SHIFT IN TONE
G UESS what? We’re not alone on this planet. Other intelligent life lives here, but you have to wait for it. You can’t summon or chase it.
Fox’s mild-mannered analyst, John Smoltz, went off last week. Well, “off” for him. Goodness, he almost spoke with an exclamation point. But he, too, sees highest-level, best-paid baseball in a heap of self-made, untreated trouble, a matter of fundamental neglect.
Game 4 of DodgersBraves. Braves up, 2-1, top of the fifth, a Dodger on first, one out. Lefty swinging infielder Max Muncy was up, thus the Braves were in a shift.
In what likely was his most candid on-air moments since joining Fox in 2014, Smoltz:
“I’m still amazed that we’re in this shift era, I really am. I’m amazed that hitters haven’t made the shift go away. Maybe because the rewards system hasn’t given them any reason for it to go away, but you’re talking about the most important time of the year.
“Yet, you’re not going to see anyone on the left side of the field. In the playoffs. You can’t put a bunt down to get a rally going or get a runner on? But you’re still trying to swing for the seats. I’ll never understand it.
“I get it, over 162 games. You have two or three guys you want that to happen. But when you’re shifting six players that, to me, is still one of the most amazing phenomena I’ve witnessed in the time since I’ve been out of the game. And not seeing anybody, for the most part, try to change their fate.”
And with that, Muncy grounded out into the shift.
Then the game, won 6-2 by L.A, deteriorated into another senseless phenomena: Bullpen Roulette. With no automatic intentional walk to speed things along, the game crawled to the finished line in 3:45.
And again, strikeouts surpassed hits. Let’s sing it together: 16 batters K’d, 14 hits were made, 13 pitchers pitching and a partridge in a pear tree.