by ???

A DAY OF UPSETS!

Something was in the air. Amidst the aroma of hops from the neighboring Anchor Steam Brewery, hidden in the fog as it advanced and retreated, kicked up by the gale force winds out of left field, it was there. That feeling that something is not right and shit is going to happen. August 24 proved to be a wake-up call for many teams written off and left for dead as every underdog pulled out a victory in one way or another.

The opener showed Cool Dudes (3-2) plastering the previously undefeated Finnegan's Wake (3-1) by a score I can't begin to tell you (because I don't get up that early).

Game Two fell apart as favorite (???) Bravo Pizza (1-4) forfeited a loss to previously winless Pat O'Shea's (1-3) moving O'Shea's up from last place.

Game Three pitted our boys in gray (3-2) against the winless Tornados (1-3). Tornados came up one player short and threatened a forfeit, but The BEAT came to play, not sit down. Tornados acquired the services of Cool Dude's pitcher who held The BEAT to four runs and a .367 average with two K's on April 20. The stage was set.

Cool (I mean Tornados) broke out early with two runs in the top of the first and one in the second. But the story of the day was The BEAT's frustration with Cool's pitcher. The BEAT was held scoreless through four innings and finally managed to break the shutout in the fifth as Mike Buttafuso reached on a single and advanced to second. Frank Green scorched a double for The BEAT's first RBI.

Tornados managed two more runs to give them five for the game. But The BEAT defense held tight to keep it close. A couple errors cost The BEAT runs but they managed to strand ten Tornados baserunners. The BEAT had back-to-back putouts at third in the first inning, tagged runners on the baselines, ended two innings on double plays and ended innings twice by catching runners missing the bases when Tornados had runners in scoring position. Still, The BEAT needed to put together a four run inning in the bottom of the seventh, just to tie.

Kevin Austin and Mark St.Georges led off with back-to-back singles, but they were followed with back-to-back FC's with Donnell Moody receiving The BEATs second RBI. But that was all the good guys could muster on this ugly day, held to a pitiful six hits and a .222 team batting average.

Just to round off the day, Fahey's Flakes (2-3) with only one win coming off the 14-4 drubbing by The BEAT on the prior weekend, held strong against a flat Connecticut Yankee (2-2) team that is the cream of the league. Fahey's led the whole way until Connecticut pulled together three runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at eight. But back-to-back errors by Connecticut's shortstop and a timely RBI single brought home the winning run for Fahey's to make the day complete.

Of course, the team that had the bye this week was HGA (4-0) who now has a solid hold on first place with only Finnegan's to challenge them.

Next up for The BEAT...Finnegan's!

View The BEAT's 1996 Batting Statistics

On The BEAT News Archive