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Manchester A's 2005 - Part 1 (Part 2)

This feature, and those to follow, will deal with the Manchester A's and their exploits on the playing fields of England during the 2005 season.

Opening Day (24/4) - by Ian J. Marginson

Manchester A's 5 @ 24 Strathclyde Falcons

Line-Ups:

Manchester A's		Strathclyde Falcons
Dave Gould	SS	Stuart Cheyne	CF
Chris Jackson	CF	Graham Kettles	SS
Paul Fagan	3B	John Linardi	2B
Ian Marginson	1B	Graham Gaffney	1B
Jim Gunn	C	Dave Finch	3B
Liam Dickinson	P	Colin Grant	C
Tony Wolstenholme	LF	Andrew Slade	LF
Adam Dickinson	RF	Alison Doherty	RF
Ronan Dunne	2B	Douglas Robertson	P
Bench
Rob Dipper	OF	Karl Barry	C
Stuart Winter	OF	Kevin Mitchell	OF
Ken Panko	P/IF	Mark Ledingham	OF
		John Mackay	Unused

A glorious spring day turned into an inglorious opening day for the below par Manchester A's.

Fielding a side with 6 of last seasons stalwarts missing. The top of the first started with SS Dave Gould leading off with a single, and then going on to steal second. With skipper Chris Jackson in the 2 spot grounding into a 6-3 out. That brought up 3B Paul Fagan, who lined a double, bringing home DG for the first score of the season. After PF stole 3rd, Ian Marginson couldn't bring him home, grounding into an easy 6-3 out. That task was left to emergency Catcher Jim Gunn, who lasered a trademark single over the second base bag. With Pitcher Liam Dickinson again giving the infield some practice with a 5-3 groundout to end the innings.

This is where I should end the commentary, as not much went well after this point. A walk for the Strathclyde leadoff man was only the start of a slippery slope for all of the A's pitching staff. Not helped at all by sloppy defence by the A's infield. With Starter Liam Dickinson 3I 7H 5W 8K 33ERA giving up 2 Homers. Rookie reliever Ken Panko also struggled 2I 3H W7 3K 27ERA. Closer Paul Fagan didn't fair any better 1I 1H 5W 0K 54ERA.

Offensively. The A's fared better. In fact matching the Falcons almost hit for hit despite being outscored 24-5. Sloppy base running (3 runners caught) being the only downside. Heart of the order Jim Gunn and Ian Marginson both going 2-3 with a Run and an RBI each, and Tony Wolstenholme 2-4 with 1 RBI.

With the only gruelling trip of the season out of the way. It leaves the rest of the season for the A's to build.

Thanks from all the team go out to Tony "winner" Wolstenholme, for providing todays transport, and also the in game entertainment!

Game 2 (1/5) - by Ian J. Marginson

Manchester A's 18 @ 8 Barnsley Strikers

Line-Ups

Manchester A's		Barnsley Strikers
Ronan Dunne	RF	A Bowers	3B
Dave Gould	SS	S Sparrow	C
Martin Gough	P	C Hewitt	P
Ian Marginson	2B	S Bennett	2B
Jim Gunn	C	D Kilkenny	SS
Tony Wolstenholme	3B	S Harrison	CF
Ian Marchment	C	T Allott	1B
Richard Morley	LF	V Anderson	LF
Chris Jackson	CF	G Spinks	RF
Bench
Rob Dipper	OF	K Allott	IF/OF/P
Stuart Winter	OF	M Merry	Unused
Adam Dickinson	IF/OF
Dave Gaskell	IF/P

What a difference a week makes!

Manchester A's could seemingly do no wrong in their second outing of the season. Against the Barnsley Strikers in this weekends fixtures, Chris Jackson's men were on the rampage after the previous weeks embarrassing performance.

The top of the 1st started well with Ronan Dunne, re-installed in his more familiar leadoff position, taking first base with a walk. Two successful steals by the scouser put him in scoring position at third. Only for the for the next three A's to go down in order.

Making his season debut, Pitcher Martyn Gough stranded a man on second base to send Barnsley back out to field the second, with no score on the board in the bottom of the first.

0 -0

Top of the second was where the fireworks began. Tony Wolstenholme reached first on a single, and was moved round to third by Catcher Ian Marchment's double on the first pitch he has seen this year. Up stepped rookie Rick Morley back in his homeland of Yorkshire, to complete a back to back double, scoring both runners. A Jackson single scored the rookie, before another stolen base by the skipper led to another run scoring on a very rare triple from SS Dave Gould. 2B Ian Marginson could not capitalise on Gould's speed, and made the third out of the inning.

Five runs scored in the bottom of the second putting the Strikers in front succeeded only in lighting the A's touch paper.

5 - 4

The top of the third was another A's success. Leading off the inning (get used to it Jim), 1B Jim Gunn launched a rocket past the outfield boundary for a ground rule double, (his first double since 2003) eventually scoring on Marchments long single after heads up base running. Another Jackson single, followed by two successive errors by the Strikers infield, scored more runs. Marginson then blooped a single over the shortstops head, and used his jet fuelled boots to reach third, as Gunn moved him round with a well struck single. Both runners were left stranded as Wolstenholme ended the inning with an infield out.

Two fly balls and an unusual pick off play limited the Strikers to just one run in the bottom of the third, leaving the scored poised at 6 - 10 to the visitors.

In the fourth inning a lead off single followed by Morley reaching first on an error. Both scoring on RF Dunnes first single of the day. With Gould following him around the base pads, Dunne 2xSB was caught trying to come home with an excellent throw out at the plate. Gould scored on the next play, as Gough got in on the Double action bringing home the run, before Marginson once again made the final out of the inning.

Another unusual play gave the A's their first two outs of the inning. Strikers Pinch-hitter Chris Allot, after reaching second base with a walk and a passed ball, forgot to tag on the outfield fly by team-mate Bowens, and was promptly thrown out 8 - 6 as Jackson threw direct to Gould stood on second base. An infield flyball to 3B Wolstenholme finished the inning. Only three batters faced, this was fast becoming an impressive outing for the A's pitcher Gough.

6 - 13

The top of the fifth started off with Marchments fourth hit of the game, quickly followed by Morley's second double of the game. A Pitching change came with new CF Chris Allott coming in to pitch, and an ensuing roundabout of fielders changing position. Starting pitcher Chris Hewitt retiring to first base to rest an overtired arm. Morley became the second player to be thrown out at home plate, trying to come home on the wild pitch. A second strikeout for Dunne preceded two successive A's batters reaching base after being hit by the pitcher, with Gould managing to steal his way around and score on a passed ball. Marginson finished the inning for the 4th time of the day, by flying out to CF stranding his 5th man of the game.

The bottom of the fifth saw another stellar pitching display from Martyn Gough. Two walks were negated by three fly balls to end the inning with no further score.

6 - 18

Having already scored 18 runs Barnsley struck back defensively. C Allott struck out two batters, with a pop fly for Marchment his only batting failure of the day, to make three outs with no added score in the sixth.

A second double play of the day helped close out the sixth for the A's.

6 - 18

More quality pitching in the top of the 7th by the relief man saw the A's once again go scoreless. Two more strikeouts making it five for the day for C Allott.

With Barnsley now needing 3 runs to save them from losing via the slaughter rule, a small scare. As Gough ,with one out, loaded up the bases with 3 walks. Two runs scoring on sloppy defence, before veteran T Allott's double saw the game saving run on third. Only the A's did not want to play any longer than they had to and finished the contest with their third double play of the game.

An 8 - 18 score-line in 7 innings was a fair result, with the Strikers being rusty, having not played yet this season and the A's having had time to get rid of all their deficiencies in the previous weeks match-up across the border.

MVP	Martyn Gough	WP, 2-3
Gameballs	Jim Gunn	3 - 5 with 2 doubles
	Ian Marchment	4 - 5, 4Runs, 2RBI
	Dave Gould	2 - 4 with a Triple, 3Runs, 4Stolen Base

Game 3 (15/5) - by Ian J. Marginson

Manchester A’s 26 @ 14 Bolton Brewers

Line-Ups

A week off appears to have done no harm to the Manchester A’s with another strong turn out this week against the Bolton Brewers.

Martyn Gough returned to the A’s after an excellent showing in his first appearance on the mound for the Eagles. Martyn brought his good form back to the A’s. At the top of the first, a full count single for Brewers skipper M Norburn was the only hit sandwiched around three strike outs, only for the third strike of the final strike out  to be dropped by catcher Ian Marchment and subsequently airmailed into right field, bringing home Norburn for the score. A six-three ground out finishing the inning. 1-0

Brewers starter J Sherlock threw his first four pitches for balls to put Dave Gould at first , then up stepped the A’s five tool franchise player, Gough, to stroke one over the centre left field fence to score his first ever home run and pick up his second game ball in two games. One more hit and six more walks by the erratic Sherlock gave the A’s a total at the end of the first inning of seven runs. The inning ended with skipper Chris Jackson (with a numb nuts play) being doubled off by not tagging on the outfield fly (bone head!) . 7-1

Two walks in the second, sandwiched by another three strike outs, left two men on base to shut out the Brewers in the second.  7-1

Five more walks, along with hits from Gould and Ian Marginson plus the hardest part of the cycle, the triple, by Gough, in the bottom of the second saw seven more runs scored for a significant lead . 14-1

Another two strikeouts in the top of the third, book ended the inning with again no score. The only play needed by the infield was by the pitcher Gough himself, who threw the runner out at first for the second out. 14-1

A temporary glitch in the third as the A’s failed to score, leaving the bases loaded. After Marchment stole second base, rookie Rob Dipper got on base with his first hit of the season and followed up by stealing second base. 14-1

In the top of the fourth centre fielder Wilson struck out on three pitches followed by pinch hitter J Blood being awarded first base on four straight balls. A stolen base put Blood on second  and following the next batter striking out Blood took off for third with Norburn at the plate only to be gunned down by the pick off throw to third by the A’s catcher Marchment (yes you did read that right!). 14-1

With the Brewers now into their third pitcher a little more control came. B Joyce resorted to throwing the ball over the plate and hoping his defence could help him out. Two more runs for the A’s scored with both Jim Gunn and pinch hitter Eduardo Wulff both hitting into fielders choice but avoiding the double play.  16-1

Now was the turn of the A’s infield to take control, or at least Paul Fagan at third base. Two base hits in the middle of the inning were closed off by identical 5-3 ground outs to make the first, second and third outs in an rare and unusual inning. Kudos to Fagan with every throw being right on the mark. 16-1

In the bottom of the fifth the Brewers infield imploded, the first three batters reaching first on infield errors. Although Gough could not capitalise striking out, the next batter Fagan also reached base on an infield error all four runners eventually scoring. Wulff also reached base on an infield error only for Gunn, who had singled a Trademark down the middle, to be dubiously picked off running the bases to end the inning. 20-1

Top of the sixth saw a big upturn in the fortunes of the Brewers with four singles and a double, along with four walks and two batters reaching base on fielding errors. This meant eleven Brewers batters managed to get on base with nine of them scoring.  Pitcher Gough was relieved with one out by Dave Gaskell, resulting in an infield shuffle with Fagan moving over to make a guest appearance at second base and Gough moving to third. Gaskell struggled in relief , and made a straight swap after one out moving to second. Fagan took the mound to close out the inning with a fly to right field for rookie Stuart Winter’s first put out of the season. 20-10

With Bolton’s offence now putting them back in the game the A’s once again turned it on, scoring six more in the bottom of the sixth including Gould not letting the side down, receiving his customary base after being hit by a pitch. 26-10

Fagan struggled with his control early in the seventh, three walks, and a double by SS Bridge bringing home two RBI’s. A 4-3 grounder was followed by an error in the outfield by defensive replacement Gareth Aubrey scoring a fourth Brewer run before Fagan finished in style striking out the final two batters to leave the final score 26-14.

A's first home match sees a win over local rivals Bolton.

Games 4 & 5 (22/5) - by Ian J. Marginson

Barnsley Strikers line-up unavailable.

First game of DH

An all round poor performance culminated in a fruitless weekend for the Manchester A’s, in their first DH of the season. The A’s were hit badly this weekend by players moving up due to a shortage of Eagles players, paired with senior players unavailable because of important exam revision. The A’s will not use this as an excuse though, as Barnsley were also playing with a bare nine in both games.

With a shortage of players on the bench. Neither team had anyone to score the game whilst fielding, and as a consequence, this is a stunted report this week.

In Game 1 of the DH, A’s struggled all the way to cope with Strikers pitcher Chris Hewitt. Yet this is the same guy that the A’s had lit up two weeks ago in Barnsley.

Although Hewitt could manage only 8 strikeouts in his 7 innings, the A’s batters did most of the damage to themselves. Hitting anything in the infield too hard, and straight to the fielder for the ground out, or hitting fly-balls well, but again straight to the fielders. Conversely, Barnsley mixed it up. Good hitting, paired with hitting weakly to the infield for infield hits, and hitting well into gaps in the outfield. Both Pitchers went close in the quest for Home Runs. Hewitt coming close to a 4bagger hitting the outfield fence half way up to be denied, and Gough being robbed on the fence with a tidy catch in left centre. An outfield full of rookies, and an infield of veterans, could not keep the ball in front of them, and ended up paying the price.

Barnsley led from the start, with the A’s bats only managing 5 hits in 32 plate appearances.

On a high note. Catcher Ian Marchment threw out his second base runner in 2 weeks. (Surely the most he has thrown out in a season!) And thanks to Rich Morley who valiantly stuck it out in Centre Field. Captaining the outfield being a difficult job for a guy coming in with limited experience in only 5 or 6 games before today.

second game of DH

With game 2 starter Dave Gaskell on the mound, the A’s  were back to playing solid baseball. (at least for now). 3 hitter Martyn Gough set the tone with a SacFly to Centre to score leadoff Dave Gould who had reached base with a walk, and move round 2 hitter Rich Morley to third, who had reached base with a single, and already moved round to 2^nd on a fielding error. Cleanup hitter Ian Marginson was up to the task, ripping a single just inches from the 3^rd base line, scoring Morley easily. Controversy then reigned, doubles from Jim Gunn and Tony Wolstenholme were sandwiched by Marginson being tagged out by the catcher, after being sent home from second by the base coach (no names, You know who you are!) on Gunn’s hit after time had already been called by the ump. The call stood and Wolstenholme missed out on an RBI, and the A’s missed out on another run. Wolstenholme scored on Ian Marchments single to score the fourth and final run of the inning.

Holding the lead for the second inning, A’s failed to score. Although 3 more runs scored in the 3^rd, as the Strikers pitcher lost the zone, along with singles for Gunn and Gould, and a SacHit for Morley (Reinstated in his more customary Left Field position). 

No more runs scored in the 4^th and 5^th for the A’s, though the Strikers kept in the game picking up a couple.

The top of the 6^th exploded for the Strikers, finally getting hold of Pitcher Dave Gaskell, who so far had pitched tightly. Pulling Gaskell in the 7^th was inevitable, with Game 1 starter Martyn Gough coming in to attempt to close it out, with the go ahead Barnsley run on 1^st. Martyn could not replicate his performance from Game 1, and struggled to get the final out. Another pitching change saw Tony Wolstenholme playing his third position of the inning, having already moved over to 3^rd to replace Gough, when he went to the mound. Tony’s unusual pitching style did the trick and the batter hit a massive fly to 1^st Base for the out. By this time though the damage had already been done. The strikers led at the bottom of the 7^th by a score of 16-7.

Two quick outs in the bottom of the 7^th saw the A’s stir up a rally. Bottom of the order Rob Dipper and Gaskell received free passes with bases on balls, and the top of the order followed up with hits for Gould, Morley and Gough. Marginson put pressure on the Strikers SS with his lightning speed (honest) to reach on error. Marginson underlined his speed, stealing 2^nd, and the on the next pitch 3^rd base, only to be left stranded as Gunn could only ground out to short to end the game.

Although the A’s played competitive ball in the 2^nd game. That one inning glitch that has haunted us for years, cost us once again.

On the day A’ s rookies earned respect for staying the distance, and thanks to Ian Marchment for helping out Jim with the organisation. (He loves his paperwork!)

Game 6 & 7 (29/5) - by Ian J. Marginson

First game of DH

Manchester A’s      3        @                Halton Jaguars       13

Another fruitless weekend for the Manchester A’s, in their second DH of the season. The A’s were hit badly this weekend with senior players again missing for a whole host of reasons.

In Game 1 of the DH, Halton Pitcher Chris Taggart was in no mood to mess around. The first inning started and finished very quickly with all three of the A’s batters struggling to get hold of the extra speed striking out, in succession.

Three runs scored in the first for Halton was to set the tone for the rest of the game.  3 - 0

Although Halton pitcher Taggart struggled with his control in the second, forcing in Jim Gunn for the run with four walks, he still managed to get out of the inning with three more strikeouts.       Leaving the bases loaded.   3 - 1

The speed around the top of the Halton order scored three more runs on three hits for Halton, helped along by a second error by the A’s made it 6 - 1 after two completed innings.

3B Martyn Gough led off the third inning with a K. Pitcher Paul Fagan took the walk, then stole second on cleanup hitter Ian Marginson’s first pitch. Now with Fagan in scoring position, Marginson layed down the perfect bunt dragging Taggart off the mound to make the base tag by a step and a  half over Marginson. Fagan, realising how close the play was going to be at first, seized the chance, and broke for home, beating out the throw at home to score. Jim Gunn then walked to first, and wormed his way round to third on a Wild Pitch and a Catchers error. Only to be left stranded as Taggart recorded his 8^th strikeout in 9 batters, fanning rookie catcher Dave McNeilage to end the top of the inning 6 - 2.

A grounder and a strikeout sandwiched a run and a runner caught stealing in the botom of the inning. Not even another fielding error fazed Fagan, coping well with a fragile field behind him. 7 - 2

The fourth proved that the A’s can’t go one week without some bizarre play making the report. Adam Pickles (Having so far been alive in he field). Drew the walk leading off and was forced to second by  Chris Jacksons walk. After lots and lots of coaxing Pickles finally stole his way to third. Jackson following him to second. The jog around the bases must have knocked that brain cell loose, as Pickles was then caught, walking back to third by the catchers throw after the pitch, with the base coach screaming to get back (along with maybe a few choice words). This proved to be costly as two passed balls brought home Jackson for the only run of the inning, and therefore would also have scored Pickles.

The bottom of the fourth was another inning to forget for the A’s, as 2 more errors, 3 singles and a double, the third hit in three at bats for Halton’s No 8 hitter Cuddy, scored five more runs to leave the dejected Manchester side 12 -3 behind, with seemingly no way of digging out of the hole.

The only upside  in the top of the fifth, was another glimpse of the lightening pace of Marginson, after he walked and stole his way to third, only to be left stranded on the base pads, as the side went down again with no score. 12 - 3

With Halton now only needing to score one to bring in the slaughter rule. A’s decided this was the time to play some Defence, blanking the Jaguars for the first time in an inning. Ben Sultana being the only base runner with a leadoff single. The A’s defence coming up trumps with two flyouts, one to Jackson in Centre, and one to the now awake Pickles in Right Field and a grounder to second base to finish the inning. 12 - 3

Pickles leadoff the 6^th for the A’s with a walk. Skipper Chris Jackson recorded his only strikeout of the game, followed by Dave Gaskell popping up to 1^st base. Ronan Dunne took his second  walk of the day, to replace Pickles on 1^st, as he had already stolen his way to second. Whilst Martyn Gough followed it up by leaving the batters box in the right direction for the first time today with another walk. Fagan worked the count up to full, only to finish his the inning with his third strikeout of the day,  stranding all three runners on the bases. 12 - 3

A sharp 5-3 to grounder Gough started the inning well for Manchester to put out Brian Sultana. Halton catcher Harry Mills was next up, and he singled to represent the winning run on first. 2^nd baseman Cuddy moved him up to second with his own single, to cap a 4 for 4 performance. Fagan fought back, and made them stutter with a strikeout of the number 9 hitter Warton, setting up top of the order Nick Bustin with the chance to finish it off, as by now Mills had stole his way to 3^rd base. And what a way to finish. With the most spectacular misplayed ball I’m sure you will see this season. Bustin popped up very shallow to the right side of the infield, and with 1^st Base Gunn, 2^nd Base Marginson, and Pitcher Fagan watching the ball drop to the floor, home came Mills to finish  the game.

Small glimpses of brilliance in the field by Manchester will hopefully show what is to come for the rest of the season. Suffice is to say that I’m sure the A’s will forget this one quite easily.

Second game of DH

Manchester A’s      7        @                Halton Jaguars       14

With the Halton line-up and scorecard not being completed by the A’s, the report for game two will be somewhat truncated with only the batting report.

Ronan Dunne led off the first with a customary walk, stealing his way to 2^nd, getting picked off on his way to 3^rd. Two hitter Dave McNeilage popped up to Short, followed by Martyn Gough hitting into a gap for a base hit. Gough reached 3^rd base courtesy of a passed ball, and a steal, and was brought home on a single from Ian Marginson. Jim Gunn stepped up, and drew the walk, moving Marginson over to 2^nd.  The double steal saw the fleet of foot pair move up into the scoring positions, and a first passed ball of the day saw the both on the move again. Marginson crossing the plate for the 2^nd run. Young Adam Pickles slapped his first hit of the day bringing in Gunn. Rob Dipper striking out to finish the inning.

The second started off with skipper Chris Jackson being hit by the very first pitch of the inning. Jackson moved round on the passed ball and by stealing 3^rd base. When Dave Gaskell received a free pass to 1^st, only to be forced out at second on the fielders choice by Dunne, Jackson made it home for another run. With Dunne adding two more bases to his collection, neither McNeilage nor Gough could bring him home.

The third inning saw a change in the Halton pitching. Nick Bustin taking only 6 pitches to take out the heart of the order with a 1 2 3 inning.

Another hit by pitch at the top of the order, Rob Dipper diving into one at the plate, was followed up by an infield hit for Jackson. Lessons in how to steal followed with Jackson picking up two bases, and after Gaskell failed to reach base. Dunne took another walk and then stole 2^nd. With both runners in scoring position, up stepped McNeilage to hit a single out to Left Field and score both runners. Gough’s deep flyball to centre for the 3^rd out stranded McNeilage to end the inning.

Another single in the 5^th by Pickles broke up a perfect inning for Bustin. The Halton long relief man needing just 11 pitches to finish the inning off.

The 6^th was another uneventful inning for the A’s. Jackson was the only one to reach base, this time courtesy of a walk, adding to his steals total with another steal of 2nd base. Pinch hitter Sean McNeilage moved Jackson to second with a ground out, but he was left stranded on 2^nd as neither Dunne nor D. McNeilage could reach base safely.

Trailing by 8 (I think), the A’s could only muster one more run. Martyn Gough led off, and finally found a gap, ripping a triple to start the inning. Marginson hit the SacFly to bring home Gough and Gunn was awarded the free pass to 1^st and soon stole 2^nd. Gunn moved round to 3^rd on Pickles grounder, put out unassisted at 1^st base, for the 2^nd out. This mini revival was doomed to fail though, as Rob Dipper finished the game with his third K of the game.

Apologies to all for the lack of depth, the long delay and maybe even the (in)accuracy in this report. If you do see something you think is incorrect, don’t even think of letting me know!!!!  

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