Gamers Ride Rave of Offense to Sweep

Wantagh, NY - After playing only one game in the last three weeks due to poor scheduling by ABA, the upstart Gamers were anxious to get back on the field. So much so, that they agreed to play on Saturday at Webster Hall just to get the games in. But not even the ongoing distraction of an all night rave could derail the run away train that is the Gamers as they went on to sweep the pesky Tattoo Crew, 13-12 and 21-7 to improve to 9-1 on the season.

In game one, the Gamers avenged their earlier loss this season to the chain smoking guys from the Tattoo Crew by grinding out yet another come from behind victory that has come to define their season.

The winning hit came off the bat of Dave "I know I"m slow but I'm gonna take extra bases anyway" Kheel who hit a two run homerun to right field that scored Rob "yes, I finally made my debut at ss" Rathbun. The two combined to go 7 for 8 with four runs scored to lead the comeback victory that also featured Billy Bezouska's first home run of the season and 2 hits a piece for Dave Roll, Scott Goldsmith, Johnny Vasquez, and Craig Shames.

Goldsmith's strong hitting performance and stellar play in the outfield was especially noteworthy considering that he just flew in from Nova Scotia two hours before the game and then made repeated trips to the rave in between innings to take Ectasy.

The great comeback would not have been possible though if not for the horrendous pitching of Craig "walk-a-thon" Shames who is thinking about getting sponsored and donating $100 for every walk to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Craig's contribution today alone would have been close to $2,000 and at that rate maybe a cure for cancer could be found by the end of the season.

Shames who has been known to make an excuse or two for his performance said, "I was really distracted by the rave music. I couldn't even hear the umpire call out balls and strikes although I could have assumed that 99.9% of the time they were going to be balls. But still. So, I went over to them and requested that they play Kelly Clarkson's 'since you've been gone'. I felt a feel good song like that would have put me in the zone. But they just laughed at me."

In game two, the Gamers' bats came alive, partly because the team is stacked with good hitters but primarily because it was so damn hot that everyone just wanted to go home. They figured that 21 runs would be enough, even for Craig.

The main culprits in the offensive explosion were once again Rob Rathbun (4 for 5 with 2 hrs and 6 rbis) and Dave Kheel (4 for 5 with a hr and 7 rbis). New comer Anthony Vega provided pop by going 4 for 5 with his second homerun on the day and Dave Roll continued his torrid hitting going 5 for 5 with a homerun. All in all, the Gamers exploded for five homeruns in the second game although Rob Roll (4 for 5) was robbed, no pun intended, of one in the first inning.

Also joining the hit parade were Billy Bezouska (3 for 4 with a walk), Zac Nicholson (3 for 5 with 2 rbis) and Johnny Vasquez and Scott Goldsmith who both added two more hits.

In fact, everyone on the team had at least two hits, except for Shames who went 0 for 5 and even made two outs in the same inning."It's been a long day," Shames said. "I can't wait to go home so that I can 'beat and sleep' and put this all behind me."