- Admin
- #1
Even the amazing Spider-Man, for all of his super-heroic talents, runs out of web juice and falls to Earth once in a while.
Ben Revere of the Minnesota Twins, capable of nearly anything in the outfield, came down without the ball after making a remarking leaping, climbing and hanging effort in the fifth inning Friday night:
That's former Twins manager Tom Kelly among those talking, adding later: "My goodness, gracious, Ben."
Athletic, creative, exciting. Revere took his eyes off the ball in order to make a more precise jump, reacquired the target while hanging on with his left arm — and then tried to make the catch with the same arm that was keeping him suspended. It was so good ... except for the catch. Oakland batter Brandon Hicks struck out swinging on the next pitch, so the out was academic. But Revere's attempt was art.
Revere showed shades of Ivan Calderon climbing the left-field fence and robbing Alan Trammell of a home run at Tiger Stadium in 1987, except — sorry, Ben — for making the catch. This attempt had a greater degree of difficulty, though, because the fence was higher, it wasn't uniformly shaped, and there was no ledge to stand on. If only Revere could have kept himself suspended for a half-second longer, maybe he would have been able to bury the ball in the pocket of his glove instead of having it bounce off the heel. Or maybe if he were left-handed ...
Revere, like the rest of the Twins, was down emotionally after falling to the A's. But efforts like that is what will, or should, keep people coming back to ballparks. Ben Revere, that's the Big League Stew Almost Play of the Year.
Big BLS H/N: @CJZero on Twitter
Ben Revere of the Minnesota Twins, capable of nearly anything in the outfield, came down without the ball after making a remarking leaping, climbing and hanging effort in the fifth inning Friday night:
That's former Twins manager Tom Kelly among those talking, adding later: "My goodness, gracious, Ben."
Athletic, creative, exciting. Revere took his eyes off the ball in order to make a more precise jump, reacquired the target while hanging on with his left arm — and then tried to make the catch with the same arm that was keeping him suspended. It was so good ... except for the catch. Oakland batter Brandon Hicks struck out swinging on the next pitch, so the out was academic. But Revere's attempt was art.
Revere showed shades of Ivan Calderon climbing the left-field fence and robbing Alan Trammell of a home run at Tiger Stadium in 1987, except — sorry, Ben — for making the catch. This attempt had a greater degree of difficulty, though, because the fence was higher, it wasn't uniformly shaped, and there was no ledge to stand on. If only Revere could have kept himself suspended for a half-second longer, maybe he would have been able to bury the ball in the pocket of his glove instead of having it bounce off the heel. Or maybe if he were left-handed ...
Revere, like the rest of the Twins, was down emotionally after falling to the A's. But efforts like that is what will, or should, keep people coming back to ballparks. Ben Revere, that's the Big League Stew Almost Play of the Year.
Big BLS H/N: @CJZero on Twitter
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Follow @AnswerDave, @bigleaguestew, @KevinKaduk on Twitter,
along with the BLS Facebook page!