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Hi Geeker,

I was wondering if you watched game 5 of the World Series last night. The 5th innings was one of the craziest I've ever seen - to see so many mistakes in such a short period... and by the NYY of all people!

If you didn't see it, NYY were 1 out from the ending the inning 5 - 0 up when Judge misfielded a simple play This was quickly followed by another misfield at 3rd base. But even then, after all this, they could still have closed out the inning in the lead when the pitcher had a siimple throw to 1st, which he carried out faultlessy, problem was... there was no 1st baseman there to catch it - or there was but he was too far from the plate to tag the runner!

It was insane, the inning started with NYY up 5 and ended with the game tied.

Have you been watch the games? IIRC you used to watch baseball but I can't remember if you said that you still do.

Brendan, thanks, but I wasn't really following the "Fall Classic".
As a kid I loved baseball and was a serious fan, even though I grew up in Chicago area, which had awful teams.
I became a NYY fan after I moved to the East, and particularly during the '90s to early '00s. They had some great teams in late '90s and early oughts.

But I cut down on television watching and quit entirely in 2010. Without the constant media barrage of sports promotion, I gradually lost interest. And honestly, American sports like baseball and grid football became impossible to watch because of the sheer length of the games combined with a paucity of action: mere vehicles for inane TV commercials.

I was following last night's scoreline because it was win or go home for the NYY. Saw mention of the 5th inning fiasco but didn't watch any video. Not really surprised: as an old-timer I feel that modern players are basically concerned with hitting home runs and have little grasp of "the fundamentals". Statistics- and analytics-driven baseball seems all about pitching at 100+ mph vs hitting home runs. 🤣Things like sacrifices, bunts and stolen bases have become quaint artifacts.

True the game has changed if you compare this century to the previous one. One thing that hasn't changed for me though, is that there are two teams I despise, and sadly they were both in the WS.

To illustrate how much I was paying attention, I was unaware of who was playing in the Series until Game 1 began and scores started appearing.

It's funny that after being sports fan for many years, baseball has really fallen off my radar screen. The only World Series players I could name offhand are Judge, Stanton (NY), and Ohtani (LA).

I guess I now invest my "fan time" more in chess than sports. I think Euro pro football would be the most attractive sport to follow (commercial-free broadcasts, games over in approx. 2 hours), but I don't understand the game well enough to pick it up at my age. I like watching NHL (pro hockey) highlights and follow some results. I follow athletics (middle/long distance) and cycling based on past participation, but have been bummed out by too many doping scandals.

Thanks for your replies guys.

For the record, I don't watch baseball - I did for a while during the Jeter, Clemens, O' Neil, Rivera era, but that's it.

I watched this because I saw the headlines on the BBC Sports website and am always drawn to exceptional moments in virtually most sport, be it last minute comebacks or, as in this case, catastrophic collapses. So I went to Youtube and there saw this video of the 5th innings:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3ykZoQMJLI&ab_channel=MLB

PS In my original post I said that the pither had made a simple throw to 1st base which was wrong, it was a hit that neither the pitcher or guy closest to the base attempted to field - presumambly each thinking the other was going to do it.

Thanks for the clip, Brendan. I hadn't seen video.

Funny that Judge made a brilliant catch against the wall, but two batters later dropped an easy fly ball! Then the shortstop bounced a 30 foot throw to third, negating a forceout and loading the bases. Finally, the pitcher weirdly declined to cover first base, though it looked like the first baseman could have run over to touch the bag: what the old-timers used to call an "Alphonse and Gaston" situation: https://www.baseball-almanac.com/dictionary-term.php?term=Alphonse+and+Gaston .

Not very impressive on the big stage.

Funny you should mention Judge dropping the simple fly ball when, minutes earlier, he made an outstanding catch. I watched an analysis video of it in slo-mo and you can clearly see that, just as the ball is about to go into his glove (mitt?), he takes his eyes off it and glances over to 2nd base. According to the analyst, this was to see whether a potential double-play was on - the irony!

Brendan, this just in: both players involved in the Alphonse-Gaston fiasco at first base could be gone from the NYY next year, per https://sports.yahoo.com/yankees-decline-2025-option-on-anthony-rizzo-gerrit-cole-opts-out-of-deal-163154331.html

I sexpect that 1B Rizzo is history (club option), but P Cole will re-sign with the team for even *more* money ("opt-out" clause). [Wow, those players have amazingly high salaries!]

Edit: ham-fingered use of backspace key was responsible for the ludicrous gaffe. Apologies 🤣...15a in the Prize must have had a subliminal effect.