I'm traveling today and tomorrow, so I may not have time to post much until Monday. Tonight I'll be at Angel Stadium watching a game that may not matter, except for being 18th in the 30-park Geas.
Via Raymond Chen, on Monday the Nashville Sounds, Milwaukee's farm team, turned a triple play against the Omaha Storm Chasers:
For those who don't know baseball's rules, a few things happened. First, a ball is "caught" (for an out) if the fielder making the catch gains full control over the ball before it touches the ground or another player, even if it touches a part of his own body—or his cap, as happened here. In the video above, this put the batter out.
Second, if a fielder catches a fly ball, all runners have to return to their last safe base before they can advance; this is called "tagging up." In this case, the runners started on first and second, and had advanced past second and third, respectively. The runner seen touching second base actually needed to make it back to first. So the fielder touching second put the next runner out, which is why the runner you see at second tried desperately to get to first again. He didn't make it; the first baseman forced him out.
It may have been an inelegant play, but hey, it ended the inning in 15 seconds.
Three years ago today, I was in Atlanta:
Canon 20D at ISO-1600, 1/125 at f/5.6, 18mm, here.
This evening I found myself getting off the El here [1]:
A friend, you see—an old, old friend—brought her son and his friend to Chicago this week, and they got tickets to what passes for baseball south of Madison St. Fortunately, the Yankees were in town, and even with Jeter sitting tonight out, the Sox were darned.
The home team got both their runs from this fourth-inning homer by Alexei Ramirez:
The Yankees still beat them 3-2.
The Cubs won tonight, lifting themselves back above .400 (ouch), while the Sox' back-to-back losses have them three games out of .500. As we all sweltered in the 28°C heat (and 22°C dewpoint), we wished it were October, until we realized that no one will be playing baseball in Chicago in October. The Yankees, though, they probably will still have a few games left.
[1] Yes, Wikipedia really has an entry on each El stop in Chicago.
Yet another view of PNC Park, from the Warhol Bridge, after the fireworks:
9 July 2011, ISO-1600, 1/30 sec. at f/5.6, 29mm, here.
Continuing the Pittsburgh theme, a view of PNC Park as the groundskeepers set up for the .38 Special concert:
ISO-3200, 1/15 at f/2, 50mm, here.
The Roberto Clamente Bridge in Pittsburgh, after Saturday night's fireworks, from the Andy Warhol Bridge:
9 July 2011, ISO-6400, 1/4 sec. at f/5, here.
After almost almost a year hiatus, the 30-Park Geas resumed yesterday in Pittsburgh:
Not only did I see a Cubs 6-3 win and a surprise, game-ending double play, but also a .38 Special concert complete with fireworks:
(My theory, not shared by the people around me, was that the fireworks were to celebrate the Cubs win.)
More photos today and tomorrow.
The 30-park geas can resume now that I'm done with school. Here's my progress so far:
[1] vs. Cubs
[2] Renamed Minute Maid Park in 2004
[3] I've decided
not to count parks that were rebuilt after I started this geas in 2008.
[4] Shea demolished in 2009; Citi Field opened 13 April 2009
Last edited: 20 April 2012. This page replaces the
original page started in 2008.
Nice game.
Peter Sagal joked about it last weekend, though: "The two mayors made the usual gentleman's bet before the series. If Texas wins, they get to secede from the Union. If San Francsico wins, the have to secede from the union."