Baseball is Funny: A Week of Baseball Thoughts
Baseball is funny. The Jays just split a four game series with the Astros, the best team in baseball.
The scores went as follows:
7-4 Jays
12-2 Astros
7-2 Jays
19-1 Astros
50% of the time, the Jays made the Astros look pretty ordinary (the Astros were particularly ordinary on Saturday. The great defensive play Donaldson made followed by his three run homer seemed to suck their energy away.) And 50% of the time, the Astros looked like a relentless killing machine.
The Astros were the shark from Jaws. And the Jays needed a bigger boat.
I was at the game Saturday and it was one of the best games I've ever been to. It was sunny, but I was in the shade. There were nachos. There were friends.
I sat in Section 244 which was perfect for two reasons: one, it was in the shade. I like the sun, I just don't like sitting in it and two, it offered a complete view of the field, which was perfect for explaining things to one of my friends who is new to baseball. She was particularly intrigued by the attempted pickoffs of the runner on first. Also, an explanation of a balk (without actually seeing it) which included a spelling of the word "balk."
When Mike Fiers went up and in with a pitch to Donaldson, I said, "You better make him pay for that, Josh. You better go large." And then, a couple of pitches later, HE DID.
I screamed "GET IT, BOY. GET IT."
I lost my voice. And my mind.
"I feel like I've been able to see the ball better," Donaldson told MLB.com . "Slow the game down and ultimately have better at-bats. Also, defensively, I've begun to do that as well. That's important and we want it to be perfect all the time, but sometimes it gets away from us. I feel like it's definitely getting more repeatable and more consistent."
The picture for the Blue Jays is unclear, are they this team that can make the Astros look ordinary, or are they this team the Astros scored 36 runs against?
Do they add? Do they blow up? Do they semi-blow up?
It's all very much in the air.
Earlier in the week, the Jays took two of three from the Yankees. Whatever else happens this season, this moment might be baseball at it's most pure and wonderful:
Roberto Osuna vs. Aaron Judge with two outs, the Yankees a run down with a man on second. The game is on the line and the rookie phenom is at the plate:
I want to eat it with a spoon.
This also happened:
He's so delightfully confused. As he should be.
Congrats on your first All Star Game, kid. Well deserved.
There was a good deal of celebration on Jays Twitter when Josh Donaldson had Kenny Loggins' Danger Zone as his walk up music. And some were sad when he made a new choice.
I am not.
Danger Zone is a totally fine song. But it's also very generic. A lot of dudes would pick Danger Zone.
His replacement walk up song is so much more interesting.
The beat on this thing is sick. Siiiiiiiiiick. It's almost 20 years old and it's still ridiculous. It sounds new.
NPR wrote about the song here.
Donaldson has some of the most eclectic music taste in terms of walk up songs and this is just another great one. It's got funk in it, it's got electronica in it. I still sing it sometimes when I get out of the shower.
Outkast is pure South, and Donaldson is a Southern boy.
I love when you stare at me I'm dressed so fresh so clean
(So fresh and so clean clean)
In other walk up news, this is Russell Martin's
The Hype Williams video is so late 90s. Particularly the green lame hot pants and the fish eye lens.
Kevin Pillar's is Arrested Development's People Everyday , which is an update of the Sly and Family Stone classic Everyday People.
If Pillar wanted to really appeal to his Toronto fans, he might want to consider some Kardinal Offishall.
If you attend many games, you might recognize the:
Let me here you say T dot Oooooooo (Oooooooo!)
Yeaaah! (Yeaaah!)
T-Dot O, yeah, O, yeah
O, yeah, O, yeah, O, yeah, O, yeah
Which is from this track:
I love the video, too, shot in Toronto and directed by RT!
This is the stuff: