Sports

News from the       Israel Baseball League

Home run derby closes out IBL's regular season; playoffs begin

By Andrew Wilson

KIBBUTZ GEZER, Israel—In the final day of regular season play before the IBL playoffs, the Modi'in Miracle immediately made things interesting by scoring one run in the bottom of the seventh inning of a, 14-13, suspended game against the Bet
Shemesh Blue Sox. Australian outfielder Moko Moanoroa tied the score at 14 with a solo-homerun with no outs, to force a home run derby.   It took ten batters to determine the outcome of the derby in which Modi'in was the ultimate victor.

Modi'in's Audy Alcantara saved the game for the Miracle in his last swing of the first round by hitting a homerun to tie the score at one apiece.  In the next round, Bet Shemesh outfielder Mike Lyons and Audy Alcantara matched homeruns at two each.  In the third round, Modi'in's Matt Bennett won the game for the Miracle by hitting two homeruns in his first two
swings.
  
In the regularly scheduled game, the Blue Sox defeated the Miracle, 11-6, in which both teams rested many of their frontline starters to prepare for the playoffs.  Bet Shemesh scored five runs in the fifth inning on only two hits with the help of two errors by the Miracle defense.  Designated hitter Johnny Lopez (1-for-2) had one of those hits, with a
two-run ground rule double, plating outfielder Sean Slaughter and short stop Gregg Raymundo.

MOUND CONFERENCE—Bet Shemesh teammates discuss strategy
in today's last regular season game.  Photo by Yehuda Boltshauser

Modi'in outfielder Adalberto Paulino hit his 11th homerun of the season, a three-run shot, in a losing effort.

At Sportek, the Tel Aviv Lightning won a, 5-4, come-from-behind victory over the Petach Tikva Pioneers.  In the top of the second inning, the Pioneers jumped out to a, 3-0, lead over the Lightning on a two-run homerun by Canadian second baseman Dustin Melanson, his first on the season.  Tel Aviv answered back with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, aided by two errors by the Pioneers' sloppy defense.  The Lightning added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, on a RBI single by shortstop Raul Franco and a sacrifice fly by Nate Fish.  In the top of the seventh
inning, Dustin Melanson (2-for-3) hit his second homerun of the night to bring the Pioneers within one run.  However, Tel Aviv pitcher Jason Bonder recorded the next three outs to earn his first save of the year.

At Yarkon Field in the Baptist Village, a crowd of over 250 fans witnessed Israeli right handed pitcher Daniel Maddy-Weitzman of the Ra'anana Express shutdown the Netanya Tigers, 9-1, to earn his first victory of the season.  Maddy-Weitzman threw a complete game, with 11 strikeouts, while allowing only one run.  Ra'anana second baseman Donnie Mott Jr. was 2-for-4 on the night with one RBI.  The Express were aided by Netanya's six errors on the night.

Completion of Suspended Game
                        1   2   3   4   5   6   7   R   H   E
Bet Shemesh    5   0   1   3   0   1   4   14  17  1
Modi'in            3   3   0   6   1   1   1   15  15  4
HR: Eladio Rodriguez (14), Jim Pierce (3), Gregg Raymundo (12), Moko
Moanoroa (4)

                          1   2   3   4   5   6   7   R   H   E
Modi'in              0   2   0   0   4   0   0   6    5  4
Bet Shemesh      1   2   1   5   0   2   x   11  8   0
W: Jonny Lopez (1-0); L: Rafi Stern (0-1) : HR: Adalberto Paulino (11),
Steve Litvak (6)

                          1   2   3   4   5   6   7   R   H   E
Petach Tikva      0   3   0   0   0   0   1    4  7   2
Tel Aviv             0   0   0   3   0   2   x    5  7   0
W: Cameron Ewers (1-0); L: Josh Epstein (0-4); SV: Jason Bonder (1); HR:
Dustin Melanson (2)

                           1   2   3   4   5   6   7   R   H   E
Netanya               0   0   1   0   0   0   0   1   4   6
Ra'anana              0   0   1   0   0   0   0   9   7   0
W:  Daniel Maddy-Weitzman (1-1); L: Ryoju Kihara (0-1); HR: None

Standings:

Team                              W    L     %     GB
Bet Shemesh Blue Sox   29   12   .718    -
Tel Aviv Lightning         26   14   .650   2.5
Modi'in Miracle              22   19   .537   7.0
Netanya Tigers               19   21   .475   9.0
Ra'anana Express           17   24   .415   12.5
Petach Tikva Pioneers     9    32   .225   20.0

Thursday at 4 pm, the quarterfinals of the IBL playoffs begin with the
sixth-seeded Petach Tikva Pioneers facing the third-seeded Modi'in Miracle
at Gezer Field.   The fifth-seeded Ra'anana Express and the fourth-seeded
Netanya Tigers will play at 4 pm at Sportek in Tel Aviv.


 

 
{Marc Kligman, who combines being a sports agent with his life as an observant Jew, invites you to listen. Click on the ad above for more information}. 

Arts & Entertainment

     
 
 Sharing our Jewish memories

 Zayde, the maestro, conducts a Boardwalk concert

By Sheila Orysiek

SAN DIEGO—As summer wanes and flowers droop, August can be a cruel month especially if it is the anniversary of the death of both one’s father and grandfather.  However, there are times when a Yahrzeit can bring a smile rather than a tear..

Atlantic City, New Jersey in the middle 1900’s was a hugely popular resort for the Jewish communities all through New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  Normally people went in the summer for the beautiful beaches and to stroll along the world famous boardwalk.   However, to break up the tedium of winter in Philadelphia my parents decided to drive there on a Sunday in January and invited my grandparents to go with us.   It was a cold windy winter day and we were bundled up in heavy coats, gloves and scarves.  After an early supper, as the sun began to set, we went to the boardwalk. This promenade which parallels the beach was built in 1870, is sixty feet wide and stretches for four miles and at the time was a major attraction, even in the winter. 

At intervals of approximately every half mile part of the boardwalk jutted out over the beach forming a plaza area for rows of benches to accommodate several hundred people.  Usually these benches were occupied by older folks, almost all of them speaking in Yiddish.  After we had only walked a short distance my grandparents wanted to sit down and rest.  My parents and I continued on telling them we would return in an hour.  As we walked away, I remember looking back over my shoulder and seeing all those rows and rows of elderly people sitting, bundled up in their winter coats, huddled against the cold, grim determination etched on their faces to outlast the wind, at least for a while.  To everyone else the benches, the cold, the oncoming night, and the grim look on all those elderly faces – was just that – grim determination.  To my grandfather the arrangement of so many benches, so many people and their solemnity, presented a potential audience and a challenge. 

My parents and I continued our way down the boardwalk keeping a brisk pace against the windy chill.  I was young and so were my parents,  but it was cold and as we turned back we were eager to meet my grandparents, and go back to our car, turn on the heater and start the two-hour drive home.

While we were still a distance away from the plaza area where we had left my grandparents, we heard singing, a bit discordant, sometimes drifting on the wind, but nonetheless, singing – in Yiddish.  My father knew immediately what was taking place, even before we were near enough to see.

“That’s my dad”, he said, “he’s got everyone singing.”  Sure enough, as we approached, we could see my grandfather standing up in front of all the rows of benches, and with great animation, conducting the “choir.”  He had divided up his audience into sections and had them singing “Oifen Pripichik” in rounds.  Where once had been downward lines on faces, now the lines traced upward into smiles.  They were still bundled up in their winter coats but no longer aware of the cold.  And, my grandfather was having a wonderful time.  We hated to pull him away but the drive home was long and the hour growing late.   As we started to leave, people on every side stood up and thanked my grandfather shook his hand and applauded.   There was a bounce in his step and a beaming smile on his face.  And, I remember all the smiles he left behind him as well.

My grandfather had suffered the loss of his business and raised six children during the Depression of the 1930’s, but his spirit remained undaunted.   As he met health challenges and other problems, he continued to see life through a prism of optimism, music and humor.  He had never had any formal musical training of any kind but had the ability to play credibly both piano and accordion; an innate musicality.   He also had a fine voice (I have a tape) and at any moment of the day he would break into song in English or Yiddish or a combination of both easily mixing and matching the lyrics – often adding his own.

He had the wonderful capacity for carrying others along with him into his world of music and laughter.  When he died I was 18 and the family gathered for several evenings afterward to memorialize him – sitting Shiva in his honor.  But this was a Shiva like no other that I recall; instead of sorrow there was laughter as we talked about this very special man.  It was not at all inappropriate to find ourselves laughing through our tears instead of simply mourning him.  He would have preferred it that way.  

As his six grown children, their spouses, and 18 grandchildren sat around a table eating and talking, we each contributed a memory about him.   Many of the remembrances concerned picnics involving the entire family, food, music and my grandfather’s endless humor (usually about his truck which occasionally dropped its engine but continued on nevertheless)  and the smile which he never lost as he dealt with life’s tribulations.  My contribution was the memory I had of that cold winter evening spent on the boardwalk in Atlantic City when his love of people and song made the chill of that night warm for several hundred others. 

When I had finished relating this remembrance to the family around the table sitting Shiva in his memory, everyone was delighted with the story, but no one was surprised.

Arts in Review                             by Carol Davis

 
  The future ain't what it used to be

SAN DIEGO —In her newly penned comedy/ fantasy, The End of Death (The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be), Jewish playwright, Janet S. Tiger toys with the future and what the future has to hold in her most recent offering to the community. She presents us with two entirely different ideas and comes up with a play within a play. One is about an ageless visitor from the future and the other about a frustrated playwright/housewife who labors over  her writing  and about her ho, hum family.

Tiger, who was commissioned by the Swedenborgian Church where she is an Artist –in- Residence to write this world premiere, is a talented playwright who has written an array of one act plays. Included in her repertoire are several about the Holocaust. I remember being among the few to have seen one of her first readings, The Waiting Room and The Affidavit in 1981 and’83. Jonathan Dunn-Rankin, the star of  this new show, was in the first one as well. Her  short stories, poems and essays have garnered many awards.  We congratulate her efforts on this latest undertaking.

The last play of hers I reviewed was Renny’s Story.  The End of Death is her first full length play and it is still a work in

Visitor (Jonathan Dunn-Rankin) and the Grim Reaper (Brandon Cano)

progress. Diane Shea, long time actress, friend and associate, directed both. Shea also is credited for the set design and costumes.

The play opens with a parade of characters marching in front of the audience. The main character of play #1 is the Visitor/Narrator (Jonathan Dunn-Rankin) who  is well over  eight thousand years old. And let me say right from the get go, he looks great and would look even better if he had a different tailor. He’s an imposing figure (I think Jonathan stands well over six feet and doesn’t look a day older than…). He’s dressed in some kind of a futuristic garb with black velvet pants, a green tunic, funny little shoes and a beanie.

But not to worry. It’s really not about his attire that’s so odd, it’s that he’s finally ready to die even though he looks great and doesn’t seem to have an ache in the world. He  wants to  commit suicide of all things.  He throws a party for his upcoming demise and lo and behold his parents, who are among the guests, are there giving him grief about dying. (No matter how old we are, they never stop.) WOW! Give me some of those pills!

The Visitor then proceeds to engage the audience, in some very funny observations about the past and future, kind of like the history of man, which unfolds in vignettes. We watch, off to the side, the reenactment of the  development and civilization of mankind;  their trials and tribulations as they climb the food chain up to and including what the future will look like (ours if course, he’s already there).

According to him, (and he should know,)  if we live long enough we’ll be able to eat all we want and not gain weight (show me the way!), see things at a glance through special glasses, test tube babies will be the norm and the common cold will be a thing of the past, just to name a few. Some of the references are fun, some predictable, some out of the blue, some witty and some are already happening. It’s interesting, also, look  into the playwrights mind especially as she writes about the struggles of writing a play.

But soon the ‘now’ play takes a 180 degree turn and in play #2 the scenario has the Visitor watching, along with the rest of us, as one of those characters depicted in the development of  the world, struggles with life’s vicissitudes. It’s like a daytime drama about a young woman, Joanne (Teresa Beckwith), who’s a writer and is  frustrated with her writing blocks and life in general.  She can’t seem to get a grip on her latest play, can’t find an appropriate ending for it, and every attempt she makes at writing  is interrupted by some family crisis.

Joanne lives with her two bratty and selfish teen aged children,  Tillie (Lynne Goodman) and Arthur (Joseph Baker) and that should give you a clue about her life in the sluggish lane. She doesn’t know where to begin  to being the kind of mom she would like to be. Her job as wife is a test as well. She tells us so. Yes, she too, talks directly to the audience. We not only see  the  complicated muddle of confusion in her life, she’s the first one to share it with us. As a sidebar, her husband  Don (Steve Rowe) went for a swim one day and never came back.

And their house?  I can’t imagine anyone living the way they do. It is one disorganized mess and the more Joanne tries to clear the debris, the worse it gets. Hers is not a happy situation. In fact it’s pretty depressing. But we plod on with her woes piling up hoping it will lead  somewhere. Eventually, it does, but where is the question.

There were times I found the play about as disorganized as Joanne’s house. The sum of the parts just don’t add up, and both tracks suffered. It wove and pitched and gave us glimpses into each life’s story, and like Joanne’s dilemma, the harder she tried the more frustrated she got  and  the more frustrated she got  the more tangled it became.

What's more there is too much information for the audience to sift through. The segue’s are rough and on opening night the play lasted over two hours. Like Joanne’s play,  Schecter’s play, as it is, is adrift. With  all it’s cleverness, and parts of it are clever, there is too much  to figure out. Where it was going was one of my primary questions.  Unfortunately, the cast didn’t help out too much, either. They  could have used more rehearsal time and the  acting was uneven at best. Hopefully, they are more comfortable with the script by now.

Certainly there is enough interest in the future, prolonged  life, and life after death to write about in dozens of plays. And there is a story about a frustrated playwright, wife and mother whose family is somewhat dippy. There is also room for  her husband to go off into the sunset where everyone thinks he’s dead, only to show up unexpectedly and no one is surprised.  It sounds like a movie I saw recently, but it’s not exclusive to one story. Putting the two side by side, however, needs rethinking. My guess is there are changes underway as you read this.

And if you  happen to have reached the century mark, you get to see the show free! So come on down!

For more information about the play or playwright visit her web site at tigerteam1@gmail.com.

The End of Death (The Future ain’t what it used to be) will continue through Aug. 19th at Swedenborg Hall, 1531 Tyler St.

 See you at the theatre.