Yesterday I was visiting a real Tigers fan. I watched the game to the end and I was astounded how little baseball was played. It seems as though the way to play baseball these days is to deliver wicked pitches while driving the ball out of the park in a single home run. While that is notable of players allowing them a degree of celebrity, it is not playing ball that I am familiar with from the days of Tom Seaver.
As the low scoring game raced through the innings, I finally started to see baseball dynamics I recognized when the Tigers began to score. There are three bases, home plate, and when loaded runs with a simple hit up the baseline will result in scoring.
Why would a ball club allow Palmeiro to score a second home run? Look, he had the change up pitch figured out. Jerez, pitch him a four ball pass to put him on first base and strike out those that followed.
“Play ball!” means more than wicked pitching and hitting the ball out of the ballpark. Baseball is about control of the ball to score. That control takes many forms, including walking a player known to have a handle on the change-up pitch and likely to score. If Detroit had denied Palmeiro that second run they would have won with their game rally.
“Play ball!”
