Welcome to the home of the 2008 LMBA Champions, 2008 and 2013 Bob Bunnett Divison Champions, 2018 Bob Bunnett Pennant Winners; The Richmond Athletics

2023 Regular Season First Game April 14, 2023

Game 6 @ South Delta Padres

Game 5 @ Dewdney Bulls

The A's brought some pop to their bats in this scorcher of a day in May.  The valley temperature hit 29 degrees for the 7pm start and the A's got off to a good start offensively.  Winograd struggled on the mound and had a dismal 4th inning performance.  Van Ommen and Derbawka came in to shut the door and keep the Bulls at bay.  There are no ties in baseball except for this one. Offensively, Francis came into his hometown without dissapointment, going 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and an RBI.  Di Rocco had a huge timely double, Zuzartee a couple of singles, and Derbawka with his first hit an first hit by pitch as a Richmond A. Sauceda stayed for his first post-game gathering and added not one, but two errors on the night.  The A's look to turn things around in Ladner repping the kelly green jerseys with matching hats.

Game 4 @ Vancouver Blue Jays

The A's continue their slide as they struggle to put hits together and produce with men on base. Strong defense as the pitchers combine for 2 hits and 1 walk over 8 innings. Derbawka looked good in right field, chasing down a few fly balls and keeping the Jays off the basepaths.  A first inning homerun and a run scored later in the game were the only two runs for the Blue Jays - a beatable team.  Player of the game goes to Rooster for purchasing a portable BBQ before the game and feeding the team, in addition to his family.  The A's visit the Dewdney Bulls and hope the 25 degree Friday night will bring some pop to the bats.

Game 3 vs Vancouver Mounties

At least the Richmond A's looked good in their Kelly Greens and whites on this 18 degree sunny night.  While the A's only had 2 hits, they were able to score 2 runs on errors.  Winny ran into some trouble in the 4th with some shallow flies and a double to score.  Dirk came out of his shell and pitched a strong 2 innings and Derbawka (Chewy) came in with 8 k's over 3 innings. The real highlights came with an ejection on a quick trigger for a men's baseball game, an altercation between a mountie and a spectator (with no ejection), 2 geese flying into the netting, and 2 guys from Tijuana in the post-game gathering.  The A's will look to rebound on Saturday against the Blue Jays.

Game 2 @ North Van Pirates

The Richmond A's welcomed the newest LMBA team, the North Vancouver Pirates, with a come from behind 6-4 Win in a cloudy and wet game.  Winny started the game with a perfect 4 innings with 6 k's and stellar defense behind him.  Van Ommen had a rough outting on the mound but the new kid Derbawka closed the door with 3 innings to get the W.  Timely hits and taking advantage of mind games and past balls got the A's coming through with a 5 run 9th inning to secure the victory. Shapiro took one for the team and started the rally. The real story of the day goes to skip Di Rocco for the decision of the year - Kelly Green uniforms. Come watch a game to see this sight!  

Game 1 vs South Delta Padres

The Richmond A's starting their 15th season in the LMBA 18+ division on a beautiful night with 10 degree weather until the sun went down.  Everyone on the field needed that game to get the rust off.  Defense was good, bats and patience at the plate helped the A's match offensive output by the Padres.  Kike had a stellar day at the dish and a great catch in the field. The A's fall 7-5 on this one but it just felt good to have baseball back in the schedule.  The A's visit the North Van Pirates next week, the newest team to the LMBA.

2022 Regular Season First Game April 10, 2022

Playoffs - Game 1 vs Vancouver Blue Jays 

The A's looked to break the playoff curse that they have faced for the past few years. The game started close with the Blue Jays and the A's both scoring 1 in the first inning. Neither team scored any runs until the 6th when the Blue Jays blew the game open scoring 6. The A's answered scoring 2 in the bottom of the 7th but were unable to get more than that and lost in the first round of the playoffs again 7-3. 

Game 15 @ South Delta Padres

The A's secured a first round bye by finishing 2nd in the Bunnett Division. This saw them go into South Delta for the final game of the season. The game was basically an exhibtion game and many of the players were away or on the injured list for this game. The A's lost this meaningless game 10 -2. 

Game 14 vs Vancouver Mounties 

The Vancouver Mounties came to Latrace looking for revenge after the loss the suffered early in the season. The A's looked good early scoring 3 in the first but then late in the game were not able keep the foot on the gas and lost the game 13-8. 

Game 13 vs Whalley Chiefs 

It was another beautiful night at Latrace, the A's were facing off against an old rival from the other division the Whalley Chiefs. The A's were missing their starter Winograd but Van Ommen stepped up and threw 5 strong innings only giving up 1 ER. The Chiefs scored 3 in the 3rd on a couple of strange plays, first a "can of corn" fly ball was dropped in right field, and then a hard hit ball up the middle (destined to be a double play to get out of the inning with only 1 run scored) hit the pitchers rubber and bounced right back to the catcher leaving Franny no play for an out. The A's bats were a little quiet to start the game but got started in the bottom of the 5th scoring 2 runs to trail by only 1. The A's then scored 4 in the bottom of the 7th to lead the game 6-4. Basford came on in relief going 2 innings only giving up 1 run. Tomori came on in the 8th and did not have his best outing, the dusk sky mixed with the lights didnt help and an infield fly with 2 outs dropped and helped the Chiefs score 6 runs in the top of the 8th. Tomori refused to relinquish the ball in the 9th and came out and mowed the Chiefs down. The A's just couldnt muster a come back in the 9th and lost this game 10-7.  On a side note Tomori had his first rough night at the dish as well getting the "hood" for this first time in his LMBA career. 

Game 12 vs Newton Beavers 

Another warm night at Latrace for a game featuring the Newton Beavers. It is also with heavy hearts many of the Richmond A's celebrate the life of former Richmond Budgies Manager/Coach Gord Lowrey who passed away this week. The Beavers' starting pitcher rolled through the A's lineup until the 3rd inning where the A's latest international waiver wire pick up (Jason Chang) got a base hit to break up the perfect game.  Winograd also pitched well and got out of a few jams to pitch a shut out through 5 innings. The A's got to the Beavers' starter in the 4th when Basford hit a run scoring ground rule double plating Verde Riso who started the inning with a single and move over via stolen base. Francis then scored on a Van Ostrand ground out. The A's added another in the 6th and 2 more in the 8th. The Beavers got to the A's reliever Van Ommen in the 8th after a lead off walk and a couple of hits. Van Ommen got out of the 8th and pitched a solid 9th getting the A's a victory. A's win 5-2. 

Game 11 @ Vancouver Blue Jays

The A's return to the cursed Queen's park, a 20 foot high mound and low light standards. 9 hits on the day scattered throughout the innings with Ross getting 4 of the team's 9 hits, including a double, 3 singles, an RBI and a run scored. 8 K's on the day, a couple injuries, and a few fielding errors summed up the day.  Winograd threw well going 5, giving up 1 broken bat squibbler hit, nand 5 k's.  Van Ommen started strong striking out 5 in his first 2 innings of work but started to focus on his post-game errors too early. Van Ommen started the 8th with a walk, a ball over the lights that Verde Rios almost caught, a couple more singles and a 3 run shot. The A's threatened in the 9th with the bases loaded and 2 outs and a texas leauger almost dropped but to no avail.  The A's drop this one 5-2. Van Ommen also dropped one error post-game resulting in a minus-1 on the error count, a crucial drop in the tight MVD race.  

Game 10 vs Coquitlam Cardinals 

Another warm day for the Richmond A's and their bats were warm as well. Dirk Van Ommen pitched another good game, getting the start in Winograd's absence. Dirk gave up 6 hits and 2 unearned runs in 5 innings of work. The first 2 Cardinal's runs came in the top of the third and the A's answered back in the bottom of the inning scoring 6 runs on 7 hits and a sac fly in the inning, including 6 hits in a row. the A's new rookie phenom Kazuto Tomori came on relief for his first pitching appearance as an A. Kazuto looked great early sitting down the first 8 batters faced in order while striking out 4 of them. The Cardinals broke up the perfect appearance in the 8th with 2 out getting a single off Tomori.   in The A's scored another 2 runs in the 8th inning to go into the 9th up by 6. Tomori seemed to tire a little in his 4th inning of work giving up a double off the tip of Olver's glove in right, followed by a single, when the top of the 8th was done the Cards had scored 2 more but it wasn’t enough for them to tie it up. The A's won another at home 8-4 against their long time division rival Coquitlam Cardinals. 

Game 9 @ South Delta Padres 

Summer looks like it has finally arrived and it was a beautiful night in Ladner for baseball. The A's bats came out hot putting up 4 in the first inning against the pitcher, who last time out went perfect through 4 against the A's. Winograd pitched a solid 5 innings giving up 4 runs on 7 hits and only walking 1. The A's defense played well and only made 1 error on the day which helped keep the line up in the dugout hitting. The A's hat 12 hits on the night led by Basford who had a great night at the dish going 4 for 5 with 5 RBI. Di Rocco got his 260th 18+ LMBA hit with a 2 RBI single in the 3rd inning. Van Ommen came on in relief again throwing well for the A's not giving up a single walk and throwing to contact allowing the defense to do the rest. Weird play of the day... Fly ball to right field caught by Basford, runner at second tagged (left early), throw from right died when it bounced in the dirt at 3rd and got through Ross and the covering Winograd and went out of play. Winograd waited for the ball to be put in play and appealed at 2nd base, the ump agreed that the runner left early but informed us that the overthrow ruling take precedence and the run scored from 2nd on the over throw and the appeal could not be ruled on. The A's got a big win against the Padres 10-6. 

Game 8 vs Holly Hops 

The Richmons A's came out to the field to have a good time and they did just that. Getting out to a quick start with 2 runs in the first inning and never looking back. Tomori had a monster game racking up 4 hits, 3 RBI and making some good plays at SS in the abscence of our stalwart Verde Rios. Van Ommen got the start on the hill and because basford was late to the game Van Ommen also got to hit clean up the first time through the line up where he turned a ground ball to 3rd into a double because of a throwing error! Van Ommen, had a productive start although he did not have his best stuff because of all the warm up time, he found a way to pitch well. Basford came on in relief for the first time in years and had a good outing only giving up 1 hit and 1 ER. The A's made quick work of the Hops getting a mercy after 6 1/2 innings. A's win 12-2. 

Game 7 vs Fraser Valley Chiefs - Rained Out

Game 6 vs Dewdney Bulls 

The Richmond A's finally got a sunny day for baseball, it didn’t look promising earlier in the day when it was pouring rain, but the clouds parted and the weather was great! The A's got on the sticks early scoring in the first inning on a Basford single after an Abrey double. Winograd went to work and had 5 strong innings not giving up a run. Van Ommen came on in relief and gave up 1 run in the 7th inning on an umpire missed call after a great diving play by Di Rocco at first base. In the bottom of he 7th the A's did something that might be a first in baseball history, and will most likely never happen again. Winograd led off the inning with a single, Van Ommen was re-entered to run for Winograd. Van Ommen got over to 2nd on a PB and to 3rd on a Ross Single. Verde Rios then grounded to second and Van Ommen was thrown out at the plate, a good play by the Bulls second baseman, although this cost an out it saved a double play. At this point Ross was at 2nd and Verde Rios at 1st, Abrey then hit a single to move the runners and load the bases with 1 out. Ross at then tried to score on a past ball but his first move was to 3rd and he got cut down at the plate for the 2nd out. The Pitcher was using a unique wind up and Verde Rios saw an opportunity to exploit. He then took off trying to steal home on an 0-2 count to Basford and was thrown out at the plate by the pitcher. The A's made all 3 outs at home in different ways. This will go down in A's history as the weirdest inning most of us have ever seen. The A's also welcomed a new player to the team, finding this new Japanese import on the international waiver wire Kazuto Tamori joined the A's and in the process got his first LMBA hit which was a double in the right field gap, he also stole 2 bases after a fielders choice earlier in the game. Welcome to the A's Kazuto! The strange inning didn’t bother the A's who found a way to win the game regardless. The A's win 4-1. 

Game 5 vs Vancouver Blue Jays 

The A's looked to get their bats going this week after a tough previous week. The A's roster also looked to get healthier, Peter Francis was back in action but we lost Zuzo to a freak hockey dressing room accident which led to a rib contusion and Abrey was out on a family errand... Matt Winograd was perfect through 3 innings and would have been perfect through 4 if Big Tuna's glove didnt have a hole in it... a well thrown ball from Rooster at 2nd base went right through it. The A's were down 2-0 going into the 8th inning. With 1 out in the 8th Bassy hit a high fly ball to center (this was to avoid the golden sombrero - as he secured the hood in his pervious AB) which got over the lights and the CF could not come up with it, Bassy made a head up baserunning play to get to second on the drop.  Franny followed that up with a triple to score Bassy and Di Rocco hit the first pitch he saw into center for a single scoring Franny to tie up the game. Dirk Van Ommen shut down the BJ's in the 9th and the A's needed to come up with a walk off to win it. Lewis led off the 9th by securing the 2nd hood of his A's career, Rooster hit a hard single, followed by a harder single by Verde Rios, with 1 out and runners on 1st and 2nd, Big Tuna stepped to the dish looking for the game winning hit, he proceeded to hit a single into left to score Rooster for the walk off. The A's wanted to celebrate but felt we should have scored more runs earlier in the game. Either way the A's walked off the BJ's and won the game 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th. 

Game 4 @ Vancouver Capilanos (Queens Park) 

The A's once again took the field without their regular roster, Peter Francis was injured suffering from a strained Lab!@, and Rooster was celebrating his cousins funeral, oops, I mean wedding. The A's got the game underway by scoring 1 in the first inning and hoped to build on that throughout the game, unfortunately the A's just couldnt get the bats going and failed to score another run in the game. The A's pitching looked good again and was able to get out of a few jams, giving up only 1 unearned run in the game thanks to an overturned call of obstruction during a run down. The A's had a tough time with the blue in this game having 2 calls over turned and both going against the A's. After 1 batter in the top of the 9th the lights went out on the field and the game was called due to lack of light. The game ended unceremoniously in the top of the 9th ending in a 1-1 tie.  

Game 3 vs South Delta Padres

The A's were short bodies goint into the game but were able to field a line up, it will be nice when they can get their whole team on the field. The Padres starting pitcher Hutch came out dealing, going perfect through 4 innings. The A's pitchers threw well but a few walks and some timely hits and errors led the the Padres runs. The A's got on the board in the 5th wtih Zuzartee and Francis getting on base and Di Rocco and Van Ommen driving them in, that however was all the A's could muster. The A's just could not get going and in fact had a hard time putting the ball in play with a team strike out total of 11. Francis was the one bright spot going 3 for 4 with 3 singles, a stolen base and a run scored battling through an oblique injury. The A's lost 8-2. 

Game 2 vs Vancouver Mounties 

Back at home at the friendly confines of Latrace Field the A's looked to get their first win of the season. The A's started out hot scoring 5 runs in the first inning, topped off by a bases laoded triple by Aaron Zuzartee. Matt Winograd did not have his best start having to get out of a few jams, but all in all he only gave up 2 runs in his start. Van Ommen came on in relief and had a much better outting than in game 1 and showed us once again what he had on the mound. The A's played a much better game defensively and were able to put a W on the board winning this game against the mounties 7-4.  

Game 1 @ Coquitlam Cardinals 

An old rivalry was back with the A's travelling to Mundy Park for game 1 of the 2022 season.  Both teams looked a bit rusty in the early innings as a bunch of errors were made in the field. The defense settled down and the bats heated up with the 2 teams combining for 27 hits in the game. The A's didnt play as well as they would like but without a few of their regulars it was not their normal line up. The A's look to put this first game behind them as they move on in the season and look to get on track in 2022. The A's lost 18-9. 

 

2021 RegularSeason - Starting late (first game June 27, 2021) - No Playoffs

Regular Season Stat Leaders  

Offensive:

Batting Average (min 10 AB): Chris Cook .545 #pitcherswhorake

RBI: Rhys Verde Rios 7

HR: Craig Di Rocco, Peter Francis, Chris Cook 1

SB: Brayden Carpenter 5

Fewest K's (min 10 AB): Zack Ross 1

Pitching (min 15 innings):

ERA: Chris Cook 2.00

WHIP: Matt Winograd 1.27

K's: Matt Winograd 29

MVD: Craig Di Rocco 30 - Back to Back and 3-Time Champ

 

Game 8 vs Albion Braves

The A's were looking to end the Covid shortened season on a high note after the disappointing effort the week before. The A's were facing a much younger Braves team on this night and looked to show the young guys what the wily vets could do. The A's came out swinging facing their old team mate Olver, in the first couple innings the A's put up 9 runs (errors were a help) but the A's bats were putting the ball in play making the Braves make plays. Winograd pitched a solid 4 innings only giving up 1 earned run on only 4 hits. Van Ommen looked to keep his season going on a strong note coming on in relief throwing 3 strong innings only giving up 1 earned run. Chris Cook in his last appearance before going back to school pitched 1 strong inning closing out the game without giving up a run. The A's showed the Braves who was boss handing them their first loss in the LMBA. A's win 16-4. 

Game 7 vs Vancouver Capilanos 

The Richmond A's came into this game looking for a little redemption from the first game of the season, the way the A's played however was a whole different story. The Caps came to play and hit the ball hard all game. The A's made a few physical errors to put the Caps on the board and the Caps took advantage. The A's bats were also quiet not getting a hit until the 4th. The base ump also had it out for the A's making a few terrible calls, one over turned by the plate ump and the other, although not overturned was obvious to everyone in the park, which also cancelled an A's threat in the 7th. The A's finally got ont he board in the 8th started by a 2 out single by Winograd followed by a Ross base hit and a Carpenter base hit which scored 2. Not the A's best performance and it also negated a chance for the A's to secure another Bunnett Pennant. The A's lost 9-2. 

We also suffered another loss in this game, a long time Athletic Corey Burghall played his last game for the A's as he and his fiance Kait are moving back to Onterrible to be closer to family. We do not expect this to be a permanent move as the A's are positive that they will realize that this is a grave msitake after the first winter back in Ontario. For now the A's wish them luck and hope to see them again soon! Thank you for being such a big part of the team, and a great teammate and WAG!

Game 6 vs Vancouver Blue Jays 

A smoky night in Richmond when the game commenced but the A's were not deterred, after the few weeks off the Richmond A's looked to put another W on the board facing the Vancouver Blue Jays. The game was a close affair until the 5th inning when the A's broke out hitting every ball hard, probably the best hitting inning the A's have had in a few years. They scored 6 runs on 6 base hits, an error and a walk before the Blue Jays could even get an out. The A's pitching looked good once again, Winograd getting the start only giving up one run and giving up 3 hits, Cook came on in relief not giving up a run and only giving up 3 hits. Van Ommen closed out the game giving up 2 hits and no runs. The play of the game went to Zack Ross who with the Blue Jays threatening in the 6th (runner on 1st and 3rd) made a diving catch on a line drive down the 3rd base line and threw the ball from his knees to double up at first who was stealing second on the play, this ended the inning rather than giving the Blue Jays a sure 2 RBI double. After that play the A's shut the Blue Jays down not giving them another sniff at a run. The A's came up big with a 9-1 win at home. 

Game 5 vs Vancouver Mounties 

A windy and dark outing requiring some long sleeves on a Summer night between the Richmond A's and the Vancouver Mounties.  The play of the game took place at the end of batting practice when a skein of geese were flying overhead and one flew right into the net above home plate.  Shaken, unsure where his friends went, and not sure how to get out off the field, Verde Rios and Ross came to the rescue guiding the goose from home plate all the way down to the right field gate so the goose could rejoin his gaggle. Point for the A's!  The game started with a few hits sprayed throughout.  Winograd pitched a good 5 giving up 5 hits and 1 run.  Cook came on in relief and pitched 4, giving up a couple runs on 5 hits and a season high walk count. The defense looked good with Knight (Francis 2.0) and Van Ostrand each throwing out a runner at the plate. Verde Rios and Ross both had great diving stops on the infield and Francis had an unusually high pop-up count.  Trailing 1-0, the A's tied the game in the 7th and then tied it again in the 8th after giving up a couple runs.  Zuzartee popped out his shoulder at the plate on an inside fastball and managed to pop it back in. The A's look forward to continuing the homestand on the 13th. Tie Game 3-3. 

Game 4 @ Newton Royals 

The Richmond A's showed up with a short roster and a couple spares (Shayne Clarke and Sason Ross- Rooster 2.0) to face the Newton Royals. After a slow start the A's came to play! Cook pitched a strong 5 innings on the mount only giving up 2 earned runs. Van Ommen came on in relief and pitched 3 strong innings (only 8 innings played due to time limit) giving up only 1 earned run. The outfield defense was again outstanding with Charles Shapiro leading the way in center. Trailing by 3 after the first inning the A's chipped away and took the lead in the 7th with 5 runs scored led by a 2 RBI single by Di Rocco, and a 2 RBI double by Ross. Another 5 runs were scored in the 8th on a string of extra base hits, a 2 run HR by Francis, an RBI double by Di Rocco followed by another 2 run HR by Cook (#pitcherswhorake). LMBA Milestone moment - with a 3 hit game Aaron Zuzartee made it to 150 LMBA Hits! The A's came back and posted a convincing win 13-7.

Game 3 @ South Delta Padres 

The Richmond A's were excited to be back on the field and did so by trudging through the long grass at Dougald Morrison in Ladner. The game was a barn burner, low scoring and well played. The A's bats got on the board in early on a SAC fly by Carpenter scoring Verde Rios. The A's scored again in the 5th on a couple hits by Winograd and Zuzartee to put them up by 2. The A's pitching and defense held the Padres bats at bay, Shapiro was busy in center field making a few great plays including a diving play to end an inning while the Padres were threatening. Winograd started the game and gave up 1 ER on a long fly to Gooch and  had close to an immaculate inning in the 3rd striking out the side using only 11 pitches. Cook threw 4 strong innings giving up no runs, and Van Ommen came into close in the 9th and gave up 1 run on 3 hits with some defensive help by Basford throwing out the tying run at the plate on a single hit to RF. LMBA mileston moment - with a single in the game Rhys Verde Rios got to 150 LMBA hits! Another great game between the Padres and the A's. A's win 3-2. 

Game 2 vs Newton Pirates 

The Richmond A's had their first home game of the season and it was a beautiful night at Latrace. The A's had a full squad and were ready to get in the W column. The A's pitching did well against the Pirates bats, threatening early but were unable to put any runs on the board. Chris Cook made his A's debut and pitched one perfect inning. Winograd and Van Ommen the A's stalwarts also pitched well and the A's pitchers combined for a shut out.  The A's bats took a few innings to get started but once they did they put up some serious runs on the Pirates pitching. A's win 15-0 in a mercy shut out. 

Game 1 @ Vancouver Capilanos 

The Richmond A's were excited to be back on the field after a long break due to Covid-19. Matt Winograd picked up right were he left off in the 2019 season throwing 4 strong innings only giving up 1 unearned run. A new pick up to the A's Alex Dawson came on in relief and was put in a tough spot, heat wave in the lower mainland with temps getting up around 35 degrees, and not having pitched in over a year and a half. He put up a gutsy performance but in his 3rd inning gave up 5 earned runs with a couple of misplays mixed in with a few questionable doubles down the lines. The A's bats looks pretty good for not seeing pitching for a year and a half, the balls were being hit squarely and bodes well for the rest of the season. Di Rocco started the season off with a deep fly on the first pitch he saw in the game for the A's to take the lead in the 2nd inning. The A's held the lead 6-2 going into the 7th inning when the Capilanos scored 6 to take an 8-6 lead. The umpire who asked for a 5 minute break for the 7th inning stretch then preceded to call the game due to time limit after 7 innings, quoting the time of the game at 2 hours and 41 mins... I'm no math genius but 2 hours 41 minutes minus 5 minutes is 2 hours 36 minutes and leaves us another inning to play. Anyway, the A's are just happy to be back on the field this year and will take these things in stride looking to heat up as the season goes on. Player of the game was Brayden Carpenter in his LMBA Debut going 2 for 2 with 2 singles, 3 BB's, a stolen base and a run scored. A's lose 8-6. 

2020 Regular Season - Never Started do to the Covid-19 once in a century pandemic, lost a full season and then some. 

2019 Regular Season

Regular Season Stat Leaders:

Batting Average (min 20 AB) - Kyle Olver .438

Hit Leader - Rhys Verde Rios - 19 

RBI - Kyle Olver - 10 

HR - Mike Basford - 1

SB - Rhys Verde Rios 9 & Old Guy SB - Craig Di Rocco 8

Pitching (min 30 innings Pitched):

ERA - Dirk Van Ommen 3.13

K - Matt Winograd 38

MVD - Craig Di Rocco - 67 - The MVD award gets another 2 time winner 

LVD (Min 10 Games)  - Matt Gauthier - come on Smoaty pick it up!

Game 16 - South Delta Padres 

The A's were looking to go into the playoffs on a winning note however they played a completely uninspired game on Sunday night. Not a lot to talk about in this one. The A's need to get back on track week 1 of the playoffs and play loose. A's lost 11-5 and ended up 5th in the Bunnett division. 

Game 15 - Vancouver Mounties 

The A's were looking to get back in the win column facing their long time rival the Mounties, they were also looking for some revenge after losing a tough one to the Mounties earlier in the season. Both teams were missing a bunch of regulars on this night. Winograd as usual started on the hill and went 5 strong innings not giving up a run and only 4 hits. Olver came on in relief and started strong for 2 innings and ran into some trouble in the 8th, he got squeezed a little by the Ump and the Mounties were able to get to his fastball. The Mounties scored 4 runs taking the lead in the top of the 8th. The A's bounced back in the bottom of the 8th and scored 3 runs to take the lead back on a couple hits and some walks. Burghall came on in a save situation in the 9th and faced the minimum number of batters to secure the save. A's win 6-4. 

Game 14 - Coquitlam Cardinals 

A beautiful Friday night for baseball and the game started out quickly on both sides, in the first inning Basford had what looked to be a hard hit single up the middle stolen by Tanner Morache on a beautiful diving play, Tanner being Tanner. Winograd pitched extremely well with Ross behind the dish going 5 strong innings only giving up 3 hits and 1 run. The first five innings only took 57 mins to complete. The A's were hitting the ball hard but always at people unfortunately, we threatened stranding runners on third in the 3rd and 4th innings. The Cardinals scored in the 5th inning on a triple followed by a single. Van Ommen came on in relief and ran into trouble in the first inning giving up 3 runs on 3 hits, he then settled in and looked strong in his final 3 innings. Van Ommen also looked good at the plate getting 2 of the A's 4 hits and had another hit robbed by a great diving play in right field by Boater which would have for sure driven in 2 and tied the game at 4. Tough loss for the A's and it was great to have a couple of "Jerks" out to help as the A's were shorthanded due to many unexplained absences. The A's lost 4-2, but it was a well played and well pitched game by both teams.

Game 13 - New West Twins

This was quite possibly the worst game ever played for both teams, the walks, HBP, and errors took forever and made for a long game and we only made it through 8 innings. The A's were up by two going into the bottom of the 8th and as always a lead off walk led to bad things. Olver was getting squeezed a bit which led to 3 more walks and a double thrown in led to a tie game. A tie and a blown save is nothing to get excited about and it is even tougher to take when we gave up 2 in the last inning. A's tie the Twins 8-8. 

Game 12 - Newton Beavers

The A's wanted to come back after the long weekend and get back on track after the weird game with the Chiefs. The Beavers also came in hungry looking for a Friday night win, the A's pitching however had other ideas, Winograd started on the hill and looked sharp early, giving up only 1 hit in his 4 innings of work which happened to be in the first inning. Van Ommen was rested coming off only pitching one inning against the Chiefs because of the shortened game, and looked great, not giving up a hit and only facing 14 batters in his 4 innings of work. Olver came in for the 9th and faced the minimum 3 batters and looked great in his return to the hill, the A's pitchers combined for a 1 hit shut out, the first of the season.  The A's bats also looked good on this day led by Olver who went 3-4 with 2 RBI. The A's scored 8 runs. The A's defense also looked good making some great diving plays in the field (Di Rocco and Gauthier) and a line drive double play by Zuzartee, Shapiro was a stand out is center field getting some great jumps and taking care of everything that was hit in his direction. A's took this one 8-0. 

Game 11 - Whalley Chiefs 

There is not much to say about this game. We went to Whalley, we played only 7 innings. the game was all over the map. The highlight was Basford was a triple away from the cycle.... SO CLOSE. A's lost 12-9. We would love to able able to play this one over. 

Game 10 - Maple Ridge Jerks 

The Annual Jerks vs A's game fell on a Saturday this year, a great decision by the "Commish" Dan Taylor allowing us to plan a post game BBQ, many thanks to the Jerks for supplying the food. The Jerks came out of the gates hot scoring 3 in the first taking advantage of a shaky start by Winograd. After that Winograd settled in and shut the Jerks out only giving up 2 more hits in the next 4 innings. Van Ommen came on in relief and only gave up 3 hits in his 4 innings of work. The A's stayed in the game and scored 1 in the 1st and 1 in the 2nd. The run in the 1st came on 2 Verde Rios stolen bases and in the second on a Verde Rios sac fly to score Di Rocco. The game stayed 3-2 Jerks until the 8th when the A's got to the Jerks pitching, scoring 2 runs on 2 hits, 2 walks and a past ball, once again Verde Rios was involved with a clutch 2 out single to tie the game and then Olver scored on a past ball for the A's to take the lead. Olver also had a great game at the plate going 3-3 with a walk, a run scored and a stolen base. The A's pulled this game out and shocked the Jerks 4-3. We look forward to the next Jerks vs A's match up in 2020.

Game 9 - South Delta Padres 

The A's were short staffed to face the Padres witha  bunch of their regulars out of the line up. No excuses however as the A's should be able to match up against any team even short staffed. Olver and Martins had great days at the plate combining for 5 hits. The rest of the A's did not have their best day. The A's pitching looked good early but late in the game did not look sharp giving up 7 runs in the last 2 innings. The A's didn't have an answer for the Padres Pitching which was sharp. The A's lost 10-5 and for the first time in a long time dropped 2 in a row. 

Game 8 - Vancouver Mounties 

The A's got another 9am and this one did not go as well. Traditionally a tough time slot for the A's. The game got off to a quick start with the 2 teams combining for 3 double plays in the first 2 innings, nearly missing a fourth in the 3rd inning. Winograd took the hill and pitched 3 scoreless looking good again, Van Ommen came on in relief and was bitten by errors again, an error starting the inning and a couple walks and a couple hits led to the Mounties scoring 3 in the 4th. They came back and got 2 more in the 5th on a couple hits and a sac fly. Olver came on to finish the game and didnt give up a run and struck out 4 and walked 2 while not giving up a hit. The A's bats just couldn't get going, getting the lead runner on in the first 2 innings only to have them erased on double plays. The A's didn't get on the board until the 5th when Shapiro scored Zuzartee ground out. The A's threatened in the 9th scoring 2 runs and had the tying run on second base with 2 outs and could not get a timely hit to show some last inning heroics for a second week in a row. The A's had a few chances to score in this game with a couple of baserunning errors hurting them. The A's lost this one 5-3 and will look to get back on track next week when they head back to the friendly turf of Latrace. 

 

Game 7 - Vancouver Capilanos

The game started out as a quick one, neither team doing much in the first few innings at the plate. The A's opened the scoring in the 4th with 2 runs to take the lead, added another in the 3rd. The Caps scored 4 in the 7th on a couple hits, a few walks, a HBP and an error to take the lead 4-3. Winograd had an awesome night on the hill throwing 5 shut out innings only giving up 2 hits and only throwing 42 pitches. Van Ommen came on in relief in the 6th and started strong needing only 4 pitches to get 3 outs in the 6th inning. He ran into some trouble in the 7th where the Caps got their only runs, only 1 earned. Going into the bottom of the 9th the A's were down by 1 and needed to score 1 to force extras. Phillips started the inning with a 10 pitch at bat and unfortunately lost the battle by popping out to the first baseman. Shapiro hit a single to put the tying run on base, Gauthier hit into a fielder’s choice and Shapiro was out at second. The A's were down to their last out with Gauthier on first. Zuzartee kept the inning going with a single through the right side moving Gauthier into scoring position. Burghall hit a single up the middle to score Gauthier and tie the game in the 9th. Van Ommen got added to the line up and had the chance to be the hero, 2 out runners on first and second and Van Ommen was down to his last strike, with a great piece of 2 strike hitting Van Ommen hit a opposite field single scoring Zuzartee from second and tallying his first walk off hit (most likely of his life). The A's stormed the field and mobbed Van Ommen and some how he ended up with no jersey on, his pants around his ankles and his zipper broken... The A's know how to celebrate. The A's took this game 5-4 in a great team outing. 

In other news for the first time in his Richmond A's career, probably his LMBA career Peter Francis did not stay for post game errors and the A's were dumbfounded and upset. Especially after a win like this one. 

Game 6 - Vancouver Blue Jays 

The A's didn't appear to be quite awake for the 9am start however that did not stop them from scoring in the first couple of innings getting off to a good start. Winograd took the hill for his usual start and looked good early however ran into some trouble in the 3rd inning ad after an untimely error gave a up a grand slam to put the A's down by 2 after 3. It didn't take the A's long to put another run on the board to get back into the swing of things. Winograd got stung by a few errors again in the 4th but finished strong and only gave up 2 earned Runs.  Van Ommen took over in the 5th and threw 4 strong innings not giving up a run. The A's bats hit the ball hard on this day and were also patient at the plate leading to a few walks and some HBPs which led to runs. The A's scored 13 runs in total and took the win 13-7.  The A's have a week off for the long weekend and will be back at home on Friday May 24th. 

Game 5 - Langley Diamondbacks 

A's Win 21-3. 

The only real thing to report on this game is that Shapiro Pitched, walked 4, hit 1, gave up a double and a allowed 3 ER in the last inning to break the A's shut out. 

Game 4 - New West Twins

The Richmond A's came into tonight's game looking for some revenge after the first round playoff loss to the Twins last August. It did not take the A's long to put some runs on the board scoring 2 in the bottom of the 1st inning. Winograd started on the hill looking good in the first, he gave up a couple of "excuse me" swing hits but battled through and gave up no runs in his 3 innings of work. Van Ommen came in and threw 3 strong innings also not giving up a run. Olver came on in relief and only threw 1 scoreless inning due to shoulder tightness. Burghall stepped up and threw 2 strong innings in his A's pitching debut. A little history on Burghall, the A's signed him 3 years ago as a free agent out of Ontario thinking that he was going to log some good innings as a second lefty option out of the pen. The prospect was promising but as Burghall started throwing early in February it seemed his arm had other ideas. After a long rest it appears Burghall might have turned a corner and be a viable option for the A's moving forward. Burghall gave up 1 run and blew the A's shut out in the 9th, it was not totally his fault however as the center field lights at Latrace didn't come on for the second game in a row which led to a catchable fly ball to center being misplayed due to lack of light. The A's hit the ball hard and were aided by a few errors by the Twins, including an error that led to Verde Rios logging a "Little League" home run. The A's got their revenge and beat the Twins 9-1. 

Game 3 - Coquitlam Cardinals 

The A's travelled to Mundy park for the first time to play the Cardinals at their new home field on Easter Sunday. The A's had a good line up for the holiday tilt and looked to knock off the Cardinals for the first time in a long while, as they are always a tough opponent. The Cardinals got to the A's pitching early stringing together 4 straight base hits in the first inning scoring 2 runs. Winograd settled in and only gave up 1 more run on a solo shot in the 3rd inning. Van Ommen came on in relief throwing 3 strong scoreless innings. Olver came in and struck out 6 in 2 innings, getting all his out via K.  The A's had a hard time cashing in runs and stranded 11 runners on base. The A's scored 2 runs in the 6th on a 2 run double by Shapiro that fortunately hit first base and skipped into right field. Francis barely missed tying the game in the 8th when he hit a shot off the left field fence that missed going out by about 2 feet. The Coquitlam defense specifically their shortstop made some great plays in the field to keep the A's off the board and lead to the stranded runners. The A's lost a squeaker 3-2. The A's will look to get back on track next week at Latrace. 

Game 2 - Coquitlam Thunder 

First home game of the season for the A's and it was good to be back on Latrace. The A's got off to a slow start and gave up 3 runs in the second inning on a lead off error. Winograd battled through 3 innings and the A's finally got the bats going in the bottom of the third putting up 4 runs. Van Ommen came on in relief going 3 strong innings not giving up a hit. The A's kept the pedal to the metal putting up another 4 runs in the 4th inning and 2 in the 5th to take a 10-3 lead. Olver came on to pitch in the 7th and did not have his usual stuff but he battled through the kinks early in the season and didn't give up an earned run and struck out 3 in his home debut. It was not a stellar game defensively for the A's as they made 6 errors in the field and 5 unearned runs. The bats came alive which was a good sign and put up 14 hits. The final score was 13-6 in favour of the A's to get them off to a 2-0 start in the 2019 campaign.  

Game 1 - Burnaby Blue Jays 

The Richmond A's started the 2019 season on the road facing the new team to the 18+ division the Burnaby Blue Jays. The A's started early scoring 3 runs in the first inning. After that the bats went a bit cold which is to be expected game 1 of the season. The A's pitching looked good early with Winograd pitching 3 strong innings not giving up an earned run, he hit some trouble in the 4th giving up a couple of hits and a couple walks and giving up 4 earned runs, the blister on his pitching finger didn't help his cause. Van Ommen came on in relief going 2 strong innings. The game was tied going into the 9th Verde Rios hit a big single with 1 out and then stole a base to get into scoring position, then with 2 outs Francis hit a 2 out double to score Verde Rios and put the A's on top once again. Olver took the hill in the 9th for his 3rd inning to try and shut the door and did just that with a big K to end the game and give the A's their first win of the season and start the 2019 campaign off on the right foot. The A's win 6-5. 

2018 Playoffs

The Richmond A's went into the playoffs as the first ranked team in the LMBA and were eying a long playoff run. The underdog Twins however had other ideas. The Twins came out early and scored 3 runs in the first inning getting some timely hits. The A's chipped away but the Twins put up another 5 runs in the 6th inning, a missed call by the umpire who was not in position to make the call, and a double play that was not executed allowed the Twins again to get some timely hits. Only scoring runs in 2 innings the Twins put 8 on the A's, something that was only done a few times all season. The A's simply could not get the timely hits the Twins got and left 14 runners on base. the lone highlights in the game were Matt Gauthier with 2 hits and 2 RBI, Aaron Zuzartee with 2 hits and 4 RBI who also nearly missed a Grand Slam by a few feet that would have tied the game. Charles Shapiro also had 3 hits and walked once getting on base all 4 of his plate appearance. Kyle Olver also pitched well for the A's and shut the Twins down in the 7th-9th innings also strikeing out 7 of the 10 batters he faced and did not give up a hit. The A's were bitterly disappointed again in the first round of the playoffs and it will be another longe off season after a record setting regular season. Good luck to the Twins in the rest of the playoffs. A's lost 8-6.

2018 Season

Regular Season Stat Leaders:

Batting Average (min 20 AB) - Matt Gauthier - .444

RBI - Matt Gauthier - 17

HR - Pete Francis - 3

SB - Pete Francis & Craig Di Rocco - 7 

Pitching (min 30 innings Pitched):

ERA - Kyle Olver .30

K - Matt Winograd 52

MVD - Corey Burghall - 74 - The MVD award passes to another first time winner a good showing this year Burghy

Game 16 - Vancouver Mounties

The Richmond A's entered the game with a chance to lock up the 2018 Bob Bunnett Pennant with a win. With Olver having to leave early he got the start and started strong going 4 innings not giving up a run. The A's bats were patient early drawing 5 walks in the first inning and with a timely hit scored 3 in the first and never looked back. Winograd took the hill second and was not used to pitching in that position, he gave up 4 runs but only 1 earned in his 3 innings. Van Ommen came in to close out the game. and we only got 7.5 innings in because of time limit. The A's took the win and locked down the Bunnett division Pennant. the final score was 10-4.

Game 15 - Fraser Valley Chiefs

The A’s had a depleted lineup as our fellow compadre T-Phillipz (accompanied by veteran skip Di Rocco, Basford, and Verde Rios) tied the knot with his lovely fiancé Kara.  Despite the depleted lineup, the A’s, accompanied by several clutch substitutes (Keno, Fish, and Kuno?), they towed the line with the Chiefs to decide the current 1st place tie in the Bob Bunnett division. The Chiefs were hungry for a W after suffering a 21-5 routing by the Cardinals of Coquitlam. 

Winograd started the game plunking 2 of the first 4 batters he faced. He settled down after that and managed to grind out 3 innings, surrendering only 1 hit and giving up no runs. Van Ommen and Olver split innings 4 through 9 with only 1 run scoring against Van Ommen.

The A’s bats were solid throughout the game as they continually chipped away to put 5 runs on the board.  Despite taking “crap swings all game long”, Gauthier managed  3 hits leading the A's to a Win. The A's might have set a one game record striking out 15 times in the game but also amassing 12 hits.

In the end, the A’s took the W 5-1 and sit atop the Bob Bunnett division with a crisp record or 11-3-1.

 

Game 14 - South Delta Padres

As always it was a close game between the A's and the Padres. The Pardres Pitching kept the A's at bay only giving up 3 hits. The A's pitching staff only giving up 6 hits and one of them was timely and led to the Padres only earned run. The A's threatened in the 9th getting the first 2 runners on the inning on base but then quickly hit into a double play to erase the threat. The A's just couldnt get the bats going on this night and it seemed to be just one of those nights. Tip of the cap to the Padres pitching staff and the A's look to get back on track next week against the Chiefs. the A's lost 2-0.

Game 13 - Newton Pirates

This game was a tale of 2 halves, the first 5 innings took only 1 hour to play with only 1 run being scored and only 4 hits combined from the 2 teams. The second half of the game took 2 hours and included an extra inning. The A's bats took a while to get going and really didnt start until the 9th. The first 3 A's runs came off walks and wild pitches. The Pirates didnt score 1 earned run in the game but took advantage of a few timely A's errors. The Pitching on both sides was good. Winograd only gave up 3 hits and Van Ommen settled down after a shaky first inning and pitched a great 7-10th. The A's didn't get a hit until the 3rd when Di Rocco broke up the no-no and then not another hit until the 7th after that. The A's pitching held the Pirates at bay as well, only giving up 6 hits and Van Ommen  In the 9th the latrace lights helped the A's out when Di Rocco hit a two out fly ball that the outfielders lost in the lights to allow Francis to score and tie the game at 4. It would have been a walk off but Gauthier forgot there was 2 outs and ended up only going from first to third on the Di Rocco double. In the 10th the bottom of the line-up came through with Zuzartee starting things off with a 1 hour single, followed by Winograd being unable to lay down the sac bunt to move the runner over, however with two strikes, Winograd slashed a single to put Zuzartee into scoring position with 1 out. It went back to the top of the line up with Ross ripping an opposite field single through the right side scoring Zuzartee for a walk off in the 10th inning. The A's came together on this night overcoming some errors and taking advantage of some walks and wild pitches to get on the board. The game was not picture perfect but sometimes you need games like that. The A's took this one 5-4 in 10 innings.

Game 12 - Holly Hops

The A's made their first visit to Holly Park and clashed with the Hops for the first time. The A's got off to a hot start scoring 6 runs in the first and never looked back. Some highlights at the plate were Phillips with a Grand Slam in the second inning, Gauthier with a 4-5 day including a HR. Verder Rios 4-6 with 4 RBIs. The Van Ommen and Olver did their job on the hill only giving up 6 hits and 5 runs. The A's took this one 25 - 5.

Game 11 - North Langley Expos

The A's looked to get back on the winning track when they took the field on Friday. It started early with the A's scoring 1 in the first inning but then slowed down as the game went on. The A's threatened a few times but were unable to score again until the 7th. The Expos pitching kept the A's bats at bay keeping them on their heels most of the game. The A's pitching kept the game close by only giving up 3 hits over 9 innings and gave up only 1 run (unearned) on a couple of errors in the 5th. Winograd only faced 10 batters and did not give up a hit in his 3 innings, Van Ommen had a bounce back game looking good on the hill only giving up 1 hit in his 3 innings of work. Olver came in to shut the door, giving up a couple of hit but quickly erased the baserunners by picking off both of them. The A's took this match up 5- 1 getting back in the W column.

Game 10 - Maple Ridge Jerks

With a bit of a light line up the A's bats were quieted by the Jerks Pitching. It was a good game for the most part and it very easily could have been 0-0 through 9 innings of play if it werent for a few walks and a glove that might be 1 inch too short. The Jerk pitching fooled the A's bats and kept them on their toes, the A's only mustered 4 hits, a season low. Olver however came up big in the 9th scorching a first pitch fastball for a double. The A's pitching got out of a few jams and held the Jerks to only 3 runs, 2 scored on bases loaded walks.  These two teams hope to meet in the finals this year and keep this epic long standing rivalry going. Until next time Jerks... A's lose 3-0.

Game 9 - Coquitlam Thunder

The A's bats stayed hot erupting for 19 hits and scoring in 6 of 9 innings. The A's scored in the first inning and that is all they needed on this night as the A's pitching held the thunder to just 2 hits, and only allowed 1 runner to get past 2nd base. Winograd only faced 16 batters in 4 innings, Van Ommen just 11 in 3 innings and Olver faced 7 in 2 innings. Great night on the bump for the A's. Ross and Francis went deep for the A's and the rest of the A's bats were alive scoring 16 runs against the Thunder. The A's hope to stay hot for the rest of the season. A's win 16-0.

Game 8 - Surrey Expos

Tonight was the first meeting of the A's and the new team in the division the Surrey Expos. The A's came to play early scoring 4 in the first and never looking back. The first Expos pitcher did a bang up job but the A's bats were too much for him to handle. The A's put together 17 hits and ended up scoring 15 runs in 6 innings. The A's pitching did a great job only allowing 4 hits and giving up only 1 run. Winograd and Olver kept the A's on the winnign track on this night. A's win the first meeting of these division foes 15-1.

Game 7 - New West Twins

It was a beautiful night in New West for baseball and the A's definitely took advantage. The bats were alive early getting 3 hits in the first inning but not scoring any runs. It didn't take long however to pot a few runs, Phillips and Di Rocco scored on a Hanna RBI single in the second. The A's never looked back. 5 of the 8 runs were scored by Phillips and Di Rocco, with Basford driving in 2 and scoring 1 from second base on a past ball.  The A's pitching was equally impressive with Winograd going 5 strong, not allowing a run, only allowing 4 baserunners and not letting a runner get past second base. Van Ommen came on in relief going 3 strong and only allowing 3 baserunners. Olver was back in action and shut the door only allowing 1 runner. A shut out for the A's staff. The A's took this one against the Twins 8-0.

Game 6 - Vancouver Capilanos

They say a tie is like kissing your sister and I have to say that it rings true. The A's and the Capilanos played a full 9 innings and ended in a 4-4 draw. The pitching staff on both sides got out of more than 1 jam in the game as the teams combined to leave 27 runners on base. Winograd and Klenman pitched for the A's and as mentioned got out of more than one jam with some great pitching. The A's were down by 1 going into the seventh when Basford stepped to the plate and hit a towering 2 run shot to put the A's ahead. In the top of the 8th it was twilight time at Latrace and the Capilanos first batter took advantage and hit a fly ball to center field over the lights that fell in front of the Center fielder because the ball got above the lights. In the end the time limit came up because of all the runners left on base and the game ended in a 4-4 tie. A bit of a letdown for both teams.

Game 5 - South Delta Padres

It was a beautiful day for ball, the weather was as warm as it had been all year despite Verde Rios complaining it was brisk. The A's bats started hot scoring 4 runs in the first 4 innings and didn’t look back from there. Winograd had a good day on the bump only giving up 1 run on 3 hits, followed by Klenman gutting out 1 quick inning facing the minimum 3 batters. Van Ommen came on in relief for his first appearance of the year giving up just enough runs to give Winny the ND and pick the win up for himself but all in all a solid effort from the staff on this day. The game was not without fireworks as Di Rocco "Skip" got tossed by the ump for being "lazy" on the base paths, admittedly the hustle shown by the aging player/manager was not where it should have been, it was absolutely appalling that the ump felt the need to escalate the situation by name calling. In the end Di Rocco won the name calling battle after he got tossed. It seems the skip is making it a tradition to get tossed while playing the Padres. The South Delta boys are always good sports about it and seem to come to the aid of the skip and show their support after the fact. The A's showed well on this date and the bats were hot enough to put up a 9 spot on the Padres and take the game 9-4.

Game 4 - Coquitlam Cardinals

The A's were out early for BP and it felt like it was going to be a good day. A bit of a depleted line up but the boys were still confident. The first few innings looked ok but then a few timely errors in the field and a few missed spots on the mound led to the A's being down 11-2 after 5 innings. The A's tried to claw back into the game and made it 11-9 after 8 innings. Unfortunately because of the length of the game and the number of people left on base the Umps decided to call the game at 9:44pm even though the game started 5 mins late. I would have been good to see if we could have made the comeback complete if we had played 1 more inning. A gritty performance on the hill by Winograd and Klenman could not keep the Cardinals off the Score Sheet. Olver was out with a bit of a sore shoulder and after a few years of not being a part of the battery Di Rocco did not look his old self behind the dish. All in all it showed heart no giving up and mounting a comeback in the back half of the game but we simply "ran out of time" to complete it. Cardinals 11 - A's 9.

Game 3 - Vancouver Blue Jays

A beautiful sunny 9am game saw the A's bats hitting hot spraying 15 hits all over the diamond. 4 home runs off the A's bats, driving in 9 of the 10 runs scored. Francis with 2 knocks and 5 rbi's, Vano with 1 knock and 2 rbi, and Smoaty Gauthier with 1 homerun and 2 rbi's.  Winograd didn't have his best stuff on the mound but worked through 5 innings and Olver came in to shut the door for 4 innings. 

Game 2 - Vancouver Mounties 

The weather did not seem to want to cooperate all day but as we got closer to game time the clouds parted and the rain held up. Unfortunately the Mounties only had 7 guys. The A’s lent them 2 guys and we were able to get 6 innings of ball in before pitching ran out. The game goes as a forfeit and if we can find a time to make it up we will see what we can do.  The weather will have to start cooperating for that to happen however. No stats for this game but “errors” were counted as usual.

Game 1 - Fraser Valley Chiefs

It was a long off season and the boys were ready to get started game 1 of the season. All week we didn’t know if the weather would cooperate, but the clouds parted on Friday night and let game 1 of the 2018 LMBA season get underway. The A's had a tough first game against the Chiefs, they are usually good games when these teams get together and tonight was no different. The pitching looked good for both teams early in the season and kept the bats at bay for the most part. The A's got loaded the bases in the first and got a clutch hit from Verde Rios that scored 2 and put the A's up 2-0 in the first. A few innings later the A's got the bats going again, a 1 out walk by Phillips followed by a Di Rocco single saw runners and first and third with 1 out. Di Rocco stole second to get into scoring position and Gauthier came up with 2 outs, runners second and third, Gauthier with a full count got a great hit to score 2 and put the A's up 4-0. Winograd did great job on the bump going 5 scoreless innings with no free bases (no walks or HBP), great first outing of the season! Olver made his A's return to the hill going four strong innings giving up only 1 earned run (2 others scored on an error). The A's pitching all together only gave up 9 hits and 1 earned run. Timely hits by the A's got the 2018 season off on a positive foot with a 4-3 win against the always tough Chiefs.  

 

 

2017 Season

Playoffs - Game 1 - Vancouver Blue Jays

By far the worst game of the season defensively and in the box. Game Sucked - A's Lost 8-5 in 10 innings. Thats it. See you in 2018.

Game 16 - Fraser Valley Chiefs

The A's were headed to Whalley to see if they could end the regular season on a high note. Facing the division leading Chiefs in their final game of 2017. The Game started as a pitcher’s duel with both the Chiefs and A's pitchers making short work of both line ups facing only 19 batters each in the first 5 innings leading to a scoreless tie through 5. Winograd finished the day with 5 innings of shutout ball only allowing 5 base runners. Zuzartee made a stellar defensive play at second base keeping the shut out in the 5th inning. Watson came on in relief and kept the train rolling. The A's managed to score a run in the 6th with Shapiro leading off the inning with a single, moved to second on a one out single by Watson. Shapiro moved to third on a 2 out stolen base, helped out by an inaccurate throw from the catcher. Shapiro when scored on a 2 out infield hit by Zuzartee that was perfectly placed slow roller between the third baseman and the short stop, the pitcher lost his footing off the mound taking him out of the play. Shapiro ended up being the only run scored for the A's. Watson threw a gritty final 4 innings erasing a few jams with a couple of strike outs as well as some timely ground balls.  This was a great baseball game against some great pitching on both sides, a true pitcher’s duel. The A's were also very sound defensively making no errors and adding in a double play as well as pick off thrown in by Winograd. The A's kept the Chiefs off the board not allowing a run and handing the Chiefs only their second loss of the season winning the game 1-0.

WPOG was cancelled for the game as the A's were happy with the result of the game as well as the way the way the game was played. A few honourable mentions were Shapiro with his steal of third, stopping short and then finishing the steal when he saw the throw was off the mark. There was also Francis for making some dubious nominations for WPOG!

The Final Standings for the MVD were announced and Peter Francis takes his second MVD award falling just short of the century mark with 91 Errors, followed by Craig Di Rocco with 76.5 and Mike Atkinson with 65 (a very valiant effort considering he missed a few games with a broken arm).  Congrats to Pete on his second MVD award.

Game 15 - Aldergrove Sun Devils

The Richmond A's made the journey out to Aldergrove to lock horns with the Sun Devils in an epic grid iron battle. The Richmond A's came out firing scoring an early field goal and a missed field goal for the single point. Francis got a 350 foot safety early in the second and the A's followed that up with another field goal. The first touchdown came after that but with the missed extra point they left some points off the board. Two safeties in the next frame and another touchdown with a missed extra point capped off the scoring for the A's putting up 25 in the game.  The A's quaterbacks played well on this night as well. Winograd not missing a single pass until late in the second. The only blemish was 2 incomplete passed but did not let a single defensive player touch the ball all game. Van Ommen came on in the second half and only gave up one interception but did not allow any blemishes on the score sheet.  on this date the A's kept the Sun Devils off the score sheet and won the game 25-0.

The WPOG went to Francis again this time throwing the ball into left field on purpose after a Winograd Strike out! In Roosters words - BUSH!

Game 14 - Vancouver Mounties

With the rain threatening all day the A's were excited to get the game started and hopefully avoid the impending rain. The game started as a close one with the A's taking a 1 run lead in the 3rd, on a walk, stolen base, and a hit to the right side. The Mounties made a quick come back in the top of the 4th scoring a run and tying it up. The game continued on with the A's taking the lead and then the Mounties tying it up. The Mounties took the lead in the top of the 9th on an error and a timely base hit. In the bottom of the ninth Di Rocco led the A's off wtih a clutch lead off Home Run to right field to tie the game up and put the A's back in a tie with the Mounties. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th Ross was hit by a pitch, stole second and then while attempted to steal 3rd early, the Mounties pitcher tried to pick off in front of the runner and threw the ball down the third baseline. This allowed Ross to score and the A's walked off the Mounties with a odd play. This gutsy win kept the A's in the win column as they hope to keep the momentum going into next week. A's 6 - Mounties 5.

the WPOG was a tie again. Ties seem to be more commom these days and it is most likely because the tie breakers are so much fun. On this night Francis and Winograd were tied for the WPOG, Francis for saying the A's "didnt deserve the win" and Winograd for thinking one of the A's should tag up with 2 out. Apparently this tie breaker was a bit boring. Although the rest of the A's were planning a bat spin then shot run a beer race, Winograd and Francis had other ideas when they decided to Rock, Paper, Scissors it with Winograd winning and narrowly avoiding the WPOG.

Game 13 - Coquitlam Thunder

After an emotional loss the week before the A's attempted to come out bats ablazin' this week. Watson made the start on the bump with Winograd away and Atkinson on the DL. Making his season debut on the hill Watson did not throwing 5 innings of 1 hit ball striking out 9 in the process, striking out the side in 2 straight innings. Phillips also made his season debut on the mound throwing 1 solid inning in relief not giving up a hit and striking out 1 batter. Van Ommen closed the game out by striking out 5 and giving up 2 runs. All in all the pitching for the A's was solid and they struck out 15 of the 27 outs in the game. The A's hitters showed up as well with the stand out going to Francis going 3/4 with a triple and Watson also being hot at the plate going 3/4 as well! Di Rocco and Hanna executed the hit and run to perfection, Di Rocco running on an 0-2 pitch from 1st and Hanna pulling one down the line in right for a double, Di Rocco scoring all the way from first. It was great to see Atkinson at the park sporting his lovely new cast and supporting the boys. All in all a well rounded game from the A's getting back on the winning side of things with a 9-2 Victory.

The WPOG went to Zack Ross for firing a ball 10 feet wide of first base on a routine ground ball, in his defense it was the toughest throw in baseball as he was only 10 feet away from the bag when he let the ball go! Oh Zack!

Game 12 - South Delta Padres

Over all this was an extremely tough game for the A's in many ways. Mike Atkinson started on the bump and had a good first inning only facing 4 batters, he got into a little trouble in the second inning due to a couple of errors but gave up no earn runs. facing his 10th batter of the game and with 2 strikes Mike geared up to throw a fast ball and during the delivery broke his arm suffering a spiral frature to his humorous. The entire park was in shock, after waiting for the ambulance for about 40 minutes Mike left the field under his own power and went to Richmond Hospital where he thanfully avoided the need for sugery and was put in a full arm cast. The game restarted with Basford on the bump who had a bit of a rough outing becuse of a sore neck. Lets be honest however after one of our team mates leaves the field with a freak injury our heads just werent in it. Di Rocco the manager of the A's ended up getting tossed in the 3rd inning after arguing balls and strikes with the ump, however the underlying factor of the argument was the fact that the umpire kept the time limit for the game going while both teams waited for the paramedics to help their fallen comrade. The lack of empathy and common sense from the umpiring crew was abulutely disgusting and Di Rocco made that abundently clear after getting tossed, even receiving praise for the other team... Not a highlight of Di Rocco's LMBA career however sometimes you have to stick up for your team and the boys you take the field with every week.  All in all it was a rough game for the A's with a tough night on the hill and with lots on their mind at the dish. The Game ended up only going 6 complete innings because of the Umpires decision. The A's Lost to the padres for the first time in years 13-1.

The WPOG ended up going to Dirk Van Ommen but I cannot recal why at this moment. The fact is most of our heads werent in the vote after what happened to Mike and this factor also lead to our lowest "Error Total" of the season with 28.

We with Mike a speedy recovery and hope to see him out at a ball game as soon as he can to at least be with the boys and cheer them on.

Game 11 - Langley Canadians

A great night for baseball, the weather was finally cooperating and after a few weeks off because of a rain out the A's hit the field early to take a little BP (no... not Boston Pizza). The BP seemed to wake the A's bats up as everyone was hitting, even some bats that have been quiet this year woke up on this night. After giving up 2 runs in the first (one on the WPOG - below) Winograd settled in and threw 4 more shut out innings. The A's answered back in the bottom of the first with 2 runs of their own on a towering Home Run that hit half way up the tennis court fences in right field by Van Ostrand.  The ball was crushed and according to Mitchy's radar gun the exit velocity was 38 MPH. After that second inning the A's went on to score 5 in the 3rd and just kept the hit parade going. Atkinson came on in relief and threw one inning giving up 1 ER, followed by 3 strong hitless innings by Van Ommen. The A's never relinquished the lead after the first inning and took down the Langley Canadians 14 -3 earning their 3rd consecutive win and bringing their record to 7-3.

Worst play of the game again went to a tie breaker between Zuzartee and Francis, the tie breaker today was a tennis match because in a weird turn of events Mitchy not only had a radar gun but also 2 tennis racquets and tennis balls in his truck. Zuzartee held Francis at love and avoided the WPOG win. Francis ended up getting it for a dribbler past ball in the first inning of the game aht led to the Canadians first run of the game.

Game 10 - Langley Expos - RAIN

Game 9 - Vancouver Mounties

An early start for the A's with a 9:00am game, might be the first 9am game since the A's were the phillies back in the day at Brighouse. A depleted line up and pitching staff because of the Blue Jays playing in Seattle caused both teams a bit of angst on this day. The Game started out close until the 3rd inning when the A's broke it open scoring 6. Mike Atkinson put up a gritty performance on the mound only giving up 3 runs in 5 innings. Ryan Klenman also pitched 2 scoreless innings in his first game in 2 years... We might see him back on the hill in another 2 years! I would mention Shapiro's inning on the hill but it might be better not to. The A's hit the ball hard but didnt have all that many hits as most of the hard hit balls were right at people. Shapiro hit the A's first home run of the season hitting a 2 run shot in the 8th. All in all a decent day on the ball field with the A's taking the Victory 15-4.

The WPOG went to Mike Atkinson spilling a beer after the game which caused a revote... probably one of the worst plays of the season.

Game 8 - Coquitlam Cardinals

It was a beautiful day at Latrace and even with a depleted lineup the A's had a great attitude going into the game. The Cardinals were also missing a few of their better players on this date and with the two familiar foes ready for a rare afternoon game at Latrace the game began. The first 6 innings flew by with the Cardinals putting up just 2 runs on Winograd and not getting many hits. The A's got a few guys on base but Di Rocco on a few occassions was not able to cash in the RISP. The A's just couldnt get anything going on this day and were unable to put up any runs. in the end the Cardinals took this one 5.-0.

The worst play of the game went to Dirk for admitting that he had never seen even one episode of East Bound and Down. a sad state of affairs for the young A's pitcher. Get on it Dirk!

Game 7 - Coquitlam Thunder

The A's came to play on this hot sunday night, finally the weather started to cooperate and it woke the A's up. Patience at the plate, aggressive base running, timely hitting and effective pitching all came together. Fielding still needs a bit of work but that will come as the season goes on. Winograd pitched 4 scoreless innings on the hill and kept the ball on the group erasing a couple hit by allowing the infield to turn 2 double plays! Verde Rios had a day at the dish driving in 5 runs, score a couple and going 4 for 4 with a walk. Have a day Rhyser! The A's more than made up for their feilding mistakes by scoring 12 runs and this led to a final score of A's 12 and the Thunder 6.

The Worst Play of the Game was a tie between Rooster and Zuzo, Rooster was nominated for trying the hidden ball trick after the umpire had called time out. Zuzo was nominated for trying to turn a double play and throwing the ball to first with his back to the base with led to the throw going into the dugout and giving the runner an extra bag! As this was a unprecedented tie the only way to decide worst player of the game was a base race. Zuzartee blew a tire and lost the race and therefore got the WPOG! Video to come as soon as we can fine a way to upload it.

Game 6 - Fraser Valley Chiefs

The A's and Chiefs have not faced eachother that often in the LMBA but with the Chiefs moving to the A's division these games will now happen more often. The first 4 innings were close and well played, however the wheels fell off in the 5th inning when the A's gave up 6 runs and only 1 earned, punctuated by a "phantom" hit by pitch called by the plate up that even the batter says missed him by about a foot, this hit by pitch on a 1-2 count scored a run as the bases were loaded and this was followed by a base clearing triple. Frustrating to say the least. This 6 run inning put the A's in a hole they could not climb out of. There were a few bright spots in the game, Winograd and Di Rocco sucessfully pulled off a hidden ball trick after a Chiefs player hit a triple, ending the 3rd inning. Verde Rios had a day at the plate with 2 hits driving in both A's runs. All in all it was the tale of 2 halfs of the game, innings 1-4 was a closely contested ball game and innings 5-9 were a bit of a disaster for the A's. In the end the Chiefs paid the A's back for last years spanking putting up 12 runs in a 12-2 game.

Worst Play of the Game went to another baseball play, after a Chiefs single in the 4th inning Watson came up throwing from left hitting Franny with a great throw having the Chiefs runner dead to rights at the plate, after Franny put the tag on he somehow lost control of the ball allowing it to come free from his glove allowing the run to score. Franny take the WPOG on this play.

​Best Player of the Game was Verde Rios, driving in both A's runs on 2 hits. Good day at the dish El Romantico!

Game 5 - Maple Ridge Jerks

This was another epic battle of two old foes, now that the teams are in opposite divisions they will not face each other as often but we still enjoy meeting on the field. the first 5 innings flew by with Winograd only giving up 1 run on 5 hits. Gauthier for the Jerks was equally impressive giving up 2 runs on 3 hits. Both teams bats were kept quiet by good pitching and only a total of 6 runs were scored in the game. The A's battled and stayed on the Jerks putting balls in play and forcing the defense to make plays, a few Jerks miscues added a few more runs for the A's, Watson came in and pitched 1 solid inning in relief passing the ball to Van Ommen who ended up getting the win in the game and also shut the door on the Jerks, bit giving up 1 hit. When all was said and done the A's beat the Jerks breaking the Curse of the Franchise, final score 4-2.

On a side not there was a great post game meal provided by Verde Rios and his WAG Kelsey, who made authentic Mexican tacos for the Cinco de Mayo celebration. The A's and Jerks might officially ask to play each other each Cinco de Mayo weekend to make this an annual celebration. Hint, hint Dan Taylor.

​Worst play of the game went to Hanna for a mis play on a slow roller to 1st base which ended up turing into a run for the Jerks as it was follow up by a Jerks Double, scoring the baserunner. This is one of the first baseball plays to end up being worst play of the game.

Player of the game goes to Zuzartee who went 3-3 with 2 runs scored, just having a day at the dish. great game Zuzo.

 

Game 4 - South Delta Padres

The A's have notched 2 in a row for the first time this season and the bats have started to come alive.  The A's scored 3 runs in the first inning with 4,5, and 6 batter each potting an RBI.  Abrey went 2/3 with 2 singles and a double on his birthday but took a quick exit at the end of the game. Although the A's were given opportunities on 5 passed balls, 1 hbp, 6 BB's, and 1 error, the A's took advantage and scored 9 runs.

Winograd went 4 strong on the mound giving up 1 hit, 0 runs, and 1 walk.  Aside from plunking two guys on curveballs, Van Ommen finished the game with 4 k's and 0 hits over 3 innings.  Atkinson had a rough day overall as he walked 5 in 2 innings but managed to escape the damage.  His car however, did not escape the damage as 2 (not just 1, but 2!) foul balls found their way to smashing his back windshield. One positive to his day went to the unbelievable 7-6-3 put-out in the 6th - the A's lineup still can't figure out what the guy was doing (it was Yadi Molina like).

The A's put forth a season high on the Worst Player of the Game nominations - Verde Rios' flood pants, Phillips' bunt attempt in the 2nd with nobody on, Basford's 3 k's and Dirk's laughing at his own Mr. Potato head joke, the award went to Corey for suggesting we do an infield/outfield at an LMBA game.  Still up for nomination is the fact that 4 players forgot to bring their post-game cups...

Next up -- Maple Ridge Jerks Friday May 5th @ 7pm at Latrace (Cinqo de Mayo!)

Game 3 - New Westminster Twins

The A's jumped out to a great start with more hits in 2 innings than all of last game! 7 hits and 5 runs in the first two innings got the A's firing on all cylinders. Notable lines go to Ross with a one-hop double to the fence, Watson with 2 doubles and 3 RBI's, Francis and Hanna both going 2/3 with an RBI each.   The A's saw a glimpse of what they are capable of as even though hits continued to be sprayed throughout the game, the run production stopped.  The A's pitching looked good again with Winograd going 5 innings, Atkinson a season high of 3, and Watson in for the 1 inning save.  The A's faced a rough spot in the 6th when Atkinson hit the first two batters he faced but managed to get out of the inning unscathed.  

Although Watson led the charge at the plate, he received Worst Player of the Game honours thanks to a glorious dive in right field on a ball that landed about 10 feet from his glove down the line. The whole team was yelling "no" for about 10 seconds before the dive but Watson was dialed in (so he thought).  2 runs accounted to this error and put the A's on their heels as a 4 run game quickly became 2.  Rumours are surfacing that Watson wanted to be noted for a save on his pitching record... not the team vision the A's were looking for.

Francis on the otherhand put his entire body on the line for the team, taking a few off the face, groin, and arm.  He either pissed off the baseball gods or is just getting old. 

Next up- South Delta Padres at Duguld Morrison next Sunday - The return of the 'Dirk'.

Game 2 - Vancouver Blue Jays

There is not much good to say about this game. The A's bats were quiet and although the A's out hit the Blue Jays, one bad inning defensively was the story of the day. The A's did not look like themselves on this day, not really hitting the ball hard, only able to muster 1 run on 5 hits and just couldnt get anything going offensively. The A's pitching looked good again but the defense in 1 inning was the difference in the game giving up 3 runs on 3 hits mised with 2 errors. The A's need to find a way to get back into this season and gain some confidence at the plate. Final Score Vancouver Blue Jays 3 - Richmond A's 1.

The Worst Play of the Game went to Atkinson's baserunning error in the 8th inning which led to the 3rd out at second base on a caught stealing. Thinking the ball got away from the catcher and running at an inopportune time and forcing another pitcher to lead off the 9th at the plate. In the end we cant expect pitchers to make good decisions on the base paths but when in doubt, stay where you are!

There was no player of the game on this date - the prize was not deserved and was not given out.

 

Game 1 - Vancouver Capilanos

Excited for opening day the Richmond Athletics had a record turn out of 14 guys! The team chat all day looked to cancel the game due to weather, however the baseball gods wanted us to get this game in, the weather did not look promising with 40 bkm/h winds at times and rain (sometimes fairly heavy) mixed in. At the start of the game both teams were just hoping to get 5 innings in, but we got nine innings in and although ugly, the Richmond A's ended up on top.  Neither the Capilanos or A's had a great day defensively making a bunch of errors, sometimes due to wind but mostly it was due to lack of reps because of the terrible off season weather. There are not too many good things to point out about this game other than a few of the A's bats came alive and got us some runs. Getting Van Ostrand back into the line up was a great thing and all the boys were happy to see him back on the field after an injury laden 2016. After an error filled game the Richmond A's pulled out a squeeker 8-7 starting the season off with a win against one fo the LMBA's newest teams.

The Worst Play of the Game went to Winograd's diet and the strife it caused on the bench, athough there were a bunch of guys who could have got the WPOG for actual baseball plays!  The best player of the game helmet award went to a non player, the WAG (Kate) of the A's newest player Corey stayed for the entire game and joined for refreshments after the game even though the weather was less than desireable.

2016 Playoffs

Game 2 - Dewdney Bulls

The Richmond A's showed up to play for their second playoff game of the 2016 season, however that feeling didnt last long. The A's took the lead in the first inning after putting the first two batters on base and following that up with two sac flys to move the runners over and in. At this point things were looking good. Winograd looked good on the hill early throwing ground balls and fly balls, however the A's didnt help themselves by making a bunch of errors and although Winograd gave up 4 runs and earned the loss for the game, he gave up 0 earned runs. Van Ommen also did a good job on the hill only giving up 2 earned runs. There were a few too many walks in the game but they were compounded by the errors. Unfortunately the bats werent as loud as they were in the first game against the Thunder. In the end the A's lost 7-2 and were ousted from he LMBA playoffs. We will go back to the drawing board and get ready for the 2017 season, hungry for another championship!  Good Luck to the Bulls in the next round.

Game 1 - Coquitlam Thunder

For the first time the A's faced the Thunder in the first round of the playoffs and it was a scorher on the field, it was probably around 30 degrees, however it fell like 45 degrees. The good thing is that the A's bats were just as hot in the first inning, scoring 5 runs on 5 hits and a walk. The A's kept hitting allo game, it was good to see the bats wake up in time for playoffs. The A's pitching also held the Thunder bats to 6 hits other than a few frustrating errors the Thunder never really got the offense going. The A's poured on 6 more runs in the 7th inning. The A's won their first playoff game of the 2016 season in convincing fashion 13-5.

The Best player of the game went to Matt Winograd for pitching 3 innings and go through it in only 10 batters, the only baserunner he allowed was a HBP. No hitting the Thunder through 3 innings.

Next up is the Dewdney Bulls in Round 2.

2016 Regular Season

Game 16 - Coquitlam Cardinals

The last regular season game of 2016 did not disappoint. The A's and Cardinals flew through the first 7.5 innings, at the 1.5 hour mark as we entered the bottom of the 8th. The pitching on both sides did well through the first 7 innings allowing only 1 run each. In the bottom of the 8th the A's bats woke up a RBI double from Verde Rios gave the A's a 1 run lead and that was followed up by a 3 run HR from Watson (first any one has seen at the new Latrace) and a few batters later a 2 run single from Di Rocco. The Cardinals tried to make a come back in the 9th scoring 2 runs of their own but they fell short as the A's defense came through and shut them down. The Richmond A's end the regular season and give themselves a chance of climbing up the standings before the playoffs with a 7-3 win.

Worst play of the game: The worst play went back to a non baseball play (kind of) in the second inning Zuzartee stepped to the plate with Hanna's bat and proceeded to not only break Hanna's bat but also hit into a double play. This was voted the worst play of the game and Zuzartee took the hat with pride and looks forward to wearing it in the warm up of the first play off game.

Game 15 - Maple Ridge Jerks

Another great game between the Jerks and A's these two teams have a lot of history and seem to play eachother tight in every meeting. An early error by Di Rocco led to a first inning run for the Jerks. The A's quickly got the run back in the bottom of the second inning. The A's pitchers did well in this game and kept the Jerks bats at bay however the A's defense let them down on a few different occassions and all the defensive miscues seemed to lead to Jerks runs. The A's bats were also a bit quiet and there were a few hard hit balls that ended up right at a Jerk. In the end the Curse of the Franchise continued and the A's once again lost to the Jerks 4 - 2.

Worst play of the game: As mentioned there were a few different defensive miscues in this game and unfortunately the error by Di Rocco in the first inning on the first batter of the game, going back on a ball right down the line over at first base was muffed and led the the first run of the game. Touch play tough call but Di Rocco mans up and takes the worst play of the game for the day.

Game 14 - Coquitlam Thunder

The A's started out hot in this game scoring 3 in the first, it looked the like the A's were going to have a gang busters game. The bats cooled after the first inning and the Thunder pitching settled in and looked good. It was a close game all the way through, A's pitching getting out of a few jams and the Thunder ended up tying the game in the 9th inning. It became the A's first extra inning game of the season. In the bottom of the 10th the A's rallied with 2 outs, Hanna doubled with 2 outs that put Basford at 3rd base after a lead off walk, Watson then came up and ripped a single to score Bassy on a walk off. Not the best game for the A's but in the end the team came together and pulled out a win. A's win in 10 innings 5-4.

Worst play of the game: There were a bunch of nominations but in the end the worst play when to Phillips for and actual baseball play believe it or not. Travis called off Ross on a texas leaguer and then ended up not catching the ball. First baseball play that ended up as the worst play of the game this season.

Game 13 - South Delta Padres

Another classic game from the Padres and A's, not many hits, great pitching and a closely contested match up. The Padres pitchers held the A's to just 3 hits and gave up 7 walks and a HBP in the game. The A's pitchers matched that by also keeping the Padres to 3 hits giving up 3 walks and 1 HBP. The only difference in the game was the stike outs, the A's pitchers struck out 16 batters and the padres only struck out 12. What a great pitching match up. After all was said and done the A's pulled out a tough one. A's beat the Padres 4-1.

Worst play of the game: There were some interesting nominations, not many having anything to do with baseball. During the vote Watson asked Di Rocco to move his chair and as Di Rocco stood up Watson pulled the chair backwards with a freshly poured beverage in the holder spilling said beverage all over the place and on Verde Rios' phone. The vote restarted and Watson took worst play of the game on this particular move.

Game 12 - Newton Pirates

The A's were playing with a depleted line up today as a few guys were missing due to other engagements. The game however was a good one, good pitching from both sides, lots of balls in play and in the end it came down to a few errors that were the difference in the game. Olver pitched well throwing 5 solid innings and only allowing 1 unearned run. Van Ommen came on in relief and gave up 2 runs (only 1 earned) and that was the difference. A costly throwing error on what would have been an inning ending double play that would have stranded the winning run on 3rd base. The A's bats were a little quiet as well, a few untimely weddings the night before might have aided in the quietness, however the A's have to score more than 2 runs to expect to win against one of the top teams in the Mathers division. In the end it was a hard faught game on both sides and we look forward to seeing more of the Pirates in the futur and getting the better of them next time. A's lose to the Pirates 3-2.

Worst play of the game: There were a few nominations, however todays worst play of the game went to Zack "Stanley" "Rooster" "Ipkis" Ross for getting doubled up on a fly ball to the outfield, although not entirely Zack's fault as the 3rd base coach thought the ball was dropping in front of the center fielder and was hungry to put nother run on the board. In the end it did not play out as we would have wanted and the ball hung up and allowed the center fielder to make the grab and double Rooster off at second.

Game 11 - Fraser Valley Chiefs

A rematch of the 2013 LMBA championship game was finally here, the Richmond A's came prepared and set to play, even with a short bench the A's came out swinging wasting no time in scoring 2 runs in the top of the first. The hit parade kept on going when the A's scored another in the second inning and 2 more in the third. The A's would never look back from that early first inning lead, Winograd and van Ommen took the hill and kept the Chiefs bats at bay only giving up 4 hit and 2 earned runs. A great team game from the A's; a solid effort at the plate and in the field led to a win for the A's 11-2.

Worst play of the game: It was an easy decision before the game even started today. Francis forgot the worst play of the game hat at home leading to another worst play of the game win for Francis. There was an honourable mention however, Basford stealing a base when the A's were winning 11 - 1 led to Ross being dotted for the second time in the game and almost led to an incident on the field.

Game 10 - Newton Beavers

The Richmond A's dont face the Beavers much they being in the other division but they look forward to the challenge every time. The A's bats were not alive in this game however their defense came up big at many points in this game even holding the Beavers at bay when they loaded the bases with none out, the Beavers only run was unearned. The Beavers pitching was on point in this game only giving up 2 hits and not allowing a runner past 2nd base all game. In the end it was a great game on both side and the A's lost 1-0.

Worst Play of the Game: Peter Francis keeps the title on this night as he twice forgot how many outs there were, once dropping the ball in the front of the plate after only two outs and then on another play double clutched but still managed to turn the double play for the out. Peter retains the title for another week.

Game 9 - Burnaby Brewers

The A's beat reporter cant remember much about this game, for some reason the posting came down then the site was down. short entry The A's won 16-4.'

Worst Play of the game went to Peter Francis... This is for getting doubled up on a fly ball to right field when he was a baserunner on 1st.

Game 8 - New West Twins

A beautiful night at Latrace saw a great game between the A's and the Twins. The A's started hot in the first inning with Watson hitting a single followed by a double by Ross, both runs were cashed in getting the A's out to a 2-0 lead in the first. The A's got another run in the 3rd once again on a Watson lead off hit. The A's pitching was great again not giving up an earned run in the game. Winograd threw 4 strong innings getting out of 1 jam in the 3rd inning. Atkinson made his second appearance of the season throwing 2 strong innings seeing the minimum number of batters. Van Ommen came on for the save and threw 3 strong innings giving up 1 unearned run on some miscommunication in the outfield. The game ended on a double play up the middle. The A's stay perfect at home winning the game 3-1.

Worst Play of the Game: after an almost unanimous vote the worst play of the game goes to Phillips who committed an error in center field which lead to the Twins only run of the game being scored. Honourable mention was Verde Rios getting tossed after tensions flared when he was called out at third and was caught stealing, a questionable call for sure.

 

Game 7 - Maple Ridge Jerks

Another great game between the home team Maple Ridge Jerks and the visiting Richmond Athletics. When these to teams get together you are always in for a treat. A hard fought game on both side came down to the bottom of the 9th. The A's pitching was a little off but the A's somehow found a way to stay in the game and get out of a few jams to put them in a good position to win the game. the A's starting pitcher Winograd uncharacteristically walked 3 and hit 2 batters but found a way to only give up 1 run in his 4 innings of work. Van Ommen came on in relief and obviously wasnt 100% but gave a gutsy performance getting out of 2 bases loaded situations and only surrendered 1 run until the bottom of the 9th. The 9th inning was looking good with van Ommen getting 2 quick outs to start the inning, then the Jerks bats clutched up and got 3 straight hits tying the game at 3, the next batter saw two pitches and then a Wild Pitch got past Francis to allow the Jerks runner on 3rd to score to end the game. A tough loss for the A's, and the continuation of the Francis curse, the A's have not won a game against the Jerks with Francis in the line up since he joined the A's 3 years ago. Richmond A's 3 - Maple Ridge Jerks 4.

Worst Play of the Game: There were no nominations for worst play of the game on this date as it is obvious that the worst play of the day fell on no one on the A's or Jerks... I will let you figure out who on the field deserves this distintion, it might rhyme with jump... or glue.

 

Game 6 - Dewdney Bulls

What a great game in Maple Ridge! Watson led off the game with a stand up double off the first pitch getting the A's off on the right foot, however we failed to cash him in. The A's then came back in the second inning with another stand up double by Francis who was cashed in by Di Rocco with an RBI single. The A's did a good job of getting guys on base however they stranded way too many throughout the game. Thank goodness the A's Pitchers did their job in the hill, Winograd threw a solid 5 innings giving up only 2 hits and not allowing a Bull past 1st base. Van Ommen came on in relief doing a great job keeping the Bulls bats at bay, he ran into a bit of a jam in the 8th inning when he hit a batter, gave up a single and a BB getting out of the inning with a big strike out. This was the one a only time the Bulls got a runner in scoring position. The A's ended the game with a great diving Lewis glove flip to Zuzartee bare hand double play - highlight reel for sure. The A's got their first win on the road, and 3rd shutout of the season with the 3-0 victory.

Worst Play of the Game: There was only one nomination at the field, however it was never voted on and there is some talk in the A's iPhone chat of other nominations. I think with such a good win and such a low turn out after the game we will have to postpone judgement in this one. Great Game boys!

 

Game 5 - South Delta Padres

Once again the Padres and the A's played a close game that saw another pitchers duel. The Padres started the game off with 1 run in the first inning and the A's cam back in the 2nd inning to tie the game at one. The Padres manufactured another run in the 4th, and the A's came back in the bottom of the inning and scored 2 runs to take the lead 3-2. The Pitchers took it from there, both teams threatened a few times including the Padres playing old school ball with a hit, sac bunt and were aided by a past ball in the top of the ninth, putting the tying run on 3rd base with 1 out. Van Ommen took the game over from there and struck out the last 2 batters of the game to strand the tying run at 3B and to win the A's the game. Winograd and van Ommen both pitched well, and Zuzartee powered the A's offense with 2 RBI, however the A's left 5 runners in scoring position and struck out too much for the managers liking. Speaking of strike outs, the often talked about but rarely acheived Golden Sombrero was handed out on this night, the dubious honour went to ..... Zack "Stanley" "Rooster" Ross. A's win 3 - 2.

Worst Play of the Game: There were a few nominations and Ross nominated himself for the Golden Sombrero, however the honour went to Pete Francis who tried to check a swing on a high fastball and ended up falling down and looking like a dead fish on the plate while the entire A's team started cheering and jeering him. Again, it appears that the worst play of the game didnt go to an actual play but to someone falling down while the rest of the team was watching.

Game 4 - Coquitlam Cardinals

The first 3 innings of the game were quick ones, both teams did well in the field and looked like it was going to be a pitchers duel. In the 3rd inning the A's broke the scoreless tie with a single run. In the 4th the Cardinals bats came alive with a few solid hits and an couple untimely errors by the A's. the Cardinals kept it going in the 5th again with a few timely hits and again the A's defense let them down a little. The one bright spot for the A's was a Solo Home Run by Abrey on his birthday! The A's pitching was solid to start and end the game with a bit of a defensive and mental lapse in the middle frames. The A's will look to get back on track and put the 2 Coquitlam games behind them. The A's drop this decision 11 - 3.

Worst Play of the Game: There were a few nominations on this night however taking the cake by way of a player vote was Winograd, although not a terrible play it was kinds of funny, while on the mound Winograd threw a strikout pitch and fell down on the pitch. Although not technically a bad play it was funny enough for it to get voted the WPOG.

 

Game 3 - Coquitlam Thunder

The Richmond A's started the game on a high note with a first pitch lead off home run by Watson, followed by a few more hits which led to a 4 run top of the first. That however is where the game ended for the A's. Richmond's pitching was not on point this game and neither was the defense, with a depleted line up, and needing to hit 3 pitchers, and having a pieced together infield it was a struggle. making too many errors and walking too many batters it was not the A's night. The lights at Blue Mountain did not help at a few points but that was not the reason the A's lost. The A's left 11 men on base and just could not find timely hitting after the first inning. All of this led to a disappointing 11 - 5 loss.

Worst Play of the Game: There were many nominations for worst play of the game however Di Rocco took the dishonour when charging a slow roller at third, attempting to make a play at home when he slipped and basically face planted on the long, soft, wet grass getting 0 outs on the play that should have been at least 1 if not 2. No one was more disappointed in the play than Di Rocco himself who nominated and voted for himself on this play. BRUTAL.

One word describes this game AWFUL!

 

Game 2 - Holly Hops

Another beautiful night at Latrace for baseball. The Richmond A's looked to continue their winning ways early in the season facing the Holly Hops. The A's bats continued to put up runs again only failing to put up runs in 3 of the 8 innings. Van Ommen was pushed into batting with a short roster and actually came up big going 2-3 with a sac fly and an RBI, taking the lead in the pitchers batting race. The A's Pitching and defense continued to be hot not allowing a runner to get past second base. Winograd started and gave up no runs and only 2 hits. Van Ommen came on in releif and also only allowed 2 runners, 1 hit and a walk. The A's continued their hot start winning this game in their first ever meeting with the Holly Hops. Final Score 9-0.

Worst Play of the Game: There was really not a worst play of the game, the defense was good, pitching was excellent, so we were grasping at straws and Ross got the worst play of the game for stealing 2 bases up 8-0. Although it is Ross' job to get on base and move around the bases, there is a time and place for it - padding stats Stanley!

 

Game 1 - Vancouver Mounties

The 2016 season started off on a good foot for the Richmond A's. It was a bueatiful evening at Latrace for the home opener, the A's got their new jerseys and were looking sharp. Apparently the look good, feel good, play good saying is true as the A's came out swinging led by Watson who went 3-5 with 2 doubles. The A's scored in every inning but the 8th on this day. The A's pitching also started hot which was back stopped by a stellar deffense who did everything they could to make sure that the pitchers kept their shut out. Winograd and van Ommen both pitched 4 shutout innings and Shapiro came on in the 9th to close the door. All in all a great start for the A's in the 2016 season putting up 12 runs on the Mounties. Final Score 12-0.

Worst Play of the Game: Although not baseball related it is still a mis play. van Ommen showed great dedication to the A's today by skipping his girlfiends awards night where she was receiving a reward for service to SFU for many hours of volunteering. Support the GF Dirk.

 

2015 Playoffs

Game 2 - Coquitlam Cardinals

Once again the Richmond A's and Coquitlam Cardinals meet again in the playoffs, this has become a common occurance for the 2 teams over the years. This year the first scheduled date was cancelled because a rain/wind storm that hit vancouver on the saturday night the teams were supposed to me. This was unfortunate and it meant the game needed to be made up on the labour day long weekend and both teams had to scramble a little to make sure their guys could make it. The A's were missing a few important pieced for this playoff game but the ever determined A's squad was not detered! The first 3 innings of this game was a pitchers dual, both teams only had 1 base runner and the teams amassed 9 strike outs. In the 4th inning the A's scored 1 run on a walk, delayed steal and a bloop single. The Cardinals answered back in the bottom of the inning with a 2 run home run by the ever dangerous Miller Morache. Winograd the A's starting pitcher shook it off and ended the inning without giving up another hit. In the bottom of the 5th the Cardinal bats were at it again, This time with 2 outs, Argent hit a 3 run shot. Van Ommen can on in relief in the 6th inning and gave up only 2 hits and 1 walk in 3 innings. The A's bats tried to get something going but were held at bay by the solid pitching of the Cardinals, in the 9th the A's got 1 run on a Home Run by Kyle Watson. In the end the Cardinals pitching got the best of the A's on this night, their pitchers rang up 13 batters and just couldnt get anything going. The unhighlight of the night was the Richmond A's giving their first Golden Sombrero Award to one of its orginating players Travis Phillips!

Game 1 - New West Twins

For the third time this year the Richmond A's and the New West Twins faced off. This time it was a knock out game in the first round of the playoffs. The A's started out hot scoring 2 runs in the top of the first inning, followed by 1 in the second and 4 in the fourth. Van Ommen started the game for the A's on this night and lloked good early, holding the Twins at bay for the first 4 innings, he got into a bit of trouble in the 5th inning, hitting 2 battters, walking 1 and giving up a hit, in all they scored 4 in the 5th. The A's continued to put guys on base and scroed an insurance run in the 7th to make the score 7 - 4. The Twins threatened again in the 8th inning but Mike Basford didnt allow a run until the 9th inning where here gave up 1 run. The A's had a good game defensively and at the plate scoring 8 runs on 15 hits. The Richmond A's won their first playoff game of the 2015 season 8 - 5.

 

2015 Season

Game 16 - North Langely Expos

It was an intersting game on friday night. There was a 40 minute delay because the lights at the field didnt come on. The game was tied 2 - 2 at that point, after the delay the A's went back to work, and scored 4 more runs before the lights suddenly shut off at 10:00pm in the bottom of the 8th inning. The A's pitching did well on this night not givng up an earned run and striking out a total of 8 batters. This was a big game for the A's as with a win they guaranteed themselve a home playoff game on Friday August 21. The A's closed this one one when the lights went off right after a Ross RBI Single. Richmond A's 6 - Langley Expos 2. oh... and Zuzartee earned himself a spot on the hood with 3K's in the game.

Game 15 - New West Twins

A good game on a gloomy night at Queens Park Stadium. The weather held off and the fans in attendance got treated to a good game, a back and forth battle and saw the lead change 4 times. The A's got started early and scored 3 in the first inning to get the game going led capped off by a 2 run double by Whitford. The pitching for the A's was not the normal rotation but Watson pitched a solid 5 innings notching the win foillowed by a gutsy performance by Van Ommen who was pitching with a fever and on antibiotics. The A's held off the Twins in the end to help their cause of finishing in the top half ot the standings in the Bunnett division. Richmond A's 8 - New West Twins 6.  

Game 14 - Maple Ridge Jerks

Does the curse of the "Franchismo" really exist.... On this night we might have got more evidence. The A's came to play as did the Jerks, when these two teams meet it is always a good game. Van Ommen pitched well and held the Jerks to 3 hits and 1 run over 5 innings. Basford came in and took the hill and held the Jerks scoreless through 4 giving up only 1 hit over that span. The A's bats came alive in the 5th and scored 5 runs in the frame. With Franny not in the line up as he was not available due to best man duties for Lukey from the Jerks rehearsal dinner, it was interesting to see that the A's came alive and beat a Maple Ridge team for the first time since the A's signed Franny in a major offseason deal 2 years ago! In the end the Richmond A's won. Richmond A's 6 - Maple Ridge Jerks 1.

Game 13 - Burnaby Brewers

Finally the A's bats came alive. it helped that we had a full line up at the park! The Brewers were the home team at Latrace on this day and the A's got to work early scoring in 7 of 9 innings and scoring 13 runs total. Winograd threw a great 4 innings on the bump and struck out 8 batters. Van Ommen threw 3 and didnt put allow a hit or a base runner, Phillips made his season debut giving up no runs and striking out 2 and Basford threw the 9th only facing 3 batters in the inning and only had to throw 8 pitches! Great day for the A's. In the end it was a convincing win for the A's. Brewers 2 - Richmond A's 13.

Game 12 - Dewdney Bulls (7 Innings)

The Curse of the "Franchismo" continues - The Richmond A's have yet to win a game against a Maple Ridge team since they picked up Pete "Franchise" Francis... It is not that it is necessarily his fault but the A's cant seem to field a full team when we have to head out to Maple Ridge - or when we play Ridge at home for that matter. The A's needed to pick up 3 spares just to field a team for this game and they helped but the A's still coudnt find a way to convert runners on base, twice leaving the bases loaded and stranding 9 runners in a 7 inning game. Van Ommen pitched a solid game giving up 7 hits, 3 walks and striking out 7 in 6 innings of work. The A's need to take this cancelled week off, get in the cage and get their heads in the game - we also need our players to show up so we can put our full line up on the field. Final score - Richmond A's 3 - Dewdney Bulls 4.

Game 11 - Dewdney Bulls (7 Innings)

The Richmond A's just couldt get the bats going... threatening a few times but could not convert on enough opportunities. Winograd pitched a sold 7 innings keeping us in the game and only givng up 2 earned runs. Winograd also scored the only A's run on a Phillips Sac Fly. Having only 9 guys made it tough to make any changes to the line up and unfortunately that did not help the A's cause. The Bulls pitcher did a good job of keeping the A's hitting at bay unfortunately. The A's are looking forward to the second half of the home and home coming up this sunday. Richmond A's 1 - Dewdney Bulls 3.

Game 10 - Delta Dodgers

The Richmond A's and Delta Dogers dont meet very often but when they do they are usually good games. Today was no exception. Extra innings were needed to sort this game out and in the end nothing was sorted. The Richmond A's threatened in the 3rd inning but had 2 runners picked off at third base which cost the A's at least 1 run, and probably would have been the difference in the game. Both teams ended up with exactly the same box score 1 run scored in the 4th, and 2 runs scored in the 9th. The A's pitching was very effective with Winograd throwing a solid 4 innings of 1 run ball, Van Ommen throwing 5 innings of 2 run ball and Basford shutting fhe door in the 10th. In all the pitching staff only gave up 3 runs on 7 hits, 5 walks and had 12 strike outs. The A's bats hit the ball hard but many times it was right at people, although the Dodgers outfield made a few good catches for outs. Basford drove in all 3 A's runs and had a good day at the plate going 2 for 4 with a stolen base. Van Ommen also had a day at the dish picking up his first award for hitting receiving "the Hood" for the first time as an A. At the end of the day the game ended as if both teams had to kiss their sisters Richmond A's 3 - Delta Dodgers 3. A tie... There arent ties in baseball are there?

Game 9 - South Langely Reds

Unfortunately the South Langley Reds were unable to field a team so they had to forfeit. Not the way the A's wanted to win the game but it gave us the chance to have a good session  of BP follwed by a few errors! Richmond A's look to stay on the right foot next sunday agains the Delta Dodgers.

Game 8 - Vancouver Mounties

The A's came to play today the bats were hot the pitching was on and it was a beautiful day for a game. Winograd pitched 4 strong innings only giving up 1 run on 3 hits with no walks. Van Ommen came on in relief and had a solid performance giving up only 1 run on 4 hits again with no walks. the A's pitching was pounding the zone and wasnt giving away free bases today. At the plate the A's decided it was time to hit today getting 13 hits including a 3 run home run from Francis and a 3 run home run from Di Rocco - the A's 1st and 2nd home runs of the season. All in all a good team win. A few plays of the game to mention are the 5-3-2-4 put out at second on a ground ball to 3rd (Francis playing his position well)- and a foul out that was a diving 5-6 (Verde Rios making sure nothing was left to chance) that ended the game. A special thanks to Brad Lawson and Kyle Lukacs from the Jerk's who came out and helped the A's facing a depleted line up. Richmond A's 12 - Vancouver Mounties 2.

Game 7 - Newton Beavers

The A's bats were quiet this day, despite having a solid line up on the field - the A's out hit the beavers 7-6 but the Beavers got some timely hitting and were spotted a few runners due to 6 walks and 1 HBP given up by A's pitching. It was good to have Van Ostrand and Abrey back in the line up but is was not enough to give the Beavers their first loss of the season. It was a close game with the game knotted at 3 in the 6th inning. As mentioned the Beavers got some timely hits and scored a run in both the 7th and 8th to win the game. Richmond A's 3 - Newton Beavers 5.

Game 6 - Coquitlam Thunder

There is nothing good to be said about this game - The A's blew a perfect opportunity to get their season moving in the right direction. Richmond A's 7 - Coquitlam Thunder 9.

Game 5 - Burnaby Brewers

It was a beautiful night at Latrace Field in Richmond... The game started as a pitchers duel with the Brewers bats and the A's bats both quiet early in the game, the first 5 innings were finished in just over an hour. In the end it was the A's defense that shut down the Brewers with timely double plays to shut down any chace of the Brewers scoring a run. Winograd threw 5 strong scoreless innings, Basford followed up with 2 middle relief innings and Watson picking up the save in the 8th and 9th. Heading in to the bottom of the 8th the A's were up 1 - 0 and were looking for some insurance, Ross singled to start the inning, Winograd pinch hit for Zuzartee and layed down a sac bunt to put Ross in scoring position - the Richmond A's "small ball" was in full effect, after a Basford walk Phillips singled to give the A's a 2 run lead and picked up his second RBI of the game. Watson grounded out but moved the runners over to second and third. Di Rocco then hit a 2 RBI single to cash  in the 3rd and 4th run of the game and give Watson some insruance going into the 9th. From a hitting perspective not a great game for the A's but in the end the team played well definsively and scored some timely runs to pull out the win! Burnaby Brewers 0 - Richmond A's 4.

Game 4 - South Delta Padres

A predictable start when these two teams meet - no runs scored through 4 innings. always a low scoring affair the pitching and defense was again the story. Pitching from both teams was very effective all game long with the differnce being the Padres defense late in the game giving the A's the lead. A strange play in the 6th - and an even stranger call on the field by the othewise good officiating crew cost the A's a run and an out. The Baseball gods found a way to make everything right in the 7th inning when the A's scored 3 to take the lead they would not relinquish. The Padres mounted a comeback in the 9th but fell just short as Basford came in and shut the door on the Pardes late inning heroics. The middle of the A's batting line up played the hero in this game and gave the A's the offense they needed against the solid pitching of the Padres. Van Ommen and Watson were solid on the bump for the A's holding the Padres to 2 runs and giving up only 6 hits. Final score in this game was Richmond A's 4 - South Delta Padres 2.

Game 3 - Maple Ridge Jerks

The Richmond A's and the Maple Ridge Jerks always look forward to these games and once again the game did not disappoint. For some reason the A's always have a hard time getting guys out to the Ridge and this day was no different but this was because there were 3 middle of the line up guys in Hawaii for the Marriage of our Very Own Travis Philips... Dont worry however 'Travis Phillips' Ego' is still very much single and ready to mingle. The A's started the first inning by scoring a in the first and then proceeded to have a stinker in the field and gave up 3 of which only 1 was earned. The Jerks and A's gave up very little through the middle of the game and both teams played pretty tight with good pitching on both sides. Take away the first inning and the game goes into extra innings! Once again a good trip out to the Ridge and we look forward to seeing the Jerks at home later in the season. Jerks 5 - Richmond A's 3.

Game 2 - Coquitlam Cardinals

The weather did not cooperate on this night but the A's and Cardinals battled through wind, rain and sun to get the game in and ran out of time in the 8th inning. The Richmond A's played a pretty good game against the Cardinals but the wheels fell off in 1 inning which cost the A's the game. Once again the pitching was solid but the defence lets us down in 1 inning. Not much more to say about this game other than we would like the 1 inning back. Coquitlam Cardinals 9 - Richmons A's 6.

Game 1 - New West Twins

The Richmond A's were looking to start the season off on the right foot after the home opener was postponed due to rain facing the new team to the LMBA the New West Twins, a Junior team making there way into the Bob Bunnet Division. The  Richmond A's bats were a little quite on this cold blustery friday night, but found a way with a spark from the starting Pitcher Matt "I hit .400" Winograd who hit a stad up double on his first at bat of the season picking up right were he left off in the 2014 season, this led to the A's first run of the game and the year. Solid pitching again helped the A's on this day from both Winograd and Dirk "I am going to win the Most Valuable Drunk Award" Van Ommen giving up only 1 run in the first inning and shutting down the Twins hitters after that. Van Ommen got out of a few jams showing veteran composure on the mound and gave up no runs over 4 innings.  The A's defense had a few issues in this game but it is expected in the first game of the season.  The A's ended up taking the the season opener 2 - 1 over the New West Twins.  Next game is April 24th at Latrace against the Richmond A's old rival Coquitlam Cardinals.

 

2014 Playoffs

 The Richmond A's just didnt show up on this day against their old rival the Maple Ridge Jerks. Mackenzie Whitford took the bump in the absence of both Matt Winograd and Dirk Van Ommen. Mackenzie pitched well only giving up 2 hits over 4 innings but the Richmond A's defense fell apart making 6 errors in the field and giving up 4 unearned runs.Kyle Watson pitched a strong 5 innings of relief only giving up 1 run on 5 hits as the A's defense seemed to get their shit together. The A's tried to make a comeback with Home Runs by Shapiro (Solo) and Van Ostrand (3 Run) but the sticks just didnt couldnt overcome the errors in the field. Down by 2 in the bottom of the 9th with 2 runners on and facing a full count Di Rocco lined out the the first baseman on a hot shot that most likely would have been a  2 run double to tie the game if the first baseman hadn't vacated the bag due to the full count and the runner going on the pitch! Tough loss for the Richmond A's and a rough back half of the season but we wish the Jerks luck and hope the Championship comes home to the Bunnett division this year where it rightfully belongs! On a side note Di Rocco wins Most Valuable Drunk of the season and takes home the innagural trophy... Practice will start early for the 2015 season and the A's will come back firing next season looking to avenge this first round loss, it has been a long time since the A's were out of the playoffs so early. Team wind up coming soon...

2014 Regular Season

Game 6 & 16 vs Vancouver Mounties

The Richmond A's were looking to end the season strong with a double header against the Mounties that had playoff implications as to where both teams finished in the standings. The A's didnt have a good first game and lost 10 - 3. Looking for redemption in the second game Van Ommen pitched a gem giving up only 2 hits and 1 ER to get the win and the season split. Ending up with the same number of points in the standings the tie break when down to head to head runs for and the Mounties took that and end up finishing 2nd in the Bunnett Division. Your hometown Richmond A's limp into the playoffs finishing 3rd and will play the Maple Ridge Jerks in the first round of the playoffs. Another good year for the A's and hopefully we can put together a long run into the playoffs.

Game 15 vs South Delta Padres

Another low scoring affair between the Padres and the A's on this occassion with the pitching on boath sides combining to keep the bats at bay only giving up 6 hits total. The Richmond A's pitching gave up 0 runs and only 1 hit in this 7 inning game. It was a beautiful mosquito filled evening in Ladner and both teams came to play. Zuzartee came through with a couple of clutch hits and had 2 RBI on this night and was the player of the game for sure at the plate, even though both swings combined barely make up 1 full swing, they worked and we are grateful! Both sides would like to lodge an official complaint to the Ladner parks board as the long grass as it always has at Dougald Morrison took away a few hits from both teams and slows ground balls down so much my 1 year old could make the play. The A's however battled through the long grass issues and got back on the "W" train trying to heat up as the playoffs grow near. The final score as Athletics 4 - Padres 0.

Game 14 vs Burnaby Brewers

The Richmond A's bats were back on this day getting strated early scoring a run in the first inning and never looking back. 14 hits during the game got us back on the right track, however we did strand 15 runners on base which made the score closer than it should have been. Matt Winograd didnt have his normal stuff on the mound this night giving up more walks that he is used to which made him throw more pitches than he needed to. Dirk Van Ommen came on in relief and gave up a couple of runs including the second home run giving up at Robert burnaby this season after calling him own shot... the rookie needs to learn to not piss off the baseball gods! The Richmond A's although not back in complete form are happy to get off the schnied and hope to continue this run for the remainder of the season. And in other news Matt Couldwell takes the lead in the dubious "hood" race with the third of his A's career and second of the season. The Richmond A's take this game 6-5 only getting 8 innings in before the game was called due to lack of light.

 

Game 4 vs Dewdney Bulls - Make Up Game

The Richmond A's once again gave up a few runs early and could not claw their way back in a shortened 7 inning game. The Bulls played well in the field and their picthing quieted the A's bats. The Richmond A's continuted their slide looking more like the Texas Rangers than the Oakland Athletics. It was a frustrating game with the A's hitters not being patient when they needed to be and other than the frist inning Dirk Van Ommen pitched well only giving up 1 run through the last 5 innings. The Richmond A's need to regroup and start dictating the pace of play and start controlling games again. We need to score early and continue through the game. This is something the A's just didnt do on this day and took another loss 4-1.

Game 13 vs Newton Beavers

The Richmond A's were again short players in this game because of a few weddings. We howevcer came to play. The shortened game hurt the A's in this game as once again we got off to a slow start and gave up a few runs early and just didnt have the time to come back. The Bearvers pitching was good and they showed why they are at the top of their division. On this day the Richmond A's continued their slide losing to the Beavers 5-4.

Game 12 vs Maple Ridge Jerks

What a "Shit Show" of a game this was. The Richmond A's once again had a hard time fielding a team and Brendan Lewis came through in a pinch and found us a 9th player with 30 seconds until game time. We also had some help from "Lil' Stan Ross" and "Lil Rob Gauthier". Only 6 Richmond Athletics were on the field this game and some of the excuses were piss poor. Anyway we got the game in on a scorcher out at Larry Walker field. The game moved like molasses in January and we were only able to complete 6 innings. The A's battled on this day but the pitching was not at it usual level and the defense made a few too many mistakes in the field to be able to pull this game out. The Jerks hit the ball hard and had a keen eye at the plate that led to some walks and some free runs. The umpire callinng the game behind the plate forgot his glasses on this date and both teams had a tough time sorting out what a strike was. We will blame this on heat exhuastion and give "blue" a break on this day. The final score ended up Jerks 10 - A's 7. The Richmond A's will try and work their way out of their slump this upcoming weekend, but will face two very good squads in the Newton Beavers and the Dewdney Bulls. Lets hope the A's can get their act together and sort out their schedules to actually show up to games that have been on the schedule since APRIL!

 

Game 11 vs South Langley Reds

Another game where the Richmond A's were without the middle of their line up, and had to get a few call ups into the game in order to field a team. Van Ommen got the start and did well after getting out a few jams in the first few innings, apparently when he starts a game he needs to spend more time in the pen before taking the hill. Basford came on in relief and looked good until he gave up the tying run in the 8th! The field did the A's in on this date, the City of Langley should be ashamed of what they did to the City Park Infield, not only is is dangerous it made every ground ball an adventure leaving Zach "Stan" Ross with a black eye and the A's even more short handed, before having to leave the game Zach Ross was the player of the Game going 2 for 2 with 2 doubles. Sebastian Hayes made his A's debut and and eventful debut it was, coming into the game "SeaBass" thought the LMBA might be beneath him, however he found out that the 18+ division is no cake walk, on this day "SeaBass" got the 'hood' and lost a piece of lumber at the dish, tough day on the diamond Sebastian KKK! The game felt like a loss for the A's but the final score was 5-5 (There arent any ties in baseball - ARE THERE?) The A's look forward to next week against the always fun to play against Maple Ridge Jerks!

Game 10 vs Fraser Valley Chiefs

The much anticipated rematch of last years championship game did not go the way the Richmond A's wanted it to go. It was a comedy of errors in the field and the Chiefs found a way to get to Matt Winograd, he appeared tired on the bump after taking too many selfies while walking the teachers picket line earlier in the day. The A's could have used the middle of their line up in this game missing their 3, 4, 5 and 6 hitters. It was 1 inning that really hurt the A's giving up 5 of the 6 runs. On the bright side Matt Couldwell got the hood in this game and all of them were backwards K's but he did mix in a hit in the first inning! The Richmond A's will look to get back in the win column after the getting a weekend off for the Canada Day Long Weekend. Final score Richmond A's 1 vs Fraser Valley Chiefs 6.

Game 9 vs White Rock Sluggers

Well it appears most of the Richmond A's have an unhealthy relationship with their fathers, that or their time management skills are terrible seeing as this game had been scheduled since February and only 8 guys showed up for the it, has anyone heard of a fathers day lunch??? Anyway... The A's worked hard to over come an automatic out as a 9th batter and only 2 out fielders. It was a slow start for the bats as the Sluggers pitching shut down the A's through the first 2 innings, the bats slowly started to come alive in the 3rd giving the A's a more comfortable lead. The A's pitching staff again doing what they do best shutting down the oposing hitters, Matt "I don't like to give up hits" Winograd again only gave up 1 hit through 5 innings and that 1 hit was to a vacant center field spot because of the missing player. Van Ommen came on in relief and the sluggers scored 2 un earned runs on a couple of errors, but the most blatant error came on a missed call at second base that should have ended the inning! Another sucessful road game for the Richmond A's as they took down the Sluggers 14 - 2 with an 8 man roster and a 9th batter than went 0 - 6 with 6 backwards Ks, rough day at the dish!

Game 8 vs Coquitlam Cardinals

Over the years the Richmond A's and the Coquitlam Cardinals have had some epic games with each team winning some nail biters. The rivalry continued in this game but again the story was the starting pitching of the Richmond A's. Matt "I hate giving up hits" Winograd went another 3 1/3 innings without giving up a hit and only gave up 2 hits in his 5 inning outing. The A's bats were alive early in this game scoring 2 runs in 3 of the first 4 innings and did not score again after that. Dirk "The Rookie" Van Omen decided that he didnt want the Cardinals to be shut out giving up an 0-1 9th inning HR to the Catcher turned Short Stop Miller Morache, even after Morache "Ass Hacked" at the first pitch of the at bat. There was some conversation after the game as to whether the pitch was a mistake by the young Van Omen or whether there was some colusion between the cather Peter Francis and his old "Catcher's Union Brother" Morache, with a belt high fastball middle in being called by the LMBA veteran Francis. That is a story that will come out later in the season during a post game. The Final Score was 6 - 1 for the Richmond A's who are enjoying a 5 game winning streak to start the 2014 campaign.

Game 7 vs South Delta Padres

The Richmond A's came to play in this game even though the score does not reflect it. The starting pitching for the A's was again the story, Matt Winograd went 5 solid inning of no hit ball, Dirk "The Rookie" Van Omen came on in relief and continued the hot pitching not allowing the Padres to score a run. The lack of timely hitting the A's falling asleep on the base paths led to 20 runners left on base with an additional 3 runners being picked off this is most likely a result of the A's missing their 3, 4 and 5 hitter for this contest. The A's found a way to beat the division rival Padres 2-0 even with the lack of offence in this game. The Second shutout of the season for the Richmond A's Pitching staff.

Game 6 vs Vancouver Mounties - Postponed due to Rain

Game 5 vs Burnaby Brewers

The Richmond A's did not have their full line up and had a call in a spare to help field a team. Not sure why this is happening on a team with 18 guys on the roster however the A's made the best of it and were swinging hot bats again led by Rhys "En Fuego" Verde Rios who went 4 for 6 with 3 doubles and 4 runs scored. The A's starting pitching was solid again with Matt Winograd going 5 solid innings only giving up 1 run on 3 hits. The Richmond A's won their 3rd game in a row with a convincing 13 - 3 win over teh Brewers.

Game 4 vs Dewdney Bulls - Postponed due to Rain

Game 3 vs North Langley Expos

The Richmond A's came out to play in this game, the sun was finally shinning in the lower mainland and the A's took advantage Scoring 6 Runs in the first inning on a combination of hits and walks with the first home run of the season by Charles Shapiro. The hits kept on coming for the A's with home runs by the A's new Catcher Peter "Franny" Francis and Bryan "I need a hot dog between innings" Abrey. The A's Pitching was solid again with Winograd and Basford combining for a 4 hit shutout. The A's and Expos only got through 7 innings when the time limit ended the game and A's had their second win of the season winning 16 - 0.

Game 2 vs Coquitlam Thunder

Once again a slow start for the Richmond Athletics who could not by a break in the first 6 innings and were 1 hit through 6. Down by 3 going into the 7th inning and nearing the time limit the Richmond A's found a way to make a comeback scoring 9 runs in the top of the 7th going on to win the game 11- 5.

Game1 vs The Jerks of Hammond

Once again the Richmond A's find it difficult to field a team early in april and have to pick up 4 Dewdney Bulls to even field a team. the game came down to the wire with the Dewdney Bulls Pick ups playing a big role in making the game close. Unfortunately the Jerks Rallied in the bottom of the 9th to win the game. There is usually more of a story to tell during games between the Jerks and the A's but this reporter was not available for this game so the stories will go untold this game.

2013 PLAYOFFS...

LMBA Championship Game vs Whalley Chiefs

After a long break for both teams with the rainy September the final was played on a chilly October 4th  night. Both teams had had a long break without seeing pitching and it showed on the field. The pitching however was spot on, this game truly was a pitchers dual. The pitchers on both sides were painting and it lead to a low scoring affair. Unfortunately the Richmond Athletics Came up short in their second bid for an LMBA Championship and the Chief were victorious 2 -1. Congratulations to the Chiefs and we look forward to getting redemption in 2014.

Bob Bunnet Div final vs Coquitlam Cardinals...

The A's came into action saturday with revenge on their minds after suffering a heart breaking loss last year to coquitlam in the divisional semi's. It was quite the game as it took 11 innings to find a winner with your hometown swingin A's coming out on top! Winograd toed the bump once again for Richmond and battled his way into the 5th inning. The Cards were able to take advantage of a few mistakes scoring 5 runs on 8 hits including a HR in the 5th. Although he didn't have his best stuff he was gritty getting his team into the 5th having to leave with an injury to his pitching hand. Ramsden came in relief and went 2+ innings working in and out of trouble not allowing a run giving up 4 hits. Basford came in relief in the 7th of Ramsden going 5 innings giving up only 2 runs and striking out 5. The A's got strong offensive output from Phillips(3-6 1hr), Verderios(3-5 2rbi), Klenman(3-4 1BB 2 2b 1rbi) and DiRocco(1-3 1 2b 3BB 2rbi) and were down by one in the 9th when Phillips led off the inning by smacking the first pitch he saw over the left field fence to tie it up. Pitching kept the game tied until the 11th when the A's scored 5 times on 4 hits. Coquitlam got 2 back in the bottom half but it wasnt enough as the A's revenged there 2012 loss to advance to the LMBA championship vs the Fraser Valley Chiefs!

2nd Round vs Delta Padres...

The A's once again had strong starting pitching once again from winograd going the first 5 innings only allowing 2 runs in the 1st and blanking Delta for 4 more innings. Basford came in relief and was stellar throwing 4 shutout innings with the Padres only scattering 3 hits and zero runs. Verderios, Ross, Zuzartee, and Phillips all had solid days at the plate helping the A's secure the 2nd round victory 5-2 overy Detla. Next up a rematch from last years semi final vs the Coquitlam Cardinals. Coquitlam knocked off Richmond last season on a dramatic 9th inning walk off homerun.

 

1st round vs Dewdney Bulls...

The A's went into the 1st round match up sunday losers of 3 straight. With the playoffs amung us the losing streak was forgotten and the A's came with their A game. Winograd pitched lights out through 5 innings and Ramsden and Basford combined for only 3 hits over the last 4 innings. Some clutch hitting including a big 2 run double by Basford late and a huge solo HR by Vanostrand helped carry the offense as the A's went on the win 5-1 over the young Dewdney Bulls. Next up the Bob Bunnet Div semi finals vs the #1 seed South Delta Padres. The Padres won both meetings with the A's this season but in both circumstances the A's were short handed. Heres hoping a full A's squad gives the Padres a run for their money! Game time is 4pm sunday at Dougland Morrison in Ladner.

 

 

2013 Regular Season...

A's drop 3 straight to end the season...

The A's lost 3 tough games to top opponets to finish the season at 9-7. Low numbers, poor defense, and quiet bats all equal bad games for the Athletics. The A's hope to bounce back in the playoffs as the 5th seed vs the 4th seed Dewdney Bulls in 1st round LMBA action next weekend at Maple Ridge(Larry Walker field). Time and date are still TBA...

 

ALL STATS HAVE BEEN UPDATED...

The A's are sitting at 9-4 on the season with a big come from behind walk off win this past friday night. Sitting one game back of the South Delta Padres for 1st place and only 2 games seperating 5 teams with 3 games to go it looks like the season will becoming down to the wire in the tough Bob Bunnet division.

 

vs Newton Beavers...

In their first meeting since the final of the 2012 Canada day classic the A's and Beavers had another well pitched battle of top teams. The A's got a strong start on the bump by Winograd going 5 innings scattering 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 4. Ramsden came in to throw next going 3 2/3 innings giving up 1 hit 2 walks and striking out 2. Phillips came in in the 9th with 2 outs and 2 on to end the game with a K. The offence came from the middle of the A's lineup as Vanostrand and Nagai both had RBIs with the hits coming from Vanostrand, Nagai, Phillps, and Wachtel. Well pitched game from both sides with the hometown A's comin out on top 2-0! Next up the Burnaby Bombers WED June 19 at Latrace 630pm start.

 

vs Aldergrove Giants...

A's make their first appearance at aldergrove athletic park and make it a memorable one! A's pound out 22 hits 16 runs and 4 home runs including two by Abrey and one each from Vanostrand and Kipnis. Strong pitching from Winograd, Klenman, Kipnes, and Abrey preserved the shutout with the help of some great timely defensive plays. A's improve to 5-2 in regular season play with their 5th straight victory and their 8th overall for the year. Next up for the A's a visit from the Newton Beavers Friday night at Latrace. New to the LMBA the A's faced the Beavers in the final of last years Canada Day Classic tournament where the A's came out on top.

 

2013 Jerks/Bulls Invitational...A'S REPEAT AS CHAMPS!

A's opened defense of their 2012 TCI(now Jerks/Bulls Invitational) championship with a saturday morning affair with one of the host teams the Dewdney Bulls. The A's got strong starting pitching from one of their college pick ups scattering a few hits and a couple runs. Dewdney also had strong starting pitching as their starter also scattered a few hits and only allowed a few runs. Unfortunately the A's forgot their score book on saturday so stats were not kept for this game or the one following it. The A's and Bulls tied 6-6 with a late game comeback where the A's scored 2 in the bottom of the 7th to earn a tough tie.

In game two of the tournament the A's faced a young Maple Ridge Rays Jr mens team. Again strong starting pitching helped the A's as Kipnis threw 5 scoreless innings. The A's offense exploded for 3 home runs by Shapiro and pick ups Alex and Sonnenberg. Klenman pitched the final two innings of the game as the A's won 9-1.

Game 3 saw the A's take on a tough Burnaby Bluejays team(from the LMBA over 30 division with a few pick ups). PItching was the name of this game as both teams combined for only 6 hits! A's starter Nolan Ramsden went 7 strong innings only giving up 1 run while scattering 4 hits. Unfortunately for the A's they were only able to manage 2 hits as the Bluejays pitching baffled A's hitters all evening. The Bluejays beat the A's 1-0 in a quick well pitched game. Luckily for the A's the tie breaker rules for the tournament came into play and the A's with a very good runs against for the round robin moved on to the semi finals as the #2 seed in Pool A.

The A's faced a tough Coquitlam Angels team the first semi final and the Burnaby Bluejays faced the Howe Sound Cannons in the other semi. The A's faced the top seeded Angels a member of the Pacific Metro Baseball League in what was again a very tough very well pitched game. The A's threw their other pick up from college Alex as he pitched a gem of a game going 7 strong innings striking out 9 walking none and only giving up 2 runs on 4 hits. The A's got their runs on a 1st inning base hit from Sonnenberg that scored two runs, Phillips scored in the 4th after drawing a walk and making his way around the bases and scored on a wild pitch. The A's were able to hold on for the win 3-2 against a young tough Angels squad. Its on to the Finals vs the Howe Sound Cannons.

In the Final the A's started young college call up Sean on short rest. Sean pitched the 1st 4 innings only giving up 2 hits and 1 ER on a massive Homerun by Hotton. Kipnis came in relief to pitch the 5-7.  The A's scored 3 runs in the 3rd on a double by Sonnenberg scoring Alex and Ross and Sonnenberg scored on a base hit by Shapiro. The A's defense was tight even when the Cannons scored a run in the 7th to get within 1 but Kipnis was able to strike out Lindsay to end the game and secure the A's 2nd championship and back to back titles in the TCI/Jerks Bulls invitational.

 

Vs Burnaby Brewers

A's get a big start on the mound by rookie Ramsden going 5 shut out innings. The offense came from Klenman, Shapiro and Vanostrand. The A's improved their record to 2-2 on the season. Next up the A's will attempt to defend their maylong weekend twin cities invitational tournament in maple ridge. First game saturday at 1130 vs Dewdney Bulls.

 

Vs Coquitlam Cardinals

A big day at the plate from a couple of the boys helped the A's to their first win of the season. Verderios 3for5, Vanostrand 2for4, Kipnes 2for4 all bad big days as the A's win 5-4 over a strong Coq Cards squad.

Vs Dewdney Bulls

Another 2 weeks goes by and the A's due to bad weather finally get to play again. 2 weeks off and it showed. It took 6 innings for the A's bats to do anything of note vs the young Dewdney Bulls from Maple Ridge. The Bulls new to the LMBA this season had quality pitching that kept A's hitters off balance for the first 5 innings, when the A's finally woke up and started to play it was too little too late. Final score 8-6 Dewdney.

 

Vs Burnaby Bombers...

1 Word HAIL! Hail and strong winds caused to the postponement of the game vs Burnaby Bombers. To be made up later in the season.

Vs SD Padres

After rain caused the opening of the season to be postponed a week the Richmond A's finally opened the 2013 Regular season saturday night at Latrace field. After a couple scrimmage ex games the A's finally played for real vs the South Delta Padres to open their 2013 LMBA season. The name of the game on this night was hitting with runners in scoring position, which the A's did not leaving 11 runners in scoring position. Pitching was great from both sides, WInograd, Phillips, rookie Ramsden, and Basford all pitched for the A's giving up on 4 runs over 9 innings. Credit to the Padres for capitalizing on their chances. A's lose 4-2. Next up the Burnaby Bombers Sunday April 21, 1pm start at Robert Burnaby Park.

 

2012 Canada Day Classic

 

The Richmond Athletics make it two wins in two tournaments winning the Canada Day Classic!

The Richmond Athletics hosted the Inagural Canada Day Classic June 28-July 1 at Latrace Field in Richmond. 8 teams competed and the host Athletics came out on top with a hard fought win in the championship final vs the Newton Beavers 4-2. In the final Matt Winograd pitched into the 6th inning scattering a few hits and allowing 1ER. Vanostrand powered the offense belting an 0-1 curveball deep in the 1st inning for a 3 run HR. The A's went 3-0 in round robin play finishing atop their pool to play the Beavers in the final. The A's would like to thank their sponsor the Suburban Well for help with the tournament, and a big thank you to the boys who helped with the field all weekend in what were "sub par" weather conditions.

The Richmond Athletics are 2012 TCI Tournament Champions!

The Richmond Athletics finished up a strong showing Victoria day weekend with a 8-6 win over the Maple Ridge Jerks in the TCI tournament final sunday night to win the 2nd annual Twin Cities Invitational!

The Weekend started out with a match up vs the defending champion Howe Sound Cannons. The A's got a strong start from pitcher Winograd getting into the 6th inning and Kipnes threw the rest of the way. The A's got 2 home runs from weekend pick up Scott Webster and a 7th inning Grand Slam from the light hitting pitcher Kipnes! The A's knocked off the defending champs 10-4.

Next up the A's played the South Langley Reds in what was a wet messy game. A's pitching did not do too well in the wet conditions walking 6 and hitting 5 batters. Credit to the reds who capitalized scoring 11 runs on 7 hits. The A's tried to comeback but fell short losing 11-7.

The A's went into the night cap vs the host Ridge Meadows Twins having to win in order to have a chance at the final. Again it was a soggy 5 inning affair but pick up Dustin Deeming for the A's threw 4 solid innings with Phillips throwing the 5th. Offense again came from the middle of the line up as Shapiro, Webster, and Abrey had 4 hits including another HR from Webster. A's win 9-4 in 5 innings.

Monday morning was again a wet one, not sure if the games would be able to be played the A's trecked back out to Maple Ridge in the hopes of making the final and taking home a title. The A's had to first win vs the Aldergrove Cubs in an on and off rain shower. The credit has to go to the Twins and other help for all the work done on the field to make and keep it playable! In the game the A's got a stellar start on the mound from Kipnes throwing 5 innings(only a 5 inning game) and the offence all came late as Nagai hit a solo shot in the 3rd and the A's scored 5 in the 4th to take the game 5-0 and secure their spot in the final.

TCI FINAL VS MAPLE RIDGE JERKS

The A's short on pitching and with NO BENCH met the favored and rested Jerks in the final Monday afternoon. Picked to start the final on the bump was Chuck Shapiro. After giving up one in the 1st Shapiro settled down and threw 5+ solid innings. The A's offence got on the board in the 2nd after Webster and Abrey reached, Nagai smacked a huge double scoring them both. In the 3rd with 2 outs Shapiro reached on an error and Webster smacked a long single bring Abrey to the plate who crushed a 1-2 pitch over the left field fence for a 3run shot. in the 5th Abrey was up again with two on after an intentional walk to Webster. With two out Abrey ripped a triple plating 2 more runs for the A's, he later scored on an error. The Jerks mounted a come back in the 6th scoring 5 times off Shapiro and Abrey who came in relief. But Abrey settled things down and closed the game out in the 7th with the final flyball out being caught by Shapiro to give the A's the Victory! Final score A's 8 Jerks 6.

The A's want to thank the Ridge Meadows Twins for putting on a great tournament and many thanks go to the field crews from the Twins, Ridge Meadows Royals, and Maple Ridge Jerks for the work they put in keep the fields in quality shape throughout the rough weather.

 

2012 Reg Season...

vs JULY...

The A's, needless to say have had a rough month of July losing 3 straight to the mounties, padres, and brewers. Not much to say except the bench has been depleted, arms not healthy, and just plain bad baseball. Aug hopes to bring better luck for the swingin A's.

Vs Vancouver Mounties

The A's came into action sunday afternoon with one of their horses back ready to throw on the bump. Matt Winograd hasnt been around much this season due to work but this sunday afternoon he was back and it looked like he hadnt missed a beat. Matt threw 5 innings allowing only 2 er. Great defense behind him was the key as a couple of relays from right field helped gun mounties players at the plate. The hit of the game came from Verderios who smacked a first pitch with 2 outs and the bases loaded in the 9th for a grand slam. He then came out and pitched a flawless 9th to pick up the save. Next up the Delta Diamondbacks friday night at latrace.

Vs Burnaby Brewers

The A's with a depleted bench and the help of couple call ups including freshly retired Brett Halicki beat the Burnaby Brewers friday night at Latrace 13-4. Charles Shapiro broke out of a slumo hitting his 1st HR of the season and the A's had solid pitching from Klenman, Shapiro, and Phillips only allowing 4 runs 2 earned over 9 innings. Next up the Vancouver Mounties sunday at Hillcrest.

Vs South Langley Reds

The A's came into action friday night riding a huge high coming off the big TCI tournament victory over maylong weekend in Maple Ridge. The A's faced the only team to beat them in that tournament the S.L Reds. Mike Basford fresh off his hawaiian rehab made the start on the bump for the A's and after getting through a rough 1st inning where he walked the 1st 4 batters of the game Bassy settled down only allowing 2 hits through his final 4 innings. Thomas came in relief and got into the 8th but ran into a little trouble when the A's manager made the pitching change to go with Darren O'D...I mean Travis Phillips who struck out the final 6 batters of the game to pick up the save. The A's offence came from Vanostrand(3-5 2b, 3b) Verderios(2-4 2b) and Phillips (2-5). A's move to 5-1 on the season!

 

Vs Burnaby Bombers

The A's came into action friday night riding a 3 game winning streak and hoped to continue the streak vs the Burnaby bombers. For mothers day weekend the LMBA has the pink bats going as the LMBA goes to bat for cancer and help raise money for cancer research as money will be donated for every hit. The A's didnt dissapoint belting out 10 hits in a hard fought 4-2 victory. The A's once again got strong pitching from Klenman Phillips and Kipnes as they only gave up 1 ER over 9 innings and scattering 7 hits. Bryan Abrey was the star at the plate going 3for4 smacking 2 doubles including a big run scoring double in the 8th. Next up for the A's in the Twin Cities Invitaional maylong weekend in Maple Ridge. First game saturday at 1230 vs the defending champion from Howe Sound.

 

Vs Ridge Meadows Twins

The A's bats came alive with 15 hits friday night scoring 9 times against a tough Twins squad. Kipnes was good(not great) on the hill keeping the A's in the game over 5 innings. Basford made his first appearance of the season on the bump in relief and threw 3 solid innings. Thomas came in for his first appearance of the season and although there were some nail bitting situations including a bases loaded 2 out full count tieing run on 2nd base situation he held on and the A's got the win. With the win the A's move to 3-1 on the season. Next up the Burnaby Bombers friday May 11th 630pm start at Latrace.

 

Vs Langley Knights

The A's went into their home opener Friday night a little short handed on the mound but got good performances by Klenman and Phillips as they held the Knights to 1 earned run over the first 5 innings. Kipnes showed up fashionably late but held his own on the hill allowing 1hit and striking out 8 over the final 4. Vanostrand made a triumphant return to the lineup hitting his 1st HR of the season as the A's win there 2nd straight and move 2-1 on the season. Next up back to back games on the 4th/5th vs the Ridge Meadows Twins and South Delta Padres.

 

Vs Coquitlam Thunder

Another well pitched game from both sides. The A's got a strong start from veteran Winograd throwing the first 5 innings and not giving up a baserunner until the 5th inning only allowing 1 run. The A's pitched by committee afterthat with Shapiro throwing 1, Phillips throwing 2, and Verderios coming on for the save in the 9th. The A's a clutch 1 out bases loaded single from DiRocco in the 9th to give the A's a 5-3 lead which they wouldnt give up. Up next for the A's the Langley Knights Friday night April 27th under the lights 630pm start at Latrace in the Athletics Home Opener!

 

Vs Maple Ridge Jerks

The 2012 Reg season got under way for the Athletics sunday in Maple Ridge agaisnt the defending champs. A tight game with great pitching on both sides. The A's broke out early scoring 2 in the 1st but Jerks pitching shut them down the rest of the way. The A's got strong pitching themselves and it was a 2-2 game in the 9th where a couple infield singles and a sac fly gave the Jerks the 3-2 win. Next up a date with the expansion Coquitlam Thunder, Saturday night April 21 at Blue mountain park in Coquitlam, 6:30pm start please arrive by 530 for warm up.

 

Vs Burnaby Bombers(ex)

2012 began with an Ex game Saturday March 31 at 10am vs the Burnaby Bombers(formerly Yankees) at Central park in Burnaby. Both teams working some rust out but the A's we able to hit the ball well and won 7-1 in 7 innings. Reg season play begins SOON!

 

2012 season info...

The Richmond Athletics will be entering their 5th season in the LMBA in 2012. Over the years players have come and gone and this past season turn out has been difficult. The A's will be holding tryouts in the new year for any new players interesting in joining the team. The LMBA 18+ division is a competitive "recreational" league with a lot of former college and PBL ball players. If interested in playing please contact Ryan with the A's at ryanklenman@shaw.ca

 

2011...

PLAYOFFS

The A's came into Friday nights playoff game with a lot of confidence winning 6 of their last 7 games finishing 4th in the Bob Bunnet division and earning a home playoff game. Unfortunately things just didnt workout on this night. Some poor base running, bad decisions in the field, and not enough timely hitting cost the A's their 2011 season. Full credit to the Vancouver Mounties for a tough gutsy win 6-5 over the hometown A's.

A's win 5 straight!

The A's win their 5th straight with a win over the Burnaby Redsox Friday night at Robert Burnaby field. The A's went up by 6 early but the Redsox hung around and were able to tie it up. tied at 7 in the 8th base hits by Shapiro and Basford gave the A's a 10-7 lead, and were able to hang on for the 10-9 victory. With their 5th win in a row it has moved the A's into 4th spot in the Bob Bunnett division 1.5 games back of the 1st place cardinals. Should be an exciting last couple games.

 

A's finally getting on track...The A's have finally gotten back on track over the past few weeks winning 3 in a row! Even without a full roster for each game and some pitchers who really dont hit much getting full games at bats the A's have scored 36 runs in wins over the Brewers twice and the Irish.


A's finally get that elusive 2nd win of season.

The A's finally get a full roster out for a game and it showed as the bats awoke for 10 runs. Strong pitching from Basfod and Kipnes gives the A's a big win.

 

Theres no TIES in baseball....OR IS THERE????

A's got a good effort on the hill from Basford and Kipnes but too many walks and shotty defense didn't help the cause. some stranded base runners also led to a 6-6 tie Friday night on Latrace.

 

A's get crushed as no pitchers are available for game vs Jerks of Hammond.

One of the highlights on the schedule but with half a squad on the field the A's just couldn't compete with the Jerks. final score 14-5 but as always there was a little fun after the game.

 

RM Twin Cities Invitational May long weekend Tournament.

A's play well for the first time in 3 weeks due to poor weather in the lower mainland finishing the first TCI may long weekend tournament 2-2 in 5th place. New comer to the team David VanOstrand put on a show at the home run derby easily winning the thing and the giant $250 cheque! The A's will take a few days off to rest up their wounded bodies and prepare for a clash with the Jerks of Hammond on friday night at latrace field.

 

Schedule: 

SATURDAY MAY 21ST 4:15PM  RM ROYALS  VS  RICHMOND A`S

SATURDAY MAY 21ST 6:40PM   HOMERUN DERBY THE $250 BASH FOR CASH

SUNDAY MAY 22ND  1:50PM     RICHMOND A`S  VS HOWE SOUND CANNONS

SUNDAY MAY 22ND  6:40PM     RICHMOND A`S  VS  RM JERKS

 

VS BURNABY REDSOX:

A's pitching dominates Redsox hitters as Kipnes and Basford combine to throw the no hitter. A's win 7-0. Next up Burnaby Yankees friday may 6th @ Robert Burnaby Park. 6pm start

 

A's Compete in 1st ever LMBA tournament in 2009, finish 3rd!

 

The Richmond Athletics played in the innagural LMBA BC day long weekend held at Robert Burnaby park July 30-Aug 3. With 6 teams in total in the tournament and with pick ups allowed there was some stiff competiton. The A's opened the tournament with a friday night match up with the Langley Padres. This was the 1st ever meeting between the two teams and it wont ever be forgotten. The game ended as an 11-11 tie but it was the non-baseball antics that made this game memorable. Some questionable calls, numerous hit batters, fake tags, and lots of "friendly" words from both dugouts this was indeed a high intensity affair.

The A's went into the next day with good intentions, and playing the tough Delta Tigers the A's were hoping to catch them tired in there 2nd game of the day. The A's bats were alive again belting out 5 triples in the game and scoring 10 runs, but the Tigers were just as tough with the bats and were able to scratch out a late run to pull out the victory 11-10.

So going into Sunday the A's were sitting at 0-1-1. The A's knew they needed a victory to have any chances for monday so they sent out there 1 and only pick up for the tournament Mike Basford to take the bump vs the tough Burnaby Yankees. Again the A's bats were alive scoring 13 runs on 16 hits but this time the runs against were only 4 as Basford threw the complete game with a line of 4ER 9 hits 0 walks(but 4 HBP (all change ups)) & 5Ks over 7 complete.  

Monday came along and the A's (now 1-1-1) were playing the Delta Tigers again for 3rd place. This was one of the better games in the tournament as it was a close game throughout. The A's got a great spot start on the hill from Verderios going the 1st 5 innings giving up only 3. But with the A's up 5-4 in the bottom of the 6th the Tigers were able to score 2 on a misread by the A's left fielder on a sinking line drive. But the A's were scrappy and to lead off the top half of the 7th Bryan Chatz started the inning off with a base hit to the right side. He went on the steal 2nd base and went to 3rd on a Basford ground out. With 1 out and a drawn in infield Klenman smacked the 1st pitch he saw for a line drive base hit up the middle to score Chatz and tie the game again. The Tigers couldn't score the bottom half so we went to 1 extra inning. The A's didnt let it go to waste scoring 3 times with doubles from Cheng and White, and 2 singles from Phillips and DiRocco as the A's took a 3run lead into the bottom of the 8th. Bryan Chatz making his debut on the bump for the A's finished off the game and got the W going the final 3 innings including a 123 8th which included a nice 4-6-3 double play turned by Verderios and White. A's win 8-5 and finish the tournament in 3rd place going 2-1-1 overall.

There was a homerun derby on Sunday which was won by Jeff Ammer of the Delta Tigers with 4 HR. How did the 2 A's participants do you ask? Well...umm...they were there!

 

 

THE RICHMOND ATHLETICS ARE 2008 LMBA CHAMPIONS!

 

With an 8-7 nail biting victory the A's beat a tough Delta Tigers squad sunday to capture there 1st LMBA championship in their 1st ever season in the LMBA. Congrats go out to the boys who fought hard with a short bench missing some key players and their skipper for the game. The boys clutched up! game stats are up!

GREAT JOB BOYS YOU DESERVE IT!

 

2008 SEASON RECORD: 8-7 5th Place in Bob Bunnet Division regular season

2008 OVERALL RECORD: 13-7

2008 HOME RUN CHAMP

Adam Rogers 5

 

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