YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY

That is exactly what Dan Rubin said and, in fact, today (Thursday) is Dan's 60th birthday. He celebrated this week by homering in a rollicking 22-15 Pen & Pencil victory over the Fighting Amendments of the National Constitution Center.
"Do you know how far I have to hit a ball to score standing up?" Rubin asked.
Yes, the answer, as it applies to Edgeley 4, is this: You have to hit it to the road, and even then it's kind of touch and go. Dan is deliberate on the base paths, with a Ruthian stride that brings to mind a man running across lily pads, trying not to linger too long on any, but trying to touch them all. (You don't get this kind of stuff anywhere else, folks.)

Messy book.

Rubin's blast deep, deep into right field highlighted a seven-run fifth inning that finally put us comfortably ahead in a game that had a little too much back to its back and forth for a while. We scored early and often, but NCC was able to answer and we helped out a little with some so-so fielding, but eventually opened things up to improve our record to 4-0.
It was another wonderfully messy scorebook on our side. P&P had 30 hits in just six innings at the plate and there were a lot of heroes to go around. Manager Mark Nevins had a nine-RBI evening, with a pair of three-run home runs, a two-run triple and a sacrifice fly. The book says that the Attendance Committee was 5-for-5, and that George Miller and Jon Snyder each had three hits.
Kate Hagedorn continued to have this game figured out. Hit the ball on the ground to the left side and let those laggards try to throw her out. She was 4-for-4. Courtney Sams smoked the ball for two hits and was robbed on another drive into left..
Back to Rubin, he was 4-for-4 and set the world record for the greatest disparity between consecutive hits. One at bat after he put his home run through the rubgy goalpost down the right field line, he topped a pitch and it landed just in front of the plate, sort of actually touching the plate, but in fair territory. Hey, it looked good in the scorebook. So did everything else.
Onward, to Tuesday vs. the hated South Philly Nomads Pizza contingent. Let's top them.

Jon Snyder was late again. He said he was working, but we found out he was signing autographs in the stands.

                  

GETTING INTO THE SWING

There's nothing quite as beautiful as a messy scorebook and, boy, did we have a messy scorebook on Monday after our game versus the Honey Badgers, who we badgered all over Edgeley 4 to the tune of 18-8. And the tune went something like this: whappa-whappa-uh huh-uh huh-smacka-smacka-yeah-yeah-sorry pitcha-sorry pitcha-didn't-mean-to-almost-gitcha-gitscha.
Our records are regrettably a little hazy on this, but it's probably been a while since we batted 19 people in the first inning, scored 13 runs and then coasted to the finish. Manager Paul of the Badgers noted that they won the game after the first inning, 8-5, and while that is mathematically true, the 13-0 first inning counts as well.
On the evening, we recorded 29 hits, according to the able book of Ron Goldwyn, and were led by four hits each from Steve Lynch, Brian Donlen and George Miller, who also had four RBIs. The RBI king, with five, was Jimmy V. whose first-inning grand slam was a highlight. Three hits each for Courtney Sams, who was pissed off after a trying day at work, and Chip Proctor, who didn't really talk about work, so we don't know.
Every player who got more than one at-bat had at least one hit, Yaz pitched a great game and manager Nevins got all 17 players into the game and to the plate, which ain't easy. (Although easier when you score 13 in the first inning.) Jon Snyder unveiled DroneCam, and, well, it has promise.
Onward. We play NCC on Monday and will try to rewrite their amendments as well.

AND WE HAD TO GET OUR OWN BEER

And it was fucking Lionshead and, boo hoo hoo. Well, welcome to a new day. A little adversity didn't hurt you any, either, did it? Two games, two wins. So what if the manager had to write the lineup using a Frisbee as his clipboard? Does anyone remember what the official clipboard did for us all those games? Got us beat. That's what it did.

Yeah, a Frisbee. Get used to it.

Same goes for the lineup neatly posted on the fence, with the special black Sharpie and the highlighter and the titanium S-clip holding it all together. You don't need no stinking Sharpie. (The highlighter you will eventually miss, however. Mark my words.)
So, details are sketchy, because there aren't any, but it was a back-and-forth win over Bishop's Collar to open the season, and then a rousing butt-roasting for the Zoo in the next game. Nevins texted me or emailed me the scorebook page from the Zoo game, but I'll be damned if I can find it now. As I remember, there were a lot of hits.
Oh, wait. Here it is. Top four hitters in the lineup -- Proctor, Miller, Nevins and Donlen -- didn't make an out in 25 at-bats, with the exception of a Donlen sacrifice fly. That's not bad. Snyder, Lynch and Jimmy V. had some hits, too, Jimmy broke the goddam bat, and Kathy M. smoked the ball, but they kept catching it. There you go. Details.
Season continues Monday against the Honey Badgers. We split with them last season and they got better and better, eventually making the CCSL World Series. Courtney Sams makes her 2016 debut, now that the Flyers have finally gotten the ice cleared.