Buchbinder Cup Champs

After our victory against Heidenheim we went back to the dorm to clean up and relax for a bit. We headed back to the field around 7pm for dinner and beer at the Gausthaus and spent the rest of Saturday evening watching Hamburg vs. Regensburg.

Our team was pouring with good spirit on this beautiful eveining, and so were the beers. We managed to sneak a couple of our own brews into the stadium so we did not have to pay €3 per beer at the park, and as I got to know my fellow American aditions from Manheim and watch baseball I was buzzing off the experience in Bavaria both literally and methaphorically. As my soberness decreased with the sunlight I watched the game between Regensburg and Hamburg get out of hand. Regensburg is a very talented team and they play with a lot of confidence. From an outsiders observation; and one from a savy American, I felt some of their swagger was a little indecent to the game. Do not get me wrong, I am all for good confidence and a puffed out chest, but I kept thinking to myself that these guys thought they were unbeatable. They were. After their Hamburg blowout they were 15-0.

We soon went to the Gausthaus after the conclusion of the game and the place was packed with soccer enthusiasm as FC Bayern-Munchen was playing. I grabbed a Weisen beer and sat near a tv with Danny, Sara, Augie, and our shortstop Jendrick Speer. We talked about Regensburg and what we needed to do in order to end their streak.

At the conclusion of the night our two vans were packed with both the Hamburg team and our own. One van was going to downtown Regensburg, the other back to the dorms. I felt really lucky to jump in the van going back to our dorms. I was "too tired," to say the least. I got back to the dorms and passed out.

The next morning was more of the same as the day before. Slamming dorms, footsteps, mixed in with the ocasional moan, yawn, and muffled voices. It was mandatory to be at breakfast at 9a.m. and before I went out of my room I did my best to look presentable again. It was not happening. I didn't really care though and as I hazely walked into the breakfast area I noticed that I was not alone in my less than stellar well being. Breakfast was a complete zoo. Guys walked in with nasty grins, wabbly steps, and lazy eyes from the previous night. I thought that it was going to be a very long day as we were playing the best team in the country that night. "Great, everyone is feeling terrible and we play Regensburg tonight." Apperantly some of the guys got in just a little earlier that morning and were out all night. Again, I was happy I got in the right van and attempted to sleep it off. As hazy as I was I did not have any sort of headache, and as I explained this to one of my German teammates they explained that because of the German purity laws when it comes to brewing beer, there are no ingredients that will give you a headache. As far fetched as it sounded I didn't really care and I bought it.

Luckily we did not play until 7p.m. that night and we all had time to go get more sleep before we left for lunch at the field. Once we met again at 1p.m. and got yet another meal at the Gausthaus we were free to go explore a little bit of Regensburg before we had to be back at 5p.m.

I headed to the townsquare also known as Altstadt (old town) with Danny, Sara, and a few other teammates, including our pitching addition from America, Corey. It was nice sharing stories with Corey, and he opened up to me about his experiences along with the pressure being an American pither has in Germany. Corey was slatted to start our third game vs. Hamburg on Monday and after our conversation I was really looking forward to catching him and working with him. Our Regensburg tour was great! We explored as much as we could in the few hours we had and it was an absolutley beautiful day. We ran into our starting shortstop Jendrick Speer who was with hissignificant other alongside his two children and his former coaches wife.
The Regensburg coach is a legend in Paderborn and father figure to many of my teammates who have been playing with the Untouchables since the late 90's. Martin Helmig guided the Paderborn Untouchables to 6 German Baseball Championships in 1999, and 2001-2005. Pretty amazing. He was now the man responsible for the unpresidented 15-0 Legionare who we played later that evening.

Upon our arrival back at the field we got ready in the visiting clubhouse and by this time we were feeling much better.

Our game started at 7pm under a beautiful sky with late evening sunshine and warm temperatures.

The stands were filling up as well and I couldn't help but think to myself "This is why we came to Germany."

That feeling left after about 15 minutes into the game however as things got out of hand for us really quickly. We were the home team and from the start of the game Danny was having control issues. I wouldn't blame it on pressure, nervousness, or even a lack of focus because Danny is much better than all of that. However after a few walks, a few hits, a few big missed strikes from the umpire, as well as a few runs scored in the top of the first we were feeling the pressure. On top of that was the fact that they were running all over us, and especially me. I was forcing the ball, and unfortunately my throws were going all over the place! (This later garnered me a new kangaroo court fine name, "One Hopper.")

The worst part of the inning was when Regensburg's eight hitter came up to the plate and literally put his back foot directly behind the plate, completely out of the batters box. This was and has always been unacceptable in baseball. By doing this, the batter is telling the pitcher that the plate belongs to the hitter and that there is not respect, nor fear of getting hit. This pissed me off completley! I have been playing competitive baseball for over 15 years, and not once has this happened when I am behind the dish. I stopped for a second before I called a pitch, looked at Danny who seemed to be as bewildered as I was, and I stood up.

"What are you doing man? Are your trying to get killed?!?!" Mr. Umpire, would you please tell him to get in the batters box? he is going to get hurt," I said.
The umpire umpire looked at me and said "He can do that if he wants, but if he makes contact or gets hit, it is an automatic out for not being in the batters box." I thought to myself, "sweet," as I quickly crouched again and called for an inside fastball, almost setting up directly behind the hitter.

However, the look and frustration Danny had did not go over easy. As any pitcher in this situation would do, Danny got pissed at the disrespect of the hitter and the frustration of the entire inning. Being an outstanding baseball player, both as a hitter and pitcher, he knew the direct disrespect intended his way by taking away the plate. Looking back on the situation I should have made a mound visit to tell him to either hit the batter or have him make contact, the umpire told me it would have been a free-bee out. Instead, I called a fastball in, and Danny humped up about 20% more of his normal fastball and sent a pitch wizzing right behind the hitters head at about 90mph +.
"Holy shizza dude!! What is he doing?!?" the hitter asked me.
"Are you serious kid? Get your ass in the box or else you are going to get killed!" Why are you putting your foot behind the plate man?"
"My coach told me too get on the plate, I am just doning what I am asked," he replied.
At this point the runner on first moved up another bag, then stole third on the next pitch. Once again, I forced a bad throw to third as our third baseman jumped up for the throw. A good throw would have had him easily. We finally got out of the inning, but it was not without drama. During the whole "crowded plate at-bat," the Regensburg coach came of the bench after Danny had sailed one past the hitters ear and asked him if he was throwing at him intentionally. Danny did not really react and basically told him that after three walks and a few wild pitches, that it was impossible for him to hit someone on purpose. I thought it was a good response because Danny was protecting everyone in our lineup by telling him it was unintentional.

As the bottom half of the first started, Regensburg was throwing their most recent addition from the USA. Their starter was a tall right handed guy from the South Side of Chicago, who had barley played baseball, yet had spent his life playing basketball through college and now professionally in Europe. Things got a little serious once again when the first pitch he threw was a fastball that hit our leadoff hitter, Jendrick Speer, in the head. He was o.k., but as he trotted down to first and I approached the plate the pitcher had a grin on his face as if he had done it on purpose, or was amused by the irony of hitting one of our guys. This was not o.k. in my mind. I paused, looked at him before I got in the batters box and then asked the catcher, "What is he smiling about? That is not something he should be smiling about, what is the deal, is he trying to get one of you hurt now?" The catcher looked at me, very concerned and said, "I have no idea man, he is a basketball player and might not understand the game."

Things settled down as the first few innings went by. We were down 5-0 after two innings and Regensburg was feeling extremely confident, just as they had all year. We were having a hard time at the plate though and the only two hits we managed in the first five innings were from me. On top of that, Danny had been drilled twice himself while batting, though we understood that it was not intentional. By the sixth inning the Regensburg starter was having control issues, and with a stacked bullpen, they brought in a new pitcher. We finally got on the board when Gavin Ng, Paderborn's American from the past few years got a 2 RBI single, bringing the game closer with a 5-2 score.

We finally shut down their offense as Danny was cruising with a great changeup and overwhelming slider after the first few innings. I also picked myself up and helped by finally throwing out three base runners from the 2nd inning to the 7th and effectively shut down the running game.

The next inning proved to be one of the biggest innings I had ever been a part of. I led off the 7th with a single to right field, my third hit of the day, and Danny worked a great at-bat seeing five or six pitches and staying alive until the pitcher made one big mistake. On a 2-2 count he left a slider up in the strike zone and Danny hit the ball about 480 feet to left. it was a towering shot! I was on first base and couldn't help but laugh and smile when I thought of the irony, and the fact that the left fielder didn't even move, as he turned and watched the ball soar well past the left field fence. This really pumped us up as we were now only 1 run down with no outs.

The rally continued as hitter after hitter got on base, worked counts, and got timely hits. I came up once again with 2 outs and the bases loaded, with another opportunity to get a big hit. At this point we had taken the lead by a score of 6-5. I worked myself into a 3-1 count and just missed a fastball on which I over-swung and fouled off. I continued to foul pitches off until I got a fastball over the middle of the plate and hit a hard ground ball up the middle. The shortstop did a good job knocking the ball down on the back cut of the infield, but the runner from third had scored, and the runner from second was the speediest in our lineup and scored easily as I raced to first for a hit. 8-5! We still had a good opportunity to score another run as Danny came to the plate for the second time. On a 1-1 count Danny turned a fastball around and hit yet another Home run! 2 Homers in one inning with 5 RBI's. ( I later fined him in Kangaroo court for showing me up, as I "only had two singles and two RBI's," in the same inning.) We led by a score of 11-5 and scored 9 runs in the seventh inning, leaving the Legionnaire with a puzzled look on their Mustached faces.

The Regensburg team had been growing mustaches since the beginning of the season with the thought that they would not shave until they lost. I had told their center fielder before the game that I hoped they all brought their razors for after the game. It was nice to see them with a fresh shave the next day!

Regensburg could not get their mojo back and as Danny cruised on the mound through the top half of the 8th and 9th, we won the game by a score of 11-5, shocking the hometown team in their own tournament, in front of their crowd. It felt great to beat a quality team, and with the win we were guaranteed the Buchbinder Championship because Hamburg had already lost two games. Red was happy about having the €1,500 prize money but wanted us to win the next day, which we did by a score of 2-1, beating a very good left hander from Gauting who was playing for Hamburg during the tournament. He had also pitched in the Blue Jays organization. Our American addition from Manheim did a great job as well and although he struggled with command at times, he got himself out of some big situations.

All in all it was a great weekend filled with great competition, awesome food and beer. I loved Regensburg, the baseball facility, and the people who appreciated baseball so far from our home land of America.
Since we had another week until our next game, Red gave us two days off in a row which allowed Danny, Sara, and me to head south about 45 miles to Munich to do some sightseeing before we went back north to Paderborn.

Needless to say, we were really looking forward to being in München and trying all the famous Bavarian Beer and food in the days to come.

(Here is a little Footage from Regensburg, enjoy)