Mowin' em down!!!

The boys from Best Kept Lawns dreams of a perfect season came to a crashing halt tonight as your Demons gained the revenge they so desperately sought in claiming a 3-1 victory at Wavering Park.

Earlier this season, the teams met when both were undefeated and the Lawn Boys handed the Demons a 10-8 loss. Thanks to the sparkling pitching of the Weamster and some rock-solid defense, the Demons played their best game of the season when they needed it the most.

The Weamster gave up a season-low (heck, we could probably call it a career low) one run and was backed up nicely by his defense. He coaxed the Lawn Boys into numerous pop flys, all of which were easily handled by the Demons. Shawny, Nick the Quick and Hitman Hart each made nice plays on fly balls.

When the Lawn Boys put the ball on the ground, the Demons gobbled it up like Ed used to wolf down the breakfast burritos at Hardee's.

Eric B. made like Brooks Robinson at third base, Marky Mark was solid at second base and Big John Studd made more scoops at first base than the folks at Deter's Frozen Custard, never letting anything get past him.

Get this, the Demons finished the game with a nicely turned 5-4-3 double play.

The Weamster was stunned after the game with how the team played.

The Demons didn't generate much offense, but it wasn't their fault like in the first battle. We hit the ball hard but right at people. Plus the Lawn Boys made a couple of nice plays in the field to rob sure hits.

With just 10 players, the Weamster also mixed the lineup a bit with success. After starting the year in the No. 10 spot and slowly creeping up to the No. 8 spot, DOB was placed in the 3 hole for the first time and didn't disappoint. He went 2 for 3 and scored what proved to be the game-winning run in the third inning on a hit by Kriss Kross. That pumps DOB's average up to .640 (16 for 25) with 9 RBI. Now that DOB has moved up in the order, he'll get more RBI chances and a chance to score some more runs.

The Demons were able to pull off the upset without Ed, who is on vacation this week. Should Ed decide to pull get his butt up off the couch for our two rainout makeups, he'll get plenty of chances to play. Hitman Hart is out for the final two games because of vacation plans. Rob Base is also on guard duty and will be unavailable. If I were him, I'd go AWOL, but that's me. Ed will likely be our signal caller for the final two games,while DOB will make the move to third and Eric B. will slide to shortstop.

We're going up against a Snap-On Tools team we just pasted last week. Game time is 8 p.m.at Wavering. We'll end the season on Aug. 10 at 7 p.m. against the U.S. Cooler boys at Wavering.

Be there, or be square.

DOB's back, so are the Demons!!!!!

The triumphant return of DOB Thursday night signaled the return of the Demons team we all know and love.

With DOB continuing to swing the hottest bat on the team despite a two-week layoff, the Demons drubbed Snap-On Tools to the tune of 18-8 (not 16-6 as the earlier blog posting noted).

The Demons raced out to an early lead and were never threatened on a hot, humid day at Moorman Main. Rained out earlier this season against the Snap-On boys, the Demons gave them an idea of what life will be like when we meet them again in a few weeks. We knocked the dude that looked like John Belushi on the hill all over the park. Had it not been for a gimpy Kriss Kross holding up Chuck D and forcing himself into an out, we may still be batting in the second inning.

(One Demon asked if we were playing the U.S. Cooler boys again. I don't even want to think about having to watch the Coolerz and Snap-On go toe-to-toe.)

The Weamster did an adequate job on the mound, even without DOB behind the plate to guide him. Nick The Quick and Ed served as catchers while DOB roamed the outfield for the first time this season.

(By the way, what would possess you to put a weapon like DOB in the outfield? He's money behind the plate. He's talked numerous players into swinging at Weamster's cruddy offerings this season. Hopefully, the Weamster will see fit to put DOB at shortstop when Hitman Hart goes on vacation in a few weeks. He's that darn good.)

As he's done all year, DOB was the man at the plate, going 3 for 3 with a double. Lifting his batting average to .636 (14 for 22) with 9 RBI. Dubbed Rabe Jr. by his teammates after a sizzling double down the left-field line, DOB is making a case to be a Quincy Park District Division V All-Star this season.

Since we were playing in the big 300-foot fenced Moorman Main, no Demon hit a dinger, unless you want to count Shawny's inside-the-park job, which was boosted by an error or two.

Big ups to Ed for giving us a nice breeze as well. Ed took a mighty cut and wiffed on his last at-bat of the night.

After the game, my son, Derek, who is owed about 10 quarters from Kris Kross for his potty mouth asked me the following question:

"Does Matthew get picked on a lot?"

Only 7 years old, but as sharp as a tack that kid is.

By the way, we might not have Ed to kick around for much longer. Sources tell me that he's pondering a move up to Division IV. Wonder if he'll pay that team his league fees since the Weamster's still waiting for his for this season?

After hearing the rumor, one Demon said, "Don't let the door hit you where the good lord split you."

The big battle with Best Kept Lawns is this week at 6 p.m. Hopefully, we all bring our "A" games this week.

ROLLING ROLLING

The H-W Demons rolled on with a convincing 16-6 victory over Snap On Tools in a five-inning mercy rule contest Thursday.

Leading the way was, and I really hate admit this but it's true .... DON O'BRIEN, who smacked three hits. No questionable DOB scoring here, they were all legit and hard hit balls to the left side. We think it's because he was hanging out with our new Major League hero, Josh Rabe, earlier this week in Minnesota. Too bad Markus Medsker won't make the NBA because then DOB might actually learn to make a layup, but that's another story.

Anyway, stellar defense led the Demons on this night, with no errors committed. Except for a few walks by The Weamster, it was a pretty good night on D.

Three more games await, including next week's huge tilt with Best Kept Lawns at 6 p.m. at Wavering. REVENGE!

WASHED OUT

Demons didn't play tonight due to the rain .... see you next week!

WHAT A COMEBACK!

Tonight the Demons attempted to end a three-game losing skid by taking on Style It 2 at Upper Moorman. We played perhaps our worst game of the year a week ago in a loss to the dreaded Uncle Bob's Bar, and for much of tonight's game we seemed to be in trouble.

We actually had a lead going into the top of the fifth when Style It scored 14 runs. The Weamster walked six batters, Marky Mark dropped a popup, the shortstop bobbled a ball and Style It smacked it around. By the end of the top of the fifth, we trailed 19-10.

We got six runs back in the bottom of the fifth, led by Mark Mark's two-run single. The geeky shortstop broke out of an 0-June and July slump by hitting one just shy of the fence, and we held Style It to one run in the top of the sixth.

We had our last at-bat in the sixth (time limit was in effect) and by then we were really tired of the drunk second baseman for Style It, who kept inanely screaming the entire game. Even his own teammates were a little embarassed by him - "He was hammered before he even got here," one of them told me. Making matters worse was Weamster walking him two times in a row when he could hardly get the bat off his shoulder because he was so hammered.

In the bottom of the sixth, the shortstop (new nickname, "Chadster") finally unloaded and hit a two-run bomb for his first homer since, oh, the Nixon Administration. With two out, St. Nick started a rally with a base hit, followed by clutch hits from Big John Studd, Marky Mark and Shawn "Fantastic Mid-Season Pickup" Altgilbers. One of the hits was a blooper right at the second baseman, but he couldn't figure out which of the three balls was hit to him and it dropped for a single.

With the game tied, Speed Demon Eric ended the game with a smash up the middle, scoring Marky Mark with the winning run.

The Style It second baseman was devastated, dropping to one knee and shedding a tear. Quietly, thank goodness. Meanwhile, the Demons celebrated a huge come from behind victory and vowed to keep the streak going next week against hapless U.S. Cooler.

The Demons are back!

DOB was on vacation and we missed his smack talk behind the plate. Ed Sprague had to work at the Gems game — and we could have used him because we had only nine players. Kudos to Shawn, Dan and the other lefty in left field, who played very well and kept things from getting out of hand (Shawn made a tremendous catch in center field to rob Style It of a possible bases loaded double).

We invited comments, especially from the H-W Demons themselves, who popped a couple of lemonades to celebrate.

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In a tailspin

Your beloved Thursday night warriors laid another egg, the team's third straight loss. This time, Uncle Bob's Bar and Grill smoked the (not-so) mighty Demons 16-5.

The dreams of a league championship are nothing more than a pipe dream for the Demons, who are now 4-3 and will be without team sparkplug DOB for the next two weeks. DOB, last year's Demons Rookie of the Year and the most consistent player on this year's squad, will be taking some vacation time.

The blog should be updated by Hitman Hart while DOB is gone. Unless things turn around while DOB is gone, he could pretty much write the next two weeks' worth of games today:

The Demons lost again, once again getting beat by a group of players who shouldn't be on the same field as them.

The last three weeks have been sad. We can't hit, we can't field, we can't get a break.

Credit the Weamster for fielding his position nicely on the mound. Other than that, we stunk. We gave them way too many outs. Oh, well. That's why we're Division V I guess.

DOB led the offensive charge, going 2 for 3 with an RBI. That pushes his season totals to 11 for 19 with 9 RBI. Seriously, can anyone else on the team claim to be hitting better than DOB's .579 this season? I don't think so.

Ed claimed he would resign if he was made fun of in the blog again. Despite the calls for me to do so, I'll pass this time.

However, you should all know that Ed asked for a trade on the Friday SportsWriter's Journal. Seems he doesn't like the fact that he hits last and only plays every other inning. I got two words for him: Get better.

Best of luck to the boys while I'm gone. I'll be thinking of you when kicking it in the Ozarks and hanging with the Cardinals.