On the weekend of October 5-7, 2018, the Illowa APBA League held its annual All-Star Game and associated festivities in Downers Grove, Illinois. Friday night was the highlight. The City Boys division defeated the Country Gents division by the score of 7-2.
The game was never really close. Thanks to a solo homer by Paul Goldschmidt in the second inning and a two-run double by Nolan Arenado in the third, the City Boys had a comfortable 6-0 lead. Buster Posey’s rbi double broke the shutout in the bottom of the seventh but the writing was on the wall and the mainly Chicago-based City Boys won another All-Star classic.
Goldschmidt was named game MVP based on his 2 for 3 with one homerun performance. City Boys starting pitcher Carl Edwards received the win.
Congrats to head coach John Brandeberry of the Missoula Rattlesnakes for managing the City Boys to a win!
Brando managed the team via Skype and with the help of the rest of the City Boys managers. Kudos to pinch hitting coach Keith Smith (Kentucky Kernels), bullpen coach Scott Fennessy (Des Plaines Dragons) and communications officer and logistics manager Rob Moore (Chicago Highlanders). Chuck Lucas of the Northside Hitmen was not able to make the weekend but let’s face it… his players (Goldschmidt, Arenado) were key in the City Boys’ win!
We played lots of regular season league games during the rest of the weekend. It was good to see Scott Fennessy do well (except that his Dragons beat my Thunderchickens). Scott had inhertied a less-than-perfect team and it seems that he putting it all together.
My Thunderchickens went into the weekend at .500 and we came out of it at .500. We did well against teams ahead of us like Rob Moore’s Highlanders but lost 2-4 to the two last place teams. The playoffs may not be in the picture for us in 2018.
I haven’t done my stats for the weekend yet but I can say this for the first time… it’s nice to have J.D. Martinez on the team! He really came through. He must have doubled his homerun total over the weekend.
You can find photos of the weekend here. Rob Moore brought his brand new camera so you’ll find some of his photos there. I’m glad he did. He got some great shots including the one above of me getting my butt kicked by Brando via Skype.
Once this month is in the books, the Illowa APBA League will have 36 games left in the season.
