HGRA Seals - thanks for the season

Thanks Seals, parents and Mike and Marty for a great season. Tim loved it and so did I. It was a real pleasure getting to know all of our players and I was proud of how we played today.

It was a terribly close game today. A bounce here or there and we'd have won it. Everyone played bravely and well. Danny and Luiz have extra special memories, but everyone played better than ever before and nobody criticized a teammate doing their best.

We'll miss Melanie, Tommy and Calvin as they graduate from the HGRA majors. Thank you guys. I hope to see all the rest of the team next year, either with Tim and I or playing well against us. I'll email everyone with notification of Penguin ball in the Fall as well.

Enjoy your Augusts, and thanks for all the snacks!

john

HGRA Baseball Seals - End of the 2007 season

The Seals played our best game of the season on Thursday, but the Greys were the better team that night. They may contend for the championship. I was glad our team hung together, and played well up to the last out.

Saturday we play at 11am against the Mustangs at 11:00 am at Homecroft Elementary East Field. If we win we'll play a 2nd game, also at Homecroft, at 1:30 pm on the same field. There's not much time between games, so players may need lunch and lots of fluids. Coach Mike tells me there may be pizza before the 2nd game but I think a backup lunch is probably wise.

I have Brendan as off and Nate as uncertain. Nate is down for snacks, so if he can't make it we may need to ask someone to make a snack run during the game.

We're playing with the rotation again. We're going to try Tim pitching in the 3rd, depending on how he does we'll have either him or Tommy pitch the 4th. Tommy will pitch two innings, so either the 5th and 6th or 4th and 5th. We are going to try to get our best pitchers on either end of the game as we expect this one may be close. We're also going to try to strengthen the field in the third inning to help Tim out. Melanie is still hurt so we'll try to rest her a bit in the 1st game. Austin also has a sore ankle, so we'll try to keep him down to catching only twice and SS once. Luiz is healthy but does best on SS, so we're moving Tommy back to 2B.

As always, our rotation is here.

HGRA Majors 2007 Thursday's game

Based on our finish (tied for fourth with two other teams), we have been seeded 6th and will play the Greys for a third time next Thursday July 26th. We will play at the Saint Paul Academy upper softball field (corner of Niles and Davern) at 6:30pm on 7/26 (as always, plan on having the kids there at 6:10pm).

If your child can’t attend a game, please notify myself, Marty or Jon, as the lineup for the each game is made in advance.

As usual, we request that players arrive 30 to 15 minutes before the game to warm-up. Here's the rest of Mike Vento's recent summary:

First Play-off Game
Thursday, 7/26 6:30pm Seals vs. Greys at SPA (Niles and Davern)

If we win on Thursday our schedule is as follows on Saturday (we will play two games on Saturday)

• Saturday, 7/28 8:30am vs. Spiders or Mustangs at Homecroft Elementary East Field
• If we beat the Spiders/Mustangs we will play for the championship on Saturday, 7/28 1:30pm at Homecroft Elementary West Field
• If we lose to the Spiders/Mustangs we will play for the third place Saturday, 7/28 11:00am at Homecroft Elementary West Field
  

If we lose on Thursday our schedule is as follows on Saturday (we may play two games on Saturday)

• Saturday, 7/28 11:00am vs. Spiders or Mustangs at Homecroft Elementary East Field
• If we beat the Spiders/Mustangs we will play for the consolation championship on Saturday, 7/28 1:30pm at Homecroft Elementary East Field
• If we lose to the Spiders/Mustangs our season is over.

We will provide print outs of the schedule at the conclusion of practice next Tuesday evening 7/24 at Aldine Park (7:00pm practice)

HGRA Majors 2007 Tournament Brackets - July 26th and Sat July 28th.

(corrected 7/16/07 w/ Mike Vento's help)

The tournament brackets are available for the upcoming majors tournament (click on link to see them). Regardless if we win or lose on Thursday 7/26 we will play on Saturday 7/28.

Here are the possible scenarios and game times where we could be slotted (sites TBD)

If we win on Thursday 7/26, we would play two games for certain on Saturday 7/28

Game time – 8:30 am on Saturday
and either:
Third Place Game – 11:00 am (if we lose on Saturday morning)
or
Championship - 1:30pm (if we win on Saturday morning)

If we lose on Thursday 7/26, there is a consolation bracket where we could possibly play two games

Game time – 8:30am or 11am (winners play for the consolation championship)
Consolation championship – 1:30pm

We’ll know more about whom we’ll play and where after our game this Thursday against the Greys.

Seals 12, Buckeyes 11

The Seals and the Buckeyes both played their hearts tonight, and neither team gave up. In the end the Seals won by one, despite missing 3 of our best players and despite Melanie playing injured. Tommy had a great game, but every player had an exceptionally good game and they all have something special to be proud of. Danny's bare handed catch and Brendan's fielding were particularly memorable, but really there was something special for everyone in every position.

I'm very glad we won (we deserved it), but I'm most happy with seeing all of our players swinging, hitting, fielding, keeping their spirits up and setting new personal bests.

Seals v. Bandits - Thursday game at Highland Senior High

We have a draft rotation and batting order up for this next game: Positions - HGRA Majors Seals 2007. If you will be late or absent please contact John by email (jfaughnan@spamcop.net) or by cell - 651-336-5548.

We've asked players to come early so we can spend some time warming up and doing some batting practice. It's getting hot, so don't forget the ice water. Austin will be bringing treats.

Everyone did very well at practice today, it's great to see the players improving.

2007 HGRA Major League All Star Game: Players born before 8/31/96

The 2007 Major League All Star Game will take place Sun June 24. Players born before 8/31/96 are eligible, this includes Calvin, Tommy and Melanie this year. We'll need a commitment to play by Saturday June 16th.

Here's how it works:

1. Game will be at Highland Senior High School (field we usually use).
   
2. Players are randomly assigned to either a 12:30 or 3:00 pm game. Game time will be announced during the week before the game.
3. Players get all-star shirts, there's an announcer and sound system and there are games and concessions available between innings.

Coach Mike Vento will attend for the Seals, unfortunately both Marty and John will be out of town that weekend.

Seals: getting ready for our next game

Another great Seals game though I think all the players tonight were feeling the distractions of the busy end-of-school schedule. The usual suspects had some very nice hits tonight, but it was good to see others joining in too. Practice helps.

Also tonight Coach Mike distributed some Seals baseball cards he made up for our team. Each player has a pack of their own cards and one of every other card. Mike wins Coach of the Week this week!

We have seven potential pitchers -- that's almost unheard of. We'll be rotating candidates around so newer pitchers get more confidence. We also have two established catchers and one up and coming candidate. We're continuing to work on hitting and base running. Our practices run officially for one hour, but coaches will usually stay later to work with anyone who's interested. Pitching clinics are Monday nights, 7pm, at the Expo School field -- highly recommended.

Anyone who wants to catch can also attend the pitching clinics to practice catching. (Full protective gear is required, so make arrangements with coaches to have that ahead of time.)

I've done a very preliminary revision of HGRA Majors Seals 2007 batting order and positions. We moved Tommy to 3rd in the order to take better advantage of his hitting skills. There's a link on the left side of this page that will take you to this. Send comments, requests, feedback, etc to jfaughnan@spamcop.net.

Post-game and positions for Game 3 (Homecroft)

That was unnaturally cold. I watched 'The Day After Tomorrow' on a late flight @2 am Thursday and I was having flashbacks during the game.

We played a very strong team to a draw. Great effort and spirit from everyone. We did have to explain to players that Little League rules mean that sometimes players play the same position twice or may sit out two innings in a row. We construct our rotation around pitchers and catchers, and pitchers have to pitch two consecutive innings.

We're working on the rotation for the next game. If everyone shows up then two players sit out three innings, I picked the unlucky players based on who played the most today. So if someone sits out 3 times the next game, they should only sit out 2 times the game after.

The draft rotation is here: HGRA Majors Seals positions 2007. Please email jfaughnan@spamcop.net (or Marty, etc) if you'll be away on 5/31 or if you see an error or injustice. We'll try to sort it out in advance.

I'd like to hand out the rotation at our next practice so everyone knows where they'll be ahead of time. The batting order should not change and that's on the schedule too.

Update 5/31/07: We have an abundance of pitchers now, so we're rotating 7 pitchers through six innings. This makes the schedule easier.

Seals 2007 - positions, batting order, game on tonight

I've made our rotation and batting order available for everyone.

Click here for the Majors Seals 2007 current batting order and position plan

I'll update it weekly. Let me know of preferred positions.

The weather is clearing so the game should be on tonight.

HGRA Major League Standings 2007

HGRA Major League Standings 2007

The Seals come-from-behind victory gets top billing!

Games this week: reminders for Seals and Diamonds

Reminders for games this week:

1. HGRA Baseball Schedules are online
2. HGRA is very keen on shirts being tucked in. Look good.
   
3. Bring water. Please.
4. Write your name on your glove, inside of your cap, and your bat if you bring one.
5. Seals please come before 6:15 pm so we can get your pictures.
6. Don't turn your back on the batter.
7. Don't throw your bat.
8. Don't throw the ball at a player who's not looking at you.
   

Seals: pitching clinic and extra 1/2 hour for next practice

The head coach (Marty) asked me to pass on two items:

• the Pitching clinic Mondays 7pm Expo School softball field for Major and Minor league players is excellent. Click the link for details. All kids can benefit from the expert instruction, not just would-be pitchers. Learn what the pros teach, and watch some excellent ball players in action.
• next Tuesday's practice will run an extra half-hour so we can prepare for the game. We can't start a half-hour early because there's a team ahead of us. We think this will be a one-time extension, we know it's late for some players (like my son Tim!)

I also would like to thank Sean and James, who were moved by my courageous display of awful throwing and have volunteered to help out at practice when they're available. The HGRA parents guide suggests five coaches for a practice, so there's room for at least two more. Some of our players would benefit from practice with a patient adult, even if the adult has even fewer ball skills than me.

Seals: practice parents needed for next week

We had a great Seals practice tonight, but, in case you can't tell, we're a bit short of hurlers. Mike has a healing finger, Marty has a bum shoulder, and John throws about as well as he did thirty years ago.

We're looking for 2-3 more parents to help with practices. You may think you're not much of a ball player, but we think you can throw better than John.

Uniforms will be distributed at the next practice. Please bring water, we had some thirsty players today.

The coaches may be ailing, but the Seals are looking good. Great attitudes and great attention from every player.

We'll be back at Aldine in a week, so there's time for you to find your old glove ...

Major League Seals: Practice Tuesday 7pm Aldine, Team name, Parents stuff

Reminder to all HGRA Major Leagues Seals families: Tuesday practices moved to Aldine. Follow the link for directions and a map.

Also, there will be a test on our team name:

Seals: San Francisco Seals, 1903 - 1957 of the Pacific Coast League. The DiMaggio brothers all played there.

Lastly, some excerpts from our hgra parental guide to the majors

At least 5 adults are needed for a quality, stations-oriented practice. You don’t have to be an expert to throw grounders, toss pop-ups or catch pitchers.

Games: All Major League games are on Thursday evenings at various fields in the neighborhood. Game time is 6:30 pm... Please arrive at games 15-30 minutes early for proper warm-up.

League rules require an adult contact for each child at each game and practice.

Game Rules: Little League rules apply. However - no bunting, no balks and only 2 steals per inning (not home).

Everybody on the team is in the batting order but only 10 batters bat during an inning. If the 10th batter puts the ball in play, they run the bases until tagged out or until a “force” play is made at the plate.

If after a fair number of pitches the 10th batter is not out, the umpire may order the batting team’s coach to pitch.

Other thing you can do to help:

• Supervise the players on the bench and announce the batting order for the kids during the games;
• Coach first or third base;
• Full uniforms - caps, shirt, pants and socks - are required for games. Players without proper attire may be asked not to participate in the game (we can let the socks go but they look so much better);
• Bring a jug of water and paper cups on hot, humid days - those who forgot will appreciate you;
• Sign up for one night of post-game treats. They are a tradition in HGRA. Your coach or a volunteer will usually set up a schedule. Juice boxes, soda pop, cookies, rice krispie treats or popsicles are a few suggestions. Bring enough so brothers and sisters can have some too.
• Important baseball rules to remember: In real baseball, plays occur that require application of specific rules.
• Here are some of the particular rules that frequently come up that you might not know:
• Infield fly - runners on 1st and 2nd, or bases full, less than two outs - a fly ball to the infield is an automatic out for the batter. This removes all force outs and runners may advance at their peril.
• Batted ball hits the plate - this is a fair ball if it bounces into fair territory
• Pitched ball hits batter’s hands on the bat - if the player swung, it is a foul strike. If the player did not swing, the batter gets first base.

Major League Seals 2007 - pictures and names

The 2007 seals - pictures to help coaches learn names ...

HGRA Seals 2007 - Team pictures

Tuesday Groveland practices moved to Aldine

The Major League Seals and other teams practicing

Groveland has decided to use their fields on Tues evening. We can use the field on 5/1/07, after that we have relocate.

Teams that had Tues pm practice there may use the field at Aldine Park, which is located on Aldine Ave. (between Snelling and Fairview), one block north of Marshall. The field is in rough shape but Dennis has asked the city to clean it up a bit.

Here's a link to a map.

--
John Faughnan (assist coach)
651-336-5548
jfaughnan@spamcop.net