Reach Out

As a native of the area, I’ve supported Philadelphia’s sports teams throughout my life.  However, that’s not to say that I’ve never rooted for other teams.  When I was younger, I thought I wanted to branch out a little and pick my own teams to follow.  In reality, I just followed the teams of players that I liked.  I never stopped liking the Phillies or the Eagles or anyone else; I just also liked other teams.  And while that would be an almost criminal thing to do now, it’s not so bad for an eight-year-old to want to go his own way, you know?

My favorite baseball player was, and still is, Cal Ripken, Jr.  I played shortstop in Little League, just like Cal.  I liked to read; Cal was big on literacy in his community.  He was one of the best players in baseball, and his team was just a couple hours down the road (at night, I could listen to the radio broadcast even this far north), so I became a Baltimore Orioles fan for a while.

The mid-90s were a good time for the Orioles.  The O’s reached a pair of American League Championship Series, but didn’t reach the World Series.  Unfortunately, after that, the team didn’t have a winning record until 2012.  And in a more disappointing development for the team, once I went away to college, I started to drift back to supporting just my hometown teams, which was strange, because I was now able to see every Orioles game on television in Washington, D.C.

Anyway, the Orioles won the Wild Card in 1996 and beat the Cleveland Indians in four games to advance to the ALCS.  Game 1 was scheduled for Wednesday, October 9.  That’s 17 years ago today.

I remember rushing home from school to watch the game (you know, back when midweek playoff games still started in the afternoon).  Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to be able to see the end of the game.  My parents were going to a meeting at my school, and my sister and I were too young to stay home alone, so we had to go with them.  I brought my walkman with me (yes, this is a long time ago) so that I could do my homework and listen to the game during the meeting.

I’ve seen the clip what feels like hundreds of times now, so I don’t know whether I saw it live; I was most likely in the car on the way to the meeting when it happened.  It was the bottom of the eighth, and the Orioles led, 4-3.  Derek Jeter, who was just a rookie and not yet “Derak Jeetah,” lofted a high fly ball to right.  Orioles right fielder Tony Tarasco waited under it, reached up…and it was gone.  Umpire Richie Garcia signaled for a home run.  Tie game.

Of course, the controversy began immediately.  Jeffrey Maier (who I’ve always referred to by his full name, Jeffrey [deleted]ing Maier), a kid about my own age, reached over the wall and pulled the ball into the stands.  Fan interference; Jeter should have been called out.  I know there was no replay back then, but watching the clip, I can’t imagine how someone as close to the play as  Garcia was could possibly screw it up.  He did, and of course, in the 11th inning, Bernie Williams hit a home run to end it.  I remember sitting in the back of the library, slumping into one of the study carrels, and not doing any more work until I got home.

The Orioles won Game 2, but lost the next three in Baltimore to lose the series.  It’s impossible to say if that blown call cost them a 2-0 lead, or how things would have played out from that point, but regardless, it was a horrendously botched situation that may have cost my favorite player and his team a chance at the World Series.

I’d like to think that I could have gotten over it.  I mean, I was 13.  Sure, it stung, but bad calls happen, and like I said, who knows if the Yankees wouldn’t have won anyway?  There was always next year.

Except this kid was treated like royalty for what he.  To see him get prime seats for the World Series after his mother took him out of school to go to the ALCS game made me sick.  People are ejected from stadiums for interfering with live balls all the time.  Instead, this kid was being feted for interfering with the game and changing the course of baseball history.  Who knows if the “Yankee dynasty” ever happens if they don’t win the 1996 World Series?  It could have been put down before it even started, except that little twerp cheated and was being rewarded for it.

People have their reasons for hating certain teams.  From that point forward, I loathed the New York Yankees, and promised to forever hold Jeffrey Maier’s actions against the franchise.  Even today, a decade after my Orioles fandom began to fizzle out, I would still have a hard time not punching that guy in the nose.

* * *

This story is relevant today because of what happened in Detroit last night.  Two fans reached over a railing and interfered with a ball off the bat of Victor Martinez.  The ball was well above the yellow line on the right field wall, putting it in home run territory.  However, it had not hit the railing yet, or come down in play, or on the yellow line.  We don’t know if Josh Reddick would have caught it.  All we do know is that the fan interference prevented Reddick from having the opportunity to make the play.

The rules explicitly state that “…should a spectator reach out on the playing field side of such fence, railing or rope, and plainly prevent the fielder from catching the ball, then the batsman should be called out for the spectator’’s interference.”  The debate seems to be over whether or not the interference “plainly” prevented Reddick from making the catch.  It’s hard to say; Reddick surely believes he would have caught it, and reasonable people disagree.  However, the fans clearly reached out to the “playing field side” of the fence, and they prevented a fielder from making an attempt on a live ball.

That needs to be an out.  At worst, a double.  I cannot agree with any interpretation that awards a home run on a ball that never actually left the field of play, even if it was due to outside interference.  Those guys inserted themselves into the game, and their team benefited (the home run tied the game, and the Tigers went on to win and tie the series).  That can’t happen.

Of course, we can make all the rules we want, but eventually something will land in a gray area.  The only thing we can control, as fans, is our actions.  Seriously, stop reaching over the fence.  No one paid to watch you make a catch, and those of us watching at home absolutely hate you for doing it.

Trust me, Jeffrey.

Make a Change

The stupidest little things fascinate me.  Tonight’s example is the stadium changeover in Oakland.

Last night, the A’s and Tigers played a playoff baseball game at the O.co Coliseum.  Tonight, the Raiders and Chargers are going to play a football game at the same stadium.  Stadium-sharing situations like that used to be commonplace, but now, the A’s and Raiders are the only teams that play in the same building.

Originally, the Raiders-Chargers game was slated for 1:00 p.m. local time, but because of the time required to change the stadium from its baseball layout to its football configuration, the game was pushed back to 8:30 Pacific.

Apparently, it takes about 24 hours for the changeover, so with the baseball game starting at 6:30ish the night before, the crew was expected to have plenty of time to get everything set.  But in typical “best laid plans” fashion, the A’s and Tigers went into the ninth inning scoreless.  The A’s walked off with a 1-0 win to prevent extra innings, but what if they hadn’t?  What if the game went on until midnight, or 1:00 a.m, or even later?  Would they have finished the changeover in time?  Would the football game have started even later?

That would most likely have been the worst case scenario; I don’t want to run into Raiders fans in broad daylight, let alone get the “Black Hole” fired up (aside: they start tailgating at 7:00 a.m. for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff, so…) for a 10:00 p.m. start time.

It sounds like difficult work, but for one night, I would love to join a stadium crew that has to do one of these changeovers.  Like I said, it may be stupid, but to go from one layout to another, filling the same building with tens of thousands of people on back-to-back nights in two different configurations, is fascinating to me.

I am but a simple man.

October Road

October is here, which means the MLB playoffs will be getting underway later tonight.

Well, kind of.  I still don’t know how I feel about the one-game Wild Card round.  Baseball, more than any other sport, can be affected by the random things that cause a far superior team to lose to an inferior one.  Even the winningest teams of all-time, the 1906 Chicago Cubs and the 2001 Seattle Mariners (116 wins apiece), only won 76 and 72 percent, respectively, of their games.  There is a reason that the baseball postseason has always been conducted via series.

However, the four wild card teams playing the next two nights already got t-shirts and sprayed champagne and everything, so I guess they’re officially in.

Anyway, here are my picks for the playoffs.  They’re guaranteed to be correct, except when they’re not.

NL WILD CARD GAME: Francisco Liriano has been lights out at home for the Pirates, and lefties have struggled against him all year.  The Reds are lefty-heavy, and Johnny Cueto hasn’t exactly been very good in his playoff career.  He’s also coming off a season that he missed much of due to injury.  I’m going with the Pirates.

AL WILD CARD GAME: The Indians will throw Danny Salazar tomorrow night.  I picked him up for a couple fantasy baseball spot starts (I WON MY LEAGUE!  I WON MY LEAGUE!) late this season, and he always posted a bunch of strikeouts, but never went deep into the game.  The Rays counter with Alex Cobb, who’s been pitching well of late.  I like me some Rays.

NL DIVISION SERIES: I’ll be honest; I want the Pirates to win.  They haven’t had a winning season since I was in third grade.  Come on.  But the Cardinals are going to be tough.  I think it’s a fairly even series (Pittsburgh won 10 of 19 during the regular season), but having Game 5 at home will be the difference.  On the other side, I know the Braves beat up the Phillies the last weekend of the season, but I’m not buying what they’re selling.  Give me Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke over Kris Medlen and Mike Minor, and give me the Cardinals in 5 and the Dodgers in 4.

AL DIVISION SERIES: I feel like I pick the A’s to win every time they make the playoffs, and they reward me by bowing out immediately.  But Detroit…I mean, I know it was meaningless, but the Tigers just got swept by the Marlins.  That is not the right kind of momentum to have entering the postseason.  I’m going to take a risk with the other series, too; the Red Sox had the best record in the American League, and took 12 of 19 from Tampa Bay, but the Rays are set to have David Price pitch two games in Fenway Park.  He won consecutive starts there earlier this season, and if there’s anyone on the Tampa Bay roster that can handle the moment in a decisive game in that environment, it’s Price.  I’m taking the Rays in 5 and the A’s in 4.

NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: The Cardinals have a potent offense, outscoring the rest of the National League by nearly a hundred runs this season.  But I tend to side with pitching, and while St. Louis has Adam Wainwright, he can only pitch two or three games in the series.  Kershaw and Greinke can handle five.  I think it only goes six.  Dodgers in 6 (MVP: Yasiel Puig).

AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: There are like four people outside of the respective Bay areas that would watch this series, but I am one of them.  Oakland and Tampa Bay have the 26th- and 27th-highest payrolls in baseball, and one of them will make the World Series.  Even though my team is among the top few in payroll, I like seeing these sorts of teams succeed.  This is an even riskier pick, since they could lose tomorrow and submarine the whole ordeal, but I will take the Rays in 6 (MVP: Evan Longoria).

WORLD SERIES: Another bi-coastal showdown.  A great pitching matchup.  I would certainly enjoy this series, even if no one else would.  For some reason, people are hesitant to acknowledge that he is the best pitcher in baseball, but this year, Kershaw will raise the World Series MVP trophy as his Dodgers earn a ring for manager Don Mattingly.  Dodgers in 6 (MVP: Clayton Kershaw).

So there you have it.  I can’t wait to amend these on Thursday.  And next week.