"It's great to be young and a Yankee."

In my intensifying relationship with my couch, I managed to watch not 1 but 2 movies about old men playing baseball. The first one became the 4th movie/tv show* that's ever made me cry (what can I say, I get misty eyed without fail at the sight of someone being genuinely proud of someone else), and the second one--despite the fact I've seen it about 234,342 times--propelled me into a frantic google search that brought me no satisfaction whatsoever.

The Natural. The ending. 3 strikes!

No, seriously. I have to watch everything with closed captioning because I'm about a year away from being excluded from important cholesterol messages.

So, I'm watching Roy Hobbs step up for his final at-bat, and the first, which seems a bit high, is--according to the captions "STRIKE 1!"

Pitch-by-pitch after that goes something like this:

Ball
Fouled off
SWINGING STRIKE (aka strike 3)
Fouled off
Home run

I go back and listen to the first pitch about 100 times. Then without the captioning. I can't figure out exactly what the ump is saying, BUT if you listen closely, you can hear in the background the broadcaster saying "Strike 1."

Looks like someone wanted the movie to end the same way the book did.

Another thing that confused me today is the reduction of Josh Beckett's suspension. I was confused as to why he got suspended at all since he wasn't even thrown out of the game. But not only does he get suspended, but then his suspension is altered so that he doesn't even miss a start. So, uh, way to let the players know you mean business, MLB.

I'm also growing increasingly flummoxed by how the AL East turned into the NL West. The Yanks, with their 6-6 record are in 2nd place. The Marlins have only lost 1 game. The White Sox field a scarily inept defense and are cruising in 1st. The reigning champs look more insecure than the Mets. Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena, and Carl Crawford and rocketing my fantasy teams' batting categories, and yet the Rays are more offesively challenged than the Sox. Some player named Shin Choo Choo is a slugging powerhouse with an unmitigated cannon of an arm.

And why was I convinced Steven Strasburg was going to the Reds?



* 1.) Scene in Father of the Bride when Steve Martin is reminiscing about Annie growing up.
2.) Scene in A League of Their Own where the dad of Marla Hooch waves goodbye to his daughter and he does a little air-check swing as the train's pulling away
3.) The end of the Wonder Years episode when Winnie gets into a car crash and "We've Got Tonight" is playing