Rivalry Renewed: Hammers Face Morrell Club Friday Night

BISHOP FIELD, NQ - It was nearly a week ago that Rich Brill fired a shot at Paul Galligan, calling him a "mouse." But, with the first McInnis Carpentry-Morrell Club series of 2008 beginning tomorrow, Galligan was asked, again, if they had made up.

"I didn't know there was a hatchet to be buried, to be honest with you," Galligan said. "I said what I needed to say. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and get into a childish yelling match with Ritchie or whoever it was. I said that not really directing it towards him.

Two weeks ago, after the Hammers announced the signing of Brill, Galligan said, "Wow, they're really scraping the bottom of the barrell now. I'm not sure what they're trying to do over there. Rebuild? You don't rebuild with 40-something year old wash ups."

Then Brill said, "Being insulted by Paul is like being attacked by a mouse."

Galligan, who is rarely seen at the field, serves as the President and Chairman of Softball Operations for the Morrell Club and is running the show. It's a show that, despite being a bit battered and bruised, comes to Bishop Field tomorrow night for the first meeting between the teams in 2008. Neither team is where it wants to be and, given the Hammers decision to place Scott Logan & Jeff Sheehan on the 15-day disabled list, nor are they fully healthy.

Morrell Club catcher Brian Clifford was diagnosed with a strained right shoulder Wednesday. Shortstop Rob Kane has a strained quadriceps that might keep him out awhile. Not that Hammers manager Tom Fratolillo is eager to see Kane back in the lineup.

"You can never be too careful with those quads," he said, in a bit of good-natured advice to Morrell manager Doug Nolan.

Gary Smith, who has been with Flannagans and the Hofbrau, gets his first taste of the rivalry. He's been warned, he said. He knows the games take quite awhile. He's prepared, too.

"I guess you just got to get your bubblegum ready," he joked.

It's also a rivalry he looks forward to seeing up close. He's seen it from the safety of his living room (On Quincy Cable's Game of the Week), but he anticipates this will be an entirely different scenario. "I think every player, if you played Quincy Softball, at some point you'd like to experience this rivalry firsthand. So it'll be cool to get out on the field and feel what that rivalry is like."

The Morrell club has always given the Hammers a hard time. The Hammers hold a 10-7 career record against them. After beating the Morrell Club 4 times in '05 (regular season & 1st round playoff sweep), the Hammers arch-rivals have bounced back with a four game winning streak of their own.