Photos courtesy of Nick Sutton
This season seems to be on a high already (hopefully that's a good sign of things to come). Great games out on the field, lot's of blog fodder, lots of controversy around the power polls. There is only one real truth through 3 weeks of the season so far:
CHUBBY GANGSTERS ARE THE ONLY 3-0 TEAM IN WAKA VA PENINSULA!
Regardless if some of it is due to weather (Moose Knuckles are 2-0 because they didn't get to play in Week 1 due to rain), and some are screaming schedule as to why we're 3-0. And while our schedule has been favorable, we still had to do the winning. I do think there is one stat that is not being taken into consideration when it comes to weighing the impact this new CG team is having so far. We have faced 3 teams thus far (currently 7th, 11th, and 16th place in the standings) and while they have a collective run total of 46 runs... we have held them to 3 combined! So while the size of the Gangster's line-up and their typical lack of offense in the past may still keep a bunch of skeptics from even considering them as a Top 10 team, we're doing what we should be doing as a Top Ten team thus far; beating teams that are not in the Top Ten, and doing it with a large enough margin to be considered convincing. One more random stat to keep this "We Get No Respect [except from Matt Wellbrock]" rant going:
Of just the teams in the Top Ten Coaches Power Poll, the two teams with the highest "Runs For" are Shake n Bake & The Chubby Gangsters - tied at 19. The only team to have a higher "Runs For" total are Just Kickin' It at 20. The Chubby's beat JKI 5-1 in Week 1.
And that's all... I have to say... about that.
Week 3 The Chubby Gangsters were set to face off against The New Kickheads on the Block. The Chubby's were running on a 2-game winning streak and so much wanted to turn it into a 3-game winning streak (beating their win total from the entire Fall 2011 season by 1 and tying their Winter 2012 win total). However, the powers-that-be added a challenge to the CG's game plan and placed the Week 3 Gambling Lines in a 7.5 run favor for the Chubby Gangsters.
First things first though: THE BATTLE FOR HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE!
Word must be getting around the league because NKotB team captain, Amanda Hassel, knew it when coming when Chubby's team captain, Keith Morehart, strolled over with 2 Bud Lights. One Kickhead asked, "What's that for?" and she responded, "I have to shot gun it." She was reluctant at first, and was even told she could hand the reins over to a fellow Kichead, but she muscled up and did it anyway. Alas, she was overwhelmed by all the lights and cameras (Mikey Nobile took pictures of the spectacle, so those pictures may or may not see the light of day any time soon) and it proved to be too much. She was bested, and CG's took home field advantage.
Albeit it the Chubby's offense is really the talk of the rest of this blog, there are some defensive shoutouts that have to be entertained. In the first inning, a member of the KNotB kicked a ball to deep right field. Jessica Martin who holds down right field on a regular basis for the Gangster Blue team has always been instructed that if she's confident that she has the catch (which more often than not she is), all she has to do is call off oncoming outfielders/first baseman. Well, she forgot to speak this week and even though the ball was headed right to her, Keith came charging out of Right Center hell bent on catching it. Jess said, "Hell no, this is my ball!" and grabbed it right out of the sky. Keith was so proud of her, he felt that exact moment was the proper time and place to give her a hug. Yeah... in reality, he didn't hear a call and he caught Jess as she was catching the ball (does that count as 2 outs?). It was a touching moment for all on the field, and I believe there was even an "AWWW!" from the crowd. Another notable catch was made by Andy Kyser, who ran down and snagged a fast moving frozen-rope to center field to save an innning.
The Chubby's offense looked awfully good all day. The front of their line-up did exactly what they have come to do all season. Matt "Doogie" MacDougall got on base (easy-peezey-lemon-squeezey) and Thane "The Pain Train" (I'm going to keep using this until it sticks) Osterdahl quickly followed with a perfect bunt. 2 on and no one out, Geoff Morehart takes a meatball over the plate, and decided the Kick Ass/Jagernaut game did not have enough going on and planted it in their infield before it was snagged by an outfielder. Thane did the smart conservative thing and waited to ensure it was not caught first, it was obvious Geoff had to know it was gone. As he caught up to Thane before he could even get to 2nd base (and Thane is not slow by any stretch of the imagination), Geoff could be heard screaming, "You better run faster Thane!!" He did, and along with Doogie, scored before the ball could even get back in the infield.
The second inning was full of productivity from the middle of their lineup. Eric Hecker was able to get on and moved over by Andy. Jessie Kotula walked up with no one out and kicked a perfect ball right over the 3rd baseman's head and too shallow for the outfield to get a hand on it. With her first hit of the season, she was able to score and made the total 4-0 in favor of your beloved CG's.
While all this was very exciting, maybe the most awesomest (and peculiar) play happened in the bottom of the 3rd. Mikey Nobile gets up to the plate for the first time and lays a bunt down that makes it tough for their charger to throw him out at 1st. The runner and ball arrived at the base at the same time, however the ball was errant and Mikey took off for 2nd. He didn't stop there! He ran to 3rd and strolled his way into home. And while it was awesome to see Mikey kick a "homerun" and have so much fun running around the bases, we informed him you can only take one base on an overthrow that goes out of bounds. Well apparently Mikey paid more attention than anyone else in the game, (except homeplate referee Daniel Shaw) and since the NKotB's made an advance to get him out at 2nd and were unsuccesful, the ball was no longer dead and he was free to advance at will. Dan ruled that the run counted and... wait... that means Mikey kicked an in-the-park homerun! No... that means Mikey kicked an infield homerun! If you were not there to watch, the entire CG sideline could not have been happier for the big guy and high-fives were thrown up for the next 5 minutes straight. Now that's where hustle gets ya!
Nothing can really top that last paragraph, so I'll just bring you up to speed. Doogie and Thane get on base and Geoff, with another big kick, sacrifices Doogie in to make the final score 5-1 and their 3rd win in a row.
For those keeping count, other than the win streak, there are 2 other Chubby Gangster streaks still in tact:
3 straight Home Field Advantage wins by the CG's.
Doogie has been up to the plate 6 times this season. Currently he has 6 H's and 6 R's.
Now, normaly I end it here, but I feel like a small preview of Week 4's game is in order. It has been brought to our attention that Rumspringa is our first "challenge" on our schedule. Admittedly they are the most formidable team we have faced so far in Spring 2012. However, we want it to be known... WE'RE NOT INTIMIDATED! I mean, no offense to Rumspringa (I've met a lot of cool people from that team in the last year), but we feel like it shouldn't be such a surprise if we can pull off this win. We've tasted winning and don't want to start reeling now. We're hungry! Mostly though, we know Rumspringa is a fun team at the bar (great team to play flip-cup and drunk dance with at the end of the night), we just hope they bring their A-game in the fun category! I have a feeling this could be the start to a beautiful friendship! As long as they accept the shot-gunning challenge that is!
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