More baseball plays that go into the "Weak" not Sleek category in jemanji's altered reality...
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D. Outfielders crashing into walls.
It's one play vs. 162 games and it never hits me as courageous. It hits me as sad.
Supposing that Felix Hernandez could win one game, Tuesday, by throwing one great 99-mph fastball in the 8th inning --- rip his rotator cuff, but win the game? Is that bittersweet, or is it just bitter?
Ichiro doesn't crash or dive. That's the outfielder's equivalent of refusing to throw 160 pitches in a game. It's nothing other than commendable.
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E. A crisp double play.
You won't agree with me on this one, but... hey, it's my post. :- )
Howard Cosell once walked off a Roy Firestone show. Firestone was chastising Cosell for having gotten jaded and forgotten everything that made sports beautiful.
On the screen, while they talked in the background, Firestone was showing a double play. Cosell exploded. "I'm watching two infielders turn a double play that has been routinely executed many tens of thousands of times in baseball history..."
I'm with Howard. The technique involved in a simple 6-4-3 is nothing compared to the technique involved in heading a corner kick into goal. Little leaguers do it. What's tough about catching the ball from a teammate, as opposed to off a bat? I just never got this one.
And the pain involved in seeing one turned against you :- ) far outweighs what you feel when one is turned for you. That's just me.
If you told me there would be no DP's turned on either side tonight, I'd be more likely to go to the game.
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Veteran RH fanning on a outside slider. It's the shrillness involved that is fingernails-on-a-chalkboard. Without enough power to hit the ball out naturally, he's got to swing harder than he should. Without enough quickness to get a look at the pitch, he's got to start the bat early.
I just hate seeing it, not because it's an out, but because the hitter's so overmatched that it makes me feel bad.
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The accidental up-and-in-pitch. It's a huge shock, and not for the better.
James once pointed out that low-minors hitters get HBP'ed a lot more, if they are not going to make the majors ... take a guy in class-A ball who's leading the team in HBP's, and his future is suspect.
Reaction time. You've got to stay alive, to have a career.
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Pitchers hitting batters in acts of "macho" that require no macho. Unless you're Randy Johnson or Nolan Ryan, I guess, in which case the hitter calls "Pass-a-dena" anyway, on the under-the-bleachers return match after the game.
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Pitchers getting injured because there's no plexiglass screen yet. Hitters are huge these days, using those tiny whippy little handles. Softball pitchers use helmets. I want to see the 3x4 plexi screen in front of the pitcher.
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Those are baseball plays that irritate me, but you know what they say about pizza. Even when it's bad, it's still pretty good. :- )
Cheers,
Dr D
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