Gotham: Hounds Sweep Aside The Jerks

As we entered the 4th week of Gotham City play, we knew there were greater challenges ahead of us. We were hoping one lay in front of us in the Crosstown Jerks. We had faced the Jerks a couple of seasons ago, and we knew that they have been around for a while. Cap was caught up and unable to make it for the 1st game, so the reigns were handed over to Iain, who was making his managerial debut. It was a blistering July day but fortunately we had the early games so it wasn't peak heat time. 

We came up first as the away team for Game 1. We put 3 on the board, led by Iain and Pat's back-to-back home runs. Margaret was our starting pitcher, and although it wasn't one of her trademark lights-out performances, she was a battler out there and victory would never really be in doubt. In the 2nd inning, we blew the game open, scoring 11 runs. Iain went yard again in that inning, and Jason C had a 3-run blast of his own. It was part of a dominating afternoon for Cardillo (5-5, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 3 RS, BB). We added 6 in the 3rd and 4 in the 4th and the umpire ruled that victory by mercy rule was imminent. The Jerks then proceeded to have a big inning aided by some ugly Hounds miscues, but their rally would go no further as Margaret was able to close the door. Final Score: Hounds 23, Jerks 9.

For Game 2, George took to the mound hoping to build on his previous solid outings. Unfortunately, it was a long morning for him as the control was just not there. The double-walks killed him and the Jerks were able to get some solid hits off of him. Throw in a couple of defensive brain cramps and you have a recipe for disaster. We were down 4-2 after 1, and then 10-2 entering the bottom of the 2nd. Other teams may have been discouraged after being down by such a big deficit, but we Hounds took it as a challenge to show that we could come back. Sure enough, we proceeded to have a huge inning in the 2nd, scoring 12 runs and turning the tide. We were aided greatly by the Jerks' pitcher, who issued 5 walks in the inning. George came out for the top of the 3rd and tried to make another go of it, but a couple of walks later it was clear a change needed to be made. Margaret was called in to put out the fire, and she got the job done big-time. We got some insurance runs and took a 17-11 lead into the last inning. The Jerks were unable to muster anything against Margaret and our comeback victory was complete. Final Score: Hounds 17, Jerks 11.

It's good that we can sweep a middle of the road team even when we are not playing our best ball. It shows that winning is now built into our team's character. Coming back from 8 runs is nothing to sneeze at. However, for the first time this season, I saw some warning signs out there. There was a lot of sloppiness today. I am as much to blame as anybody else. My concentration clearly was not good enough on the mound and I am just fortunate that the Jerks' pitcher wasn't great either and that you guys were able to bail me out on the offensive end. We must perform better than this though if we are to have any kind of shot at repeating.