We lost again last night this time to the Oakland A's 8-3. It is bad enough I have to stay up until past midnite hoping to see our bats get going only to see us continue to struggle at the plate. Lester was horrible, leaving pitches high in the strike zone and giving up home runs. It was good to see Nomar again even if he does now play for the other team. Tonight we have Dice so we will see how that goes.
I heard on the news that one of my favorite players as a child died today. He was Mark Fidrych and he played for the Detroit Tigers. I remember that he would actually talk to the baseball before throwing it and would pile mounds of dirt on the pitchers mound, or all of a sudden would start digging a hole. I remember one game where he stood behind the mound and took off his shoes, banged the dirt out of them and then took his time putting them back on. When he was done, he would motion to the crowd and to his teammates as if saying "sorry for taking too long, I just had to do it." The best thing about him was all of his antics were not for show, it was really how he was. He was like a 12 year old kid playing in the Majors. I remember the Monday Night game against the Yanks in 76, when he ran back onto the field after the game because the fans refused to leave until they saw him again. He ran onto the field in his socks and started to shake the fans hands, he hugged a policeman, and then he broke down and started to tear up. During the interview, he looked around the stadium with his "big bird" eyes in astonishment, and stated "I dont know how I feel, I have never pitched in front of this many people before."
He was a breath of fresh air for all of baseball for the short 5 seasons he played. I mostly remember the Sports Illustrated issue with him on the cover with Big Bird. Hey I was a kid, just like he was! Thanks for making baseball fun for me when I was young, I will always remember Mark "The Bird" Fidrych.
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