April 30 2006

Twas a b-e-a-youtiful day for our opening day.
We notched a 20-3 victory over the Langley Playaz.

Our sparkling new jerseys made an immediate impact. We executed our warm-up runs and pregame drills with a whole new sense of purpose. As we stretched and gossiped during our centrefield huddle, talk turned to the new Burnaby team, the Biscuits. A future was envisioned. A delicious future. A future pastry league. The Burnaby Biscuits would play against the Coquitlam Croissants, with the winner taking on us, the Surrey Scones. Alas, we missed the boat, what with our new uniforms and all. When these fine fabrics become excessively frayed, the Scones we shall become. (Additional pastry team: Delta Donuts. Any others? Give us some more by chattering at the end of this post.)

The game got off to a rough start, with Aaron aggravating a leg injury in the top of the first that took him out of the game. Kelly, who was in a car accident on Saturday, was not dressed to play Sunday. Get well soon guys!

All in all, we had a decent offensive output, with a total of 21 hits spread out over the nine innings. FYI, last season it took us several weeks, possibly over a month, before we played a nine-inning game. Enrique and Josh both led the way on Sunday, each of them going 4-for-5, and at one point they smacked back-to-back triples. Clay also had a great start to the season, going 3-for-5 with a walk and 4 runs scored.

The pitching staff appears to be in mid-season form. Chris, Enrique, and Josh each pitched very well, holding the Playaz to just three hits.

The heads-in-the-game award is shared by Jeff and RobA, for instructing Rod to get his ass onto third base as he was making his way, helmet under the arm, to the dugout. He had mistakenly thought he was forced out at second when in fact the shortstop "phhhhhh - wasn’t even close" to the bag (quote: base ump).

If you’ve been paying attention to the forum on our website, you know that there is quite a competition brewing over who will lead the league in batting by season’s end. Not helping Scott’s cause was a very questionable infield-fly call on one of his batted balls. The ball landed in short rightfield, well out of the reach of the hustling infielders. No Indian was aware the call had been made until the umps stated the case after all the baserunners had advanced.

Next game: 6:30pm Saturday May 6th vs Coquitlam Cardinals at Blue Mountain Park.

April 25 2006

Practice at Tamanawis.

It was a fairly uneventful practice until close to the end. A certain second baseman was having a tough time in the field, with groundballs tipping off the end of his glove that some say would have been in his back pocket last year. He was understandably angry when he began to take BP, and this anger only intensified after he swung through the first pitch. He basically lost it. Then with his neck muscles bulging, his face turning red, and his mouth struggling to contain the growing amount of foam, he ripped a line drive so hard that the ball literally exploded.

In other news, it was my first practice of the year, and it seems obvious to me that what was missing from the team is now back. Just one man's opinion.

The picture is of the broken ball. Click to enlarge.

April 16 2006

We was rained out on opening day. No actual precipitation at game time, but there had been enough wetness in the days and weeks leading up to the grand event that playing the game would've meant destroying both the turf, and, more importantly, our precious cleats. Plus our toes would've gotten a little chilly. You don't want our toes to get chilly do you?

Make-up game is scheduled for 4pm, Sunday April 23rd at Unwin. It's sure to be a doozy. Do us a favor, s'il vous plaît: do a sun dance every morning this week. We sure would like to get our season started.

Update - 8:40pm.
We have intercepted an email that contained the following information: Unfortunately we aren’t able to field a team next Sunday to play the makeup so it will have to wait until later in the season. At least 6 of us are unable to attend.

We know what you're thinking.. should I still do a sun dance every morning this week? Well, it's up to you. But you should know that we will still be doing them. The sooner all of the fields are dry the better; after all, we also have to practice on them.

April 11 2006

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Spring Training Continues

We've had a few more practices. Nothing too exciting to report thus far.

There was talk of having the team blog moved to this new site. We can definitely say that it might happen. You see, as it is now, this blog site is completely separate from the official team site. It'd be nice to have all Surrey Indians webstuff found in one place, so that's what we're working on. That is, when we're not working on having Natalie Portman join our roster as trainer... or watergirl... or utility infielder... or coach... or announcer... or whatever the heck she wants to do.

An exhibition game is going down tomorrow night. We can say the same thing about the North Langley Revolt. Zing! It's been said that Lee will have an on-base percentage of 1.00 whenever he faces us this year.

Spring Training 2006

We're ba-aaaaack!

So far we've had two practices. Our third is happening tonight. Haven't hit the field yet, but gotten some good BP going. And the pitchers have thrown a few.

Looks like we'll be the new-look Indians this year, two fold. For one, new uniforms (hats included) are in the works. For two, several players from last season are not returning, their roster spots being filled by rookies. Well okay, so maybe at least one of the rookies has played before in the league, but they are Indianrookies, so rookies they be.

The team appears to be quite confident that we will go undefeated in the first half of the season. You heard it here first. Unless you heard it at the Whalley batting cages first, in which case you heard it here second. Unless it doesn't happen, in which case this post will be edited and you will have never heard it at all. What are we talking about, there will be no need for editing.

And, according to our official website's forum, Scott is determined to "beat Rob E in batting this season". Let the games begin!

Q+A withs

Firstly, pics from the last game can be seen by clicking here.

Secondly, throughout the season we featured exclusive interviews with the league's hottest stars. Here is your one-stop-shop to all those interviews:

Jeff Heatley Kelly Grace Rod Wingrove Rob Edger Chris Ratelle Enrique Roblero Brad Cumiskey Shane Meister Clay Edger Rob Aubertin Sandra Aubertin

Lastly, unless there are any major trades or free agent signings during the off-season, the next posting on Clubhouse Chatter will be at the start of spring training 2006. To find out how the rest of the playoffs play out, pay attention to the LMBA site.

So long and thanks for all the fish.