What is the Umpire doing?
The left-handed pitcher inherited runners on the corners.
He stared them down.
He gave them reason to worry.
The batter called time right when the pitcher pulled the trigger.
This was seriously the pitcher’s first pitch of the game, and it counts as…
Nothing.
The batter had called time.
In these days of having every live game at your fingertips, it is important to not let yourself fall into a trap.
It is important to let yourself settle into a game.
Resist the temptation to slip into ‘highlight mode’ and bounce from game-to-game.
“hey look at that score in the 6th!”
“oh look at that interesting situation in the 8!”
Blah.
In order to make Critical Observations, one must give themself over to the game completely or run the risk of turning into a highlight-hungry glam-fan ogling over superstars.
This is when giving up on a game can hurt:
You are watching Houston vs San Diego, and jumped to watch another game
because Houston looked like a mountain when they got out to a 5-run lead
in the 5th…
Hours later you are back at the same game which San Diego tied in the
9th, 10th and 11th innings, and eventually got a three-run home run in
the 12th in what had by then become the longest game of the year…
You saw the last home run.
You do not even feel good about that.
You feel empty.
This is exactly the type of game you scan for in the off-season.
But
With all this choice at your fingertips, and now that you know so much, you thought listening to the New York Yankees radio announcers boo their own team as the Yankees were losing to the Detroit Tigers in the 7th would be more fun.
It was not more fun.
You were wrong.
Baseball is observing.
Be on the lookout for time-conflicts.
It is challenging when all the games start at 7pm because it forces a decision.
The 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm relieves you of so much frog-hopping.
Do yourself a favour:
May 28, 2021 – Joey Votto broadcasted the whole 6th inning on the Cincinnati Reds’ radio feed.
One of the main takeaways that you can get from his performance is “how to handle stupid questions”.
Kershaw and Votto grew up before the “let the kids play” era, and they matured to accept it.
Even support it.
In the Fangraphs podcast “Chin Music” – episode 13, they talked about Kershaw and his interviews and compared and contrasted his style to Derek Jeter’s interviews.
These guys are superheroes.
They are people during the day, then they put on their superhero uniform and…
Let’s say this:
Over at Dodger Stadium, Pujols looks sooo comfortable leaning over the dugout’s life protecting fence.
He gets so intense, you would think he was going to go for a mound visit or shift the defence!
Clayton Kershaw demonstrates this when he pitches
Yadier Molina demonstrates this when he is catching
influencing plays….. with….. body language?
body language says a lot
you can interpret much from a series of “ugly swings”
that is a type of body language that is easy to count
but a definable, palpable swagger is somewhat more nuanced
it says something when you see pitchers go out of their way to get involved in defense early in games
we recognize this as a good strategy (just dont get hurt)
Do the White Sox need to pull the plug on the LaRussa experiment before they implode?
These open disagreements with the youthful core of the team about ‘unwritten rules’ are not a good omen –
Certain things need to be kept in the family –
Everybody should be getting sincere alignment behind closed doors before opening up to the exterior –
Left unchecked, Francona and the Indians will know how to exploit this –
The Twins might also if they can get their shit together in time –
——-
To LaRussa’s defense:
maybe he communicates through his batting and bench coaches?
maybe he does not raise a finger?
Clubhouses are so tight…
This is an image of Kevin Pillar’s blood being raked into the home plate batter’s box area.
A-rod’s broadcasting somehow reeks like exotic cologne.
It is so bad, but he somehow has incredible staying power.
How can you make a game be about you when you are announcing it?
Life comes out of the world, not into the world.
Once upon a time a second baseman got smoked in the face by a rightfielder, both attempting to make the ball go into their glove.
There was blood.
He got back to work.
