04/23/24
April 23, 2012
SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Oh, good. Baseball has a Harlem Globetrotters now.
posted by Etrigan at 02:04 PM on April 23, 2012
Is that a beer bottle in the right batter's box? It would explain a lot.
posted by dfleming at 02:48 PM on April 23, 2012
That's the left batter's box. And why the runner coming into home from first base?
posted by NoMich at 02:58 PM on April 23, 2012
It's on the right field side, isn't it? Plus, the right side of the infield is 1st and 2nd base. Of course, you hit left-handed from that side...
It looks like he swerved towards the mound and tried to do an end around.
posted by dfleming at 03:16 PM on April 23, 2012
It's backwards. If you watch that GIF too many times you start rooting for them as a couple.
posted by rcade at 03:36 PM on April 23, 2012
That's the left batter's box.
OK, let me see if I get this. The right-handed batter stands to the left and tends to hit the ball to the left. The left-handed batter stands to the right and tends to hit the ball to the right. The only defensive player to whom this makes sense is the catcher; everyone else has it backwards. If a right-handed batter hits to right, he is said to have hit to the opposite field, and the same is said of a left-handed batter who hits to left. So right is left and left is right, except both start running to their right whenever they hit the ball. Evidently NASCAR has taken a page from baseball's book and made everyone turn left, even right-handed drivers. There also is discrimination against left-handed infielders in baseball. Have you ever seen an infielder, other than a 1st baseman, throw with his left hand? Left-handers need to organize a protest against this discriminatory treatment and demand equal opportunity to play 2nd, 3rd, or shortstop. Why is it called 'shortstop' anyway? It appears that the person at this position plays deeper than the other infielders, so should he not be called the deep stop? Why is it called a 'strike' when the batter does not strike the ball, and why is it a 'ball' when the pitch misses? It was a ball when the umpire put it in play, and it hasn't changed shape, so why not just call it a non-strike? I'll never understand this game.
posted by Howard_T at 04:04 PM on April 23, 2012
posted by rcade at 04:26 PM on April 23, 2012
OK, let me see if I get this. The right-handed batter stands to the left and tends to hit the ball to the left.
The easiest way to remember if a batter is left-handed or right-handed is to look at the pitcher he is facing. If the pitcher is using his right hand, and the batter is standing on the same side of the plate as the pitcher's arm, then he's a "right-handed batter".
posted by grum@work at 05:11 PM on April 23, 2012
Arkansas has given up on attracting a big name for this year. How many games does Smith have to win to be made permanent? I say 11 and an SEC East title.
posted by Etrigan at 05:31 PM on April 23, 2012
If that GIF is backward, why is the FOX watermark facing the right way? Or is it just playing in reverse?
posted by MeatSaber at 07:09 PM on April 23, 2012
It's playing in reverse.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 07:44 PM on April 23, 2012
Deion Sanders just claimed on Twitter that he was attacked by his estranged wife and her "friend."
posted by rcade at 08:04 PM on April 23, 2012
Arkansas has given up on attracting a big name for this year. How many games does Smith have to win to be made permanent? I say 11 and an SEC East title.
In keeping with the brisk Petrino tradition, Smith stepped away from his new head coaching position at his alma mater Weber State without ever having coached a game there.
posted by beaverboard at 10:29 PM on April 23, 2012
A Japanese teen's soccer ball, washed away with the rest of his home in the tsunami, has been found by a beachcomber in Alaska.