How to Respond
the fans in the outfield seats start throwing objects at Adolis Garcia
Adolis Garcia responds by hitting balls back at them when it is his turn to bat
Tagged with: Houston Astros
The Struggles of Abundance
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:
- Check the schedule
- Get the game times and interest (or not-interest) of the situation
- Set the schedule
- Hang in there
a meltdown
What you are about to witness is a meltdown.
Here is the context:
- it is Game 4 of the Best-of-5* 1980 National League Championship Series
- the Houston Astros are leading the Philadelphia Phillies two games to one, and therefore need one more win to go on to their first ever World Series
- Houston is the home team, playing in the cavernous astro-turf lined Astrodome
- the game is scoreless going into the 4th inning
- during the 4th inning, a meltdown occurs
Please feel free to watch the game in its entirity.
In fact, if you have roughly 15 hours to spare, you can watch games one through three to get the entire context of the series.
We have attempted to set the embedded video here to begin playing in the 4th inning so you can jump right into the precursor to the events.
If the video does not start in the 4th inning, you can fast-forward to the 43-minute mark and begin watching.
The scene pretty much comes to an end around the 1:08:30 mark (approximately 25 minutes total).
You might want to be sitting down for this.
Please note there is a bit of a spoiler below the video – some details about what you will see in the scene if you are still deciding whether you want to watch it or not.
Last word of advice: as of the writing of this article, the attached video seems to have low audio levels, so you may need to crank the audio – the commentary is vital to the full appreciation of this scene.
*the League Championship Series switched to the current (as of writing) format of Best-of-7 in 1985
******* SPOILER ALERT *******
Here are some more details of what this scene contains:
- potentially the first triple-play in MLB Playoff History
- the umpires have some uncertain and possibly conflicting calls and confusion ensues
- the poor quality video feed renders the announcers unable to determine what actually occurred on the play
- a decision to consult the National League President for guidance on the play who happens to be sitting in the front row on the 3rd base line (smoking a cigar, of course)
- the emergence of a telephone with a long cord that is somehow taken to the National League President
- a decision to overturn the play
- a decision to overturn the overturning of the play
- the umpires deciding that their initial incorrect call led to further outs and deciding to withdraw those outs
- the sideline reporter attempting to put a microphone in between a private conversation between the National League President and the Umpire Crew Chief
- the decision by the Phillies that they would protest the game
- the decision by the Astros that they would also protest the game
There is a lot to unpack here.
We may need to watch it another 10 times.
LA vs HOU: Grudge Match
benches cleared
coach suspension
96mph fastball going behind Bregman’s head
Sticking to the Rules
Naturally, the girl with a headset and microphone takes the sign from a fan which is drawn and says:
The Houston Asterisks
Now watching Noah Syndergaard:
The leadoff batter (from Houston) is George Springer. He steps to the box.
Syndergaard turns his back and looks at the clock.
Then the umpire looks at the clock.
And now the managers look at the clock.
Noah Thor announces his ability to stick to the rules.
The announcers understood.
The players weren’t sure at first, but they too realized when pitcher timed his first pitch to the exact official start of the game, and to go forward he threw his first pitch high, but straight down the middle.