04/26/24
April 19, 2015
SportsFilter: The Sunday 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.
Two hour and two minute Sunday night baseball game
Not bad, but I took a middle school game through 7 full innings in 1:45 last Friday afternoon. With middle schoolers, who so often stand with the bat on their shoulders, turning the game into a walk-a-thon, it is rather extraordinary to get it done in less than 2 hours. The key, as holden has suggested, is for the pitchers to throw strikes and the batters to respond by swinging at them. Even at the MLB level the umpiring has a lot to do with it as well. A generous strike zone, as long as it's consistent, will speed things up considerably. It's too bad so many umpires seem to have a strike zone that limits what a pitcher can do.
posted by Howard_T at 03:15 PM on April 20, 2015
Did any of the parents slip you some cash? I'm in the early stages of the kids-in-sorts thing (my boys are 9, 7 and 4), but some of the mind-numbing tedium has given me a much greater appreciation of/for my parents.
posted by holden at 04:21 PM on April 20, 2015
You baseball parents know nothing of junior cricket.
Drive to oval 8.00 am Saturday morning. Finish at 1.30 pm. NB: The second innings of the same match continues the following week. Find some shade, set up the folding chair, bring a couple of novels and an esky.
posted by owlhouse at 09:19 PM on April 20, 2015
Find some shade, set up the folding chair, bring a couple of novels and an esky.
Oh, owlie. Our Puritan roots effectively mean no beer in public places. We got the religious fundamentalists and you got the criminals. Thanks, England.
posted by holden at 10:22 PM on April 20, 2015
a couple of novels and an esky
Most of my games will be played on public school grounds, so alcohol is strictly out of the question. If you even try to light up a tobacco product inside your car with the windows closed on school grounds, it will cost you a quick $100. Noo Hampshuh is slowly moving away from the state motto, "Live Free or Die".
posted by Howard_T at 12:15 AM on April 22, 2015
Two hour and two minute Sunday night baseball game, as the Cardinals finish the sweep with a 2-1 victory over the Reds. Very refreshing, especially considering the 4 hour Red Sox-Yankees games we often get in that spot. Combination of two relatively fast-working pitchers (Wainwright and Leake) who pitched good not great games (very few walks, but few strikeouts as well -- lots of outs on contact) and some pretty mediocre-to-bad at bats. Oh, and no in-inning pitching changes (3 total pitchers, with both starters going 8 innings -- which is a complete game in the case of Leake).