Season 14 playoffs recap

[Fence]

The George Jetsons were out in full force with all thirteen precincts reporting on Tuesday. We had the #1 seed, a 10-2 record, flashy pants, a swing sock, and the swagger of the last gladiator standing. All firsts Jetson’s history. But if we’ve learned anything from our history, it’s that upsets happen in the playoffs and there would be no grills outside our dugout. Hype was at an all time high before this night, but it was tempered with the proper amount of reasoning about the keys to victory. We had our best defensive season ever and that would need to continue in the playoffs. Another one of our strengths this season was depth throughout the lineup with 9 different players taking MVJ honors in the 12 game season.

So how did all of this excitement play out?

In game one we plugged all the proper values into the equation and came away with a win. The first key to victory was defense. Check this out.

Inning 1: Double play with Wellner flipping to Clem for the turn.
Inning 2: Double play with Sostaric stepping on third and riffling a throw across the diamond and up the line. Edgar had to come off the base to catch it, but had the presence of mind to secure the ball and then tag the closest part of the runner (which happened to be his face) before he could reach base.
Inning 3: Double play with Norm stumbling forward to catch a short pop-up and somehow keeping his balance long enough to get the ball to first before the runner.
Inning 4: Double play with Jeremy snagging the ball just before it hits the dirt and then easily throwing out the runner at first as he thought he would be hustling out a one hopper.

The database does not keep defensive stats, but I searched the far reaches of my own mental database, found a few scary images, but no record of the Jetsons ever having 4 double plays in the same game, much less four consecutive innings. The spectacular effort by our 7 man rotating infield was good enough to hold the Rejects to 2 runs in the fist four innings. In the fifth we made the mistake of putting down the first two batters and eliminating the chance to complete our fifth consecutive DP. The Rejects made us pay for this by putting together a 5 run, 2 out rally, but that was not enough to overcome the lead the GJ offense had already opened up.

That brings us to the second key of the game.

The entire Jetson’s lineup contributed to scoring nine early runs that proved to be enough for victory. Ron, Kevin, and Norm set the tone by starting the game with three straight hits leading to a 6 run first inning. The highlight came with the bases loaded and Quincy hitting a ground ball to the short stop. I’m not sure exactly how this played out because I grabbed a drink of water, stretched out my arm, checked out the ladies on the coed field, solved a Rubix Cube, and then looked up to see DJ had just made it from third to home. The really strange thing is he was safe. After putting a notch in the hit, RBI, and run scored column, DJ called it a night and was relegated to low impact duty coaching third and drinking beer the rest of the night. Maybe I should pull a hammy? We finished the game with everyone having at least one hit and were rewarded with an 11-8 victory. Ron set the tone for us in this game going 3 for 3 with a triple and two runs scored to earn the MVJ.

See the details of this game at:
http://www.gjsoftball.net/gamenight.php

So the first chapter in the storybook playoff run played out exactly as planned and it was time for the Jetsons to enjoy a beer while scouting the two teams playing for the right to challenge us in the next game. Special thanks go out to all of the fans who showed up to watch us in the playoffs. It was great to have you supporting us during the game and fun hanging out during this hour break. A break that the Jetsons enjoyed in moderation knowing we had business to take care of. We were resting our legs, stretching our muscles, keeping our arms warm, and even icing down joints with the perfect mix of ice and non-lemon flavored water in a gingerbread man ziplock bag. But even with all of this preparation, when game two started the Base Cadets were in their groove and we had gone flat. This resulted in a game that made me about as sick as seeing someone pull a scab off their knee to start munching on it. Oh wait, I actually paid $5 to see that, but the game really did make me sick. I don’t even want to talk about it really. We had one of our top 3 worst games at the plate posting a .276 team batting average. This was one of the ugliest scorebooks I’ve ever seen. The only plays of note were Dries doing his final forty jinx and hitting a triple in the first inning (we knew we’d be hearing about how far he ran after that one) and Norm running 65 feet farther for a great in the park homer. Great hustle by both guys, but they sucked in their other at bats so the MVJ goes to Q for being the only Jetson not to make an out.

See the gory details from this game at your own risk:
http://www.gjsoftball.net/gamenight.php

So this storybook playoff run turned out to be a choose your own adventure and we picked that annoying route where the main character dies after the second chapter. Then the Smashers came over to announce they had won the other bracket and would be playing in the championship. The George Jetson’s futuristic world was being turned upside down. That game really sucked! The rage is building up!! Look out water cooler and get that freaking camera out of my face!!!

Wait a second. This is still just DD slow pitch softball and we had a hell of a lot of fun this season. Ok. This may not be so bad. We quickly realized there was still beer in the cooler, Whataburger still makes the greatest fast food burger ever, and Molly’s pub is still located just off of El Camino Real. Life is good! And we’ll be back to fight for the championship again next season.

HERE WE GO JETSONS! HERE WE GO!!!

[Pancreas]

if those first 4 icons are the outfield, who are the bottom four?

[Fence]

A good ridler never gives away the answer! I'll give you all a few days to figure it out.

[eljefe]

I think I know all of them but the angel...

[Pancreas]

OK my guess in order:
Ron, Wellner, Edgar, Gilmore
Am I close?
But I'm not sure why you made Edgar an angel or gave Gilmore a fro
Here's my Ron, Wellner, Edgar, Gilmore linup:

[Dirty Moose]

Here's my line up.

DJ, DJ, DJ, DJ

[Fence]

No one has it right so far. Here's a hint....

I should have put the additional icons above the cheering outfielders rather than below.

[Pancreas]

I sure look pretty with my blonde hair and blue balls.

Above the outfielders?
Are the the softball Gods Cooley, Pokey, Angely, and Froey?

[Fence]

Oh, I forgot all about this. It might drag on forever if I don't just give you all that answer so here goes...

It all stemed from the fact that Kevin said it was hard to work the way cool afro emoticon into a message. I tried putting it in my recap, but he was right, it didn't really fit anywhere. So I cleared my mind, and when I put the Jetsons and afro together I thought about the fact that I'm always trying to convince Quincy that he needs to let the fro grow some time. He usually deflects my request with complaints about the heat and I try to remind him that means he needs to stop cutting his hair in the summer so he's got a nice warm head of hair for the winter. As in, now would be the perfect time to start it. So the afro man above right field is to symbolize Quincy's future hair do. Then I had to come up with head gear for the rest of the outfield. The halo seemed perfect for Saint George De Nomar and it looked like this code would really come together! But then I got to Kevin's bald head and couldn't come up with anything, so I just went with his old standard. For me, I also couldn't think of anything to symbolize the old school EC hat so I had to go with Mr. Cool for the free black hat I got from Jeremy

There you have it. Maybe a bit of a let down, but let's get back to the point. Who agrees that Quincy can't cut his hair untill we lose another game?

[Hoochie]

I agree. Q should fro out! Does Q read the forum? If it gets hot, breakout the corn rows. He could be the Ben Wallace of Gilruth softball.

What do you mean? There's all kinds of emoticons that represent me. There's this: or this: or this because I always play the outfield safely: .