JUPITER, FL -- Oh, so close! When Mark Hamilton drilled a one-hopper to the Brevard County second baseman for the third out, you had to question who won the game and who didn't as Brevard County sheepishly walked out to congratulate their pitcher, while Palm Beach hustled into the clubhouse.
The final score was Brevard County 12, Palm Beach 9, and to say the game was high scoring and exciting was an understatement. For five innings, no one wanted to be there for the Cardinals. We sat through a first inning that saw Brevard County post seven runs off starting pitcher Trey Hearne and reliever Donnie Smith. I kind of figured that bringing in Smith at that time was only going to throw gas on the fire because Smith throws heat and they just got done with batting practice off Hearne.
To compound the issue, Brevard County's general manager brought 10 of his staff to the game armed with big kazoo like horns and cow bells. It was not a good night to be down 7-0 after one-half inning.
I was beginning to think that my choice of music during batting practice had something to do with this. We're not big fans of anyone who challenges us for first place over here. However, going into the series with Brevard County, Palm Beach was 1.5 games back with three games head-to-head. On Monday, the visiting team gets to take batting practice on the field. Before they took batting practice off Hearne and Smith, they were hitting to the sounds of the female rock stars of the 80s. In other words, any annoying song you could think of from a teenage girls' 13th birthday party was being played over the loudspeakers.
I received a note this morning from the lateshift front desk manager, "Tunes, The Florida Chapter of 'Men Who Love Girly Music' called and want to thank you for Monday night. Thanks from Lance, Biff and Pierre. XXOOXXOO."
Granted, the second Brevard County left the field for the locker room, we kicked the music back up for the grounds crew to prepare the field. It's a little bit of BP Warfare I learned during a college series at Louisiana-Lafayette.
I couldn't help but think the Manatees came out swinging in retaliation. Palm Beach came right back out as James Rapoport singled hard through the right side. Nathan Southard whacked a line drive heading through the left side of the infield, but a diving catch killed that opportunity. Allen Craig, the Florida State League leader in home runs drove a ball deep to right-centerfield, but right fielder Lorenzo Cain came out of nowhere to make a diving catch. It just wasn't our night.
The lead was extended to 12-0 before Palm Beach finally broke through with a solo home run from Brandon Yarbrough to lead off the sixth inning. The string of zeroes on the Palm Beach side of the scoreboard was halted and as the air raid siren followed "P.O.D.'s" home run anthem, the Cardinals had a bit of life. Now I know what you're thinking, "It's 12-1 in the sixth! What life?"
Even though Palm Beach's plan of attack since the first inning was "swing for the fences", you just never know what can happen when you come out swinging when you're backed into a corner. You just might land that hit that can turn things around. I'm not going to say that Yarbrough's home run was that hit, but it gave you a sense that "We can hit these guys!"
I never let up on the sound bites, rally music and keeping what was left of the 199 in attendance, in the game.
Jose Contreras, a seldom used middle infielder, yipped a double off his hands down the right field line just barely fair. Following a pop-out from Rapoport, Danny Nelson came up. Nelson isn't very big and doesn't always hit in your average situations, but for some reason in clutch situations, he comes through. Whether it's offense or defense, the kid has talent and he can make you do a double-take on occassion. Nelson stung a fly ball to centerfield, but the ball kept carrying. Despite being down 12-1, we're all thinking the runner has to tag up from second. Right as Darren Ford is under the ball, someone yelled out, "He dropped it!" He sure did! Nelson was on his horse and almost on Contreras' ass when he pulled up at third as Contreras crossed the plate. Okay, now that's more like it! The scoreboard read 12-2, but that was another run and Brevard County invited us to it.
Up came Craig and he didn't waste anytime unloading his 14th home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field. "Click, click...BOOM!" Both Yarbrough's and Craig's home runs were no doubters. I didn't even have to see them land over the fence because you knew they were gone the second they left the bat and that's rare for Florida State League ballparks with single-A talent.
Mark Hamilton struck out and Ian Church rifled a ball, but it was right at the second baseman for out number three.
Meanwhile, Scott Vander Weg had come on in relief of Smith and was posting goose eggs on the scoreboard for the Cardinals, allowing the offense the chance to break back into the game.
The Cardinals tried to score again in the seventh, but were cut down after Jose Martinez walked and stole second. Martinez took third when the Manatees catcher threw the ball to an unoccupied second base allowing Martinez safe passage to third. I couldn't help but play the clip from anchorman, "I immediately regret that decision!" Yeah, we're down 12-4, but I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to get in my shots as well. Contreras grounded out to second base and the inning was over. However, it wasn't a 1-2-3, which let Brevard County they hadn't nailed down anything yet.
Vander Weg put down the Manatees in the top of the eighth and back came Palm Beach as Rapoport led off doubling into right field. A wild pitch from Vince Perkins moved Rapoport to third before Nelson screamed a line drive to centerfield to make the score 12-5. Perkins was a loose cannon on the mound. He could throw hard, that was easy to tell, but it was obvious that he had no idea where the ball was going.
Craig was up next and we're all cheering for a two-run homer. With his big size and sporting No. 5 on the back of his jersey we're all seeing Albert Pujols. The big guy from Cal-Berkeley unloaded on a pitch that screamed by third baseman Mat Gamel, probably thankful to be alive considering the infield gave a vicious first hop allowing the scorekeeper to rule it a single.
Now the Cardinals trailed by seven and had two runners on and none out with Hamilton up. You could tell Perkins wanted no part of Hamilton. With little control and a high velocity fastball, the next pitch could end up off the backstop or in the Atlantic Ocean. Hamilton walked and up came Church.
Ian Church didn't have a home run this year, but the former Stetson Hatter outfielder had some pop in his bat. He was the Independent League's Player-of-the-Year last season, and despite a batting average in the .240s and no home runs, he was crushing line drives. The only reason he didn't have a home run was because he wasn't elevating the ball and you can't get a home run by driving the ball through the fence. With Perkins unloading fastballs this was Ian's chance.
I don't remember the count, but Perkins' fastball came in and Church unleashed a mighty hack. The next thing you heard sounded like a thunder clap. You didn't even need to watch the flight of the ball after the swing, it was gone! I don't know what woke up the residents of Abacoa more at that point, the sound of the crack of the bat, Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Jump On It!" blaring at the highest level on the sound system or the air raid siren following.
The ball rocketed deep into left-centerfield and the only thing to stop the ball from hitting (or clearing) the Marlins clubhouse was the light tower, which hadn't been hit that hard since Hurricane Frances in September of 2004.
The scoreboard read 12-9, which was hard to believe considering the game was 12-0 just a half an hour ago. Brevard County made a pitching change, but that didn't stop Palm Beach from raking. A.J. Van Slyke slammed a ball down the first base line, but a great backhand stab by Chris Errecart kept it from being extra bases. Isa Garcia beat out an infield single with one out. Yarbrough rifled a ball up the middle, but Mike Bell made a backhand stop and began the inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. Brevard County escaped the inning leading 12-9, but you could see relief instead of the confidence they displayed a few innings earlier.
John Mikrut replaced Vander Weg, who may have just had the best outing of his season, and put down the Manatees 1-2-3 in the ninth. Palm Beach had 9-1-2 due up.
Contreras pulled a surprise bunt to lead off with a single. You can't put a value on the lead-off batter getting on when you're trying to rally from any kind of deficit in the ninth inning. This was big because, unless the Cardinals hit into a double play, Craig was now going to bat this inning. Rapoport made sure of that when he got struck by a pitch putting runners on first and second and Nelson stood at the plate representing the tying run.
Despite fighting off a couple pitches, Nelson went down swinging. It appeared he was swinging awfully hard, leading me to believe he was trying to launch one out of the park. It was possible, but we just needed to keep the inning alive and a single would have been better, or even a gap shot.
No worries though, Craig was up and if he couldn't do it, Hamilton and Church were right behind him. Craig fell behind in the count, but fought off a couple pitches and worked the count full before slamming a one-hopper to third. Gamel knocked it down, but lost his grip for a second. Fortunately for Gamel, his closest play was a couple feet away as he stepped on third base for the force and second out of the inning. Yet, we still had Hamilton, the reigning FSL Player-of-the-Week, and well on his way to Player of the Month for the league and the Cardinals organization.
Hamilton wasn't going down easy and by the mound conference that took place before he got to the plate, you knew he wasn't going to get anything that good. On a 2-2 pitch, Hamilton stroked a one-hopper to second base for the third out of the inning and ending the game.
Brevard County's staff was cheering, but it wasn't a positive, excited, everyone's having a good time kind of cheer. It was one of those end of horror movies kind of relieved cheer when you just escaped the villain or monster that kept coming after you no matter how many times you shot, stabbed or hit it.
Palm Beach is trailing the Manatees by 3.5 games with seven to play. While most people are certain this half is over, Easy and I can relate from a different side. We were with Palm Beach in 2004 when they blew a 5.5 game lead with 11 to play by dropping 11 straight games to end the first half.
It's possible and a scare like the one the Cardinals put into the Manatees just might be the ticket to have Brevard County second guessing themselves. We have one more game tonight and that could bring us 2.5 back before a doubleheader with Jupiter on Wednesday to erase the extra half game. From there, who knows. It's even possible to go into the All-Star break even with Brevard County if they lose the next three.
Anything can happen in baseball... even 12-run leads getting erased. Palm Beach went from trailing 12-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning to having two shots at tying the game in the ninth inning! Who would have thought that could happen after the top of the first inning?
You don't always have to win to be part something special, and even though it was a loss, I think Palm Beach gained more than Brevard County last night.
That's why I love this game!
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