Hitless Wonders

Last night, the Tides lost, 4-2, to the Gwinnett Braves. The game itself followed a familiar pattern for Tides-watchers — lots and lots of deep counts, leading to a greater-than-3-hour game on a chilly night. Fortunately, I was in the press box, so I escaped the winds.

Going into the night, two players in the starting lineup — Jonathan Tucker (not to be confused with Jonathan Taylor Thomas) for Norfolk and J.P. Boscan (not to be confused with J.P. Ricciardi) for Gwinnett — were both looking for their first base hit of the season. As Tucker was coming to bat in the sixth inning, hitless in two previous at-bats, the staff in the press box started speculating which of the two would get his hit first. I said Boscan, because Tucker doesn’t play regularly. Sure enough, Tucker drove a fliner (cross between a fly and a line drive) over the left fielder’s head for a run-scoring double. Later, Tides’ pitchers pitched very carefully to Boscan, apparently not wanting to be the pitcher who gave up his first hit.