baseball is a mystery to many people. I don't know anyone, other than some here, who appreciates the nuances of the game like myself. It's closer to chess than any of the major sports in our country. That is why most of the time criticism of a manager is well taken. It is up to him to put together his chess board in view of his opposition and to move his chessmen all over given his knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of his or her opposition. Unfortunately the game is losing some of that due to analytics which are making the decisions for the manager. It is also a game where one's mental makeup plays such an important part. Manny Machado with the Dodgers was not happy and played like it. With the Padres, for whatever reason, he's in the running for MVP. Growing up through high school it was the one sport I truly enjoyed. So today the sound of the bat, the smell of the grass, the view of the diamond-so perfectly outlined-it all just makes sense to me.
My wife is slowly coming around except when stuff goes bad for the Dodgers-then she's gone. Most people I know say stuff like : "baseball? how can you sit there and watch such a boring game"? But they crave action which when it comes is unbelievable. But mainly they don't understand the nuances: like if the count is 2-1 on a batter a fielder will put himself in a certain place on the field and when the count goes to 3-1 he will change his position knowing the tendencies of the particular batter, etc. Stuff that no one sees on TV.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2020 09:28PM by waterfield.
