by Pete

NO CIGAR 7th inning Beat comeback falls short as Joey J's wins SF City Championship 18-15

In a championship contest between two Saturday afternoon Open C division winners, Joey J’s held off a late Beat charge to take the league’s top spot in a twilight thriller at Moscone #3 on June 23. Joey’s took advantage of some uncharacteristically shaky Beat defense in the early innings and raked two Beat pitchers for 18 runs on only 16 hits, the same number logged by Beat hitters. Joey’s simply did much more with their hits while showing their experience and poise to eventually dispatch the pesky boys in gray.

Coming off a 30-11 mercy ruling over the Established Hitters on June 17, many observers looked to The Beat as the odds-on favorite to take the spring season crown. However, Beatnik pitching and defense, which had carried the team to an efficient 7-1 division title during the regular season, were finally worn down by a hard hitting Joey J’s team that came out of the gates slugging. No Beat pitcher was safe as Joey’s victimized Beat starter and ace Kevin (Special K) Austin with 2 home runs and 12 runs (10 earned) in 5 innings. Veteran relief pitcher Denny (OB) O’Brien, who had dominated Joey’s in 2 previous regular season outings, was strafed for 5 runs in the 6^th to seal the victory.

Although they never led in the game, the boys in gray gave Joey’s a tough fight, refusing to go away in the face of staggering 10-1 and 18-10 deficits. The Beat took advantage of all the breaks Joey’s gave them but in the end could not get the clutch hits they needed.

“What I love about this ball club,” said manager Pete Wenner “is that win or lose, this team never quits no matter what.”

Go to Moscone, not Jackson
The title game had originally been scheduled to take place at Jackson #1 where the Beat defense usually reigns supreme, but a lighting problem forced a hasty switch to the big ballpark in San Francisco’s Marina district where the Beat had encountered problems in the 2002 Metro Tournament.

The Beat manager lost the coin flip to Joey’s manager Joe Dunkle so the boys in gray batted first; a quick strike option that had been discussed by the Beatnik brain trust before the game as a preferable way to get the early jump on the competition. It wasn’t meant to be.

Speedster Jacq (The Rock) Wilson led off the game with a base hit between shortstop and 3^rd base and looked like a lock to advance to 2^nd base on a fly out to deep right center by brother Jacque. In a call that left the Beat bench incredulous, Jacq was called out for oversliding the 2^nd base bag that came ajar on impact. The stunned Beatniks went down in order and looked rattled on defense as Joey’s came out strong with back-to-back singles off Special K.

The big number #3 hitter Faga (3 for 4, HR, triple, 6 RBIs) lined a hard shot at the ailing Austin (playing with cracked ribs from a collision in the semi-final), who shook off the impact and hustled a throw to 2^nd baseman Mike (Don’t call me Joey) Buttafuso for the 1^st out. On the next play, the 1^st run scored as the typically sure-handed Butts dropped the throw on a tailor made double play flip from the shortstop Brian Arcuri. Surprisingly, the 2^nd out was registered by the controversial 2^nd base ump who ruled Mike had held onto the ball long enough to make the putout. The missed double play opportunity loomed large, however, as Joey’s strung together 3 singles, a double and a walk with 2 out to sprint out to a commanding 6-0 lead.

The Beat made it 6-1 when Armando Lopez scored from 2^nd base as the left center fielder Diaz overthrew the cut off man on Arcuri’s 2-out single. Not content to let up on its 5-run lead, Joey J’s plated another 4 runs in the bottom of the 2^nd highlighted by Faga’s 3-run blast to increase their lead to what then seemed like an insurmountable 10-1 cushion.

Rick Ankiel Syndrome
After breezing through the first 2 innings allowing only a run on 3 hits, the J’s starting pitcher Williams suddenly lost the plate in the top of the third. Following a 2-out, 2-run single by Donnell (Big Daddy) Moody to cut Joey’s lead to 10-4, Williams walked 7 straight batters to hand the Beatniks 5 more runs to let them back in the game. Ironically, Jacq the Rock popped out on what looked like ball four off the reliever Sanchez to keep Joey J’s in front 10-9.

The game stayed nip and tuck in the middle innings as Austin and the defense settled down and the opposing pitchers dueled. The Beatniks missed an opportunity to take the lead in the 4^th when the right fielder Dunkle robbed Mondo of a 2-run homer with a spectacular over-the-shoulder running catch to preserve a razor thin 11-10 advantage. That may have been the turning point in the game.

As Joey’s tough infield defense held the Beat to 1 run in the 4^th through 6^th innings (the Beat left 2 runners on base in the top of the 5^th), the 2003 spring champs chipped away at Austin and O’Brien to extend their lead to 13-10 after five complete. The Beat went down in order in the top of the 6^th due largely to 2 spectacular backhanded stops by the shortstop Sanchez before the J’s broke it open with 5 runs off of OB in the home half, who had pitched an orderly 5^th inning to keep the score close.

A key play in the inning came with the bases loaded and 1 out on a slow roller to 3^rd when MSG, charging the ball, decided to go to 1^st instead of home. A walk, a 2-run double, and 2-run triple later, and the Beat were down 18-10 while many onlookers wondered if the air was out of the Beat balloon. However, the boys in gray refused to go down without a fight.

Beatniks last stand
Big Daddy and Jim (The Thrill) Colletto led off the 7^th inning with consecutive singles and advanced to 2^nd and 3^rd on Mondo’s long fly out to right center. A clutch 2-run single by Butts cut Joey’s lead to 18-12 and fired up the Beat bench. Following 3 straight singles by Arcuri, semi-final game hero Mark (Mr. October) Briscoe (RBI) and Greg (Luki) Lukoski that loaded the bases, Wenner pinch hit for OB and walked on 5 pitches to make it 18-14. An RBI fielder’s choice by Jacq put runners at the corners and brought Jacque Wilson to the plate as the potential tying run. However Sanchez got Wilson to line hard to Alvarez in right center for the final out of the game and Joey J’s danced off the field with a hard fought 18-15 victory.

After the 2 teams posed at home plate for cheesecake pictures with their tall, faux silver championship and runners up trophies from The City, The Beat dejectedly retired to the sidelines to contemplate the loss and what might have been. Had they peaked too soon with the 19-run mercy killing the week before? The “what if” scenarios were many.

“We just didn’t have it today,” said Jacque after the game. “But I’ll bet you this. We’ll be back and I hope we get Joey J’s again along the way.”

In the final analysis, the fabulous brothers Beat had still achieved the highest point in team history with a 2^nd place finish in a field of no less than 42 C-league teams. While it felt anti-climactic, the team had gone another step further in its 3-year quest for a C-league title following 3 division titles in the last 4 seasons.

Will the next time be the charm? Only a month remains until the summer season as The Beat heads off in the meantime to compete in the City Metro tournament starting July 8^th at Jackson field.

See the scoresheet in pdf (386k) or
On The BEAT News Archive

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