Elderly Blue Quiets Mouthy Red, 11-9, in '08 Classic
Even before the first pitch was thrown in the 2008 Coaches Classic on August 3, the Blue Squad had the advantage. Although no mathematical formula was applied, it was easy to see on paper that Blue had the highest average age and, therefore, argued successfully to be home team. Who could blame them with the likes of 54-year-old Rick Rutkowski and Joe Knupsky and 46-year-old Joe Nyman in the lineup. Red was confident and boastful early on, with 19-year-old Lee Dean, 17-year-old Paul Rutkowski, and even 12-year-old Courtney Nagy in uniform.

Nyman was a man turned kid possessed at third base, sacrificing his body all game to make play after play for Blue. He was accompanied in the infield by Bill Sinagra and Franklin Rouse (both of whom refused to sit the bench for even a single inning and drew heckling from Red's Mike Albright and Jack Shannon), Rick Rutkowski at first, and Tim Sharkey on the mound. Matt Koval played a solid left field.

Shannon led Red from the mound, confident that his infield of SuperColts Paul Rutkowski and Lee Dean and Rangers assistant coach Paul Welch would plug up the holes. Albright, although unimpressive at the plate, played solid defense, at one point shooting down a chugging Joe Knupsky at third on a "I'm gonna feel that tomorrow" slide. Red also wowed the crowd early by gunning down a meandering Rouse on his way back to first. The Rockies have planned seven straight nights of baserunning drills to bring their coach up to speed.

The ladies were in the house too, represented respectably with slugging from Carol Nyman, Carol Gerner, and Nagy; a circus catch by Nicole Knupsky behind first base; and by late walk-on Leah Duncan, who rebounded from an early strikeout to rip a single late.

After leading early on a Todd Duncan score, Red fell behind and chased Blue the rest of the way. But despite as much whining as they could muster, Red simply ran out of innings and had to settle for an 11-9 loss. Blue may have walked away with bragging rights, but it's a safe bet they also took home the most bruises.

The afternoon ended with the second annual homerun derby. Just as the 11-contestant field stepped into action, 2007 champion Frank Renner arrived fashionably late with bodyguards, limo, and sporting goods sponsorship. He could not resist wiggling his baseball antenna won last year in the face of his 2008 foes.

The dirty dozen - Koval, Salamacha, Dean, Paul Rutkowski, Welch, Brian Miller, Joe Knupsky, Albright, Sinagra, Jerry Gerner, Rouse, and Renner - wowed the crowd, but only Renner (11 HRs), Dean (10 HRs), Salamacha (8 HRs) and Rouse (8 HRs) would survive the first round and advance to the semi-final. As if history were repeating itself, Renner and Rouse battled to the championship. Rouse, with 10 HRs and plenty of swings to go, had Renner biting his nails in the final before he pulled a muscle and had to bow out. Renner's final at-bat started off shaky, ringing up five outs before he'd even taken a bite out of Rouse's lead. But Renner dug in and showed why he is champion, putting a succession of homers over the right field fence to edge Rouse 11-10 and take home his second consecutive title.