Day 1375 – Two Pitches

Saturday, October 26, 2024

If you hate baseball and are forced to watch one game, may I suggest last night’s World Series Game #1?

Okay, if you really hate baseball how about one inning? Half an inning? Two Pitches.

Okay. Two pitches. It’s the bottom of the ninth. Coming into the ninth inning the Yankees and the Dodgers were tied at two apiece. The Yankees score a run at the top of the ninth: score stands at 3-2. LA comes to bat at the bottom of the ninth, down one run. They get a guy on base and have one out. The Yankees only need two outs to win game #1. The announcers say that the team that wins game #1 has a 63% chance of winning the series. 

The Dodgers star player Shohei Ohtani is three down in the batting order. If somehow the can get through the next to batters and Ohtani comes to the plate there’s a great chance he can hit a homer or at least crush the ball enough that one of the run on base can score and tie the game up. Earlier in the game LA was down 2 to 1. The guy before Ohtani, Mookie Betts, got on first and stole second and third. Ohtani hit a ball that hit the very top of the outfield wall where a fan interfered with the ball and by rule is only a double. Otherwise it might have been a triple or if he had hit it a few inches higher a home run. The guy is amazing. He did it so easily.

Okay so there are two players before Ohtani and two outs left. If they can just get Ohtani to the plate. There’s a guy on base. The next player up hits a ball that goes near second base on the first base side. Some might say dinks the ball and it dribbles out toward second. The second baseman jumps horizontally to catch it. He misses and it continues toward the outfield. Maybe, he even got a piece of it under his belly. I’m not sure. Doesn’t matter. Another man on base. Mookie is up. The Yankees aren’t going to pitch to him. They also bring in another pitcher. That pitcher walks Mookie. Bases loaded. Ohtani is up.

One pitch. Shohei hits it. High pop toward the 3rd base foul line. It’s going out of play. The outfielder races to catch it. He dives as it goes out of bounds. He catches it and pirouettes over the fan wall. A masonry construct about three feet high and a foot thick. We see his legs sticking up in the air. He not only comes up with the ball but throws it from there to his fellow players. 

Two out. The Yanks are one out away from winning it.

A guy named Freeman comes to bat. The announcers say he hasn’t hit anything in four or five weeks. He has had a bum ankle and they aren’t sure how well he can run.

The pitcher throws a low ball. Freeman digs deep and crushes it to the outfield bleachers. Grand Slam. Game over. Dodgers win 6-3.

Freeman is a big guy. Red head, like Andy Dalton the QB. After he rounds the bases and his teammates slap him on the back, and jump up and down he goes over to see the announcer. The announcer is a little skinny guy, crew cut, bow tie, blue sports blazer. They begin talking. His team mates dump a bucket of water on him. Who cares? Dodgers win. The announcer says that he saw him go over to his dad and say something. What did he say?

Freeman responds I have no idea. I think just screamed in his face. 

Or something like that.

Sports history. For as long as there is baseball they will be talking about those two pitches.