Interfere This!

Well, a really fun and freaky game was just ruined by one of the worst calls I have ever seen. It was so bad was embarrassing. It was so bad it was like a Yankee Stadium playoff type call. Escobar (miraculously cured, btw) ran a straight line from 2nd to 3rd on a Encarnacion ground ball, which scored the go-ahead run. Escobar ran the base line. He didn't dance or weave or yell "MINE!" (which, you'll recall, is totally allowed.) I'm not sure what exactly Escobar is supposed to do if not that. Stop dead in his tracks? It's part of the deal for a short stop or third basemen to contend with a guy running when making that play with men on base.

What then followed in the bottom of the inning was some of the most out there examples of baserunning, one where it seemed that not only did Torii Hunter not realize he'd been doubled off, but he also seemed to be confused about his own name and what he was doing at the stadium.

Other than the call, the bullpen was solid with double plays and the 18 left on base was alarming. But I will take comfort in the fact that while the game dragged on through the night and then the wee hours of the morning, Twitter was alive with the heat of outraged fans. Over a game in April.

I was in a sports bar earlier tonight, a Tiger's bar, one that had a lot of newspaper articles about key sports moments framed on the wall. I was looking at one of them, I saw a small little side article on the cover of the Globe and Mail Sports section for October 17th, 1985. The little article stated that only 4500 fans showed up to watch the Leafs play, one of the lowest turnouts in the history of the team. And what was the reason for this low turnout? I quote, "An epidemic of baseball fever."