Old School Baseball

Last Saturday’s game between the Kansas City Royals and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Angel Stadium was barely a blip on the radar as far as most people were concerned. If it received any attention at all from most sports news organizations, it was to mention that KC’s phenomenal starter Zack Greinke suffered his first loss of the year.

And that’s a shame, since Saturday’s game was as good as any there will be this entire season. I would know; I was there. What most of the media has overlooked about the Angels 1-0 victory over the Royals is that this was a classic, old-school baseball game, a true pitcher’s duel.

Only nine hits combined. Only one walk total. That single run? It was scored by means of a double which the Angels followed with a sacrifice bunt and then a sac fly. No home runs, no slugfest.

Most amazing of all, both Greinke and the Angels’ Joe Saunders pitched complete games. When was the last time you saw both starting pitchers go the distance? Trust me, it’ll take some thinking. It’s rare enough these days to see a single pitcher complete his game, let alone both of them.

It was a beautiful thing. In baseball more so than any other sport, an incredible defensive game can be vastly more exciting than an offensive duke out. This game exemplified that fact. Those fans whose interest is only piqued by the long ball are by far the least edified (I say to them, go watch American Gladiators–it plays to your level of intellect).

This was truly a game that neither pitcher deserved to lose. Poor Greinke. You give up only one run in a complete game start and ninety-nine times out of a hundred you should walk away with a victory. What a start to the season he’s had, though. The lone run raised his ERA to 0.51 through seven starts. Unbelievable. It was only his second earned run of the year. And, having now seen him pitch, I can tell you, he has amazing stuff, including a 25mph range across his pitches. Can’t wait to see his stats at the end of the year.

• April 11, 2009 -- VideoDeep: Lessons from the Nick Adenhart Tragedy (10)
• February 26, 2009 -- Around the Horn, Sort of (5)
• February 10, 2009 -- Poor Economy Doing It to Manny and the Mets (1)
• November 18, 2009 -- Zack “Cy Young” Greinke (2)
• May 4, 2009 -- Wrigley Field Pilgrimage (0)