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There's no better time than 2025

 

 

 

Week One Milkmen

 

Opening day 2025 is finally here and today's opponent is the Milkmen. The Giants were expecting a tough matchup against this new team and went into the first game giving Adam Reents the ball. He lasted through a tough fourth inning and managed to get the win and a complete game with a final score of 7 to 4. Ryan Polhonka, Mike Ciseweski, Noah Danner and Cole Lambert all had two hits each to led the offense. Win game one - check, now on to game two. The Giants jumped out to a 4 - 0 lead with Rob Dembroski on the mound and then decided to take the rest of the afternoon off - apparently. A few questionable fielding decisions combined with a number of softly hit infield singles let the Milkmen come from behind to pull off a 5 to 4 win. Reents led the hitting with 2 hits. Well that's life. In fact it's almost as if you could be riding high one minute and then shot down a minute later. But as you can probably guess, we're gonna change that tune when we're back on top in June.

 

"Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical." Yogi Berra

 

It's a long season. though, so enjoy the Memorial Weekend off and be ready to go in June.

 

Let's Go Giants!

 

Week 2 Coyotes

 

The Giants were expecting a challenge this week against the Coyotes, who year after year are consistently at or near the top of the league standings. The game one call went to Cole Lambert, pitching in his first game of the year for the Giants. Cole shut down the Coyotes for a while giving the Giants a chance to build an early lead that included a monster shot by Will Heise. Not sure if they ever found the ball, but unsurprisingly the Coyotes managed to get back to tie the game at 4 after 7 innings. A lead off single by Lambert in the top of the eighth led to scratching out a run and a one, two three bottom half earned a save for Noah Danner. There was a moment of joy in Mudville as the Giants had managed a 5 to 4 win. The offense was led by Will Heise, Adam Kern, Adam Reents and Ren Martin, all with 2 hits and also a key hit/RBI from Josh Hammerton. Cole Lambert picked up the win giving up only 2 earned runs. 

 

Game two starter was Adam Reents, coming off a complete game win the previous week. The questions were how would Reents match up against one of the league's best, Coyotes pitcher Jason Eddy, and would the Giants get a sweep. Turns out the answers were "pretty good" and "no". When Eddy left the game after 4 innings the game was tied at 2. A couple of fielding miscues later and the Giants were on the short side of the 5 to 2 loss. Reents also had two of only three Giants hits for the only other highlight. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

 

"They don't think it be like it is, but it do." Oscar Gamble

 

It's a long season and the final standings at the end of the season are what counts.

 

Go Giants!!

 

 

Week Three Saints

 

As the wind blew forcefully over the grassy pasture known as Lighted Field, the intrepid collection of characters all somehow wearing the same green outfit, spurted out of the dugout looking forward to their shared cause of preserving hope. The first game today looked to be a rematch of the Giants playoff win last year that finished in a 3 to 1 pitchers duel against the same Saints pitcher. After 5 innings with the score tied at 1, the Giants finally broke out scoring 7 runs over the last 2 innings to reach the 8 to 1 final. Will Heise and Cole Lambert both led the offense with 2 hits including a double. Cole got the win on the mound as well, pitching the complete game allowing only 3 hits. Great start all around, except for the guy with a pulled hammy. 

 

Next up - game two. Adam Reents took the mound and did a good job of upsetting the timing of the Saints lineup, giving up only 3 hits over 6 innings getting the 9 to 1 win. Mason Drewelow closed out the seventh with a scoreless inning in relief. Noah Danner led the hitting with two hits, but the story of the day was Will Heise's blast into the parking lot. Despite hitting into the gale force winds, the ball was last seen bouncing off cars in the parking lot and may be somewhere near Iowa by now. This was even more impressive than Will's monster shot last week which might still be rolling as well.

 

"You don't kick that dog as he's sleeping on the porch, you don't step on his tail, you just walk on by. If you step on his tail, he might jump up and bite you on the ankle or the kneecap." Mike Shannon

 

Great job this week, guys. Let's carry this over another week.

 

LF Go Giants!!!!

 

 

Week Four Sea Donkeys

 

Last year's reigning league champions marched into the sometimes friendly confines of Lighted carrying a 6 and 0 record. The good guys sent out one of their best, but after a few innings with Giants hitters falling for the Jedi mind tricks of the Sea Donkeys' pitchers, they were now 7 and 0. The only saving grace in the 15 to 1 loss was that we had made it a 7 inning game, which allowed a couple of guys to get in some pitching experience against the league's best hitting team. Not the TCMABL Game of the Week spotlight that we wanted.

 

Normally the best advice when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging. But that would be the easy way. Game two started with the Giants falling behind right away giving up a home run to a guy that likes to hit a lot of home runs. Wish we would have know that before the game, hmmm.  Oh well, by the third inning scratching out a few runs to tie the score at 4 provided some momentum and before you could blink ten runs scored over the next two innings led to the 15 to 5 final. A five inning win against the Sea Donkeys? Well I did find a diamond (true story) in the infield once, so I guess almost anything can happen on a baseball field. Adam Reents got the complete game win with a gutty performance, getting out of multiple jams. Adam Kern led the offense with 3 hits. Noah Danner, Mike Cisewski and Eli McEwan each added 2 more. Eli and Cole Lambert also both had 3 RBI.

 

"One of the beautiful things about baseball is that every once in a while you come into a situation where you want to, and where you have to, reach down and prove something." Nolan Ryan

 

Let's not wait until the second game to get the bats going against next week's opponent .......... the Bats.

 

LF Go Giants!!!!!

 

Week Five Bats

 

The only positive aspect to playing at Arlington Arkwright during a heat advisory forecasted to possibly hit 100 degrees was the fact that we didn't have to deal with some sketchy dude sleeping under the trees behind the third base dugout like we did the last time we played there. Even too hot for the homeless, apparently, or maybe he was just a guy that had a argument with his wife. But I digress. Today's opponent, the Bats, seem to always be on the verge of a break out season, so the challenge was to not only beat the improving Bats but also beat the heat. The Giants were able to score a run in the first inning of game one to take an early lead as the teams exchanged a couple of scoreless innings in what was shaping up to be a pitcher's duel. However by the time that starter Cole Lambert gave up  his lone run in the 6th inning the Giants had increased the score to what was the 4 to 1 final. Rob Dembroski came in to pitch a scoreless 7th. Adam Kern led the offense with 3 hits and 2 runs scored. Dembroski and Will Heise added two more with Heise hitting another blast into the wind for his third home run of the year.  

 

By the time game two started the Giants and the Bats had both lost a few players due to the heat, injury and other obligations. Would this game come down to the last man standing? Last game's closer, Rob Dembroski, pitched a couple scoreless innings into the second game before being relieved by Adam Reents. Similarly to the first game as the Giants pitchers kept the bats from scoring, the hitters scratched out a run or two, here and there until the Bats finally scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to make it a 5 to 1 win. Nice defensive play by Will Heise in centerfield to get the last out at the plate. Eli McEwan and Cole Lambert both had two hits with Ryan Polehonka getting a clutch hit that scored two. Combining a bend but not break defense with a few key hits was the story today. 

 

"It ain't the heat, it's the humility." Yogi Berra

 

Good team victories with every Giants' player contributing. Let's keep building on that.

 

Go Giants!!!!!!!

 

Week Six Hippos

 

An early morning storm brought a monsoon through the area leaving the field condition and the prospects of playing baseball in doubt. A little field work, though, and we were good to go against today's opponent, the Hippos. It's been a couple of years since these two teams have played and since the Hippos are managed by a local high school baseball coach, they've been expected to mature into a pretty solid team. Additionally, with the mid-season break coming up, the Giants were missing a few regulars which could make things interesting. Will Heise got the game one start and was effective long enough to leave with a 5 to 4 lead. The Giants then scored 6 more to put the game out of reach, or so we thought. A few walks and a few hits later and finally Mike Cisewski came in to close out the game, getting the last two outs to earn his first save for a 11 to 9 final. Adam Kern, Noah Danner, Ren Martin, Adam Reents and Mike Cisewski all had two hits. OK - not ideal but we'll go with that.

 

The second game followed more of a typical path. Score a run early and then play a close game scoring a few more runs along the way. Adam Reents allowed only one late run as the bats finally woke up in the later innings to make the final score 7 to 1. Ryan Polehonka led the hitting with 2 hits, a double and a couple RBI. Cole Wenzel turned a nice double play at third and also got his first of what should be many hits as a Giant.

 

"Pitching always beats batting - and vice-versa." Yogi Berra

 

Oddly enough, after these games, this saying almost makes sense. In the second game, pitching beat batting and in the first game, it was vice-versa. 

 

LF Go Giants!!!!!!!!!

 

Week Seven Babycakes

 

Coming into the game, the Babycakes had been getting some notice for being vastly improved over their first couple of years in the league. As such, the Giants looked for a challenging day and the Babycakes did not disappoint. The good guys fell behind right away giving up 4 runs in the top of the first and for a moment it looked like it could be a long day. However, after we got the first inning out of our system, the team quickly woke up and whittled away at the score finally coming to the 7 to 6 win. Adam Reents led the hitting with 3 hits. Ryan Polhonka and Cole Lambert each had 2 with Lambert also getting the complete game win, giving up only 1 earned run.

 

Falling behind in the first inning is not ideal, to say the least, so we definitely did not want to do that again in the second game, so with that in mind we promptly went out and gave up a couple runs to quickly fall behind early. But now that the Giants are becoming a team that can come from behind, we did exactly that leading to a 9 to 4 win. Adam Kern and Brandon Curry led the hitters both getting 2 hits with Ryan Polehonka and Adam Reents both getting key hits scoring two. Reents also picking up the complete game win with our bend but not break defense behind him. 

 

"It's hard to beat a person who never gives up." Babe Ruth

 

With several come from behind wins this season, now seems to be a pretty good time for the team to build a belief in their ability to come back. 

 

LF Go Giants!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Week Eight Sweepers

 

The Giants rolled into Lakeview Terrace with an almost full crew feeling pretty good that should someone need medical attention we would have a rapid response, as evidenced by the ambulance sirens every few minutes - and by the emergency response to the loud traffic accident on the highway a few feet from the field early in the first game. Aside from that momentary distraction, the team went to work against a new TCMABL team, the Sweepers. Cole Lambert took the ball in game one and struck out 14 hitters giving up only an earned run in his 6 innings of work. The offense was led by Adam Reents who got two of the team's 6 hits including a double and 3 RBIs. Final score went 8 to 3 for the good guys. A reasonably decent start, I would say, somewhere between OK and good. 

 

The next game allowed the Giants a chance to get Justin Freyholtz on the mound for the first time this season. Entering the game in the second inning, he held the Sweepers scoreless for the final 5 innings to get the win. The 12 to 2 score invoked the ten run rule and the Giants had swept the Sweepers. Probably not what they were thinking when they came up with their team name, but I appreciate the confidence. Noah Danner and Will Heise both had 2 hits to lead the hitting and Reents had a couple more RBIs.

 

"Baseball is wrong, man with four balls can not walk." Confucius

 

Yep, a lot of walks today and that won't happen every week, but we took advantage of that today. 

 

LF Go Giants!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Week Nine Expos

 

With the heat haze wafting above the tundra turning the infield at Lighted into a desert like oven, the Giants hosted the Expos expecting a close matchup between these two veteran teams. Game one starter Cole Lambert cruised through the Expos line up until running out of steam in the fifth inning before being replaced by Justin Freyholtz with the Giants down 6 to 5. Scratching out a run in the bottom of the sixth tied the score, which stayed tied until the top of the ninth when the Expos scored. No worries, though, right? After all the Giants have become a team used to come from behind wins, right? Bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded, two outs and a 3 – 2 count. What would happen? Well I could say the called strike three taught us a lesson about life and personal responsibility or something like that, but those lessons are often learned after the emotions have died down. At the time all we could do was eat a slice of apple that someone was passing around the dugout and prepare for game two. Couldn’t spend time thinking about the last game, or all of the germs being spread in that bucket of shared fruit for that matter. Great job by Freyholtz keeping us in the game. Lambert led the hitting with 3 hits with Mike Cisewski adding two more.

 

Adam Reents took the mound for game two. Did he care about the heat? Apparently not, as he pitched the complete game like an angry honey badger only giving up a run in his last inning. Just what the Giants needed to turn the day around. Wait – what? Check that score book again. I guess we forgot to score a run or two, which could have been kind of important in the 1 to 0 loss. What was it? Could we blame the heat? Missing a few players? The E. coli, from those fruit slices? (Everyone feeling OK?) Oh well, back to the drawing board.

 

"Close doesn't count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." Frank Robinson

 

"My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging." Hank Aaron 

 

The bottom line is that when we win a game, it's team win. When we lose a game, it's a team loss. Two hard fought close games that could have gone either way should be a learning experience as we will probably see this same team again this year.

 

LF Go Giants!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Week Ten North Stars

 

This week the team traveled to Dinky Town to attend a kick ball tournament happening at Van Cleve. The food trucks and girls in skimpy outfits added to the festival atmosphere, but hey, as long as there's a baseball field here, we might as well play a little baseball or so we thought. The North Stars and the Giants always seem to have close games. The last time the two teams played was in the playoffs two years ago with the Giants winning 2 to 1, scoring the deciding run in the bottom of the ninth. So we were expecting close games again. The teams exchanged leads in game one and were tied at 4 going into the bottom of the sixth when the team, apparently influenced by the tournament, decided we would rather play kick ball allowing a couple of unearned runs. With playoff seeding on the line, this was not a good time to find a new way to lose a game. The 6 to 4 loss was not good, to use polite terms. The offense was led by Adam Kern's 2 hits and Daniel Opdahl's double.

 

On to game two really needing to stop the loosing streak we had started. Mike Buttgereit took the mound for the first time since he had Tommy John's surgery a couple of years ago. Months of determined rehab had brought him to this point of finally being able to play again. With a short pitch count (about 10 pitches) in his first outing, he used about that for his 1, 2, 3 first inning. The sun was shinning and I actually saw a small smile. That was a good omen for the beginning of the game and when the first two hitters led off the bottom of the first with singles, Will Heise's blast gave the team a running start. Eleven different hitters all had one hit, but it was Heise's fourth home run of the year that set the pace for the 12 to 4 final. Adam Reents got the win working 5 innings in relief and Mason Drewelow worked a scoreless seventh inning. 

 

"The other teams could make trouble for us if they win." Yogi Berra

 

"Failure is part of success. There is no such thing as a bed of roses all your life. But failure will never stand in the way of success if you learn from it." Hank Aaron

 

That is very true, Yogi, but I think I would rather go with Hank and learn from this.

 

LF Go Giants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

Interested in Playing for the Giants?

The Giants are actively recruiting players for the 2025 season.

If you are interested in playing for the Giants contact Jon at tcgiants1@yahoo.com

 

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If you are interested in playing for the Giants, please contact team manager Jon Garbacz at tcgiants1@yahoo.com