by Pete

The Beat Sweeps Mad Dog, Finishes 2nd Behind Cool Dudes Dogs barely show up; succumb 17-0 and 16-1 in twin mercy killings

It was a tale of two teams, and two highly divergent mindsets. Dropped from a 1st place tie into 3rd place on May 20 with a tough loss to the Cool Dudes, The Beat (4-2) came into the season-ending doubleheader with 2nd place Mad Dog in the Fog (4-1-1) just a game off the pace. Almost every Beatnik showed up for the finale hungry for a chance to win it all if the moon and stars aligned and last place Cafe Mars could only pull an upset in one game of their doubleheader with Jorving Munoz's Dudes.

Down by just a half game, the Mad Dogs phoned in the season as only half of their team bothered to show. Their manager half-heartedly scrounged Jackson Playground for ringers just for a chance to play. Fortunately for The Beat, no Cool Dudes were available to the mercenary Dogs on this day. They were left largely to defend for themselves.

Against this backdrop, The Beat capped off the Spring with a pair of routs, including the 1st shutout by a Beat starting pitcher and a near shutout in the nightcap, from which the hapless Mad Dog in the Fog was spared only due to an unearned run. As the Cool Dudes also swept woeful Mars in convincing fashion by scores of 10-1 and 22-8, The Beat advanced to a solid 2nd place with a 6-2 record. The mighty Beatniks steamrolled all of its division opponents not named Cool Dudes by a whooping 107-38 score and 117-62 (an average of 15-8 per game) overall. The team batted a collective .500, the highest mark since Summer '95 when The Beat won DD with a .527 average and an 8-0 record.

Despite the anti-climactic nature of the sweep, The Beat old-timers ruled. It was therefore fitting that veteran Beat mound stalwart and co-founder Dennis "OB" O'Brien, who has been used exclusively this Spring in relief, nailed the shutout in the 14th year of the franchise with a tidy 5-hit, 5-inning masterpiece that was ended by the mercy rule following an hour of play.

In the second game, which was also called in the 5th after The Beat scored their 16th run, co-founder Kevin "Special K" Austin pitched a 4-hitter that was marred only by an unearned run in the 3rd inning on an errant throw by the pitcher himself trying to start a double play on a comebacker to the mound.

OB & Pete survey the wreckage during the second game

In posting schellackings of this magnitude, who wasn't an offensive star? Well, for starters, all-time Beat batting leaders John "The Bomber" Palmer and Mark "MSG" St. Georges keyed the respective attacks in games one and two. In the first game, Palmer went 3 for 3 with 2 runs, a 2-run homer, a double and 3 RBIs in what could be, once again, his final appearance as a Beatnik. The Cottonmouth King and herbsman MSG matched JP with a 3 for 3 performance in game two, with a run scored and 4 RBIs. In both games The Beat stormed out to big early leads and never looked back.

In the 1st game, the middle of the batting order (St. Georges, Moody, Colletto and Palmer) went a perfect 11 for 11 with 9 runs and 7 RBIs. Colletto finished the season with his 2nd consecutive team batting title at .609, Moody topped the team with 16 RBIs, and St. Georges vaulted back into the top 5 in the team batting race. Palmer finished in a tie for 2nd place with surprising Brian "The Rifleman" Arcuri at .600. In fact every Beatnik, including leadoff man BJ Bateman, Greg Lukoski, Gunnar Rosenquist, Pete Wenner, Mark Melin logged hits on this day.

The Beat infield defense was at times sparkling as Mike "Pizza Man" Weiss made a triumphant return from a 5-week absence with a myriad of show-stopping plays at shortstop over the course of the day. Rookie walk-on Dave Maxion, who had been moved to 3rd base in the nightcap to make room for Weiss, started a dazzling 5-4-3 double play in the 2nd inning as both Max and Brian showed off their rifle arms. In fact, Pizza was involved in two DPs in game two and nine plays overall in the two games in what might have been called Mike's personal shortstop clinic.

Following the merciful conclusion of game two, the triumphant Beatniks repaired to the 17th Street fence for the postgame festivities. As beer and other refreshments flowed and wafted, talk of what might have been if only the dream team from this afternoon had shown en masse for at least one of the two Cool Dudes games dominated the post mortems. Regardless of the underlying disappointment, this rebuilt team has risen from the ashes of 1998's Beat East Coast exodus and is poised for another run at its 1st C-league title in the Summer. The mood was decidedly upbeat, and will remain that way throughout the months of June and July as we anticipate the Summer Season. Join us on July 28 for opening day, part deux!

See the scoresheet in pdf Game 1 (272k) and Game 2 (293k) or
On The BEAT News Archive