12/04/24
September 18, 2013
SportsFilter: The Wednesday 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.
The story of Koji Uehara's "perfect game-plus".
Uehara has gone to 3-0 counts three times this year. Three times! You're excited by this fun fact but the fun fact has not begun; I am merely establishing setting and character. The fun fact starts now: Of those three 3-0 counts, two were intentional walks. Uehara struck out the third batter.
posted by yerfatma at 11:08 AM on September 18, 2013
And he's been on my spofi fantasy roster since he got the closer role.
posted by ursus_comiter at 11:39 AM on September 18, 2013
Can you tell things aren't going well for Dortmund?
posted by yerfatma at 03:43 PM on September 18, 2013
Let's try that again:
Not to start any controversy, but I think this Messi kid's pretty good.
posted by yerfatma at 03:59 PM on September 18, 2013
RIP Ken Norton, the man who broke Ali's jaw.
posted by Etrigan at 09:35 PM on September 18, 2013
To underscore how ridiculously good Uehara has been this year (something not lost on the folks of Sons of Sam Horn, where they nicknamed "Ue" as the chemical symbol for "Unhittium"), one graphic that popped up in the appearance he made before the game where the streak was finally broken was Uehara's season stats at that point, compared to Rivera's career-best in each individual category across all his seasons.
The result? Uehara was significantly better in every single area listed over Rivera, from ERA to K/BB ratio to K/9, etc, than Rivera's best season for each individual stat. This is to take nothing from the legendary Rivera who earned his HoF creds on sheer longevity, post-season excellence, and overall high level of consistency over many, many years.
I just hope that the streak breaking now means that any yips or tension found in a streak is done with heading into the playoffs, as I'd rather Uehara lose it in some meaningless mid-September game against the Orioles, with the division all but mathematically clinched, than in game 5 of the ALDS or ALCS.
posted by hincandenza at 09:57 PM on September 18, 2013
When I watched the 85 World Series, I had no idea that Dick Howser would soon be gone from this world and that KC would not return to the postseason from that moment forward.
Go Royals.