It's a bitter pill to swallow, but the Beat's 2006 finish was enough to leave you looking forward to the Niners/Raiders game. The team finished the summer much the same way they started the spring, by losing 3 of 4. They managed a season split with the Ballers and Finnegan's but just could not get past Flor de Cana and Ronin. The crux of the year though, and what ultimately kept the team from a semi-respectible 10-6 record were two 1-run losses to Il Pirata. So the Beat finished 2006 at an even 8-8; the team's worst year since 1999. But I think that's a testament to how far this team has come; that we've been a consistent above .500 team for 6 years. That is something that neither Ronin nor Il Pirata can claim. 

It's hard to put this year into perspective, though Pete and I have tossed it around endlessly. Has the team lost it's fire or is it just coincidence that half a dozen of the team's veterans, including 5 of the top 7 in the order, had sub-par years finishing (as a group) 135 points below last year's batting average?

Beat pitching and defense struggled as well. Prior to this year, the Beat had not given up 15 runs in a game since September of 2003 and had not given up more than 20 since April 2002. But in the spring of '06, the Beat gave up 15 runs twice, then crumbled in the summer giving up 23 runs twice.

How much of the team's fall-off can be contributed to injuries and absences that caused manager Pete Wenner to bring in scrubs nine times this summer. Fortunately, the emergency player share between the Beat and Misfit Toys allowed both teams to make it through the summer without a forfeit. However the loss of clean-up hitter Donnell Moody to a rotator cuff injury for the last four games (including the losses to the Ballers, Flor, and Ronin) left a big whole in the team's lineup. Slugger Mark Briscoe had a great year but only made two of the last six games and missed 9 of 16. Playing short left the team with a different line-up every week and a defense that looked like a game of musical chairs.

That's not to say that this Beat team was all bad. Only against the good teams. The Beat slaughtered the weaker half of the division holding opponents to 5 runs or less 5 times and scoring over 20 three times. In fact, over the long haul, the Beat actually outscored their opponents 207 to 168.

It's unfortunate that the final game of the season came against the undefeated Ronin.

The Game
To paraphrase Arlo Guthrie, the team got good and drunk the night before so they looked and felt their best when they showed up at the park on Saturday. But everyone was having fun knowing that any chance at the playoffs was gone with last week's loss to Flor. Pete gave a snappy speech and the team was ready to rock and roll. The goal this day was to simply take down Ronin, something we've done 5 times before.

Ronin jumped out with two quick hits in the top of the first, but managed only a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead. The Beat answered back with a double by Brian Greenblatt (2-3, 2B, 2 runs) and an RBI single by Mark St. Georges (3-3, run, RBI) to tie the score at 1 after 1. Ronin went down with two hits again in the second then the Beat pounded out two more runs on singles by Derek Rey (1-3, run) and Jacque Wilson (2-3, 2 runs, RBI) taking a 3-1 lead after two.

Pitcher Austin (3 Ks, IBB, 6 assists, 2 putouts) looked to be in a groove striking out the first two Ronin batters in the top of the third then wrapped up the side with an easy come-backer; the high arc was working well keeping the undefeated Ronin in check. The Beat put one more across in the bottom of the inning on singles by Brian, MSG, and Big Jim Colletto (2-3, RBI). The Beat was up 4-1 and looking at a major upset heading into the fourth.

But as the team took the field, the umpire pulled both pitchers aside and said he was bringing down the ceiling. He'd been giving too much height on the pitches and the batters on both side were complaining. That is NOT what a pitcher wants to hear when taking the mound and Ronin teed off on the flatter pitches ripping off two hits and a sac fly to bring the score back to 4-3. The Beat tried to stretch their lead again in the bottom of the fourth with one more run on an infield error and RBI single by Gunnar Rosenquist (1-3, 2 RBI). In the top of the fifth with a 5-3 lead, the wheels fell off.

Reminiscent of the prior week's game against Flor de Cana, Ronin rolled off 6 straight hits with no outs to open the fifth. With four runs in and runners at second and third, slugger Joe Tang stepped up, 0-2 on the day. It was a no-brainer to walk the bases full. An infield error scored one then the Beat turned the pitcher's best friend with a St.Georges to Rey to Colletto double play. A run scored on the play but another easy comebacker ended the inning at 6 runs. The Beat was suddenly down 9-5 but still in the game if they could get a few of those runs back in the bottom of the inning. The Beat did still have the hammer. 

Unfortunately the top of the Beat order was unable to hook up and went down quickly 1-2-3 with yours truly acquiring beer bitch honors again (catch you in the spring boys). The Beat was unable to swing the momentum on offense and minutes after taking the field, Ronin set right back to work in the top of the 6th with 5 more hits scoring 4. Faced with a 13-5 deficit and an offense unable to post more than 2 runs in an inning, the beat was showing signs of caving in. MSG, Colletto, and Jacque connected for another run in the bottom of the inning making it 13-6, but it was looking like too little too late heading into the 7th.

Ronin managed two baserunners on an infield error and single, but Austin finished the inning with his third strikeout. The Beat had one more chance but no gas in the tank. The team went down on 3 infield outs and in the blink of an eye this season was in the books. A bitter end to a disappointing season as 4 of 11 Beat batters wore collars in the game.

The Brass Beat
Following the game came the annual presentation of the Brass Beat award. Mondo Lopez, the 2005 winner, was to hand out the award however Mondo met with a slick home plate Friday night and ended up with a hyper-extended knee and dislocated collarbone. So Mondo called his selection in to Pete after the game saying it was a tough call between the two sophomores that posted excellent years. The 2006 selection went to Brian Greenblatt.

Brian had an outstanding year backing up a .500 spring with a .667 summer and placing second in average (.585), on base percentage (.684), and OPS (1.345 ) and 4th in slugging (.660). Brian posted a team high 24 runs scored, tied for the team lead in hits with 31, and finished second in total runs with 37.

With a rather unorthodox defensive style (sorry Brian, some day we'll film it for you) Brian has become a solid fielder playing between the Wilson twins in the outfield. Speaking of unorthodox, Brian has also joined that special club of Beat players that have spurned family, religion, and custom for a chance to play with the boys in gray. And in the true "heart and soul" nature of the Brass Beat, Brian was one of only two Beat players with perfect attendance in 2006. Congrats Brian! Keep up the good work!

Streaks and Leaders
We lead off the stat recap for 2006 with the man who swore retirement following last summer's playoff loss. At the time I said "yeah, I'll believe it when I see it." Someone, somewhere owes me something for that call. MSG not only came out of retirement with a 3 for 3 day in game 2 of the spring, he finished the season with 45 at bats and a team record .689 batting average for the year, besting his own record of .667 set in 1999. Mark tied Brian for the team lead in hits with 31 and also led the team in slugging percentage (.711), on base percentage (.729), and of course OPS (1.440). Mark also placed third in runs scored with 18 and tied for 4th in total runs with 32.

One of the more interesting stories to come out of the season was a race to break the team hit streak record of 33 set by Jim Colletto a few years back. Two years in the making both Jacq Wilson and Kevin Austin found themselves neck and neck with the record as the summer season progressed. Jacq saw his streak end at 35 in game 5 of the summer , and Kev maintained until the season finale finishing with the current team mark of 37. Don't expect it to last long though as previous holder Jim Colletto is still going strong at 28 and counting.

Kev finished with the team lead in total runs (39) and doubles (4), tied for the lead in RBI (17), second in runs scored with 22 and third in hits with 29. He also set a couple team pitching records with 12 strikeouts recorded on the year and a streak of 16 consecutive batters without a hit vs. Finnegan's in the summer opener in July.

Mondo Lopez posted good slugging numbers tying for the team lead in triples (2), home runs (2), and RBI (17). Mondo also placed second in slugging just behind MSG at .705 and 5th in OPS (1.161). Big Daddy Donnell Moody had a good  year also finishing third on the team with a .576 batting average, .697 slugging percentage, and 1.312 OPS before going down midway through the summer season with a rotator cuff injury.

Sophomore "Little D" or "D-Rey" had a solid season tying for the team lead in RBI (17) and finishing 3rd in total runs (33) and 4th in average (.511), on base percentage (.609), and OPS (1.186) as he took on a new roll at shortstop. Jacque Wilson tied Mondo for the team lead in triples and homers while finishing 5th in slugging (.612). Brother Jacq had a solid spring before struggling in the summer but still finished 4th on the team in hits (25), total runs (32) and RBI (16), and tied for second in walks (3) with Big Jim Colletto. Colletto also made the top 5 in average at .489.

Mark Briscoe turned in a banner performance with a .524 average and .810 slugging percentage but only 21 at bats. Pete managed a few more ABs and made the OBP board with a .548 on base percentage. Gunnar...did a great job behind the plate. :-) The offense dropped off a bit but as mentioned earlier, that was par for the course this year. We expect Gunnar and all the vets to be back to form in 2007!

Extra thanks go out to all the scrubs: Rich, Jonathan, Charles, Terry, and Abraham, who helped us make it through this tumultuous season.

Final Division Notes
The Ballers won both of their October 7th makeup games including handing division champs Ronin their only loss of the season. The wins put the Ballers in a tie for second with Flor de Cana and the two teams will meet one more time to determine the C5 wild card entry for the summer playoffs.