If you need help arguing that no baseball game — not even the most lopsided match in mid-April between the reigning World Series champions and a likely bottom-seeded team — is a waste of time, look no further for evidence on The Nationals-Braves Affair Tuesday night, which delivered some of the day’s most memorable moments at the rhombus despite a 16-4 final score and a totally uncompetitive back half.
Washington actually scored the first in this instance, with a small ball in the opening inning, but by the time one of their boys touched the plate again, the Braves had squeezed out an 11-1 advantage, beating starter Patrick Corbin and then moving on Blame it on the poor helpers who came out to the hill to clean up. Such a run, scored in fourth while Atlanta was already down eight, stands out as one of the most complicated and endless baseball maneuvers I’ve ever tried to understand. How about you get a picture for yourself first:
What begins as a routine groundout by Ozzie Albies with two runners becomes a sloppy attempt at unconventional double play. Orlando Arcia forced a rundown between first and second, giving Guillermo Heredia a window to go home. The Nationals noticed this and attempted to clip him, forcing another rundown between the catcher and the third. Heredia paced back and forth as the announcer repeated his shout, “Still in it!” until he plowed into Nat’s backstop Keibert Ruiz, who awkwardly blocked him on his way back to the third. Heredia was allowed to go home because of the disruption, Arcia moved up to third place, and Albies had helped push the runners up two bases with just a small helicopter each.
Said disappointed Nats manager Dave Martinez after the game: “[Third baseman Maikel] Franco stood at the base and … watched as Keibert ran to where he needed to throw the ball. He needs to get down the line a bit so that when he gets the ball he has a run start. There are too many throws, as we all know, far too many throws. Keibert got stuck on the baseline. Smart, chin up [play] from Heredia, who crosses his path. But for me that can’t happen.”
Despite the fact that an explosion between division opponents can be a potential powder keg, in this game players kept their sense of humor to the very end. Nat’s utility veteran Dee Strange-Gordon really showed his versatility as he climbed the hill for the first time in his career. The results were mixed, to say the least, but not really worse than the Nats pitchers who make a living at it, as Strange-Gordon recorded two outs while giving up a home run and a few walks. Then Travis d’Arnaud stepped forward, and vaudeville slapstick followed.
The Braves catcher had been the victim of acting early in the game when César Hernández was acting A no-sell on a throwing error caused him to stay on second base, and he had an idea of his own as he began his final at-bat of the game. “As I went up, I thought, ‘If I get hit, I’ll just fall down,'” d’Arnaud said.
Stange-Gordon’s 52-mile Eephus promptly prompted just that. The emergency pitcher might as well have tossed a pie towards the batter’s box.
Look, baseball can be fun! Also and maybe especially in his most senseless moments. At least until a redass on the Nats bench next series decides d’Arnaud’s dive broke the unwritten rules.