Salute To Mayberry

Wednesday North Carolina lost it's #1 promoter of the State with the death of Andy Griffith.  October third 1960 the Andy Griffith show first appeared on CBS at 9pm and after eight years the show has been shown on TV somewhere in this world every day since.  Mayberry the hometown  of the show gave us life the way it was suppose to be then and should still be today.

I never had the privilege to meet Andy but my wife Pat was during her career with Carolina Telephone working in the business office in Manteo back in the 70's and 80's when Andy would come in to pay his telephone bill barefooted.  Sounds like Manteo may have had some Mayberry in it too.  Today as we have a holiday to celebrate the birthday of our country I want to pay tribute to Andy Griffith who in my opinion lead the best show ever in television history.  Here is my top ten all time  Shows.

1.  Opie The Birdman:  After killing a mama bird Opie raises the three chicks until it is time for them to fly away.  In the final scene after Opie has released the birds  and they are chirping in the trees and Andy says as Opie and Andy stand on the front porch "Don't the tress seem nice and Full".  To me that is the best scene in TV history.

2.  Barney and the Choir: This is the show where Barney can't sing a lick and they turn his microphone off.  Barney lip lincs  the song.  This  was  Don Knotts finest acting effort of his life.

3.  Convicts at Large:  Three women prisoners escape prison and wind up capturing Barney and Floyd.  One of the prisoners thinks Barney is and old boy friend named Al.  In order to catch the main crook Barneys starts dancing with her.  While standing on the porch after the captured Floyd comes out on the porch eating a banana  and tells Barney (Al) that he is not going to be responsible for the hamburgers which are still in the kitchen cooking.

4.  Barney's First Car:  While taking everyone on  their first ride in Barney's new car the steering wheel starts coming out like a Cobra.  Barney is so depressed that Thelma Lou has to drive while Andy, Opie Gomer and Aunt Bea push.

5.  Aunt Bea The Warden.  There are too many prisoners in the jail for Otis to stay after a Saturday night drunk.  Andy take him home when Aunt Bea  makes Otis think he's in Alcatraz.  He tries to escape from the ROCK.

6. Opie and The Bully:  Opie keeps borrowing nickels for milk  when Andy finds out a bully is getting his nickels.  Andy teaches Opie about how to defend yourself even if it means getting a black eye.

7.  My Fair Ernest T:  Andy and Barney try to make Ernest T into a Gentleman.  " How do you do Mrs Wylie?"

8.Andy and Barney in the Big City.  When Barney signs in at a Raleigh Hotel he signs in Benard P Fife MD(Mayberry Deputy).  Barney mistakes the hotel dick for a jewel thief.

9.  Aunt Bea's Pickles:  Aunt Bea's kerosene pickles are replaced  when Andy and Barney buy store bought pickles.  Aunt Bea is so happy that they love her pickles she decide to enter them in the County Fair.

10.  The Christmas Show:  They only made one Christmas show in the eight year run of the show.  They figured they could never get it as good as the only Christmas show.  Old man Weaver standing on a pop crate looking in the jail as everyone inside is having a merry Christmas.

Honorable Mentions:all shows with Gomer, Otis, The Darlings and Ernest T.  That just about covers all of them doesn't it.    God Bless You ANDY

Playoff Primed

The ideal game for any coach is get seven innings from your starting pitcher and let the bullpen finish it off.  Tonight Coleman Pitt Post 58 got seven strong innings from starter Jeremy Sloop as he went  seven innings and was ready to give the ball to Jeremy Trevathan in the eighth but Post 58 put seven runs on the board in the bottom of the seventh to sent every one home early with a 10-0 whitewash of Pitt County Post 39.

Sloop allowed three hits struck out five and only let two batters get on base with either a base on ball or hit batter.  P58 scored three times in the second when Jeremy Lucas single went to third on a Khalil Macklin double.  Lucas score on a ground out by Kyle Pratt.  Two more runs scored when Andy Morris who was brought up from Junior Legion just to catch tonight's game singled down the right field line to get two rbi in his first Legion at bat.

The scoreboard had zero's for both teams until the seventh when Macklin, Kyle Pratt singled after Jeremy Lucas had been hit by a pitch. Then three straight walks pushed the lead to 6-0 and with the bases loaded Jay Aparicio hit a grand slam home run to end the game 10-0.

Post 58 lead batters were Khalil Macklin who had three hits.  Jay Aparicio had two hits and four rbi when one of those hits left the park with the bases loaded.  Jeremy Lucas had a couple of hits Kyle Pratt had a hit and one rbi while Andy Morris had one single and three rbi.

Post 58 wins game number 18 on the season and this was a good test tonight since Pitt County Post 39 is in a battle for first in the area one Southern Division and just might be a second round playoff foe in the future. If you own a printed Legion schedule there is suppose to be a home game Thursday night but that is done for.  Hank Jones has done some scrambling today since he found out about the Thursday game being dropped and didn't want tonight to be the last game of the regular season and then wait nine days to start the playoffs so P58 will travel to Apex Saturday night and Apex will return to Rocky Mount on Monday night July 9th.

  First round playoff action starts Thursday July 12 at home in what now looks like New Bern will be the playoff foe.  You might remember we were suppose to play New Bern in the playoffs last year but they forfeited and we advanced to the second round without playing.

Monday The 13th

I know the calendar says today is Monday July second but after the events that have happened within the last few hours  it would be hard to tell Hank Jones and Coleman Pitt Post 58 that is not the 13th.   First item on the agenda P58  found out that  Albemarle the team that P58 beat twice last night has played the entire season with an eneligible player so they have had to forfeit any wins they had this season.  That doesn't help P58 one bit since P58 swept Albemarle in three games.

Tonight P58 was set to host Windsor in the final conference game of the year and about 6.20 or so the coach for Windsor tells Hank Jones that two players who were suppose to be here are not coming and Windsor only has 7 players.  The good news is P58 gets a win.  The bad news is Post 58 lost one of the last three gates of the year since up to this point most of P58 schedule had been on the road and they were finishing this week with three home games before the playoffs.  Despite no game guess who got paid but the umpires who never finished getting dressed.  P58 is in the hole on this one.

Bad news for Andy Morris rising junior at Rocky Mount who had been brought up to catch today.  He was in the starting lineup as Hank Jones was letting several players rest who were effected by the heat Friday night at Wilson.  Morris will probably be in the lineup again tomorrow night when P58 host P39 in a non conference game.  More bad news, the Thursday game set with Eastern Wayne  has been cancelled since EW has had several games rained out in the past week and needs Thursday to play conference makeup games so Thursdays game is gone.  The final game of the regular season is Tuesday night at 7PM against Pitt County.

P 58 needed both the Pitt County and Eastern Wayne games this week to get the feel of how the playoffs will be starting on the 12th .  This point in the season wins and losses are not as important as getting into the playoff mode and being prepared for the level of competition that will start next week.

The forfeit puts P58 at 13-1 in conference play and 17-5 overall on the season.  Albemarle's forfeiting the season has thrown the playoff picture into a loop as Windsor and Ahoskie still play each other three times this week.  Once Thursday and a double header Friday the team that wins two out of three will be the #4 seed from the Eastern Division Joining Rocky Mount , Wilson and Edenton in the playoffs.

This time of year a thunder storm can get a ball game ended in a minute but on a beautiful night like tonight there no ball game at Gryphon Stadium.

Post 58 Is Rolling

Thunder off in the distance Post 58 traveled to Northeastern High School Sunday night to play a double header baseball  games in which Post 58 could lose both and still have first place to themselves when the night was over.  Whether the excessive heat from Friday's game against Post 13 and some of the heat was not weather related it was decided before Rocky Mount ever left to go to the game that Sunday night's game would only be five inning affairs.

Game one of the DH saw Chase Johnson take the hill for Post 58 and after three innings Albemarle lead 2-1.  If there is one thing that Post 58 has done this summer is hit the ball and the second time around the order P58 did just that scoring nine runs in the fourth and win game one by a score of 10-2.

So far this summer P58 has just about dominated every game they have been in in the middle and late innings.  Why would that be and the best way to answer that is I don't see too many teams that P58 has played in conference play have all that much depth on the mound.  Every team has at least one guy who can go five innings but those last four innings who do you put out there against a team that hits average pitching like batting practice.

Looking at the future I would think there will be several teams as the playoffs progress that will be able to hold P58 to five runs.  Then the pressure will be on the P58 pitchers to keep them in the game.  There have been moments where the pitching has been great and then moments that we are glad the offense can score ten runs  or more a game.  I don't think our conference has done P58 any favors this year getting Rocky Mount ready for the playoffs that begin July 12 at home that night.

Now for  game two.  If the thought is true that most teams in our league don't have quality pitching that can get past five innings then we need to look at game two being the 6th,7th, 8th 9th and 10th inning of one game.  The result Post 58 15-0.

Overall now P58 is 17-5 and 12-1 in league play and they get a chance Monday night at home to meet the only team to beat them in conference play in Windsor.  Tuesday they again play home hosting P39 Pitt County who makes the return trip to Rocky Mount after the opening night rain out in the 3rd inning way back in May.  The last regular season game is Thursday against Wayne County and then there is a week off to rest.

So TV Has The Say

If you were interested in the golf this afternoon on TV you got a chance to see Professional Golf played the way it use to be before all the pros made it to the big time.  Just them an the golf course no throng of people watching.  Last night's super storm in Washington DC made a mess of the Congressional Country Club where this week's pro tour stop is played.  Several trees and limbs were down and for public safety they decided to not let any paying customers on the course only the players and a few others.

Tees times were delayed to after lunch so TV gave us only up to 6PM on CBS.  Normally when they over run their time slot Golf Channel would pick up the coverage till dark but today they had the LPGA on so TV wasn't able to have control like they want during any event.  The man upstairs was in charge today.

Anybody remember that we had a mild winter and a cool spring?  I believe all the weird weather is over and it is summer time now.  Thank goodness my air condition still works.

Sunday is July first which means we are one month from High School Football practice.

I have heard from somebody that knows somebody else and the word is Moving day for the new Rocky Mount High School is July 16th.

Post 58 won their 15th game of the season last night in the sweltering heat in Wilson 16-12 over  Post 13.  Where has all the pitching gone.  Didn't see a lot in the Big East and Legion pitching has been hard to find.  Post 58 has given up 26 runs in the last two games and yet they are 15-5 and 10-1 on the season.  The good news is they seem to be able to score every inning  some way some how.

Carolina got four players drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft while Duke had two.  I thought the ACC was down this year.

Post 58 will travel to Elizabeth City to Northeastern High School where they will play a double header with Albemarle  Sunday at 5PM.  They are home Monday for their last conference game of the season and play Windsor the only team to beat them in conference play.  Once again home Tuesday with Pitt County and Thursday against Wayne County.  Playoffs starts July 12th and Post 58 the #1 seed from the Area one Eastern Division will play the #4 from the western division whom ever that might be.

Hot,Heated And Treated

If you go to enough baseball games I don't care how many you have ever been to every now and then you come home  and say "I've never seen that at a baseball game before".  Tonight Post 58 traveled to Wilson Post 13 to meet for the final time during the regular season.  Post 58 already has clinched first after P13 split a double header earlier this week so tonight night's game has no bearing what so ever on the out come of the standings other than the fact Rocky Mount and Wilson are playing and Wilson wants to keep P58 from sweeping P13 during the regular season.

Even at 7PM the thermostat sat at 98 degrees and by the games end  it was still over 90.  I can't remember if ever I have seen a game end after dark and the temp still in the 90's.  Whether it was the heat, but tempers flared and at one point Wilson's catcher is tossed from the game.  As the game  continued the umpire behind the plate went the ground and had to have medical attention.  Don Johnson came out of the stands to umpire the bases while the umpire on the bases went behind the plate.  Can this game get any weirder or what?

Now for the game, Rocky Mount opened the first by scoring three times and P 13 got two back in the bottom of the first. P 58 got another in the second but Wilson plated four in the bottom of the second to lead 4-6.  Rocky Mount scores twice in the third to tie the game at 6 all after three.  P 13 finally kept P58 off the score board in the fourth but added three more themselves in the bottom of the fourth to lead 9-6.  Rocky Mount hits P13 with a five spot in the fifth to retake the lead 11-9.  P13 gets one more in the sixth to cut the Coleman Pitt lead to 11-10.  Wilson scores twice in the seventh to retake the lead 12-11 and then the ump went down.

Rocky Mount scores twice in the eighth and  and Jordan Taylor who is now pitching for P58 holds P 13 scoreless with the score now 13-12 Rocky Mount.  P 58 adds three more in the ninth and Taylor finishes off Wilson with the final score of 16-12.

John Spears was the umpire behind the plate   tonight and as far as we know at this hour  is waiting to be carried home to New Bern as suffering from dehydration.  We pray that everything will be fine. The game ended near 11pm and the game ending temperature was 94 degrees.  All those who stuck to the end tonight were able to go home and tell others "you will not believe the game I saw tonight".

Big Time Revenge

Last night Johnston County got their revenge on Post 58 for knocking JC from the ranks of the unbeatens on Tuesday night.  Johnston County beat P 58 14-2 in from of the home folks in Rocky Mount.  Like Tuesday night don't make too much out out of losing by double digits in front of the home folks.

The lost stopped a eight game winning streak. P58 is now 14-5 on the season and this was their first lost this season in Rocky Mount.  The next three playing days will tell all about this season.  Friday a single game at P13 in Wilson.  Sunday a double header in Elizabeth City and the final conference game of the season with Windsor at home.  Monday night we should have some idea who we begin the playoffs with even thought P 58 has two more home games next week.

North Carolina State has named it first Hall of Fame class of ten and it is rather obvious that basketball is king in Raleigh.  Everett Case the father of ACC basketball as we know it today heads the class along with David Thompson just maybe if their was a first team all College team he would surely be the small forward on that team.

Jim Valvano and Kay Yow basketball coaches along with Genia Beasley a player for Yow make up half the first ten.  Football is represented by Roman Gabriel who was the #1 draft pick of both the LA Rams and Oakland Raiders and even was voted MVP of the NFL in the late 60's.  Outland Trophy winner Jim Richter and Ted Brown State's all time leading rusher are in the first class.  Julie Shea who was in her day was the best long distance runner in the country and Tab Ramos a long time soccer Player make the first ten.