S01.E03: Beanball

[Danielg342]

22 hours ago, AdorkableSars said:

Are the ratings really not good? I don't really pay attention to that kind of stuff.

It's pulling a 1.1 average, which isn't very good and is well below FOX's average...but, a few other shows are doing even poorer, so it may have a chance to survive. FOX is likely going to "wait and see", I think.

As for this episode- well, I liked that Al Luongo finally got his job back, and I liked seeing Wendy Malick again. Question, though- if the majority shareholder in the company that owns the Padres wasn't a woman that Luongo could sweet talk over a candle-lit lunch, what would his plan have been?

The selfies I'll reserve my judgement over. It's a bit of an eye roller that they have to go that route, since "scandalous pictures" is such an easy well to mine, but if Ginny Baker stands up and says "you know what? This is my body- I won't be embarrassed or shamed for displaying it. Nor will I be embarrassed for who I dated in the past- it's old news" then I could accept it, if for no other reason than it's a "new" response to that tired old problem.

Lastly, I enjoyed the beanball war. Wasn't too fazed by the exposition by the ballplayers- awkward, yes, and maybe someone else should have delivered it, but I think it set the tone well. I also liked how balanced it was, with Baker essentially declaring it a "no-win" situation- plunk her, and "you're hitting a girl", or don't plunk her and "you're afraid of the consequences". Plus, if you defend her, "you're just doing that to protect the girl".

I have to say, overall, I like that its discussion of gender politics is quite fair and nuanced. It's rare to get something like that, especially in today's very polarized Internet age. So hats off to Pitch for that.

Episode Grade: B.

[possibilities]

Haven't there been real life bigtime male athletes who sent dick pics that were posted on social media? Did those guys get into any kind of trouble?

[Danielg342]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

Haven't there been real life bigtime male athletes who sent dick pics that were posted on social media? Did those guys get into any kind of trouble?

It happened to Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers in 2014, as part of the same nude picture leak that ensnared Jennifer Lawrence. I don't believe anything happened to Verlander, since he didn't intend for the pictures to be released. He also declined to comment on the leak, saying he'd "rather focus on baseball".

Brett Favre, on the other hand, got into some trouble when his nudes "escaped into the wild". Favre, then quarterback for the New York Jets, tried to court the Jets' sideline reporter with text messages, voicemails and pictures of his dick. The NFL fined Favre $50,000 (high by NFL standards) but didn't suspend him, saying they couldn't "confirm that Favre sent the pictures".

[Aliconehead]

6 hours ago, possibilities said:

Haven't there been real life bigtime male athletes who sent dick pics that were posted on social media? Did those guys get into any kind of trouble?

Women are still held to a different standard, unfortunately. In the same instance with Justin Verlander, the female celebrities were slut-shamed. Look at Leslie Jones are the abuse that was piled on her when her account was hacked and the pics published. 

Farve was different as he SENT the pictures instead of being hacked. Ginny would be crucified in the media and society if the pics are nudes simply because she is a female baseball player. The league would talk to her about the inappropriateness but otherwise stand behind her since they were hacked. 

Edited October 9, 2016 by Aliconehead

[SnoGirl]

Whoops! Yes! I don't know why I typed Jenny. Definitely need to fix that one. Thanks doram!

[Lonesome Rhodes]

I thoroughly loved this ep and I am a baseball purist.

The new understanding reached between Ginny and Lawson was earned.  It was not cheap and it was entirely consistent and congruent with the characters and motivations previously displayed.  How rare!  Yay!   

The baseball code is rife with irony and we got some doozies in this ep - again all earned.  However, it has always boiled down to one thing:  RESPECT.  Here we have Ginny fighting for that like crazy and she wasn't going to be allowed the satisfaction any of those guys would have literally fought for.  Of course, many of them were entirely oblivious to this truth.

The term "beanball" has pretty much lost its meaning as it has been too liberally used for decades now when it simply did not apply.  In fact, genuine beanball wars were rare (I can't remember the last one).  A real one would be a major, major, deal.  Throwing at batters?  Evening the "score" such as the Padres needing to in this case?  Happens all the time.  But...the code within the code is that you do not go head hunting, absent the most egregious provocation, which was not present in this ep.  Sure enough,  nobody went after anyone's head.  The media sure does hype things using that word, though.  Score one for realism on this show!

Lawson, and even the opposing catcher and pitcher were in one helluva bind.  Everything they understood about the game informed them that Ginny had to go after a Cardinal, preferably that starting pitcher, and that the Cardinals would then have to go after Ginny.   And they were bound and determined to steal from Ginny her honored role in this oldest of dramas.  To me, this was very rich drama and again - well earned.

The poor umpire was having a tough, tough, day.  He knew full well what was coming.  They typically do.  And Al went and purposefully got hisself ejected (Blue (generic term for all umpires used by most all baseball folks) knew it wasn't about him).  Al was setting something else up and he was just being made to seem the bad guy.  No real baseball people would  look at him poorly.  They knew/know when a manager begs for it, it has nothing to do with the umpire (Blue).

And THEN he had to oversee the bad blood which was a near certainty to erupt.  It did.  Again - poor guy had to discipline everyone and he never wanted any of it to begin with.  Then, and boy did I love those moments, a mouthy rookie - the special one who invites the strictest scrutiny imaginable by MLB (meaning the poor umpire was going to be looked at for so much as farting) - goes on a crusade to get it started!  "Get back in the box," he gruffly orders.   He just KNOWS he is about to be screwed.   She won't STFU.  Poor guy.

Blammo - she shoves the catcher.  IT IS ON!!!!

On 10/7/2016 at 10:44 PM, Jediknight said:

True, although the bullpens did join that skirmish way too quickly.

In my experience, especially when the teams know it's probably coming, the bullpens come flying out as fast as they can - just as we saw.  For me, the show gets another point for realism.

Then, we got the absolutely fantastic choreography of the fake fight baseball scrum.  This was masterfully photographed, in my opinion.  The script/audio was dead spot on, too!  Terrific.  And then the gem of gems...

The conversation between Mountain and Lawson.  YES!  They didn't really hate each other.  They were just upholding the code (honor) of their squads.  It was just baseball.  Mountain then plaintively complains that he didn't want to hurt her/go after her.  OMG.  What a moment!   He was not a jerk.  He was just a guy who had some chivalrous attitude.  He was caught in a societal mess he never asked for.  Basically, he was a victim, of sorts!!!!    Did he choose well or did he choose poorly?  Entire semesters at university could explore this question and not come to any conclusion.  Wonderful.

 

On 10/8/2016 at 2:21 AM, colorbars said:

The show is clearly going for Lawson/Ginny romantically, and they have a nice chemistry, I'll give them that, but I really really hope they don't go there. Not only is he over a decade older than her, but her rule seems very important to her, and well, I just don't want it. I wish it would stick to her hero worshiping crush and him seeing her more as a younger sister and someone to mentor before he retires.

Given the lengths they have gone to set up that denouement we saw after the game, I seriously doubt the show will go there.  He is her older brother.  He's the captain of a team and he likes and admires the guts she has shown.  To me, a guy like that would never allow romance to interfere.  And Ginny has fought far too long and too hard to allow such an earned respect from THAT guy to become something else.

This was not a perfect ep.  But, in attempting to strike the balance between non purists and folks like me, they sure went a long way to satiate the purists.  Most shows with esoteric settings go much the other way, settling for far less realism.  The congruency of characters so far is remarkable to me.

Oh, using Dick Enberg, and his excellent dialogue, was a gift.  For those who may not know, this was his last season by his own choice.  He is one of the alltime great sports announcers.  

Unfortunately, that I like this so much is probably a death knell for the show..

Edited October 10, 2016 by Lonesome Rhodes

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

Pitch Doesn't Throw Far Enough Inside

A beanball-war episode illustrates the fundamental problem with the show's approach to its sport.

[raspberry7]

On October 7, 2016 at 8:59 AM, ClareWalks said:

I read the PTV article about this episode and, while I get that the expositional talk isn't realistic, I also appreciate that they do it. Can't speak for everyone who watches the show, but I don't know much about baseball, and I don't care enough about the sport to learn. I'm more of a football gal. But I like this show for more than just the setting, and I am glad that they tell me what is going on (like WTF a "beanball game" is, because I didn't know). It's a TV show, and it's job is to be entertaining first and foremost. It isn't to stay perfectly true to every nuance of the sport of baseball. It needs to be accessible to an audience that might not know how to keep stats or have a fantasy baseball team.

 I am a die hard baseball fan (Cards), and I don't mind the exposition one bit. The more the show can draw in non-baseball-fan viewers, the better. And, they are at least striving for authenticity (admittedly with some sacrifices for TV and some errors, such as not getting "beanball" right) -- as others have said, the same can't be said for most shows. They often tip their hat to people who do know baseball.

Case in point:  I was giddy, GIDDY that this episode featured the Cardinals... this was not an accident. Part of the legacy, for better or for worse. (Bob Gibson, the legendary Cards pitcher, described his pitching repertoire (nay, 'arsenal') as containing the brushback, hit-batter, and knockdown pitches, but emphatically NOT the beanball -- "Nobody in his right mind throws a rock 90-plus miles an hour at a guy's head.")

[topanga]

I'm a casual baseball, so I miss most of the baseball "errors." I enjoy the authenticity that the show does provide. And I wait for you guys to point out to me what the show did right or wrong in terms of baseball.

And in contrast to the PTV article, I'm glad the show is about more than baseball. That's what keeps me watching week after week. If I simply wanted a baseball procedural, I'd watch...baseball. Or the "Baseball Tonight" show on the MLB network. Or any other shows on the MLB network. In fact, I didn't start watching the show right away because I thought it was only about baseball. And maybe that's why  it's having a hard time attracting viewers. I wish Fox would do a better job of marketing Pitch to people who simply want to see a good drama--that happens to use baseball as a backdrop.

I like that the show addresses family, loyalty, the business side of baseball, feminism, friendship, isolation, and yes, there's even some romance. Call it cliche, but as clarewalks said, when I watch a TV drama, I want to be entertained. "Were you not ENTERTAINED????"

[possibilities]

I didn't watch Friday Night Lights at first, because I thought it was going to be only about football. I almost made the same mistake and was going to not watch Pitch, either, until I heard it was more than "just a baseball story." I do sympathize with people who are fans of the sport, though, because I know that when I watch a show that references something I'm passionate about, I am often frustrated that "it's not getting it right."

[Earmuffs Mom]

Sarah, I am a diehard, lifelong Cardinals fan and a devoted loyal listener of your AWT 90210 podcast. I feel like you are my soul sister in many ways, including all of your critiques about Pitch. I wanted to be excited about this show, and it's enjoyable...to a degree. I'm hoping all of the exposition is still somewhat a product of establishing roles and storylines as a new show, with some over-explaining for the non- and casual baseball fan. If it carries on too long into the season, my interest will definitely start to wane.

[Mojeaux]

I must be watching a completely different show than everyone else is. Even if I were tempted to hope the show was setting up Lawson and Ginny as a ‘ship [please, heaven, no, barfgrossvomit], I wouldn’t be able to sniff a hint of a whiff. He’s her mentor. As Blip(?) told Lawson in the beginning, she is his LEGACY, and men serious about their work are serious about leaving a legacy. He’s feeling his age, he’s feeling his loneliness, and he’s ready to pass the baton. Lawson and Amelia, though? *fans self* That’s a ’ship I fully endorse. /OT

Re this episode in specific: I had decided to break up with this show before this episode and now I’m back on board. That was a brilliant bit of politics on the manager’s part. Ginny’s got some balls. I felt so sorry for the  Mountain, not that he was being chivalrous, but because it would have been a political nightmare for him to hit her. She got the asshat pitcher’s nod, which meant his animosity wasn’t artificially drawn out. And as I said, Lawson and Amelia have a comfortable/natural level of sizzle, of which I approve.

[Falafel]

I have to admit, I kind of like the Lawson/Ginny chemistry. He is older and the beard makes him look even older than that, but they've done a good job developing their chemistry slowly and making Lawson care about her and not just wanting to sleep with her. This love triangle with the agent will certainly be the source of drama, but Ginny's "rule" is another built-in form of drama, so watching Ginny and Lawson get there (assuming they do) should be entertaining.

And on the baseball stuff, I actually don't watch baseball, but I do watch this show. The premise of a female athlete going pro in a men's league just sounded interesting to me, for whatever. I am into one sport (soccer) and no others, and I especially find baseball incredibly boring.

[In2You]

On 10/11/2016 at 1:49 AM, topanga said:

I'm a casual baseball, so I miss most of the baseball "errors." I enjoy the authenticity that the show does provide. And I wait for you guys to point out to me what the show did right or wrong in terms of baseball.

And in contrast to the PTV article, I'm glad the show is about more than baseball. That's what keeps me watching week after week. If I simply wanted a baseball procedural, I'd watch...baseball. Or the "Baseball Tonight" show on the MLB network. Or any other shows on the MLB network. In fact, I didn't start watching the show right away because I thought it was only about baseball. And maybe that's why  it's having a hard time attracting viewers. I wish Fox would do a better job of marketing Pitch to people who simply want to see a good drama--that happens to use baseball as a backdrop.

I like that the show addresses family, loyalty, the business side of baseball, feminism, friendship, isolation, and yes, there's even some romance. Call it cliche, but as clarewalks said, when I watch a TV drama, I want to be entertained. "Were you not ENTERTAINED????"

It doesnt need to solely be about baseballl however baseball has been taking a back seat to some petty  drama in the first 3 episodes.

[rippleintime17]

One of my favorite things about the brawl was how the massive pitcher seemed terrified that anyone would think he was trying to hit her. That brawl was ALL Ginny. She wanted the respect to be treated as any of the guys would have been. She might've thought Trevor was even calling for balls from Mountain, which is why she took extra out on him. She wanted a fight. I had to laugh at how she lobbied to take her AB with the acting manager (who, by the way, probably had managed before at some point in his career since managers get ejected a few times a year) by saying she had two innings left in her arm, only to be ejected anyway. I'm glad it bonded her with Tommy a little. Though, no way Tommy would be come off the DL without a rehab assignment first. I think these are the types of things that baseball purists notice but would be too clunky to have to add in and explain in the context of the show, so I'll give it a pass.

[RedKeep]

On 8.10.2016 at 8:21 AM, colorbars said:

The show is clearly going for Lawson/Ginny romantically, and they have a nice chemistry, I'll give them that, but I really really hope they don't go there. Not only is he over a decade older than her, but her rule seems very important to her, and well, I just don't want it. I wish it would stick to her hero worshiping crush and him seeing her more as a younger sister and someone to mentor before he retires.

Completely agree. I've been thinking about this after last week's episode and I'm not even sure how much of that is me being paranoid because network tv, over the last few years, has conditioned me to expect shows to a) heavily appeal to a shipper fans side of the audience and b) go for the easiest available pairing and how much of it is this particular show actually planting seeds. But in the end it doesn't matter that much yet because I just know I really, really don't want it. It's a nice show, I quite enjoy watching it, but I'm also not a point where it's absolute must-see tv for me and a romantic Lawson/Ginny pairing would be where I'd draw a line in the sand, I'm afraid.

I'm not here for Ginny being paired off romantically with any of her team mates for that matter, but it's not like the show has developed any of them as characters much outside of Lawson and Blip at this point. I don't see how such a pairing could work without hurting Ginny as a character, after everything we've learned about her thus far, and I'd absolutley hate for yet another show to throw away a great platonic m/f dynamic because somehow that's not enough and two characters can't have enjoyable chemistry without being turned from platonic into a romantic pairing.

[jhlipton]

On 10/12/2016 at 8:19 PM, rippleintime17 said:

She might've thought Trevor was even calling for balls from Mountain, which is why she took extra out on him.

Trevor had to be calling balls.  He didn't do so in the usual manner (with his arm extended out) but Mountain was definitely pitching out of the box.
 

[ProudMary]

On 10/7/2016 at 8:49 PM, Jediknight said:

Blip?  Only a couple of guys were actually throwing punches, damn near everybody was trying to break it up and keep others out.  Blip got in there and got Ginny out, and like he told his wife, he would have been fined and suspended.  Only 2 people were throwing punches, so there was no need to start swinging

Royals?  I still chuckle at Salvador Perez doing nothing to stop Manny Machado from decking Yordano Ventura, because Salvy was sick of saving Ventura's ass.

As a baseball fan, I hate "the code" and that damn unwritten rules nonsense.  I would have loved if Mike told Ginny, "You really want to get payback?  The best payback is winning."

He said to her, "There are other ways."  And then hit a 3 run homer.  That summed it up nicely.

[TobinAlbers]

Quote

Lawson was way too happy to hear that Ginny had his poster on her wall. He was practically giddy.  And he was way too curious about Ginny's former relationship. He's got it bad, even when he's hooking up with someone else. I'm fully aboard the Lawson/Ginny shipper train, though ratings are so bad we may never see it come to fruition.

When Ginny pushed past Trevor and turned the corner to find Lawson waiting for her -just out of sight but within yelling distance of things got heated with Trevor- I immediately grinned 'Oh, this guy has got it bad.' 

He may even be telling himself that he's protective of her as a mentor, teammate, big brother, but Lawson wasn't gonna wait until later to make sure that Ginny was okay and get the 411 on her and Trevor. He wanted to know NOW. 

If the show were to go five seasons I could totally see the show playing the long game with Mike being the one carrying the torch but also aware that he can't go there while their teammates. Then he can't go there because he doesn't want to hold her back. And finally in the finale when he's got himself together not on a team with Ginny and she's no longer a rookie but mentoring someone else, she'll ask him out and he'll heave a sigh of relief 'Finally!'

In the meantime, loved the Mountain being a horrified hapless pawn in baseball politics, did feel bad for Trevor who was a decent guy and who in the present did apologize and acknowledge the lessons he'd learned and still tried to offer guidance knowing he'd burned the friend/something more bridge with her.

If there is a S2 a Mario Lopez as a rival team player and/or Tiffany Thiessen as a player wife or team owner episode would totally rock. 

[romantic idiot]

So, is the Mountain a real player? 

[marina to]

On 11/21/2016 at 3:21 PM, romantic idiot said:

So, is the Mountain a real player? 

He's a basketball player. Justen Naughton