| SBL END OF SEASON REPORT CARDS |
| PJ & THE LADIES roster: pj nespor big rando knight * lenny crist greg lackey sean hood andy esenwein kassy brown cassie pyle brendan radcliffe * all star X poy finalist Y roy finalist record: 7-13 (6th in sbl) total runs scored: 143 / 7.2 per game (6th) total runs allowed: 197 9.9 per game (3rd) team leaders: games played: crist/knight (18) homeruns: crist (12) at-bats: crist (163) average: esenwein (.529) runs batted in: knight (43) assists: stud/knight/crist (1) double plays: knight (35) psyche-outs: crist (13) dumb things: knight (9) this team pulling off a 7-win campaign was both a pleasant surprise and a dissapointing failure. in the weeks heading into the season, many expected the ladies to be right in the thick of things at the end of the year. they had manipulated the draft into their favor, stealing a player of the year favorite in andy esenwein after convincing the league he was joining the army, and brought the band back together for one final farewell tour. they were by far the most experienced team in the sbl. crist, nespor, pyle and knight were all 4-year players (a 5th, sean hood, would be added later), and a plethora of young talent including esenwein, greg lackey and preseason rookie of the year fave brendan radcliffe gave the ladies all the tool they need to win a championship without compromising their "dick around" mentality. the sun soon set on the promising season. esenwein, in a last-second decision, decided to join the army after all. radcliffe turned out to be pretty damn scrubby, and the normally steadfast attendance of the ladies became shoddy at best. defensively, the ladies were, and always have been, a quiet but terrific team. led by creative genius crist, anyone on the team is capable of coercing a psyche-out. and while they don't have a super-athletic double play man, they do have an army of players who can tip one in if they have to. B- defensively. on the offensive side, pj&l can be downright boring. they're not great homer shooters, but they're not real good at anything else, either. their runs usually came in short spurts, and then they'd rely on their d to carry those scant runs home. they had the worst collective average in the league, and esenwein was tops at .529 (by almost .200 points), and he only played one week. big fat D for the O. as for intangibles, the ladies have 4 years of both glory and gory working for them. they've been down the road, they know how to win games. but they also know how to lose them, and it often seemed they were going out of their way to jinx themselves. we'll give them a C for all of what i just said, but make it a B+ just because they're pj & the ladies and everyone fucking' loves them. love is all you need, really. ask the beatles. next to the bluffs, the ladies were the best scrummers in the league. all of the old-school guys liked mixing it up, and usually they ended on top. humping someone. A- for the scumming. all in all, it was a good season for what the ladies had to work with, though i think they could have one 3 or 4 more with slightly better all-around play. but hey, they're pj & the ladies, and if there's one thing w know about the ladies, it's that they don't measure success in terms of wins or losses. and really, i don't think they keep track of trivial things such as successes, anyway. THE LADIES FINAL GRADE: B- TEAM AWARDS: MVP- BIG RANDO KNIGHT (does he have off years?) LVP- ANDY ESENWEIN (remember when you were the heir?) ROOKIE OF THE YEAR- GREG LACKEY (better than dennis or pat in their first seasons) |
| XDEATHX/WSAC roster: jon biddle *X kip corbett * anne carine dank elly Y billy picciotto Y jason betts ween farmartino ben elliott * all-star X poy finalist Y roy finalist record: 11-9 (3rd in sbl) total runs scored: 211 / 10.6 (4th) total runs allowed: 183 / 9.2 (2nd) team leaders: games played: biddle (21) homeruns: picciotto (23) at-bats: elly (178) average: carine (.500) runs batted in: picciotto (62) assists: biddle (3) double plays: biddle (96) psyche-outs: betts (6) dumb things: biddle (12) xdeathx/wsac had a season that was equal parts donkey punch and hoosier daddy, winning games with a young and inexperienced roster but falling well short of what many felt they could accomplish. xdx had a roster loaded with young talent, including rookie of the year finalists dank elly and billy picciotto, as well as proven sbl studs kip corbett, jason betts and sean hood and the dynamic duo of jon biddle and ben elliott. based on talent alone, this team was the second best team in the sbl, and really the only team that, player for player, could match up with the serbian jew double bluffs. but while it's members meshed enough to win a few games and reach the sbl playoff finals, they couldn't crack the barrier keeping them from becoming an elite sbl team, eventually bowing to an inferior (?) hoosier daddy squad in a brutal 3 game series. by season's end, hood and betts were both off the team as biddle played the same 4 players pretty much every inning of the year, and former all-star kip corbett had become nothing more than a role player who showed up half the time and played half the time he was there. this is not to say xdeathx was a bad team. we tend to expect more from a team that's loaded with potential and overlook actual sbl experience. it's been proven before, and this smoker squad that relied so heavily on rookies solidified that there's no substitute for experience. if this team sticks together, expect them to dominate the game for seasons to come. xdx was not an offensive team, and didn't claim to be. with billy picciotto, they could score runs in bunches, but he was the most inconsistent starter in terms of attendance, meaning x was often unable to plate runs with the hoosier daddy's and double bluffs of the sbl. biddle emerged as a decent offensive player by season's end, but single and doubles were the only shots in his repertoire. dank was probably the most inconsistent player in th league. and what happened to kip? C+ for offense. A+ for defense, even if it was jon biddle jumping way above anyone to dunk home doube plays. nobody psyched out, but who cares when nobody gets more than 2 misses per inning anyway? the biggest contrast betweek hoosier and smoker was that xdeathx couldn't win the close games. i don't know why, and if i were jon biddle, i'd have spent many summer nights sleepless trying to figure that out. for whatever reason, they get a D for intangibles, but go up to a C based solely on anne carine's red shorts. damn, she has nice legs. make it a B. dank elly, jon biddle, betts and picciotto were all decent scrummers, even tho they were all undermuscled or injured. B+ based on effort and being one of the few teams in the league that seemed to look forward to scrums. jon biddle did a fantastic job in his first season at the helm. his team was always in attendance, always in uniform, always willing to help, and always out to have fun first. while most of the league was sketchy about dank and picciotto in may, they were welcome additons by august. here's hoping this team sticks around. we'll be needing the competition after clayton's apparant departure. overall grade: B+. TEAM AWARDS: MVP- JON BIDDLE (you did once hit 7 homers in a game, right?) LVP- WEEN FARMARTINO (i'd have liked to see her...) ROOKIE OF THE YEAR- BILLY PICCIOTTO (he scares me more, sorry dank) |