7.22.2010

Baseball Philippines

I was chilling out at home on a Thursday afternoon after I started the day early with a breakfast meeting. I wasn't feeling too well also when I got home and I ended up laying around with the remote control on my hand. I usually don't watch local channels except when I know that something I usually watch is on, but this time I was happy I did stumble onto this channel. They were showing the Baseball Philippines Finals Series between my home Manila and another city Cebu. It was the airing of a game that happened last Tuesday and they were showing pretty much the important innings. Manila Team won the game and it was evident on the second inning why it ended that way.

I started watching during the bottom of the 2nd inning where the game was tied at 3 runs, 1 on first base who was hit by a pitch, and the batter has been getting pitches that has almost came in close contact to his shoulder. Then the pitcher from Cebu team pitched again, a pitch that had relatively slow speed that hit the batter on his shoulder. I don't know what type of pitch he used, but it seemed like a change up that gone wrong. That pitcher obviously didn't have command of the ball. The next plays were like the worst one can imagine. 2 men on base. Man on 2B gets to steal 3rd. Batter gets to drive a single that gets an RBI, him safe on 1B, but the other guy out on 2nd. Another batter comes on the plate, gets to drive a low single but because of an error by the catcher, 1B gets to steal up to 3B. Batter on the plate and he drives an RBI making Manila earn 5 runs total in 2 innings. That was the only time that the Cebu team decided to change their pitcher after all the damage has been done. It was quite funny, if you can imagine what I wrote.

The next inning they showed was the 5th inning. The Cebu team was absolutely in a rut with their pitching. Their batting was quite okay though, except for that guy who swung at a VERY LOW pitch. Seriously, I think that guy wanted out. There was one also where the umpire first called it a "ball" but even on my view, it was really a strike. I ended up shouting at my TV screen just as they announced that there was a change on that previous call and it was really a strike. It was sad that these guys seem to have little idea how important their job is. The other innings were uneventful including the part where no one made any hits or had any runs, though I believe there was another error during the 7th inning. After the 7th inning, I fell asleep.

Though it seems as if I have been disappointed, I am actually excited to have seen a game. I imagine that my next move will be to watch their games live, but I have to find out how this whole shebang goes. Baseball isn't too popular in the Philippines and this league is definitely small compared to basketball or some other sport. The stadium where they were holding the game is a 40 minute drive from my place, so I can just see myself driving there soon. Watching the game on TV also made me want to get involve with the baseball scene here too, and by involvement is to help the sport be known and be supported more, amongst which, by the Philippine Sports Commission. I want to help these players who are striving to show their talent in one of the most unpopular sport around here, to continue their dream of pioneering in this field. I want to help out Filipinos to continue their love for the sport that I fell in love with too.

It seems too big of a dream but its never wrong to be hopeful. It takes small steps to reach a wonderful goal like this and if it entails hard work then I'd be up for it. Somehow I'm trying to figure out how to start getting to the association handling this (properly called "Baseball Philippines"), and if I should start with constant tweeting, blogging, and putting them on my friends list on Facebook, then I surely have done some steps to get to the goal. Its never too late to start a dream when that dream entails you to help more people you can imagine of helping.

1 R a v e s:

ɹǝʌoן ʇuoɟ said...

؛spɹɐƃǝɹ ʇsǝq

˙ǝʇısqǝʍ ɹno oʇ oƃ uɐɔ noʎ 'sʇuoɟ ǝnbıun puıɟ oʇ pǝǝu noʎ ɟı
'ʎɐʍ ǝɥʇ ʎq

0‾0 ǝɔıu sʞooן ƃoןq ɹnoʎ
˙ƃuıʇǝǝɹƃ ɯɹɐʍ ¡puǝıɹɟ ʎɯ oןןǝɥ