Notes: Thursday hitting?

Limited players manage to surge
By Beth Sass / hereforthesass.blogspot.com

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Here for the Sass team announced that, despite having only four players on the field (first baseman Adam Dunn, second baseman Mark Grudzielanek, outfielder Juan Encarnacion, and relief pitcher Justin Duchschererererer), they managed a .692 batting average, with two home runs, five runs, eight RBIs, and two walks. They also managed a 0.00 ERA and WHIP.

“I’m not going to ask how they managed to get eight RBIs and only five runs,” Beth said. “That’s impossible. You can get more runs than RBIs, but each RBI should mean a run. On the other hand, these Sassians manage to often do things that don’t make sense, so I’m not going to question them, either. Right now I'm just going to revel in the fact that it was a Thursday, and the Sassians actually hit!”

In the past, Sassians who played Thursday frequently had bad days, which was cause for some concern. Lately, however, the Sassians have picked up their quality of play. With the hitting and pitching picking up, the Sass managed to tie up the series with the HoyaDestroya at 6-6.

“It’s very close going into this weekend--there are no dominant leads,” Beth said, “But if the guys can keep playing like that, we have a chance even against the HoyaDestroyas. A win by one run is still a win. But a loss by one walk is still a loss, too.”

Fixed! On Thursday morning, Sass clubhouse manager Rach was experiencing computer difficulties, particularly with blogger. A quick complaint had Sass IT personnel Emil Brown on the problem, and it was fixed in moments.

“Wow. It’s so nice now that we have someone hired on full-time,” Rach said, “Before, we were stuck with whatever problem until someone could come around to help us. This immediate attention to problems is the way things should be.”

Injuries abound: The Sass team has been battling injuries all year, although things have picked up recently.

Sass pitcher Kristin Benson is experiencing tendonitis in his right elbow, which will keep him from making his next start.

“Man, that sucks,” said reliever Justin Duchscherererer, who spent a couple of weeks in Nice earlier this year with the same problem. “It’s frustrating. You can’t pitch, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

As of yet, no trip to Nice has been scheduled for Kristin. The Sass are hoping to keep it that way, although Dawn reported it would be nice to have someone else in Nice with her when she reports there in mid-August.

“Last time I was in Nice, it was hopping--I think all five rooms were filled, and there was a ton of laughter and I was treated like a princess. I don’t want to end up there without any Sassians. I don’t want any of them injured, either, though,” Dawn said.

She is currently planning on taking Little Nicky Punto with her, and it’s rumored that Mockball Madness’s manager Nick will either join Dawn, or will take advantage of Sass Air’s daily flights to and from Nice. Trainers are predicting that Matt Guerrier will be back with the Sass some time within the next week, but it was pointed out that Grant would likely still be there.

“Of course Grant will be there,” Dawn said, “He lives there. I was talking about an actual Sassian.”

Trainers took that moment to remind Beth and Dawn that Grant could potentially rejoin the Sass.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Beth muttered.

Coming up: Tonight the Sass will send Tomo Ohka to the mound to face the HoyaDestroya to start the weekend of play. Saturday the Sass will have no starting pitchers on the mound, with the distinct possibility of sending out a some relief pitchers. Sunday will find them with Aaron Harang and Chan Ho Park. Kristin was supposed to join them, but will instead rest his arm that day.