![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bktheirregular...and the mere rumor of a pickoff move sinks the Florida Marlins' running game Sunday.
Part of the game of baseball is knowing how well you can anticipate the next thing that's going to happen. Runners take a lead off a base - there's a whole musing thing in the back of my head about leads off the base, about how it was banned in playground ball way back when, perhaps a throwback to the origins of baseball, but that's a topic for another day - anyway, runners take a lead off a base, hoping that it'll improve their chances of advancing farther if the batter puts wood on the ball. It's important; it can make the difference between scoring from first on a ball that gets banged to the outfield wall, or having to stop at third and dying there when the next batter strikes out, or something like that.
The flip-side is, if you're too far off first base, there's a good chance you'll get caught flat-footed when the pitcher throws the ball to first base instead of home plate, and you'll have to go stew in the dugout until it's time to get back into the field.
Left-handed pitchers have a better chance to pick the runner off first; it's a simple function of the way a pitcher stands on the mound, preparing for the pitch. Right-handers face third; southpaws (called that because their throwing hand would traditionally be facing south, based on the classical orientation of a ballpark) face first. They can see what the runner's doing; they've got a better shot at picking the runner off. And the best one in the game at picking runners off first, for a long time, has been Andy Pettitte of the Yankees. All too often, someone would reach first against him, take a lead ... and boom, the ball would be in the first-baseman's glove and the runner would be taking a humiliated walk back to the bench.
Over the past few years, one wouldn't know it to look at the statistics; Pettitte hasn't been picking off as many runners. But a lot of that is due to the fact that people know he's got that move. Even if they've never seen it, they've heard of it, and they hang back enough that he doesn't have to make the move. The runner doesn't want to risk it, and holds back closer to the bag - meaning he's got to run farther after hearing the crack of the bat - and the game becomes that much tougher.
History. Reputation. Legend.
You know, just your basic random bibbling.
Part of the game of baseball is knowing how well you can anticipate the next thing that's going to happen. Runners take a lead off a base - there's a whole musing thing in the back of my head about leads off the base, about how it was banned in playground ball way back when, perhaps a throwback to the origins of baseball, but that's a topic for another day - anyway, runners take a lead off a base, hoping that it'll improve their chances of advancing farther if the batter puts wood on the ball. It's important; it can make the difference between scoring from first on a ball that gets banged to the outfield wall, or having to stop at third and dying there when the next batter strikes out, or something like that.
The flip-side is, if you're too far off first base, there's a good chance you'll get caught flat-footed when the pitcher throws the ball to first base instead of home plate, and you'll have to go stew in the dugout until it's time to get back into the field.
Left-handed pitchers have a better chance to pick the runner off first; it's a simple function of the way a pitcher stands on the mound, preparing for the pitch. Right-handers face third; southpaws (called that because their throwing hand would traditionally be facing south, based on the classical orientation of a ballpark) face first. They can see what the runner's doing; they've got a better shot at picking the runner off. And the best one in the game at picking runners off first, for a long time, has been Andy Pettitte of the Yankees. All too often, someone would reach first against him, take a lead ... and boom, the ball would be in the first-baseman's glove and the runner would be taking a humiliated walk back to the bench.
Over the past few years, one wouldn't know it to look at the statistics; Pettitte hasn't been picking off as many runners. But a lot of that is due to the fact that people know he's got that move. Even if they've never seen it, they've heard of it, and they hang back enough that he doesn't have to make the move. The runner doesn't want to risk it, and holds back closer to the bag - meaning he's got to run farther after hearing the crack of the bat - and the game becomes that much tougher.
History. Reputation. Legend.
You know, just your basic random bibbling.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-10-21 12:24 pm (UTC)This here? Exactly why I love baseball.
no subject
Date: 2003-10-21 12:56 pm (UTC)The one thing that endears me to the game the most is that there's no clock, I think - that one team may be up by ten runs or more, but they can't run out the clock, can't deny the other team that one chance to get back in the game...