It was the week of returnees at the MLB. The Mariners got their team legend back, the Giants greeted a journalist icon back, and at the Cubs they somehow conjured up the spirit of Jordan and Pippen. The highlight, however, was probably a return in spirit to the Cleveland Indians.
In the Chase Field of Phoenix/Arizona, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, there are just over 100 meters from the pitching mound to the wall in Center Field. So a Usain Bolt like that wouldn’t take 11 seconds.
Now Relief Pitcher are not world class sprinters, no question. But in the 20-year history of the D-backs, the pitcher have managed to make it from the bullpen to the mound in quite a short time. But this has now come to an end! The snakes bring back the Bullpen-Mobil, a golf car with an interesting and colourful roof construction.
So in the future, no pitcher will come to the mouths after he has been replaced because of immense exhaustion.
This former tradition in baseball was invented in the mid-1990s, after there were several vehicles since the 1950s to bring players to the Mound without having to use their own legs. Most recently, the Rockies had a motorcycle and sidecar.
And I am quite aware that this message opens the door for evil tongues, which now have a lot of ammunition for stupid sayings. Let’s get started!
This may even be the story of the week, because Ichiro Suzuki is back at his old hometown! The Japanese returns to the Seattle Mariners, where he began his great MLB career in 2001.
Ichiro may not be at the sporting level of his early years in Seattle, but due to the many injury concerns in the M’s outfield, he should be given a decent amount of time at the start of the season. And he’ll be able to hit the ball, too.
Pitcher Jon Lester from the Chicago Cubs has a well-known problem with throwing the ball. No, not at pitching! But on the defensive. For some reason, he has trouble throwing the ball cleanly to the first base in his role as a field player or pick offs. Even most of the bad First Basements get the throwing going to some extent!
But Lester is aware of this weakness and is working on a solution – or at least a workaround. Lester recently told reporters:”We’ve been working on the Jordan Piping Bounce Pass,” which means a pass over the ground, as the Chicago Bulls basketball legends used to flash it often.
Lester doesn’t care if it looks questionable at times:”Just eliminate any tension and let him crash to the ground until the first base. I don’t care what it looks like. I don’t care if the ball hits the ground 72 times. An out is an out.”
The exciting question will now be whether this will actually lead to an out in the game. First Baseman Anthony Rizzo will certainly have a lot more to do than at the start of Lester.
It actually happened! NFL quarterback Russell Wilson, I’m sorry: New York Yankees second baseman Russell Wilson was actually allowed to play for the Yankees in one game. It was only an At-Bat, but as a pinch-hitter for superstar Aaron Judge!
Wilson fought his best and even managed to score a 2-2 count, after he missed the first pitch only just barely. At the end there was a Swinging Strike 3… and an experience he will never forget. Like he said himself. No #FakeNews here!
Jose Marmolejos, a first baseman of the Washington Nationals, has beaten a home run in the jumping training game against the Astros on Tuesday. But much more remarkable was the Catch from a full run of a fan on the – let’s call it – grandstand! Watch the video!
We leave the Ohtani watch at this point, because he was robbed. The Japanese hit a beautiful drive against the Cincinnati Reds in the left center field. A sure-fire double, if it’s stupid even a triple for the defense at Ohtani’s Speed…
But it went outstanding for the Defense! Center Fielder Billy Hamilton had everything under control, did the diving catch and stole the Japanese’s clear hit. What a scene!
Watch the video, it’s outstanding!
Explanation: Until recently, outfielder Jayson Werth played for Nationals. Jayson Werth’s trademark was an epic beard and shag mat. In principle, he looked exactly like relief pitcher Shawn Kelley now in this interview.
But Kelley emphasized,”I look like Shawn Kelley” and added:”It’s my hair” He also talked about the epic time at the Yankees when Kelley suddenly walked around with a horse’s head – think of BoJack Horseman. It was remarkable that he admitted:”The atmosphere was tense, we didn’t play well in New York in 2014 and I got the mask out at the risk of losing my job and getting fired because it was the Yankees. But they took it and we started a nice little winning streak and it became a story of our own.”
At the Nationals, on the other hand, he didn’t get the mask out yet, because things were going pretty well. If that’s the case, you almost have to hope for a sporting crisis in the capital, don’t you think?
Mike Clevinger recently arrived for the Cleveland Indians’ training session with The Dude memory cardigan. The Indians’ Twitter account had a lot of fun with it!
(If you don’t know the great movie “The Big Lebowski”, please make up for it now!
After the up-and-coming baseball talent Tim Tebow stepped on a water sprinkler last week and injured his ankle, he returned to the game… and took a strikeout against the Tigers, for example. Nothing out of the ordinary. That is why we would prefer to draw attention to the reaction of a child in the gallery. We could not have reacted better. Not at first sight.
For some reason, the Colorado Rockies held a kind of fishing contest in practice. The aim was to catch an object in a given area of the lawn with a fishing rod and then catch it.
The whole thing took place in the training camp and on a grass field. Water and fish were not involved. But that didn’t stop Center Fielder and NL Batting Champion Charlie Blackmon from dressing for the occasion…
The older ones among us will remember: Until recently, nothing happened at the “Worldwide Leader in Sports”, ESPN, without moderator and commentator legend Chris “Boomer” Berman. In the meantime, however, it has become more quiet around the star journalist.
But this week he returned briefly to the spotlight. He has longstanding ties to the San Francisco Giants and they invited him to the show jumping training in Arizona. Even more:”Boomer” was allowed to act as guest manager. And of course, he didn’t miss the opportunity to be available for an interview with the popular Giants commentators Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow during the game. An all-round successful campaign!
This article was published without prior view by the Major League Baseball.