FORT COURAGE, KS – For those of you that haven’t guessed or are new to Mattville, all but one of us Matts, when it comes to baseball, is a Met fan. The lone rebel is a Bronx Bomber fan – he smiles more often- and that’s why he’s Different Matt. So anyway, watching baseball’s remaining games is not exactly fun for all but one of us. Moreover, The Los Angeles Orange County Angels of Anaheim California are the only team left standing that our >Matts Majority wouldn’t want to see trapped in some Twilight Zone type warp in which the teams [the Yanks and Phils] are locked in a never-ending game, chock full of dropped pop-ups, bad base running, missed signs, a disregard for fundamentals, poor managing, a blatant lack of moxie and zero accountability. Sound familiar, fellow Met fans? And there are others here that pheel our pain. You know who you are. You watch these games wondering what happened to your team. You really don’t want to watch and yet you do. It’s like Staring At The Sun.
All is not lost, however! Indeed there is some fun to be found in watching these playoff games. For this year’s post-season, more than any in recent memory or any other sport for that matter, has been rife with blown calls, one after the next with multiples on the same play, even! With no vested interest in the teams or outcome, this makes for great theater! And our favorite character so far has been none other than George Brett’s favorite umpire, Tim McClelland, who has been doing an uncanny Mr. Magoo to his crew’s Vanderbilt from F-Troop.
What’s even better is that these umps make these bad calls EMPHATICALLY – as though there is absolutely no doubt about the call. Think back to Yanks/Twins. Joe Maurer slices one down the line in right and the EXTRA UMP, the one inserted to ensure the right call down the line, does his best NFL ref impression, emphatically waving the ball out of bounds – or foul. Even without a replay, Daredevil could tell that one was fair – BY TWO FEET!
Two feet – that’s how far Scott Kazmir had picked off Nick Swisher off second base. No feet were on the bag when Angel catcher Mathis tagged both Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada both out, right under our guy Tim MaGoo’s nose. These calls had us furious because they worked in the Yankees’ favor. But Timmy Vanderbilt made up for it by calling Swisher out for not properly tagging up, which he did. And it goes on, despite public apologies from the umps, including Teflon Tim. Johnny Damon was clearly safe at first the other night but was called out – which made us downright giddy!
So, the bottom is that we all have a reason now to watch the playoffs – for the comedy of of it. It’s just good theater. Thanks Tim! That’s all for today, please tell two people to check us out and prep for the downward spiraling Rex O’Rourke, tomorrow. Let’s Go Los Angeles Orange County Angels of Anaheim California!
