By William Coppola- Contributing Writer Bronx Chronicle Sports
Well slap me silly and call the Coast Guard. Did we just see what baseball used to look like last night? There was actually water cooler talk this morning about a baseball game that didn’t include launch angle, bat speed and spin ratio! For those of you who are not familiar with the the phrase “water cooler talk,” I would suggest going to your search engine to find out what fans used to do back in the stone age of 1998 or so.
All the talk today is about a controversial call in the 7th inning of a game 6 of the World Series in a one run game. It took home plate umpire Sam Holbrook all of two seconds to see that Nationals shortstop Trea Turner did not run in the 45 foot lane in foul territory and in fact had impeded Astros’ first baseman Yuli Gurriel from catching the ball being thrown from pitcher Brad Peacock.
The first clue was seeing Gurriel’s glove go flying as Turner got to the bag. Interference, end of story.”Play Ball!”
But of course MLB, FOX and the Nationals dugout couldn’t except that. Oh what a grave injustice had fallen on Washington. Hey, where have we heard that lately in our nations capital? And sure as the sunrise every day, we had to go to the replay studios at Chelsea Market for review.
Even though being a judgement call it is not subject for review, it wouldn’t surprise me if MLB tries putting a second first base in foul territory next to the real one next spring. You know, like they do in T-Ball.
How about teaching the players how to run the bases and while they are at it, give them a test every year on the rules. Great call by Holbrook.
Ok, now to the Alex Bregman carrying the bat to first base after his ‘juiced up ball’ home run. My biggest disappointment over that is not seeing my world series MVP, Stephen Strasburg drill him in his next at bat. My goodness, doesn’t anyone in this game watch film or read about how the game is supposed to be played? He knew what he was doing and his halfhearted apology after the game was a joke.
You know why he wears number 2? It is because he is still insulted that in the MLB draft in 2015 Dansby Swanson was picked number 1 and he was number 2. Talk about a chip on your shoulder. Get over it.
The fact that Nationals young left fielder Juan Soto followed his blast into the upper deck in right field with a repeat of what Bregman did made for a “Two wrongs don’t make a right” moment. But that is how sports are today. And don’t tell me that new mantra of “ Let the kids play.” You know how you let the kids play? By getting them out of the house and allowing them to learn how to play the game on their own in the streets and playgrounds that we see empty all over this country. It is where they also learn to respect one another and solve their own controversies without the help of technology.
Wow, I haven’t been this worked up since the “Fonzie” jumped the shark in a lake. Yea, gonna have to also google that one. But now we have a good old classic 7th game of a world series again. One in which the home team has yet to win a game. No other American professional sports league has done this, and it includes the NBA and NHL finals series.
Now that would be something we could all talk about at the “Water cooler” on Thursday morning
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