Everything was shaping up to be a stellar season for the Cherokee Dragons as they headed into the 2005 Summer season. After notching a couple of pre-season wins, the Dragons opened up the season with three straight wins, outscoring their opponents 46-22.

And then the season began to look pretty bleak when loss after loss began to pile up like empty beer cans on a saturday night in Woodstock, until finally the regular season record had stood at a dismal 3-7.

A lot of people wanted to know what the heck was going on with this team. A lot of things could be blamed that when taken in a single dose would not have hurt too badly, but when taken in combination added up to disaster.

To start with, the weather was absolutely nuts. At one point there was a full month without baseball, and it seemed to rain every other week. With off again, on again, off again scheduling, it was really tough to develop any type of rythym.

And then there were the injuries. The first one was a rising star in the form of Trevor Staples. A week after turning 21, Staples came home drunk from a bar and decided to have a Bubba Burger. He had problems getting the wax paper off it, so he decided to take a knife to it, and instead, nearly cut his pinky off. He severed a tendon which required surgey and was not able to return to the team. 2003 MVP, Donny Williams, separated his shoulder going back on a ball trying to make a diving catch during a game with the Gamblers. He was out two full months, before retuning in a night game against the Knights where he hit a grandslam.

And there were the weddings, the home purchases, and the moving. Which showed more than anything that the Cherokee Dragons were a team in transition. One of our team members was married, which required more of our team to be there for the wedding. More of our guys were in weddings that seemed to happen every other weekend. Three of our players bought homes, and another one moved, all of which added up to absent ball players.

But after the 7th straight loss, Manager Scot Turner had seen just about enough, and he demanded more dedication out of his players for the remainder of the summer. The results were impressive as the Dragons won 7 of their last 8 games to run their record to 10-8

Some of the wins were remarkable, such as the victory over the Bulldogs 3-2 on the back of just one hit. The back and forth victory over the Riverdogs that was finally put away by a three run shot by Carlos Medina. Or the two wins over the Sturgeons, where the Dragons outscored them 37-8 in those two games. And there was the huge come from behind win over the A's which seemed to put an exclamation point on how the Dragons' season had been all year.

When the long, hot days of summer had settled, the Dragons had their second straight winning season, and they did it in the most unlikely of fashions.

Dragons win 4th straight with 9th inning rally!

The Cherokee Dragons have salvaged their season and are on the hunt for a division title again after snapping a seven game losing streak with an ongoing 4 game winning streak.

The latest victory came against the A's, who were leading the Dragons 4-2 heading into the 9th inning. That's when Troy Lockett got the comeback started with a solid single.

Lockett was followed up by a double from Carlos Medina, moving him to Third. Ryan Palazzo burned the centerfielder for the A's with a deep double to center to score two and tie the game.

Palazzo was moved to third on a single by Tony D'Errico. D'errico moved to second on a wild pitch that was somehow called a strike on the batter, Mark Packwood.

Packwood battled, put the ball in play to right and the ball was dropped by the right fielder, and everyone on the bases stayed where they were.

Then Alex Hickman stepped to the plate, and ripped a 1-1 pitch for a single, plating Palazzo and D'Errico, and moving Packwood to Third. Hickman then advanced on Defensive indifference.

Ryan Duquette then singled in Packwood, and moved Hickman over to Third.

Scot Turner then stepped to the plate, and stung a ball down the line that was picked was back handed by the 3rd basemen and thrown just in time to get Turner out at first. But Hickman had scored. Duke was then scored by a double by Donny Williams, who scored on a single by Heath Howard.

When the dust had settled, at the middle of the 9th, the score was 10-4.

But the A's were a scrappy team, and they scored three in the top of the ninth before Heath Howard showed his quality; getting a fly ball out and striking out two to end the game.

Carlos Medina had thrown an excellent game to start, allowing 4 runs, 2 earned over 6+ innings. He scattered 6 hits, no walks and one hit batter. The Winning pitcher was Heath Howard, who pitch 3 innings, striking out 6, walking one, and giving up two hits. He allowed 3 runs, two were earned.

Dragons Win! 10-7

Losing streak reaches three

There's getting your ass handed to you, and then there is playing the Dekalb Stars.

What can I say? They ripped 20 hits on their way to scoring 16 runs, including two homeruns, one a grandslam in the first inning.

Meanwhile, only four Dragons were able to combine for a team total of 6 hits.

Those guys are good. And not to make excuses, but rather report the facts; The Dragons were only able to field 10 players on the hottest day so far this year. Not even that fancy mister in the North Cobb Dugout could help the Dragons beat the heat. Not having the deep bench available lead to some pretty tired ballplayers by the end of the day.

But like I have said before, there ain't nothing I would have rather done on this day. I still had a good time hanging with my buds.

Dragons lose 0-16.

Muckdogs Pound Dragons

This is not a site that touts only the victories of the Cherokee Dragons. It is, however, a living chronicle of events, both good and bad, that the Dragons experience as team mates. Fortunately, most of the news is good, however, today is not one of those days.

After having not played in four weeks due to a combination of rainouts and Mothers' Day, a considerable amount of rust had developed on the Dragons Bats. The Muckdogs Pitcher threw a complete game and struck the Dragons out a team record 13 times. Batter after batter seemed to swing and miss at pitch after pitch after pitch.

Meanwhile, the Muckdogs were held at bay early on by Carlos Medina, until they stringed together 5 consecutive singles in the fifth inning to score 5 runs. Medina gave way to Pete Carter, who gave up one run in the sixth. After that, Ryan Palazzo got roughed up in 2.667 innings, giving up two homeruns, and allowing six more runs. Heath Howard came on to get the final out in the ninth and gave up an unearned run as well.

There were plenty of blunders all around to be honest, from base running, to a failed rundown.

And I give all the credit in the world to the Muckdogs hitters, they were able to string a whole bunch of hits together consecutively in several innings.

But the great thing about baseball is, every game is different. This team has so much potential. A little hard work and we will get back to where we were to start the season. And even in this dung pile of a game, there were bright spots. Heath Howard's bat woke up, as he hit a double and a triple. Alex Hickman reached base three out of his four plate appearances in the leadoff spot. And Seth Brown stole a base!

Memorial Day Weekend will provide yet another long layoff, but the Dragons will be working on getting better before they face off with the Stars in two weeks.

Green Kills the Lurch

The Lurch Helmet, in all of its pink glory, was murdered today by Dragons first basemen, Chris Green.

Green had been tapped to wear the hideous thing after he started to run off the field when he thought there were three outs, but there were really only two. Green wore it and promptly made an out, and then smashed the helmet into the wall of the dugout, cracking it in half.

The Lurch helmet had been developed in "honor" of a former Dragon that did really dumb things all the time. It was only used when someone did something really dumb. However, in 2004, it had an On-Base percentage of over .900. It was decorated with purple letters and stickers of flowers and chimpanzies picking their noses.

The Lurch will be replaced, however. Top Secrets plans are already underway to make the new helmut even more embarassing to wear. And the first person to get to wear it, why Chris Green of course, every at bat in the first game it appears.

Dragons get straight A's

The only thing pretty about this day was the weather. The baseball played certainly wasn't pretty. From the infield play from both teams, to the out field play of both teams, to the infield full of divits, this game was just plain ugly.

The normally very effective Dragons pitching allowed 8 walks and hit two batters, which combined with 4 Dragons fielding errors allowed the Atlanta A's to stick around and make a game out of it.

The Dragons had lead 10-1 at one point, powered by a homerun from Heath Howard as part of a six run sixth inning.

But the A's hung around, scoring 3 of thier own in the sixth, 2 in the seventh, three in the eighth, before going down quietly in the ninth.

DRAGONS WIN! 13-9

Dragons have record setting day

The Dragons set new team records for runs scored (17) and hits in a single game (21) on their way to a 17-5 victory over the Kennesaw Chiefs.

The bats were lead by Donny Williams, who went 4-for-4 with a double, a stolen base, and three runs scored to earn a game ball. Troy Lockett also earned a game ball for his 3-for-4, 5 RBI day. Trevor Staples continued to impress, going 2-for-4 with 5 RBI of his own.

And the Dragons pitching was pretty darned good too. Carlos Medina, in his first start, shook off a bad first inning and cruised through 6 innings to earn the win. After throwing 25 pitches in the first, Medina threw 34 pitches over the next four innings, working ahead in the count to 18 of the 28 batters he faced.

And for the first time in team history, there was no noxious odor eminating from Catcher Seth Brown while he was in the dugout. But he did raise his team leading Batting Average to .833. It couldn't have been a more perfect day.

Dragons Bats Blow Up!

After posting a pre-season team batting average of .230, Manager Scot Turner emplored his players to spend some extra time working on their hitting heading into opening day. Whatever they did to heed their manager's pleas worked perfectly, as the Dragons lit up the Bandits for 16 runs on 17 hits.

It seemed like the game was going to be over quickly when the Dragons' first four batters scored before recording a single out. But the Bandits showed some life of their own, scoring five runs in the second, even taking a one run lead at one point.

But after three more Dragon runs in the third, there was no looking back. In the sixth, Ryan "Duke" Duquette stroked a 3 RBI double that proved to put the game out of reach.

The Game ball went to Trevor Staples, who is single handedly proving the genius of Dragons Management regarding their preseason roster adjustments.

Trevor's Stats
3-for-3, 2 2B, BB, 3 RBI 2 Runs
W, 4 IP, 2 Hits, BB, 2 Runs, 1 ER, 3 K

DRAGONS WIN! 16-8

Dragons tweak roster, have successful pre-season

Concerned about pitching depth, the Dragons made three additions to their team in Carlos Medina, Pete Carter, and Trevor Staples.

Medina, a former college pitcher at Texas Wesleyan, once tossed a no-hitter against Austin College (Texas) with eight strikeouts and no walks. He would have posted a perfect game if not for two errors that allowed runners to reach base. He was the Dragons' first round draft pick, 17th overall. What were the other 16 thinking?

Carter is a fireballer out of Lyndon State College (Vermont). Carter was the Dragons' second round pick and 23rd overall.

Staples was a 4 year letterman at Marietta High School and found the Dragons through our website.

All three of these guys meet the "good guy" standard that is applied to any new addition to our roster. We are glad to have them and we know they will make us stronger this season.

In other news during the preseason, the Dragons posted a 2-0 record against some old buddies from Twin City and the East Side Red Sox. The Dragons did what they had to in order to win, posting 3-2 and 7-6 scores respectively.

Dragons Prepare for Championship Run

With the 2005 Season just around the corner, the Cherokee Dragons have begun practicing and preparing for the defense of the Division Title.

Almost everyone from last year's roster will be returning, with a couple of additions from our Fall team that will strengthen us in our weak spots.

The new faces include Mark "Grand-pa-pa" Packwood OF, Chris "Bachelor" Green 1B, and Heath "Candy Man" Howard INF/P.

Expectations are high with this group. Our line up will be solid, our defense has drastically improved, and our prospects are good for another solid season.

Eventful offseason bears 3 Engagements, 1 Baby

In no particular order, Shane Fay, Ryan Palazzo, and Erik Booth were all engaged during this offseason. I have been trying to make sure that each of their wedding dates are scheduled on a Saturday since they are all getting married during the season. So far, luck has prevailed.

In other news, our newest Dragon Fly was born on January 11th. Her Name is Abigail Dawn Williams, and She is just the cutest little thing. Donny and Mary are both doing well, even if they are slightly sleep deprived.