Reflections of Opening Day Baseball 2003 (1 Viewer)

[Jay H]

Not a big baseball fan, but I'm sure most people have seen Derek Jeter's injury on opening day... In that videoclip, the ref/ump calls him safe and then because he's sitting there writhing in pain, he's not on 3rd anymore and you see the ref/ump call him out. Would the Yankees have any grounds on complaining that the catcher with his leg and momemtum pushed him off the base? I presume it is illegal for somebody to purposely push a player off the base in order to tag him out.

Just curious...

Jay

 

[Evan S]

I presume it is illegal for somebody to purposely push a player off the base in order to tag him out.

It is, the ump blew the call. Also, Huckaby tried to block the bag, which is illegal for any base other than home.

Basically two rules were violated and the ump blew them both. Still, I don't find anything dirty with the play and realize that Huckaby did not mean to injur Jeter with his actions. Most of the reason he was in the position he was in was due to the poor throw from Delgado.

 

[James T]

I had high hopes for the Jays, but after these past three games...oh dear...it's going to be a long season.

Also, not to get political, but on opening day, it was ordered to play God Bless America. Which for some people is fine. But in the paper, I read that a bunch of fans had their signs taken away because they had the peace sign on them. That left me a little confused as to why they would allow God Bless America to be played and not allow a peace sign. The national anthems are different and have always been a part of baseball so I have no complaints there, but didn't they rewrite the rule book on what's allowed inside a stadium when they played God Bless America in the 7th inning?

 

[Ashley Seymour]

Brian,

Kudos to umpire John Hirschbeck for calling a proper strikezone -- Tom Glavine is very hittable when you don't give him an extra four inches off the outside corner.

Fine, now will they give back the upper four inches of the strike zone that they took away from the pitchers years ago? Maybe this is an owners conspiracy. Make the strike zone smaller and all you have left is batting practice pitchers and slow pitch softball. BP pitchers cost a lot less than Clemens, Pedro, Unit, Maddox, etc.


What is your take on Dusty? Real hope or more of the same?

I had to edit as I forgot to add. I have to follow the Cubs a bit more as we now have one of their farm teams, the Boise Hawks. For about ten years we were an Angel farm club and a lot of their players got a start here. Trouble was that the Angels were about as interesting to follow as the Brewers, Expos, or Marlins, Devil Rays or Mariners (before their recent good fortune). Of course they finaly won the big one and now are more interesting.

Evan

It is, the ump blew the call. Also, Huckaby tried to block the bag, which is illegal for any base other than home.

It's not an issue of being illegal or not. A defensive player without a ball or in the process of making a play is obstructing a runner. If he has the ball, he can sit on the base, plate, pick his teeth or his cleats. Without the ball, the runner is entitled to the base or possibly more.

At home it is tradition to overlook when a runner attempts to crash into the catcher, or other player, to dislodge the ball. Ever see a runner going to first base try to reach out and hit the arm of the first baseman trying to make the play? For that matter, if the first basemans leg is over the base without him having the ball and the runner trips over the leg then the first baseman is obstructing the runner.

 

[Brian Perry]

Ashley,

I agree 100% -- the high strike needs to be enforced or else hitters have too much of an advantage.

As for Dusty, we'll see. The Cubs are still doing some idiotic things, but it's hard to tell if it's the players or the coaches. For example, yesterday Farnsworth came in and threw two 98-mph strikes to his batter. So what does he do next? Throw four straight curves out of the zone for a walk. The relievers did pretty well overall (one hit in five innings), but you just hate to see stuff like that.

I didn't like the move to put Corey Patterson into the leadoff spot yesterday, but with Grudzelanik hurt he didn't have many options. (Not that Grudz is a real leadoff hitter anyway, with his .300 OBP.)

 

[Lew Crippen]

I agree 100% -- the high strike needs to be enforced or else hitters have too much of an advantage.

Count me in on this. The last 30-game winner (Denny McLain) struck out many with a ‘high, hard one’.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Actually, I'm finding I can appreciate baseball a lot more right now, despite the games against the Yankees, despite the crappy new Jays logo,

Me too. On Sunday I bleached my hair and dyed it blue. In the Toronto tradition of taunting the Yankees, I made a big red sign that said DEREK: WAS THAT AT-BAT WORTH $30,000?, which I never got to use (and as much as I want to taunt him, I would never wish an injury like that on Derek Jeter).

Bought that Toronto Star Season's Pass thing ($81 CDN after taxes, and it gets you a 500 level seat on game day to every home game), and went with my wife and friends.

Sat in 522, which is almost directly behind home plate, a dozen rows from the railing.

Was glad to see a sell-out at the Dome (50,000 plus fans), which doesn't happen much anymore.

Didn't boo Matsui -- I knew the ad was a joke.

Had a good time, despite the blow-out. I had an even better time last night when we almost pulled off the rally (lost 9-7), but was saddened to see only 15,000 in the stands, many of them Yankees fans on a road trip.

Was disappointed to hear the vocal Yankees fans in our section not confining their taunts to baseball. Carlos Delgado's big salary? Fair game. Politics and war? What does that have to do with baseball? Decided not to respond in kind, though it was tempting. And really, it was only three guys, and one of them had a mullet.

Made fun of his hair instead.

Can't wait for the next homestand -- TV coverage is spotty at best since apparently no one cares about the Jays anymore. Some of the games (including last night's) are not even on local radio this year. Thankfully, I can afford this Season's Pass, and since my work commute drops me off at Union Station every night at just around 7:00, I'll be walking over to the Dome on a very regular basis.

Eagerly anticipating the Texas visit at the end of the month -- I've already begun work on my giant A-Rod $250,000,000 bill (instead of In God We Trust it says Show Me The Money). It's all in fun. Was thinking of making a pile of photocopied dollar-bill sized versions, too, to throw in fistfuls into the crowd. That might be too much.

I'm genuinely excited about baseball for the first time in a long time.

 

[Steve_Tk]

I've lived in Atlanta all my life. So naturally I'm a big Braves fan.

But I'm sorry, I hope the Braves go through a 4-5 year slump. I want the GM gone.

The Braves can not hit. They have people that have had good hitting seasons, but they can't hit!

The end of last season, their main problem was they got lucky with home runs, but never had a steady flow on getting people on base.

Chipper, Shefield, and Jones better get something going. I'm predicting a bad season.

Oh and Glavine, I hope you enjoy NY, they obviously just love you up there

 

[Patrick Sun]

It's been a really ugly 3 games for the Braves so far. I'll give them a month to see if there's any life in their bats this season.

And what is with Andruw Jones dropping a routine flyball in the first inning last night?

 

[Marvin]

I made a big red sign that said DEREK: WAS THAT AT-BAT WORTH $30,000?, which I never got to use

Perhaps you could have changed it by substituting CARLOS for DEREK. According to CNN, only A-Rod has a higher salary than Delgado.

 

[Steve_Tk]

I just think the Braves are not as motivated as they used to be. I guess that happens when you are in the top 5 for almost 11 years. They are due for a slump.

Smoltz is the only thing I enjoy watching about the team lately.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Perhaps you could have changed it by substituting CARLOS for DEREK. According to CNN, only A-Rod has a higher salary than Delgado.

I was waiting for someone to pick up on that.

See, against all Canadian traditions, I try to cheer for my home team and criticize the visiting team, and offer my home team a certain amount of blind-eye forgiveness.

However, my A-Rod $250,000,000 bill is just about ready.

It's not hypocricy when it's your home team!

 

[Todd Henry]

Where did this Pirates offense come from. They were one of the worst last year and have scored 32 runs through the first 3 games and 6 innings today.

Reggie Sanders are already has 4 homers, maybe he learned something from Barry last year.

Todd

 

[Hunter P]

Speaking of A-Rod, what about that stupid fan who threw back his 300th homer? A-Rod said that he was all set to negotiate and had signed bats, balls, and jerseys to give to him. The guy makes a quarter billion! I'd at least try to get a grand off of him.

 

[Hunter P]

Oh, yeah....

Met win the WS. ThankyouI'mout!

 

[Jason Seaver]

Speaking of A-Rod, what about that stupid fan who threw back his 300th homer? A-Rod said that he was all set to negotiate and had signed bats, balls, and jerseys to give to him. The guy makes a quarter billion! I'd at least try to get a grand off of him.

Hey, I'd have just let him have the milestone ball rather than trying to extort something. I do think it's cool that Rodriguez had a goodie bag ready to go, though. The guy who threw it back must feel awful foolish.

... And this is why it's never a good idea to learn about baseball from Cubs fans.

 

[David Lawson]

Reggie Sanders are already has 4 homers, maybe he learned something from Barry last year.

He owes it all to Reds pitching, which at least didn't look horrible tonight. Sammie's 500th home run, and the first win at Great American...not a bad way to spend $5.00 on a Friday evening.

 

[Steve_Tk]

Andruw Jones redeemed himself tonight with his throw to home plate. Oh yeh, Braves are now 1-3. Can't wait to play the Mets, bring on Glavine in the Ted.