Buzzsaw

August 23, 2007

Brickyard 2 - Greensox 1

Another pitchers duel and defensive battle, the Brickyard completed the sweep of the Green Sox, 2-1. Again, both teams came out flat at the plate and couldn't score any runs in the first three innings. The defense on both sides was stellar, and the pitchers were dominant. Tony "Goose" Ragusa worked very quick on the mound and kept the Green Sox batters off balance all night long. He also made upwards of eight outs himself on various grounders and line-drives hit right back at him. Pat O'Leary, the ace of the Green Sox staff, got the start and didn't look like he lost any velocity on his four-seamer after a honeymoon in St. Lucia. The Green Sox did what they needed to do defensively to win a ball game, but the bats didn't pull through. The dead heat was busted open in the fourth inning, and for the second straight game, Brickyard put up three, and put the Sox in the rear-view-mirror. The fourth started with a John "Little Goose" Ragusa double to center. Shannon Barrett grounded back to O'Leary, who looked Ragusa back, and got the out. Greg "The Big Fella" Crosby then hit a ball to the moon, just foul, then walked. Kiley Barrett then opened the door to the championship with a big double. Barrett slid just wide of a Dan O'Connor sweep tag by doing a head spin, into a leg-cross stall breakdance move. The Green Sox tried to make a comeback to avoid the sweep, and did score a run, courtesy of a Colin Carpenter RBI single in the fifth, but Carpenter was gunned down trying to swipe second base for the third out. Tony Ragusa mopped up the rest of the Greensox at the plate, finishing the series with a 1.50 ERA, earning him the nickname "Buzzsaw".


Also of Note:
The phrase "Win or Lose We Drink the Booze", coined during the Tides 2003-2006 run at a championship was brought back in a major way by the Kelly Green Sox. All players tied one on last night and surely woke up with a stinging hangover. Mike "Party-Boy" O'Brien financed the after-party. He purchased four cases of beer, two pizzas, and two calzones. O'Brien also took his truck straight across the field to get the pizza and beer, moments before cops rolled down Nahant Road. Around 10:45 cops showed up via motorcycle and cruiser to assess the situation. Apparently they could hear the cowbell from the station. Upon arriving at the scene the young officer on the motorcycle asked us if we saw a couple of youths wiggle an MBTA sign out of the ground and drag it across the street. What? He then said he was down to check the parking lot disturbance and had inclings that we may have been minors. Matt "Mr. Consistency" Hatfield, who completed an errorless season, claimed, "Sorry pal, but unfortunetely we're all old". The cops laughed and left the Green Sox to guzzle the rest of their beers and drive home.