Reminds me of a Tampa Rays and Boston Red Sox game I saw in the Trop in the 2000’s. Starting pitchers were Scott Kazmir for the Rays and Daisuke Matsuzaka for the BoSox. Both guys were at 100 pitches in the 4th innings and the umps did not help, letting counts run out to 3-2 every batter, yet the score was like 1-1.. Every batter seemed to be at the plate for 10 pitches minimum as those guys tried to be like Greg Maddux and nibble the corners but with little success. Maddux could throw a complete game 5 hitter on 90 pitches and these guys were at 110 each after 4!
Rays eventually won and the game only went 9 innings but took over 4 hours! Great crowd, around 30K (unheard of now in Tampa unless the Yankees are in town but hey better than Oakland getting 2K as their owners try to force a move to Vegas ;)).My wife and I wagered beers with a Bo Sox couple from down the coast in Cape Coral but were transplanted “Chowds” (nice couple) on pitch count totals for Dice K and Kaz each inning, we split over the 4 innings but it made those 20 minute sides more interesting. I heard Daisuke Matsuzaka is now broadcasting for the Nippon league. I know Kazmir pitched for the Giants in 2021 and now must be pushing 40 so I wonder what he is up to?
Reminds me of a Tampa Rays and Boston Red Sox game I saw in the Trop in the 2000’s. Starting pitchers were Scott Kazmir for the Rays and Daisuke Matsuzaka for the BoSox. Both guys were at 100 pitches in the 4th innings and the umps did not help, letting counts run out to 3-2 every batter, yet the score was like 1-1.. Every batter seemed to be at the plate for 10 pitches minimum as those guys tried to be like Greg Maddux and nibble the corners but with little success. Maddux could throw a complete game 5 hitter on 90 pitches and these guys were at 110 each after 4!
Rays eventually won and the game only went 9 innings but took over 4 hours! Great crowd, around 30K (unheard of now in Tampa unless the Yankees are in town but hey better than Oakland getting 2K as their owners try to force a move to Vegas ;)).My wife and I wagered beers with a Bo Sox couple from down the coast in Cape Coral but were transplanted “Chowds” (nice couple) on pitch count totals for Dice K and Kaz each inning, we split over the 4 innings but it made those 20 minute sides more interesting. I heard Daisuke Matsuzaka is now broadcasting for the Nippon league. I know Kazmir pitched for the Giants in 2021 and now must be pushing 40 so I wonder what he is up to?