Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Big Awesome Fake-out

Braves shortstop Yunel Escobar is knocked to the ground as he is hit by a pitch from Cubs pitcher Randy Wells in the 4th inning. Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com

In case you didn't catch last night's game, someone should have given Yunie an Oscar. :) Video here.


Chicago Jen and I talked about it a little this morning. (Remember, she's a Cubs fan!)

Lauren: Lilly's gonna plunk our Yunel Escobar in the head for Yunie's little trick last night.
Lauren: Did you happen to catch any of the game?
Jen: probably!
Jen: just the 10-12 innings
Lauren: this was earlier...
Lauren: the Cubs pitcher (Wells) had a no-hitter going
Lauren: and he threw one very high and inside to Yunel Escobar, our SS.
Jen: yes
Jen: [Hubby] gave me some highlights but he didnt tell me this
Lauren: the way Yunie deflected the pitch off the handle of the bat, at first glance it looked and sounded like he'd gotten hit. Hard.
Lauren: He fell down, looked dazed, took a minute to get up
Lauren: the trainer came running out and stuff...
Lauren: Yunie was playing it to the hilt
Jen: eye roll
Lauren: it actually hit the bat -- not him at all -- and was a foul ball.
Lauren: but the ump told Yunie to take his base.
Lauren: If I'd been a fan of the other team, I'd be PISSED.
Lauren: but I think it's hilarious that he actually pulled it off.
Lauren: I may have to ghetto record it off my VCR with my digital camera when I get home tonight :D
Lauren: it was a brilliant acting job. even standing at first, he was blinking slowly and taking deep breaths.
Lauren: hee hee
Jen: stupid umps, but if a player can get away with it more power to him!
Lauren: also, I kinda hate it that we have a mini-feud with the Cubs.
Lauren: the first post here runs it down pretty well: http://www.chopnation.com/bravesboard/viewtopic.php?t=5403&start=1
Jen: oh boy
Jen: jeez 2007?
Lauren: With Lilly pitching tonight, I'm expecting fireworks. I'll be recording that game on DVD. ;)


For those of you who saw the whole incident, what do you think? Awesome or awful?

7 comments:

CABravesFan said...

Awesome! I cannot believe Yunie got away with that but he knew we needed baserunners at that point so he did what he had to do :)

And, really, you kinda gotta blame the ump for that one. He never asked, well, anyone if it hit Yunie, never checked the ball to see if it had any marks on it, and immediately after it hit, signaled for Yunie to take 1st...and Lou never agrued it either. Fortunately it became a moot point but I gotta give props to Yunie for playing it up so well :)

Jen said...

I thought it was awesome! If you looked very closely at Yunie while he was standing on first, there was a hint of a smile on his face. He definitely deserves an Oscar for pulling it off!

Tonight will be very interesting. I'm predicting the benches clear at least once, and 2 players get thrown out.

moatsak said...

My 1st thought at his reaction sitting there in the batter's box, even before seeing the replay to know that it didn't really hit him, was, What? did you knock the wind out of yourself when you hit the deck? Whether he did or not, he played it up well. But then, its not like that's even the 1st time he's done that this year. I, too, laughed at the smirk at 1st. I love Yunel, but he better be careful just how often he tries that.

amanda said...

I love Yunel. He's so underrated. Definitely AWESOME.

CABravesFan said...

Jen, there was definitely a lot more then a little smirk at 1st...he looked like he was trying not to laugh!

slappywhite said...

It is part of the game-like a missed call at third when a Met slides into your glove. It is like a "make up call."

Baseball is the fairest game in the world. You always have the same number of chances to score. You have hits taken from you and you get hits you should have. The same goes for umps calls.

Lauren T. said...

Added ghetto video link to the text of the blog, in case you didn't see the incident in question. ;)