Twins at Kansas City. Twins 8, Royals 3.
Once, when Batgirl was 16, she got into a wee little car accident. The details are not important, nor is it important that she had only had her license for a week, nor is it important that the accident was between her and a post in a parking ramp. What matters is that when she got home, drowning in her own tears, she vowed never to drive again, and BatDad, placid but fierce, said, "You're getting right back in that BatCar, missy."
If the Minnesota Twins never wanted to enter a baseball field again after a week of running into inanimate objects over and over and over again, they could be forgiven. But not by Gardy, who placid but fierce, turned to them and said, "When you fall off a bike, you must get on again, missy. And when you humiliate yourself, day after day, in front of Batgirl and all your fans, you must get back on that metaphorical bicycle, you must get back on and try to remember all your bicycle-riding skills, because you did have them once—there was a time, long ago, when you did not run into 25-man inanimate objects, but rather you navigated around said objects with pith and aplomb. You will remember. Your bodies will remember, and then my children, you will stop running into posts and falling off your training wheels and flailing at pitches and booting the ball and utterly failing to convert on copious opportunities to beat vastly inferior teams. So come on, my dears, let's get up off our asses and play ball."
And something strange happened; the Twins, completely untroubled by Gardy's mixed transportation metaphors, were inspired. For Gardy, for Batgirl, and for Twins fans everywhere, the Twins vowed to get back on their bikes. And when, in the 4th inning, with Torii Hunter on 2nd and two outs, Henry Blanco came to bat--he suddenly remembered what it was the Twins do. They convert. They have two-out rallies. Those rallies are lead by people like Lew Ford and Jose Offerman, and Michael Ryan, and yes, Henry Blanco. So Blanco hit a single and scored Torii. And then Alex Prieto remembered, and he hit his first major league home run, earning himself much snuggles in the Twins dugout. Then Ford remembered, then Cuddy, and then Cordel Koskie put away all his myriad aches and pains, and he remembered, hitting a two-run single. That makes five runs with two outs, mostly singles and a homer from the last guy you’d expect—and that, my friends is Twins baseball.
Not, perhaps, classic Twins baseball was the uber-bizarre double play in the six, which left FSN announcers Dick and Bert gibbering and weeping. Batgirl, of course, had a bead on the situation exactly, and will be explaining it to you all just as soon as she can explain it to the Legos.
Also, Lew Ford had a homer, Cuddy continued to play solid second base, Jacque Jones proved himself to have encyclopedic knowledge of the infield fly rule, Joe Roa raised his BULLPEN IDOL stock, and Juan Rincon got back on a bicycle of his own, getting out the two batters he walked yesterday to such disastrous effect. Bring on the Devil Rays!
Posted by Batgirl at May 30, 2004 04:31 PMThey still pith me off. Ten guys in a row went down after they batted around. Did Nathan reach 27 retired without a hit?Your's in victory, Al
Posted by: al at May 30, 2004 04:57 PMI get up, and nothing gets me down. This week was tough, but I've seen the toughest around. I know, Batgirl, just how you feel - they've had to roll with the punches just to get to what's real.
Today I could clearly see them standing there, they had their backs against the wrecking machine. They ain't the worst that I've seen (that would be 1990). Can't you see what I mean?
Posted by: kw at May 30, 2004 04:59 PMAlas, Joe was one out away from a reliever's no-no when he yielded a single in the ninth. I was miffed enough to throw the JoeMamaTor across the room in frustration. Of course, it's a hearty tool, in that it survived several such heaves during the latter stages of Game 5 in the Timbies-Lakers series.
Posted by: RonDavis at May 30, 2004 05:06 PMRemember there is good in all things. Nathan allowing a hit gave Krispy Kremes to many Kansas Citians. The ensuing doughnut splurge will inevitably cause several hundred more heart attacks, further decreasing attendance at Royals games.
Every fan counts.
Posted by: TheBentKangaroo at May 30, 2004 07:58 PMRe: No Joe No No
I was thinking (lightly, to myself, not trying to jinx it by telling my father in law or even think about it too hard). I had my doubts that he would be able to pull off the no-no because he was not in a save situation. I remembered his Eddie-ness from earlier in the season when not in save situations, and I thought that it might not be while I still hoped it would. Alas, it would not. 8 1/3 perfect innings before giving up two hits. So Close.
If he would have succeeded, would that have made Sportscenter?
Posted by: amr at May 30, 2004 08:15 PMAlso, much props to Jacque on tagging to get the out at first. I told my father in law that was needed for the out, only to have the Bremer and Blyleven undermine me. Then the rules guy came in, I was vindicated, and Blyleven still had it wrong! He thought that if the ball would have been caught, the runners would have had to tag.
Unanswered question: did Berroa stay at second, forcing the runner back to first, or did the runner (I forgot who it was) think he had to tag up? In other words: who screwed up?
Posted by: amr at May 30, 2004 08:40 PMDear Mr/Ms R,
Batgirl has gone through the entire event with the finest of fine-tooth combs, and it seems that Berroa erred by sticking at second base, leaving Beltran nowhere to go. But Batgirl believes that under the infield fly rule, the runners do have to tag if the ball is caught, and then can run at their own peril (just like a regular fly ball). We will have more on this in a little bit.
Sincerely,
Batgirl
Dear Batgirl,
This may be forthcoming, however,
If a runner has to tag when an infield fly is caught, how does calling the rule make any difference? I thought the point of the infield fly was that the batter was out either way, and the runners are free to seek either base. That way the fielders can't mess with the runners heads by dropping the ball and getting the easy force outs. Dangit, I need to look at the rule book.
(BTW, It's Mr. R)
Posted by: amr at May 30, 2004 09:59 PMDear Mr. mr,
This is what I tracked down:
INFIELD FLY RULE
The only difference between an infield fly and any other fly is that the batter is out when it is declared, and the ball does not have to be caught. Because the batter is declared out the runners are no longer forced to run, but they may run if they wish, at the risk of being put out. If the ball is caught they must tag-up before running, the same as on any fly ball. If the ball is not caught they may run without tagging up, the same as on any fly ball.
Yours,
Batgirl
Thus they tag up when the INFIELD FLY RULE IS CALLED not when THE BALL IS ACTUALLY CAUGHT. So when was the IF Rule called? If it's when Beltran is off the base, doesn't he have to tag the base (because the out occurs when he is off the base) before he can start to run?
Beltran didn't have to tag up, because the umpire called an infield fly and also ruled 'no catch' (although the 'no catch' call was not obvious until the umpire confirmed it after the game.).
So Sweeney was automatically out under the infield fly rule, but the no-catch brings the last sentence of BatGirl's rule book quote to bear: "If the ball is not caught they may run without tagging up, the same as on any fly ball."
Beltran did not have to tag up, but he didn't know that. Jacque tagged him out to complete the routine 3-2-9 double play and everyone (outside the village of Kansath City) lives happily ever after.