You Can Take the Girl Outta Kansas...

October 31, 2014

But there is at least one cheerful Kansas City gal in Ecuador right now.

What a great World Series!

And (ahem…arggg) a big congrats to the Giants.  Well played!
Yes, we lost. But I am so proud of my hometown!

As I mentioned the other night on FB, there is a caveat:

“I’ve never been a big sports fan and generally would prefer scraping off wallpaper than watch baseball on TV” …but…

The good news is that I’ve been able to watch the games. The bad news is that my announcers are speaking in español.

Like I would understand baseball in any language?

Yet, I’ve been glued to the screen during the games. After 29 years, the Royals make it to the World Series. Who wouldn’t be?

I know the basics of baseball, but my ignorance is thus that early in the Series, I had to Wiki “the top and bottom of innings” because I always forget which one means the “start” and the “finish” of one of them.

And I’ve finally figured out the plastic earpiece/earmuff placement over players’ ears.

By the sixth game on Monday night, I was on pins and needles.  Third inning, I think.  Royals have the bases loaded, and I’m watching the next batter step up to the plate…YES!  YES!  YES!

And then… My new TV dish satellite reception GOES OUT.

NO! NO! NO!

I got on Facebook right away to beg for updates or a quick-fix stream link on my computer to watch it live.  I want to thank all those who had their laptops nearby and responded to my S.O.S.

In particular, Emily and Scott Bloomquist (they have a great blog at “Time for phase three”) for giving me this MLB link until my satellite reception came back on.  Emily and Scott are good friends of mine, live in Puerto Lopez, and are Giants fans.  We had a good-natured bet on this game, involving the loser traveling to the other’s town to buy the winners a meal.

My, my…  Watching those little robots on the MLB site gave me an education.  I was desperate.

First time I’ve ever become acquainted with the terms “on the deck” and “in the hole”.

And during the last game, my brother and I had a back and forth email conversation that went something like this (see below - heavily edited for curse words).
For the record, I am currently on the same time zone as Kansas City, and my brother lives in California.
All the games started at 7PM here.

LEIGH:

I’m a little confused (remember, I’m watching this en español – as if I would understand the game better if it was in ingles).

But the Royal's batter who got hit by the ball – what happened…..did they walk him?  Did they substitute another runner or batter?   And what is his name?

This is getting to be a really fun game now!

JACK:

He is the catcher and he has played the entire season (meaning his back-up has not played at all).  He chose to play through the pain, because in baseball, once you are subbed out of a game, you are out the rest of the game.  So yes, he walked to first, and while most other teams would have then substituted him for the back-up, I guess the Royals feel he is too crucial to leave the game.

LEIGH:

His name?

JACK:

It is either Salvador Perez or George Clooney.  I get them totally mixed up.....

LEIGH:

Ha ha. Very funny.

Now it’s the bottom of the fourth and I have a question.

Are those Giant pitchers (now on the second one) trying to castrate our players with those throws?

Is that legal in baseball?

Another Royal's batter just got hit with the ball.

JACK:

It is not illegal, because it is hard to determine if the pitcher did it intentionally.  That said, an umpire does have the discretion to toss a pitcher out of the game if he thinks it was done intentionally.

LEIGH:

I would have called that last pitch a “ball” – rather than a strike.  It seemed too low to me to be in strike zone (which clearly I don’t have a perception of yet).

JACK:

It is tricky, because the camera is placed to the right side of the pitcher (as you are looking at the batter).  So it is always a distorted view.

What pisses me off is that they do have the technology to truly determine strikes and balls, but they refuse to incorporate it in the name of tradition.  It IS either a strike or a ball.  Why not make it completely fair, instead of letting a bunch of old white guys try to make the call?

The Royals hitter was clearly thrown a ball (the graphic after the pitch clearly showed it to be low and on the outside, by at least six inches.  But the umpire called it a strike.

I do not understand why MLB owners refuse to make the game more up to date.

LEIGH:

What are those paper maché Pandas about?

JACK:

I have no f’n idea...

Anyway, I want to say congratulations to the Giants!  You earned it.  But we’ll be back.

And Emily and Scott, looking forward to seeing you guys in Puerto Lopez soon.