Stars 14 45s 3

Hey! The SGR is back after an extended leave of absence due to lame excuses and neglect, but mostly neglect. Let’s catch up on what we’ve missed shall we :

May 12 to June 9. A period which will live in infamy. The Stars went 1-3 over this span, perhaps the losingest period in recent Stars history. First the Pirates beat the Stars 5 to 2 followed by a 9 to 7 drubbing at the hands of the Colt 45’s. Stars rebounded momentarily with a 9 to 1 win over the Badgers only to be beaten the following week by the Eagles 8 to 5. 

The Stars followed that swoon(look it up) with a  6 game win streak (11-6 over the Legends, 5-3 against the Colt 45s, 3-1 v. the Monarchs, 7-6 over the Pirates, and an unfortunate 9-0 forfeit by the Sun Devils) culminating in yesterday’s 14-3 victory over the Colt 45s at the entirely inappropriately named ‘Blue Mountain’ Park. Fiberglass Fake Pony Water Park I could understand. But blue nor mountains were ner to be seen. 

 Which brings me to my central point of today’s SGR: How to spot a trap. Let’s take scenario #1. Say a teammate texts you on a Friday and says “Hey! Me and the fam r camping @ pt roberts. We got xtra tent. Why don’t u bring the wife and kids down for the nite. We’ll hav dinner ready and I can give you a ride to the game tomorrow morn.” Your first instinct is probably this sounds pretty good. All I gotta do is throw the fam in the car along with some sleeping bags and pillows and we are all good. There’s close to 100% chance it will go well! So off you and the family go. WRONG! Your response should have been this sounds good but... It’s a trap!!!’ Instead of a quiet peaceful evening and the nite of slumber that you expect, the reality turns out to look something like this: You drink way to much wine, your air mattress goes flat, the kids can’t get to sleep, the birds start chirping at 4 in the morning, and then someone’s car alarm goes off. Afetr maybe two hours sleep the walk from the car to the park feels more like the Bataan death march and your chances for a good game drop well below 50%.

Scenario #2: A friend texts you and says “Hey! u wanna play 4 the Stars this Saturday? I’m camping at pt roberts. If u take the 5am ferry from Victoria me and my buddy Crash will pick u up and take u to the game." You think for a moment and then say sure. Sounds like a 95% likelihood that this will work out just fine. So you text back ‘I’m in. C u in the morning.’ WRONG! The warning signs that this was a trap should have set off alarm bells. Clearly the exciting experience of playing for a new team, getting to meet some new guys, having a catch and hitting the diamond might sound like a sure thing, but the reality looks more like this: after the game a teammate who you just met drops you off at the Ladner bus exchange to catch the bus to the ferry. As you watch the teammate drive off you realize that you left your wallet and phone in his car and are now stranded in a town you don’t know, with no money, no contact info, and no way to contact anyone even if you knew who they were or how to contact them. The odds of this being a good experience have just dropped below 10%. After making your way to the Leisure Centre and begging to use a computer you look up the Stars website and find the name of the guy you think was the one who left with your wallet and phone. But, turns out there are two people in Ladner with this name, neither of whom answers their phone when called. We are down below 5% at this point. So you head out on foot to the house of the closest one hoping that it is in fact the home of the right one. So, an hour and a half after being dropped off at the bus exchange you show up at the door of the house that hopefully belongs to the teammate with your wallet and phone, only to discover that in fact you are... at the right house! Happiness outcome odds jump up to 50% as you realize you won’t be sleeping on the street tonite. When said teammate offers to drive you to the ferry in time to catch the 4pm ferry you realize that failing the ferry sinking or a pirate attack your odds of a successful day are all the way back up to 80-85%. Then it occurs to you that you will likely never hear the end of this because that’s just what baseball players do to each other, and the odds slip back down into the low 70’s. Definitely a trap.

So let that be a lesson to you! And not just on percentages. Speaking of lessons, the Stars put on a bit of a clinic against the Colt 45s with the previously mentioned 14-3 victory. After taking an early 3-0 lead the Stars scored 14 unanswered runs, played solid defense supplemented by outstanding pitching that allowed just 4 hits by the offensively powerful 45s. ARob threw 2 innings of no-hit/no-walks/no-runs ball. KEN closed the game throwing 5 innings allowing no runs, just two hits and one walk while striking out two. NewPaul pitched two innings in his debut allowing three runs, two earned on two hits and two walks with two ks. A very respectable outing for soeone who has played just a few games this year, and way better than what the odds makers thought. OConn led the offense by batting lead off. And he went 3 for 4 and scored twice with one rbi (which goes to show the advantage of sleeping in the trailer rather than the tent.) Razor also went 3 for 4 scoring once, collecting 3 rbis, and improving his odds of coming to Arizona from 79% to 85% by virtue of making it to his kids birthday pool party on time after the game. Big Lar went 2 for 4 with 2 rbis and scored twice. And KEN helped his own cause going 2 for 4 with 2 rbis. All told 9 Star players contributed 16 hits. And Simpy continued his scoreless inning streak for 2018. 

The odds of winning are pretty good when a team gets 16 hits. The odds of getting a good nites rest go up dramatically when you sleep in your own bed. The odds of getting hime to be able to sleep in your own bed are really good if you don't leave your wallet and phone in a strangers car. The odds of regretting joining your team in Arizona are right off the charts. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, IT’S A TRAP!!!

Take the weekend off for good behavior and BC Day, but mostly BC Day. Next up the Monarchs on Aug 11 at 6PM in Richmond. 

GO STARS!!!