Friday, June 27, 2008

Scratch-off Update (Bot 3rd, 2 Outs, Tribecards 2, Readers 1)


Okay, I've decided to add whatever new plays there are to the TOP of this post instead of the bottom. That way, you don't have to scroll through the whole thing to see what new twists have taken place. (last updated: 06/27/08) The "Available Plays" card is still at the top of the post to make it easier for folks to pick the spot they'd like.


After a L-O-N-G delay, the unknown comic, er, unknown batter, simply calling him/herself "anonymous" steps up to the plate. For the sake of arguement (and to make commentary easier), I will use the female gender for this batter. Girls can play, too ya know!

The batter takes a practice swing. The pitcher, who had dozed off, wipes the strand of sleep-drool from his mouth, and sets up for the pitch. Remarkably, most of the crowd has remained on-board, trying to rally their team to victory!

The first pitch is straight across the plate, but catches the batter looking. She shrugs it off, and resets herself. The pitcher winds up and the batter connects with this one, sending it into foul territory. The pitcher smiles, knowing his 0-2 count is about to be another "K" on the scoreboard. He throws, and the batter hits this to the opposite field, up and out of play into foul territory again.

Anonymous is not new to the Readers, but this is the first time she has decided to step up to the plate for this game. She generally offers comments from the dugout, so it's nice to see her get up and offer some support to the team!

The next pitch comes in and it's a ball outside. 1-and-2 now to the batter. Here's the wind-up, the pitch, and it's high. 2-and-2. The catcher waves his glove, trying to get the pitcher to calm down a bit. The pitcher nods, sets, and throws. This one heads right for the batter! Luckily, she is able to make her body move in a way that can only be described as a vertical caterpillar break-dance move and she avoids getting beaned. We're not sure how she pulled that off, but she stays in the game.

It's a full count to the batter. The wind-up and pitch, she smacks this ball down the line into foul territory. The fans are getting their share of game balls today.... Here's the next pitch, it's low, but the batter takes a swing and sends THIS ball foul, too. She really wants to make something happen here, folks. She is hanging in there.

The pitcher seems pretty ticked off about the batter's refusal to miss the ball. He slams the ball into his glove, takes the sign, and sets. Here's the wind-up, the pitch... CRACK! The batter sends this ball flying down the line! If this stays fair, it's a home run.... But, no... It's just a long foul ball.

The pitcher gets ready. The batter steps into the box. Here's the wind-up, the pitch, and Anonymous goes down swinging - strike three!


That's two outs for the readers. Bottom of the third inning, and they trail by a score of 2-to-1. Will they pull a victory out of the hat? Will the game ever really end? Is this the longest game in the history of online scratch-off games? Stay tuned to find out, folks... Though, you might want to bring a blanket and a pillow, which are now being offered at the concession stands...



Okay, maybe "mania" won't quite be accurate. Ever since Thorzul posted a 1993 Triple Play scratch-off game interactively (see here), I have been chomping at the bit to do the same thing on here. Well, finally, I can!

My game will work the same way his did. I bat first, then when I get out, it'll be your turn. That is, "your" as in anyone who responds. We'll play in order. You must wait at least one comment from another person before you can bat again, though, so we encourage fair play... :-)

I will update this post, adding results to the bottom each time as we go along. To play, you call your shot by giving me the coordinates of the spot you wish to have rubbed off (across, then up). Swicth sides after three outs, three inning game. I'll update as I can, usually at night after work. Good luck!


Tribecards gets up to the plate, taps his foot twice and takes a swing (3,4). What is this? He hits the ball so hard it breaks the bat and shatters the ball into a million pieces! That's a forced out, folks... (Okay, so I scratched a tad harder than necessary)

Having learned to use some finesse with the bat instead of brute force, Tribecards takes another swing (4,8), and POW! Home Run!!

Tribecards - 1, 1 out
Readers -0


Next pitch (1,4), and it's a single... Judging by the difficulty in seeing the results, I'd say they are playing through one massive rain storm here, folks...


Well, this time, the rain is just too bad, and we'll have to call (3,0) an out. Next bat, we used a different method for scratching off the space, and we have a ground out at (4,0). Side is retired. Now, we'll let you take a whack at it. Don't be discouraged if the results aren't posted right away. I'll try to post updates throughout the day!



Going into the bottom of the 1st, Tribecards - 1, Readers - 0


Well, so far, there appears to be quite a rain delay as we wait for TribeCards readers to pick thier game spots. So, while we wait, let's hear a word from our sponsors:

(voice in headset): "Umm, Dave, we don't have sponsors..."
Me: "What!? Of course we have sponsors!"
(voice): "No, I'm afraid we haven't been able to pull the numbers that would warrant sponsorship..."
Me: "Well, tartar sauce!"
(voice): "Actually, sir, you can't really say 'tartar sauce.' The implies a reference to Spongebob Squarepants, and we don't have a sponsorship with Nick studios."
Me: "That's ridiculous. I can say 'tartar sauce' just as easily as I can say 'ketchup!'"
(voice): "Well, actually, 'Ketchup' is believed to be a trademarked form of the word 'catsup.'"
Me: "Great... I have a bad feeling about this..."
(voice): "Umm, that would be 'Star Wars,' sir..."

Okay, so we eagerly await a response from our readers. Pick a spot... Any spot... Really.. It's okay... Heck, at this stage, I may even let you pick back-to-back spots.... :-)

So, at the end of the top of the first inning, the score still stands at Tribecards 1, Readers 0. Let's se if the readers can pull off something in the first...


All right, player TastesLikeDirt gets up to the plate. Here's the pitch! It's a swing and a hit! Looks like tasteslikedirt got the bottom of the ball, however, and it is popped up into the air. Tribecards gets under it, and we have a Pop Out to start the bottom of the 1st...


Bottom of the first, 1 out - Tribecards 1, Readers - 0

Let's see who is up next....


TastesLikeDirt says, "Looks like all your readers are afraid to get hit by a pitch or something..." He gives the other readers a quizzical look, shakes his is head, and steps up to the plate. The first swing is fouled off into the stands. Tribecards gets ready... Here's the pitch, and it's high fastball outside. TastesLikeDirt is 0-for-1 so far in the game. Let's see what happened here. Here's the pitch - swing and a miss, strike two. He is not happy to be the only player willing to step up to the plate and now has two strikes against him. Of course, if no one else steps up, he'll get to play the whole game by himself. Tribecards throws, and it's a breaking ball that catches TastesLikeDirt a bit off guard, and he goes down swinging - count that as a strike out for TribeCards:


In an affort to make the scratch-off easier to see, I tried only scanning the one side. In the future, I'll experiment some with ways to get the scratch-off spots to show up better...

In the meantime, TribeCards 1, Readers (or maybe I should say TastesLikeDirt) 0, Bottom of the 1st with 2 outs... Come readers, someone out there can give your team a hand! Pick a spot...


After watching his teammate struggling at the plate for the first two pitches, Andy steps up for some baseball action (2nd row from bottom, three from left)! Tribecards winds up and here comes the pitch - a low, inside curve for a ball. The next pitch comes in a bit high, ball 2. The count is 2-and-0. Tribecards brings the heat, Andy gets a piece of it, and it flies off foul into the crowd behind the plate. There's the nod, the windup and Andy swings and misses that blasted sinker. The 2-and-2 pitch is coming up next. Let's se if Andy can get something going for the Readers... High and away, ball three. Tribecards looks nervous as he preps for the full-count pitch. He throws.... Swing and a miss, another strikeout to end the 1st inning!


At the end of 1, Tribecards leads 1-0. Let's se what the 2nd inning has in store...


Okay, Tribecards gets up to bat and selects top-row, 3rd slot. The Readers first pitch comes in high and tight for a ball. The next pitch comes in low and inside, another ball. Tribecards gets ready, the pitch is straight across the plate, and it's a swing and a miss! With the count at 2-and-0, Readers go into the windup, here's the pitch, and it's low and away just missing the outside corner. The pitcher gets the ball, takes the sign, and the throw narrowly misses Tribecards as he manages to avoid the inside pitch. It's a walk...

With a runner on first, the next selection is the bottom-left corner. The batter gets ready for the pitch. It's a high fastball! He swings and connects, but the ball sails foul down the third base line. The next pitch comes in, Tribecards swings and it's a hit! Unfortunately, it's popped up and out of play. Strike two. The Readers' pitcher looks completely unnerved. He winds up... Here's the pitch... Holy smokes! That ball blew by the batter at 98 miles an hour. He never saw it coming and goes down standing there like the Statue of Liberty. That's one out with a runner on first...



The next batter comes in, calls his shot at 3up, 4 across. The pitcher throws the ball, and Tribecards smacks it to deep right field... The Readers' right fielder is heading back, and snags it at the dirt! The runner stays put as the outfielder roackets the ball to second. That's two outs.



Let's see what the next batter for Tribecards can do here. Two outs with a runner on first. The spot picked out is 6up, 2nd spot in. The batter swings at the first pitch and it goes off foul into the stands. The next pitch comes in high and outside for a ball. The pitchers wipes his brow, sets, and throws one in over the plate. Tribecards swings and manages to catch the bottom of the ball, popping the thing straight up in the air. The catcher tosses his mask, holds out his glove and easily retires the side with a fly out.

(No picture, since the spot is barely visible to me, the scanner just laughed when I tried to post the thing)

So, going into the bottom of the 2nd inning, the score is still Tribecards 1, Readers 0.

Let's see how the Readers do this inning!


Thorzul, the father of this "interactive" game, steps out of the dugout, and the crowd goes wild. After all, this is very much like Doubleday himself making an appearance at the plate! The spot is across 2, up 1. Let's see what happens:

The first pitch is way outside, bordering on the target for an intentional walk. The crowd boos as the catcher throws the ball back to the pitcher. The next pitch is a curveball that Thorzul takes a swing at. He connects, but it's fouled off. The crowd is restless. It's the bottom of the 2nd and their hometown heroes have yet to score. The pitcher winds up, throws, and it's another ball. This one was high inside. 2-and-1... The next pitch to Thorzul is inside at the knuckles and he gets jammed for a foul ball - 2-and-2. The pitcher gets his sign, he cocks back his arm and rifles a ball right down the middle. Thorzul swings, and it's a hit! It's a long fly ball down the third base line. If thing stays fair, it's outta here! The crowd "awwws" as the ball dips to the left, into foul territory and into the hands of the disappointed crowd. The next pitch comes in low and fast, but Thorzul can't seem to connect. He goes down swinging - a strike out. Well, hopefully, we'll see him again in the game.


In the meantime, we wait to see if Andy, TastesLikeDirt, or another member of the Reader team comes up to bat. So, we go to commercial with Tribecards leading 1-0 in the bottom of the 2nd inning. 1 out for the Readers, who hope to pull this off and get a "1" in the win column for the hometown crowd...

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The Readers' manager picks up the phone ringing in the dugout. What's this? A "phone-in" play!? It appears that a reader from David's personal blog (poppedinmyhead) has phoned in, calling a shot from the OTHER BLOG! I'd say we should go to the rule book on this one, but at this stage of the game, we'll take what we can get!

So, the off-site shot is 0,7 (1st column, 2nd down from top). Shari steps up to the plate after taking quite the jump-jet whrilwind tour to get to the stadium so quickly. She adjusts her helmet, taks a practice swing, and readies herself for the pitch. Tribecards is not phased at all and sends a heater right down the middle. She swings and whiffs at it, strike one.

She sets up again, glaring at the pitcher. The wind up, and it's a curveball low and outside, but she swings and snags a piece of it! It rockets down the firstbase line, just over the edge into foul territory. Strike two.

The pitch is way ahead here. He takes the sign, nods his head, and fires a rocket down the pipe. Shari swings and just missed the ball! Strike three, and the readers now have two outs in the bottom of the 2nd.


We're still in the bottom of the second here at Readers' Field where the Readers trail one to nothing with two outs. Who will step up to the plate next? And, just as important, will they be able to rally this team back from the deficit?

Bottom of the 2nd, 2 outs, Readers at bat. Tribecards leads 1-0 with two outs.


My Aunt chimes in again, selecting the first column, last row... Deja Vu, that's already been selected. Due to technical difficulties, though, the only way to really know that is by reading through the entire game thus far. The picture of the scan is just too bad in that area. So, I am going to give this batter a pass and let her walk to first base.

I am also going to edit the scanned image of the game card so that you will know what's been played... I have also numbered the spaces, so you can choose by SPACE NUMBER rather than by grid coordinate. Hopefully, this will make the game easier to play, and maybe get some more folks to chime in... :-)


Come on, Readers! You have a runner on base and a chance to make something happen!


Reader Andy steps up to the plate, happily choosing spot #12! See how much easier this is now? Unfortunately, he swings and the ball goes deep for a fly out, leaving the stranded runner on base...




Tribecards gets up to bat. The first space called is #2, and the batter goes down swinging - strike out.

The next batter gets up, chooses #30, and smacks the ball out of the park! A home run!!

Spot #28 gets selected next, and there is some controversy as to exactly what the space reveals. It looks like a "W" but no way to tell from here. The umpire calls the batter out. Two outs.

The clean-up man steps to the plate, and selects #23. He smacks the ball toward the fence and it drops in for a double!

Unfortunatey, the next guy batting for Tribecards picks #20, and he pops the ball straight up in the air for an easy out by the shortstop.


Tribecards scores a run, and leaves a runner on the bag. I purposely scanned and enlarged this card just so you can see what bad shape this card is in. I have learned my lesson, and in the future, only cards pulled straight out of packs will be used for the scratch-off game. With the unopened box I bought not long ago, I have at least 30 mint condition cards to play with in upcoming games. In fact, I am working on a way to have a cool tourney with them and have prizes, etc.. Stay tuned for that!

In the meantime, the Readers up in the bottom of the third, trailing by two runs. Can the Readers pull off a last-ditch victory? Will Tribecards keep the lead and win the game? We'll find out as you, my readers, pick your spots:




Shari steps up to the plate, and judging from her comment, the new selection method has helped making picking spots much easier! So, she calls #22 and takes her place. The first pitch is high and outside for a ball. The 0-1 count doesn't phase the pitcher at all. He pulls back and lets a screamer rip down the lane toward the plate, Shar swings, and smacks it hard! It is heading down the first base line, but it pulls foul. The count is 1-and-1, no outs, and the Readers trail two to nothing here in the bottom of the third.

Here's the pitch.... High and tight, ball two. The pitcher is showing some frustration. The catcher calls time-out and they go to conference. The manager starts to head out of the dugout, but the catcher waves him back as he returns to his spot behind the plate. The pitcher gets his sign. The wind-up, the throw, and SMACK! It's a LONG fly ball to deep center field. This one's got legs, wings, and thighs! It is OUTTA HERE!! Shar snags a home run in the third to bring the Readers within one of tying the game!!


I am posting the card with the #22 spot covered. I tried to scan the thing, but even after some photo-editing, you can't make out the "HOME RUN" on the #22 spot, which is a bummer!! Oh well, it looks like Readers are standing on the edge of a comeback!

Bottom of the 3rd, 0 outs, Tribecards 2 - Readers 1! Who is up next for the Readers??


Madding for the Readers gets up to bat. Feeling "lucky," the batter calls #13. The pitcher winds up, throws the ball, and Madding fouls it off into the crowd behind the plate. Madding held off showing us what can be done until late in the game, but is certainly a welcome addition to the Readers team. The 0-1 pitch gets away from the pitcher, hits the dirt and gets away from the catcher, too! Luckily for Tribecards, no one was on base... 1-and-1 the count. Madding steps in, the pitcher delivers. Madding swings and sends this one out of fair territory into the crowd behind third base. The pitcher takes his sign. He pulls back and launches. It's a mislocated fastball right down the pipe! Madding swings and gets the top-half of the ball, sending a low line drive that drops quickly onto the in-field grass. Madding heads for first. The bullet shoots between the first and second basemen, but HOLY COW! The second baseman makes a diving grab for it, and manages to snag the ball! He rolls, getting to one knee. He throws to first. Madding is barely a half-step behind, but just far enough that the Tribecards get the ground out. What a play!

The Readers are hitting the ball hard, and are working to pull a win out of their hats. As, we wait for the next batter, we'll take a short commercial break. Don't go too far, folks! The energy in this place is picking up as the Readers trail one to two in the bottom of the third with only one out! Who will be the next batter, and can s/he make something happen here today?





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Each package of Brawl Park Franks comes with some of America's favorite franks - Frank Robinson, Frank Thomas, Mike Frank, Frank Baker, and more! We seal them together for days, even weeks, on end until their tempers are flaring. You can just hear them starting to sizzle even before you add the heat! But, once you do, these guys go at it like no one's business! It's an all-out Brawl! You have a Battle Royale in your own backyard with each and every package of Brawl Park Franks.

Tough meat = Killer Franks. That's Brawl Park Franks - The Franks that FIGHT when you COOK 'EM!


Welcome back to the park, folks! We're eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next batter to the plate for the Readers. Stay tuned, you are NOT going to want to miss this action!


NOTE: AS OF 6/27/08, ALL NEW PLAYS ARE NOW LOCATED AT THE TOP OF THE POST.

9 comments:

  1. Looks like all your readers are afraid to get hit by a pitch or something, so I'm gonna step up to the plate and go for...second up from bottom left corner.

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  2. Okay. This time I didn't take the fast round a bot way to get to the stadium. I want 1st column, last row.

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  3. I want spot 22!!! This is much bett with the numbering system!

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  4. I'll take lucky 13 to continue the rally.

    I wonder if I have any of these Triple Play cards left. I never scratched any of them off and bought several packs back in the day. I had to keep the Ozzie Smith one intact along with any players that I considered "stars" in 1993.

    ReplyDelete