Slog
News & ArtsThursday, May 26, 2011
Sports This Is Why We Watch Baseball
Posted by Goldy on Thu, May 26, 2011 at 9:24 AM
I know a lot of people think baseball is boring, and honestly, much of the time it is. And then there's last night's Phillies-Reds game which ended at 1:19 AM this morning when the Phils took a 4-3 win in extra innings on a bases loaded sacrifice fly. The winning pitcher? Second baseman Wilson Valdez, who notched three outs on ten pitches in the top of the 19th after the Phils ran out of pitchers, becoming the first player to start in the field and win the same game on the mound since Babe Ruth did it 90 years ago.
There's a reason why more movies have been made about baseball than any other sport: More than any other sport, baseball is theater. And while most theater sucks, when it's good, it's great.
2
Are you honestly trying to say that a 19-inning game wasn't boring? I'm sure it was as exciting as watching paint dry. But yeah, that's a pretty exciting ending, alright. I wonder if anyone was still awake to watch it.
4
Valdez hit 90 on the radar gun. That's amazing for a field player.
Of course, pretty much any second baseman in the league could throw strikes past the Mariners....
Of course, pretty much any second baseman in the league could throw strikes past the Mariners....
5
That sounds amazing! This is exactly why I love baseball. Whenever it's a tied score at the top of the 9th I get a little excited because you never know what can happen.
8
The longest baseball game in history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_pro…
33 innings, almost nine hours.
Somewhere, a cricket fan is laughing at us, and all he has to say is: "Pussies."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_pro…
33 innings, almost nine hours.
Somewhere, a cricket fan is laughing at us, and all he has to say is: "Pussies."
10
@ 4, I don't know anything about this guy, but if he's young then I'm not amazed. Any young infielder should be able to throw that hard.
13
They make movies to cut out all the boring parts. But I agree with you that when it's good it's outstanding!
14
@10, I don't agree -- not for strikes from the mound. Most of a second baseman's throws are much shorter and not that hard.
15
@12 This is the greatest tragedy of all.
And Fnarf, give our hometown boys some credit. They've crawled their way into 3rd place from a truly abysmal start to the season.
And Fnarf, give our hometown boys some credit. They've crawled their way into 3rd place from a truly abysmal start to the season.
17
I should have added, you need both velocity and accuracy to do that. Remember that 2B typically is not a power hitting (or sometimes even a leadoff hitting) position.
18
You can watch him pitch the 19th inning here: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?conten…
It was entertaining that he was shaking off the catcher too. Like he had a pitch other than a fast ball.
It was entertaining that he was shaking off the catcher too. Like he had a pitch other than a fast ball.
19
I think it's pretty amazing that he had 90 mph in his bag after playing 18 innings in the field, not to mention going 3 for 6 with a walk at the plate. I wonder if he'll have today off.
20
@19, he's one of the few who didn't get the day off today. Currently 4-2 Phillies in the fifth. He is 0-for-2 and playing third.
He did receive a standing ovation from the fans in his first at bat which was nice and well deserved.
He did receive a standing ovation from the fans in his first at bat which was nice and well deserved.
21
@16, which is about 1/1000th as frequent as chucking it over to first.
@15, I didn't say the M's were BAD, I just said we can't hit. We've got one of the greatest pitching staffs in history, by the looks of it, and we need 'em just to stay close to level.
@15, I didn't say the M's were BAD, I just said we can't hit. We've got one of the greatest pitching staffs in history, by the looks of it, and we need 'em just to stay close to level.
22
@ 21, you're telling me it's not a necessary skill? At the MLB level? (And I think the distance between the bases is farther than between home plate and the pitcher's mound.)
23
@22 - True, though look how often the first baseman has to extend his full body just to catch the ball with his foot still on the bag. The strike zone for an out at first is around 12 feet wide.
24
@ 23, that's true, but of course they don't have time to think about how exactly they're going to throw, go into the windup, etc.
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