Baseball = Entelluhgents

[wonk]

Nice work CHUD. I was present for the one game the A's lost to the Sox in Fenway, but it was still a fantastic time. The fans in Boston were much more friendly than I expected. I guess that makes sense, like they care about the A's. I was meant to live in a sports town like Boston. Everywhere I went, randoms were talking baseball. I miss that living in Portland.

I did the Fenway tour the day before the game, so I was able to hang out on the Monster and in the press box. I also sat five rows behind the A's dugout for the final two innings, once the regular ticket holders started to leave. What a great park.

[stamper]

Last night was a pretty ridiculous. I went to Turner Field to take in what I thought was going to be a pitcher's duel between Halladay and Hanson... Instead I was treated to a 15-13 slugfest!

Braves came back from being down 6-0 to Halladay to score eight. Then the Phillies leapfrogged us to take a 12-8 lead. And in the bottom of the 8th we came back to take the lead 13-12. The Phillies tied it up in the 9th... and finally, in the bottom of the 11th, 40-year-old Chipper Jones smashed a two-run walk off home run.

AWESOME.

[stamper]

I love games like that.

[RUST NEVER SLEEPS]

This may be a stupid question. But can someone explain "balking"(sp) to me. I tried looking online, but it still doesn't make any sense to me.

It's like basically the same thing as "icing" only not.

[RUST NEVER SLEEPS]

We talking cake icing or cross three 3 lines icing?

[wonk]

May 3, 2012 11:37:52 GMT -5 RUST NEVER SLEEPS said:

This may be a stupid question. But can someone explain "balking"(sp) to me. I tried looking online, but it still doesn't make any sense to me.

A balk is similar to a fake pitch. It's a motion a pitcher is not allowed to do meant to deceive a runner on base. Picture a right handed pitcher on the mound with a runner on first. The pitcher basically has two options. Lift his right leg to step off the mound (then he can do cartwheels if he likes), or lift his left leg to throw a pitch. The pitcher acts like a robot, and goes through the exact same motions every time. If he is on the rubber, and he drops the ball, or has a violent DT flinch, or hiccups, or passes out, all can be considered irregular motions meant to deceive the runner into thinking you are throwing a pitch. If a pitcher was allowed to fake a pitch, there would be no such thing as a stolen base, so it's a rule designed to protect the baserunner. There are 1,000 different ways to get a balk, and the only people who truly understand all 1,000 ways are a couple umpires and two or three managers, so this is just an overview.

[badchoices]

Well described sir. I remember Jamie Moyer balking in the eventual game winning run in a 1-0 loss for the M's a while back. I think there were only a couple hits total that game. What a way to lose.

[RUST NEVER SLEEPS]

May 3, 2012 17:52:51 GMT -5 wonk said:

May 3, 2012 11:37:52 GMT -5 RUST NEVER SLEEPS said:

This may be a stupid question. But can someone explain "balking"(sp) to me. I tried looking online, but it still doesn't make any sense to me.

A balk is similar to a fake pitch. It's a motion a pitcher is not allowed to do meant to deceive a runner on base. Picture a right handed pitcher on the mound with a runner on first. The pitcher basically has two options. Lift his right leg to step off the mound (then he can do cartwheels if he likes), or lift his left leg to throw a pitch. The pitcher acts like a robot, and goes through the exact same motions every time. If he is on the rubber, and he drops the ball, or has a violent DT flinch, or hiccups, or passes out, all can be considered irregular motions meant to deceive the runner into thinking you are throwing a pitch. If a pitcher was allowed to fake a pitch, there would be no such thing as a stolen base, so it's a rule designed to protect the baserunner. There are 1,000 different ways to get a balk, and the only people who truly understand all 1,000 ways are a couple umpires and two or three managers, so this is just an overview.

So it's basically faking like you're going to pitch in an effort to get the runner on 1st to make his way to second, and then you throw it to first?


Thanks for the response Wonk.

Like I said, it's basically the same thing as "icing" but not.

[RUST NEVER SLEEPS]

Either you don't know what icing is, or we are talking about different icing's or I don't fully understand balking. Which one is it CHUD?

It was a joke about the fact that folks who don't watch hockey don't understand icing and those that don't follow baseball don't understand a balk.

[RUST NEVER SLEEPS]

haha I know chud.

[RUST NEVER SLEEPS]

Although icing is a lot more straight forward than this balking business, for real.

concur.