7 3
A solid all around effort opened the 1998 season on a winning note. Jermain and Mike shared the pitching and catching duties. Mike debuted on the mound in the 3rd with 3 Ks on 9 pitches. The defense was excellent, with Kyle, Kevin, Jay and Jonathon all playing well. At the plate, Joseph was 1-2 with the GWRBI, while Kyle, Andrew, Kevin, Jordan and Jonathon all swung the bat well. An impressive debut.

6 4
A 4-run 7th gave the Phillies the win in a seesaw game. Julian made his pitching debut, throwing 5 strong innings. At the plate, Jermain doubled and Jay ripped a solid hit to right field, while Andrew continued to swing the bat well. Brent drew his fifth straight walk and is still looking for his first official at bat. In the field, Mike and Mike looked solid behind the plate, while Cindy had a dynamite debut, making every kind of play in the field at first base. She also walked and stole 2nd, racing around to score our first run on an errant throw. A solid game decided by good hitting by the Phillies.

6 5
The Reds may have set a team record in the this game for fewest strikeouts in a game, as all of the bats were pretty active. Mike, Mike, Mike and Mike all swung the bats well (yes, that does get confusing), as did Cindy, Jermain, Andrew, Jay and almost everyone else. The defense was fairly solid, with Joseph debuting at second and Johnathon making a great diving catch on a foul ball at third. Good hitting and defense by both teams in a game that could have gone either way.

8 5
Another tough loss, but one in which the hitting was once again very solid. Cindy ripped her first hit, as did Justin, while Kyle went 1-3, swinging well all game. Jay was aggresive at the plate and hit safely, while Jermain tripled to right field. Defensively, Brent threw out a runner at the plate and Julian and Mike (14) pitched fairly well, however, some mental mistakes led to a big inning for the Pirates. All in all a good effort against a thus far undefeated team.

12 7
A good offensive effort marked by a large number of walks and excellent baserunning. The defense was a little shaky but Jermain and Julian both pitched well while the team built up a large lead. This game marked the pitching debut of Brent, who performed fairly well, striking out 2 in 1 1/3 innings, although he did struggle with his control. The team was without Jay, who was called up to the peewee game to fill in. He fit right in there, reaching base twice and scoring a run. The play of the game and the year thus far was a 1-6-2 double play by Brent, Julian and Jermain to diffuse a double steal of 2nd and home.

11 1
Probably the most complete performance of the year. Julian tossed 3 no-hit innings for the win and Jay looked much improved in two relief innings. Jermain drove the offense with a single and doubleand played an excellent game behind the plate, throwing out two runners at third. Brent and Cindy were solid at 2nd and 1st, while Jordan played an alert center field. The baserunning was excellent again. Mike (17) stole a handful of bases in the leadoff spot, while Justin, Jay and Jermain all swiped home. Kyle also showed some speed on the bases. The hitters could have taken a few more cuts, but the opposing pitchers were pretty wild, as Joseph, Kyle, Mike (11) and Jordan were all plunked.

16 6
It's never a good omen when a key player turns up on crutches, although at least it wasn't a soccer injury this time. With Jermain grounded, the team was a bit short-handed, however, they also put forth the weakest effort of the year, by far. While the pitchers struggled with control, they received no help defensively, and not from a lack of making plays, but from a lack of concentration. The number of errant throws and uncovered bases simply got out of hand. Offensively, the team was unspectacular, but not bad. Joseph, Mike (14) and Julian all picked up hits, and most of the team had some good at bats, although some would benefit from taking more swings. Some good practice time ought to eliminate the kinds of errors that put us so completely out of this game.

7 5
A MUCH better game almost resulted in an upset of the Phillies. Even with Jermain still hobbling around the team played very well. Jay pitched easily his best outing of the year, going five strong innings. He received defensive support from Julian, who made a very impressive debut behind the plate, throwing out 2 runners. Mike (17) and Cindy turned an inning-ending double play to end the first inning, and Brent gunned down another runner at the plate on a relay throw, one of four Phillies thrown out at the plate. Mike (14) kept up his hot bat, going 2-3, while Kevin and Julian also helped to power the offense. Jordan also looked good at the plate, although he failed to reach base. The game was decided in the bottom of the sixth, with one down, the bases-loaded and a 5-5 tie. The batter drove a ball to centre and all three runners broke. Mike (17) made a heroic effort tracking the ball, but it tipped off his outstretched glove, counting two. A great game, decided by inches.

12 8
A somewhat sloppy game, as neither team had stellar pitching. Mike (14) started, but didn't have it, and turned it over to Kevin, who didn't fare too badly over his two innings. Julian pitched the last two, allowing only two runs, but he's looked sharper. The two Dodgers hurlers were much the same, issuing several walks and hit batters. Offensively, Kyle stood out with two hits and a pair of RBIs. Julian also picked up a hit, and Mike (14), Joseph and a returning Jermain also made some contact, but otherwise the game was basically walk, walk, plunk, walk, plunk, walk. On defense, Mike (11) made a great catch on a lined shot to right field. Cindy and Brent also put in solid efforts in the field. The team played pretty well, but with definite room for improvement.

11 5
Might have been 10-5, or 12-5, the scorekeeper wasn't really sure. (Glad it wasn't a close game) The game was closer than the score indicated. The Reds bats were silent until the fifth inning. (SWING guys!!) By that point the score was 6-0. Jermain pitched well for three innings, but had to leave to go to a soccer game. (Insert considerable cursing here) Jay and Julian struggled with their control in relief, and both balked in a run. The defense also made some critical errors. Once the team started to hit, they hit pretty well. Mike (12) ripped a base hit to right field, scoring Kevin. Mike (14) followed with a run scoring single. Julian walked, setting up Andrew with the bases loaded. He smoked a single, scoring 2 and cutting the lead to 6-4. Defensively, both Kyle and Kevin made solid plays in the field, and Brent played another strong defensive game at second and first.

21 6
Well, we were off for three weeks, which is a long time. And we did lose one player to soccer (shouldn't interest wane now that that little tournament is over?), and one to the sweltering 33 degree heat, so we were down to nine players. That said, 21-6 is still ridiculous. Bases left uncovered, throws everywhere, and more than enough walks were the chief conspirators to this disaster. On the bright side (and there is one, small though it may be) Mike (12) had a good game behind the plate, showing off a rocket arm, while Kevin and Julian each smacked solid hits. Brent pitched late and showed good stuff. Once his consistency comes around, he'll be a good one.

10 5
A much better game than the Dodgers debacle, however, we were lucky to pull this one out against a tough and much improved Padres squad. Jermain started and pitched well, with Julian spotting him for two innings. The defense, while not as porous as last week, still showed a few warts, and a couple of errant throws, plus some good hitting by the Padres, had us down 5-0 at the end of four. The Padres starter was very good, and stymied us for five innings. We scratched out a run on a Jermain walk, a pair of stolen bases, and a Kyle single. The batters were swinging pretty well, and forcing some deep counts, but just couldn't get anything going. Fortunately for us, the Padres ran out of pitching in the sixth. 14 batters and a team record nine runs later, the tide had turned. However, virtually all of the offense was via the walk (save Joseph's single for the GWRBI). Not how you'd ideally like to win, but after the last few games, we'll take the breaks as we get them. Mike (14) caught his best game of the season. Thanks to Bob Irwin for filling in on the bench on a night when the coaching staff was short-handed.

8 8
It's never a great night when you're life and death to tie the league's only winless team. This game could be dubbed "Open Mike" night. Mike (14) started, and pitched well for two innings, but completely lost it after nicking his finger on the seams of the ball. (Why us?) Mike would go on to catch a couple of innings, and throw out a key runner in the 7th. He would also double to right field. Mike (11) returned from vacation and played well, legging out a hit and making a fine play tracking a fly ball to right field, something seldom seen at this level. Mike (17) provided the highlight of the night, when, with the team desperately out of pitching and tied in the bottom of the 7th, made his pitching debut. Mike struck out two, including the Giants' cleanup man, in a David vs. Goliath matchup, on a 3-2 fastball to preserve the tie. Jermain played a good game behind the plate, and led the offense. The defense was still less than sharp. The baserunning varied from the excellent to the ridiculous. Julian ran through a stop sign and was erased at the plate, while Kyle was picked off third, although his stolen base of third in the 7th led to the tying run. A highly questionable call cost the team at least one run, likely two or three, however, if we'd taken advantage of our chances early on, it wouldn't have mattered.

10 0
In a word: "Ouch." This game was only 1-0 until the 3rd inning, when the Mets blew the lid off. They have a fairly good hitting team, and their defense was sound, but unfortunately we were firing blanks at all facets of the game. Jermain, Mike (17) and Brent all gave a good effort on the mound, but the team struggled defensively. The throws from the outfield to the infield were something of an adventure. Julian had tough luck behind the plate as two straight runners were safe on throws that just popped out of his mitt. On the bases, things weren't much better. After leading off the game with a single, Mike (17) was erased on a hesitant steal of second. Kyle was later caught on a stalled attempt of third to end the inning. As a baseball scribe once wrote, "there was larceny in their hearts, but their feet were honest." The hitters drilled a few balls, but inevitably, a Met was in the way. The game marked Cindy's return from a basketball injury. She replaced Mike (14), who missed the game with an injury. We're considering changing the team logo to a cross. After a tough 3-game week, the team is still in decent shape to catch the Padres for first in the division, but we need the type of good, alert effort that the team is capable of to do it.

15 5
The Reds bounced back with an effort they badly needed in this one. The defense was airtight (just 1 error), the pitching was very good, and the offense was working pretty well, too. Julian picked up the win with 3 solid innings. He had a lot of support in the field. Brent played well at second, and the team was glad to welcome Jay back from vacation. He shared first base duties with Cindy, as well as playing third base, where he and Jermain hooked up to gun down the Padres cleanup hitter on a caught stealing. Mike (11) played another strong game in the outfield, while Kevin was more alert at short. At the plate, Mike (17) provided some spark in the leadoff role, reaching base all night long. Jermain doubled down the left field line, Andrew scorched a ball to the fence in right, and Julian, Kevin and Cindy all hit safely. The game was not entirely without its warts. The umpire's strike zone was miniscule, and the team let a few too many very good looking pitches go by, pitches that would normally be called strikes. That said, the Reds definitely played like the better team tonight.

5 0
The defense showed up for this one. Despite finishing their season 0-16-1, everyone in the Giants lineup put the ball in play, which meant the defense had to turn it up, and they did. Cindy and Jay were rock solid at first, while a returing Mike (14) played well at third. Kevin and Brent provided good glovework up the middle. Jermain and Julian formed the battery in this one, combining on the shutout. Jermain threw out two straight runners at third in the 6th to help quell the Giants best hopes for a rally. Kevin, shifted to CF for an inning, made the heads up play of the night, charging a bass loaded hit up the middle and flipping to Mike (17) at second for the force, ending the 6th. Offensively, the team hit the ball pretty well. Kevin, Jay and Mike (14) provided three straight singles to open up a 3-0 lead, which we later extended to 5-0 thanks to the speed of Jay and Mike (17) who scampered home on throwing errors in the 6th. Cindy, Julian, Mike (12), Joseph and Kyle also swung the bats well. A few base running blunders kept the score close, namely Brent trying to trot to third on a walk, unaware that there was no one on first, and Joseph was picked off first by the catcher, but as a whole, this was a very well-played game.

11 11
This is a highly misleading score. The Reds outplayed the Dodgers in every aspect of the game, however the game was nearly lost in a bizarre bottom of the sixth when the strike zone mysteriously disappeared. The Dodgers plated 7 runs without the aid of a hit. Pitcher Jermain was struggling a bit, but got absolutely no calls, and the Dodgers simply refused to swing. In a league in which one of our goals is to teach the players to hit, a strike zone that small is ludicrous. Fortunately, Kevin fielded a sharp grounder and stepped on third for the final out of the game, barely preventing the winning run from scoring. Aside from this debacle, the team played a great game both in the field and at the plate. Jermain and Julian pitched well. Brent, Cindy, Jay and Kevin sparkled in the field. The fielding highlight goes to Kyle, who snagged a hot line drive in centre field and proceeded to double off the runner at second. He also sparked the first of two five run rallies with a shot to right field. Mike (12) singled, doubled and drove in 5 runs, sparking the offense. Kevin, Mike (14), Jermain, Julian, Mike (11), Joseph and Cindy also swung hot bats. The entire team played well, and deserved a win.

13 7
The night before at SkyDome, our group name was spelled without the "e" in Smythe Park on the Jumbotron. This may have been a bad omen, because we had a few E's in this one. The game started well. For the first two innings, we made plays and hit the ball well and built up a 7-2 lead. After that the roof caved in. Balls were booted or dropped, and throws were made lazily. We gave the Dodgers second chances and they cashed in, hitting the ball fairly well. The pitching wasn't awful, although walks did hurt a bit. Brent and Cindy played well in the field. At the plate, Cindy again distinguished herself, smoking a base hit up the middle, while Mike (14) launched a double to left. Unfortunately, the hitters got lazy and allowed too many good pitched to slip by without offering at them. The team is very capable of rebounding from this game, and equally capable of beating the Dodgers.

6 3
One bad inning cost us this game. A couple of defensive lapses, and a very bizarre play compounded into a 5-run Giants 2nd. On an attempted steal of third, Jermain pegged the ball off the top of the runner's helmet. It took a wicked bounce over the head of the left fielder (!) allowing a run to score and another runner to come to third. Mike (14) relieved Julian with the Giants up 5-2, and pitched his best game in a Reds' uniform, holding the Giants to a run over the final 3.1 innings. Jermain, in his final game as a Red, was outstanding behind the plate, throwing out a half dozen runners. A lack of timely hits proved to be costly in this one. We managed to get runners on base pretty well, but failed to cash them in. Brent and Mike (17) did a good job of getting on base, drawing 6 walks between them. Joseph scorched a single up the middle, which is a very good sign for the future. Justin ripped one back at the mound with the bases loaded, but the Giants pitcher made a fine play to get out of trouble. Generally the defense played pretty well, we just didn't have a lot of luck in the 2nd inning, and couldn't recover afterwards. Despite some tough luck in the post-season, the team can be proud of a solid year and the 1998 West Division title. After the game, Jay was presented with the 1998 Coaches Choice Award.

Smythe Park Reds Baseball Club© 1996-2007