Volume 2 Issue 6 – Friday, January 31, 2020 Wagner Upsets Cuyler, Claims Camp Crown! By Roy Berger, Beat Writer

Team Cuyler meet the 2007 New England KANGAROO COURT Patriots. The Honorable Steve Blass Presiding You both have something in common. You Kent Tekulve for asking Judge Blass to step tempted fate by entering the championship aside so he could introduce new game with perfect records and then bitterly Derek Shelton-$1; Curt Reuscher whose tasted defeat when it came time for all the wife will pay his fines-$2 each;Jim Fitzgerald marbles. for whining about the lack of an ice cream The New York Giants beat the 16-0 freezer and not appreciating the important Patriots almost 13 years to the day 17-14 camp stuff like the ample supply of beer- in Super Bowl XLII. At $1; David Koven who hit an inside-the-park Fantasy Camp on Thursday, Team Wagner homer but missed second base-$1; Jack beat the 6-0 Cuyler’s 7-5 to win the 2020 crown.“Without question it was the two Troutman for knocking on Jeff Kuhn’s door best teams of the week playing each other,” at 1:30 am as Kuhnie was trying to get rest for winning manager Al Oliver said. “For us to beat them without all three. We got it and the playoffs-$1; Jeff Hardy for attempting an to win I knew we had to get hits, get good were rewarded!” inside-the-park HR but sliding 10 feet short pitching and make plays. There was no way of home plate and being tagged out-$1; Ted The Cuyler’s got a run in the first against Andy Geletka for falling on the field and at the Grosh when Jason Scheidler knocked in Mike Labanowski who reached on a walk. Wagner, bar- $1 each fall. 5-1 entering the title tilt, got one in the second when Boyd Walters scored James Bish with a single off starter Ralph Fuchs. Wagner got ROPE ROUND UP four more in the top of the third off Fuchs GOLD ROPE with three walks and a couple of key base hits by Gary Dmitrzak and Scott Loercher to take Ralph Fuchs- 6-7, four RBI, four runs scored, a surprising 5-1 lead. three no-hit innings pitched and two great defensive plays. Honorable mention- Cuyler got their bats going in the fourth off Wardo, Jason Scheidler, Randy Stear. Loercher with a clutch two RBI double by BLACK & BLUE ROPE Mike Sedlock and a sac fly off the bat of Jeff Kuhn to draw within a run. They tied it in Ted Geletka for falling on the way to first the fifth when Labanowski knocked in Tim base and describing his injury to the trainer Geary with a sac fly. Geary had singled and as “I pulled something in my ass.” continued on back page

FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE DID YOU KNOW: Every year before New Pirates Manager Derek @ Pirate City 10:30 a.m. camp begins the Pirate City trainers and Shelton stopped by Pirate City on Baltimore vs. #2 Cuyler (7-1) clubhouse guys kick-in $20 each and in a Thursday and told the campers Baltimore vs. #4 Carey (4-3) blind draw pick one of the teams for the he’s anxious to get started as the Baltimore vs. #6 Stargell (2-5) week. The winning team is worth $140 and skipper. “There are good things Baltimore vs. #8 Vaughan (0-7) the holder of the last place team gets their to come,” Shelton, who was the @ Twin Lakes 10:30 a.m. $20 back. Dru Scott cashed in on champion bench for the Twins for the Team Wagner. And to prove there’s a silver #1 Wagner (7-1) vs. Baltimore past two years said. “I’m excited lining in everything, Lee Slagle got his #3 Clemente (5-2) vs. Baltimore about our young players, our rebate on winless Team Vaughan. #5 Traynor (2-5) vs. Baltimore pitching staff and our future.” #7 Waner (2-5) vs. Baltimore continued from front page 10 Q’s WITH JASON MACKEY advanced to third on an error. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pirates beat writer Wagner scored two big runs in the sixth inning as Loercher tripled, Grosh knocked and fantasy camper him in on a fielder’s choice, Devan reached on an error and came around to score on Dale Dmitrzak’s single. Where are you living and tell us about your family. I live in Mt. Lebanon. I’ve been married to Abby for seven years Oliver and Milt May gave the ball to Bill Larko for the final two innings. A double and we have two sons, Rider is 6 and Teddy is 1. play got them out of the sixth. In the seventh Larko put the first two batters on before getting Kuhn and Jeff Vanderhoof on pop-ups back to him and then striking When did you begin your journalism career? out Karl Falk to win the championship. I went to work for the Fairfax (Va.) County Times in 2007. I came back home in 2010 working for the Tribune-Review covering “I was nervous in the seventh,” Larko said. “I figured if we got the first two guys high schools. In August 2016, I became the beat writer for the we would be okay. It didn’t actually happen that way but it worked out just fine.” Penguins for the Post-Gazette. Last May I moved over to the Pirates. It was the second meeting of the week between the two teams. They traded two run victories to finish with identical records of 7-1. On the Pirates beat what do you feel is your responsibility to your readers? Can you be a fan too? Camp vet and champion Gary Dmitrzak, Dale’s brother, was emotional as the To cover the team accurately, thoroughly and interestingly. I game ended. was a Pirate fan, I can’t be now. “I told Dale back in June to come back to camp because we were going to win this year. To win it with my brother and these teammates is very, very special.” Your favorite ballplayer as a kid? Jason Kendall. I like the way he played the game. He was smart The New York Giants know the feeling. and always gave 100%. Semifinal Recaps You played baseball in college? Yes, I went to Westminster College which is about 60 miles Cuyler 8- Traynor 3: Not many baseball games are decided in the top of the north of Pittsburgh in New Wilmington. I played baseball all first inning but for all practical purposes the semifinal between top-seeded Team four years. I was a not-very-good relief pitcher. My major was Cuyler and underdog Team Traynor was. broadcast communications. I originally wanted to do TV and radio but ultimately decided to be a print journalist. I don’t “We decided we had to be aggressive to beat them,” Traynor manager Rick regret the decision. Reuschel said. “It took a perfect throw and they got it.”

Your view of the future of the newspaper business? Traynor at 2-4 was the only below .500 team in the final four and had the uphill I think it’s struggling to stay competitive and relevant with task of trying to knock off the perfect Cuyler’s who finished regulation play at 6-0. online websites. We need to change how we do things. Traynor got a quick two runs on a Dean Doyen bases loaded single and a Jason Newspapers can stay relevant but they have to evolve. We Mackey fly ball that Jeff Kuhn dropped as Wardo Brigham tried to score from need to make friends with digital and not fight it. I very much second but Kuhn recovered, relayed the ball to shortstop Mike Labanowski who believe in the business and what they do to hold government threw a strike to Bob Calhoun to get Wardo. It was a rally killer. and related agencies accountable. Newspapers will ultimately survive, just maybe in a different form. “I would say that play was somewhere between gigantic and enormous,” winning manager Mike LaValliere smiled. Your impression of fantasy camp now that you’ve been “I knew Labs had the ball but he had to be perfect to get me,” Wardo said. “He here? was. I tip my cap to him.” I originally thought it was going to be laid back, just a bunch of guys hanging out and relaxing but I quickly found out it’s fairly Cuyler’s combined pitching of David Briles, Bruce Sedlock and Tim Geary intense and far more competitive than I thought it would be. allowed one more run the rest of the way allowing Cuyler to post a relatively easy 8-3 win and move into the afternoon championship game. Knowing what you know now, would you prepare for camp differently? Glenn Stewart and Kuhn were 3-3 at the plate for the winners while Labs and Yes. I would have practiced more baseball. I thought I was in Ralph Fuchs each had run scoring triples. shape from running but it’s not baseball running Wagner 9-Carey 2: Team Wagner behind the hitting and pitching of Andy Grosh Would you do this again? advanced into the championship game and a rematch with Team Cuyler. Absolutely. I’d like to do it with some of my friends that are diehard Pirates fans. Grosh threw the first three innings limiting Carey to two hits and hit ahome run with two RBI to help his cause. Wagner ran away early with five runs in How will the Pirates do this season? the bottom of the first inning to improve their record to 6-1. A James Bish triple I think they will do a lot better than people expect. I think .500 followed by a key Randy Stear single did most of the damage. Scott Loercher, also or a couple of games above would not surprise me. with two hits, followed Grosh on the mound with three innings, also only giving up a couple of hits. Dale Dmitrzak pitched the seventh getting out of a bases loaded, nobody out jam to seal the win.