by Pete

Hammertime Bursts Beat Bubble! Patience is a virtue for Hammertime the 2nd time around in 20-8 rout.

Hammertime showed why it is the best team in Open C-6 by humbling The Beat last Saturday. HT was relaxed and obviously focused on taking it to the Beat after losing 13-10 in game 2 of the 1999 Spring Season. An obviously disciplined hitting club, Hammerstein made starter Kevin Austin throw countless pitches while teeing off for 12 runs after a pair of errors followed a leadoff single to begin the top of the 3rd inning. The beating came on as fast and furiously as a blitzkrieg panzer attack. By the time the dust had cleared and the bombers left the field in the third, the Hammers stood tall with an 18-6 lead en route to the 20-8 final.

Referring to the Beat's 5-11 composite record in 1998, cyber-sophomore Jim Colletto summed up the comforting sentiment. "You can't expect to go from the outhouse to the penthouse overnight." With a 6-1 record and only one game to go for Hammertime against C-league newcomer Mars, The Beat, now 4-2, rationalized its plight with a determination to fight for a 6-2 Spring record and second place.

Perhaps the biggest lesson of this game lay in the way Hammertime approached the game. Down 5-1 to the upstart Beatniks after the first inning, HT studied Kevin's pitches, worked the counts patiently, and teed off for hit after hit. Surprisingly, power wasn't necessary in their relentless attack.

Indeed following the game the K-man remarked, "I have to say that Hammertime Saturday was the most patient team I've ever seen at the plate. There is a lesson to be learned for us. They ALWAYS took a first strike. ALWAYS! When I fell behind in the count, they made me come in to them and took advantage of it. When I was ahead in the count (even 0-2 a few times), they still got their hits whether the next pitch was a strike or not. That's clutch hitting--knowing that you have to swing with two strikes, going after the ball, and drilling it. Can't fault them for that. They're just a good hitting team."

Perhaps The Beat, a traditionally free-swinging ballclub, can take the cue from the arrogant masters as they approach Mars and Nicoya to close out the '99 Spring Season.

The game started on an upbeat note for the boys in gray. The Potrero Hill air was still, the sun was out and The Beat welcomed a full 14-man squad. Despite a home run by the loudmouth Hammertime shortstop Garrard in the top of the first, the Beat took a 5-1 lead on consecutive one-out singles by Austin and Mark "Cottonmouth King" St. Georges, an error by Garrard on Big Daddy Moody's grounder, and RBI singles by John "The Bomber" Palmer, Greg Lukoski, Colletto (2 RBIs) and Chris Young. However a double-play ground out with runners on first and second ended the threat.

HT came back and went ahead 6-5 in the top of the second as the lower part of the order turned the pre-game scouting report on its head. Having been held to a composite sub-.300 average in previous HT-Beat contests, the 6 through 11 hitters got to Kevin for 5 earned runs in a harbinger of bad things to come.

The Beat tied it 6-6 in their half of the second, but left the bases loaded to end another opportunity to open up some breathing room against the first place Hammerheads. The top of the third ushered in the nightmare. Was it really Saturday the 15th or Friday the 13th? Who the Hell knew. All we knew was that a pair of errors following a leadoff single opened the floodgates for Hammertime. Eight singles, a sac-fly, 2 walks, an error, and 2 more singles, and the damage was done. It was 18-6. Both teams would score two more apiece as time ran out and the Hammersteins confidently left the field with a 20-8 pasting of the upstarts who had imperiled their season in week 2.

"When it rains, it pours in a game like that," said manager Pete Wenner. "I'm proud that we beat Hammertime the first time we played 'em. No one else has come close to that. They've stomped everyone else in the division and they're obviously a fine team. We just have to play for pride the rest of the way and continue the progress we've made since last summer."

Next up, the men from Mars on May 22 at 1.45pm on the Beatnik's field of dreams, Jackson #1.

View The BEAT's 1999 Final Batting Statistics

On The BEAT News Archive