Posts Tagged “Sports”

One of the rules in baseball that may not be obvious to casual baseball fans is that a batter can run to first if the catcher drops the third strike (i.e. the ball is not “legally caught”) and fails to tag him out when first base is open or when there are two outs. It still counts as a strikeout for the pitcher and the runner gets to stays on base if he reaches. (This has sometimes led to MLB pitchers getting four strikeouts in an inning.)

Well, during a tournament game between teams from Yokohama and Tokai, the Yokohama catcher dropped what would have been the third strike to close out the inning and the entire defense walked off the field toward the dugout. As the Tokai batter was walking back to the dugout, someone told him to run to first. He did and then went to second, then to third before scoring all the way home. The two other runners on base also scored, making it a three-run strikeout and expanding Tokai’s lead to 6-0.

At least the umpire was nice enough to explain the situation and outcome to the crowd.

So I was kicking around on YouTube’s “Most Viewed” page yesterday and found an interesting video of Japanese street protesters. You’ll never guess who they want to resign from office: JFA (Japan Football Association) president Saburo Kawabuchi.
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Many people have been talking about Japan in this year’s World Cup after their performance in 2002. I saw recaps of the Japan-Australia game and Japan’s goal against Australia probably shouldn’t have counted. The officials didn’t call it and don’t have instant replay like the NFL; instant replay would be impractical anyway in soccer because the clock would keep running while they were checking something. (Reportedly, one of the referees was overheard admitting to the Aussie keeper that it was a mistake.) I was a soccer referee for 3 years and I think that I would have made the same mistake; I would have to have seen the offending player’s momentum to make a definite call. Anyway, Australia scored three goals and beat them so hopefully people will move on to the other two matches. Read the rest of this entry »