Almost perfect.

Thursday, June 03, 2010

In the history of major league baseball, there have only been 20 perfect games. For non-baseball folks, that’s a game where no runner reaches base. No hits…no walks. 27 batters up…27 batters down.

Last night, the first 26 Indians that came to the plate were put down by Detroit’s Armando Galarraga. Jason Donald was the Indians last chance and the only man standing between Galarraga and baseball immortality.

Donald slapped a grounder to the second baseman and raced for first. It was a close play, but the announcer and 15,000 cheering fans called Donald ‘out’, but the first base umpire saw it differently and called Donald ‘safe’ and folks, that’s all that matters in baseball.

Donald’s hands went to his head. He knew that he hadn’t beaten the throw – runners know these things – and a huge argument ensued between the umpire and members of the Detroit Tigers. They all had seen him safe and needed to convince the umpire – but umpires don’t change their minds – they don’t make mistakes. Except this time…he had…as instant replay showed quite clearly. Baseball doesn’t use instant replay though, except for balls that may or may not have cleared the fence for a home run or whether they were fair or foul.

Later that night, the umpire apologized, admitting after seeing the play on instant replay, that he’d blown the call. Good for him…bad for Armando. Odds are…he will never come close to a perfect game again in his career. Remember…there’s only been 20 of these things in over 50,000 major league games, to date.

So I guess you’re thinking that I’m for instant replay for any situation in baseball – like the NFL. I’m not, though. I love baseball and one of the things I love about it is the simplicity of the sport. Arguing about whether a call was blown or a rule applied is part of the game. Guys getting passionate…screaming, kicking dirt, throwing helmets, bats, gloves…it is the game.

I’m sorry, Armando (yeah…he’s reading my blog), but I think you’ve accepted it, as well. You play the game. You know the drill. It’s baseball.

Today’s run sucked. It was hot and humid again…you know…Cleveland. I was planning on maybe 45 minutes, but maybe longer if I dropped into a stream along the way. By time I reached 30 minutes though, I was thinking about three days in a row of one hour plus. I was also slowing down noticeably as the heat took its toll.

I managed to struggle through the last 15 minutes to make my hour run, but was completely spent. Tomorrow, I will be traveling to Columbus for the State Track and Field Championships, which will make getting in a run problematic and was another motivating factor in pushing myself.

So, no, I didn’t hit the creek because I ran the entire run on top of the ridge. I still want to test my theory of multiple dips during a run. I think it will make a big difference.

Run duration: 61 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 140.

Calories burned during workout: 1035.