It’s stranger than known

Bill:
So do you think Byrd is feeling 8 Miles High right about now?

 

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Mike:
Six innings, three hits, three walks and a month ago he was retired and throwing batting practice to 13 year old kids.

 

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Mike:
And people who don't follow baseball wondah why we love the game so much?

 

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Bill:
It is the stories like Byrd's that on any given day make me want to wedge my trans-fatted 2009 ass into the built for butts that have known potato-famine seats of Fenway ovah any othah seat in any othah venue dishing any othah entertainment offering.

 

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Mike:
Absolutely. Even a bad baseball game has more drama and surprise than 99% of what's showing at the local cineplex.

 

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Bill:
But no rolling buildings, no flaming meteor crashes, no cataclysmic tidal waves …

 

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Mike:
And no brooding and mopey comic book charactahs. Well, except for A-Rod.

 

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Comments

[Professional Hitter]

And when you touch down, you'll find that it's stranger than known.

[yazbread]

A Byrd in hand is worth two released pitchers in the bush.

[louclinton]

Precisely, h.b.

I made my third trip to The House That Beer Built yesterday, to witness the baseball equivalent of seeing a unicorn: namely Byrd besting Halladay in a pitching duel. To say that I did not expect it to go that way would be monumentally understating my expectations.

Judging from Byrd's body language every time he walked off the mound (from the 4th on, I figured he was done at the end of a particular inning), noone was having more fun than he.

Other things I saw:

BWags is smaller than he appears in the rearview mirror, but his arm has some life.

The gentleman who sits down and to the left of me, it turns out, is NOT DEAD. Or at least he wasn't yesterday. He has dropped a few lbs. and looks like he has had a tough summer, so good for him.

Finally, and this is the most mystical thing I saw there. I don't know if anybody has ever mentioned this, and probably Shank has written several columns about it, but I for one never noticed it. You know the mechanical scoreboard on The Wall? The one that lists the scores and the pitchers of the other games? Well, I looked over there yesterday, and one of the pitchers' numbers is not black on white, but black on white heavily smudged with red dirt. Intentionally and noticeably. It was Cleveland' No. 63, one J Masterson. Then I look at the Cincinnati number. Also heavily smudged with red dirt. Number 61, B. Arroyo. None others smudged.

It seems like it is a subtle tribute to FORMER Dirt Dogs now pitching for other teams.
Chillingly cool, if you ask me. Has anyone noticed that before? Am I the last slob to the party?

Anyways, I love baseball for lots of reasons, some of them having nothing to do with winning.

lc

[da kine]

"[N]o brooding and mopey comic book charactahs. Well, except for A-Rod."

They have many LGBT comic book characters now?

[buckner was framed]

lc-

cool observation. count me among the oblivious (I know, I know- too late for that)

Best part of Byrd's Phoenix act? 2:38 game time. Dude gets return from Tek and immediately begins next funky windup.

get well soon, Timmah

[buckner was framed]

It's official: the Nats have gone to the dogs

The only way they can sell out the stadium

[Rob in CT]

So I'm looking at the sports headlines this morning and read that "Heath Slocum becomes surprise winner at Barclays"

Wait, the same Heath Slocum traded for 'Tek and Lowe back in '97? What the...??? Oh - Heath, not Healthcliff... I'm such a Red Sox dweeb sometimes.

lc, nice commentary this morning. I'd love to think the red dirt was on purpose.

Oh, and h.b., loved The Byrds reference!

[Ryan with a capital "R"]

I hate my comic characters being mopey. Superman should just be happy he's able to punch stuff really, really hard.

da kine: Yes. Among others, Batwoman is a lesbian. She recently took over for Batman in Detective Comics.

[IsaacL]

Well, don't you know, about the Byrd?
Well, everybody knows that the Byrd is the word!

[IsaacL]

Well, don't you know, about the Byrd?
Well, everybody knows that the Byrd is the word!

[Kaz being Bob]

buckner, Conan O'Brien had a great joke the other night along the same lines:

"In the year 3000, the Mets will begin playing winning baseball finally after their latest promotion: 'Bring a Major League ready prospect to the Ballgame Night'."

[Kaz]

Damn, sometimes remembering my personal info is a bad thing. I gotta go back to not changing my name around all the time.

[Nolasox]

dk and ryan, and there was "Love and Rockets" with Hopey and Maggie.

[Bob]

I'm back (pun intended).

It still hurts like hell, but about 75% improvement over the last few days.

It was fun to watch Byrd pitch. His windup is much like mine in the olden days of the California Gold Strike.

[buckner was framed]

and I hear his dentist has some magic potion that could help your back, too

[Jeff in NC]

It's beggining to feel a lot like winning.

That's nice this time of year...

everybody sing along.

I like seeing Gonzo at SS. I like seeing a batting order not rattling their knees at the thought of Halladay. I like seeing a manager pull a pitcher after two hard hit balls for outs instead of two outs and three homers later.

[vermonter]

Meanwhile Matsuzaka gets shelled in Double-A. That's 2 whole levels below the National League!

[Devine]

Even a bad baseball game has more drama and surprise than 99% of what's showing at the local cineplex.

Yep. I think it also explains the lure of "reality" TV (guilty on a couple of counts myself on that score). You sit down and watch 15 minutes of a movie or 5 minutes of a TV show, and almost every time, you can sort of piece the rest of it together in your head. Sports are different. Sometimes (or often, depending on your team) the bad guys win! And even, as you say h.b., in a boring game, there's bound to be a cool play or two.

[RedStripe Nan]

I was at yesterday's game, too, and loved seeing Byrd go out of his way to touch gloves with Jacoby after making a final out. (what inning wazzat? I dunno)
Anywho, I too love l.c.'s keen observation on Masterson's and Arroy's numbers on the scoreboard.
Also, why is is that no matter where I sit, there's some obnoxious guy behind me trying to prove at the top of his lungs just how baseball smart he is? I know our resplendence is never quiet, but...

[louclinton]

@RSNan My kids and I have a name for that guy. We call him "The talking scoreboard"

[buckner was framed]

aka "Paddy24"

[Devine]

Also, lc, I meant to say, that is way cool.

[vancouversoxfan]

Real late getting in, but just had to say:

lc, your observations were great...reasons why I love baseball as well.

hb, I echo the sentiments of nicely tying in the Byrds with Byrd. Although Eight Miles High is a great song, I think the under-recognized Sky Pilot might be their best.

[Lazlo Freem]

Sky Pilot was done by the Animals, not the Byrds. For under-recognized Byrds greatness try the LP, "Sweetheart of the Rodeo"