Byrd vs. bird

Waiting for Next Year undoubtedly gets many more hits per day than Of Fair Hooker, which makes sense because they have nine regular posters, while I have just me. And they do a fine job. So it probably doesn't make much difference to them to have me sending people over there to view their posts. But I just have to alert my readers to this post, which is a boxing-style "tale of the tape" between Paul Byrd and the bird Shin-Soo Choo's game-winning hit bounced off of the other day. It made me laugh out loud.

On a wing and a prayer

I've often said that if you watch a baseball game from start to finish, there's a good chance you'll see something you've never seen before — even if you've watched thousands of baseball games in your life. The ending to last night's Indians-Royals game was one of those things. I've never seen a seagull deflect a ball off its wing, causing the center fielder to misplay it and allowing the winning run to score. It's a pretty good bet I'll never see it again.

Here's how it happened, for those who missed it. In the bottom of the tenth, with the score tied at 3, Mark DeRosa singled off Kyle Farnsworth, who then walked Victor Martinez to bring up Shin-Soo Choo. Choo sent a solid single to center field, where a flock of seagulls were hanging out. Center fielder Coco Crisp probably wanted to run so far away. ... As the ball approached, the birds started scattering, and Crisp, who's always been a good egg, got in position to field the ball and wing it home. But one of those seagulls was apparently an Indians fan, and let the ball hit it. Coco had a good bird's eye view of the ball as it bounded past him. DeRosa came home to roost, and that was the game, boys and gulls. This sent the Tribe back into fourth place, which is a real feather in their cap.

My fiancée says I'm a punaholic. I don't know what she's talking about.