by Pete

The Beat mercy rule Loose Cannons in 22-6 romp Beat bats break out with a bang; score 19 unanswered runs after Cannons jump out 6-3 in 1st; Pitching and defense both sharp; Alex Briscoe and Jacque return triumphantly

At the end of a hot afternoon on August 16, The Beat found itself locked in a 3-way tie for first place with idle Finnegan’s and next week’s opponent, the Other Guys. Sporting a filled-to-capacity 12-man lineup, the Beatniks managed to flip it around 3 times in a 5-inning mercy killing that knocked the Loose Cannons out of 1st place. Mike (Butz) Buttafuso celebrated his birthday a day early with a 4 for 4 game and hit the tall right field fence twice on Jackson #2 with a booming triple in the 4th and a 2-run double in the 5th.

Butts and Mark Briscoe (3 for 3, home run, double, 4 RBIs) keyed a potent 22-hit attack that included a season-high 7 extra base hits and homers from Briscoe and Armando (Don’t call me Larry anymore) Lopez. Mark (MSG) St. Georges continued his torrid hitting with a 3 for 3 performance, a double and 3 RBIs.

Following a 6-run jolt from the Cannons with none out in the home half of the 1st, Kevin (Special K) Austin settled down, retired the next 3 batters and proceeded to shut out the Loose Cannons on just 6 hits the rest of the way. The Beat defense was sharp throughout as the infield helped Kev with 3 double plays in the middle innings. Jacq (The Rock) Wilson made 2 sliding catches in right center where he returned following a week in left while brother Jacque was out of the lineup.

2003 Summer Standings Team W L PCT Pts GB The BEAT 2 1 .667 4 – Finnegan's 2 1 .667 4 – The Other Guys 2 1 .667 4 – Loose Cannons 2 2 .500 4 .5 Solid Smack 0 3 .000 0 2.5

Welcome back to a hitters’ club
Although the Beat was hitting over .500 in the early summer, it had experienced problems with stringing hits together, especially in the clutch. The lineup needed a jolt and it got two.

Jacque Wilson made a surprising early comeback from a hairline fracture of the knee that he suffered in game 4 of the Metro Tournament just a month ago. On the same day, Alex Briscoe made a long-planned reappearance after missing almost a year following a serious ankle injury sustained in a pickup basketball game. The returns of Jacque and Alex had at minimum a psychological effect on the club. The fact they were a combined 3 for 4 with a walk, a sacrifice and 2 RBIs batting in the bottom half of the lineup lent proof of the physical effect.

Challenged to get back to Big Daddy’s rule of scoring 5 runs in the 1st as the visiting team, the Beatniks managed 3 tallies on singles by Jacq and Butts, a double by MSG and sacrifice flies by Donnell Moody and Jim Colletto.

At the outset, the Loose Cannons looked like a hitters’ club themselves as they plated 6 runs on 6 hits and an error before the 1st out. Following an error on a hard-hit grounder off his glove by Raymond Seto, Kevin toughened to retire the next 3 batters in order.

Mark Briscoe jump-started a 5-run outburst for The Beat in the 2nd with a 2-run shot into the center field gap that scored Brian Arcuri who had led off with a single to left. RBI singles by Jacque, Jacq and MSG made it 8-6 Beat. Then they never looked back.

Change that backspin to a knuckler
According to Special K, the key to his turnaround on the hill was a switch from the backspin to the knuckleball in the 2nd. “Kevin was throwing strikes and mixing locations well in the 1st”, said catcher Greg (Lucky Luki) Lukoski, “but they were patient and hit the ball hard. The change to the knuckler seemed to throw everybody off-balance.”

Another factor was the strong right arm of shortstop Brain (the Rifleman) Arcuri, who double-pumped on the relay throw from Butts at 2nd base to complete a double play on #2-hitter Brett Dyer, the starting pitcher. The effect of 2 more singles by Edmund Wong and Gilbert Louie was negated when Austin induced Tommy Luong to fly out to Colletto in right.

A home run to the wall in right center by Armando ignited a 4-run 3rd and the Beat rout was on. Two tough sliding catches by Jacq the Rock and 2 more double plays helped Austin keep the Cannons off the board until the umps called the mercy rule after the home team failed to score in the 5th.

The Beat goes home to Jackson #1 next week with a 3pm game against longtime nemesis the Other Guys on August 23. Although the Beat has won their last 2 meetings with the OGs, the team hasn’t scored more than 10 runs in a contest against them since the spring of 2000, a span of 7 games. The Beat is 7-4-1 over the Other Guys since 1999.

Game 4 of the summer promises to be a crucial match up.

“It was good to see the guys with their hitting shoes on again,” said Kevin, who along with the rest of his brethren, hope a trend has been started. “It couldn’t have come at a better time.”

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On The BEAT News Archive

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