It’s really that simple. One guy should not ever have the opportunity to hit three home runs off one pitcher in the same game. It’s just wrong, and stupid, particularly in a close game. I don’t care who the hitter is, or who’s on the mound. And never mind that Radke was allowed to hit and go out for one more inning.
You would think, though, that when a guy already has five homers off your pitching staff in the series, not to mention two in the game in question, that you’d at the very least alter your approach. You might even think about radically altering your approach. I might, anyway, but of course I’m not a Major League pitcher or manager, so what the hell do I really know?
I don’t doubt that players have hit three home runs in a game off one pitcher on many other occasions –actually, I do doubt that, but I’m sure its happened. I’m pretty sure, though, that it doesn’t happen with any frequency in close ball games, and I certainly can’t find a way to justify its occurrence under any circumstances.
The weird thing to me is how inevitable it seemed at the time. I don’t know about you, but I knew –I’m not shitting you, I knew— Choi was going to hit that third home run against Radke yesterday. Even Radke seemed resigned to the fact; I can’t see any other explanation for why he threw the pitch he threw in that situation.
Baseball really is a damn strange game, that’s all there is to it.
Leave a Reply Cancel reply