Game 46: Jedi Mind Tricks
Ballers Walk Off Freebirds 10-9 on Star Wars Night
“The greatest teacher failure is” -Yoda
By Roberbo Fett
WEST OAKLAND—It was Star Wars night at Raimondi and the characters were out in Force. Darth Vader, Chewbacca, a Mandalorian (not the Mandalorian), Scout trooper JS-1975 and Ahsoka Tano roamed the park engaging with fans and performing a pre-game sketch with Jedi Master Scrappy. Fans also showed out in homemade costumes including several Leias and assorted Jedi. It was a night when the B’s needed to befuddle Yuba (Yoda?)-Sutter into an Oakland win, potentially using the Force to do so in a 10-9 comeback victory where there was plenty of failure to learn from.
Michael Riley started the game for Oakland in what began as a pitchers duel, as he and the Freebirds Anthony Silvas traded three scoreless frames. In the bottom of the fourth, Tremayne Cobb (not related to Tatooine sheriff Cobb Vanth) led off with a home run that could have taken out the Death Star. Riley, who had given up just 4 hits in the first four innings, ran into trouble in the fifth. After Devin Dixon and Isaac Nunez opened the inning with a pair of singles, Jackson Mayo bunted up the third base line where Riley fielded it and threw the ball into the outfield for an error. Dixon and Nunez scored with Mayo advancing to second on the play.
The next batter, Darth Zach Chamizo, hit fly ball down the right field line that looked like it could hit the foul pole, but veered just off course at the last second. Some fans reported seeing Master Scrappy make waving gesture towards the ball as that moment, though Force use is against Pioneer League rules. The ball was initially called a home run by umpire Collin Brown, causing the Ballers and the crowd to immediately protest. Master of the Order Aaron Miles came out of the dugout to argue the call. “I said, ‘You got it wrong, it was a terrible call, and you better get everybody together to talk about it because the whole ballpark knows it was foul,” Miles relayed to Dispatches after the game. Indeed, as the umpires conferred, the assembled mass began to chant, “That was foul!” The collective will worked, as the crew overturned the call to a foul ball. The decision brought Manager, Grand Moff Frank Gonzalez out of the Yuba-Sutter dugout to argue. Moff Gonzalez went right at first base umpire Grant Meyers. Confusion led to anger, anger led to hate, and hate led to the Freebirds manager being sent to the detention block. Replays confirmed the ball was foul by about two feet, a fact Gonzalez learned from the B’s Connor Godwin as he passed the bullpen on his way off the field. Chamizo brought balance to the force by hitting an actual home run on the next pitch, ending Riley’s night.
New Baller Brock Mayer replaced Riley and ran into trouble of his own. After a pair of walks, Jordan Donahue singled to center scoring a run with an error being charged to center fielder Esai Santos on the throw home that allowed the runners to each advance an extra base. Diego Aragon hit a ball toward first base that went under the glove of Jeter Ybarra for the third Ballers error of the inning, scoring two more for the Dark Side. By the end of the frame, the home team was down 7-1. But, like the outmatched Resistance defenders on Crait, the Ballers were able to turn things around. It started with a Nick Leehey solo shot in the bottom of the fifth. Mayer rallied for a clean top of the sixth, then with the bases loaded for Oakland, Jaden Collura told the Freebirds defense, “these aren’t the outs you’re looking for.” Collura hit a routine grounder to first base that Andrew Kirchner seemed to watch roll under his glove. The error allowed a run to score and further confused right fielder Christian Casteneda who ran past the ball without picking it up. Castaneda’s error brought home two more and allowed Collura to scoot all the way to third base. Ybarra drove in Collura and the Ballers were back in business.
Yuba-Sutter got one back in the top of the seventh, but in the bottom of the inning they continued to show the defensive accuracy of a squad of stormtroopers. A wild pitch and an error by Freebirds second bagger Nunez had the bases juiced again for Ybarra who drove in two more. Langston (no relation to the mountainous mining planet) Burkett (3-1) came into an 8-8 tie in the top of the ninth but was unable to hold the lead. He would end up with the win as the pitcher of record, adding to his numbers as a reliable late inning option. “It’s great,” he declared after the game, “I got that confidence in the back of my mind as I take the mound that the coaches and the guys behind me believe in me. That makes me want to go out and do my thing for the team even more.”
Things looked rough heading into the final half inning with the good guys down 9-8. With Collura and pinch runner Brendan O’Sullivan on base, Ybarra declared, “Never tell me the odds” before lining a single into left field where the Freebirds made their fourth error of the game when the throw in was airmailed and way off line. An intentional pass to Noah Blythe brought Paul Windu-land to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs. Mace Winland tapped a 1-1 pitch meekly up the first base line. It was a ball ripe for a double play. Some fans reported seeing a small green hand emerge from JS-1975’s satchel just as the ball reached first baseman Kirchner, who dropped it and then made a wild throw home that hit the backstop. The Ballers had won it 10-9 on the Freebirds fifth (and potentially sixth) error of the game.
“That’s the best feeling you can have,” said Paul Winland after the game. “You get those lows,” he continued, “guys are down 7-1 at one point. You just keep scratching. ‘Can we win this inning? Can we win the next inning?’” Was it luck? Was it the intervention of the Force? Was it a team simply unwilling to continue losing? As Old Ben once said, “in my experience, there’s no such thing as luck.” Winland acknowledged it was more than just chance, “It took a whole team effort. But not just the team, the whole city of Oakland. To have everybody out here to put more pressure on those guys makes it even more fun to play.”
Odds and Ends:
Yoda once said, “Named must your fear be before banish it you can.” On Friday, the Freebirds fear was named Tremayne Cobb who was walked three times after his home run including an intentional pass in the bottom of the eighth in favor of facing lefty Esai Santos, who’s hitting .331 with a .434 OBP. with a right-handed pitcher. The gambit worked, as Santos struck out to end the inning.
The last week has been a turnaround for Langston Burkett, who had previously led the team in walks despite pitching only 19 innings. Since July 4th, he has been on the mound at the end for the three of the Ballers last four wins. What’s changed in terms of cutting down on walks? “Just believing in my stuff and knowing the catcher has my back. He’s gonna call the best pitch for the best scenario and I just need to go out there and execute it.”
A quick poll of players who stayed to watch the postgame drone show revealed that for most of them the best Star Wars movie is Revenge of the Sith followed by Return of the Jedi. Among Ballers staff, A New Hope beat out RotS 3 to 1 with Ice Cold Kenny abstaining. The answer of the night came from pitcher Brady Chavez who said his favorite is, “the one where they blow up the Death Star,” which narrows it down to three of the nine main films. (For the record, the overall correct answer is Rogue One.)
Photos from Aubrey Tibbils Photography. Videos from Kyle Robinson.
Roberto Santiago is a third generation Berkeley boy currently raising the fourth generation. Roberto’s writing has appeared in Latina, Parents, and various online outlets. A lifelong baseball fan, Roberto worked briefly with the Boston Red Sox and once hit an RBI single off Spaceman Lee on a 2-2 changeup. It was his only at bat ever in a real baseball game. Find him on Instagram.
