Monte Carlo. Spewed forth from the cosmic soup of Cool Dudes, Straight Out of the Hood, and Hammertime; like a magnet drawing in fragments of Flor de Cana, the SF Ballers, and Old Clamhouse; all revolving around a core of Victor Loggins. An intense competitor, Slick Vic is the classic Beat nemesis; the man that can't be figured out (yet who really wants to)? This was the Beat's 10th time facing Vic and company. In the previous nine meetings, the Beat had scored in double digits only once. In the last three meetings back to 2003 the Beat averaged a mere 7 runs and 10 hits per game. And in the spring of '07, this very same Beat was held to a humiliating 2 unearned runs in 7 innings.

But that was then and this is now. The Beat of Spring that inconsistently racked up a 5-3 record punctuated by a 70-run 3-game streak is now the Beat of Summer, the team that is obliterating 20-year-old records and has visions of City Championship dancing in it's head. But to get there they first had to win this game. This was THE GAME! The biggest game of 2007; the biggest game in years. At stake: an inside track to the playoffs; seven rounds, no holds barred. With a 3-way tie for first between these two teams and Flor, the winner of this game would be just one win away from October nights while the loser would likely be home to watch the Yanks lose on TV. And while the Beat insisted on making the game an interesting an close affair, they held strong, stood tall, and walked away victorious.

On to the Game
The weather was beautiful; a crystal clear day, 70 degrees and surprisingly windless for the City. Pete laid out a number of keys before the game:

1. make Vic throw strikes
2. get an early lead; and
3. play solid defense.

In a nutshell, jump out early and hold the advantage in walks and errors. In looking over the Beat archives, Kev discovered that Vic had once walked 8 Beatniks in a 2003 match up against the now defunct Straight Out of the Hood. He also has a reputation for shutting down the offense after the first few innings.

Special K started Monte Carlo with a steady diet of backspins and double backspins inducing 2 quick outfield flies on 3 pitches. Minas (or is that menace?) singled for MC's first baserunner but #4 hitter Baller Vic grounded to Gunnar at second to end the inning. Leadoff man extraordinaire Jacq Wilson (3-3, 2B, 3 runs, 3 RBI, BB) set the tone for the game by patiently taking a walk to start the Beat first. Kev (1-3, run, RBI, SF) drove an 0-2 pitch down the right field line just foul but right fielder Brooks committed the first Monte Carlo mistake catching the ball in foul territory and allowing Jacq to alertly race in to second. Jacque (3-4, 2Bx2, 3B, 3 RBI, 3 runs) doubled his brother in then opportunistically came all the way around to score on an error at short. One of the great strengths of this Beat team is speed on the basepaths. Because of this fleetness afoot the Beat took a 2-0 lead after one.

Rigo Flor (he even wore his Flor de Cana jersey) led off the second with a shot down the first baseline for a double then advanced to third on an error in right. Lefty Carl Thompson popped to right center for a sac fly then MC dropped a couple Texas league bloops amidst a 4-hit rally putting Monte Carlo up 4-2. The rally was squelched when Brooks stepped out of the box reaching for an inside pitch then leadoff man Atkinson grounded to D-Rey at short to quickly end the inning.

The Beat responded in the bottom of the second with a leadoff walk to Mark St. Georges (1-3, run, BB). Two quick pop outs was not a good omen but D-Rey (2-3, 2 runs, RBI), Gunnar (1-2, run, RBI, BB), and Jacq rattled off consecutive 2-out singles to tie the game at four.

Monte Carlo, led the third with a single by the shortstop Lopez. Then 'the Menace' in the red cap roped a drive over Brian's head in left center for a 2-run knock. D told me not to throw that pitch again and I agreed.

Brian (2-4) and Mondo (2-4, hr, 3 RBI, run) had back to back 2-out singles in the Beat half but could muster no runs before MC started pounding away again in the 4th working 4 singles for 3 more runs and a 9-4 lead. At that point, it was looking ominous for the Beat as Vic's reputation for getting stronger as the game progressed loomed large.

Heading into the bottom of the 4th Pete, Mondo and I were jawing over all the fly balls—7 of the Beat's 9 outs had been fly balls. Pete even started parroting the MC's manager who had been exhorting his players to "aim for the gophers and not the birds." Well the team must have gotten the message as they rolled off consecutive singles by Jim (1-3, run), Donnell (1-3, run), and D-Rey with an RBI. Gunnar walked to load the bases and Vic was on the ropes for the first time in the game—bases jacked and the top of the order coming up.

Jacq answered the call with a clutch 2-run double. Kev flew out to right driving in Gunnar (and drawing the wrath of Mondo for the fly ball). The throw in was booted and Jacq alertly hustled around to tie the score at 9-9. With one out, Q doubled again and Tim (0-2, run, RBI, SF, BB) drew a walk. Mondo stepped up and hit a fly to deep left (damn Mondo, we just talked about that)! The left fielder Colbert parked under it, then backpeddled...then backpeddled. The ball caught the Jackson jet stream and sailed over Colbert's outstretched glove for a 3-run knock. The team had rolled off an 8-run rally and turned a 9-4 deficit into a 12-9 lead.

With the bottom half of the order coming up, Special K locked in the double backspin to start the 5th with a first pitch pop out to left and two infield pops to Gunnar at second. Still 12-9, the Beat had a chance to take the momentum of the 8-run rally and the quick MC outs and lay down the hammer. The Beat laid down alright...but not the hammer; the side was retired 1-2-3 on consecutive pop flies in the infamous beer inning. That makes 12 pop outs in just 5 innings.

Monte Carlo took advantage with 3 singles and an infield error to open the 6th. With one run in and one out, the bases were loaded for the heart of the Monte Carlo order. The Menace—3 for 3 with a homer and 4 RBI—grounded to Big Daddy at first. D took the out at first but couldn't turn the double at the plate. Suddenly it was a 12-11 game and Monte Carlo had runners at second and third. Gut check time but Special K got Baller Vic to ground to D for the second time and Big Daddy took it himself to end the threat. The fearsome lefty cleanup hitter Vic, coming off a 4 for 4 game, was collared by Special K.  "He loves to drive the ball to left," responded Kev. "I just took away the outside pitch and forced him to pull."

With time running down, the top of the Beat order threw down the gauntlet featuring the running game once again. Jacq and Kev singled to lead off the bottom of the 6th. Jacq hustled first to third and Kev took second on the throw. Jacque stepped up and roped a triple scoring both. Tim hit a deep sac fly scoring Q giving the Beat a 15-11 lead.

Top of the 7th with Rigo and Carl coming up. Both batters singled but Carl's sharp roller was overrun in the outfield and with no one backing up it was suddenly a 15-13 game in the 7th with no outs. The bottom of the order was coming up, but it had not gone down easily all day.

Kev got Melvins to ground out to Mondo at third then retired Fisher on his second comebacker of the game. Two down, none on, two run lead... all we had to do was hold them. Up next, rasta Antoine Colbert and Slick Vic, 5 for 6 on the day. Colbert slapped yet another single but Vic (3-3, 2 runs, 2 RBI) was called back for the aged pinch hitter Anderson. Kev climbed the ladder with a couple backspins and with an 0-2 count Anderson grounded to Mondo at third to end the game.

It wasn't pretty—a "cardiac game" would better describe it—but the Beat did what they had to do.

Looking back at the keys of the game...the Beat did not break out early and Monte Carlo actually outhit the Beat 21-17. But the Beat committed just 3 errors to Monte Carlo's 5 and Vic walked 4 to Kev's 0. It was Vic's 4 walks that ultimately made the difference as all 4 Beat baserunners scored. "Vic played right into our hands," chirped Pete. "The patience paid off." Monte Carlo never mounted a rally for more than 4 runs while the Beat, for the first time ever, turned in a big, late-inning rally against Vic. 

Awards and Records
Following the game Pete declared it a great team victory. He even used the words "glowing with pride". When he mentioned that no game ball would be awarded, a call went up for Mondo's 3-run homer as the turning point of the game. Mondo was awarded the game ball by consensus, and the most vocal proponents were the Wilson brothers. But get this...Jacq and Jacque, just back from a Tahoe overnighter and batting in the one and three spots, accounted for nearly half of the team's offense going 6 for 7 game with 3 doubles, a triple, 6 runs, 6 RBI, and a walk. Have a game boys!!! Gunnar managed to take home beer bitch honors yet again (Jesus G, how many is that now???)

As for the records...the Beat of '07 is rewriting the record books. The following records were set today:

• Team hits in a year: 292
• Team runs in a year: 246
• Team RBI in a year: 204
• Team home runs in a year: 21
• Team home runs in a season: 11
• Individual runs in a year: Jacq 34

Records tied today with one game left to play:

• Team hits in a season: 148 (tied spring '06)
• Individual runs in a season: Jacq 18 (tied own record from spring '04)
• Individual RBI in a season: Jacque 20 (tied D summer '05 and John Palmer summer '94)
• Team doubles in a season: 20 (tied spring '00)

In addition, Mondo became the only Beat player other than John Palmer to break the 30 RBI mark in a year with 32. Right behind are Tim (29) and Jacque (28), so the team may not only have their first 30 RBI man since 1994, they could have three. Palmer's 1994 record 34 RBI could fall as well as team and individual marks for hits, runs, RBI, and doubles in a season and Palmer's season and year records for home runs.

Up Next
Next up is a competitive Sledgehammer team that would just love to be a spoiler. In his post-game remarks Pete reminded the team that "we haven't clinched anything but a tie for the wild card at this point. Don't look past the Sledgehammers!" Remember game 6 in the spring against Finnegans? We came into that game a freight train riding a high from a 70-run in 3 game streak and on the heels of finally beating La LiberFlor. We were at our highest and we fell on our faces against a team we should have buried. We left runners on base; we hit into fielder’s choices. We had only 11 hits and 5 runs. If ever there was a reminder why nothing should be taken for granted, that is it.

The challenge had been made in pre-game emails: "To be the best, you have to beat the best!"

Now it's time to further that challenge. Nothing less than a blowout against Sledgehammer next week will be acceptable. This is the record-setting, 20th Anniversary edition of the Beat and we are on a mission; a mission to be the BEST! The only way to fulfill that mission is to be that best which means running the table until the table is empty. That means hitting lights out like we have all summer. That means solid pitching and defense. That means everyone stepping up to the challenge and bringing the best game we've got.

So let's rewrite those record books boys. With a big game against Sledge next week, many more should fall and almost either way—win or lose—the Beat will likely be looking at a 9th regular season game; a tie-breaker match for the division championship or wild card berth.

On The BEAT News Archive