I didn't really watch the game, just happened to turn it on right after Castro hit that homer. What did the announcers say about our 2 guys?
Castro was good with the bat, but he had a pretty ugly passed ball that let the other team tie the game.
Here's the Castro HR for anybody that didn't see it: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200907125567081&c_id=hou
It was a wild pitch but a "stoppable" one. Generally, any pitch that hits the ground, before getting to the catcher is ruled a wild pitch. The runner that scored made it 5-4 so it didn't tie the game.
Ok. Sorry. I guess my memory got a little messed up. But the way he sort of half-heartedly stabbed at it with his glove was not something I would expect to see from a decent major league catcher.
Because he's not a decent (or a good, or a bad) major league catcher yet? Did you hear what Ozzie Smith said about his arm?
Well said. I did and I hope he wasn't just talking. I heard Wayne Gretzky say that Alexander Ovechkin would break his mark of 92 goals in one season when everybody knows that is almost impossible to do in this day and age. He made a similar comment about Sidney Crosby breaking his career points record or something to that effect. The point being that a lot of former greats in all sports tend to say exaggerated complimentary things about up-and-comers for a variety of reasons (humility, to promote their sports, etc...). Ozzie may have been dead serious but he also may have just been trying to say something nice about the kid. He wouldn't be the first to do something like that. I hope he was serious.
Read into things much? Athletes speak in cliches and exaggerations. It's what they do. So Gretzky exaggerated. So what? I don't follow hockey, but from what I do know, Ovechkin and Crosby are both insanely good. It's not like he called Rafer Alston an all star (apologies, Clyde). Or Spanoulis the future (no apologies there). Ozzie probably exaggerated. Vince Coleman probably could steal a base on him. Would you really be happier if Ozzie just said "Castro has a terrific arm behind the plate!"?
Without seeing it, the passed ball can be attributed to several things. One being the fact that he doesn't work with that pitcher on a regular basis. Like I said I haven't seen it, but could it be that Castro was expecting something else and the pitcher missed his spot and threw a different pitch? I have seen this on several occassions and it can make the best defensive catchers look down right silly at times.
