IGT 5-7-06 Mets vs Braves LIMA TIME! BEEEEEEE-LIVE IT!

[Elster88]

Funny stuff, especially the second to last line.

http://faithandfear.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/5/7/1939231.html
We may come back for the sweep (after the last couple of days I won't put anything past this team) or we may wind up dropping the finale, but one thing's for sure: We'll still be talking about that top of the second.

Even before the zaniness began, we'd seen one of the rarest plays in baseball, the kind you can win bar bets on: What's the only situation in which a baseball team can, in effect, decline a penalty? When a ball is put into play on a balk: The team at bat can either take the balk or the outcome of the play. The Braves did no such thing, but if Jordan had hit the ball up the middle, they certainly would have. So much for our double play (nicely turned, too), and a sure sign that we were entering Goofyland.

I doubt Paul Lo Duca knows about the spring night David Cone became too occupied with screaming at an umpire to consider that runners were continuing to circle the bases. Of course that was against the Braves, on April 30, 1990. I also doubt Lo Duca remembers the hideous summer day that ended with Michael Tucker gouging Mike Piazza's thigh and getting a ridiculous safe call from Angel Hernandez, the worst umpire in the major leagues. Also against the Braves, natch.

A demented mash-up of those two infamous calls? Well, it would have to be against the Braves. And Angel Hernandez would have to be manning home plate. So there was Lo Duca and there was Brian McCann being called safe -- it pains me to say that it looked like the right call. There was Lo Duca firing a live ball into the earth (Coney just held it while Gregg Jefferies tried desperately to get his attention), so mad you could almost see the cartoon lightning bolts zipping out of his head, with Ryan Langerhans taking advantage of his largesse to take third. Who was at the plate? John Smoltz. Who was the opposing pitcher on April 30, 1990? John Smoltz. Who pays Michael Tucker's salary these days? The Mets. If they'd panned up to a luxury box and found Mark Lemke, Dale Murphy, John Franco, Cone and Jefferies shaking their heads, I wouldn't have been a bit surprised.

Baseball: It's even crazier than you think it is.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

I think (no one has suggested it) that the ball Lo Duca fired bounced off Hernandez's foot: how else do you throw a ball forward and have it bounce behind you? 'm thinking the pain was what pissed Hernandez off so fast: fire a baseball at my foot, and I'm bouncing you out of the game without thinking about it very much. In fact, even thinking about Iit a little, YE'RE OUTTA HERE!!!

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Bret Sabermetric wrote: I think (no one has suggested it) that the ball Lo Duca fired bounced off Hernandez's foot: how else do you throw a ball forward and have it bounce behind you?

Backspin?
As soon as that ball left LoDuca's hand, he was gone.

[seawolf17]

Great photo.