Random Fandom

Part of the allure of the Summer Olympics is the fantasy that, with practice, we could be there in some of the events. I could play handball! How hard could racewalking be? I've played beach volleyball at the Monastery! This is a lie, of course, but those sports look easier than, say, weightlifting or water polo or the balance beam.

So it is with baseball. The ability to throw a ball 95 MPH or hit that 95 MPH fastball into the right-field bleachers (I'm a lefty); that strikes me as impossible. (Especially since my baseball experience is limited to a couple graduate school seasons of softball.) But bunting, bunting seems like something I could do, at least with some practice. I'm not talking about a perfect drag down the line, legged out for a base hit, but just a simple sacrifice.

The fantasy makes it harder for me to understand by Scott Hairston couldn't get a bunt down in the ninth inning with runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out. Two missed bunts, then watching strike three. Then Carlos Baerga grounds into a double play. Game over, and another frustrating game by Randy Johnson, who uncharacteristically gives up two home runs which prove to the difference. 2-1 Pirates, both in the game and the series.

Maybe the D-Backs should check out their own video... (see "Baseball: Bunting" section about 1/3rd of the way down the page -- it includes an ASU and a former Diamondback's video).

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Edgar Gonzalez is moving to the bullpen. A shame, even if Pedrique says it's not a demotion, since Gonzalez had finally shown some flashes of, if not brilliance, at least competence in the starters' position.