Some of these Kernels are superstitious

CEDAR RAPIDS – It's another Friday the 13th. With this one coming during baseball season, it reminds you just how crazy superstitious many players in the sport can be and how they might be dreading this day.

Jason Kanzler being an exception.

'My superstition is being anti-superstitious,” the Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder said before his team's 5-2 win Thursday night over Quad Cities before 2,898 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The same can't be said for some of his teammates or members of the Kernels coaching staff. Some put on a specific cleat first or get dressed the same way every day.

'Stepping on a crack or black cats, anything like that, probably not,” Manager Jake Mauer said. 'But I will eat the same things if things are going good. Last season when we had a winning streak, I ate salad every day before the game. Every single day.”

Players pointed toward second baseman Tanner Vavra as one of the most superstitious Kernels. He didn't necessarily agree.

'I don't even know what my superstitions are. I guess it's like a routine superstition,” Vavra said. 'When I get into the batter's box, I draw out my lines, but that's for my stride and stuff like that. My batting gloves, I used to not strap them, but now I do.”

Teammates claim Vavra can be superstitious about the way he places his bats into the bat rack before games.

'I think it goes back to the routine thing,” Vavra said. 'You need to have a routine to stay sane in this game. People that just kind of go with the flow really don't stand a chance. There are very few of us who do.”

Relief pitcher Todd Van Steensel was sheepish about discussing his superstitions, which you'll understand when you read about them. Let's just say they're quite involved.

Way, way involved.

'I only pick up the ball on the third-base side of the mound,” he said. 'If the umpire throws it to me, I drop it on the ground before I throw a pitch. When I'm in the dugout, my glove sits to the left of me, faces out towards the field, and my hat sits on top of it, facing the back wall.”

That's only the beginning.

'When I walk onto the field, I walk halfway between the foul line and the dugout,” he said. 'When I get halfway, I start jogging. When I jump over the line, I put my glove on, then I walk to pick up the ball. When I go out to the mound to throw my warmup pitches, I walk in line with the plate and then walk up to the mound. I'll throw my six warmup pitches, then step off the back (of the mound), get the ball from the third baseman and walk to the back of the mound and pick up the rosin bag. Throw it down, adjust my hat, talk to myself through my glove, step on the mound and pitch.”

He's not done, believe it or not.

'When I walk back to the dugout, I walk to the front entrance and put my glove down,” Van Steensel said. 'Then when I go back out onto the field, I do it through the back end of the dugout. I just do the same thing over and over again.”

He said he developed this extreme superstition gradually over about a three-year period.

'I honestly don't know where it came from,” he said. 'It's just a whole bunch of things that added up over time.”

Van Steensel broke his left, non-throwing elbow playing pickup basketball while pitching professionally in the Netherlands two years ago. It happened on a Friday the 13th.

You hope he's not catatonic tomorrow.

The Kernels (30-37) won the rubber game of this three-game series and put a dent into the first-half playoff hopes of Quad Cities (34-32), which came in a game behind Burlington for the Western Division wildcard berth.

Mitch Garver doubled twice, including one of the two-run variety in the third inning, and Cedar Rapids hitters coaxed eight walks. Starting pitcher Ryan Eades had a much-needed strong outing, going seven innings and giving up both River Bandits runs.

The 2013 second-round draft pick of the parent Minnesota Twins came into the game with an unsightly 3-7 record, 7.07 earned run average and .322 opponent batting average.

The Kernels will activate outfielder Zack Granite from the disabled list for Friday night's home game against Burlington. The Twins have given outfielder Ivory Thomas his unconditional release.

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