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Attention, sports purists! This blog contains detailed information on two major league teams turning the late innings of an end-of-season baseball game into a deeply stupid nonsense battle against the pursuit of a statistical milestone by a player. If reading something about professional baseball players who briefly give up the determined resolve to obtain a senseless victory for the month of September will make you unwillingly load the seat of your pants with cool hogwash, stop here!
The teams are the Boston Red Sox and the Texas Rangers, who have officially been out of the hunt for weeks. Rangers starter Mike Minor started the contest with just 200 strikeouts for a total of nine retirees, a number that would be consistent with his 200 or more rounds during the season. As this match meant just about two players in the standings, Rangers manager Chris Woodward showed his willingness to let Minor extend this important step as long as he could get close to it. Minor for sure wanted it. Of Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
"It's an achievement I was watching this last season," said Minor. "A lot of guys were talking about it. The last two games, I was trying to get there but I had some problems. Today, I got closer and I knew we were a few points from the end, so I tried to get it.
Minor held his end, inflicting strikes from the jump. He pulled out two of the first three batters he faced, then fired the third. The Red Sox touched for three points to take the lead early in the fourth inning, but Minor scored another strikeout, but the Rangers still responded with a fifth inning to take their first lead. Everything was very normal until the beginning of the seventh game, when it became clear that Minor was on a leash longer than usual. Jackie Bradley Jr. opened the round with a dinger in the center right; Two minutes later, Chris Owings put one on the left wall, giving the Red Sox some advantage. Minor was then 98 shots, including 30 in a fourth round dreaded and stressful, and he conceded five earned runs. That he was not removed from the game at that time and that there was a clue that something other than victory was being contested by these teams.
But it was not the only indicator. The two seventh dingers, plus a pop-out sandwiched between them, had all come on the first pitch of their respective attacks, which, against the backdrop of a Red Sox team that usually puts them in the lead. focus on plate discipline, perhaps suggests their own growing awareness of Minor's proximity to a desired statistical milestone. Sew that into your brain, we'll come back in a second. Minor used another 13 shots on the next three Red Sox hitters, putting the runners in second and third place and causing a return to the ground. This may be true for Minor if he had not yet let Sam Travis end the round, setting it to a withdrawal from that pretty round figure. Of course, his throwing count was very high, but that would be his last appearance of the season in one way or another.
We can be sure that the Red Sox were determined not to let Minor reach 200 strikeouts for the season, even if that meant losing the match, because of what would happen next. The Rangers took the advantage early in seventh on a pair of their own races, and Minor was back on the mound for the eighth summit, sitting at a height of 117 throws, a match off the common. without any meaning for the fortune of his team. The Red Sox, more determined to divide the game to 200 strikeouts than to win a baseball game, responded by tipping the contacts in the first consecutive throws of three consecutive throws, leading to two low shots in the first frame. ground and to a sound of infield. -out, refusing Minor a shot at goal while giving up theirs for the win. The Rangers received the message, but were not convinced to surrender. Of Star-Telegram:
Minor said Brock Holt, the former star of Stephenville High School, had glanced at the Ranger's canoe and burst out laughing after his first appearance in the eighth.
"I have not seen a three-run run, I do not think in my career, to be honest," Woodward said. "I saw a guy swinging in the third step of the inning, but do not get out of there and out. I have never seen three consecutive passes out of three. That's what it is. "
While Minor was going to the dugout, Woodward told him he was not finished, even though he was now at 120 locations.
"I said," If they'll do it, you come back, "said Woodward.
This, you will probably guess, has become even more ridiculous. Minor, determined to prevent the Red Sox from being easily eliminated, opened the top of ninth place with a knuckleball ball at 64 mph for Red Sox receiver, Sandy León, who León said. had almost no choice but to take for a ball. León offered the next throw and flew to the left, thus preserving Boston's small attempt to dishonor an opponent with a free kick for a withdrawal. The next hitter, Owings, actually got a 1 to 1 count before slowly appearing along the first baseline. Rangers first baseman Ronald Guzmán played the ball; as he moved a few inches above the first baseline and into the playing field, Rangers receiver Jose Trevino shouted at Guzmán to drop the ball. Guzmán obeyed with vigilance and dropped the ball for a second shot on Owings.
This was the most obvious gesture of anti-competition so far, but it's certainly the same goal as giving up outs in a tight match to fudge a statistic result. Whatever it is, I see you fucking Alex Cora, the coach of the Red Sox, is obviously not in agreement and is willing to expand the concept of "playing the game as he must "reach his absolute breaking point in order to claim the best in the field:
He tried his luck talking to Red Sox writers.
"I'm just happy that our guys are playing the game the right way," said Cora. "I do not manage the Rangers. It's a question for [Woodward] there, and he probably has the right answer. "
But wait, there is more! Owings returned to the surface for the fourth pitch of the attack, and Minor threw him an inner change that missed the high zone and inside, I do not know, several inches? Anyway, it was not really a strike, but the umpire CB Bucknor, having perhaps seen enough of this farce for an afternoon, still attracted Owings. Milestone reached! Minor was immediately removed from the match and the Rangers managed to win 7-5. Here is this final sequence, in all its absurd glory:
Woodward said the Red Sox "were setting the tone" by choosing to "not try to win the game" in the eighth inning the pursuit of victory to avoid being scratched once, and always be scratchedand lose anyway, is a painful act of taking possession of oneself. It's a shame that it must have come from a bad shot, but the result is very satisfying. In addition, Minor gave Boston Globe Grumpus Pete Abraham the case:
[[[[Star-Telegram]
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