Congratulations to Javier "Gunny" Diaz and Shukri "Freak" Saleh, who share the Winter 2008 Home Run crown. Both bashers fell one shy of tying former Green Monster Mike Moore for the record, which Mike set in Winter 2007. (He hit his five blasts in an 8-game season, and we've since gone to 10.) The 24 home runs that the 12 guys combined for is easily a record for one season. Smashed the old total by so much, it's not even worth mentioning. Testing for steroids, HGH, and spiked mansaf will be implemented next season. Here's your final tally:
4:
Javier "Gunny" Diaz, Green Monsters
Shukri "Freak" Saleh, Nomads
3:
Aaron Bouchane, Trojans
Ash Samawi, Green Monsters
2:
Saif Barhoum, Trojans
Brent Hill, Hit Squad
1:
Yazan Barghouti, Slackers
Jeff Coupe, Green Monsters
Zaki Ibrahim, Nomads
Nadim Kayyali, Slackers
Larry Martin, Hit Squad
Mark McPherson, Hit Squad
Player Notes: Green Monsters' Brooke Sartawi led all women with five inside-the-park home runs. Her teammate Kevin Rowlson led the league in homers allowed with, like, sixty. The Trojans' Saif Barhoum joined Mark McPherson as the only players in ASL history to hit Grand Slams. (Mark did it in Winter 2007 for the Beats.) Do you remember when Larry Martin led the league in homers this season? He did, and for quite a long time. 4U2NV's Jafar Dabbas and Omar Abu Abdelsamad each missed hitting one out by less than five feet during Week 10. Ash Samawi out-homered his former team, 3-2. There is no effective way to pitch around Aaron Bouchane and Brent Hill; they both can hit anything. Cheers to Nadim Kayyali for representing the Little Guys. ASL's first champs, Glock Therapy (Summer 2005) did not have one home run all that season. The last remaining player from that team is Hit Squad's Chris Hattayer, who is due for one this season.
Random Notes: Tournament stats, including homers, are separate, just like they are in every sport ... Green Monsters led the league in team home runs with 8 ... Only one team did not have at least one home run hitter (4U2NV), but only one team beat the Green Monsters (4U2NV) ... Five of the top six sluggers had multi-homer days ... Finally, FYI: CLICKITY (Clip #1 from the "As Seen on the Broadcast" section on the right. Watch for the second guy they catch.)
