Baseball, The Greatest Game!
After the Braves and Dodgers traded grand slams in last night’s eighth inning, Vin Scully could barely contain his excitement. And why not. Grand slams by opposing teams in the same inning has only happened four times in the National Leagues since 1900, and you can bet none of those times was as thrilling or as high and low for both teams as last night’s histrionics.
It’s a reminder why baseball is the greatest of all sports. I’ve been a baseball fan for more than 30 years, and I’m sure I’ve never seen two grand slams in the same inning, or if I did, it was in an early inning of a 13-12 slugfest. And if I think I’ve seen a lot of games, think how many Vin Scully has seen. He’s been calling games since the Babe played.
And yet last night Scully and I both saw something we’d never seen before. It’s practically a cliché to say you see something you’ve never seen before every time you watch a baseball game. But it’s a cliché because it’s so often true. And it’s something you certainly can’t say about football, basketball, hockey, or any other sport. Can you imagine how boring basketball or football would be if there were 162 games in their seasons?
Watch the highlights of a basketball game on SportsCenter and you’ll see the exact same scenes repeated ten times. A guy cuts through the lane and lays one up, a guy slams down a dunk, or a guy hits a three. The narration need be little more than “he scores. He scores. He scores.”
Contrast that with a baseball game, where the highlights might be a key single, a diving catch, or a big strikeout in a tough spot. Or a play at the plate where the winning run scores. Or an outfielder turning a home run into an out.
Increasingly, and disturbingly, what we see on SportsCenter are recaps of homeruns. If you want to know where the demand for players on steroids lies, look no further. But home runs are not responsible for every outcome. Last night’s Dodger game was unique because of the opposing grand slams. But it will also be remembered for LaRoche’s inability to make an out on J.D. Drew’s grounder, which extended the inning and allowed Bradley to come to the plate.
The game typified the Dodger season so far. Dodgers scratch out a lead with single runs, then the starter comes unraveled and blows it all in one big inning. But the bullpen shuts it down, and the cardiac kids mount a furious late-inning comeback. The Dodgers may not be the best team in the National League, but oh are they a fun team to watch.
It’s a reminder why baseball is the greatest of all sports. I’ve been a baseball fan for more than 30 years, and I’m sure I’ve never seen two grand slams in the same inning, or if I did, it was in an early inning of a 13-12 slugfest. And if I think I’ve seen a lot of games, think how many Vin Scully has seen. He’s been calling games since the Babe played.
And yet last night Scully and I both saw something we’d never seen before. It’s practically a cliché to say you see something you’ve never seen before every time you watch a baseball game. But it’s a cliché because it’s so often true. And it’s something you certainly can’t say about football, basketball, hockey, or any other sport. Can you imagine how boring basketball or football would be if there were 162 games in their seasons?
Watch the highlights of a basketball game on SportsCenter and you’ll see the exact same scenes repeated ten times. A guy cuts through the lane and lays one up, a guy slams down a dunk, or a guy hits a three. The narration need be little more than “he scores. He scores. He scores.”
Contrast that with a baseball game, where the highlights might be a key single, a diving catch, or a big strikeout in a tough spot. Or a play at the plate where the winning run scores. Or an outfielder turning a home run into an out.
Increasingly, and disturbingly, what we see on SportsCenter are recaps of homeruns. If you want to know where the demand for players on steroids lies, look no further. But home runs are not responsible for every outcome. Last night’s Dodger game was unique because of the opposing grand slams. But it will also be remembered for LaRoche’s inability to make an out on J.D. Drew’s grounder, which extended the inning and allowed Bradley to come to the plate.
The game typified the Dodger season so far. Dodgers scratch out a lead with single runs, then the starter comes unraveled and blows it all in one big inning. But the bullpen shuts it down, and the cardiac kids mount a furious late-inning comeback. The Dodgers may not be the best team in the National League, but oh are they a fun team to watch.
posted by John Rosenthal @ 10:56 AM
3 Comments:
At 11:34 PM,
Anonymous said…
Dear Nimrod:
Why haven't you been bashing Choi lately? Oh could it be b/c he's hitting over .450 in the past 12 games. Keep up the good "analysis". You're one prescient Dodger fan.
LOL.
At 2:44 PM,
Anonymous said…
He called you "Nimrod"! He called you "Nimrod"! Whooeee!!! Your blog done made the bigtime and provoked a flame!
At 6:35 PM,
John Rosenthal said…
Judging from the HEE SEOP CHOI! HEE SEOP CHOI! chants at Dodger Stadium last night when the Seoul Man came up to pinch hit, I'm one of the only people who doesn't like Choi.
I grant you that Choi has performed well of late. But I still don't believe in him. He can't hit lefties and he's atrocious at first base. He does, however, finally have more hits than strikeouts. But Olmedo Saenz is still hitting better than Choi, and their OBPs are about the same. Meanwhile, Saenz has only nine strikeouts to go with his nine hits.
Choi is a great fit as a DH for Oakland, however. Maybe DePodesta can pawn him off on equally OBP-blinded Billy Beane in the hopes that Beane has never seen Choi play the field. With all the sinkerball pitchers on the Dodger staff, good infield skills are a requirement of the job.
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