Il Pirata obviously missed the memo that it was the Beat's turn to win this back and forth battle of teams that have been facing each other for ten years now. Over those years, this rival has been known as Connecticut Yankee, Doom, Altered States, 23rd Hour, and now Il Pirata, but it's still the same gang with Dave on the mound, Dez at third, and Keeno at first. The rest of the faces have changed over the years though some years back two big acquisitions were made: a huge bat was picked up with lefty Bryce "Baby Huey" Lynn who never fails to pound every pitch thrown his way and perennial park rat Freddy Lazures to shore up the shortstop and leadoff position that had always been the one weakness of the earlier teams.

Saturday's game was another close battle that was far too reminiscent of game 2 of the spring season. In that game, the Beat was coming off an exciting 12-10 opening day win against the SF Ballers and looking to make it 2 in a row only to have the bats go cold in a low-scoring 7-6 loss to Il Pirata. This week, following a 13-1 trouncing of Finnegan's in the summer opener, it wasn't until the late innings that the Beat bats got quiet, but quiet they did get.

Il Pirata jumped out to a 4-run lead in the top of the first with 5 consecutive hits after the first out. Austin stuck with the knuckleball that had been so successful against Finnegan's the prior week, but Il Pirata showed what makes them one of the premier teams in the league by pounding it relentlessly. Add a bad call on the bases and an infield error, and the Pirates were up 4-0.

In the bottom of the first, Austin (2-4, 2 runs) reached on a single, was advanced by Mark St. Georges (2-4, 2 RBI, run) and Donnell Moody (1-3, Sac, RBI), and eventually scored on Mondo Lopez's (0-3, Sac, RBI) sac fly to make the score 4-1 after one.

Il Pirata was held scoreless on 2 hits in the second opening the way for the bottom half of the Beat order to show their stuff. Mark Briscoe (3-3, 3B, RBI, 2 runs), who came into the game professing a new approach to hitting and backing that up with a team-best 3 for 3 performance, led off the inning with a single. Brian Greenblatt (2-3, RBI, run) singled but was forced at second by Gunnar (0-3, RBI, 2 runs) as Briscoe scored. Fill-in Rhino Terry reached on an error by Keeno at first and Pete Wenner (1-1, BB, Sac, 2 RBI, run) started his big day with a nice RBI single. Jacq Wilson (2-4, RBI, run) drove in Terry, Austin singled to right to load the bases, and MSG drove in two more. D Moody, playing with a torn rotator (you gotta love these guys!), launched a moon shot to deep center field scoring Austin from third. After two, the Beat was up 7-4.

Il Pirata bounced back with another 4 spot in the third on a leadoff single by Bryce, a chalk-shot down the right field line by Keeno, and an RBI single by Powell. The inning was capped off by Freddie lining an inside pitch into the teeth of the wind and over Briscoe's head in left for a 2-run triple. Il Pirata 8, The Beat 7.

Briscoe started another big rally in the bottom of the third with a 1-out rocket over right-center for a triple. Brian singled Briscoe home then Gunnar reached on a shot off of Dave's glove and shin. Terry singled and Pete drove in another run with a sac fly to put the Beat back up 10-8.

Il Pirata got one back in the 4th after #3 hitter Flander reached on an infield error. Singles by Dez and Bryce made the score 10-9 before Austin set the next 3 down in order including a strike out of Keeno looking. The Beat tacked on a little insurance in the bottom of the inning with a lead-off single by MSG and a 2-out single by Jacque (3-1, run). Briscoe singled in MSG eluding tag at the plate. Catcher Murphy then whipped the ball to Dez at third in an attempt to catch Q, but the ball rolled into left and Q scored easily giving the Beat a 12-9 lead.

Of course no lead was safe in this see-saw game. Il Pirata dropped another 4-spot on the Beat (for the third time in the game) when Powell led off the 5th with a long drive to the right field fence. A bad wheel was the only thing that held Dave to a double . Austin lost the zone walking Murphy then tossing an inside first pitch to Freddie whole drilled it down the third baseline. Two hitter Ossenbauch singled in 2, Flander sac'd in a third and then Bryce capped his 4-4, 2 run, 2 ribbie game with an RBI single to put the Pirates up 13-12.

The Beat still had the home field advantage, but they seemed to run out of gunpowder as two infield outs bookended a rare Powell walk and an infield error. Austin ended the hit-free threat with a pop-out to Dez giving him beer bitch honors for the week. Damn!

With the ump warning of time running out, Kev put the Pirates down on 3 pop-ups in the top of the 6th. The Beat had one last chance to pull this one out. A run would tie the game; two would win it. MSG fouled the 2-strike pitch for Powell's first 'K' of the game. Donnell scorched a deep drive to right-center but it hung in the wind for out number two. Mondo then fouled to Keeno for the final out and the Beat went down in order with a whimper, not a bang.

This was a hard one to take in a game that was incredibly close through 5 innings. The Beat had leads of 7-4, 10-8, 10-9, and 12-9. In a 1-run loss you could point at a number of keys: 3 infield errors, 2 walks that scored, 8 runners left on base. But in the end, the Beat just couldn't convert that home-field advantage into the 1 or 2 runs they needed in the last two innings to pull this one out.

Thus, Il Pirata sneaks away with another close win and should be counting their blessings tonight that they got a 'W' from this one. The Beat needs to take this week to regroup and come back strong against the division's two 'DD' call-ups, the Black Sox and Sledgehammers. See you in two!

Injury Report (Friday August 4, 2006):
MRI results on Donnell Moody show a degeneration (thinning) of the rotator cuff and deep tendonitis ...... Moody is scheduled to play this weekend but surgery to repair tendons and remove bone spurs may soon have him headed to the DL. During the procedure, doctors will also look for any tears that may have been missed by the MRI... In lieu of comment, Moody decided to get F'd up...