Week 5 Recap

[eljefe]

The George Jetsons celebrated the Yuri’s Night anniversary by playing a softball tripleheader. The team delivered a strong performance all night long and rocketed into a 3-way virtual tie for first place by winning 2 out of 3 games on this night. Yuri Gagarin, Bob Crippen, and John Young would all be proud of our performance!

Before we get to the details of the games, I just want to thank our super subs, J.C. and Big Sac, for playing with us. We had a tough time fielding a full team of our own players this week (as usual), so these guys really helped us out just by showing up. And as you’ll see, they performed great, too!

[u][b]Game 1 - George Jetsons vs Smashers[/b][/u]

The Jetsons opened the night looking to complete a season sweep of the Smashers. On the [url=http://www.gjsoftball.net/gamenight.php?nightid=84]first week of the season[/url], we strung the Smashers along until putting them away in the final inning to claim a 19-13 victory. Then, in [url=http://www.gjsoftball.net/gamenight.php?nightid=87]Week 4[/url] we pummeled the Smashers 15-3 by run-ruling them in 5 innings. This week, we rematched them in our next game and decided that a 15-3 run-rule was a fine result to reproduce, except this time we did it in 4 innings.

The game started out close enough as it was a 3-3 tie after 1 inning and a 5-3 Jetsons lead after 2 innings. What stands out to me in the scorebook is that all 5 of those runs in the first 2 innings came with 2 outs. That set the tone for the night, which would feature plenty of solid clutch hitting by the Jetsons offense. After holding the Smashers scoreless in the top of the third, the Jetsons exploded by sending 15 men to the plate and scoring 10 runs in the bottom of the inning. Jeremy got the action started by stretching a single into a double, earning his nickname for the night, [color=green][i]Green Light[/i][/color]. Two batters later, Gilmore hit an opposite-field shot that got past the right fielder and rolled into the corner. He quickly flew around the bases for his first homerun as a Jetson! The offense followed with 10 hits in the next 11 at-bats to seal the deal.

Once we held the Smashers scoreless again in the top of the fourth, we had won by run rule (20 after 3, 12 after 4). The umpires didn’t realize it right away. We’ve had instances in the past where the umps didn’t realize that we had won by run rule. Usually, I prefer to keep quiet and keep playing because once we’re out on the softball fields I want to get our money’s worth, dammit! On this long night, however, I knew that we had 2 tough games coming up against the Rebels and I thought it would be a better idea if we took a break, drank some beer, and got ready for the next 2 games. So, I alerted the umps to our victory and they called the game.

These are some of the toughest games to select an MVJ for because there are so many great performances to choose from. Moose went 3-for-3. Jamal scored 3 runs. Gilmore had the homerun that got the scoring started in the 10-run inning. Big Sac might have claimed the MVJ with his 5-RBI performance, but we can only award the MVJ to paying members of the team. Sorry, Sac. The Most Valuable Jetson Award for this game goes to our very own Husky Ichiro, [url=http://www.gjsoftball.net/player.php?playerid=9]Kevin Dries[/url]! On his anniversary, Kevin drove in what turned out to be the game-winning runs in the second inning, then put the nail in the coffin with his 2-run triple in the third inning. It was the start of a great night in the 2-hole for the anniversary man, and if he knows what’s good for him, he’ll dedicate the award to his wife...

[u][i]George Jetsons 15, Smashers 3[/i][/u]
[code] 1 2 3 4 R H
SMASHERS 3 0 0 0 3 -
GEORGE JETSONS 3 2 10 X 15 20
[/code]
[u][b]Game 2 - George Jetsons at Rebels[/b][/u]

After earning the extra time to reach their beer peaks, the George Jetsons faced the Rebels in the first game of a home-and-home series. We defeated the Rebels in [url=http://www.gjsoftball.net/gamenight.php?nightid=85]Week 2[/url] in what was probably one of the best games in Jetsons history. On that night, the Rebels were hitting extremely hard and it took everything we had to keep up with them. But, we battled them into extra innings and claimed a very gratifying 18-17 victory in the end.

The Jetsons batted first and basically won the game with their first 5 batters. The game started with a walk by Chip, and double by Dries, and a 3-run homer by Moose. J.C. doubled and Hart singled him in. Hart would later score on a sac fly by Q, and those 5 runs were all the runs we would need as we held the Rebels to 4 runs in 6 innings. The offense kind of cruised through the rest of the game, mostly driven by the middle of the lineup (J.C., Hart, and Big Sac). We picked up 6 more runs along the way and cruised to an 11-4 victory.

The best offensive performance of the game was clearly J.C’s. The highlight was his towering homerun over the right-center field fence, but he also had a triple and a double. MVJ worthy? Yes. MVJ eligible? No. For this game the MVJ Award goes to the Moose, [url=http://www.gjsoftball.net/player.php?playerid=40]Nick Wellner[/url]! Moose got things started with his in-the-park homerun in the first inning, sending an early message to the Rebels that the Jetsons were here to play!

[u][i]George Jetsons 11, Rebels 4[/i][/u]
[code] 1 2 3 4 5 6 R H
GEORGE JETSONS 5 0 3 3 0 0 11 19
REBELS 1 0 0 0 3 0 4 -
[/code]
[u][b]Game 3 - George Jetsons vs Rebels[/b][/u]

The George Jetsons were on a pretty good roll heading into the final game of the evening. Things got started pretty well in the first inning, which once again featured a nice two-out rally. J.C. got things started with yet another towering homerun. Too high? Not quite. That homer scored Moose. Four straight hits followed, and we won the first inning 4-3. We had another good scoring inning in the third as we took a 7-5 lead. The defense broke down a little bit in the fourth inning. For a while, we did a good job of keeping the Rebels from cashing in too much on multiple bases loaded situations. Then, we had a golden opportunity to stop the bleeding when Gilmore faked a Rebels runner into going home. Gil made a perfect throw that I somehow missed, and the Rebels netted 4 runs in the inning.

Big Sac kept telling me to get mad, which is a nice way of saying “stop sucking.” Well, I was real mad now that I had cost us those crucial runs. I apologized to Gilmore for missing his perfect throw and I think my exact words were, “Sorry, Adam. I’m going to make it up to you by nailing this next pitch down the left field line!” Then, I came up to bat with 2 outs and did just that. The ball got by the left fielder and I got my second triple ever. I hope you saw it because that was probably the best hit I’ve ever had and probably the best hit I’ll ever have. Chip drove me in, but the 2-out rally ended with just 1 run across. The offense fizzled for the rest of the game, but still we gave ourselves an opportunity when George got a nice 2-out hit to move Helms over to third. So, I came up to bat with the game on the line. I didn’t expect to reproduce the great hit from my previous at-bat, but I thought that I should be able to hit one of my usual flares into shallow left field. I swung at the first pitch, but got a little under it and the ball sailed out to the left-center fielder for an easy out. We lost 9-8. The 3-game sweep was not to be, but we won 2 out of 3 on the night and 2 out of 3 against the Rebels on the season, and that’s pretty good.

J.C. was awesome once again, but he’s not eligible for the MVJ of the game. After my called-shot triple, I had a golden opportunity to claim the MVJ for myself when I came up with 2 outs in the final inning with the game on the line. My weak popout to end the game killed those chances, unfortunately. I’m going to give the MVJ Award for this game to the Green Light himself, [url=http://www.gjsoftball.net/player.php?playerid=16]Jeremy “Jamal” Hart[/url]! Hart legged out 2 doubles in the game while raising his season batting average to .727. Nice going, Jeremy. Now, where’s the Week 3 Recap?

[u][i]Rebels 9, George Jetsons 8[/i][/u]
[code] 1 2 3 4 5 6 R H
REBELS 3 0 2 4 0 0 9 -
GEORGE JETSONS 4 0 3 1 0 0 8 15
[/code]
[url=http://www.gjsoftball.net/gamenight.php?nightid=88]Week 5 Statistics[/url]

[u][b]Standings[/b][/u]

So, the Jetsons finished the night 6-4. I suppose that technically, that puts us percentage points behind the Rebels and Asassyns, who are both 5-3. But my bad software is showing us in first place, so that’s how I’m going to report it. We have the most wins, after all. Besides, the standings are wrong anyway because they show the league at 22-21, which is impossible. I guess you could figure out which team’s record is wrong by counting how many games each team is supposed to have played on the schedule. I haven’t bothered, but if anyone feels like doing that, let me know what you come up with. It doesn’t really matter that much because I’m sure that we’ll make the playoffs anyway.
[code]TEAM W L PCT
GEORGE JETSONS 6 4 .600
REBELS 5 3 .625
ASASSYNS 5 3 .625
WHATEVER, WHENEVER 4 4 .500
SMASHERS 2 7 .222
[/code]
[u][b]Schedule[/b][/u]

We have just one game next week, and that will complete our 11-game season. Whatever, Whenever whooped us good last time, so this will be our chance for some payback!
[code]DATE TIME FLD OPPONENT RESULT
Feb 22 9pm 3 at Smashers W 19-13
Mar 15 6pm 3 vs Rebels W 18-17
Mar 15 7pm 3 at Asassyns L 10-2
Mar 22 8pm 3 at Asassyns L 17-16
Mar 22 9pm 3 vs Whatever, Whenever W 9-7
Mar 29 7pm 3 at Whatever, Whenever L 15-3
Mar 29 8pm 3 vs Smashers W 15-3
Apr 12 7pm 4 vs Smashers W 15-3
Apr 12 8pm 4 at Rebels W 11-4
Apr 12 9pm 4 vs Rebels L 9-8
Apr 19 6pm 3 vs Whatever, Whenever[/code]

[IRon]

Sorry I missed your triple Edgar. You'll have to hit another.

But, what I really want to know is...how did Big Sac go 7-9 with 7 RBI, and get exactly 1 run scored? Not to mention, the guy after him in the order went 6 for 9 on the night, and had a Homerun!

How is this possible? Do we have a new Ichiro???

[Dirty Moose]

Have youever met Big Sac? He's not exactly fleet of foot. there were many FC's and line out DPs...