OAKLAND A’s & SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS FANTASY

2005 BASEBALL LEAGUE

FROM THE STANDS

Archbishop Riordan High School

March 13, 2005

Jim Realini

 

 

San Jose Giants 9  Kansas City A’s 7 in Game #1

        The 2005 season opened (finally) after a rained-out start last weekend.  The 930AM first pitch at Riordan High School was high and outside for a ball, but quickly the game between the Kansas City A’s (Calloway #3) and the San Jose Giants (Keller/Riley #5) settled into a well-played tussle featuring some nifty pitching by Heath Keller of the Giants who struck out 9 and got credit for both a win and a save sandwiched around three innings by Michael Simon.  Heath Keller helped his own cause with a double, single and 3 RBI’s.  JR Riley scored two runs, had two hits, and made an acrobatic over the shoulder catch.  Adam Schneider contributed a base hit, a long double to right knocking in two runs, and scored a run.  Moochie Hughey had two hits and Steve Bennett made a “honey” of a catch tumbling in centerfield.

        The A’s started off strong behind Sil Krevocheza’s pitching and fielding.  The A’s looked like they were going to retire Keller early in the first inning with two hits and a double coupled with some erratic Giants play, but 9 K’s over the next five innings kept them down until they unloaded on Michael Simon for 3 runs in the 7th to make it a close game.  Kevin Zimmerman with two hits and a double scored twice and drove in two ribbies.  Pat Macias also had a big day with a hit and a double while scoring twice.

 

Oakland A’s 5  Fresno Giants 0 in Game #2

        The opening day afternoon game put smiles on the A’s faces (Hopper #6) and a call to “meet me in the batting cage” from Giant’s coach John Haines (Vargas/Haines #4).  The A’s made their eight hits and tight fielding stand-up for the win.  Amaro’s base clearing double along with his single could have been all the offense the A’s needed, but Jemes, McAusland, Henderson, Hooper, Oehrlein, and Hall also made hits today.  The pitching tandem of Oehrlein and Jemes combined for nine shutout innings with six Giant K’s.

        The Giants got two hits from Schmuck, doubles from Peabody and Bruzzone, and singles from Lueders and Realini, but just couldn’t get any runs over the plate.  Carl Vargas had sixth healthy innings pitching out of a couple of bases loaded jams while John Haines came in with the bags loaded in the 7th to put out the fire with three straight outs.  Peabody and Bruzzone finished up the pitching.  Unfortunately, the Fresno Giants day could be summed up on two plays.  Bill Pedersen threw a “seed from centerfield” to Realini at the plate to nail an A.  Then Realini tried to bunt and fell flat on his face in an embarrassing pratfall to the delight and amusement of the A’s fan.

            See ya’ll next week.