After two nights of darkness (no electricity, thanks to the windy remnants of Ike), I figured a Pirates-Dodgers game might cheer me up. Wrong.
But by attending Tuesday’s game, I had a chance to witness two plays that captured the essence of this 16th consecutive losing season.
The first play: A bunt by Dodgers pitcher Derek Lowe with runners on first and second. It was fielded cleanly by Pirates pitcher Jeff Karstens, but he rushed his throw, sending it into the dirt in front of first base. The ball hit the glove of Freddie Sanchez, who was covering first, and dropped to the ground.
All the while, Lowe is still plodding toward first, so Sanchez picks the ball off the ground with his glove before Lowe’s arrival and waves it triumphantly at the first-base umpire. The ump’s arms spread wide — SAFE!
Ugh. Oh, we booed the ump. And when the Dodgers scored three unearned runs after that botched call, we booed the ump some more. But in our hearts, we knew that a good throw by Karstens or a clean pick by Sanchez would have resulted in an out. The bad call by the umpire just rubbed salt in the gaping wound where our hopes for the season used to be.
The second play: The Pirates started the fourth inning with three straight hits, including an RBI single by Ryan Doumit. I’m actually thinking to myself that the Pirates have a lock on scoring at least one more run. Even a double-play grounder scores McLouth, right?
Wrong, swinging-bunt breath! Brandon Moss taps a ball that stops inches in front of home plate. He’s thinking it’s a foul ball and never moves. The Dodgers catcher throws to second for the force on Doumit, and the relay throw goes to first the force out Moss, still standing at the plate. And McLouth, well, he’s still at third base. And he never scored.
So it goes …