Ever since I was a little kid, I have always reserved the hope that I might be lucky enough to catch a foul ball, perhaps even a yard ball, at a MLB game.  There is always that moment right as I get to my seats and check out the view where I evaluate how probable catching a foul ball will be.  Although I have come extremely close on a few occasions, and even caught a few batting practice home runs, I am yet to leave a professional baseball game with a foul ball.  When that glorious day finally comes, I want to have done it the right way- it must be a barehanded, challenging catch.

Whenever I see a fan snag a foul ball with a glove, I cannot help but think that they cheated and are therefore unworthy of my praise.  The well-timed, barehanded catches have always been the most impressive; they are the ones that receive an ovation from an entire seating level, cause the announcers to take notice, and ultimately secure a shout-out on MLB Tonight and Quick Pitch.

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On Thursday night, the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers surrendered a 5-run lead against the Philadelphia Phillies, giving up 3 runs in both the 8^th and 9^th innings and ultimately losing 10-9.  Although many of the Dodgers’ players lent a helping hand in making the late-inning collapse exceedingly memorable, the brunt of my focus is on Ronald Belisario’s mental error- a blunder so rare that it baffled every umpire on the field, as well as the manager of both teams.

With nobody out in the bottom of 8^th inning, Belisario opted to do a 3^rd-to-1^st pickoff move, hoping to catch an anxious Jayson Werth with too large a lead.  There was just one slight problem, there was no a runner on 3^rd base.  The only guy on base was Werth…and he was on 1^st.  That’s right, this means that Belisario made a move to an unoccupied base(3^rd) in an attempt to deceive Werth.  BALK.  However, this was no ordinary balk, it was arguably one of the most bone-headed and unthinkable balk in baseball history; it should have counted for a run, not just a single base.  If we refer to a players’ mental errors as “brain farts,” then Belisario’s gaffe should be recognized as “brain explosive-diarrhea.” Here’s why:

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Even though Votto has not notched a sombrero, he sure looks good in that hat

After watching both Jason Heyward and Mark Teixeira fall victim to the Platinum Sombrero over the weekend, I thought it would only be appropriate to reflect on all of the golden and platinum sombrero performances this season.  Some of the names on the list may surprise you, most of them will not.  For those of you who may not have noticed, there is a scrolling ticker in the top, left-hand corner of the site that offers an up-to-date list of every player that has notched either a 4 or 5 strikeout game.  Regardless, here is the current, chronological list in an easy to read format, as well as a few notes about its constituents.

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