Baseball announcers have catchphrases to express their opinion of players. Here are a few of the things they say:
"He's a free swinger." This is a nice way to say the batter is a fool who will swing at anything.
"He got a couple of soft hits." Refers to a particular kind of lazy, up-in-the-air, shouldn't-have-been-a-hit hit. No one is impressed, though it did the job.
"And Cano waves at the ball." Delivered in a tone worthy of Bea Arthur, this denotes a complete lack of effort on the batter's part. I love this one. He's saying the guy swung the bat like a five-year-old.
And let's not forget the deadly but silent backwards k, the symbol for "struck out looking." They might as well use a dunce cap for the icon. There is great derision in that backwards k. It's one of several silent "words" that appear in the language of baseball. More on this another day.
On the other hand, sometimes the sportscasters love the players:
"He got all of that ball!" = Wow, did he hit that ball! Wattaguy!
"I'm impressed at the way the 2nd baseman is flashing the leather!" = the guy's making incredible catches.
The other night, after a guy ran full-force into a barrier, the sportscaster said "Great play by Roberts, giving up his body to help his pitcher!"
That last one is part of the lingering mythos of baseball, which says harm to players is inconsequential -- mere collateral damage. Meanwhile, the guy has a concussion for at least six months and is half the man he used to be.
And now I have three questions for readers. I can't ferret out the meaning of the following baseball terms on my own. I could consult the google god, of course, but I'd rather depend on friends and hearsay. So here are my questions:
"That's a bang woof 'em". What the hell is that?
"And he makes a shoe-string catch!" I have no clue about this one.
And finally, why is the middle of the 7th called "stretch time"?
That's it for today but don't worry. I still have tons of notes to write up for baseball talk. These posts won't stop until the season does. (OMG! I didn't want to think that last thought. Purge, purge!)
"He's a free swinger." This is a nice way to say the batter is a fool who will swing at anything.
"He got a couple of soft hits." Refers to a particular kind of lazy, up-in-the-air, shouldn't-have-been-a-hit hit. No one is impressed, though it did the job.
"And Cano waves at the ball." Delivered in a tone worthy of Bea Arthur, this denotes a complete lack of effort on the batter's part. I love this one. He's saying the guy swung the bat like a five-year-old.
And let's not forget the deadly but silent backwards k, the symbol for "struck out looking." They might as well use a dunce cap for the icon. There is great derision in that backwards k. It's one of several silent "words" that appear in the language of baseball. More on this another day.
On the other hand, sometimes the sportscasters love the players:
"He got all of that ball!" = Wow, did he hit that ball! Wattaguy!
"I'm impressed at the way the 2nd baseman is flashing the leather!" = the guy's making incredible catches.
The other night, after a guy ran full-force into a barrier, the sportscaster said "Great play by Roberts, giving up his body to help his pitcher!"
That last one is part of the lingering mythos of baseball, which says harm to players is inconsequential -- mere collateral damage. Meanwhile, the guy has a concussion for at least six months and is half the man he used to be.
And now I have three questions for readers. I can't ferret out the meaning of the following baseball terms on my own. I could consult the google god, of course, but I'd rather depend on friends and hearsay. So here are my questions:
"That's a bang woof 'em". What the hell is that?
"And he makes a shoe-string catch!" I have no clue about this one.
And finally, why is the middle of the 7th called "stretch time"?
That's it for today but don't worry. I still have tons of notes to write up for baseball talk. These posts won't stop until the season does. (OMG! I didn't want to think that last thought. Purge, purge!)
