Sunday, August 30, 2009

The runs

Thursday's run route
In Coquitlam River Park, start near Gabriola Dr and Cortes Ave, south on the Trans Canada Trail, left to cross the pedestrian bridge near Patricia Ave, left to go north along the Trans Canada Trail / Coquitlam River, turn around at David Ave, retrace route in reverse to starting point.
Thursday's run time
47 minutes 31 seconds

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Please, encourage me to run more frequently

If you'd like to see what I've been up to lately - other than watching and playing tennis (and the Little League World Series, minus the playing) - make like a bunny and hop on over to Detected Errors where you'll find plenty of goofs and gaffes to shake your head at. As a bonus, I make some very clever remarks such as, "My wife may write the writer a letter regarding the latter"; and I am not biased in the slightest. I know I pointed that blog's way in a recent post, but that's because I'm not sure how often I'll be posting on this blog from here on out. I won't stop fully completely, but once a month or so sounds about right, while Detected Errors is updated almost daily. Also, my book blog deserves more attention.

Today's run route
In Coquitlam River Park, start near Gabriola Dr and Cortes Ave, south on the Trans Canada Trail, left to cross the pedestrian bridge near Patricia Ave, left to go north along the Trans Canada Trail / Coquitlam River, turn around at David Ave, retrace route in reverse to starting point.
Today's run time
51 minutes 27 seconds

Thursday, August 20, 2009

A mystery at the Nat

I consider myself to be a fairly knowledgeable baseball guy, but during a recent Vancouver Canadians game there was a play that has me stumped. My stepdad - no doubt a more knowledgeable baseball guy than I am - was also there and he is also stumped.

The C's were fielding, the bases were loaded, and while I can't recall exactly what the count on the batter was, I know there were fewer than three balls. After a pitch on which the batter attempted to check his swing, the catcher wanted the lone base ump, standing near second base, to give his verdict on whether the batter swung or not. A few seconds passed as the catcher went from squatting to standing and I don't know if the home plate umpire ever appealed to the base ump. The home plate ump eventually called the base ump over and they had a brief chat before heading over to the C's dugout.

After another brief chat, the umpires walked back towards the field and motioned all the runners to advance a base. It's a balk then, right? Not so fast - in addition to the runners all advancing a base, the batter was awarded first base. So what was the ruling?