Part Six in the Huh? series in which we look at some of the more unexplained aspects of baseball. And then explain them.
Previous Huh?s include:
Primobolan: A-Rod's cocktail of choice.
Game Scores
Viral Meningitis
Marginal Lineup Value
VORP
Today? Simulated games. I'm sure you've heard of them, but what the heck is a simulated game? PlayStation? Negative.
In simulated games, two or three hitters take turns hitting against an injured pitcher. Which hardly seems fair. However, it's more like a scrimmage where the pitcher throws, and the batter hits, and there are ghost runners based on how hard the ball is hit. Yesterday Brocail and Backe threw simulated games to Erstad, Bourn, Quintero, and Smith. If Brocail threw to Erstad and he hit it to the gap, then there's a Ghost Runner on 2nd, and Brocail then would pitch out of the stretch. No word on whether or not Smith got a hit.
If Brocail got a ground ball in between second and third, that would be called an out. Three outs and Brocail goes and sits down, and allows Backe to try his hand at three outs. Simulated games rarely go more than three or four innings because, after all, they're hurt already.
Voila! Simulated game.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
