West Coast Fantasy Baseball Association
2006 BASEBALL LEAGUE
FROM THE STANDS
Archbishop Riordan High School
March 26, 2006
by Jim Realini
Are you sure we’re not in Seattle? After two rainouts, a soggy Bakersfield weekend, and breaking ice off home plate in Mesa, the 2006 season got off to a great opening day for at least for two teams!! The weather was great and Ron Isola of Riordan did his usual top-notch job of taking care to give us a great field to play on. I look forward to recollectin’ this years tussles with new coaches, new faces, and some of the old grizzled vets. Remember, I play in a lot of these games so I only recollect what I thought I saw and the stats I state are what I scrounge after the game so they ain’t official. If you’d like to comment, please don’t bother Rob Weber, send me an e-mail direct to jprealini@AOL.com.
St. Louis Giants (Hughey-Weishaar) 15 Oakland A’ (Mello) 5
The St Louis Giants (so-called by their coach who spent the first game in Mexico) smacked the Oakland A’s with 16 hits led by Jim Realini with four singles and Jimmy Cullen with three singles. Heath Keller and Cliff Gray each had two singles apiece while Keith DaCosta, Doug Meyer, Dennis and Tom Sanfillippo, and Dr. Guy Peabody each lined singles of their own. Heath Keller wobbled through the first inning and then mystified the A’s with his plethora of speeds, curves, and funky balls for six innings and 7K’s while Mark Bruzzone snuffed out any Oakland thoughts of a rally with 3 dominating innings around 5 K’s. Dennis Sanfillippo turned in the play of the year (so far) with a nifty snag of an errant throw from third to complete a tag and toss double play to stifle the A’s. The over-hyped play of the day was the double-steal by Tom “I can see!!” Sanfillippo and Dr. Guy Peabody. You can bet we won’t see that for a very long time.
The Oakland A’s showed plenty of rust in their first outing, but punched the ball around to make it a game after the second inning. Coach Mike Mello led Oakland with three singles, while Kevin Zimmerman had a loud double and a single. Sil Krevocheza, Don Luis, Mike Hilton, and Ed “Commish-A” Glover each bumped in singles. When this teams’ roster shows up, they’ll be a force to reckon with.
Yomiuri Giants (Schmuck-Miller) 7 Fresno Giants (Terra-Realini) 0
The Yomiuri Giants (Sadaharu Oh would be so proud!) spanked the Fresno Giants in both teams home opener in the afternoon. Matt Schmuck with three bingles and Mike Miller’s double and single led the Yomiuri’s 15-hit attack. Matt Shasky cracked a double, Lorne “Papa” Johnson and Bobby “New Chilly” Hartkop each added two singles while Adam Schneider, Mark Gemello, John Haines, Don De Witt, and the venerable Scott Lueders each slapped a single. The grizzled sage, Mark Gemello turned in a masterful Kirk Rueter-like (early version) performance on the mound pitching six solid innings getting flawless support in the field. John Haines turned in two nifty stabs at first base for one out, failing to convert the other because G-man forgot to cover or was he too amazed by John’s deft grab? Doesn’t matter because he flawlessly took John’s next throw to end the inning. Bobby Hartkop, who is rapidly gaining notoriety as the “new Chilly” for his proclivity at beaning batters finished the game with three solid innings.
The Fresno Giants with coach Terra languishing (with Weishaar?) in Mexico, could only muster four hits by Jim Realini, Rolly Hofstedt, Todd West, and Dave De Cruz. Except for one just ridiculous inning of non-support for Joe Gagilardo on the mound, this would have been a tightly played game. Plenty of rust and squeaky wheels were revealed for these wily veterans, but don’t go assuming too, much this early about their future; especially when Angie gets back with Alex and Ben to coax and ride the boys into shape. Dave Chilcote finished the last five innings with his usual dazzling array of pitches and showed he’s still got a lot of heat left in his heater.
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 lose your spot on the team for the weekend to a pool player.