Man, there were some wild swings in the games from yesterday, the Yankees came back to win even after getting utterly shut down by Max Scherzer, the Angels turned a 13-0 laugher into a save situation, and Atlanta…well, read on to find out.
Making My Mother Proud
Several years ago my mom told us (that is to say, her kids) about this great new sport she was playing with other old folks in town. She was incredibly excited about it, even though she could not under any circumstances actually explain how the game worked beyond it being “kind of like tennis.” That sport was Pickleball, and oh how we made fun of her.
But, as it turns out, she was the one who had found the hot new trend and I’m going to send her a link to this article because I want her to see that in writing. Because if Jake Arrieta is doing it, it has to be cool:
playing pickleball > getting caught in a pickle pic.twitter.com/V1yESwv4iW
— Cut4 (@Cut4) May 8, 2021
(Seriously I once pulled up a photo of Jake and showed it to my barber when he asked me how I wanted my beard shaped up.)
Also, the Cubs broadcast actually taught me something about the game of pickleball: apparently, the “kitchen” is up against the net, and you aren’t allowed to play right up there, you gotta play back and actually rally back and forth a little. I mean, I’m not 100% on that being a real rule and not just etiquette but still, learning!
Also also, at this point between the dancing and non-baseball-sporting that goes on in there, the Cubs might as well change the name of that area from “Bullpen” to “Multi-Purpose Room” or something. Seems more accurate.
Is This A Batted Ball?
Every baseball game has some kind of low-probability batted ball event. I mean, I guess they kind of have to given the nature of the sport, but this one seems to really defy the odds:
https://gfycat.com/faithfulreasonableasianpiedstarling
Even if it was actually just Austin Nola throwing the ball over Joe Musgrove’s head, that would be kind of interesting from a “Well you don’t see that every day!” position, but it’s not that. It’s Nola throwing the ball perfectly timed to hit Mike Tauchman’s bat as he’s swinging it.
https://gfycat.com/scrawnylavishlcont
The only way it could be better was if the runner actually advanced on the whole thing.
Ode To A Jacket
I personally love the DH. I don’t necessarily care about it being universal since my team is in the AL and already gets to take advantage of not having to deal with their pitchers hitting, but there is one thing the NL will get to lord over us forever:
Nobody else in baseball gets to serve up such absolute L?KS as a pitcher wearing a jacket on the base paths. It also reminds me of one of my all-time favorite videos on YouTube which I am embedding here so you have no excuse to not watch it.
(Joey Lucchesi came home thanks to a Jeff McNeil homer in the next at-bat, so no risk of landing on a stray baseball in a pocket for him.)
2-0 Count
Baseball is technically not a contact sport but…well…
https://gfycat.com/serenepepperygharial
In case you missed it, please watch until the end of this clip to see just how wildly José Rojas just uppercuts Mookie Betts directly to the crotch.
https://gfycat.com/misguidedslightbantamrooster
Now, injuries aren’t funny and it’s been a rough year for them even just in this first month and change of the season, but given that it ended up with smiles all around, in this case, I’m ok laughing.
https://gfycat.com/clearcutindolentammonite
Atlanta’s Wild Ride
The game in Atlanta last night seemed like it was shaping up to be a pretty unremarkable loss for the home team, as they went into the bottom of the 9th down 3-1 to the visiting Phillies. But the Baseball Gods had other designs, as Pablo Sandoval hit a pinch-hit 2-run dinger to tie the game up. And then things got really wild.
I REPEAT…
THIS
GAME pic.twitter.com/M3sV6WEtXo— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 9, 2021
Meanwhile, on the Discord:
Atlanta ended up walking it off around 40 minutes later thanks to a line drive off the bat of Ehire Adrianza, bringing to a close the type of thing we haven’t seen for almost a decade:
The Braves are the first team to win a game when trailing by 3+ runs in the 12th inning or later since the Yankees on September 22, 2012 against the A's
(and yes, extra innings are different now — of course)
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 9, 2021
Gurriels
So, having talked about the team from the city of brotherly love, how about we end this week’s installment with the literal stuff, but from Houston:
Brotherly Love 🍍💙 pic.twitter.com/lmPqEe0BuZ
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 9, 2021
Aw.
Photo by Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)