>>Hi all.
>>
>>Back from vacation, rested and spoiling for a fight :-)
>>
>>I've had several N. Americans say to me "Cricket - what's THAT all about?". I used to think it was a slow and dull game, and that baseball must be far more exciting. Until years later I saw the W. Indies tour in England and that got me more interested. Now it's the Test Match aginst the Aussies and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. They have baseball on the telly here and I watched it for a while last night.
>>
>>DULL AS DISH-WATER!
>>
>>They were playing for about half an hour before anyone scored!
>>Most the time the batter just stands there while the pitcher throws the ball at him, and does nothing.
>
>The batter is waiting for the "right" pitch. (See below)
>
>>What's all this back-stop showing fingers and the pitcher doing a histrionic nod all about?
>
>There are two guys back there One is the umpire...called referee or judge in other sports. He shows fingers indicating number of strikes and balls thrown. (See below). The other guy (the guy squatting down) is the catcher. The finger thing is the signal to the pitcher to indicate how he should throw the ball...the type of pitch (slider, curve ball, fast ball, etc). The pitcher will nod or shake his head depending on if he agrees or disagree with the catcher.
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>>I thought it was three pitches, 3 strikes and out but there seems to be lots more, disallowed for some arcane technicality or other.
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>Well... that does get a bit complicated. The ball must be thrown in the "strike zone"... roughly between the batter's knees and waist. The ball also can't be too far to the left or

Roughly between the batter's knees and armpits. You'd see a lot less homers the other way.

right ("over the plate"). If the ball is thrown in that area, the umpire will rule it a strike. If it is outside that area, it is a ball. If the batter gets four balls, he automatically gets to advance to first base. If the batter swings and misses, no matter if the pitcher threw a strike or a ball, the umpire calls a strike. If the batter hits the ball and it goes foul, it is a strike, unless that would give him three strikes, then it just doesn't count.
>
>>When he does eventually react, nothing happens anyway.
>>If the ball does go in the air, the legal zone for hitting it in is so small (whereas in Cricket it's the full 360 deg)that the fielders can't help but catch it (unless it goes into the crowd for a home run), especially as he's wearing a Toonland giant glove.
>>In short, it's a load pf standing about doing nothing, with rare short bouts of intense action where the men try to batter each other at the bases.
>>The commentators just can't keep their prattling mouths shut for 2 seconds.
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>NBC tried a US football game with no commentators a few years ago. Really, really bad move.
>
>>What's worse, there's a huge gormless Englishman, with a weird accent who pretends he's interested in this dark game and talks to the British audience (during the many US commercial breaks), with the help of a US expert.
>

>There are lots of nuances to baseball. It takes a while to get the hang of it. For many years I called it boring ball because I couldn't stand watching it. Now that I've learned many of the nuances, it's very entertaining.

When you understand what's going on (as much as anyone can) in the various players' and managers' minds, it can be a fascinating game.