August 9 2005

Greetings earthlings,

We come in peace and would like it known that the Surrey Indians play their first playoff game this coming Sunday at 11am at Whalley. In addition to your seat cushions, please bring a glove, as you may be called upon to field a position on the field. You see, it seems as though a couple of players are unavailable to play in this game, so we are hoping everyone else will be present to avoid a forfeit to the lowly Playaz or Rockies. It is single elimination from here on out and being knocked out by either of those teams, even by forfeit, would be an embarrassment no one could possibly overcome. If that does happen, the Surrey Indians will spontaneously combust. Sad, but true.

Now then, after our game on Sunday June 4th, seven league games into the season, there were only three Indians who had a batting average above .211 - Today, there are eight players batting above .270, with our team batting average of .317 looking pretty solid. It would be nice to compare our stats with the stats of other teams, but the subjective scoring by different teams doesn't make that possible. We are interested in the idea of hiring official scorers for all league games. That way, the league could compile league leaders in stats such as batting average, on-base average, home runs, stolen bases, and team batting average versus lefties during Sunday afternoon games after a rainy Saturday. Write your congresspeople, let's make this idea a reality!

At first glance at the standings it seems as though we played pretty shabby this season. While that is hard to disprove, let us try. Take a look at the total points. We are just one point behind the Royals and the Sabres, and two points behind the Rangers, who sit in fourth place. (a win = 2 points, a tie = 1 point) Those thousands of games where we had a substantial lead only to lose the game in the later innings? We hate to play "what if", but what if? We should note that not all teams played the same amount of games. At 14 games played, we equalled the Rangers, played one less than the Royals and played one more than the Sabres. It would've been nice to have finished in the top half of the league, which we could've and should've, but on the bright side, maybe we can expect to have pitches slow-pitched to us.. Although if teams have been scouting us near the end of the season, that is unlikely.

We have a practice at Tamanawis on Thursday (me thinks..), and then Sunday we play the biggest game of our lives.. Come out and watch, and don't forget your glove.