Roaches Extinguished

Full Effect narrowly holds off Raiders to complete sweep

SANTA CLARA, 4/26/09-: Game 3 of Ridley and the Full Effect vs. the Stoned Raiders could linger in the minds of several BAD ASSes because of the "if" factor---if this had happened, if I had done this, if I hadn't done that...and so on. Of course, much of BAB participated in a pregame session, so the memory of Game 3 could already be long erased.

One fact is indisputable---if Cav Manning hadn't pulled a Willis Reed, Game 3 woulda been far less dramatic...

Ridley and the Full Effect win series 3-0

Shortly before the first pitch Manning, who'd injured his arm Easter Sunday and skipped last week's doubleheader, surprised all with his arrival at the yard, baseball gear in grasp. He was placed at buck for the Raiders, giving them a slight advantage over the catcherless Full Effect.

Lynas led off the game with a triple and scored on Ridley's groundout. In the bottom of the 1st, with a man on, CF Ridley helped give it back with a half-hearted barehand attempt of Bush's hot grounder to center; it got by him and Bush touched 'em all putting his team up 2-1. By the end of the 3rd it was 6-all.

Over the next 3 frames, both clubs exchanged small handfuls of runs; after Matsui's 2-run homer put RFE back in front in the 4th, Manning---bad arm and all---crunched a no-doubt 3-run homer in the bottom half, audibly and visibly pained by the full swing but satisfied with the result . Matsui added homers in each of the next two RFE half-innings as well, while Andraesen's 5th-inning solo job, subsequent back-to-back RBI doubles by Yow and Manning, and a loud 2-run roundtripper by Wagner in the 6th allowed the Raiders to keep pace. Through 6 full innings, Yanez' team held a 15-14 advantage.

Three consecutive popouts by Davis, Bernal and Lynas marked the RFE 7th; Wagner singled home the 16th Raider run during the home half.

Matsui added his 4th home run of the game in the 8th, a 2-run shot supplemented by Bernal's solo and Ridley yet again driving in Lynas following the latter's triple. Now down two, a much-improved Raider offense from Game #2 went back to work. First, Yanez reached. Bush then drove one to the left-center field gap which Ridley pursued. At full stride he reached the ball but it ricocheted off his outstretched mitt and over the fence! Bush' 9th home run of the season re-tied the score...a score untied by Yow on a 2-out single moments later.

But could the Raiders close the deal? Kuzmiak, only 1-for-8 up to this point and admittedly off his game, led off with a single. Davis then tripled over a "(Bernie) Madoff" shift, in which both outfielders played deep left with BS Manning covering shallow center where Davis had been targeting today. Kuzmiak did score the tying run, but Davis was tagged out by 3B Bush as he rounded the base too far, costing RFE the lead as Bernal singled hard to left soon after.

Lynas followed with a single, and after Ridley popped out, Matsui drilled home run #5 of the game to snap the tie yet again! Kuzmiak backed it up with a dinger of his own; by the end of the road 9th, RFE plated 7 and led 25-19.

The home 9th started almost exactly like the road; Wagner doubled home the 20th Raider run but was tagged out at 3rd by a mile trying to stretch it. Still, his team kept at it---Flores, Manning, Yow and Yanez smacked successive hits and drove home runs #21 and #22. Next, Bush stepped up. He lofted a routine pop near 3rd, but Davis' nightmarish defensive season continued unimpeded as he failed to even get leather on it! Given new life, Bush roped a 2-run triple up the gap, bringing up the 2009 BAB home run leader representing the winning run!

Andraesen smoked one up the CF gut. CF Ridley, who had been shading Stoph to pull, galloped hard and eventually secured his mitt under the ball to retire Andraesen, reedem himself for the deflected home run, and take a potentially-suicidal Davis off the hook.

Oh, yeah--it clinched the series victory, too. Ridley became a first-time series winner in this the 6th BAD ASS series season, after being easily beaten by Rick Flores in 2005 during his only other managing stint.

"That was amazing. The best I've ever seen in BAD ASS." -- Flores, to RFE SS Lynas, who made a sensational, fully-horizontal dive grab of his hard one-hopper in the 9th, but couldn't throw Rob out. Flores even tipped his hat to the Gold Glover once the play was dead.

AWARDS AND HIGHLIGHTS

8-for-10, 5 homers, 13 RBI and 6 runs read Matsui's line; he'd be named BAD ASS of the Day for the third time in as many series games. Raiders LF Wagner stole a home run from Kuzmiak in the 4th with a fence-busting catch---although minor controversy ensued in its' wake when Kuzmiak spotted him picking the ball up off the ground; Dave had flipped it to an unaware CF Yow. Wagner also took Small Penis, presumably for his baserunning mistake in the 9th.

Captain B-Rid contributed to his cause with 5 doubles and 5 RBI. Davis rebounded from his 2-for-9 Game #2 with 3 doubles, a triple and 4 runs scored. Lynas tripled twice as mentioned, and scored 5 times. Kuzmiak contributed a 3-run ITPHR in the 3rd inning along with impeccable glovework at buck most notably a running catch of a Bush pop near the line to end the 3rd inning.

For the Raiders, Bush posted his 5th cycle of 2009 (a full one, no less), driving home six. Wagner finished 6-for-8 with 4 RBI, Manning went a perfect 8-for-8 with another 4 RBI, and Yanez drove home 5 runs.

MORE NOTES

• Seemed to be a theme today: In the very 1st inning, Yanez would also be tagged out overrunning 2nd on an RBI double.

• Ridley struck out on fouls in the 6th, while Lynas and Kuzmiak struck out on pitch limit in the 4th and 8th respectively.

• 3B Davis did manage one gem, snagging a hard one-hopper by Yanez and turning it into a 5-6 double play in the 6th as runner Yow froze halfway between 1st and 2nd.

• Absent from RFE were Kevin Holley, Greg Minor, and Greg Sacramento, who missed the whole series.

• Absent from the Stoned Raiders were Jimmy Garewal, Brian Simas and Soonam Chowdhury, who also missed the whole series.

Wagner, Manning, Lynas, and Ridley departed, but the remaining 9 players plus the spectating Ruben Gonzalez kicked off an exhibition with Matsui and Kuzmiak the skippers. In the wake of last week's lengthy intermission, this game kicked off within 15 minutes of the first.

Slated to be a 7-inning contest (despite the wishes of half the players voting for 6), this game only went 2+. With the score 7-4 Klan in the third, Taliban SS Yanez drove one up the alley in center field. CF Flores raced to his right to cut the ball off but failed, collapsing to the turf in pain as it rolled to the fence---allowing Norberto a game-tying 3-run ITPHR. Flores remained down and was unable to continue, eventually helped off the field with a bad hamstring pull. This left the league with too few players to continue.

With innings worth of stats in the books, the game had to count---meaning a  winner needed to be decided. Like the Mother's Day game of 2008, BAB turned to the home run derby as a solution. Bush put Taliban up early with 1 blast, and although Bernal came very close to tying him---his drive landed foul---it would be Andraesen, coming off his first Sunday of the year without a home run last week and only 21 for his last 40 overall, who finished off Taliban with four home runs. Matsui, the final Taliban batter, could only poke one out in response, meaning KKK notched the W. Although the game was decided, Kuzmiak insisted on taking his swings, but no one seemed to really care and proceeded to take down the fences.

"Nah." -- Matsui's unexpected answer when asked if he'd like to participate in a postgame "session".

AWARDS AND HIGHLIGHTS

No awards were named. It should be noted Yanez had completed 3 legs of the full cycle (2B, HR, ITPHR) driving home 6 of 7 Taliban runs before the interruption. Kuzmiak had already homered twice with 4 RBI for his own cause. JD

·      us

* Players of the Week *

BAD ASS of the Day 

Torance Matsui, RFE (1)

8-for-10, 5 HR, 13 RBI

Gold Glove

Dave Wagner, Raiders (1)

fence-busting catch in 4th

Small Penis

Dave Wagner, Raiders (1)

baserunning gaffe in 9th