Sunday, July 30, 2006
This week went by fast. I was supposed to have my monthly poker game this past tuesday, but I had to cancel it at the last minute when two of the guys both thought the 25th was on thursday and not tuesday. The rest of the week I actually made it out of the apartment a couple times. So after two years, I'm actually starting to get a social life in NJ.
Bill and Terri are coming tomorrow. I'm taking Tuesday off and I decided that I'm goint to try and get Wednesday off, too. So tomorrow and Tuesday night I spend with Bill and Terri. Wednesday night, it's looking like I'll head out to a bar with some of the guys and saturday night, one of the guys is having his big annual party. So, at this rate, my summer is going to end on a busy note.
Another plus in my life is my mom as agreed to not give me a birthday present this year. Now if I can get her to do the same for Christmas.
And one non-personal observation. If you haven't seen the movie For the Love of the Game, don't read ahead cause there's something of a spoiler. Of course, the movie's been out long enough that a spoiler warning should not be needed and it's pretty much something you can see coming from near the beginning of the movie. Anyway, here's my observation/thought/question: if you were the manager of a baseball team that is on the losing end of a perfect game and it's the bottom of the ninth inning and there's two outs, do you send a rookie who has never had a major league at-bat up to the plate to get the last chance to spoil the perfect game? This is a possible 'yes' because, as even one of the announcers point out, he might be too young to realize the weight of the situation. But here's the thing, do you tell the kid to swing away? Also, it's only a 1-0 ballgame and the game has playoff implications. I would think that in that situation you wouldn't want the guy to go for a home run. It just makes him more likely to strike out. It was an American League game, where a different style is generally played, but I would think that the manager would want to try and simply get a runner on base. But the manager tells the rookie to knock it out of the park (I honestly don't remember the exact phrase). The only reason I would think a manager would do that would be if he actually wanted the guy to get out and for the perfect game to be completed. Of course, the manager and the player are for the team the audience is supposed to be rooting against so it's quite possible that the manager said it because he thought it might be the right thing to tell that particular rookie and we just never got that info.
Bill and Terri are coming tomorrow. I'm taking Tuesday off and I decided that I'm goint to try and get Wednesday off, too. So tomorrow and Tuesday night I spend with Bill and Terri. Wednesday night, it's looking like I'll head out to a bar with some of the guys and saturday night, one of the guys is having his big annual party. So, at this rate, my summer is going to end on a busy note.
Another plus in my life is my mom as agreed to not give me a birthday present this year. Now if I can get her to do the same for Christmas.
And one non-personal observation. If you haven't seen the movie For the Love of the Game, don't read ahead cause there's something of a spoiler. Of course, the movie's been out long enough that a spoiler warning should not be needed and it's pretty much something you can see coming from near the beginning of the movie. Anyway, here's my observation/thought/question: if you were the manager of a baseball team that is on the losing end of a perfect game and it's the bottom of the ninth inning and there's two outs, do you send a rookie who has never had a major league at-bat up to the plate to get the last chance to spoil the perfect game? This is a possible 'yes' because, as even one of the announcers point out, he might be too young to realize the weight of the situation. But here's the thing, do you tell the kid to swing away? Also, it's only a 1-0 ballgame and the game has playoff implications. I would think that in that situation you wouldn't want the guy to go for a home run. It just makes him more likely to strike out. It was an American League game, where a different style is generally played, but I would think that the manager would want to try and simply get a runner on base. But the manager tells the rookie to knock it out of the park (I honestly don't remember the exact phrase). The only reason I would think a manager would do that would be if he actually wanted the guy to get out and for the perfect game to be completed. Of course, the manager and the player are for the team the audience is supposed to be rooting against so it's quite possible that the manager said it because he thought it might be the right thing to tell that particular rookie and we just never got that info.
Comments:
The manager's line to the batter is "wreck it." Not, "hit it out of the park" or anything like that. I assume by "wreck it," he means the perfect game. No way do the Yankees want the smelly Tigers to come into their stadium and have a perfect game. So he'll do anything--including giving a rookie the bat--to just spoil the game, to "wreck it," if you will.
You're right, it was "wreck it". But when I hear "wreck it", I'm taking the "it" to be the ball. Similar to "kill it", "Whack it", etc.
I just never saw "it" to be the perfect game. It's too forceful of a word to use for an action that is as likely, possibly more likely, to be achieved through a bloop hit than anything forceful.
I just never saw "it" to be the perfect game. It's too forceful of a word to use for an action that is as likely, possibly more likely, to be achieved through a bloop hit than anything forceful.
After just recently watching the movie, I have this observation...the rookie, who does understand the gravity of the situation (he's a ball-player), has the advantage of not having faced the pitcher. The pitcher knew the strengths and weaknesses of almost every batter that he faced. The rookie is a clean slate. He was just called up. I think it was the smartest thing the manager could have done. And, although there were playoff implications it wasn't a make or break. The Yankees were already in the playoff. For the Tigers it was a throw-away game. Their stake was to be a spoiler for the Yankees to clinch their division. So, win or lose the Yankees don't have a whole lot at stake other than maybe home field advantage, which while nice, can also be a detrement. So, I take "wreck it" to be both "Swing for the fences" and "Give this guy a bad day"
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