Cyclones 16, Renegades 5: Salute the Flagg!

Welcome to Cyclones baseball everybody.  This is a recap of the game on 6/24.

First off, the Backman ejection.  In the top of the 9th, Wally's gripe was that a ball twenty feet wide of the foul pole should not be ruled a home run.  Well, welcome to SS-A, Wally! The umpire not only twirled his mistaken finger, but he went on to bounce Wally with a courageous gesture that said, "please leave?"  Wally yelled at the young man some more, and I may have called the kid "Jim Joyce without the class," but really what was the use in complaining?  The end was nigh, and Hudson Valley were the Rene-fades.

There were a few plays I didn't know how to score in this game.  How do you do it when a ground ball is mishandled by the 3rd baseman, the runner on 2nd gets caught off the bag, a rundown ensues, the runner on 3rd breaks for home, the throw to the plate is errant but blocked, the man on 2nd holds up in fright, and he eventually reaches 3rd on fielder's interference?  

How do you do it when a runner reaches on an infield single, gets pointed at by the ump who shakes his head "nooooooo," throws up his hands and goes "whaaaaaaat?," listens to the ump and goes "ohhhhhhhhh," and sits down with an out recorded?  Was he not wearing his cup or something?

But the game wasn't all live-wire confusion -- only mostly.  There's a six foot six inch 1B in Brooklyn by the name of Jeff Flagg, and if Ike Davis ever goes down in a dugout-flipping incident, he's the BK's new hope.  Flagg "waved" his bat for four hits, including two triples, and also reached on an error (known in these parts as a routine misplay.)  The right hander also showed off some fancy footwork in dodging a gatorade attack during the post-game interview. I saw it as I lined up to run the bases, which I did with glee.

More extraordinary, perhaps, was the play of Woodbury, Minnesota's own Joe Bonfe.  The official scorecard won't show it, but in reality "the Bonfire" knocked a bunt triple and a strikeout double in the same game.  (Error assisted, naturally.)  This guy will excel in Jerry's system.  

There are a lot of players to give a shout out to, namely everyone except hitless DH Kurt Steinhauer, but he shouldn't exist anyway.  So I'll just congratulate the ones with good nicknames: "Wild" Cherry, "Need Mo'" Vaughn, "Shreddin" Schroeder, and "You're the Juan that I want" Centeno, all with multiple hits.  If things go as planned, all of MCU park will soon be physically saluting the Flagg.

'Clones starting pitcher was a lefty named Hilliard, who went 6 strong innings and gave up 3 runs.  I'm not sure how many were earned, but probably no more than half.

A great start to the season, with the 'Clones (5-2) atop the McNamara and the Yankees (2-4) in the basement.