Maybe my Illowa APBA League got wind of the success of their Urbana Locomotives counterparts in the Boys of Summer APBA League. Or maybe I just took advantage of a last place team down on their luck. Either way, my Twin City Thunderchickens shook off a 6-12 August to begin their September in a winning fashion.
Saturday night, the Thunderchickens and I took on Nick Tegeler and his Iowa Oinkers. Now. both Nick and I are sitting at the bottom of the Illowa APBA League so this series had no real implications (other than perhaps, who was going to get the first pick in the rookie draft). My ‘Chickens were up to the task. We certainly didn’t kill the ball but our pitching lived up to its reputation. The series started ominously enough with the Thunderchickens winning the first game 1-0 on a fielder’s choice rbi in the bottom of the ninth.
Some series highlights:
- Three shutouts (Jeremy Hellickson, Jon Niese and Stephen Strasburg)
- Four pitchers advanced to Grade A. In addition to the above three, Hyun-jin Ryu was scored on in the eighth and finished with a CG win.
- We outscored the Oinkers 30-9 in six games.
- The Oinkers didn’t score until the 8th inning of the third game
- To top it off in Game 6, Stephen Strasburg (BXY) pitched a three-hit shutout while striking out 16 batters. Almost more amazing, Mark Buehrle, a CZ with no strikeout letters, struck out 11 in the same game.
The Oinkers defeated us in Game 5 with Scott Diamond (DRZ) making a start for us. Ironically, he didn’t get the loss. Long reliever Joe Kelly gave up the winning run.
Final series score Thunderchickens 5 Oinkers 1
Nick and I are old friends and win or lose, it was great to see him even it was over Skype. After our series was over, he picked up his webcam and panned it across his man-cave and showed me his APBA setup. I’m envious of his method of storing APBA cards using a used library card catalog he had bought (send me some photos, Nick!).
The Thunderchickens are now 44-58 and still well out of the playoff race. The IAL All-Star Game weekend is scheduled for October 3-5!
