers putting their playoff future in their own hands courtesy of a homer from powerhouse Gilberto Medina, 6 for 6 batting by yours truly and a composed and solid pitching performance by young Jake Caress adding to a season accented by the impressive performances of the young additions to the squad. They go into a must win game against the Mavericks knowing that if they can take the Archers to the wire and beat the grumpy men from Enfield, they can bring the fight to anyone in the league.

The newly reformed Eagles settled in to the single A with low expectations placed upon them as supposed training grounds for new and young blood. New manager Duncan Hoyle had different ideas from being the whipping boys though and benefitted from some very talented new players including the defensive powers of pitcher Reagan Wood and offensive abilities of the current Eagles home run leader Aidrian Smithers (he has 1). They now sit level on games with the supposedly superior Raptors (who they fought well against earlier in the season despite ultimately losing) however facing much tougher opposition for their final games and head to head results against the Raptors and other nearby teams going against them.

Could one, two or perhaps three of the Herts teams be national champins again this season?

The Falcons, Hawks and Raptors all hold the reigns now and can decide their own futures by winning from here on in. The Eagles face a battle, but having already far exceeded expectations, I would not be the one to bet against them, and just how great would a semi final playoff between the Eagles and raptors be? What are the chances of all four teams getting to the playoffs? Slim, admittedly, but possible. The chances of winning the whole lot and finishing with three new trophies in our cabinet? The chances of making the best year in Herts history? The chances of turning the 2012 Herts into a three league winning club?

The greatest season ever can only be determined by history, by ultimate results, and the names on the trophy at the end of it. With equal parts steel, determination, teamwork, skill and importantly luck Herts can achieve staggering heights. In this country, August is when baseball history is made.

What might be the greatest Herts season ever, has only just begun.

PLAYOFF SCENARIOS

Falcons

Falcons face double headers against rivals Mets and Nationals next followed by easy games against bottom of the table Croydon Pirates and Bracknell Blazers. Four out of four against the Mets and Nationals would put them in top spot and leave their fates in their hands. Four losses would leave them with a good chance of playoffs but the Diamondbacks and Mustangs would likely be taking them to the wire. With this many games left there are too many permutations to list them all.

Hawks

The Hawks also face the Sidewinders and Mustangs in their fight to make the playoffs but with several rain postponements there are still a lot of games to play. Wins against the top teams would put them in a strong position but there are not many easy games left for them with the Brentwood Stags providing the only bottom three club for them yet to face, the rest are mid table must winners. Again, with 7 games left, there are too many permutations to list.

Raptors

The win against the Old Timers puts them in the driving seat. With head to heads largely going their way with their opponents, a win against Guildford next week puts them firmly in charge of the wildcard spot. Head to head results against the Eagles, Old timers, and Mavericks makes a win against bottom of the table Richmond would guarantee passage regardless of results, but even a loss in the second game would need freak results elsewhere to knock them out. A collapse by Hove Tuesday could even get them top wildcard place, but the Marauders and the Archers have pretty much sealed the top spots. However, a loss to Mavericks spins that on its head and leaves them needing results elsewhere to go their way whether they win the following week or not.

Eagles

The Eagles sit level with the Raptors on wins and losses, but behind in the table having lost their head to head. To make matters worse, their final opponents are Hove Tuesday and London Marauders, both teams they will have a tough time beating. For the Eagles to progress they would likely have to win both games and other results would need to go their way. Either Hove would need a complete collapse for the rest of the season paving the way for Raptors and Eagles to both qualify, or the Eagles do it at the cost of the Raptors, but they need to better the Raptors record not equal it.

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Raptors Rally: Late inning onslaught puts Arnie’s boys back in contention

by Glen Downer

Shortstop Gilberto Medina hit a bomb over the left centerfield wall of the old diamond at Grovehill Ballpark

After another week of rain threatening to cause yet another postponement on Sunday, the Great British weather showed some mercy and after the sterling efforts of the players from both the Raptors and Hawks teams armed with sponges and buckets both diamonds were ready to have their basepaths pounded.

This was to be possibly the most important game in the Raptors’ season so far; clinging on to a one game over .500 record this was a must win, and it wasn’t going to be easy over the experienced veterans that make up the Old Timers team from Enfield. The Raptors were at full strength, and the ever consistent ZackLongboy was on the hill to start, hoping to continue his great season so far. The first inning started as well as any team could hope for, a quick 1-2-3 and the boys were back in the dugout, ready to pick up the bats and produce some run support for their pitcher. After a quick first out Ken Pike stepped up to the plate and picked up his first of no less than 6 hits in the game smashing a rocket into left, then stepped up Gilberto Medina, never being one to hang around Gil swung at the first pitch and the crack of the bat was the sound of impending doom for the Old Timers starter as the ball sailed majestically into left centre field and over the fence for Medina’s first home run of the season, which some may agree was overdue! The rest of the inning went by pretty quietly and the Raptors entered the second inning all fired up and ready to go.

Unfortunately the second didn’t go as well, with the Old Timers putting up 5 runs to take the lead which they held on to for the majority of the game. A combination of errors from the Raptors and Zack not being quite as controlled as previous outings allowing the visitors to take advantage. Herts still managed to tag on a run of their own in the bottom of the inning however to keep things alive, and so it went for the next few innings with both teams scoring like for like. With the Raptors picking up hits and getting on base, singles from John Kjorstadt, Jose Morillo Jr, a scorching double into right centre from catcher Ben Marques, and with Jake Caress taking the mound in a solid relief all helped to keep that scoreline close.

So came the bottom of the 8th; with their chances running low and the deficit at 5 runs, the most it had been all game, the Herts boys had to get something going. They didn’t disappoint with Ken Pike picking up his 6th and final hit to complete a fantastic 6-6 day, Gilberto Medina hitting another bomb which agonisingly ricocheted off the outfield wall for a huge double plating two runs, the Raptors rallied to score no less than 7 runs to take a slim 2 run lead heading into the top of the 9th. Jake Caress who had come into the game in relief had a tough job on his hands to close out the game and pick up a much needed win, he didn’t disappoint. The first batter smashed a drive into left field where ZackLongboy was just unable to snag it, however with some quick footwork and an absolute rocket straight into the glove of Gilberto Medina he applied the tag as the batter tried to stretch out a double and the first out was made. Pumped up from this great play, Jake went on to strike out the second batter and the Old Timers were down to their last out. With the count at 2-2 the batter hit a chopper straight to Caress who duly tossed the ball over to the waiting glove of first baseman Glen Downer and the final out was made to seal a great win.

The Raptors now go into the final two games of the season needing to pick up two wins to have a chance at post-season play. The pressure is on, let’s hope this momentum can be carried right up to the end!

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts Eagles prepare for the London Tournament while Falcons, Hawks and Raptors focus on league race

John Kjorstad at last year's London Tournament Home Run Derby

Every year in the middle of July Herts Baseball Club sends its teams out to the International London Tournament for 2 days of non-stop baseball. The tournament is hosted by the Croydon Pirates who do a fantastic job every year.

This year the league schedule has been hit hard by the never-ending rain. The Herts adult teams have a backlog of games which they must fit into whatever free dates remain between now and the postseason in August. This weekend is one of those opportunities to catch up. The Herts Falcons will travel to Finsbury Park for a doubleheader against the London Mets after this match-up was rained out twice already. The Hawks will play a doubleheader versus the Essex Redbacks. This will be a home game at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead. The Raptors have a must-win game against the Old Timers, also at home.

With so many Herts teams involved in league action this weekend there was a risk of Herts not being represented at the London Tournament, however Herts Eagles Manager, Duncan Hoyle, with the support from a group of Herts single-A players managed to put together a team for both Saturday’s and Sunday’s tournament games in Croydon.

We will keep you updated about their adventures in south London throughout the weekend, as well as the outcome of Sunday’s league games involving the other 3 Herts adult teams.

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Hawks’ game at Grovehill Ballpark rained out. Raptors and Eagles away games also cancelled

Despite several ground inspections and anxious monitoring of rain radars and weather forecasts, the AA League crunch game between Guildford Mavericks and Herts Hawks at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead has been postponed due to waterlogged diamonds.

The Raptors and Eagles also received bad news this morning.  The Raptors trip to Guildford Mavericks II was has been postponed. It will now be played on 22 July 2012.

The Herts Eagles visit to Pavilion Field in Brighton for their game against Hove Tuesday was also wiped out by the weather.  The game has been rescheduled for 5 August 2012.

Many other games across the country have been affected after the heavy rainstorm travelled from the south coast northwards and flooded everything in its path.

We are expecting news of the NBL game at Northbrooks Playing Fields in Harlow between the Herts Falcons and the Harlow Nationals and this page will be updated if the game is called off.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Big weekend for Herts teams in race for the national championships

Herts Falcons hope that Phil Clark will be back in time for duel with Harlow (photo by British Baseball Magazine)

Friday night’s red weather warning issued by the weather office seemed to fizzle-out on Saturday and although events like the Formula 1 British Grand Prix qualifying was affected badly, further South, the women’s tennis final at Wimbledon went ahead.

With the fear of a rainout out of the way attention turns to 4 pivotal games for the 4 Herts senior league teams.

FALCONS (12-4) @ NATIONALS (15-4)

After 3 weeks without league action, the Herts Falcons go into battle with the reigning champions. The Harlow Nationals’ last loss came on 10 June when they last met the Falcons. They went on to a 4-game winning streak which took them back into first place. Teams are reluctant to look beyond their next game, but both the Nats and the Falcons can be forgiven for having one eye on the postseason NBCs. There may not be much difference between finishing first or second in the regular season, other than the sense of achievement, however both teams know that losing both games of Sunday’s doubleheader could drag them into the unpredictability of the one-game playoff which awaits the teams which finish fourth and fifth in the regular season. The Lakenheath Diamondbacks’ stunning sweep of the London Mets last weekend was a wake-up call for the four teams ahead of them. That game saw the emergence of Taylor Portman who provided power with the bat but more importantly looked like he can shut down even the most potent of batting lineups. The Taylor Portman-factor will now be on the back of Nats and Falcons minds. This adds an extra edge on a matchup which was already highly-charged after the fireworks on 10 June which almost resulted into a bench-clearing brawl.

MAVERICKS (14-0) @ HAWKS (6-4)

The best team in the BBF AA-League travel to Grovehill Ballpark. The Guildford Mavericks seem unbeatable as they have won all 14 games of the season so far. They have already booked their place in the AA postseason playoffs. The Herts Hawks are also in a comfortable position in terms of postseason qualification, however the stunning form of the Guildford Mavericks and the Poole Piranhas on the other hand is giving the top four teams in Pool B, sleepless nights. The teams which finish third and fourth in Pool B face the daunting prospect of meeting either Guildford or Poole so there is a sense of panic among the top 4 teams in Pool B to finish first or second and avoid the AA favourites.

Herts Baseball's young prospects will need to step up to keep the Raptors alive in the race for the postseason

A win for the Hawks this Sunday could lift them into second place. A loss could put them way down into fourth which could mean that they would have to face the Guildford Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs. The game starts at 12pm at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead. If the Hawks can get the job done quickly enough they may be able to catch the Olympic Torch Relay which passes through Hemel Hempstead this Sunday afternoon from 4:30pm.

RAPTORS (4-3) @ GUILDFORD MAVERICKS II (4-3)

While the Hawks try to end Guildford’s unbeaten run, the Raptors will be looking to keep their playoff hopes alive when they travel to Guildford’s second team. Both teams have 4 wins and 3 losses each and both need a win to stay in the race. Raptors Manager, Arnie Longboy, will be missing a large number of his starting 9 so he will need the Under-17 players who have been called up to hit the ground running when they make their AA league debut this Sunday.

HERTS EAGLES (5-3) @ HOVE TUESDAY (5-0)

The Eagles are still in the race for the playoffs but they will need to give their best performance of the season if they are going to overcome the unbeaten Hove Tuesday. The newest team in the A-League has blown away their opponents winning all of their games with the mercy rule enforced after 7 innings. Can the Eagles shock British Baseball with a win on the South Coast.

 

by Rob Jones

West Kent hunt: Raptors show no mercy

The Raptors came into the season with two big weapons, and both served them well on their visit to Tonbridge this weekend — a powerful offense, and a seemingly endless supply of talented young pitchers.

It was the bats which got to work first on a blustery day at Deacon’s Field. Brodie Caress hit the opening pitch of the day for a single, before stealing second, advancing on a passed ball and then scoring on a double by shortstop Gilberto Medina.

The first five batters had all reached base, when Tonbridge got a sniff of luck and hope, turning a double play to get back into the inning. It was a brief respite, though. Herts batted around, with John Kjorstad and Mark Caress among those scoring runs. In all, 12 runs were on the board before the side was finally retired.

Gilberto Medina
Gilberto Medina in action: he got 5 hits, and scored 5 runs

Then it was the turn of the club’s latest pitching phenom. Tom Everex-Armstrong took the mound and gave the Raptors a solid four innings. The Bobcats were able to get in 4 runs in the first, as everyone settled down. But Everex-Armstrong put up zeroes for two of the innings he threw, and there were noticeably few big hits.

The middle period of the game actually seemed quite sedate, compared with its opening and its finale. Tonbridge were able to bring in a couple of runs, while Herts tacked on but were also held scoreless twice. The Bobcats pitcher was finding the zone more consistently and even picked up a couple of strikeouts in the fourth inning. But the Herts offense had not been defeated, it was merely resting…

And it woke again in the sixth inning. Third baseman Ken Pike got one of his five hits, while the former Little Leaguer Jose Morillo scored one of his four runs. The Raptors were both smart and aggressive on the bases all day and this helped them put seven more runs on the board, and put the game beyond doubt.  For example, catcher Ben Marques — who hit well all day — also manufactured a run in this inning, working a walk before stealing two bases and heading home on a passed ball.

By this time the starting pitchers were both out of the game. Brodie Caress had come in to pitch for Herts, and showed admirable control and poise for a young player. Tonbridge were finally able to get a couple of big hits out into left field, but none of them was enough to take advantage of the lack of an outfield fence.

And so it was the Herts offense, the big bats, that had the final word. There was no more stealing in a 9-run seventh inning, but there were plenty of hits. Everex-Armstrong showed he could wield the bat, and Rob Jones reached base again with a single — they were both driven in by a triple from Medina.

Fittingly, the 35th and last Raptors run of the day was scored by the manager, Arnie Longboy, who had played a leader’s role. He ended up with 5 hits and 4 runs, and when he moved from DH to the field in the closing stages he seemed a magnet for the ball, and made a series of plays to retire Tonbridge batters. His side played with spirit and determination, and showed no mercy to secure their first “mercy rule” win of the season by 35-8.

Raptors have now won two in a row, and are poised to test themselves against the division leaders, the Essex Archers, at Hemel Hempstead this coming weekend.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Something’s gotta give, again

3 May 2009 was the last time the Falcons beat the London Mets with a late rally against relief pitcher Rob Anthony

The Herts Falcons (12-4) are in the middle of a 6-week period during which they face their direct opponents in the race for the National Baseball League title. They won 3 of their last 4 games against the Harlow Nationals (13-4) and the Southampton Mustangs (12-5) last Sunday.

In both of these series their opponents came to Grovehill Ballpark as the team with the best defence (fewest runs allowed per game) in the league while the Falcons were the team with the best offence (most runs scored per game). Something had to give and it did. The Falcons bats drove in 24 runs putting a major dent in the Nationals runs allowed per game which stood at 4.30 before that weekend and they were no longer the best defence after that. Next up came the Mustangs. They had overtaken the Nationals as the team with the best defence but once again the Herts offence was too hot to handle scoring 27 runs in that doubleheader.

We have the same scenario this coming Sunday. The London Mets (10-3) come to Grovehill Ballpark having surged up the standings to within 1 game of the league leaders Harlow. They are now officially the team with the best defence with an impressive 4.46 runs allowed per game. Will defence prevail on this occasion or will the Falcons bats strike again for the third week in a row?

The London Mets are the only team yet to face the Herts Falcons this season and it promises to be a colossal duel. The two teams did meet in the Herts Spring League in March and the Falcons still have the bruises to prove it as Mets starting pitcher Pietro Sollecito shut the Herts offence down with a 7-0 win in that game. This Sunday the Falcons will be eager to prove that this was just a spring training glitch. First pitch is at 12pm.

24 HOURS EARLIER

The stands were packed with fans the last time Herts faced LYBL in the 2011 Under-14 national final

In fact the London vs Herts rivalry gets going 24 hours earlier with a London vs Herts doubleheader in the British U17 League. London are the reigning national champions at U17 level and they have a clear lead in the standings so far this season with a record of 10-2. However they come into the games after a loss to the Cobham Cougars just to prove that they are human after all.

There are more youth league games at Grovehill Ballpark on Saturday. LYBL come to town to face the Herts U14 team in a repeat of last year’s National Final. Many of the Herts players from last year have moved into the U17 age group so this is a chance for the new generation of U14 players to carry the Herts flag. In the U11 bracket the Dodgers and the Giants series resume. They are tied 1-1.

RAPTORS AND HAWKS WITH POSTSEASON AMBITIONS

The Herts Raptors travel to Tonbridge on Sunday looking to build further momentum after their 14-5 win against the Eagles last week. The Herts Hawks return after 3 weeks of rest. They host the Brentwood Stags in a AA-League doubleheader in what is proving to be a very close race for the postseason playoffs.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Falling (back) in love with the game

written by Herts Raptors player, Ken Pike

Whenever I hear stories in the news about top class athletes having problems because they are not enjoying the game or finding the stress particularly difficult to cope with I used to scoff and wonder how people could get stressed at doing something that most people did for fun or enjoyment. They even had the added benefit of getting paid to basically take part in a hobby!

To the casual sportsman a day playing baseball, or football, or whatever sport floats your boat, is a way of relaxing, blowing off steam , and clearing your mind. It is fun. Maybe the aches and pains the next day take a bit of grimacing to get through, and the occasional more serious injury can put a damped on your enjoyment, but for the most part, hearing a multimillionaire complaining about playing is at least confusing and at worst galling and infuriating for those whose jobs are much less savoury.

However, over the past couple of years I may have found some empathy for them. For those who don’t know me, and those particularly new to the club (welcome) I used to manage the Herts Raptors. By further admission, and I am sure those who do know me will nod emphatically, I am not particularly easygoing or relaxed owing to being massively competitive.I generally want everyone and everything to go in the direction of a win. Not at all costs, but certainly at high cost (having myself been at the receiving end of a very serious, and nearly baseball career ending injury three years ago, I fought through hell and high water to get back into the sport).

Let me just point out that this article may read in parts as a confessional, and in parts like a whinge. It isn’t one, it’s an explanation of a journey from love to hate and back. Over the past two years of managing a rookie team I have discovered there is a point where it does start to matter so much that it causes you sleepless nights, stress, gnashed teeth and tense shoulders. A sad point where ultimately, you wake up one day realising that you are not looking forward to going to play baseball.

The Raptors were never expected to achieve much other than train new blood to feed the more senior leagues, but when you are part of the team, and in charge of the team, that expectation is out of the window. You do care, and you want to win, and my opinion is that the day I no longer win is the day I walk away.

I recall heated debates and arguments with the other managers in the club over team selection (I apologised after, and do so again). I also recall being the first at the field and the last off it at every game and every training session, and several more occasions too in a hope to put as much of my soul and energy into the Raptors. I’d like to think I was never the kind of manager to ball people out for not playing well, and hope that the times that I did raise my voice were only ever taken to be the encouragement that I intended them to be, but I imagine that is probably naive, and it is almost certain that at some point people have felt downbeat and sometimes even insulted. (Again, I apologise to them – it wasn’t meant that way). Whether I was right or wrong is now irrelevant, and not the point of this little story anyway.

The end result is that two years in management of a team was hard work. Don’t worry, I am not looking for sympathy, as there is also plenty I gained from it including some good friends, some real experience in teamwork, and even management that has even been translatable to my workplace in small degrees, and a feeling of achievement. Granted, we never won the league, but in both seasons the Raptors went from a team with potential but without any skill or experience to a team that won games and progressed players up the leagues. That was the point of the Raptors at the time so in a way, we were successful.

However, at some point last year, I have to admit I was not enjoying it. It was adding to pressure elsewhere in my life (young family, new job, empty bank account) instead of relieving it. I wouldn’t say it was turning into a job, as I wasn’t getting paid, but it was certainly not the fun pastime it had started out as. I spent hours after the game and even into the next few days analysing my performance and that of the team. Figuring out how we were going to get wins. Figuring out how to get the performances I knew we were capable of. I couldn’t get it out of my head and lost plenty of sleep as a result.

So, one day, after a rather heated argument with one of my own team mates which nearly came to blows, I realised the time had come to step down. Properly. I had done so after my first year in charge to make way for someone else, but was persuaded to give it another shot when no one stepped up, but this time I was certain that if I continued to manage it would damage my relationship with the sport.

The result has been night and day. Now, several months, one Hunlock series, one offseason, one pre-season and one HSL later and a few games into the season and the Raptors are a different kettle of fish. Thanks to some excellent work by various members of the board and the generally fantastic reputation of the greater club, some wonderful talent was recruited to bolster the upper teams, and the knock-on effect has been that the Raptors were put together with the intention of creating playoff (and possibly title) contenders.

The new Raptors manager in the shape of Arnie Longboy brings a much deeper tactical knowledge to the position than I did, and also a much calmer and more pragmatic style of leadership. These are things that are starting to pay off much earlier in the season as we sit on a .500 record with two of the next three games being very winnable. Despite a wobbly start against high quality opponents, hindered by long spells of not having any games thanks to a mixture of timetable, weather and other factors, the Raptors look powerful. Solid defence and a powerful offence. They look like they could be contenders.

For my own part I can concentrate on my own game again, and while parts of my game are still not where I want them to be (notably pitching) other parts have returned in full force (I seem to be able to catch again and ground balls no longer fill me with any fear) and others are returning nicely (I’m getting bat to ball more often than not again).

The insertion of confidence from the first win, hopefully followed by a straightforward fixture against league struggling Tonbridge next week may be enough to kickstart a roll. There are at least three fixtures that the Raptors should be well capable of winning, and another that will be close. If we put those in the bag then we are facing postseason.

However, that’s a paragraph full of ‘ifs’ ‘hopefullys’ and ‘shoulds’ and ultimately the end position is not the point. It is not always getting the result and league position that counts in making a game enjoyable. That’s not to say winning isn’t important though. I think the hardest thing for someone with my competitive streak was not being competitive. Not being in with a shout at all is harder than narrowly missing out on what could have been. Spending every game looking for the little victories and sometimes scraping the barrel when trying to find the positives is not easily sustained. Sooner or later morale starts to sap.

The long and short of it is, that without the burden of management, and coupled with a real prospect of competing for wins, means that slowly but surely that passion for the game is re-igniting in my heart. I had a smile on my face for the whole of Sunday’s hard fought win against the Eagles, and for the first time in a long time my head was not racing for the rest of the evening with things that I or the team could have done better, because for the large part…there wasn’t really anything. Instead it was filled with dreams of the Raptors playing that well again (as Eagles manager Duncan Hoyle said, the Raptors made few mistakes and were clinical in everything they did.)

Maybe I do understand how people fall out of love with the game now. When the desire to win, or to achieve a certain target, even if that target is just to play to your best irrespective of results, does not meet up with reality it can feel a bit like a kick in the teeth. Maybe some of those MLB/NFL/NBA/NHL/Premier League superstars that swap from team to team hoping for a solution are not looking for more money or glory, but just trying to re-set their focus and find a place they enjoy being at (maybe).

I have now re-set my focus, and have been hit with the wonderful fortune that it seems the whole team have turned a new page at the same time. Some habits die hard, and I am sure there will be times when I feel frustrated and downbeat if we blow a close game for example. I still want to win more than ever, and with the potential of doing so being closer than ever part of me burns for that success. But for the most part, I am not just back to enjoying the game…I am back to sitting at my desk on a Tuesday afternoon, barely over the aches and pains from the last game, dreaming of next Sunday. Of hitting that ball one more time, of running the paths, and making those outs…all for the love of the game.