After introducing Ezri Dax in last week’s, two-parter, DS9 gives us a bit more with her, in “Afterimage”. Then, in “Take Me Out to the Holosuite”, a baseball game results in learning and growing. Hey, it’s like this is a television show, or something!
Trekabout Episode 225: Afterimage/Take Me Out to the Holosuite
Cliffy
-I’ve been spending all morning tying not to write this comment, because I know you don’t care, but here it is anyway.
In baseball a “strike” is when the pitcher throws the ball in the “strike zone,” which is an area over the plate that starts at about the batter’s solar plexus and ends at his knees. Alternatively, any pitch which is swung at and missed is a strike no matter how far outside it is. (The white lines drawn from home to first and third bases don’t have anything to do with that.) If the batter gets three strikes, he is out.
A “ball” is any pitch that doesn’t enter the strike zone (assuming that the batter doesn’t swing). Four balls and the batter is issued a walk, which means he gets a free pass to first base. Although it’s not common, sometimes balls are pitched even several feet outside the strike zone by mistake; this is called a “wild pitch.” It’s treated as just a regular ball, but they can be important because it’s often an opportunity for a runner on the bases to steal.
If the batter hits the ball, a number of things can happen. If it’s caught in the air (before it bounces), it’s an out. Otherwise, you need to know if the ball is fair or foul. Fair balls are those that travel forward from the batter between the two white lines from home to first and third bases. Balls that go behind the batter or off to the side are foul.
If a foul ball is not caught, the ball is dead (regardless of whether it clears the fences or stays on the field somewhere). No runners may advance and the batter stays at the plate. A foul counts as a strike, except that you (usually) can’t strike out on fouls. So if you have 0 or 1 strikes already and hit a foul, you’ll get a strike. If you have two strikes, you get another chance. And sometimes another and another and another if you can keep fouling pitches off.
If a ball is fair and goes all the way past the outfield fence, it’s a home run. If it bounces over the fence, it’s a ground-rule double, meaning the batter gets a free pass to second base but may not advance further.
More often, the ball is “in play.” The batter has to get to first base before the defensive team gets to the ball and throws to the first baseman. If the batter touches first, he’s safe. If the fielding team gets the ball to a player who touches the base, the batter is out. (This is called a force out.) Similarly, any runner already on a base must advance at least one base or he can be forced out as well.
If he ball is hit hard enough, the batter can try to get all the way to a later base (or even all the way home) before the fielding team throws him out. Once a batter gets past first, he actually needs to be touched with the ball (or more precisely, the glove of the fielder who is holding the ball) to be out, called a tag. It’s harder to tag a guy out than force him out (which just requires stepping on the base while holding the ball). Other runners can also try to go more than one base, and just like the batter they can be forced at the base to which they must advance, but after that you have to tag them.
I think that’s enough for now.
Eric Brasure
-Wait, the strike zone is part of the batter’s BODY? Fuck baseball is a dumb game.
đŸ˜‰
Mindy
-It isn’t “part of” the hitter’s body. It is sized according to the hitter’s body. It is approximating a zone which a hitter could reasonably be expected to make contact with the ball.
Of course, every umpire essentially sets his own strike zone anyway. The real effective strike zone is “wherever the umpire calls a strike”. This is why so many hitters and managers (and fans) end up complaining about the strike zone.
This is also why there is a half joking movement to have robots call the balls/strikes. “Robot umps now!” Data would have made an excellent umpire. Odo….. Sisko may have had a case. The pitch did look a bit low and outside.
David L.
-I just watched this episode, and I am about to listen to the podcast. The pitch was low and outside. It didn’t catch part of the plate (as Odo claimed), because it was not a breaking ball. That is, it was a “fast ball” (albeit one of very low velocity by professional standards), and there was not enough movement on the ball (“break”) for it to have crossed the plate based on where the catcher actually received it. The Vulcan “framed” the pitch with his/her body. A more experienced umpire would not have been deceived!