baseball | Wait until next year

September 2, 2009

Catching up on the baseball

The past two weeks I’ve been on annual leave, and so haven’t been able (or willing) to watch much sport over that time. Baseball has particularly suffered, and so last night I attempted to catch up a little, especially as we enter the business-end of the season, with October’s play-offs looming.

I watched some of Monday night’s Texas Rangers/Toronto Blue Jays game, and picked an entertaining and bizarre matchup for getting back into the swing of things (excuse the awful pun). The Blue Jays went 11-0 up and the game seemed dead and buried, only for Texas to drag themselves back into it, so the ninth and final inning began 11-10. Toronto seemed to wake up again at this point and notched up seven without reply, the exhausting game ending 18-10. There wasn’t a whole lot of quality, but there was a whole lot of hitting fun.

I then switched to last night’s early game, for some live baseball action, again with the Rangers and Blue Jays. I didn’t see a whole lot before my bed called, but the pitching seemed a whole lot less wild.

As a bit of an experiment I tried some mid-game(s) tweeting and was encouraged to actually get some replies from my random notes thrown into the ether. I might have to try that again. It will give me something to do between innings, anyway. Well, something other than forage for more snacks.

One way I do keep up is Craig Calcaterra’s daily roundup at the Hardball Times, which has to be one of the most entertaining, fun and accessible baseball recaps I’ve come across. Today he pointed out a fun story about Adrian Beltre returning from a nasty sounding testicle injury to the tune of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker”. I’m sure Beltre will never hear the end of that one.

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August 16, 2009

Giants beat the Mets in 10 and the downside of watching condensed games

mlb.com has done a grand job when it comes to its online baseball coverage and I’m a great advocate of signing up for it’s audio and video service. Access to each and every game for a reasonable price is good enough as it is, but for those of us who let real life get in the way of watching sport, they kindly offer the condensed game option. In fifteen-odd minutes you get the feel of how a game panned out, with each ‘out’ edited into one package.

However, just watching the highlights of yesterday’s Giants/Mets game, I have become more aware than ever of its limitations. If only there were more hours in the day, and I’d had the time to watch the whole game, either as it happened or ‘as live’. As baseball is all about the ebb and flow, the pauses as well as the bursts of action, highlights will always be second-best. But this particular game, even from just a fifteen minute summary, seems to have been something pretty special.

The first few innings seemed like a bit of a pitchers duel, with Santana and Cain going at it. Then Wright gets a nasty concussion, the pitch actually knocking his helmet off. Santana then pitches wildly in return. The Mets fight back from 4-1 down to level the game. The Giants win in extra innings, a dramatic home run from Molina.

While the condensed game got some of this drama across, it would have undoubtedly been much more satisfying (bar the result) to watch events unfold in real time.

However, until we get a 27 hour day, with three hours for watching baseball, I guess the condensed games are a good compromise between keeping up with baseball, and actually keeping up with the real world. And enjoying the real world is no bad thing.

August 5, 2009

Mets shutout Cardinals

Just saw the Mets beat the Cardinals 9-0. However, it wasn’t all smiles for the Mets, with yet another injury. Starting pitcher Jonathan Niese virtually did the splits covering first base and when he tried to pitch his landing leg completely gave way. I think the Mets must have broken a fair few mirrors considering the length of their injury list. A lack of mirrors might explain the beard-growing too.

But, the injury did give Nelson Figueroa a shot at redemption after giving up six runs in less than two innings on Monday against the Diamondbacks. And he grabbed that shot – pitching four good innings and batting in two runs for good measure.

Bobby Parnell pitched three good innings too, with three strikeouts and only one hit. So, at least the bullpen looked good. But if Niese’s injury is a bad one, the win will most certainly be a bittersweet one. He’s a great young pitcher, and a poor Mets need all the help they can get right now.

July 29, 2009

There’s no such thing as perfection

So, Mark Buehrle pitched another five perfect innings after his perfect game, but eventually the run was broken, giving up five runs as the White Sox lost 5-3 to the Twins. Nobody’s perfect forever, eh? Any ideas what is the longest run of perfect innings?

Buehrle crashing back to reality was a shame (unless you’re a Twins fan), but was inevitable, eventually. But it could be worse…at least he can say he’s pitched a perfect game, unlike poor Felix Cespedes, who yesterday pitched nine perfect innings for the DSL Phillies, but then had to make way for a reliever with the score still 0-0. He’s not the first potentially-perfect-pitcher let down by his team’s batting. Poor Harvey Haddix pitched twelve perfect innings before losing in the thirteenth back in 1959. Life is cruel. But at least he has since been immortalised by The Baseball Project…

July 24, 2009

Mark Buehrle pitches perfect game

Mark Buehrle pitching a perfect game

So, yesterday Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game. It’s pretty amazing that this has only happened 16 times since 1900 – particularly when you think about just how many thousands of games there have been over that period, and that as something of a sporting ‘holy grail’, this is something most (all?) pitchers are aiming for every single day. I’m struggling to think of a similar achievement in another sport – one that is the ultimate a sportsman can achieve, but happens incredibly rarely. Any thoughts anyone?

Credit also to Dewayne Wise’s catch in the ninth inning. It would be an incredible catch at any time, but with the pressure of a potential perfect game in the offing, this was magnificent. It just goes to show how important teamwork and supporting each other’s teammates still is. The game was already won, essentially. That catch was for Buehrle.

Photograph from myisrblue529

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Category: baseball