At first, I was ready to write about yet another disappointment from the Fraser crowd- the lack of true recognition of Rob Fischer's return. But somehow, over the course of the game, this crowd turned into one of the best in Spirit history. It created a legitimate home-field advantage that helped the Spirit surge ahead of New Haven for a dramatic 6-5 victory that propelled North Shore into first place in the overall CanAm league standings.
I honestly didn't take extensive notes on this one, but here's what I can remember off-hand. (Dave scored the game; he can correct my errors in a comment)
New Haven started the offense with an absolute bomb homer in the first inning by Derrick "I Look like Jimmy Hurst" Gibson to take an early 2-0 lead.
An RBI by Davilla, a solo dinger (13) by Alex Trezza and an RBI single by Morgan Brown boosted the Spirit to a 3-2 lead at the end of 3.
It was a nip and tuck game until the 5th when Jared Trout started to unravel. In one observer's opinion, he was left in the game far too long as the Cutters teed off for three runs to take a 5-3 lead. Tim Dugan then came in to rescue the Spirit. Behind the support of a cheering, loud audience at Fraser, Dugan got the last man in the inning to fan, stranding two Cutters runners and keeping the game in striking distance.
The crowd (not just us knuckleheads, but a LARGE section of the crowd for once) had been heckling Cutters catcher Sandy DeLeon for most of the night, and late in the game it showed signs of getting to him.
In the 7th, Morgan Brown- who had his best game in a Spirit uni- knocked a leadoff single. BJ Weed followed with a pathetic bunt that was completely butchered by DeLeon. They called it a hit, but..uh, no that was definitely an error. That allowed Morgan to reach third as BJ was safe at first. On the next pitch, the Spirit executed the double steal, with Weed swiping 2nd and Morgan coming home to close the gap. The adventure wasn't over for DeLeon- Weed then stole 3rd base, which proved huge as Ryan Bethel's sac fly knocked in Weed with the tying run.
In the bottom of the 8th the Spirit got the go-ahead run. Luis Sabino batted with two outs and a runner on 2nd base and proceeded to deposit a cranked RBI triple over the head of the rightfielder which scored the runner and gave North Shore the lead.
Kevin Rival pitched the last two innings for the Spirit (VERRRY interesting), picking up his first win (1-0). With the help of a very supportive, energetic crowd Rival mowed down the Cutters 1-2-3 to close it in the 9th- including a leadoff strikeout of Sandy DeLeon, who took some vicious (read: stupid) swings.
The only sour note: Rob Fischer went 0-4 in his return.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: MORGAN BROWN!!! This guy did EVERYTHING right tonight and is making a statement as to why he should stay on this team. Bravo, Morgan!!!
Also, a nod to Tim Dugan (I thought he was on the DL?) and Kevin Rival.
Side-notes:
~The 2nd-biannual Fraser Faithful sign was a SMASHING hit. Huge kudos to Amanda Hickey for helping (read: doing all of the real work) make the sign look pretty.
~I'm taking this SPIRIT SUPPORTERS thing really seriously. Tomorrow I'm making another sign: HOW MANY OUTS? for Deleon. Additionally, I'm really starting to like Morgan Brown- so maybe a MORGAN'S: (choose one: Maniacs? Militia? Magic?), in addition to TREZZA'S TROOPS #42. Yeah, I have a lot of those sticky letters left over from the sign, what can I say. And I'm weird.
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3 comments:
Morgan's Militia.
Kind of like the Sons Of Liberty; only not.
Still, it's got a nice ring to it methinks.
Aside from a few VERY minor things,good-no,great job on recounting this game from memory. The only one error that really stood out is one even I knew....the Spirit are not in first place,they're tied with New Haven for 2nd overall. I thought maybe I was wrong,so I checked the standings on the league site,and they said they were in second with New Haven,two games behind the Queers....And I thought I couldn't read or think right....
*GLARE!*
I must say that Brown surprised me today with 2-4 day with that stolen base....the only bad note for him was that bizare "blown call" (that's what Spike said it shoudl eb called) in the 8th to end the inning. Other than that,the crowd of 2050 ended up being great (still a lil mad they didn't cheer Fisher in his first AB here in a while) and heckling Sandy was a blast!
And one more note.....that homer that Gibson hit in the second is reported to have gone to left,past both clubhouses. That's more than 400 feet....THAT WAS A MONSTER BLAST!!!! No wonder why we lost it :-p
Oh yeah....I forgot to respond to your notes.....
-I LOVE the sign,good work Joe & Amanda! I can provide any more pics if needed and I say we put the Can-Am site's banner on there. ;-)
- I like the "How Many Outs" idea and I wanna see it at the game. I also like Moragn's Militia....and you're not weird,at least not from what I've seen. Trust me,I know weirdos :-p ^_^
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