OAKLAND A’s & SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS FANTASY

2005 BASEBALL LEAGUE
FROM THE STANDS

Archbishop Riordan High School

MAY 1, 2005
Jim Realini

The league opened the month of May with our last scheduled stint at Riordan High School.  Hats off and three great big cheers to Ron Isola for the first class treatment and care he provided this (and every year.)

Fresno Giants 10 Kansas City A's 9 in Game #1

            John Haines did his best Bob Dylan (Don’t Look Back, especially at my pony tuft) impression and led his Fresno Boys into an undefeated May Day against the battling A’s from KC with a thrilling 10-9 bottom of the ninth victory.  The big play was a spine-tingling suicide squeeze called for by Haines “57” and executed precisely by Lorne “Gold Cup” Johnson charging hell-bent for victory down the third base line, while Adam “Ghost Uni” Schneider placed an excellent bunt that left no play except the winning score.

The Giants made Mark Bruzzone’s five inning, 6K outing stand up, in spite of Dave Gayner’s 3^rd inning grand slam over the right field wall thankfully missing the Virgin Mary.  Haywood and Vargas finished up with CJ’s dad getting the win after blowing the save.  Big hitters for the Fresno guys were Bruzzone with a single and double, Schneider with three singles and a bunt, Miller with a 2B and base hit, Vargas with 2 hits, Lorne Johnson with a hit and a clutch 2B in the 9^th, Cliff Gray had two singles with his 9^th inning hit in front of his son the “clutch” hit of the day. Pedersen & Lueders also smacked hits for Fresno.  Lueders, Schmuck and Haywood teamed up for a sweet DP to end the A’s first and take the momentum early.

            As mentioned, KC’s Dave Gayner cracked a grand slam to right after breaking his bat on a soft liner to second in the first.  Gayner had five RBI’s and two hits on the day.  Zimmerman and Calloway each had two hits on the day.  The A’s tightened up their defense mid-game and rode Gayner's relief pitching to a tie game in the ninth.  Sil Krevocheza’s backhanded catch in the 7^th robbed Haywood of a big hit and Macias’ sliding catch in center kept Haines from getting a hit this day.

New York Giants 3 San Francisco Giants 1 in Game #2

            In a well-played game with lots of spirit and shenanigans around home plate, the New York Giants bested the San Francisco Giants 3-1 behind veteran pitchers Dave Chilcote and Joe Gagliardo.  Chilly pitched one of his better games going for the win instead of the K’s as he had the SF Giants plinking the ball for the most part.  Gagliardo, the “CY Olde” honoree from this year’s camp finished up with three strong innings.

            The NY Giants scratched out three runs on an RBI error in LF in the first, Bobby Hartkop’s RBI single in the 5^th, and George Parson’s crushed a double to left center and scored on a muffed DP at second base in the 9^th.  Hartkop tried to make the first a big inning by challenging Kim Rupert’s arm on a base hit to right field, but her perfect two-hop throw went right in Realini’s glove at the plate and the lumbering Hartkop was tagged out easily.

            Greg Terra led the NY Giants with three hits, Moochy Hughey had two, while Mike Shafer contributed a big double.  Steve Bennett had another ESPN “Catch of the Day” stealing a hit from Ray Miailovich in center and then pulled up short to quick hop a dying quail to center in the 8^th to pick off a stranded Kim Rupert.  San Francisco’s hopes were squashed in the 9^th when their one out rally was broken, literally, by an unfortunate knee injury to Todd West trying to stop after Mike Shaffer snared a screaming line drive.

            The SF Giants were led by DesJardins 2 singles, the Count Montellato contributed a big double, while G-man Gemello, Todd West, Sugar Ray, Kim Rupert, and the pesky Jim Realini each had bingles.  DesJardins and Gemello both pitched well for SF giving up only one ER between ‘em.

            Next time these two teams meet, see if you can spare the time to watch.  This game was fun to watch (and play in) especially the harassment around home plate.  This game was a great example of why we like to play.

Reminder to all regular players, do not forget to tell your coach by Thursday morning, before NOON if you are going to play or you will stand a good chance of losing your spot on the team for the weekend to a pool player.