Monday, April 05, 2004
The perils of DirecTV
Posted by Matthew NameeAt the office today after lunch, Mike Webber and I flipped on the TV to watch the Royals-White Sox game. By the 8th inning, KC was down 7-3, and figuring they were finished, I switched over to the Dodgers-Padres contest (San Diego led 1-0 at that point).
When I flipped the channel, the bases were drunk with Friars -- Nomo had given up a base hit to the opposing pitcher (Brian Lawrence), then hit Sean Burroughs with a pitch, and then walked Brian Giles. Just as I tuned in, Phil Nevin hit his sixth career grand slam (a new Padres record, says Vin Scully) to put San Diego up 5-0.
This brought Dodger pitching coach Jim Colborn to the mound for a chat with Hideo. Whatever he said, it didn't work, because Nomo walked Ryan Klesko on 4 straight balls and then surrendered another dinger, this time to new Padre Jay Payton.
At this point, I basically quit paying attention and started doing some actual work (though I paid enough attention to notice Shawn Green hit his first home run of the season). When I left at 5 PM, the Dodgers were down 7-1.
Moments after Mike and I left work, my cell phone rang. It was Mike, informing me that not long after we switched to the Dodger game, the Royals launched an Opening Day comeback for the ages, scoring 6 runs in the ninth and winning 9-7 on a 2-run homer by Carlos Beltran. And we missed it, instead watching my Dodgers (and, more specifically, Hideo Nomo) get their butts handed to them.
Ah, well. 161 to go.
Matthew Namee cofounded The Hardball Times in 2004, when he was working as the assistant to baseball author and Red Sox executive Bill James. Matthew still lives in Kansas, where he is currently pursuing a law degree. He can be reached at mfnamee [at] gmail [dot] com.