Well, he doesn’t quite, as awesome as that would be. But nearly as awesome is this GIF overlaying each of his different pitches. It is a great illustration of how well he disguises what he is going to throw – he releases the ball from pretty much the same place and in the same way each time, yet the trajectory varies widely. Which I guess explains why he is so hard to hit.
Don’t worry folks. I’ll soon get tired of posting about the new baseball season. But until then… Read the rest of this entry »
Earlier this year Vicente was the first high-profile athlete in the United States to test positive for swine ‘flu.
He was then released from the Texas Rangers, as he was “regarded as a disruptive clubhouse presence.”
Things looked up when he joined the Los Angeles Dodgers, until he gave up six runs in three innings, helping send the Phillies, rather than the Dodgers, to the World Series.
What now?
Yesterday, he was accidently shot by his bodyguard, yes, his bodyguard, whilst hunting. Luckily, he wasn’t badly hurt.
I think he needs a new bodyguard. And perhaps stop breaking mirrors.
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.
Wait until next year 