cooperstown 9 , pittsfield 3
by Grantland Thrice
The much ballyhood rematch of Pittsfield V. Cooperstown began on August 4, 2005. The defending champs, Pittsfield, once again invited Jum Bouton to pitch for them, and once again he politely declined. This year he didn't ask, "How did you get my number"? He was probable asking himself, "Why didn't I change my number?"
The Duse led Cooperstown '9' won the 1st pick in the draft (and the drafting rights to SuperJ), making The defending champ Pittsfield Home Team for Game 1.
Nightman got the starting nod for Pittsfield, and was greeted by a Bill DeSanty base hit. Nightman, was lookin' good. He had several fancy gold necklaces, one with a 4 oz. NM hanging from it; his trademark hip-Hop baggie pants and slick wrap-around shades. He only forgot one thing; HIS STUFF!!
We have it from very reliable sources that the Nightie was the 1st draft Pick by Manager One Sock, and was expected to be the "Edge" ( Mgr One Sock was overheard saying before the game).
Night escaped a bases loaded jam in the 1st, and skulked to the Pittsfield dugout,
The cleverly-drafted Duse-led Cooperstown '9' took the field with Val on the hill. The quiet classy Val always wants the ball. He dismissed Pittsfield in about 7 pitches and Nightman faced Pittsfield in the top of the 2nd.
The Pittsfield outfit batted around in the 2nd. Base hits by MjC, Jeff L, Duse, New Guy fred, a crushing double by SuperJ and a frosting single by Hammer led to 6 runs. Cooperstown had sent a message to Pittsfield, "If you're going to mail it in, you better put a LOT of postage on it!"
Val dropped the hammer on the Pittsfielders in the second, and the rest of the game was a baseball vacation for Cooperstown.
We DID have a very nice beer Inning however!
Game 2 of the Hall of Fame Series had all the makings of a classic TNB game. We had a 'MUST' game for Pittsfield, some new players and Pesci behind the plate. The Pittsfield manager was testy before the game; telling everybody that tried to talk to him to Leave him the ***K alone!. Ohhh, touchy, touchy!!
The overall mood of the players was different on this night as well. Quiet....That usually means a good game to follow.
Fluffy and his rickety right shoulder took the mound for Pittsfield, and right away had to face the tough no-nonsense Irzyk. Todd has a name that sounds like an exotic country and is tough as hell to get out. Well, let's get it on......
Todd took the count deep and was sitting on a fastball; he got the slider and took STRIKE THREE!! from Pesci. Todd didn't like it, thought it was high. Pesci calls the letters breaking ball a strike. Most umpires do not.
MjC who ownes Fluffy, singled to center, DeSanty who also has success against 'Ole 9 lives, hit a deep fly to left at Danny 'Money' Williams. 2 outs.
Aa punched a base hit to left. 2 on, 2 out, Val up. Fluffy fed Val a diet of breaking balls and got him on a swining strike 3. So far, so good for Pittsfield.
In the Pittsfield 1st, Joe Nigro hustled out a grounder to short and beat the throw. He was moved up on a BB to Mm, a single to the 'Ready to Play' Nightman and scored on Scott DeFelices Sac fly. 1 Zip Pittsfield after 1.
With Danny Williams on the mound for the Pitts, Cooperstownie turned a 1 out Walk to Scott Powers into an Ichiro home run with his hustle, knotting the game at 1, after 2.
Danny and Nightman held the Coops at bay in the middle innings, and Pittsfield broke the game open in the 5th on 4 successive 2-out Cooperstown errors. Ouch Babe!!
Down
9-2 in the bottom of the 6th, and last (Darkness!!) inning, Cooperstown rallied. With 2 out and Todd on first (drilled by Nightman), Billy De, Aa and Val knocked base hits. With the score 9-4, bases loaded, and Duse up; the game was suddenly on the line, with the tying run in the on Deck circle (Scott Powers).
Pittsfield finally retired Duse on a comebacker after he scared the heck out of Pittsfield with a slicing rope down the right field line, just curving foul.
See you next week for the title Game.
Game 3 was a tale of two Cities and a tale of two games, in the same game. The first, a 12-0 shellacking of Pittsfield by Cooperstown; and the second an 11-1 whomping of Cooperstown by Pittsfield. But combined, you have a 13-11 victory for Cooperstown and a 1-1 tie in the annual TNB event.
TNB games, as all the veteran players know, almost ALWAYS have strange endings. There is almost always some crazy scramble in the end, and this was a classic. AND, the game never REALLY ended; not really. More on this later.
Pittsfield was home, and Cooperstown went right to work with the bats. After a harmless Wally combacker, the Coops kept aiming their wormburners at Nightman. The Nighter lost a couple of grounders in the sun, with Supe, Jon and Duse making Pittsfield pay later with base knocks. Nightman did make a nice play on the fleet Scott powers for the 3rd out.
Pittsfield went meekly in the first, and both teams were quiet in the second. But in the 3rd, all hell broke loose in the Cooperstown top, and a parade of Cooperstowners would pummell the Pittsfield pitcher.
The inning actually started with a strikeout!..And after a Supe single and SB, Jon flew out the right. 2 OUTS. No problem, right?
But before Jon took a called strike 3 in his second at-bat of the inning, this happened;
BB, 1B, 3B, 1B, 1B, 1B, BB, 1B, BB, 1B.
UGH...9 runs, 8 hits, 0 errors. 12-0 Cooperstown after 2 1/2 innings.
The Cooperstowners were NOT amused. They said it was too dark to play!!
The Pittsfield players said,What..Dark?? We can see just fine!
But the Pesci agreed, and the game was called.
cooperstown 13, pittsfield 11 is how it will go into the books.
Random notes:
If you think about it, it's really the middle of April now.....
