So OK, another day. I'd ran my usual errands, pulled a few weeds out of and watered the garden, cooked and ate something to eat, the dishes washed and dried, dogs fed, and showered up. (Me -- not my beloved yorkies.) Good to go for some serious TV sports watching.
Click.
It's the Detroit Tigers taking on the Tampa Bay Rays. To no great surprise the Motown puddy-tats are behind by a few runs.
But here was the situation. The Rays were at bat with runners on first and second base and one out.
Crack. The batter lofted a fly ball to deep right field. Back, back, back went Detroit right-fielder Nicholas Castellanos. He leaped -- but he didn't have to. The ball was easily catchable at about head high level. But at the last second, dear Nick took his eyes off it and completely missed it. A little league mistake. So it bounded off the wall as Nick flailed away in futility.
It should be noted that Castellanos was once the third baseman for the Tigers. Bad as they are, even the Tigers realized Nick had Roberto Duran-ish hands of stone at that position. But because he could hit some, they had to find a place for him. Again, like little league, when in doubt, stick such a player in right field and hope for the best.
Turns out his best at the 9-position can be embarrassing at times. This was one of them. An average college player, maybe even a high-schooler, makes the catch on that particular routine fly ball.
But it didn't end there. While Nick was picking himself up off the ground, the center fielder came over to finally field the ball. Somebody had to do it.
And what did the 8-position player do? Heaved it in the general direction of the infield. Nowhere near the cut-off man.
Meanwhile, the Tampa runner on second was easily scoring. But the one on first had evidently gone as brain dead as Castellanos. As the ball sailed back into the infield, he hadn't even reach third base yet, but he ran through a stop sign by the third base coach and barreled towards home.
The result? Out by about 40 feet. Embarrassing. Did I mention little-league stuff?
So OK, that was all worth a yuk, but the best was yet to come.
The Tigers' TV announcers had the utter nerve/naivete/lunacy to suggest the original lead runner for the Rays could have been cut down if the Tigers had fielded the ball correctly.
Really? Hey, if an opposing runner is on second base and a batted ball goes off the outfield wall, he'd have to be slower than the Tigers' Victor Martinez NOT to score. I mean, a handicapped person in a wheel chair with one wobbly tire could score given that scenario.
Just when you think the "homers" can't come up with something even more ludicrous than they have in the past -- they strike again with another "you've gotta be kidding me" remark. Where do they GET these guys?
In total, this all took maybe 2-3 minutes, considering the replays. And that was just about enough.
Yep, Nick is still a defensive liability. The Tigers are still awful. And the announcers are still shameless -- completely detached from reality.
Click. Over to the World Series of Poker.
Yeah, I know. It's already been played, a champion decided, and it's basically just a rerun on a second class network.
But it's gotta be better than continuing to watch the Tigers. On THEIR second class network.
Though I appreciate a good belly laugh as much as the next guy, one can only stomach so much of Keystone Koppish play, at supposedly the Major League level.
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