| 01 June 2009
With it being an off day for Detroit sports teams, I thought I might talk a little about the sports world outside of Detroit. I was just about to start watching some baseball games around the bigs on my MLB.tv when John Mapplethorpe directed me to the Indians/Yankees game taking place at Jacobs Field saying that the bugs were back, attacking Joba Chamberlain's blood.
Joba Chamberlain had a run in with flies back in the fall of 2007 when he was relieving in a playoff game against the Indians. With the Yankees up 1-0 in the 8th inning, a swarm of flies descended on Joba and the rest of the Yankees and disrupted their focus. It was so distracting that they helped the Indians tie the game, a game they would eventually win in extra innings.
Tonight, with the Yankees leading 5-2 and Joba Chamberlain (now a starter) pitching into the 8th inning the flies attacked again. According to Ron Harrison, an entomologist who works for Orkin Inc., an Atlanta-based pest control company, the annoying bugs back in 2007 were a "type of midge, an insect related to mosquitoes. During warm fall weather, midges often breed on the outskirts of lakes" and the weather fronts typically push them to the land masses. It's not fall, so I wonder if these were the same species of flies. Who really cares, right? Personally, I think the Indians have bags of trained flies that they release from atop the light fixtures late in games they trail to attack opposing pitchers.
This time, Joba was not phased with the pesky buggers as he finished the 8th inning with no problem and Mariano Rivera picked up the save in the 9th. Although they did not affect Joba's outing, Joba definitely felt the flies' presence. He was seen a number of times swatting them out of the air with his glove, blowing them away, and even trying to scare them away with this lazy eye, death stare:
What might be even more noteworthy about this game is that the Yankees broke a Major League record by going their 18th straight game without making an error. That's the type of record managers dream their team break one day. Congratulations to the Yankees on that (puke in my mouth a little bit).
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
