Top 12 Games of the 1999 Red Barons Season

witnessed by Bob Williams

• #12 ---July 4th --- 12-6 over Louisville
  
  Fourth of July, Fanovision, Fireworks, Flores, Frazier, First Base, Fun, Food, Fantasy, French Fries, and of course, FESH!!!
  

• #11 ---July 5th --- 4-3 over Louisville
  
  Despite being outhit badly, the Red Barons won this game when Reggie Harris entered for the 'Bats to close the 9th. He promptly gave up a homerun to Bobby Estalella. Then, after laughing at our taunts, Darren Burton connected on one of his pitches to start the greatest fireworks show of the year off a little early.
   

• #10 ---June 18th --- 8-2 over Columbus
  
  The Red Barons sent out a message to all the Yankee fans in northeast PA that we are a force to be reckoned with this year. The Red Barons smacked Jeff Juden around while Joel Bennett improved to 6-1. Wendell Magee robbed Kurt Bierek of extrabases up against the center field wall which preserved the 3-1 lead in the early going. Torey Lovullo had a bases clearing triple to make it 7-1. The Barons cruised with Fesh in command. 
  

• #9 ---July 21st --- 4-0 over Rochester 
  
  Mike Grace and Darryl Scott combined on a shutout, but the real story was the return of Clemente Alvarez. Billy McMillon's 1st inning home run stood up and sprung the Barons into a 5 game winning streak with Marc Ronan in charge for the departed Estalella. Other relevant info was that this was the game that we were interviewed by Randy Yanoshak for the August 1st Sunday times article.
  

• #8 ---July 23rd --- 9-4 over Syracuse
  
  This was actually a tough come-from-behind victory. Trailing 4-1 in the 7th, Matt Guiliano came up with a man on. In the 5th inning, Matty G had committed 3 errors that led to all of Syracuse's runs. He atoned for his mistakes by launching a Carveresque homerun to left center field to close the margin to 4-3. We would proceed to add a couple more before Steve Carver hit the TOP of Fanovision with a blast in the 8th that put the game out of reach. It was Al LeBeouf's final win in his 4-0 stint as manager and the Rebates played out by the front gate to celebrate the victory. 
  

• #7 ---July 25th --- 8-7 over Syracuse 
  
  Torey Lovullo's birthday was a good time had by all as the Fesh fans bought him a cake and a card and wished him a Happy birthday before the game. Wendell Magee's homerun and 4-5 performance kept the game tied going into the 8th inning. Sean Fesh gave up 1 hit, a home run to Alex DelGado, Marc Ronan's double set the stage for Wendell to tie it with an RBI single. Torey was walked with the bases loaded by Steve Sinclair who blames the rosin for his problems and Ken Ryan shut the door. After the game, Sean went to Chick's with us!!! 
  

• #6 ---August 17th --- 11-4 and 3-0 over Pawtucket 
  
  On a day that could have spelled certain elimination for the Red Barons, the bats and the arms came though. Joe Grahe kept it together in the opener until we blew it open on them in the late innings. In game 2, Robert Dodd pitched excellent and we kept the mighty Pawsox bats at bay for 7 innings and moved within a half game by the end of the night. Fesh fans will remember it as Sumo night between myself and Matt Jones and also as the first appearance by our friends, the outfield skunks!!! 
  

• #5 ---August 28th --- 6-5 over Ottawa 
  
  Anthony Shumaker once again pitched poorly and allowed Ottawa to jump all over us. Steve Carver hit one 2 run homer and missed another by inches foul. Billy McMillon hit a 2-run homerun in the 7th to make it 5-4. All this was possible due to Tyler Green actually keeping it close. In the 8th with Lou Lucca on after singling, Bobby Estalella made me eat my words as he demolished a pitch over the light tower in left field. As the Scranton Times put it, "...the kind where jaws drop and time seems to stand still for the briefest of moments." 
  

• #4 ---August 29th --- 5-1 over Ottawa 
  
  Steve Carver's 3 run home run and Robert Dodd's complete game were enough to make my going away a happy one in an afternoon game in late August. Carver's homerun dented the Camel Beach sign seconds after Wes Hartman said it would. The best part about this game was the send off I got from the players after the game. Torey Lovullo gave me a hug and promised to keep in touch and Sean Fesh took me into the locker room and out on the field to play some ball. It's something I'll never forget. Thanks for the Memories! 
  

• #3 ---June 21st --- 5-4 over Columbus 
  
  This was the only televised game of the year at home and the Fesh fans made the most of it!! Barry Johnson pitched 8 innings of 2-run ball, only allowing 2 solo home runs. Lou Frazier gave the Red Barons a 3-2 lead in the 8th with a home run off the washed up Tony Fossas. Sean Fesh was called upon to pitch the 9th, which brought much TV exposure to the club. Sean faltered however and was replaced by Joe Grahe who allowed Fesh's runners to score and Lou Lucca wasn't entirely innocent. This 9th inning will go down in history. Billy McMillon singled to open the inning. Darren Burton's sac bunt failed, leaving only 1 runner on with 1 out. Matt Guiliano hit what appeared to be a routine Double play ball, but D'Angelo Jimenez threw too hard to Brian Raabe who took his eye off the ball, sending it into right field and Darren Burton to 3rd. Wendell Magee stepped up, looking to get a sac fly, instead crushed a double to left center scoring Burton and putting the Clippers on ice. Lou Frazier's "single" scored Guiliano and the Red Barons shoved up the butts of all the obnoxious Yankee fans. 
  

• #2 ---June 8th --- 9-8 over Richmond 
  
  Baseball is a game of unabashed joy. The Red Barons were down 6-0 after 2 innings of this contest, but they persevered and chipped away a little at a time with singles and Sac flies. Steve Carver, who was our mortal enemy at the time, trucked home and scored the tying run on a sac fly by Darren Burton. The real reason this game made it so far was the 8th inning. We had been coming to games for about a week at this point and we still hadn't seen Sean pitch, while warming up, we were excited and so were the crew in the Press box who were trying to tell us that he was warming up. Then he came in...it was an absolute party!! The crew in the booth was goin crazy, we were goin crazy and we were about to win for the 2nd time in the last 12 games. The old message board read "Got Fesh?" and "Welcome The Sean Fesh Fan Club." Then he struck a guy out to end the inning, everybody was going NUTS!! They put Fesh 3:16 on the board and the place was absolutely ROCKING! He came back out for the 9th and got two outs before making the Ultimate Sacrifice and allowing Joe Grahe to close the game which got us radio recognition for the first time for "exhorting Grahe to get the final out." That also was the night that we got on Channel 16 News for the First time and started the Fesh-craze!!! 
  

• #1 ---August 27th --- 4-3 over Pawtucket 
  
  As much sentimental value as the June 8th game had, this game had the most do to with us winning our 2nd Division Championship. Adam Eaton pitched 8 innings, allowing only 2 runs to the vaunted attack of the Pawsox. Trailing 2-0 in the 8th, Darren Burton hit a double and was driven in by Jon Zuber after a Billy McMillon walk and Torey Lovullo strike out. Lou Lucca struck out with the runners on which brought up Estalella. With 2 strikes on Estalella, Rob Stanifer and Joe DePastino flushed the Pawtucket season down the toilet on what was ruled a wild pitch, but was clearly dropped by Depastino. Estalella proceeded to strike out. This gave us a 2-2 tie heading into the 10th when Itchy tore our hearts out by scoring the run that put them ahead 3-2. The run itself was ridiculous. Bombard should definately have Scott walk Stenson with 2 outs. I hate to 2nd guess, Matt and I were discussing this during Stenson's at bat. Merloni was to follow and he popped up to 3rd. Either way we were in trouble. Chris Cumberland, a lefty, was called on to pitch the 10th for the Sox. Darren Burton and Billy McMillon were both retired with ease. Torey Lovullo came up batting righty and walked. Jon Zuber then came up and hit a ground ball that bounced about 20 times. Torey's good jump forced Chamblee to go to 1st and Zuber beat the throw. The 3rd man to bat with 2 outs was Lou Lucca who had a history of stranding runners. The coach of Pawtucket left Cumberland in to face the righty Lucca. Cumberland ran the count to 3-0 and Bombard gave Lucca the green light to swing if it was a meatball...it was. Lucca ripped it down the left field line!! Torey scored easily from 2nd base and Bombard waved Zuber home!!! The throw beat Jon to the plate but Depastino couldn't hang on to it as Zuber crashed in and missed the plate. The umpire stood motionless until Jon touched it with his hand, ensuring that the play stood!! The most amazing comeback EVER!!!