From Monday night, deep into Tuesday afternoon, you’d have thought the revolution had finally begun. Gary Sanchez had provided baseball the opportunity to unshackle itself from self-imprisonment and self-destruction.
Sanchez’s play Monday night — his first-inning walking pursuit of a passed ball that gave the Rays a run as the runner scored from second base, followed by giving the Rays the win by jogging toward first in the ninth — swept the nation the way Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” rallied the Colonists to no longer be subjugated subjects of King George III.
Even MLB Network, which had produced and presented, “The Top 50 Bat Flips,” spent much of Tuesday in show-and-tell examinations of minimal effort and impractical procedures as examples of how teams now regularly, even systemically, play losing baseball.
By Tuesday evening it appeared the revolution was on. Might the days of MLB’s “stars” — Yoenis Cespedes, Bryce Harper, Yasiel Puig, Robinson Cano — loitering near home plate before determining, too late, if it’s worth running be nearing their better-late-than-never end?
The weekend before Sanchez’s latest and worst listlessness was typical as it was infested with what was once impossible as a matter of common sense:
The Red Sox’s nine-inning win at Detroit on Friday included 10 pitchers — six of them Tigers — who totaled 21 strikeouts versus 11 hits, and ran long, 3:31. Final score? Red Sox 1, Tigers 0.
The Royals’ 4-2 win over the Twins, Saturday, featured 10 pitchers, 18 strikeouts to 13 hits. The 8 ½-inning game ran 3:11.
Sunday’s Mets-Yankees, which would have been completed had it begun at a logical time to begin Sunday games, was rained out at 9 p.m., an hour after it was scheduled to start on and for ESPN as per MLB’s sustaining, shameless greed.
(Incidentally, those who were in Yankee Stadium on Sunday night and still have their receipts for parking, food and beverages, can send them to Rob Manfred, c/o MLB, Mudville, USA. A full refund will be quickly mailed.)
So here we were, Tuesday night. The outrage over Gary Sanchez’s latest and worst professional indifference had not subsided. Many readers advocated sending Sanchez down to Scranton, forgetting that Sanchez arrived from Scranton a minimalist.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Yankees were up 2-0. The Rays had two on, no out. Time to bunt against Masahiro Tanaka. Fat chance.
Daniel Robertson, a career .236 batter, looked at a first-pitch strike. Then, swing and a miss, it was 0-2. Then he fouled off two pitches with mighty swings. Clearly, Robertson had only one thought in mind, the new normal: Hit a home run or strike out trying.
And on a 2-2 count, he swung and missed, strike three, at ball three, way outside. The next batter, Mallex Smith, on the first pitch, grounded into a double play.
The Yanks, won, 4-0. And the strikeouts again defeated the hits, this time, 19-11.
Also, Tuesday, the Mets’ 6-3 win over the Padres was to a large but unknown degree determined by foresight-barren modern replay rule madness. A third out call at the plate naturally caused the Padres’ Carlos Asuaje to stop running to third. Catcher Devin Mesoraco threw to third for the “fourth” out.
The long-delayed replay decision? The play at the plate went from out to safe while Asuaje was out for thinking that the called third out was the third out.
Revolution? Where do we report to surrender?
Multiple gaffes Open to criticism
Unless you tuned in to watch Tiger Woods on the practice range, NBC/Golf Channel’s “coverage” of the British Open was often insufferable, even insulting.
On Sunday, the final round, Woods and eventual winner Francesco Molinari were paired. Not only was Molinari a stroke ahead of Woods, but as he prepared to play the first hole, host Dan Hicks identified him as “the hottest player on the planet.”
Then why did we watch Woods play every shot, the first three holes, while Molinari disappeared?
Twice on Sunday, Johnny Miller made like Mike Francesa, claiming that Woods hit the wrong club or played the wrong shot — after the shot. Yet, given the excessive attention to Woods, Miller had plenty of time to tell us before.
NBC’s graphics and Hicks’ commentary often were just plain silly. “Jordan Spieth for birdie and the outright lead.” Outright? If he’s the leader, he’s the leader. Otherwise it’s to tie or remain tied for the lead.
And what’s “A great leaderboard”? Who on it would deserve less? Who among the leaders would make it not that great?
And Hicks, a clichés churner, was unable to reference the U.S. or U.K. in terms other than “across the pond.”
Although Woods did not win, NBC did recognize him as the winner among those who tied for sixth.
Sickening legacy for status-symbol sneakers
What began 30 years ago continues. Kids are still being mugged and murdered for their overpriced, made-on-the-Third-World-cheap, status-symbol sneakers. The shoes have no intrinsic value, yet continue to cost kids their lives.
Last week in Washington, D.C., a trial began. A 16-year-old boy is charged with the murder of 17-year-old James Anthony Smith. According to prosecutors, Smith was playing ball at the Frederick Douglass Community Center when he was gunned down, his $250 Nike Air Jordan’s then stolen.
As Nike shill Spike Lee said, “And all you homeboys should be bum-rushin’ to get some!”
Most of the victims and perps are urban minorities. Makes me want to take a knee.
Longtime football coach Darryl Rogers died earlier this month at 83. Circa 1980, while coaching Arizona State, Rogers uttered one sentence that still captures big-time college football and basketball: “They’ll fire you for losing before they’ll fire you for cheating.”
Rogers was deemed expendable after the 1984 season, the first losing one in the five years he had coached at ASU.
Which to watch last Friday and Saturday, Mets-Yankees via YES or SNY productions? With no irrelevant, distracting, misleading obstructed live-view K-Box, SNY’s clear view was the clear choice.
Where was Ken Singleton when I was scoring “See Me!” in high school math?
Monday on YES during Miguel Andujar’s at-bat versus the Rays: “His average up to .289, knocking on the door of .290.” One pitch later, “He has 29 doubles, next one will be number 30.”
There’s a dispute as to whether the University of Wyoming “Cowboys” is an inappropriate nickname as it “excludes women and people of color.” But a cow is a female animal, a boy is male, thus it’s a transgender nickname!