My Minneapolis correspondent reported recently that you can ride underneath the baseball stadium on a newly completed trail segment. Wind conditions today led me off in that direction today and I decided to take a look.
The stadium (the limestone in the upper right) was in use when I was there, the Twins were playing an afternoon game against the Brooklyn Dodgers.I know it isn't really the Brooklyn Dodgers but until they get that bankruptcy thing squared away the current ownership probably deserves to be called by a name other than the real name. At least Brooklyn is not obscene.
In today's game Scott Baker pitched extremely well and the locally based side prevailed by 1 nil.
But what I thought was most interesting was this scene across from the University football stadium. That's the debris field from the last snow pile in town.
There is a fence between me and the debris so I cannot be positive but I think there is still snow out there.The wet portion slightly to the viewer right of the photo when viewed in person looks slightly raised from the rest of the area and there is NO reason for it to be wet, the rest of the debris, except for the puddle, is dry. The explanation I reach is that there is still something out there converting from solid to liquid form. The last snow pile is still releasing moisture.
It was 85 today with near 100 expected tomorrow. If you want to get a look at the last sign of winter you had best hurry.
It appears that the big Hmong sports tournament and festival is on for this weekend. I can tell because today the rent a fence was being installed.
So I had ridden all the way to downtown Minneapolis and all the way back to Como Park. It was warmer today than it has been and I started to feel a bit overheated and perhaps overworked. I don't usually take a sit down while I am riding but today I took a sit down in the shade near Lake Como.After sitting there a while I decided that it was peaceful and picturesque and worthy of being memorialized.
The Tour de France kicks off on Saturday. Stage 1 is 191.5 kilometers beginning at the Passage du Gois, the seabed road from Ile de Noirmoutier to the French mainland which is only available at low tide. At the 63 km mark the race will pass through Les Sables d'Olonne. Sunday's stage is a team time trial, always an interesting exercise. Stage 3 on Monday the Fourth of July is a mostly flat 198 km beginning in Olonne-sur-Mer. Stages 4 through 7 (through Friday) will be mostly flat stages but also in northwestern France, Brittany. Stage 21 will be on Sunday, July 24, with the traditional finish of the race on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.And lastly, and a late edit addition here, apparently I am one of the very few people on the planet with an even passing familiarity with the balk rule.
I just walked out onto the field and over to where the baseball field is and where there is an almost every night baseball game. With the bases loaded for the red team the blue pitcher took his stretch position on the mound and then turned and FAKED A THROW TO FIRST. An umpire, two coaches for each team, about 12 players per team and maybe 40 or 50 parents took absolutely no notice while I, a completely uninterested observer loudly protested, "BALK". Anyone agree with me?
3 comments:
Limestone, rent-a-fence, and rip rap?
Nice post. Sounds like a nice ride. Stay hydrated.
A balk for sure. See rules of Major League Baseball, rule 8.05(a):
8.05
If there is a runner, or runners, it is a balk when --
(a) The pitcher, while touching his plate, makes any motion naturally associated with his pitch and fails to make such delivery;
Rule 8.05(a) Comment: If a lefthanded or righthanded pitcher swings his free foot past the back edge of the pitcher’s rubber, he is required to pitch to the batter except to throw to second base on a pick-off-play. (b) The pitcher, while touching his plate, feints a throw to first base and fails to complete the throw;
Jimi covered it nicely for a motion initiated toward first base. The exception is if the pitcher fakes a throw to third or second base, the pitcher is then allowed to fake a throw to first base. This requires a runner to be on the base to which the initial fake is performed. The pitcher can't fake to third if the only runner is on first (although it would be highly entertaining and perhaps worth taking the balk just to see the vein pop out of the coach's forehead).
I'm not certain, but I believe I once saw a Twins game where a batter was intentionally walked to fill the bases creating a force situation only to have the runner at first base picked off in the "fake to third throw to first pickoff move." I believe Billy Gardner was the manager and Hrbek was at first base, but my memory is sketchy...
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