Monday, May 10, 2010
Comebacks and Perfect Games
How excited was I, yesterday, whilst paying too much attention to the game and not enough attention to what I was supposed to be doing? Watching the Jays as they fought back from behind in the ninth, giving Gregg another save opportunity and another save. It got me thinking of one big difference from last year.
I remember last year at this time, the Jays were hot and ran into a hard wall called the American League East. Feasting on the lesser teams is excellent, but when they got stepped on by the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays, they stayed down for a long time. When they started that way again this year, I was worried that the same fate would befall them. When the Angels came to town and beat them in that series, and soon after they were swept by the Bosox, I was really worried that the same fate would befall them.
I was really happy to see that the Jays came out from the Boston series with 6 straight wins. Losing to Chicago on Saturday is fine (this is baseball, every team loses one now and again), but coming back the next day in such dramatic fashion shows that the Jays have their heads in the right place, and are able to look past losses (even numerous losses in a row) and get back to playing the game.
The Jays might not make the playoffs this year (it's still early, I can hope), but if they keep playing this way, I'll be very excited to watch the rest of this season and into next. More people might come down to the Dome as well, which can only help in the long run.
Saturday evening, I read an article about a man who pitched a perfect game on a video game baseball (MLB 2K10...if anyone needed to know) and won a million dollars. That kind of blew my mind; being good enough at a video game to pitch a perfect game under conditions designated by a company and winning a lot of money for doing it.
Sunday, while I was at work (watching more and working less), I read that Dallas Braden pitched a real perfect game against the Rays. I've seen a perfect game pitched once...in Fastball (on my brother's team when I was 10), and I still struggle to imagine how dominant a pitcher needs to be to accomplish one. I don't need to talk about this too much, the term 'perfect game' says it all. There are two things I remember about the game I watched when I was 10. One was watching the pitcher get the ball signed by everyone on his team; Two, looking at the official scoresheet and seeing 21 straight outs (only 7 innings in Fastball). It was a sight to see and I'm glad I watched it. Hopefully one day I'll be able to witness a no-hitter or perfect game in the majors.
Should I compare the two perfect games I read about this weekend? I don't think it is necessary. Doing that would take away from one accomplishment and give more credit than necessary to the second. There is a reason that the video game perfect game is a side note in an 'interesting news' section of the webpage. ¶ posted by Matthew Graf at 9:51 AM
I remember last year at this time, the Jays were hot and ran into a hard wall called the American League East. Feasting on the lesser teams is excellent, but when they got stepped on by the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays, they stayed down for a long time. When they started that way again this year, I was worried that the same fate would befall them. When the Angels came to town and beat them in that series, and soon after they were swept by the Bosox, I was really worried that the same fate would befall them.
I was really happy to see that the Jays came out from the Boston series with 6 straight wins. Losing to Chicago on Saturday is fine (this is baseball, every team loses one now and again), but coming back the next day in such dramatic fashion shows that the Jays have their heads in the right place, and are able to look past losses (even numerous losses in a row) and get back to playing the game.
The Jays might not make the playoffs this year (it's still early, I can hope), but if they keep playing this way, I'll be very excited to watch the rest of this season and into next. More people might come down to the Dome as well, which can only help in the long run.
Saturday evening, I read an article about a man who pitched a perfect game on a video game baseball (MLB 2K10...if anyone needed to know) and won a million dollars. That kind of blew my mind; being good enough at a video game to pitch a perfect game under conditions designated by a company and winning a lot of money for doing it.
Sunday, while I was at work (watching more and working less), I read that Dallas Braden pitched a real perfect game against the Rays. I've seen a perfect game pitched once...in Fastball (on my brother's team when I was 10), and I still struggle to imagine how dominant a pitcher needs to be to accomplish one. I don't need to talk about this too much, the term 'perfect game' says it all. There are two things I remember about the game I watched when I was 10. One was watching the pitcher get the ball signed by everyone on his team; Two, looking at the official scoresheet and seeing 21 straight outs (only 7 innings in Fastball). It was a sight to see and I'm glad I watched it. Hopefully one day I'll be able to witness a no-hitter or perfect game in the majors.
Should I compare the two perfect games I read about this weekend? I don't think it is necessary. Doing that would take away from one accomplishment and give more credit than necessary to the second. There is a reason that the video game perfect game is a side note in an 'interesting news' section of the webpage. ¶ posted by Matthew Graf at 9:51 AM
