Notes: Successful tournament after weekend chaos

Mini-golf tournament deemed a success
By Beth Sass / hereforthesass.blogspot.com

ANAHEIM -- The Here for the Sass team was a bit late coming into Anaheim for their game Monday, because Monday morning many Sassians participated in the First Annual Mini-Golf Extravaganza. Among Sassians, Frank Catalanotto was the winner, coming in 12th overall.

ClosetJaysFan was the ultimate winner, receiving the Augie Ojeda Award. FordHoiberg took the Little Nicky Punto Award for her second-place finish, and “Nick” finished third, earning him the Placido Polanco award. Augie finished sixteenth overall in the competition, Little Nicky finished tied with Dawn for 23rd place, Bobbi finished 29th, Rachel finished 34th, Polanco finished 58th, and Beth came in 897th place, out of 956 participants.

“I didn’t finish last!” she exclaimed gleefully. She took a lot of ribbing from the Sassians, who wondered aloud how anyone could do that poorly at mini-golf.

“You’d think she was playing blindfolded or something. Next year, I think she should just keep score,” Matt Guerrier said. Grant Balfour laughed until his face turned red.

Sass bookkeepers reported that $46,000 was raised for the Sass Charities.

Welcome back to the DL boys! Sassians on the DL joined the team for the event, but flew back to Nice with Dawn Monday evening. None of the boys participated in the event, as it was difficult for them to hold the golf clubs wrapped in bubble wrap. Instead, they put on exhibition games of Chutes and Ladders, where they showed their different styles of play.

“Grant prefers to add the numbers in his head, and move his marker immediately to the square it belongs. Tomo [Ohka] prefers to count the squares with his fingers, looking at the detail of each square he passes, and then move his marker. Rocco [Baldelli] likes to do everything with a bit of a flair, so he pounds his marker on each square he passes, counting aloud. I like to slide mine along until I reach the appropriate space,” Justin Duchscherererer said.

There were rumors that Beth would be placed on the DL, but she has recovered sufficiently that management decided a DL stint would not be necessary.

This was the first visit to Minneapolis by Grant and Rocco, and the team was very pleased to see--or meet--both of them. The “Bal Boys”, as they’re referred to, were around for Spring Training, but the many roster moves have meant that many Sassians had never met them.

“It’s kinda fun to see the guys I’ve never met--and Dawn,” said new Sassian Brad Halsey, who had never met any of the four DL boys, nor Dawn. “I’m kinda excited to see what they can do. I hope I’m not the one cut when they get called up--or, if I am, I’m allowed to stay with the team like Rob Mackowiak.”

Rocco was pleased to announce that he currently was in the lead for the Chutes and Ladders competition in Nice. Tomo Ohka won the exhibition series in Minneapolis.

Poor umpiring: Just two days after Beth was ejected from the game for arguing with the umpire, she made a rare move seen in baseball. In the second inning, after the third blown call by umpire Laz Diaz, Beth walked out onto the field and ejected him.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” said Stacy, of StacyTwins733. “I didn’t even know it could be done!”

Diaz will likely be fined for the behavior leading to the ejection, but it is presumed that suspension will not be necessary. The umpiring crew rearranged to allow for Tim Tschida to move from second base to home plate following the ejection.

Pre-game Performances: The Sassians were very fortunate to contact the Aussieaires, formed by Aussie and her team, Johan es mi novio, to perform before Saturday’s game. They also lead the crowd in the singing of the National Anthem.

“It’s very difficult to get their schedule to coincide with ours,” Dawn said, “So while on the DL, I’ve been trying to work out a schedule. When I found on they’d be playing across town on Saturday, I knew it was our golden opportunity. I arranged for their game to start a half-hour later, and everything fell into place. I watched on television, and it was fabulous.”

Dawn’s call was then interrupted, as she had an appointment with Tomo Ohka to find new shoes for tennis.

Umpires practice: Strike-out moves: the only time umpires really have to show any personality. The umpiring crew met early on Friday to practice strike-out moves for the weekend.

“It’s very important that we have good moves,” said umpire Ted Barrett, “Anyone can just throw the arm across indicating a strike-out, but it takes time and practice to do so with flair becoming an umpire in a highly emotional game.”

The umpires worked together giving hints to one another on style. Jacque Jones, from the Wombats, was on hand to offer suggestions. Jacque is very familiar with strike-out moves, although he concentrates more on swinging variety.

Sassian fans judge all umpires on a ten-point system for the quality of their umpiring, with extra consideration given to style. After the weekend, Ted was giving the highest scores, at 9.87, from the fans at Sass Stadium. Rick Reed was given the lowest score, at 7.54.

“It’s not that his moves were bad,” said Will, a fan attending the game, “But that his called strike calls were slow. It makes it very difficult for the fans to sit and wait to find out if a close pitch was in the zone or not. We hate delayed cheering.”

Tonight: Tonight the Sass intend on sending pitchers Aaron Cook and Brad Halsey to the mound.

“Brad’s been struggling a bit in his move from reliever to starter,” Beth said, “While Aaron has been doing fairly well as a starter. Brad actually does well for a few innings, but usually gets hittable in the middle innings. I’m hoping that working together, Aaron can give Brad pointers on how to avoid those big hits.”