I have seen a bit of baseball on tv recently, highlights and repeats of games at lunchtime while I sit there eating.
I know the basics of the game, but there are some things I am not totally sure about. I am not a fan, but it would satisfy my curiosity to know these things.
What is the third number on the result. The first is runs and the second hits, AFAIK, but what is the third?
Why is it called a ball and not a no ball when the pitch is in the wrong area? And why, for that matter, do pitchers intentionally walk someone?
When can a runner steal a base? Can you steal if a ball is thrown? Or does it actually have to be a hit/strike?
What is the story with Clemens and someone trying to hit him? It was all over the news and didn’t mean jack to me.
The third number is errors. The number of obvious mistakes by the defense that allowed the batting team an extra runner, or an extra base (example: a dropped fly ball)
No idea on the vocabluary. An intentional walk is often given for two reasons. First: a batter may simply be so dangerous (or so hot) that they would rather walk him than run the risk of having him hit a home run (especially if the NEXT batter is not so dangeous, or so hot)
Second: very often, an intentional walk will be given to give the defense more options. In a close game, with a runner at second… on a ground ball your only play is to first base. BUT, if you intentionally walk that batter, you now have runners on first AND second, and that allows the defense a force out at ANY base.
A runner can (basically) steal a base any time he wants to. the biggest exception being that a runner cannot advance until after a fly ball is caught (referred to as “tagging up”) Another exception is in the case of a “dead ball” (foul ball, throw into the stands, etc.) that brings all play to a stop until play is again started.
Last year (it may have been 2 years ago) Roger Clemens hit Mike Piazza with a pitch. Clemens is noted for being particularly aggressive on the mound, and anyone’s feeling on the matter are the subject for another thread.
Well, Piazza and the mets didn’t forget it, and spouted off in the press about Clemens’ manhood, etc. Later in the world series, with plenty of bad blood still to go around, Piazza broke a bat during an at bat against Clemens. Clemens picked up the broken end of the bat and threw it back at Piazza.
Summary: these two don’t like each other.
The reason it was in the news was that this year, for the first time in a long time, the Mets and the Yankees were going to play in a National league park… this means: Clemens had to bat. All those years of hiding behind a designated hitter, and the Mets pitchers were going to give him a taste of his own medicine.
Errors
2a. What’s in a name
2b. Strategy, avoiding a good hitter & giving him 1 base to face a weaker batter
Huh? You can’t actually steal if there’s a hit or foul. You can steal any base (2nd the easiest, 3rd harder, home almost impossible). You can steal at any point. The man on base just have to time it so the pitcher is throwing a pitch.
Clemens has a bad temper…last year in a hometown rivalry between the Yanks and Mets, Piazza, the Mets star catcher had a broken bat barrel fly toward Clemens who was pitching for the Yanks. Clemens Picked up the broken bat and threw it at Piazza.
Errors
Strategy, avoiding a good hitter & giving him 1 base to face a weaker batter
Huh? You can’t steal if there’s a hit. You can steal any base (2nd the easiest, 3rd harder, home almost impossible). You can steal at any point, just have to time it so the pitcher is throwing a pitch.
Clemens has a bad temper…last year in a hometown rivalry between the Yanks and Mets, Piazza, the Mets star catcher had a broken bat barrel fly toward Clemens who was pitching for the Yanks. Clemens Picked up the broken bat and threw it at Piazza.
Ok, thanks for the responses so far. That clears things up a bit. I don’t really know why the report errors, but I guess some people want to know this. Is that the way it has always been done?
Also, what’s this about designated hitters and National League parks?
The designated hitter is a purely American league rule. I won’t get off into the tangent of the stupidity of the DH, but if you want a brief history of it, go here.
Yep, as far as I can remember, errors have been included on the score line.
There are two leagues in Major League Baseball… the National and the American. While there may be some traditional or esoteric differences between them, the MAJOR difference is this:
In the National league, every player who has dafensive position, hits in the lineup. this includes the traditionally weak-hitting pitcher.
In the American league, the pitcher does not bat, and his spot in the line up is taken by a “designated hitter” who does not play in the field.
Because of this, baseball purists (or Clemens haters) have for many years decried his ability to throw at opposing batters, and then hide behind a “designated hitter” (thereby not having to worry about direct retaliation)
However, there are a FEW games each year where the American and National league teams play each other. In those cases, the home team’s league gets to set the rules. So, each year, American league pitchers have to take a limited number of at-bats, in National league ballparks. Due to the way the schedule fell, this was Mr. Clemens year to take some at bats against the Mets.
Actually, mullinator, the DH is used everywhere in Organized Baseball except for the National League. All minor leagues in Organized Baseball use the DH.
1> Errors. They are reported because they can have a tremendous effect on the game. Plus, runs that are scored because of errors do not go onto the pitchers record. (They are unearned-- Go ahead and ask about unearned runs, but I promise you’ll regret it.) About 10 years ago, for example, a pitcher for the Yankees threw a no hitter (meaning nobody on the opposing team was able to successfully get a hit) but the Yankees still lost due to errors.
2> For the record Parrot head is more right. (Otherwise Bonds would never EVER get a good pitch to hit.) Intentional Walks are given to give the defense options for outs. The example given is perfect. If there is a runner on 2nd then you’re only force out is at first. (You would have to tag the guy on 2nd to get him out. A force out you only have to touch the base. A force out exists only when there are runners behind you and you HAVE to run on a hit ball.) If you intentionally walk the guy, now you have force outs at 3rd, 2nd and first! So your fielders have a greater chance at an easier out or even better-- a double play!
3> Technically a runner can steal a base any ol’ time he wants to so long as the pitch isn’t fouled off by the batter. (Keep in mind the only time it’s really feasable without being thrown out is when the pitcher is in the middle of his pitch.). If the batter hits a fair ball then all regular rules apply, but the base stealer can be harder to get out because he was already running. you will see coaches try to move runners like this by calling a “hit and run.”
4> I think everybody has covered the whole Piazza/Clemens fiasco. (I wish they’d plunked him though)
5> There are two leagues, the American League and the National League. In the American League they have a special player called the Designated Hitter. His job is just to hit and doesn’t play in the field. That means a player who is in the field doesn’t hit. This is usually the pitcher as pitchers are traditionally not very good with the bat. The National League does not have this rule and all field players must bat.
When AL Teams play NL teams, the rules of the home team’s league are what is played by. So if the Mariners (AL) play the Padre’s (NL) in San Diego, then the National League rules apply and the pitchers must hit. Vice Versa if it were in Seattle.
An earned run is a run that the pitcher is responsible for, due to his pitching. An error or a passed ball might cause a run to be unearned. To determine this, simply reconstruct the inning without the errors and passed balls, giving the benefit of the doubt on baserunner advancement to the pitcher. There are some other minor exceptions, but that’s the general idea.
**
That was Andy Hawkins. I remember watching that game. The White Sox beat him 4-0.
Incedentally, Hawkins does not have credit for a no-hitter because he only pitched eight innings (the game was being played in Chicago, and so the White Sox did not have to bat in the bottom of the ninth.
I wandered over to ESPN’s Minor League Baseball section, and clicked on the Pacific Coast League and checked out last night’s games. Now this I can’t quite grasp - some games used the DH, and others did not. Why?
I’ll go ahead and add that this year in the majors, they’ve rearranged the schedule to include a LOT more interleague play. Since the DH rule is used or not depending on the home team’s league, it’s been pretty interesting. Also, a lot of teams play each other that in the past have done so only rarely, such as the rematch of last year’s World Series, Yankees vs. Diamondbacks, and the 2000 Series, Yankees vs. Mets.
We’ve got a Pacific Coast League team in Memphis, the Redbirds (AAA Cardinals affiliate), but I don’t know what the rule is on some teams in the minors using DH and some not. I’d just assumed we used it because our major-league team is in the AL and so uses the (sissified and depraved) DH rule.
As a Yankee fan who will never like the Rocket, I remembered an incident several years back.
Clemens (on the mound for the Bosox) beaned (his friend off the field) Matt Nokes. It wasn’t a screaming fastball and as luck would have it, the got ball wedged right below Nokes’ armpit. If looks could kill, Roger woulda been ashes. The Yanks catcher was so pissed about the cheap shot he pulled the ball out from under his arm an threw it as hard as he could back at Clemens’ head (who was, unfortunately able to catch it as opposed to eat it).
Slight Hijack:
Why does the player that has the ball on the final out of the inning run into the infield looking at the ball so intently…examining so closely?
jacksen9—he is looking for cuts or roughed up spots on the ball, if there are any flaws, he will give it to an umpire to throw out of play. The team just on defense is now coming to bat, and does not want the pitcher facing them to have a legally doctored baseball.
And to further confuse you on base-stealing, it’s also possible to steal first base. There are only a few special circumstances in which a batter can do this, though. For example, one circumstance is when the catcher drops the ball on the third strike.
In his autobiography–prepared by writer Bob Considine–Babe Ruth, discussing his play in the 1926 World Series, in the last game fabled for Grover Cleveland Alexander’s strikeout of Tony Lazzeri, said, “Then they [that is, started Jesse Haines] gave me one of those intentional passes which used to tear my guts out when I was itching to [hit another home run].”
According to a records book published by The Sporting News, the first AL player to be walked intentionally–with the bases full, yet!-- was Napoleon Lajoie, of Philadelphia. This was in 1901, when he hit .422, an average not equalled in the league since.
It might just be an issue of semantics, but it is impossible to steal first base. When the catcher drops the ball on the third strike, the batter can be safe if he beats the throw - but it’s definitely not a stolen base.
I’d still like to know why some games in the PCL are played with a DH, while others are not…
