Non-FastCast Hero: Victor Martinez

I made a snarky tweet last night that was poorly-timed, inadequately researched and which might have contributed to taking the karmic wind out of the Dodgers' sails in the late going. It was the middle of the 10th inning, Tigers catcher/first baseman Victor Martinez had just hit a go-ahead home run, Los Angeles's pitcher slot was coming up first in the inning (at least according to MLB.com's Gameday app) and Yasiel Puig was not in the starting lineup. So I made the strategic suggestion that he might pinch hit to lead off the inning, if he promised not to slide. Had I looked at the game summary, I would have known that a) Gameday gave me some wrong information and it was actually Hanley Ramirez due to hit first, and b) the speculation was all moot anyway because Puig had already come in to pinch hit in the 9th inning. Well, now my mistake is forever enshrined in a server deep in the Library of Congress... but it's from mistakes that you learn the most, right?

Speaking of learning, "watching" the Tigers shift their lineup construction to play in Dodger Stadium bespeaks a competitive spirit that is hard not to admire, despite how much I want to see them not win any more playoff games (especially against the A's, but also in general - because of their history against the A's). Victor Martinez, primarily a DH since signing with Detroit in 2011, has expressed a willingness to move back behind the plate on a more regular basis, specifically for series in NL ballparks such as this one. What's more, when the game went into extra innings, first baseman Miguel Cabrera shifted from first to third, allowing V-Mart to remove his mask and pads, and finish the game at a less strenuous position (he is 35 years old and missed all of 2012 with a knee injury, after all).

#DigTheDreads

I put "watching" in quotes in the previous paragraph because without cable (or satellite) or MLB.tv, it's difficult to really watch any baseball action except the highlights, which is why I pay so much attention to MLB.com's FastCast. Speaking of which, Martinez's heroic extra-inning performance didn't even merit the cold-open highlight spot on yesterday's FastCast. That honor went to Jayson Werth, whose 8th inning grand slam put the Nationals on top of the Marlins. I guess Detroit's win makes more sense if you see it in the context of Los Angeles mounting an impressive comeback against Joe Nathan to tie the game in the 9th, only to have their own closer Kenley Jansen give up the lead they would never regain. Also featured in yesterday's FastCast was Ervin Santana's Braves debut, in which he's showing off some pretty groovy dreads.

While browsing around MLB's media archive after watching this morning's show, I discovered that MLB puts out a FastCast not just every day of the major league season, or even every day of spring training, but every day of the year! I had previously resisted signing up for MLB.tv because it's seriously doubtful that I'd do anything else with my time if I had access to every pitch of the MLB season at my fingertips. But knowing that there is an archive of daily highlight reels, documenting not only in-game events, but also off-the-field news, is a slippery slope in itself. I still need to leave some time in the day to play MLB 14: The Show...