The Beat 21 vs. Spread the Glove 5
Well I've been waiting quite some time to write an article like this. The Beat finally broke out of their doldrums and remembered what it was like to play like a team Saturday, beating Spread the Glove 21-5 on a very windy, dust-swept Jackson #1. Oddly enough, the turnaround came on a Memorial Day Weekend makeup game when teams are traditionally shorthanded. The Beat played without the Wilson's, the Briscoes, and manager Pete Wenner. The Glove also appeared to be shorthanded and may have improved their odds by bringing in a number of ringers from Ronin who mercy-ruled Old Clamhouse 19-4 in record time just before our game.

Today's game was the polar opposite of last week; in that game Finnegan's seemed to get every break as the ball consistently found holes in the infield or dropped short in the outfield. Today it was the Beat getting those breaks (including hits that kicked up chalk down both the first and third base lines) and it appeared that the Glove/Ronin outfielders didn't even want to catch the ball until it first touched the ground.

The Beat started the game strong and never looked back scoring four runs in the top of the first. After Brian Greenblatt (3-6, 2 runs, 2 RBI) singled to lead off the game and Jim Colletto (1-4, run, sac, RBI) reached on a 2-base error by the left-center fielder, Donnell Moody (3-5, 3 runs, 2 RBI), Mark St. Georges (5-5, 3 runs, 2B, RBI), Mondo Lopez (4-5, 2 runs, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI), and "shoeless" Derek Rey (3-5, 2 runs, 3 RBI) connected with consecutive RBI singles to give the Beat a 4 spot heading into the home half of the first.

Leadoff man and Glove shortstop Sternberg jumped on the first pitch in the bottom of the inning for a single but was quickly erased when #2 batter Ryan hit a fly ball to Derek in right field. Sternberg, thinking it would drop in, broke for second and little D had an easy DP assist to big D at first base. Glove went down without scoring.

The Beat added another run in the second when Kevin Austin (2-5, run, 2 RBI, sac) lined to short center. Colletto singled to left and Austin went first to third barely escaping the behind-the-back swipe tag by the third baseman. Both teams observed the tag, but the blues missed it. Moody then drove in Austin for the fifth run but Colletto was caught between 3rd base and home for the 3rd out. The Bottom half of Glove's lineup pushed 1 run across on a single and a double, but otherwise went down quietly on 3 outfield popups.

The Beat tacked on 3 more in the 3rd when Mondo reached on a fielder's choice and Abraham Seniani (4-5, 2B, 3 runs, RBI) singled. Greg Lukoski (2-5, 3B, 2 runs, 3 RBI) then drove a liner against the wind and over the heads of the two center fielders for a 2 run triple. Gunnar Rosenquist (2-4, 2 runs, RBI) singled in Greg making the score 8-1 heading into the bottom of the third.

Glove pitcher and manager Matt Sarcani led off the bottom of the third with a grounder through Big Daddy's wickets. With two runners on and a run in, Bowlby singled to left driving in a second run. Abraham made a quick throw to Greg at third who caught Bowlby halfway between first and second with the bases jacked. This led to a double run-down with Bowlby and Skivanitch then caught between second and third. While Cahee snuck home from third, Skivanitch was tagged out by Mondo for the second out. Glove had pushed across 3 runs but that would be their biggest threat of the day. The Beat was still up 8-4 after 3 full.

The Beat went down 1-2-3 in the 4th on 3 consecutive outfield flies by the heart of the order and one might wonder if the Beat of earlier this spring was returning. Glove mounted a threat in the bottom of the inning on a single and infield error, but Austin got Scarcani to foul out to right for the second out and a liner to Colletto in left ended the rally without a run scoring.

The Beat broke it open in the 5th with a single by MSG followed by an RBI triple into the gap in center by Mondo and consecutive singles by Derek, Abraham, Greg, Gunnar, and Brian. With 5 runs already in and still no outs, Austin and Colletto hit back to back sacrifice flies to make the score 15-4 and clear the bases. Big Daddy then reached on an error at third, MSG singled again, and Mondo doubled D home for the final run of the inning. The Beat was up 16-4 when Derek popped out to short to end the 5th thereby making him the beer bitch next week. 

Brian showed off his arm in the bottom of the fifth by gunning down Glove's leadoff hitter trying to stretch a single into a double. Glove tacked on 1 more in the fifth on 2 singles and a double to make the score 16-5, but that would be it for their offense. With the changing winds, Austin switched to the knuckleball for the last two inning and retired Glove on 3 infield popups, 2 grounders, and a single fly to the outfield vs. only 2 hits.

That wasn't it for the Beat though...

In what would start a strange series of events, Austin came up with 2 outs and runners at second and third in the 6th and hit an unintentional suicide squeeze that bounced 10 feet straight up. Gunnar, booking on the play from third with 2 outs scored easily as Austin was safe at first.

In the 7th, the Beat picked up 3 more on consecutive hits by Donnell, MSG, Mondo, Derek, and Abraham. Then with 2 outs and Abraham at third, Dennis O’Brien (1-1, RBI) came in to pinch hit for Gunnar, and hit the team's second unintentional suicide squeeze in less than 10 minutes scoring Abraham as he booked in from 3rd.

That would be the last run as the team wracked up a season high 21 runs on 30 hits, hitting .600 as a team. The Beat had 5 extra base hits (coming into the game they'd only had 8 total for the season) and committed only 3 errors for 2 unearned runs. They still stranded 9 runners on base (5 in scoring position), but on this day they didn't need those extra runs.

For the first time all year you could see the Beat execute as a team. The big plays were made when we needed them and the few errors did little damage, but most importantly the team showed their clutch side with every single batter having at least 1 hit and 1 RBI; and everyone except O.B., who had only 1 at bat, scored at least 1 run. Everyone chipped in today and in honor of that, interim manager D. Moody tossed the game ball into the ball bag and dedicated this one to 'The Team.'