Baseball, very much so a fated game...

The CWS game that just ended at 11:59EST between Arkansas and Virginia should have actually ended an hour earlier. Now, if you're wondering what I'm talking about; allow me to elaborate.

After Arkansas was down to their last out in the top of the 9th, and actually down to their last 2 strikes (albeit they had a man on 1st), some light-hitting kid for Arkansas became an instant hero by hitting the game tying 2-run homer. Then, in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded (and a 3 balls, no strikes count to the hitter), the home plate umpire decided to give the Arkansas pitcher, and his team for that matter, a gift.

The gift, that I'm referring to, is the fact that both me and my girlfriend thought the ball was high and outside and the game should have ended (as I said an hour earlier) at approx. 10:59EST; with the final outcome being 4-3 Virginia, instead of the 4-3 (in favor of Arkansas) that it ended up being!

Originally, I had promised a few persons that I was going to write a blog tonight about some of the contents in "Betting Baseball 2010" (as I'm already working on that book), but I felt compelled to write about this bitter defeat, instead. And it just goes to show, precisely how "fated" the sport of baseball can be. And the fact that it really is the purest form of American sports gambling readily available to all of us 7 months out of the year.

In closing, please forgive me of my slight redundancy in regards to the word fated. But, if you think about it, it really is quite true. If the umpire had decided to call that pitch a ball; then the final score would have been the complete polar opposite, and Virginia would have won 4-3 as previously mentioned.


Signed,
Joseph J Tuttle