A HOME RUN BUNT
Cyclones Beat Yankees in Wild Tenth Inning Finish
by Fahmida Y. Rashid, special to BrooklynBallParks.com
Oh, mon, the people can't believe - Brooklyn, we have a baseball team! We have the one Brinkley,
and the one Concepcion, Watts, Muniz; watch out, Staten Island Yankees!
I've been in Brooklyn longer than the Cylones, but spending muggy evenings watching the Brooklyn
Cyclones play in Keyspan Park is already a summer tradition. The breeze off the beach is always welcome,
and the sunset painted the sky behind the pitcher's mound in glorious shades of red and orange.
The lights from AstroLand, dwarfed by Dino's Wonder Wheel, just added to the jumble of colors.
All of us - family, friends, colleagues - were there to relax, have fun, and watch some baseball - the
grand game unmarred by ego, money, or rumors.
For the 2004 season, David, Stacy, John, and I were comfortably ensconced in our field box seats, watching,
cheering, and chomping on stadium food. David had his mitt most games, hoping to catch a foul ball. We
learned many of the players' names, a change from previous seasons when we didn't attend enough games.
We knew our players, such as Ambiorix Concepcion, Dante Brinkley, and Carlos Muniz.
Abiorix Concepcion, Dante Brinkley, Carlos Muniz
Each of us had our favorite opponent, John's Muckdogs, Stacy's Ironbirds, David's Spinners, and my Renegades,
but we all agreed that Cyclones-Yankee games were the best ones to watch. Brooklynites tend to look down
on Staten Island already, anyway, so baseball was just a handy excuse to engage in some heckling and
trash talking. Our borough president, Marty Markowitz, hung out in the announcer's booth and encouraged
Staten Island fans to bow to the superiority of our borough and our baseball team. I liked how Brooklyn
fans drowned out Staten Island fans - we are a rowdy borough - and I liked how we could start a wave
from one end of the stadium and it would make it all the way around. There were never enough Staten
Island fans, so we could laugh when their paltry efforts petered out.
For July 11's Cyclones-Yankees matchup, David was absent. Despite all our jeers, the Yankees jumped
to a 2-0 lead during the third inning. We weren't very happy at the prospect of a Yankee victory.
We spent the rest of the game hoping the Cyclones would get some hits and runs.
During the sixth inning, Brinkley scored, 2-1, off a grounder by Tyler Davidson. We were one run away
from not losing. We cheered every hit. We leaned forward to see if the runners were safe at base. In the
next inning, the seventh, Aaron Hathaway scored off a single by Derran Watts to bring the Cyclones to
2-2. We cheered. My throat was already hoarse.
We stayed in this state of heightened tension all the way to the ninth inning. The game went into
extra innings. I couldn't remember ever seeing a Cyclones game in extra innings - I am sure I'd seen
them - I just couldn't recall them at the time. I kept shredding paper napkins in my excitement,
until John stopped getting them for me. July 11th was a Sunday - I had to consider leaving before the
game ended since Monday mornings were already hard enough without adding a late Sunday night to it. We
decided to see how the tenth inning played out.
It looked as if the game was going to continue past the tenth inning. We stood up to get our things
together to head home as soon as the inning ended. Derran Watts, our seventh inning hero, came up to bat.
We waited patiently for him to strike out and begin the end of the inning. Instead, he held his
bat slightly forward, clearly indicating that he was going to bunt.
I wondered aloud why a coach would suggest bunting. Shouldn't they be trying to score? Why play it safe?
I am sure John was right when he said that you want to get as many people on base so that at least
someone can score, but I really wanted to see them swinging for the fences. How cool would a home run
be to win the game, huh?
Tyler Davidson, Aaron Hathaway, hero Derran Watts
Watts bunted and ran towards first as the ball slowly dribbled along the third baseline. As the Yankee
reliever, Shaun Parker, scooped the ball up and threw it to first, I turned away, expecting Watts to be
called out. Instead, the crowd roared in excitement. I turned around to see Watts sprinting towards
second base and the first baseman chasing after the ball.
"What happened?" I asked no one in particular.
John was cheering and jumping up and down. Stacy kept saying, "I can't believe it."
Finally, John explained, "The pitcher threw too high and the first baseman missed!"
I joined in jumping up and down and cheering with the rest of the Cyclones fans as Watts
reached second base. By this time, one of the outfielders was coming to assist the first baseman,
who had reached the ball. As he bent to field it, he kicked the ball, and it rolled away. We
excitedly waved Watts on to third, and by the time the Yankees had chased it down in the
right field corner, Watts was barreling down on home plate. He crossed the plate before the ball,
which took two bounces before landing in the catcher's mitt, and the score was 3-2, Cyclones win.
A home run that started out as a lowly bunt. Who would have thought?
The score:
STATEN ISLAND AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI W K AVG BROOKLYN AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI W K AVG
Timothy Battle cf......5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .258 Corey Coles cf.........2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .356
Marcos Vechionacci ss..5 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 .333 Derran Watts cf........3 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 .316
Edwar Gonzalez rf......5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .139 Dante Brinkley lf......4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .337
Hector Zamora 3b.......4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .308 Ambiorix Concepcion rf.4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 .237
Justin Christian 2b....4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .267 Tyler Davidson 1b......3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 .306
Cody Ehlers 1b.........4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .239 Caleb Stewart dh.......4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .185
Ben Jones dh...........4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .273 Grant Psomas 3b........4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .226
Scott Rich pr..........0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .286 Ryan Coultas ss........4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .250
Estee Harris lf........2 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 .143 Aaron Hathaway c.......3 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 .200
Kevin Nelson c.........4 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 .241 Kevin Rios 2b..........4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .208
----------------------- -----------------------
Totals.............37 2 7 0 1 0 2 2 9 Totals.............35 3 7 2 0 0 2 2 7
Final(10) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Staten Island...0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 2
Brooklyn........0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 3 7 1
Left on base: Staten Island 7, Brooklyn 7.
Doubles: A. Concepcion (1), A. Hathaway (2).
Triples: K. Nelson (1).
Home runs: None
Runs batted in: M. Vechionacci (6), K. Nelson (3), D. Watts (10), T. Davidson (15).
Stolen bases: A. Concepcion (5).
Caught stealing: S. Rich.
Errors: T. Beam, S. Parker, R. Coultas.
STATEN ISLAND IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
TJ Beam ................5.0 1 0 0 2 5 0 4.18
Shaun Parker (L 0-1)....4.0 6 3 2 0 2 0 3.94
BROOKLYN IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Evan MacLane............5.0 5 2 2 1 6 0 1.90
Edgar Alfonzo...........3.2 2 0 0 1 1 0 2.70
Carlos Muniz (W 3-2)....1.1 0 0 0 0 2 0 2.25
Balk: T. Beam.
Time: 2:50.
Attendance: 8134.
Umpires: Art Thigpen (HP), Mike Weinstein (B).
Click here for the official
scorecard, courtesy of the Brooklyn Cyclones.
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