Late pics! Again!

Sorries.

Banquet Pictures on Kodak

Blues Banquet 2007

This year, the rain didn't stop us from going back to the place where the banquet tradition began, the Beer Garden. It was a stormy night in Astoria but once the showers passed, the pitchers started flowing and a fun time was had by all. Awards were passed out and infamous moments from the 2007 season were reinacted. By the end of the night, the conversations had moved from "why guys are jerks" to "why girls are naive" to physiologcial discussion that aren't fit to print here. Receiving special gifts were myself, a sharp new custom made Blues cap that will leave other office teams drooling, and Matt "Gang" Greene with a signed team ball and an amazing hand-crafted-wood-burned-plaque with the Blues logo. Click the photo above for the rest of the pics if you don't believe me. Farewell Mr. Greene, keep a couch open in Wisconsin for us. Everyone else, have a great offseason and get ready for the playoffs in 2008!

Game 12: Pirates-19, Blues-7

Well, after a shakey first inning, our final game wasn't the nail-biter we were hoping it would be but it was still a lot of fun. The Pirates were a nice team to play and since it was a Thursday night game we were able to stay out a little later than normal. Which is probably why I have been in a daze since then and am only posting the recap now (Tuesday). All in all, it's been another great season and we'll see you at the banquet!

Oxford Blues: 4, EBG: 13

That's a huge dude! The Oxford Blues ran into another law firm this season that apparently staffs ex-major league ball players. Even though the Blues fell to the EBG Bees, Ken and Rob did a great job of limiting their high powered offense to only 13 runs over 7 innings. Ken also had a good game at the plate with a solo homer to left field. That shot came right after Kyle "Crazy Legs" Taylor scored an error-laden inside the park home run by disregarding all fundamental base running rules. The defensive play of the game was made by outfielder Elyse Turr who made a spectacular catch while back peddaling in right field to track down a fly ball. The Blues are now 3-8 heading into their final game Thursday night against the Pirates (2-8).

A few more photos from Tuesday

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Enjoy my absolutely stellar point-and-shooting from the Translate This game at Dewitt-Clinton.

Flickr

Oxford Blues: 6, Translate This: 18

The story from last night's game is pretty much the same as it has been for the last few games. The Blues posted a few great catches (Ben's snag in right field), great defensive plays (Martin's back-to-back assists at second base), and some great hits but in the end our opponent apparently scored more runs than we did. The magic from last week's hitting streaks was not in the air last night but it was still a fun game and we ended up playing a full seven innings even though the mercy rule officially ended our game in the bottom of the fifth. I only have a few pics so I'll just post them all below. Remember to click the photos for full-sized action.

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Dan brought a super-secret sugary weapon to the game last night. In this photo he can be seen chokeing on a huge pinch of that weapon (BLC a.k.a. Big League Chew) while Martin, the grizzled old-school traditionalist who despises performance enhancing supplements, turns away in disgust.

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Joe C. mentally prepares for the game in silence. That is all.

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Matt Greene was released from the fake hospital yesterday afternoon just in time for the Blues game. The team welcome him back with make-believe warm wishes, which forced Matt to take a moment and reflect on his pretend illness.

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This is the only in-game photo that I have but I think it's fair to say that I managed to pack the excitement of at least 9 photos into this one shot.

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Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you . . . the jingle jugs.

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After the game, the team headed to the tried and true Bull Moose Saloon for libations. There was another encounter with the Norwegian pool shark but things stayed cool. As we sat there drinking, telling funny stories, and listening to great music on the jukebox it brought back some fond memories. Particularly the memories of one spectacular summer years ago. I believe it was the summer of '69.

Oxford Blues: A lot, Debevoise & Plimpton: A lot more

The Oxford Blues lost last night to Devilnoise & Pimpleton (28-14), bringing their season record to 3-6. However, even though the Blues gave up the most runs since their second game of last season, it was one of the most glorious losses in Blues history, and that's saying something.

D&P came ready to hit and pounded the ball all over the field. Undeterred, the Blues got their bats going right out of the gate with a two run homer by the red hot Dan Ozzi in the bottom of the first. In the fourth inning everyone got in their groove and put the ball in play while hustling down the first base line. The effort resulted in a scrappy two-out rally which scored more runs and loaded the bases for Ozzi. Hitting instructor and right-center fielder Ben Keene, who had a magnificent shoestring catch earlier in the inning, pulled Dan aside and wisely told him to "hit a grand slam". Dan obeyed and sent a rocket out to left field clearing the bases.

In the fifth and final inning Andy Fargnoli, with disregard for his own personal safety, made a tough catch in foul territory while colliding with the chain link fence in left field. While the dugout collectively gasped, he jogged away unscathed and smiling as usual. The bottom of the fifth produced another rally for the Blues offense. Credit once again goes to everyone who hustled out their hits. Kate Brown had an especially great night at the plate going 3 for 3 which kept many innings alive.

Unfortunately we did not have a photographer on hand so the above picture is from our archives (a.k.a. Jared's flickr page). It's from the first game of the season which was also under the lights at Dewitt Clinton.

Highlights from the post game festivities at the Bull Moose Saloon include meeting a stubborn-loner-Norwegian-pool-fanatic and of course the set of jingle jugs that were on display behind the bar.

Diller's Killers 13, Oxford Blues 1

The long week seemed to take it's toll on the Blues as they lost on Friday 13-1 to IAC/Diller's Killers. The generous strike zone by our least favorite umpire also did the Blues no favors. However, there will already be a chance to avenge that loss tomorrow at Dewitt Clinton Park, field #2 (7:30pm).

Some promosing notes from Friday's game were the Joe C. to Matt Greene to Kate Brown double play (5-4-3) and Dan Ozzi's second home run in as many games. It's great plays like those that keep the scrappy Blues coming back for more. See you tomorrow night!

Ain't No Sunshine

Tonight’s game has been cancelled. Even though it looks like the rain will hold off for a while. I guess it’s pretty hot anyway so maybe this is a blessing. Anyway, we don’t have a game next week because of the holiday so our next game will be Friday, July 13th. The rest of our schedule is below, plus today’s game will be rescheduled. Have a nice 4th of July week!

Oxford Blues @ IAC/Diller's Killers 13 Jul 2007 (Fri)
05:30 PM North Meadow - #8

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP @ Oxford Blues 17 Jul 2007 (Tue)
07:30 PM Dewitt Clinton Park - #2

Oxford Blues @ Translate This! 24 Jul 2007 (Tue)
07:30 PM Dewitt Clinton Park - #2

Oxford Blues @ EBG Bees 30 Jul 2007 (Mon)
07:00 PM North Meadow - #8

Game 7: Telerep 21, Oxford 14

"It's a beautiful day for a ballgame... Let's play two!" The famous words of Ernie Banks aptly described the mood of the Oxford Blues yesterday. On a sun drenched field, the Blues played their first ever game on the immaculate Great Lawn. We even had two photographers to capture the momentous occasion. Click on the photo above for a link to Jared's photos and the photo below for a link to Justine's photos. Don't for get to click on each pic once you get to their flickr pages to read the captions.

Although we were defeated, everyone enjoyed the game and some of the Blues faithful were even on hand to cheer on the team. There were many great plays yesterday but one that cannot go without mentioning is the catch of the year that was made by Glenn "Magic Glove" Mathes in right center field. Back pedaling to catch a fly ball and realizing that it would go over his head, Glenn turned his back to the infield at the last minute, took a couple quick steps to get deeper, stuck his glove straight up, and caught the ball as it came down directly over his head to get the third out of the inning. It was simply amazing and pandemonium qucikly ensued in the Blues dugout.

Game 6: Oxford Shuts out Scripps, 7-0

The rumors were correct. The "59th St. Field/Queensboro Oval-#1" is actually a red clay field located directly under the Queensboro bridge. Unfortunately, our opponent did not have enough players to field a team so they had to forefeit which gives us an official win with a 7-0 score. The Blues made the best of the situation though and got in some batting practice on the dangerously slick field. Since there isn't much else to report, I'll leave you with the immortal words of the Red Hot Chili Peppers:

I don’t ever want to feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way

Under the bridge downtown
Is where I drew some blood
Under the bridge downtown
I could not get enough
Under the bridge downtown
Forgot about my love
Under the bridge downtown
I gave my life away

Game 5: Oxford-6, CSTV Slammers-14

The Oxford Blues held their own against a good team on Wednesday to enter the last inning with a 6-6 tie. However, the CSTV Slammers were able to hit the gaps in the top of the 7th inning and produce 8 runs.

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The Blues didn't hang their heads though and took pride in a solid outing with all around hitting throughout the order and tough defense. In fact, second baseman Matt "Mad Dog" Greene, pictured above with that crazy look in his eye, was so intense that he couldn't contain himself from exploding at the umpire with a profanity laced outburst. Although the play in question was actually a clean play, the expletive put fear in the hearts of CSTV.

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Catharine Rae had a great game and with two outs and the bases loaded, drove in 2 runs in the 4th inning to tie the game back up.

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Our next game is Wednesday, June 13th on a clay field located directly under the Queensboro bridge. I know that sounds like some sort of weird joke but it's true. I can't make this stuff up.

Blues 21, Tulane Green Machine 20

With a dramatic three run rally in the bottom of the seventh, the Oxford Blues beat the Tulane Green Machine 21-20, improving to 2-2. Facing the Tulane alumni association's lineup of power hitters was no easy task, but the Blues relied on their trademark defense and responded with a newly-awakened offense, scoring a franchise record 21 runs.

The game was a nail-biter from start to finish, with both teams batting around around multiple times in the early innings. When Tulane jumped out to an unanswered 20-12 lead late in the game, things seemed a little grim for the Blues. On-field tensions hit their peak after a Tulane baserunner interfered with a double-play attempt, leading Captain Kyle Taylor to charge in all the way from centerfield to argue the non-call. On the Tulane bench, a call could be heard to slide "spikes up" in the future.

Still the Blues rallied again, only trailing by two as the game pushed into the seventh inning. Shortstop Dan "the Wizard" Ozzi and Taylor tied the game on third baseman Ken Foye's double. With one out, and the theme from "The Natural" playing, outfielder Andy Fargnoli hit a flair that fell in for a hit as the Tulane infield collided with one another, scoring Ken easily and winning the Blues the game. Pitcher Robert "the Rocket" Repino was given the game ball not just for pitching defense, but also for setting the tone for the offense from the leadoff spot. But it was a true team effort, with hits and RBIs up and down the lineup.

After the game, the Blues retired to McAleer's for beer and wings to watch the Yankees beat the Red Sox.

Game 3: Blues-3, AARRGHH-2, Other Dude-2

The Blues played sharp ball yesterday and carried over their excellent defense from the end of Game 2 to allow AARRGGHH only 3 runs through seven innings. However a game winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning gave our new rival team the victory. It would only be a moral victory though, since they admittedly cheated which gave the Blues their first official win of the season.

Facing a forfeit due to lack of players before the game started, AARRGGHHH despicably grabbed a player from another field to fill out their mandatory 8 player roster. Their ringer ended up scoring half of their runs and ultimately won them the game. Afterwards, they acknowledged the foul and the technical loss.

The Blues had plenty to cheer about and even though their bats still haven’t heated up, their gloves have been red hot. Kate Brown played a stellar first base and earned this season’s first game ball. She was involved in one of the top plays of the game when Eric Stannard made a great stop on the line at third and threw a one hop rocket to first base which was scooped up by Kate. Eric “Ice Man” Stannard stayed cool in the tense bottom of the seventh and made another great play that would keep the game alive. With a tied score, two outs, and a runner on first and third, he got the 5-4 (third base to second base) force out to keep the game winning run from scoring.

The team headed to Jake’s Dilemma after the game to recap the tense action and come up with nicknames and at-bat songs for the players. Notable creations were Robert “the Rocket” Repino and Ben Keene’s new theme song, “Peaches” by the President of the United States of America.

Game 2

Well, another game is in the books and although the final result was a 16-0 loss, the Blues kept their spirits high. This was due in part to an outstanding defensive performance in the last half of the game to hold SG Bank to 1 run in the last three innings. There were great catches in the outfield by Natanya and Glenn, solid fielding and throwing by the infield, and even an outfield assist from Andy “don’t-you-dare-tag-up-from-second-on-me” Fargnoli. Also helping to ease the loss was a generous gift from the umpire who allowed us to play all seven innings and gave us an extra out at the end so that we could get more batters in. We only have a couple of pics from yesterday and since there was no team photographer at the game they were both taken at the bar.

While at the bar, the topic of cinema came up and the team debated and then determined that Tim Buton directed a better Batman film than Chris Nolan, although Christian Bale played a better Batman than Michael Keaton. I found out that apparently I’m the only person who’s ever seen the movie Money Talks. We all learned that Martin has an unabashed man-crush on Michael Caine.

Our next game is Thursday at 7pm on the North Meadow in lovely Central Park. We’ll be playing “AAARRGGGHH!!!” who we faced off against last year and should be much closer to our level of competition than the last two teams.

Here's one last tip: running full speed, coming to a complete stop, catching the ball in an embarassingly awkard fashion, and then rolling on the asphalt is not recommended. If you are confused please see Dan Ozzi for a vivid reinactment.

Game 1

The first game of the season is in the books and although we didn’t win (mercy ruled 15-2) there sure were a lot of us there! A record setting 27 players came out to the park. I think our opponent, Coach, either brought in some ringers or hit the weight room hard since last season. They didn’t look like the team we beat 8-7 last year. Highlights of the game include Joe C’s giant hit to right field which brought in our only two runs of the game and a 4th inning mini-rally by our second wave of players that got the Blues dugout roaring.

Afterwards, we moseyed on down to the Bull Moose Saloon and dominated their upstairs seating area. A good time was had by all. Especially those who stuck around for the 25 cent buffalo wings. Outstanding!

Check out Jared’s awesome camera skills and be sure to click on each picture instead of watching the slideshow so that you can read the captions.

Next game: Thursday, May 10th

Awaiting an Apology from President Bush

After our first scheduled game of the season was rained out, our "second" first game of the season was postponed due to doofus related conditions.

Mr. Bush landed on the North Meadow Tuesday forcing us to wait another week for the first taste of regular season competition. Luckily, we were able to find a decent patch of dirt on the East Meadow and get some practice in. There was a nice turnout that included many new players. Hopefully next week's game will be played as scheduled but at this rate I wouldn't be suprised if more rain or a random attack by Mothra altered our plans.

North Meadow

The North Meadow ballfields are located in Central Park between 103rd and 96th streets. We have five games there this year on fields 7, 8, and 11. They are well maintained and a treat to play on compared to some of our other fields. Note the actual grass in the photo from last year of Stefan rounding third! A basic map of the fields can be found here. For those of you who can't get enough of shoddy-interactive web tools, you can use centralpark.com's field finder (it might take a while for the high-res photos to load).

To get to the fields from work we usually catch the B train uptown to the 96th st stop.

2007 Schedule

Here is the schedule for this summer. I think it's the best one we've had so far. There are six games in Central Park and even one on the Great Lawn. We also don't have any games all the way uptown. I'll send out the directions as the games approach but if you have any questions let me know. We've played about half of our opponents on this schedule last season so we may even be able to start some rivalries.

Oxford Blues @ Translate This! (Postponed)
17 Apr 2007 (Tue) / 07:30 PM
Dewitt Clinton Park - #3

Oxford Blues @ EBG Bees
24 Apr 2007 (Tue) / 07:00 PM
North Meadow - #8

Oxford Blues @ Coach
03 May 2007 (Thu) / 07:30 PM
Dewitt Clinton Park - #2

Oxford Blues @ SG Bank
10 May 2007 (Thu) / 05:30 PM
Peter's Field - #1

Oxford Blues @ AARRRGGGHHH!!!
17 May 2007 (Thu) / 07:00 PM
North Meadow - #7

Tulane Green Machine @ Oxford Blues
01 Jun 2007 (Fri) / 05:30 PM
North Meadow - #7

CSTV Slammers @ Oxford Blues
06 Jun 2007 (Wed) / 05:30 PM
North Meadow - #11

Scripps @ Oxford Blues
13 Jun 2007 (Wed) / 05:30 PM
59th St. Field/Queensboro Oval - #1

Telerep @ Oxford Blues
20 Jun 2007 (Wed) / 05:30 PM
Great Lawn - #2

Pirates @ Oxford Blues
27 Jun 2007 (Wed) / 07:00 PM
Peter's Field - #1

Oxford Blues @ IAC/Diller's Killers
13 Jul 2007 (Fri) / 05:30 PM
North Meadow - #8

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP @ Oxford Blues
17 Jul 2007 (Tue) / 07:30 PM
Dewitt Clinton Park - #2

DeWitt Clinton Park

Here are the directions to DeWitt Clinton Park, where many of our games will be played.

The park is located on 11th ave between 52nd and 54th street. When leaving from the office, we usually walk over to 6th ave and catch the B or D train uptown to the 7th ave stop which is at 53rd street. Then we walk west four avenues to the park.

The M31 bus runs crosstown and will take you right to the field if you are coming from a farther away subway stop and want to save your legs.

Posting "Foul"

It shames me to even have to mention this but posting personal photos of your pets is not allowed on the official Oxford Blues Softball blog. If you still can't fight the urge (Jared) to share pictures of your pets with others please find a more suitable outlet.

KT

TEST

Hooray - I've figured out how to post from Flickr! This is VERY important to me. doesn't matter to me in the slightest.

Broken Mit

Does anyone know where I can get my beautiful, old, worn-in mit fixed? The leather tie things are breaking and I don't think the webbing can stop a ball thrown by anyone older than 3.

First Practice!

The long wait is over!

We had our first practice of the 2007 Oxford Blues softball season last night, at the traditional "spring training field" in Central Park at 97th Street(Okay, so it's more of a random dirt patch on the east side, but who's counting?). A good mix of new and old players were on hand to take batting practice, fielding, and witness the unveiling of Jared Wright's God-given talent at first base. And afterwards we retired to Blondie's on the East Side to discuss our favorite Al Pacino movie roles, another long-standing Blues tradition.

Let the 2007 season begin! We're winning the whole thing!

Softball Haiku

My glove is oiled
My cleats and jersey are clean
When is the first game?

Just thought I'd mix it up a little. There's not much to write about in March.

-KT

Introduction

This is the first ever Blues blog so I'm not sure where it will take us but I'm hoping we'll be able to post game recaps, news, and whatever else you want. Please feel free to add or comment on anything. For now, let's hope the snow melts and maybe we can head to the park next week.