I have a new post up at Camden Chat that recaps today’s loss to the Twins. It’s my first game recap for CC; I started off just paying attention to major events for the O’s, but in the 3rd inning I started noting every pitch in the game and whether it was a ball or strike. Later still I started noting whether strikes were looking or swinging.
Here’s a snippet from my notes:
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Bottom 7th:
- Teagarden – Ball 1 low, Strike 1 inside, ball 2 low & outside, strike 2 swinging, Ball 3 low, Strike 3 looking.
- Casilla – Ball 1, … strike 2 foul, single into right.
- Duensing replaces Swarzak.
- Markakis – Strike 1 looking, Strike 2 looking, Ball 1 outside, (nick hits lefties – .291 career, duensing gets lefties out — look these stats up), Duensing throws over to 1st 2 or 3 times, Base hit left field.
- Machado – Strike 1 foul away, Ball 1 low, P4.
- Davis – the big thunder, steamroller coming into this game, 17 RBI, no hit (yet?) today … can he knock the run in??!?!??!?! ball 1 low & away, strike 1 foul away, Ball 2 up & in, Strike 2, foul (just barely got a piece low & away), G4.
Top 8th:
- Willingham – Ball 1 low, Ball 2 outside, Ball 3 low (very close), Ball 4 outside. Mastroianni pinch runner.
- Morneau – Strike 1 foul, Strike 2 swinging, Strike 3 looking.
- Doumit – Ball 1, (Mastroianni CS – Casilla dove over and tagged the runner on the calf on a headfirst slide), Ball 2, strike 1 looking, Ball 3 outside, G6.
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(You can see how excited I was about Davis batting in that spot 😉
Paying attention to each pitch was a bit taxing but very fun. It kept me in the game and increased my knowledge of what was going on by being able to spot trends (that I could later weave into the game recap). By tracking each pitch I could speak more intelligently about what was happening in the game (like noting that Hammel was consistently missing to his arm side.) This enabled me to write the recap immediately after the game ended, since I was noticing trends and things like that during the game itself. I also learned, as I keep on learning, that there is yet another level below “did the batter get a hit or not?” in the game.
People say baseball is boring, but there’s a lot going on if you just pay attention.
I don’t think I will always watch baseball in this way, but I like it enough to keep writing game recaps for CC. The next time I actually go to a ballgame, I might get a pitch-tracking sheet or something like that.