2005 BAD ASS Baseball Year In Review
by the BAD ASS Reporter
Well, another baseball season is in the books. Now let’s revisit the good, the bad and the ugly of the 2005 BAB season.
The 2005 season started off in familiar fashion with the All Stars handily defeating the team annually and affectionately referred to as “The Scrubs.” The All Stars swept the series and outscored the over matched Scrubs by a margin of 150-63. Six out of seven All Stars hit over .600 including now retired Josh Blackford who posted an astounding .826 Avg. over the 4 game series. 2003 Season MVP Cav got out of the gates hot and led the team hitting 11 HR’s and 44 RBI’s in 4 games.
In contrast the Scrubs lineup was never able to get anything going and struggled all series against the mighty All Stars. Only two regulars on the scrubs batted over .600 led by an impressive performance by Brandon Ridley who went 16 for 22 and hit .727.
When the time came to draft new teams for the second series, two old friends’ names were drawn and I don’t think anyone could see what an amazing series we were in for. Tito and Leland were the captains and drafting went pretty much as expected. What was not expected was for Leland’s aptly named Cleveland Steamers (since the team pretty much laid a turd) to jump out to a 3 games to 1 lead over Tito’s Dirty Sanchez. What came next was a collapse only eclipsed by the Yankees blowing a 3-0 lead over the Boston Red Sox. The Sanchez fought back and won two hard fought battles to even the series. The Steamers tried everything they could to swing the momentum, including meeting at the field an hour prior to game time to get in some BP and fielding. Alas, all efforts were in vain as game 7 went to the Sanchez and a champagne celebration ensued. The series that wouldn’t end finally did and it will forever be known as the greatest series in BAB history. Players are still identified as members of these teams even after numerous series’ have come and gone. (Shameless plug for BAB Web Store: You can purchase Dirty Sanchez T-Shirts and Baseball Shirts. Still not sure why you can’t get a Cleveland Steamers shirt, but I guess second place is the first loser.)
Here are some interesting stats from that series. The Sanchez outscored the Steamers 107-105. The Sanchez out homered the Steamers 24 to 9. No Sanchez players hit over .600 for the series. Three Steamers eclipsed the .600 plateau.
The end of the Sanchez v. Steamers series also brought the end of Josh Blackford’s BAB career. A serious contender for the MVP, he moved to Las Vegas and wasn’t willing to make the short flight each week to San Jose. Also calling it a career was Greg Lynas, who announced his retirement from BAB. Although Lynas’ retirement only lasted 11 games as he was lured from retirement by an old friend, but more on that later.
The series that had the unenviable task of following the greatest series ever, was Brandon Ridley’s Los Guapos v. Rick Flores’ Rick’s Dick’s with Sticks. This series was going to be a let down no matter what transpired, but a 4 game to 1 shellacking by the Dick’s with Sticks solidified the let down that we all expected. Torance Matsui was a beast in the series hitting 11 HR’s in only 5 games. He added 28 RBI’s and batted a robust .684. Other standouts included newcomer Nick who batted .656 with 7 HR’s and 20 RBI’s. One Series record was broken as Skillz whiffed 6 times in 5 games.
Following that series was Joel’s Phatty Tokers vs. Greg Minor’s Iron Butterflies. This series was over in six as the Phatty Tokers beat up on the Iron Butterflies. This series marked the return of one of the BAB originals and the very first league MVP Ed DaRosa who went 4 for 5 in the one game he played for the Phatty Tokers. Series stand outs included Alvin Trinh who hit 4 homeruns and 13 RBI’s.
The final full series of the season was the first time coaching for Robert Flores, one of the BAB originals and the very last person to get his shot at coaching a team. He faced Soonam who was coaching for the 2nd time and looking to duplicate the results of his first stint as manager in which his Bengali Bombers pulled off the first ever series sweeps.
Facing a proud former member of the US Army, Soonam rustled a few feathers from the beginning by picking The Terrorists as his team’s name. If Rob needed any further motivation, he and the other members of his team found it in the opposing team’s name. Rob named his squad the Reservoir Donkey’s.
Rob called on an old friend and lured Greg Lynas out of retirement for the series. The Donkeys boasted an impressive lineup with Cav Manning, Torance Matsui, Brandon Ridley and Capt. Rob Flores. The series ended after 6 with the Donkeys winning. The series was a close one and was one of the most emotional series’ since the Sanchez/Steamers series. Some standouts for the series were Torance Matsui who won series MVP, he hit 11 HR’s and had 32 RBI’s. Cav Manning added 4 HR’s and 18 RBI’s.
The final series was supposed to pit Rick’s Unnamed team vs. Torance’s Testes Takers, but with the season running long and moving to Saturday’s to accommodate the football season the series was scrapped after 1 game due to a lack luster turnout. Torance’s Testes Takers took game 1 of the series.
So that’s the BAB season in a nutshell. This season saw the largest number of regular players and some very useful additions. Not only did BAB acquire a portable fence to use for fields without one, but also the website added a web store and video section. Records were broken, including the record set just last year for Avg. by Torance Matsui of .685 by Brandon Ridley who fell one hit short of .700 and ended with a .696 AVG. Torance Matsui tied his own record for Cycles in a season with 5. Skillz shattered the record for K’s in a year with 20. We also had 7 new players begin their BAB careers.
But as much as things change, some things will always stay the same (like Leland remaining homerless), mainly the fact that this league is still just a bunch of friends getting together once a week to play some baseball. I think sometimes some of us forget that from time to time. So Congrats to everyone! Great Season and see you next year.