Thursday
Mar 28/24
7:56 am
EST

Miller's Tavern
MT VS JK
BallCharts.com/MillersTavern

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Clinton Township
NJ
USA






 

Miller's Gets In Their Heads, Sweeps Kelly's 7-1 and 11-6

        After three gut-wrenching, last AB losses in recent weeks, Miller's Tavern has apparently righted the ship. The MT Crew swept away Bishop's at Bundt Park a week earlier 17-6 and 30-6 and last Friday demoralized a feisty Jim Kelly squad that bit off a little more than they could chew as they swept the former QB's 7-1 and 11-6.

        A 6pm start for this Doubleheader had Miller's standing and waiting with 8 guys with 1 in the parking lot, Millers acting Head Coach Jim Mannion politely asked if JK would mind being the Home Team the first game seeing as in the teams had to play two games back-to-back anyway. The Kelly Crew denied Mannion's request and that got Mannion and the entire Miller's team mighty aggravated.

        Miller's has the League's best Pitching Staff and only Captain Bill "Full" Nelson was unavailable as he was away on vacation. His choices were lefty Rich 'Dancing on the' Ihling or righty Scott 'Over Niagara Falls in a' Farrell. His choice, the veteran Right-Hander with specific instructions. "That whole Home Team deal and their attitude ticked me off" said Mannion "so I told Scottie he was pitching and told him to get in their heads." Occasionally there are times in life when you have to be careful what you wish for, this may have been one of those times.

        Farrell hurled a 5-hit gem in the 7-1 win and had faced the minimum for the first 4 innings. A first inning would be Home Run down the RF line against a 3-Man OF and a hurting RF by the very talkative JK Third Basemen was negated when he failed to step in the same Zip Code as 3B and the Umpire saw it and so did alert LF Rich Ihling. "I could tell from way out where I was in the OF that he clearly missed it and I saw the Umpire looking at it." said Ihling.

        When time came back in, Miller's appealed the runner missing 3B and when the Umpire rang him up for the 3rd out of the inning, it was all downhill from there. Mike "Mount" McKinney (3-for-4 in Gm #1) singled, Ihling walked and AHC "King" James Mannion singled and Miller's was on the board and led 2-0 after 1. Miller's manufactured single runs in the 2nd & 3rd and that's all Farrell and the Miller's "D" would need as SS McKinney and 3B Stanley were outstanding on the left side of the infield all night.

        In fact, it could be argued that Miller's recorded 6 outs in one inning while letting up no runs despite only getting credit for three. That talkative 3B for JK hit a weak grounder to SS and when the throw went over to 1B, Millers 1B Nick "The Stick" Dworski (2-for-3 in Gm #1 ) not only was on the bag when he caught the ball but also had the good sense to tag the runner as he went by ( because the throw was ever-so-slightly inside the line towards Home Plate) just to make sure the Umpire had no way to blow the call. Yet the man who had alertly saw the same batter-runner miss 3B earlier, found a way to blow the call and called him safe.

        The next batter hits a line drive to the versatile Joe Eugenio at 2B who then flips it to Dworski covering. Is the kid out yet?? Yes and No. The umpire calls him safe not realizing the kids hand is on Dworski's foot and not the bag. The runner then quietly reaches over with his right hand and puts that on the bag and asks for time. The 1B and the Millers Pitcher pointed it out to the Umpire who wanted nothing to do with changing the call and then the Kelly 1B Coach started chiming in and words were exchanged. The last laugh however would belong to Dworski and Farrell as with 4 outs already recorded in the inning depending on how you look at it, the next batter hit a soft liner back towards the middle off the end of his bat.

        The overly agressive baserunner took off for 2B because he clearly wanted to show his blinding speed, only problem for him was, Farrell drifted slowly to his left, caught the ball and flipped it high in the air to Dworski and finally the Umpire had no choice but to call the kid out. Farrell let out a Ric Flair-like "WWWHHHOOOOOOOOO" as he flipped it to 1B and pointed out to the Umpire that they had gotten the same baserunner out 4 times in the inning.

        "I actually don't like being like that but Asst. Coach Mannion said 'Get in their heads' so I was actually only doing what I was asked to do" said Farrell with a grin "They actually brought it all on themselves by being idiots in the beginning. Most all of it could've been avoided." They were so riled up on the other sideline worrying about Miller's that when Catcher John 'Rhino' Rinald ( 4-for-7 in the Double Dip) went over to politely ask them to keep the foul language to a minimum because of the wives and other kids that were around, one of the young punks gave him major attitude and annoyed the hell out of Rinald that it looked like he wanted to give the kid a beatdown.

        Regardless, when Miller's took the opening drive of Game#2 and put it in the end zone for Six, Game #2 was essentially out of reach and everyone in the place knew it. Farrell, who was 4-for-4 in the second game and 6-for-7 on the night, wasn't done torturing the poor youngsters who were in over their head as he snuck behind two Kelly baserunners from the mound after they had singled and with alert throws from RF and one from SS McKinney, they picked them off and squelched any Kelly uprisings. Kelly managed to capture some garbage time runs after it was 10-1 including a Home Run where they all screamed at their runner to make sure he touches 3B.

        In following his Coach's orders, Farrell waited til things quieted down and just before he delivered the next pitch looked towards his SS and 3B Jim Stanley (2-for-4 in G2) and sarcastically said loud enough for the opposition to hear 'Yea, like it's OUR fault he missed 3rd'. The acting Head Coach was very pleased. "Scottie did his job" said an elated Mannion afterwards "He was definitely in their heads. It was fun to watch."

        Mannion himself has been solid even though he may not be at 100% quite yet coming back from injury. He finished 3-for-5 with multiple RBI on the night but the real hero was 'Player of the Week' Rich Ihling who walked 4 times in the Double Dip but buried the JK Bunch with two, long devastating HR's. One in the 1st inning of the 2nd game and one in the 4th of Game #2. He finished 7-for-8 on the night and was flawless in LF. Vasil "Missing" Hlinka, who is also not 100%, went 4-for-7 as he slowly tries to come back from hamstring problems.

        Things won't be as easy this week as 1st Place Woodglen comes calling for a twinbill at 6pm. Hopefully Miller's will have more healthy bodies on hand. They did sneak by Woodglen 10-7 the first time around with a couple guys hurt and now Woodglen might be missing one of their best hitters in Tommy Kornberger but games aren't played on paper and the Tree Experts will be swinging the heavy lumber and be out for revenge and a higher playoff seed.






 


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