Empyreal Environs

Game 41: May 20, 2005
Braves (23-18), 3
Red Sox (24-17), 4
L: Tim Hudson (4-3)
W: Wade Miller (1-0)
H: Mike Timlin (12)
S: Keith Foulke (11)

Sporadic posting alert: I’m posting this from Cooperstown. You may have heard of this town. It’s where Abner Doubleday supposedly formalized the rules of modern baseball. But the game’s origins are more disperse and divergent than the Doubleday myth would have us believe, and I’ll be writing about this in a future post. Nevertheless, to be in the town where myth and history gathers around what I believe is the best sport invented has been nothing short of spectacular.

For better or worse, I’m following this interleague series through the TBS broadcasts. Joe Simpson and Chip Caray were spouting all the same platitudes about Fenway Park that you always hear, including the infamous, “No lead is safe here.” In the main, however, it was an upgrade over Joe Buck doing play by play for the Yankees when they are on Fox.

Leads can be safe if you have adequate pitching. Miller picked up his first win by going 6.1 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts. With his appearances verging on almost Quantrillian frequency, Timlin pitched yet again and had a perfect 1.2 innings with 3 strikeouts. Foulke was just trying to improve the one-run game record of his team by giving up 2 runs in the 9th. He’s a team player that way, allowing his ERA to increase to 7.29.