Literally. A one hour delay, a bench-clearing brawl, 5 ejections, a 6th inning lasting 67 minutes, and a blown save by Mariano Rivera on a come from behind, walk-off home run for the Red Sox in the bottom of the 9th. Was that a great game, or what?
Baseball Musings has an update re: the Sturtze - Kapler bout, and Joe shares a Bob Gibson story about intimidation from the mound and its consequences.
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Saw the incident on TV. Based on body language, A-Rod was hit deliberately ... and that's not the only time a Yankee has been deliberately drilled lately.
Sad to see a great game degraded by that kind of action on the part of losing teams.
Hit batters are not unusual, but there's a lot of ongoing bad blood between the BoSox and the Yankees. Personally, I think today's baseball players are a bunch of damn crybabies when it comes to being hit with a pitch.
Since this weekend is all about stories for you, Robin, allow me to offer one.
Hall of Famer Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals was one of the fiercest competitors to ever put on a baseball uniform, and opposing hitters knew it in no uncertain terms. Story goes that Bobby Bonds (Barry's Dad, and a damn fine player in his own right) walks up to the plate, takes his stance, and proceeds to "dig himself in" by excavating a solid footing. Then he looks out to the mound... and sees Bob Gibson.
Bonds holds up his hand, calls time - and proceeds to fill his area back in. He then calls out "sorry about that, Bob," before taking his stance again at the plate.
Bobby Bonds' mama didn't raise no fools.
Hey, Joe, I know you're one of the any-team-but-the-Yanks crowd.
That's okay ... [smile]
I love the game, am not tied to any one team but do rather root for the Yankees. It's not the big plays (although they're fun) so much as the level of mastery their top players show. It's the way A-Rod or Jeeter nearly always stop, plant and then make the throw rather than panic and get rid of the ball too quickly when the pressure's on. It's Sheffield playing with a bad shoulder every day, without complaint.
And speaking of players getting drilled, it's Sheffield being hit on that shoulder (and pretty deliberately from the looks of it) and then proceeding to drive in a home run the next time he's at bat.
but yeah, sometime's it's the spectacular plays like Jeeter diving for a catch, rolling on his side and and barehanding it to 1st in time for the out ....
But oh gawd does that pitching rotation need rebuilding this year!
Sheffield playing with that shoulder is a wonder, and Jeter makes some unbelievable plays. The playoff out at home plate against Oakland will go down in baseball history, and this season's headlong dive into the stands was really something.
Carlos gets hit a lot on our team, sometimes in places that could hurt him. Bagwell had his hand broken at the plate a couple seasons ago. It happens, and if you're batting correctly the shoulder is a likely impact zone for any pitches that do hit you (Bagwell doesn't react corrrectly to inside pitches, hence the broken hand). It sounds like I'm not sympathetic here, but really it isn't a Yankee thing - I'm just generally unsympathetic to the category. Players are thrown at a whole lot less than they used to be, but they whine a lot more.
Must be my hockey background talking.