Memorable Crazy or Heartbreaking games

General Pitching Topics
#1

I was wondering if anyone wanted to share some of you baseball experiences.

I’ll start (feel free to add your own- craziest most , most exciting, most heart- breaking, etc ) craziest experience: I was pitching and I got into trouble I gave up 3 hits on 3 straight pitches So it was bases loaded no outs the next batter had pretty good power so I was being careful he worked the count Full. the next pitch he hit a hard Fly ball to LF as it turned out it was a triple play that went from LF to C to SS to c to 2B it was crazy 9 pitces then Bases loaded then Triple play sorry about My spelling and grammar -I got a PDA for Christmas and I haven’t Finished setting my handwr itirg type yet

#2

The craziest game I ever played in and most exhilerating would be when I pitched the first round of the MVC Tornament aganist the soon to be #9 pick in the nation Mike Pelfrey. Mike threw 96mph consistantly, and his last fastball was 97 in the 9th inning. It was a very intense game.

With runners on 1st and 2nd, my catcher ran through a series of signs and I shook him off, and as I looked back toward 2nd base and gave a big sigh before the next set of signals the umpire proceeded to call a balk on me. Much to the dismay and protest by me and the coach it was to no avail. The next ball was arocket groundball to my 2nd baseman (which should have been a DP) but in fact a run scored. The next batter hit a lazy fly to LF (3rd out) but the runner scored from 3rd. That put us down 2-0. :evil:

Through 8 innings my stat line read: 7.2IP, 2BB, 7K’s Pelfrey’s read:8IP, 1BB, 6K’s.

Although I did come out in the 8th, he (pelfrey finised the 9th and wound up with 9K’s). But it was fantastic to pitch in front of 7,000+ people and it was very memorable to recieve a ovation from the opposing teams fans as I left.

ALthough I lost that game, it is one of the most exhilerating games that I got to pitch because I got to match my talents with one of the best in the nation as a freshman.

#3

This past year I was mostly being used as a mopup/big lead kind of reliever and no matter how well I did it seemed like I couldn’t propel myself into a greater role.

Finally one day we were playing our 4th game of the weekend against the top team in our league, and our starter left a tie game after 5 and I got in the game because the rest of the staff was gassed.

Adrenaline was maxed out because not only was it a huge game that we needed to win, but I finally had a chance to turn my fortunes around.

4 shutout innings later and we won it in the 9th with a walkoff single, and for the rest of the year I ended up being our top reliever. Needless to say this was the most exciting game for me this past year.

#4

A high school game my senior year we’re playing in a tornado watch with extremely high winds. Our field was down in a bowl so it only really affected fly balls. Second inning our 140 pound 2B takes one out to dead center (over 400 feet). 5th inning I’m pitching and a semi-truck traveling on the road up on top of the hill gets caught by a gust of wind and rolls down the hill onto the JV field.

A couple funny college stories:

My junior year I was pretty solid, getting some looks from the Reds and Pirates. When that didn’t happen and I was going into my senior year knowing I was past draft age with a medical redshirt under my belt, I would tie one on the night before games on occassion…ok, regularly. We’re playing the defending conference champs the next day so I decide to take it easy and get to bed early. I get to the park, go down the pen and proceed to use every part of that bullpen, from the backstop to the dugout. I’m all over the place and mess. I walk back to the dugout thinking I’m in for a long afternoon. Just then it freakin downpours, I mean wash away grandma’s house downpour. As soon as our equipment is packed I am running for my room and start pounding. I wake up the next day, pop 4 advil, another 2 in dugout before I take the mound and proceed to beat them on a 6 hit complete game with 10 K. Taught me a lesson, never break your routine.

Two starts later its senior day and I’m starting against some crap team we bring in to cream so the seniors go out on a high note. I have nothing, I’m pitching on 3 days rest for the 5th straight start (thanks coach). I’m struggling, sweating, stomping around the mound, working my ass off to a 5-3 win. The best part is about the 4th inning this kid hits a liner back off my inner thigh, not a glancing blow that richocets to the 3rd baseman, this thing hit and dropped right at my feet. I’m already pissed and working my ass off and with my parents, my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, my girlfriend and half of her freakin family in the stands I yell “MOTHERF-R!!” and throw the guy out. Grandma didn’t say a word to me at dinner that night.

Last one, my freshman year of college we are going down to St. Louis for our annual trip to play Greenville and McKendree and there is a frat party that the whole team goes to the night before. Bus leaves at 4 am and we have ALL been up all night. We’re stumbling onto the bus reeking of booze, all doing our best to avoid eye contact with coach sitting in the front seat sipping his coffee. I hurry past and sleep in the aisle in the back. Our senior pitcher who is starting game 1 decides to take the seat right behind coach, sits down, kicks back and puts his feet up, only to kick coach in the back of the head. LOL. Coach didn’t say a word. We get to the park and we all head out to the OF to get some running in and at the first pole our senior catcher who turned down a wrestling scholarship to Iowa stops all of us and says if we don’t win all 4 games he’s going to kick all our asses. We swept all 4 and coach never said a word about anything. I don’t even want to know what would have happened if we had dropped a couple down there.

#5

This has to be one of the most exhilarating games I ever pitched.
It was early August, 1952, and I was sitting in the dugout watching my team jump all over the opposition. We were leading 6-0, and then the Green Sox got one of those runs back, and I noticed that our starting pitcher seemed to be having some trouble. So I told our manager I was going down to the bullpen in the far right-field corner to warm up just in case, and he said okay, so I grabbed my glove and a utility player and we went down there to loosen up. In the top of the seventh the Green Sox went after our starter and cut our lead to 6-4. Bases loaded, one out, and they were going to send up a pinch-hitter. I signaled to our manager that I was ready, and when I reached the mound we discovered that our starter had developed a nasty blister on his pitching hand and couldn’t get a good grip on the ball, so he had to leave the game. I took the ball from him and said to him, "Relax. I’ll get us out of this jam."
I had never seen the pinch-hitter before. But I thought that this would be a good time to see how my newly-acquired slider would work, and I signaled to my catcher to call for just that pitch, nothing else. I threw three of them, inside corner, outside corner, crossfire, and that batter never took the bat off his shoulder—he just stood there and went “duh” with the stupidest expression on his face. Two out. I knew I would have to deal differently with the next hitter—he was the kind who would go after the first pitch no matter where it was—and I knew he’d be sitting on a fast ball. And I said to myself, “No way is he going to get one from me, because I don’t have one.” I got him four pitches later, on that crossfire slider, and he swung so hard he lost his balance and fell over backwards on his heinie with his arms and legs up in the air like an overturned bug.
Strike three, side retired.
I pitched two more three-up-and-three-down innings, and we got our three runs back and won the game 9-4. What an exhilarating game it was, and best of all, I got solid confirmation about my new slider, that it would do very nicely as my strikeout pitch. And all these years later, I still remember that game. 8) :slight_smile: :baseballpitcher:

#6

Earlier this year I was pitching a doozy into the 5th inning, had only given up a run on a couple of hits, waving 5. I got two outs like nothing in the 5th inning, my control was better than ever. The third batter came to the plate and with a full count I beaned him in the side. “No sweat” right? My control had been on all game, so finish the next batter. Well the next batter stepped in and first pitch plunked him the thigh. Ok so I got 2 outs and now plunked 2 straight batters, no sweat now, get the third guy. Well I figured it would add to the suspence of the game (OF COURSE!) and plunked the next batter again, to load the bases…WOW, never done that before! Haha. After I hit the third batter, the field ump came up behind me and said, “Son if you hit another batter, I have to kick you out of the game…” So, knowing the rules full well, I threw a 2-seamer inside to the next batter and he popped it about 15 feet in the air right to me…Not my finest moment as a pitcher, but I dont know anyone else who plunked 3 straight batters without giving up a run!

#7

2004 ALCS, 'nuff said. :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

#8

My son was up against Tim Tebows old school, he hadn’t lost or given up an earned run all year. There was scouts in the stands and the game was being broadcast via Nease’s internet site…reporters everywhere. I was in the announcing booth and had broken the traditional hum drum music routine of; “Hey Batter batter swang” and other corn pone redneck crud and asked the players for the music that each of them wanted…Made Andy’s coach nuts :wink: which included Metallicas “One” and Red Hot Chili Peppers “Fortune Faded” and all in all it was a carnaval atmosphere…Well he had his slide piece just devestating that night and was setting them down in order…it was the 5th and he k’d the first batter and the ball squirted away from the catcher and the guy reached…next batter grounded to the 2nd baseman and the runner advanced, he k’d the next guy and went 0-2 on the next batter when he hit a weak short cf fly…our CF was a 4 year varsity guy who, if its in his field…he caught it…well it was routine and when he made the transfer after the catch he dropped it…home plate ump (Whose call it was) said we had a catch and everyone starts leaving the field…well the base ump says no catch and the runner just on a trot scores…Andy’s coach objected but really didn’t raise much stink (On the video you can hear me trying not to infect the vid with profanity…I thought I’d lose my mind)…so anyway Andy retakes the mound and just blows away the last batter 3 fb’s and goes and sits…(He continued through the 7th with a no hitter) in the 7th our first batter is the CF and he clearly beat out an if single and the base ump calls him out…1st baseman drives one over the center field fence and ties the game…At the end of 7 Andy has thrown over 120 pitches…but his coach sends him out in the 8th…he gave up a groundball single, they bunted him over…the guy takes third on a past ball and then is sac’d home :angryrazz: . We challenge in the bottom but have a guy thrown out at the plate and lose 2-1…he struck out 15…had 2 balls hit in the air and has a 1 hitter… :reallyconfused: Such is baseball…Andy was happy with the performance…me and his coach had it out over his pitch count (I have to say that his logic wasn’t as bad as the pitch count was…he didn’t labor …really ever…didn’t even look like he broke a sweat)…the paper talked about his gem of an outing and…well he got his first loss and his first earned run…went on to post the only sub-1 (0.89) and lowest ERA in his schools history…

#9

Earlier in the season, I (accidentally) hit two kids in a row, with no outs, I hit the first kid right on the elbow, he was down for a couple of minutes (my fastball felt like it was smoking that day for some reason) and the next batter looked intimidated, and I proved that he should be, but not by my own will, I hit him in side, and he hobbled down the first base line. Next up was this little kid, who was so scared that he just stood in the back of the box and didnt swing at anything, luckily, my knucklecurve WAS working that day, so strike three batter’s out. The next batter up grounded out, but only for one, and then I struck the next batter out!