Idiots Write About Sports

STOCKTON (BP) — Even now, neither Hollywood Stars’ manager Guy Incognito nor his ace reliever Armando Benitez can explain it. How to decipher Benitez’ colossal self-destruction in the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 4 of the California Baseball League championship series?

The Stars took a 3-2 lead over the Tule Fog in the top of the 11th, in improbable fashion — after a clutch pitching performance by Derek Lowe to get the second out of the inning with the winning run standing on third base, Lowe uncorked his next pitch to the backstop and wasted his own effort. The Fog, already trailing 2-1 in the series, were exhausted and demoralized, seemingly three outs from making a series loss inevitable.

And then came the destruction of Benitez, who is not accustomed to working more than a single inning of relief, but professed to his manager that he had plenty of stamina remaining. But Benitez had an utter lack of control: he smacked substitute third baseman Mike Butcher on the hip with a 2-0 pitch; then Roberto Alomar cracked a solid double down the line, putting the equalizing run on third and the potential game-winner on second.

If there’s any blame to be given to Stars manager Incognito, it could probably be for asking Benitez to then intentionally walk Jeff Bagwell. Bagwell may have hit two home runs in the Fog’s Game 3 victory, but by forcing the struggling Benitez to throw four wide ones, the manager may have eliminated any chance of Benitez throwing strikes.

The result was shocking, although not unexpected. As every resident of Baseball Planet knows this morning, Bentiez threw eight straight balls, to tie (Dmitri Young, driving in pinch-runner Scott Spiezio) and then lose (John Vander Wal, plating Alomar) the game.

If there is any consolation for Hollywood, it’s that this series has now become a best of three, with the final two meetings at the Kodak Stadium in the Southland.

“I can’t explain it,” said Tule Fog manager Jeff Torborg. “It’s as if someone out there was looking out for us.”

GAME NOTES: The game was delayed in the fourth inning when a giant cat was sighted in nearby Modesto; the all-clear was given about two hours later and players returned from their Cat Shelters beneath Fog Stadium… Fog owner Jeffrey Loria announced that the team would wear their “alternate home” jerseys (white-on-white with silver piping) for Game 5.

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Hollywood  000 002 000 01  3 9 1
Tule       000 020 000 02  4 5 1