by Pete

MISHAPS END BEAT CHAMPIONSHIP HOPES IN 15-14 2nd ROUND HEARTBREAKER On the brink of City C-league championship game, The Beat fight back valiantly from 7 run deficit to take 1-run lead in 7th, but can’t hold on; Mishaps advance to win title over La Familia on October 21

The magical summer ride of 2002 finally ended for The Beat on a chilly mid-October night at Jackson #1 but not before a late rally nearly catapulted the Beatniks past the eventual C-league champions. In making it back to the playoffs for the second straight summer, The Beat distinguished themselves in two gritty, hard-fought postseason games that were each decided by a run and nearly resulted in the team’s first-ever City Championship game. Despite the heartbreaking 15-14 loss to the mighty Mishaps, which had clobbered 3-time Open C division champ Baboo’s Boys 19-1 in the 1st round and went on to beat La Familia 9-8 for the title, the boys in gray could console themselves that a break here or there could have turned things their way.

As pitcher Kevin Austin later summed up “One less error, one more clutch hit and it would have been a very different game.”

Down 11-4 in the top of the 5th and looking close to dead following 4 innings of futility, the Beat offense suddenly came alive as the boys in gray eventually tied the game at 12-12 on a prodigious Mark Briscoe grand slam with 2 out in the 6th. Incredibly, The Beat looked poised for the win after edging ahead 14-13 in the 7th with 2 runs after 2 were out. The comeback was made possible by a masterful 3-inning relief job by veteran Dennis (OB) O’Brien (2 runs allowed, 1 earned), who stopped a 10-run Mishaps barrage over the first 3 frames and gave the Beatniks a chance to get back in the game. Special K, who had started the game on the mound, was hit hard early but was also victimized by several key defensive lapses.

Stunted momentum
Knowing that they would have to score early and often against an offensive-minded Mishaps juggernaut, The Beat loaded the bases with none out off starter Joe Tang. Tang walked Mark (MSG) St. Georges after leadoff singles by Jacq (The Rock) Wilson and Alex Briscoe to set up Donnell (Big Daddy) Moody’s clutch 2-run single. Jim Colletto’s liner ricocheted off the left center fielder Chong’s glove to reload the bases before Jacque Wilson continued his hot postseason hitting (.500 BA, .857 OBP, 6 RBIs) with a swinging backspin bunt that scored the hard charging MSG from third. Then the game stopped.

Upon reaching 3rd base, Big Daddy notified the umpires that the bag had come loose, which was undeniably a hazard. However, confusion ensued as neither umpires, players or grounds crew could get the base to lay flat. After a seemingly endless delay, the Jackson gardener finally hammered the base in place and play finally resumed.

Although Mark Briscoe (3 for 4, run, 6 RBIs) followed with another RBI hit to make it 4-0, the Beat momentum came to quick halt as the Mishaps made a pitching change and brought in the 1st baseman Meneses to relieve Tang who still hadn’t recorded an out. The pitching change worked wonders as Meneses proceeded to induce infield flies from Brian Arcuri and Greg (Lucky Luki) Lukoski before Special K lined sharply to left to end what should have been a 6- or 7-run inning. There was much speculation following the game on what might have been given another clutch hit or two.

Not to be outdone, the Mishaps came right back to go ahead 6-4 in the home half of the 1st as they strung together 5 singles over the first 7 batters. Some shaky outfield play aided the Mishaps outburst, which was capped off by a Joe Tang triple out of the 8th spot.

Meneses settled into a groove over the next 3 innings as his offense provided him with a 7-run cushion highlighted by a booming grand slam onto 17th street by the EP Louie in the 2nd off Austin. The Beat offense started to show signs of life in the 4th when a 2-out single by Jacq with Mike (Butts) Buttafuso aboard put runners at 1st and 2nd.  Alex Briscoe (4 for 4, 2 runs) singled sharply to left center and as the ball started to die in the plush new Jackson carpet, the 3rd base coach Wenner waved Butts home. Meneses cut off Chong’s strong throw, but made a quick shovel pass to the catcher Woo, who applied the tag to Butts’s leg as he slid in head first. It appeared to several on the Beat bench, who indignantly appealed to the home plate blue that Buttsy had slipped his hand in ahead of the high tag that Mike was safe. However the ump stood his ground and The Beat’s championship hopes appeared to be sputtering on life support.

A turning point?
Maybe, just maybe, the umpire’s call fired up the Beatniks. OB came on in relief of Austin and retired the Mishaps in order, quickly giving his teammates a chance to get back on offense. MSG led off with a single and advanced to 3rd on Big Daddy’s double. With 1 out, RBI singles by Jacque and Mark Briscoe made it 11-6. With 2 outs and the bases loaded following an Arcuri single, and the light-hitting OB coming up, manager Wenner had a difficult decision to make. With OB holding the hot hand on the mound and having changed the momentum, Wenner was heard to say “go for it old man,” (takes one to know one) whereupon OB grounded a slow roller that the 2nd baseman Pontera bobbled for an error as Jacque sped home. Down 11-7, The Beat bench exploded in exultation, but Butts lined hard to right for the final out. The Beatniks had once again left the bases loaded raising another round of “what ifs?”

The Mishaps scratched out another run to make it 12-7 in the 5th with 1 out courtesy of a Tang RBI double, but OB stiffened to get Meneses to fly to Alex in right center and Chen to ground out to Brian at short.

With 2 out in the top of the 6th, the Beat again loaded the bases before Meneses walked Jacque to force in a run and make it 12-8 Mishaps. That set the stage for the Briscoe fireworks. Early in the count, Mark launched a booming shot to straight away center that rolled deep into Jackson #2 territory. Everybody scored and just like that, it was 12-12. Brian fouled out, but the worm had seemingly turned.

Then the worm turns 3 times more
With OB still on the mound, the Mishaps eked out an unearned run when Gong singled home the #11-hitter Woo who had advanced to 2nd on a wild throw to first by the charging 3rd baseman MSG on a slow hit grounder. Undaunted by a Fong single that advanced Gong to 3rd with 2 out, OB got the dangerous Louie to ground to Butts for a 4-6 fielders’ choice to end the threat.

Trailing 13-12 and down to their last out with Austin (who had re-entered for OB and singled) on second, the Beat wasn’t done yet. The 2-out magic continued as Jacq, Alex and MSG all singled to vault the Beat ahead 14-13 before Donnell flew out deep to right to end the rally. 

Back on the mound to start the bottom of the 7th, Austin allowed a leadoff single before Gina hit a sharp double play grounder to MSG at 3rd who momentarily bobbled the ball. However, the Cottonmouth King quickly recovered and threw a strike to Butts at 2nd, who had a great defensive game up to that point including assists on all 3 outs in the 6th. As if the Gods of Baseball had finally caught up to Butts, who had made a triumphant return and arguably solidified the Beat infield defense all summer, Mike dropped the throw for an error to give the Mishaps a big break. Another hit by Tang loaded the bases. With the outfield playing short in hopes of cutting off the tying run, relief pitcher Meneses launched a fly over the shortened outfield in right center to score two and send the Mishaps to the championship game 15-14 winners.

Missed opportunities
So The Beat goes home for the winter disappointed in not having been able to convert several opportunities to advance to the championship final including a whopping 13 runners left on base and several uncharacteristic, costly errors. However the Beatniks fought hard and can take pride in the fact that they were just barely beaten by the eventual C-league champs. “We’re holding the right deck of cards,” said Jacq the Rock after the game. “This is a team that was built for the city championship. We’ll get there next year.”

Indeed all heads were held high as teammates toasted each other and hailed what has been an unforgettable season.

Playoff Leaders
Alex Briscoe led all Beatniks with over 4 at bats in the 2 playoff games with a .750 average and 6 hits. Jacque Wilson paced the club in on base percentage at .857 and tied with Mark Briscoe for the team lead in RBI with 6.

Final Playoff Stats

See the scoresheet in pdf (257k) or
On The BEAT News Archive

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