Game Recap

·                     Rick's Dicks with Sticks took game one of the best of seven series with a 18-9 victory led by the bats of the returning Nick, the pumped up Tito and some great defense inspired by newcomer Justin. More on him later.

·                     It was brought to my attention that the new teams are basically the Sanchez v. Steamers with a few changes. Lynas and Blackford both retired which basically cancelled each other out. The rest of the changes are Torance Rick and Joel from the steamers for Cav Minor and CT of team Dirty Sanchez.

·                     Alvin, the number 3 player drafted went 0-6 in his 2005 B.A.B. debut. While no one is ready to write Alvin off yet, an 0-6 from the clean up spot is not gonna cut it and Alvin will need to improve if Los Guapos wanna have any shot at winning the series.

·                     Nick, the number 4 player taken hit 2 HR's in helping Rick's squad take a 1 game to none lead.

·                     Saying Tito is fired up may be an understatement. He gave Brandon the finger at one point and gave him the "Nice game f*ck off." during the handshake line. I understand being upset but Tito's own captain Rick allowed him to slide that far too. I guess it was the fact that Brandon chose Mondo over him. Anyway you slice it, you can't argue the results as Tito hit two laser beams off the Chain Link Monster in Milpitas.

·                     B.A.B. rookie Justin earned himself a nickname, Dykstra, for his all out style on defense. He was laying out for balls that were hit directly to Bryan at short. I love to see that kind of hustle, and can't wait to get see this guy in person and get him on film.

·                     Speaking of Rob, he narrowly avoided his first ever B.A.B. 0'fer with a late game single reminiscent of his game 6 hit over Leland's outstretched glove at buck. If he keeps this up, he might garner himself a new nickname, "Clutch."

·                     A certain unnamed player on Rick's team had this to say after Sunday's game..."One word, SWEEP!" I don't know if that will happen, but another player on Rick's team said "He would be surprised if it went past 5 games. That game 1 win filled the Dick's with confidence, let's see if that carries over to game 2. I still predict Rick's Dick's in 6.

·                     Cav predicted on Friday that he will hit 80 Hr’s this season. Before Sunday's game he was averaging 1.75 Hr’s a game, and would need to get that up to at least 2.0 Hr’s a game to reach 80. After Sunday’s homerless game, his HR/game avg. dropped to 1.61.

·                     On a similar note, Leland has predicted that he will hit 1 Hr this season. He is currently at 0.0 Hr’s a game and will need to get that up to 0.025 Hr/game in order to reach his goal.

·                     The field hunt continues as Skillz scoured parts of the Bay Area in hopes of finding a new home field for B.A.B. Results were not very promising as he scouted 6 fields and only 1 looked like it had any promise what so ever. Rob may have found a field to use at Andrew Hill High School. He will be checking it prior to next Sundays game.

·                     After one week of reporting, the response has been fairly positive and I feel like this is the role for me. Not being able to devote myself to every Sunday as a player forced me into retirement, but I may have stumbled upon my true calling as a journalist.

·                     The response to the Interview section was luke warm to put it kindly, as Rob won the voting 2-1 over Soonam. The Rob interview will be conducted Thursday night and posted Friday.

I was feeling a bit nostalgic today and I went back and re-read all the posts from my retirement announcement. It got me to thinking how much B.A.B. means to mean, and to all of you, even if you don’t know it yet.

   Maybe it was Rob’s high school baseball coach’s words about cherishing his last game because it may actually be the last organized game of baseball they ever get to play. Thanks to B.A.B. that wasn’t the case. Thanks to B.A.B. we all have a chance to feel the joy of winning and the pain of losing on a weekly basis. But best of all we all get to be part of a team; actually two teams, the team you are on and the B.A.B. family as a whole.

   Whatever it was, it gave me a whole new appreciation for what a wonderful thing we have built with B.A.B. It started with some guys hitting balls at Taylor and has evolved into a league with a website, stats and a 40 game season. I know the veterans feel proud about what we have built. And I know the new guys are happy to be part of it too. Whether you have been here from the beginning, just joined this season or anywhere in between, we should all feel proud because it really is the players that make B.A.B. great. If it weren’t for B.A.B.I wouldn’t have been able to see my best friends (Rob, Leland and Tito) once a week. And I wouldn’t have met so many people that I now consider friends and hopefully they all consider me a friend too. Even though I am retired as a player, I will still be part of the B.A.B. family forever.