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    Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
    Ha

    I am both old and American. Welcome KR JR

    Which allowed me to see Rote play at least twice for Dallas Tornado. He even led the league in scoring one year.

    But he was completely dominant in Superstars.
    Another old American here...

    I may have seen the Roughnecks play Kyle Rote Jr. and the Houston Hurricanes, but can't be sure.

    My Superstars memory was of a water skiier who always did well - could not remember his name until I looked him up. Wayne Grimditch won in 1978. Do not remember OJ and Greg Pruitt winning it either.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supers...tes_Superstars

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      Late night baseball commentary is perfect listenng for my insomnia and my preference is Class A Daytona, mainly because my Grandma lived there and because they always start around midnight UK time. I'll do the majors occasionally but their feeds don't always work or require signing up. Plus there's no one on the east coast that I really like.

      Anyway how does this work then or when is a strikeout not a strikeout.

      Tortugas down by one. Bottom of the tenth. Runner on third and two outs.

      Batter strikes out swinging yet advances to first due to a throwing error by the catcher (to first iirc). Runner on third scores to tie the game. Shouldn't the game have been over with the strikeout. How is he struck out yet can still get to first base.

      Quite a finish too as on the very next pitch a line drive and fielding error saw that same batter score to walk off the game. It was all quite exciting stuff at three in the morning but I still don't understand how it was allowed to happen.

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        The third strike has to be caught in the air by the catcher in order for an out to be recorded.

        If the pitch is not caught, the batter has to be retired via a throw to first base arriving (and being caught by a fielder) before the batter gets there.

        It happens reasonably often, usually because the batter is fooled terribly by a breaking pitch that lands in the dirt, but almost always results in an out unless the ball takes a weird bounce away from all of the fielders or (as here) the catcher throws the ball away trying to record the out at first base.

        This rule only applies to third strikes in much the same way as foul balls that are not caught in the air can be strike one or strike two, but not strike three.
        Last edited by ursus arctos; 27-04-2019, 21:04.

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          Thank you UA. That makes perfect sense and I did think it might well be something like that. Judging by the interview with a Reds director the following evening the whole scenario with two consecutive errors leading to runs and a walkoff win are not something seen too often in the major leagues though.

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            Google Mickey Owen, this famously happened in Game 4 of the 1941 World Series. Dodgers up by one, bottom of the 9th and two out, Tommy Heinrich swings and misses at a Hugh Casey spitter for strike three. Series tied at two, right? Mickey Owen muffs the spitter and Heinrich reaches base. DiMaggio singles, Charlie Keller doubles to score both of them and put the Yankees in the lead. Yanks score twice more and the Bums was moiduhded.

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              Here's the newsreel clip.

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                The Padres are very streaky this year - after the first few games they've had a run of 4 wins, followed by a run of 6 losses, and now a run of 5 wins. Instinctively, I think this shouldn't happen and should be an outlier. Is it actually more common than I think?

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                  Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                  The third strike has to be caught in the air by the catcher in order for an out to be recorded.

                  If the pitch is not caught, the batter has to be retired via a throw to first base arriving (and being caught by a fielder) before the batter gets there.

                  It happens reasonably often, usually because the batter is fooled terribly by a breaking pitch that lands in the dirt, but almost always results in an out unless the ball takes a weird bounce away from all of the fielders or (as here) the catcher throws the ball away trying to record the out at first base.

                  This rule only applies to third strikes in much the same way as foul balls that are not caught in the air can be strike one or strike two, but not strike three.
                  I’ve always wondered why this rule exists.

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                    I'm always a bit baffled when deals like this happen. How come the rights are still available even after the season has started? For European sports, these things get sewn up years in advance.

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                      It's a good question, and it isn't absolutely clear to me just how "exclusive" the YouTube rights will be.

                      MLB obviously controls the MLB.TV broadcasts, but most teams will have their games on a combination of cable and over the air channels that covers most/all of the entire schedule (the Cubs spread theirs over four or five outlets).

                      My guess is that the YouTube deal does touch those local rights (if only because otherwise YouTube would have to supply production and announcers). If for some reason that isn't the case, the options are that the games were not being covered (possible, but not for popular clubs) or that the rights holders have been paid to give up what they have a contractual rights to,

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                        Sometimes baseball defies explanation

                        [URL]https://twitter.com/lsubaseball/status/1131663724786397184?s=21[/URL]

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                          I didn't see SB's question above about streaks. I don't have any stats, which is a regular qualifier for my claims in the baseball threads, but I think this is common. But sometimes those streaks can be linked to where we are in the season. The Dodgers have been very streaky the past few seasons but in part the losses have followed long winning cycles. I think they become a little lazy because the win streaks put them pretty far ahead of other teams in the division.

                          Another reason for streaks could be collective slumps and/or a worn out pitching staff.

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                            So last night I dreamt I was short stop for the Minnesota Twins and pretty good I was at it too. That good I managed to get all the outs on a triple play unassisted. Is that even possible though, my dream details are fuzzy with a catch then stepping on second to get the runner but I can't picture the third out.

                            The triple play obviously, not playing for the Twins at the age of 50.

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                              Fifteen occurrences in MLB history, including once in the World Series.

                              https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unassisted_triple_play

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                                I could have sworn the White Sox had one last year but it must have been a regular triple play (or one member of the team was responsible for two outs but not three).

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                                  Originally posted by Greenlander View Post
                                  So last night I dreamt I was short stop for the Minnesota Twins and pretty good I was at it too. That good I managed to get all the outs on a triple play unassisted. Is that even possible though, my dream details are fuzzy with a catch then stepping on second to get the runner but I can't picture the third out.

                                  The triple play obviously, not playing for the Twins at the age of 50.
                                  The only part your dream is missing is continuing over second base on the run and tagging the runner coming in from first.

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                                    I've just seen that Softball is in the Olympics. Is the Baseball/Softball gender split global then? Or is the Olympics having softball rather than womens baseball a US weight thing?

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                                      The international federation covers men's and women's competitions in both sports (https://www.wbsc.org/disciplines/bas...ve-information), but the Olympics has always used the gender split.

                                      Japan actually has perhaps the most advanced women's baseball programme in the world, and if they weren't able/willing to fight for its inclusion in these Games, I doubt we will see it anytime soon. Neither men's softball nor women's baseball is a recognised high school or university sport in the US.

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                                        Ah cheers. It seems like a missed opportunity. But I guess it's good for softball players, well the women ones.

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                                          There's an increasingly vocal movement for girls to play baseball here, but the girl's softball establishment is very well set (and rather reactionary) and (as in the case with many US sports) the absence of university scholarships is a serious hindrance to development.

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                                            I have nothing to add to this thread other than this three year old picture of an idiot at the baseball.

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                                              They are finally back there starting on 30 July (they have been playing their "home" games in Buffalo and Dunedin, Florida) due to pandemic restrictions on travel across the border.

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                                                Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                                There's an increasingly vocal movement for girls to play baseball here, but the girl's softball establishment is very well set (and rather reactionary) and (as in the case with many US sports) the absence of university scholarships is a serious hindrance to development.
                                                Yeah.
                                                Whenever there are calls for more women's baseball and angst about it, the softball world feels insulted.

                                                It's a bit like women's lacrosse. It may have originated from a paternalistic, patronizing understanding of what women were capable of - women's lacrosse doesn't have much contact and moves a bit slower because of how the sticks are different - but then years of ingenuity and adaptation have made it unique and the players don't want to give up what is different about their game to be more like the men's version. Perhaps a comp would be netball and basketball.

                                                Softball pitching is less damaging to the pitcher, so a team doesn't need a big staff. College teams usually have, I think, no more than four pitchers total. Whereas a college baseball team is about half pitchers. And high school teams can ride all the way to the state title with just one ace. Cat Osterman is 38 and still the USA's ace. I'd bet she could run it back in four years too if she wants to. (Apparently, she does not want to).

                                                So that's good and bad. It was good in the 70s and 80s when it was harder to get girls to come out for sports and the training opportunities weren't as good for them, because a school could put together a viable team out of players without much experience in the game. But now that softball is fully integrated into the youth sports industrial complex. Girls start learning advanced skills at 6 or 7 and some pitchers are just completely unhittable. That's true in high school baseball too, but at least in baseball, the team needs at least three starters so they can't rely entirely on one guy.

                                                Softball has a place for girls that are small and fast. They can be "slap hitters." Just hitting the ball into the dirt so it hops and then legging it out to first. I don't think that would work in baseball.

                                                It is worth noting, however, that there are lots of men coaching high school and university softball but, as far as I know, there are no women coaching baseball. At least not at the elite level. Same in other sports. Its far past time for that to change.

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                                                  The Giants have a female coach, Alyssa Nakken.

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                                                    Remember once seeing fastpitch softball as a kid, as my dad played for the IBM beer league slowpitch team (where I'd be drinking Genessee beer from the cooler at age 8.)

                                                    Had no idea the men could throw 105mph, or that this existed:
                                                    ​​​​​​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2lPAWVhPpE

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