The Jagernaut Larger than Life Week 2 Double Header Recap

Week two of the young Spring 2011 season saw the Jagernauts facing two formidable opponents in a primetime doubleheader. There were two exciting games on the night, so without any further introduction, let’s get right to the action.

Game 1 – Jagernauts 2, Chubby Gangsters 5

The CGs promptly put up two runs in the top of the first before most of the Jagernaut fans even got to their seats. The quick start by the CGs didn’t faze the Jagers as lead-off man Dan Moore scored in the bottom of the first off of a Mike Ramey RKI. Both defenses held as the 2-1 CG lead extended into the fifth inning. The only notable play came in the fourth where (3^rd person alert!) GM Justin Littell, after a beautifully placed bunt down the third base line (humble much?), attempted some aggressive base running. However an equipment malfunction led to a wider than expected 2^nd base turn and ultimately Littell was thrown out at third.

The Jagers mounted a rally in the bottom of the fifth but fell short on what was probably the most bizarre play I have seen in a while…maybe ever. Mike Ramey was on base at first when outfielder Justin Arrington kicked a fly ball to shallow center. Three CG defensemen charged on the catch, but none actually made the catch. The ball deflected off of the CG centerfielder’s chest, ricocheted and hit Ramey in the back as he was charging into second for the final out to end the game. “I would’ve called the infield fly rule on that play” said Ramey in disbelief, “but I guess it’s ruled as an E8-E9-E4 split-tag-out. I’m not even sure that’s legal? Did I just make that up? My head hurts. Can I get a beer?” (Justin’s note, the official ruling in my score book was that the infield fly was in play; E8-E11-E4 with a fielder’s choice including an obstruction, leading to an unearned run had the run scored, which assumed of course the speed of the base runner beating the would-be throw to home would include attempt for a soft-force put-out. It’s all clearly explained in the WAKA rulebook in section 12, subsection A, paragraph 4, lines 3-5.) The final…Chubbies 5, Jagers 2

The CG’s seem to have the Jagers number the past few meetings leading back to last year when the Jagers had to battle in the bottom of the fifth to just tie. This time, however, with a combination of CG speed and a few Jager mental mistakes led to a tough first home loss of the season for the Jagers.

“I think the mental errors cost us that game” explained team psychologist Nicci Surething "I'm going to administer some Ink-Blot tests to try to regain some of the focus. I can imagine it now… ‘What do you see here? A nice butterfly flying in a canyon? No you see a 5-3 force out off a shallow bunt down the third base line. Don’t fight it…this is good for you. ” Excellent work Dr. Surething…next you know, we’ll all be calling you Al.

(You see how I did that to include the video? Pretty clever ,huh?)

Game 2 – Jagernauts 5, Moose Knuckles 2

The Jagernauts didn’t have time to reflect over the loss as they immediately put it behind them and faced a relatively unknown Moose Knuckles squad in the second game of their double-header.

With a quick lineup adjustment to hopefully squeeze out a few more runs, the Jagers started hot in the top of the first scoring Joe Mazzitti and Liz Sims off of big RKIs from Mike Ramey and Justin Arrington. I’m not sure if Joe got as many style points from his score as last week (style points: 10) but the scored points were the same at 1. The Knuckleheads came back in the bottom of the first, scoring one run to cut the Jager lead in half.

From there, the solid defensive skills showed as each team couldn’t get a run to cross the plate. MVP of the game goes to starting pitcher Mike Seals as his pitch repertoire kept the Knuckleheads guessing for most of the game. His fastball has been clocked faster than Charlie Sheen's fall from grace. His underhand-split-finger-curve-ball-hybrid literally leaves kickers dizzy from the spin (or maybe it’s the beer?) and his change-up has been known to stop mid-flight and change direction.

The fifth inning was the most exciting as the middle of the order for the Jagernauts tacked on three insurance runs. Justin Arrington kicked a lead off bunt to reach first. Kim Merritt scored Justin with an RKI double. Mike Seals drew an intentional walk. Nicci Surething grabbed another RKI on a heads-up play by Merritt. In the defensive confusion in getting Surething out, Merritt circled the bases and scored on what the defense thought was a dead ball. Mike Seals scored the last run off of an RKI from Ashlee Gitkos as the Jagers extended to a 5-1 lead. The game wasn’t over though as the bottom of the fifth also had intense action as the rookie Knucklehead squad tacked on 2 runs before Dottie Wood made the final out at second to end the game.

“I was so excited to get the action at second base for the last out! I missed kickball!” said a noticeably excited Wood after the game, when asked about her return after a season nursing (haha get it) an injury. MVP Mike Seals added “We came together tonight after a tough loss. Everybody contributed. Though my pitching was off a tiny bit . .I didn’t get to throw my signature ‘Double pump-sidearm-split-breaking-ball-with-a-twist’ (Justin’s note: he has yet another pitch? I can’t wait to see this). I’ll work on it though. Teams will have plenty of time to see it.”

At Luckies afterward, Trici Fredrick noted, “The Spring 2011 Jagernauts will be good on the field…and the Spring 2011 Jagernauts will be good off the field also, now that there is a weekly prize in play. Though I think Moose Knuckles will be a formidable team very soon. They did win the Bar Buzz the first week! (check out her weekly column folks...a great addition to the GMOT blog!)”

With the games and after party and post-after party headaches concluded for the week, the Jagers get a chance to beat Off in the Corner (haha get it?) next week when they face a newcomer Off in the Corner squad off in the corner of the fields of Tabb Elementary. So in true deadspin style, I’ll step out and leave Joe Jackson to get you through till the next WAKA Wednesday!