Poll of the Week: Most Vintage, round 2

Orators-Newtown coverage

The Newtown Sandy Hooks' website has posted a recap of our June 1 doubleheader.

As usual with the Hooks site, there's some fantastic photos taken by Ray "Shutta" Shaw. Give yourself a vintage treat and check out the breakdown here.

I particularly like the picture where it looks like I am giving Pops Vigorito grief. I was framed!

Captain's Corner: 6/1 "A Tale of Two Games"

Each week, we will catch up with Team Captain Matt "Howitzer" Lungariello (pictured above) on his thoughts regarding the game of the week.

On June 1, it was certainly the tale of two games. In the first, the Orators' bats slumbered while sloppy defense left them in a hole they never climbed out of. The team rebounded in the second game of the doubleheader jumping out to an early lead and never looking back. The team scored over 20 runs in what was their best offensive game of the season. They managed to end their 6-game losing streak and get hitting displays from guys like Barkeep Donnelly and Ginger Kirkpatrick.

So let's see what El Capitan says:

KEEP IT VINTAGE: Let's be blunt - Ginger's been hot at the plate. Is he juicing?
HOWITZER: If you're not cheating, you're not trying. We aren't currently testing for steroids since they haven't been invented yet.

I just hope that he would share it with the other players on the team if he was getting some decent stuff.

KIV: The team's beaten Newtown before but this was the first official victory against them. How important is that?
H: It's very important. We have lost a few one run games to them, and I know that our guys really wanted to win and put it behind them. A good way to get that first win is by scoring 20+ runs. We really put game 1 behind us and hit the ball very well in game 2.

KIV: The team is still .500 at home. After just two wins, is it too early to say the team plays better at home?
H: There's no question that we play better at home. Most of the guys get to sleep a little longer, and spend a little less time driving before gametime. That works both ways also. The team that we are playing had to wake up a little earlier and drive a little extra. It messes up your body. No one likes to sit in the car too long.

KIV: After showing some life in game 2, I'm sure building on that momentum is important? What does the team have to work on to have more victories?
H: I hope we can carry it over. It would be nice if we were playing a 1860's game this weekend, we looked pretty sharp in game 2 last week.

This weekend we will be playing 80's rules, so it will come down to pitching. Hopefully, we get a few pitchers to show up on Sunday.

KIV: What's the status with Cap and the other injured guys how they coming along?
H: All our injuries are day to day at this point. We are going to keep a close watch on Paul's hammy. That will be a problem all year, we just have to be smart about it. Ginger always plays through it, and last week we had to remove GentleBen who had problems with both legs. Cap is just about healed, its really up to him when he feels comfortable playing again. Irish is ready to go, and Big Dawg has a cut on his hand but it wont effect his knuckleball.

A Seaside split: O's stomp out losing streak at home

6/1/08
Bridgeport Orators vs. Newtown Sandy Hooks
--------
GAME 1, LOST: Newtown 11 - Orators 3
GAME 2, WON: Orators 23 - Newtown 14