It’s Been A While

It’s been ten days since I worked a Tides game. I worked the first two games of the Tides-Toledo series — both of which were Tides victories. In different ways, each reflected exciting baseball. On Thursday the 6th,  the Tides jumped out to a 6-0 lead, but gave it all back by the middle of the 8th. Tied at 7 going into the bottom of the 8th, Norfolk scored five runs, capped by a bases-loaded double by Robert Andino. Two notes about this game — the nineteen runs scored in the game (12-7) marked the most runs scored in any game I had ever seen in Harbor Park; and the Tides left two runners on base — both of whom had hit bases-loaded doubles.

The second game marked the first time the Tides came back from more than a one-run deficit in 2010. Trailing 2-0, they came back to tie the game (the tying run scoring on the ever-popular single/passed ball/passed ball/wild pitch.) Josh Bell ended the game after 3:45 with a lead-off, walk-off, home run in the 12th inning.

Even though the game was nearly four hours long, it wasn’t boring. There are some baseball games which feel like you’re in an airplane circling the airport — those 7-2 games with pickoff attempts in the eighth inning come to mind — but no well-played baseball game is too long or slow.