Baseball Virgin

[Threeteas]

Never been to, or seen a baseball game.

Just bought two tickets for the Mariners and Detroit something or others, for this Saturday.

Apart from the Mariners losing (I hear they are shockers), what happens and how does it work?

 

[CaptainR12C]

You've never seen a ball game, even on TV????

 

[newstar]

Take along your BMW ON incase you get bored. I find b'ball to be a very sloooooow game sometimes.

 

[PAGoldsby]

It's a rather leisurely game to watch. If you can, go with someone who can show you haw to keep score. It keeps you interested in the game.

In short, a regulation game consists of 9 innings. In each inning, each team is on offense and then defense. The visiting team is on offense ("up") first. The team on defense has 9 men on the field. The field has two components - the infield and the outfield. The pitcher is in the center of the diamond that denotes the infield. He pitches the ball to the catcher, who is in the bottom corner of the diamond at home plate. The three remaining corners, going anti-clockwise, are 1st, 2nd and 3rd base. There is a defensive player assigned to each of those bases. As the 2nd baseman is generally positioned off-base back toward 1st base, there is another player, the shortstop, who is positioned between 2nd and 3rd. Those players, in the order I described them, are positions 1-6 for the purpose of scoring. The other three players (7, 8 and 9) ar left, center and right field, and they are in the outfield.

The offensive object of the game is for the batter (who are sent to the plate one at a time, in a generally fixed rotation) to strike the ball as it is pitched. The optimum result is a home run, in which the batter literally knocks the ball out of the park, or rarely, hits the ball hard enough into a corner of the park that the defensive team cannot make a play on the batter before he rounds the bases - an inside-the-park home run. But I digress. There are many possible results from each batter's plate appearance. He can get a home run, or a "base hit" in which he is able to run to first, second or third base before the ball is played back to the infield. More on that later. He can be walked, which means that the pitcher has thrown 4 balls that are not hittable. He then advances to first base. He can strike out, which means that he has either swung and missed three balls, or the pitcher has thrown three hittable balls without the batter swinging, or any combination thereof to make three strikes. If he hits the ball, but it lands out-of-play, this is a foul ball. If the batter has less than two strikes against him, a foul counts as a strike. If the batter is hit by a pitch, he takes first base as in a walk. When the offense team accumulates three "outs", their half of the inning is over, and the teams swap positions on the field.

There are many ways to get a player out. I already mentioned the strike out. If a player hits a ball into the air, and it's caught by a defensive player before it hits the ground, the batter is out. If the ball is hit on the ground, and is retreived by a defensive player and thrown to 1st base before the batter reached first, the batter is out. If a batter or runner is tagged with a gloved ball between bases, he is out.

That's the general thrust of the game. It's a lot easier to explain to someone while the game is going on. Enjoy the game!

 

[tessler]

Lamble, the "Detroit Something or others" are a team with a long and prestigious history...

As for Baseball, it's pretty simple (courtesy of Wikipedia, of course: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball):

A single game is played by two teams, who, during the course of a game, alternate playing offense and defense. Each alternation is called an "inning", and there are usually 9 innings in a game.

An inning is broken up into two halves in which the away (visiting) team bats in the top (first) half, and the home team bats in the bottom (second) half. In baseball, the defense always has the ball ÔÇö a fact that differentiates it from most other team sports.

The teams switch every time the defending team gets three players of the batting team out.

The winner is the team with the most runs after nine innings.

If the home team is ahead after the top of the ninth, play does not continue into the bottom half. In the case of a tie, additional innings are played until one team comes out ahead at the end of an inning. If the home team takes the lead anytime during the bottom of the ninth or of any inning thereafter, play stops and the home team is declared the winner.

A "season" is played over the course of many months by a group of teams, called a league. Each team in the league plays all the other teams in the league a fixed number of times, though it is not always in round robin format. At the end of the season, the team with the most wins is the winner of the regular season.

Enjoy your game -- it's a singular American experience that many of us, myself especially, grew up with both as spectator and participant.

And it's a good excuse to consume a hot dog and some beer (for a lot of $$).

 

[PAGoldsby]

And it's a good excuse to consume a hot dog and some beer (for a lot of $$).

Anymore, the ballpark is the only place on earth with more expensive beer than the airport. $7 for some slightly tinted carbonated Mississippi River water called "Budweiser". Heinous.

 

[bcl1234]

Don't feel badly. I've never been to a cricket game (match?). Moot

 

[tessler]

.... and between Phil's and my descriptions and definitions -- Phil's especially for the minutiae of play -- you should have a good basic idea of just what the heck is going on down there on the field.

 

[Threeteas]

You've never seen a ball game, even on TV????

Never. None at all. I've seen a pitcher throw a ball into a car windscreen to advertise his window replacement business though. That looks like fun. But a game...no.

 

[PAGoldsby]

To me, the beauty of soccer (football) is in the elegant simplicity of the objective: kick the ball into the net. The intricacies of the game lie in the human dynamic of players and teams matching each other in their unique way. Look at Spain vs. Germany. Two completely different approaches to the game, and a beautifully played championship match.

I like baseball, though, because it produces a metric $h!t-ton of very interesting statistics. There are a lot of subtleties to the game, and the rules can be very arcane at times. The game that's played today is very different from the game that was played 40-50 years ago. The strike zone is tiny, the pitchers and batters have phenomenal power, and the fields are each their own environment.

 

[Threeteas]

As the 2nd baseman is generally positioned off-base back toward 1st base, there is another player, the shortstop, who is positioned between 2nd and 3rd. Those players, in the order I described them, are positions 1-6 for the purpose of scoring.

He can be walked, which means that the pitcher has thrown 4 balls that are not hittable. Isn't that the idea?.
He then advances to first base.

If he hits the ball, but it lands out-of-play, this is a foul ball. Where's out of play?

If the batter has less than two strikes against him, a foul counts as a strike.

That's the general thrust of the game. It's a lot easier to explain to someone while the game is going on. I ceratinly hope so QUOTE].

Thanks for the valiant attempt. So there's no offside rule, that's always a bonus.

 

[tessler]

To me, the beauty of soccer (football) is in the elegant simplicity of the objective: kick the ball into the net. The intricacies of the game lie in the human dynamic of players and teams matching each other in their unique way. Look at Spain vs. Germany. Two completely different approaches to the game, and a beautifully played championship match.

I like baseball, though, because it produces a metric $h!t-ton of very interesting statistics. There are a lot of subtleties to the game, and the rules can be very arcane at times. The game that's played today is very different from the game that was played 40-50 years ago. The strike zone is tiny, the pitchers and batters have phenomenal power, and the fields are each their own environment.

Indeed. Gone are the days of the Lively Ball and modest hitting achievements (actually they were gone before my father was born...)

Lamble, download this glossary of terms and memorise each one prior to your game. Better still print out a copy and bring it along. It will alleviate massive confusion when and if you hear the terms Balk, Fielder's Choice and Squeeze Play

 

[Threeteas]

If the home team is ahead after the top of the ninth, play does not continue into the bottom half. In the case of a tie, additional innings are played until one team comes out ahead at the end of an inning. If the home team takes the lead anytime during the bottom of the ninth or of any inning thereafter, play stops and the home team is declared the winner.

That seems a little unfair. If I'm the away team and losing by one point in the last innings and a half, that's it, we lose? We don't get a chance to bat...swindled out of possible victory by a technicality...you can tell this isn't a Brit game, we'd give it to the nice folk who'd travelled furthest, as a "thank you for coming" gesture.

 

[BeemerMike]

Take along your BMW ON incase you get bored. I find b'ball to be a very sloooooow game sometimes.

You forget . . . he finds SOCCER interesting to watch. He'll LOVE baseball!

 

[Threeteas]

Indeed. Gone are the days of the Lively Ball and modest hitting achievements (actually they were gone before my father was born...)

Lamble, download this glossary of terms and memorise each one prior to your game. Better still print out a copy and bring it along. It will alleviate massive confusion when and if you hear the terms Balk, Fielder's Choice and Squeeze Play

A squeeze play sounds interesting, is there a cheerleader doused with baby oil that they have to chase and catch?

 

[tessler]

That seems a little unfair. If I'm the away team and losing by one point in the last innings and a half, that's it, we lose? We don't get a chance to bat...swindled out of possible victory by a technicality...you can tell this isn't a Brit game, we'd give it to the nice folk who'd travelled furthest, as a "thank you for coming" gesture.

I think perhaps you've misunderstood this scenario, as the away team is batting at the top of that inning. So if they are unsuccessful in raising their score past the home team (in their three allotted chances), there's no point in going to the bottom of the inning (as the home team has maintained their advantage).

Fershtay?

 

[BeemerMike]

That seems a little unfair. If I'm the away team and losing by one point in the last innings and a half, that's it, we lose? We don't get a chance to bat...swindled out of possible victory by a technicality...you can tell this isn't a Brit game, we'd give it to the nice folk who'd travelled furthest, as a "thank you for coming" gesture.

Ahem . . . losing by one "run". The game of baseball gives the away team NINE innings to try to score more runs, the same number of innings as the home team. If after nine opportunities (innings) by the away team (who bat first and therefore get the first opportunity to score runs) the home team still has more runs, then the game stops to avoid "piling on" by the home team and further embarrassing the away team. How much more polite can you get than that?

 

[tessler]

Ahem . . . losing by one "run". The game of baseball gives the away team NINE innings to try to score more runs, the same number of innings as the home team. If after nine opportunities (innings) by the away team (who bat first and therefore get the first opportunity to score runs) the home team still has more runs, then the game stops to avoid "piling on" by the home team and further embarrassing the away team. How much more polite can you get than that?

I knew you'd get on this one asap, Mike.

I think Lamble is stumped... daydreaming about the Mariner's Cheerleaders Baby Oil Squad...

 

[ALLANCOOK]

Baseball's like cricket. Only worse.

 

[PAGoldsby]

He can be walked, which means that the pitcher has thrown 4 balls that are not hittable. Isn't that the idea?.

Not really. There is a "strike zone" which is an imaginary vertical box through which the pitch must be delivered for it to be a "strike" or a hittable pitch. If it's thrown outside that zone, it's called a "ball". The size and location of the strike zone has changed much over the years, but it's generally the width of home plate, and extends vertically from a batter's knees to his chest. Each batter, then, has a little different strike zone. A curve ball is a type of pitch thrown by a pitcher that deceives the batter. It can look at first like it's going to cross the plate, so the batter swings. However, by the time the ball crosses the plate, it's either inside or outside, or just not where the batter thought it would be. Or, it can curve the other way, starting way outside or inside, but curve to cross the plate inside the strike zone. These are the fine subtleties of the game.

If he hits the ball, but it lands out-of-play, this is a foul ball. Where's out of play?

The imaginary lines that extend from home plate to 1st base, and 3rd base, respectively, denote the foul lines. So when batting, if the ball goes to the right of first base before it gets to first base, it's foul. Same with to the left of third base before it gets to third base.

The most important thing to know about baseball, and this should come naturally to a Brit, is that the Yankees suck.