MCSN: June 28, 2014

Warming Up

Week 3 Recap

By Rob Tong

Tue, Jul 8, 2014

Games were on despite the soggy week The weather got hot for the first time this season and the bats followed suit all morning.

It was a battle of the unbeatens in the first game as the Halos faced off against the Killer Beehs.

You wouldn't have guessed that the teams combined for 39 hits when looking at the final score, which had the Halos holding off the Beehs 8-7. But indeed, the Halos (3-0) had 21 hits and the Beehs (2-1) rang up 18 hits. Yet strangely, the two teams had enough pitching and defense to allow only 15 of the 39 baserunners to score.

"The Killer Beehs fought hard being short-handed again," manager Bryan Beeh said. "Joshua Pagan lead the attack with four hits in five at bats and three RBIs. One of his hits was an over-the-fence home run and another hit the top of one of the light fixtures in left field [that bounced back into the field for a ground-rule double]. It was crushed."

The Halos left bases loaded in the 6th inning. But the Beehs topped that heartache by leaving the bases loaded in the 7th inning even with rookie sensation Pagan up to bat. Earlier in the game, Pagan hit the two aforementioned moon shots. So the Halos debated whether to intentionally walk him, even if it meant tying the game. The Halos elected to pitch to Pagan. But this time, he could not go yard as he popped up to end the tense game, stranding the tying run at third and winning run at second.

"That guy [Pagan] is a beast," Halos manager Rob Tong said. "With a capital 'B'."

Tong himself hit an over-the-fence home run (his first in five years), Robert Martinez was a home run short of the cycle, and rookies Dan Armstrong and pitcher Scott Veigel each went 3-for-3 to help the Halos.

The Killer Beehs went to the other end of the spectrum in the 9am game, going from an undefeated opponent in the Halos to the winless Fruit Of The Spirit in the second half of their doubleheader.

"It featured a 'Tisler-less' [game] as all members were helping Ovi's mom move," Spirit manager Sam Baturoni pointed out.

The band of Spirits kept the game close after two innings, trailing only 9-6. The Spirit's Robert Gomez and Godfrey Gillett were perfect, going a combined 6-for-6 with 3 RBI in the game.

"Due to their consistent attendance issues, we were able to find gaps in the field between their eight defenders," Baturoni said.

But the Beehs put up another five-spot in the third inning, led by Pagan's five RBI, and the Fruit Of The Spirit did not reciprocate, allowing the Beehs to coast to a 15-8 victory.

"Eric Lim of the Killer Beehs was 3-for-4 with two RBIs," Beeh pointed out. "Jesus Leon was 4-for-5 with three runs."

The Beehs improved to 3-1 while the Fruit fell to 0-4.

Now it was the Fruit Of The Spirit's turn to try to win the second game of their doubleheader as they took on the Shield Bearers in the 10am game. Alas, it was too much David Fowler for the Spirit's liking, as Fowler's two out-of-the-park home runs led the Bearers to a 17-1 cakewalk.

Neither team scored in the first inning, the first time that has happened in the regular season since Aug 7, 2010, when the Smithereens and the Carter Administration also bored fans to death with zero runs in the first inning.

"We were close for one inning before the flood gates opened," said Baturoni.

Indeed, the Shield Bearers made up for the lack of scoring in the first inning by scoring 17 runs in the next five innings. Rookie Scott Bartoszek supported Fowler's feats with a 3-for-3 day, and rookie Noralba Gallegos continued to impress after going 2-for-3 with three RBI.

"It was nice to get our team potential in line," said Bearers manager David Cho. "We raised the roof with David Fowler's two [homers] over the right field fence."

For the Spirit, Rookie Philip Nevels went 2-for-3 while Gillett was again perfect at the plate, going 2-for-2 with a walk.

"In general, I was impressed by the offensive performances of Godfrey Gillet and Robert Gomez," Baturoni said.

The Fruit Of The Spirit dropped to 0-5 while the Shield Bearers drew even at 2-2.

In the day's finale, Caravan cruised again, this time topping the short-handed Tectonic Plates 17-5.

“That guy is a beast.”

- Halos' Rob Tong on the Killer Beehs' Joshua Pagan

The highest-scoring team in the league scored in every inning except the sixth, pounding out 28 hits to lead the league in hits for the third straight week.

"The beat goes on for the Caravan as another solid effort by pitcher Pa Nelson allowing only 5 runs against a depleted but still strong Plates team," Caravan co-manager Randy Ruffolo said.

The Tectonic Plates were without Rob McMahon, slugger Nate Arnett and David Zuperku, yet managed to keep a 1-1 tie after one inning.

After that, it was all Caravan. Everyone in their lineup got at least one hit and all but two players got an RBI.

"Erik Summers once again played the wizard with the bat going 3-for-3 with four RBIs, four runs scored and a sacrifice fly," Ruffolo said. "Chakkra Rath added to the total going 4-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored. Our player of the game, Monica Contreras, flashed the leather over at 2B making multiple nice plays to keep the scoring to a minimum."

Matt Chandler and Eric Gaylord each notched four hits for the Plates, and Deborah Hage chipped in a hit. But without several of their key players, the team was more like Salad Plates than Tectonic Plates.

The league takes a week off to celebrate Independence Day and resumes the following week with some hot matchups.

First, the Fruit Of The Spirit look to get on track against Goliath, er, Caravan. Not only is Caravan the league's highest-scoring team (nearly 18 runs per game) but they are also the league's stingiest, giving up a measly 7.5 runs per game.

Caravan then tries to keep their Mack truck rolling against the undefeated Halos at 9am.

"How do you stop a Mack truck?" ponders Tong.

At 10am, Cho hopes his Shield Bearers can "take the 'stingers' off the Killer Beehs."

The bigger question is: can the Beehs show up with more than eight players?

The morning caps off with the Bearers vs. the Tectonic Plates, whose talent is better than their 1-3 record indicates.

"We'll also have to 'cash in' on the Tectonic Plates, something Home Invaders should have done back in 2011," Cho said. "We'll have to put up our 'Shields' this Saturday."