Arms, and the man I sing, who, forc'd by fate,
And haughty Bavasi's unrelenting hate,
Expell'd and exil'd, left the Seattlean shore.
-The Aeneid, Meche style
Of Meche's arm, and of his "triumphant return" to Seattle, we sing. While in some ways the better classical text might be conclusion of The Odyssey, when Ulysses returns to Ithaca after 20 years away. Still, you can't beat Virgil for that opening line and its inevitable pitching tie-in. Still, the angle of choice in Seattle was "Scream Weaver" instead. I suppose they're too heartbroken to even think about losing the best pitcher in baseball.
Perhaps it was the emotional high of the Royals-M's rivalry last night that led to the off-topic strangeness of the Game Thread and loyal2's Boyfriend of the Day diary (91 comments!?!?) It also was revealed, in the Battle for Grass Creek post, that the man behind Royales With Cheese actually lives in Wyoming!! So now we have a possible correspondent on the front lines! Ohh, and for the record, I didn't technically goto sleep at midnight. I also ended up watching two shows on the National Geographic channel as well. So there. Hater in the house! Congrats to the dude925 for getting into UCLA though, I think I forgot to mention that before.
Today its Floyd's Son (0-0, 6.23 ERA) against Cha Seung Baek (0-0, 8.31) with the series on the line. The fate of Grass Creek and her fans is in our hands. If Lookout Landing is to be trusted, Baek may not be able to handle this extreme emotional burden.
Jeff at LL grabbed these screenshots of Baek during an earlier M's victory over the Rangers, and wrote:
Contrast this with Kevin Millwood, who appears to display nothing but bitter contempt for everyone around him when he pitches. I wonder if it might not be part of why Baek succeeds - when the batter goes up to the plate, he sees Baek looking like spooked cattle and assumes that something horrible is about to happen. Fearing for both his own safety and for the welfare of his family back home, the batter is no longer able to concentrate on the pitch, and he pops it up quickly so he can return to the dugout and call his wife.
I can't wait to see his face when there's two men on and Tony Pena Jr walks to the plate!!!