Baseball’s regular season runs from April till September and there are 162 games —per team! Then the postseason starts. Unlike the college basketball postseason (tournament) that is over in 10 days of gameplay, the MLB postseason goes on until the end of October.

So, I’m asking: are you ready to Play Ball? Or, well, at least watch it?

Last year we created a ton of guides to baseball–from the basics like players, positions, terms and scoring to tips on how to watch the World Series of Boredom er, Baseball.

This year, we’ll be expanding the guides and adding more advanced teachings. There will also be team and player profiles. Anyone interested in writing/promoting their favorite team (and getting free and shameless promotion to their own sites) please email assignment_desk AT stilettoSETsports DOT com.

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Reasons to Watch Baseball

• Why Hitting a Ball With a Stick is Fun To Watch: Top Ten Reasons to Watch MLB Baseball!
• Why You Should Say “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”: Top Ten Reasons to go See A Live MLB Game

The Girls’ Guide to Baseball

• Girl’s Guide to Baseball Basics: How many players are on a team? How long is a game? What is a “good” batting average?
• Baseabll Terms to Know: Bat. Ball. Strike. Bases Loaded. Tushy. Ya know, all the important things!
• Baseball Positions: Nine Guys + Nine Different Positions = Loads of Fun. Need I say more?
• Guide to Pro Baseball: The AL and the NL of the MLB. OMG, what? LOL!
• The Objective of Baseball: aka Why Do They Sing, One, Two, Three Strikes You’re Out?:
• A Girl’s Guide to Scoring in Baseball: Football has goals and touchdowns. Soccer and hockey have goals.  Basketball has, well, baskets. So what does one score in baseball? Runs and bases, yes. but do you know the differnce between a Grand Slam, an earned run, and an RBI?

Girl’s Guide to Surviving the World Series

• How to Survive the World Series of Boredom: Fun facts and bits of trivia to wow any baseball fan. It totally freaks people out that I know that the 1989 World Series is known as the Battle of the Bay and the Earthquake Series.
• There’s Only One October: a quick guide to the MLB playoffs/postseason and how it works.
  • There’s Only One October 2008 Commercials: The commercials that actually made me want to watch baseball!

Books, Movies, Gifts and More!

• Baseball Movies for Girls who like crying in baseball and movies
  
• Baseball Movies for Boys who Just Love Baseball
• Best Baseball Books: Tales of Modern and Past Baseball
• Fabulous Gifts for the Baseball Lover

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Want to write about your favorite team and have thousands see your story? Contact Stiletto Sports to submit your piece! We are completely biased and love shamless team promotion here! Is there a guide you would like to see for the 2009 MLB series? Leave a comment or shoot me an email and we will try to get it done!

Stiletto Sports’ Rulebook for Team Selections aka “the picks” works especially well in playoff match ups.

Rule #1: If you already have a team you follow, pick them!

If not…

• 1a: If your boyfriend/husband/signifcant other/family member/ friend has a team they really like and you don’t care at all, go with what they say
• 1b. Go with your home town, home state, current state of residence or favorite state to vacation in.
  
• Proving the Rules: I’ve watched Kansas college basketball for over 10 years. I always pick them in match-ups out of loyalty. And look, last year they won! Dad worships the Celtics and I don’t have an NBA team anymore so I went with his and look, they won last year! I live in Florida and didn’t care about baseball so I figured, hey, let’s root for the Tampa Bay Rays and look, they got to the World Series!

Rule #2: Pick the team with the hottest guys

This can be tricky! Feel free to ask me for my input

• 2a. However, if a team from your hometown, home state, current state of residence, or favorite state to vacation is in a match-up and does not have a cute player, you may disregard Rule 2 to support your local team.
• 2b. Sometimes both teams will have hot guys. Use your discretion. Does one super hot & talented star outweigh three cuties? Weigh this carefully!
• 2c. If you have heard of a player, even if he is not hot, chances are he is probably good. Afterall, why else have you heard of him? You can pick his team even if he is ugly.
  
• 2d: Amended 1/4/09. Use caution with 2a. Make sure you are very loyal to your state or town because you really shouldn’t go against the cute guys: See Dolphins losing to Ravens in NFL playoffs. I chose Dolphins because I live in Fl even though the Ravens had the hot guy. Bad plan.
  

Rule #3: Pick the team with the best colors

I personally love pink but you don’t see that very often. UNC does have a really pretty baby blue color. But usually Iother favorite or significant colors to help me choose like:

• My high school & sorority colors: purple & gold
• My college colors: blue & orange
• Or I compare and contrast: if one team has red and black and the other has icky yellow and brown….

Rule #4: Judge a team by it’s name

This goes for state, town and mascot name. Like Phoebe from Friends when she said “Green Bay! That’s only, like, my favorite bay”

My favorite is when you get into college teams because there are some doozies out there! I’m actually going to steal my own quote from my NCAA basketball article:

Some strange and sometimes made-up names to consider

• The Hawaii Rainbows. I’m sure that strikes fear into the hearts of their opponent
• The Maryland Terrapins (aka turtles). They sound like they run up and down the court/field quickly
• These leave you wondering what the heck it means. Ohio State Buckeyes???? Oklahoma Sooners? Sooner than what? Illinois Fighting Illini. Um, ok. Can’t even really say that. Ill-inny? Ill-eye-ni? Scary I’m sure.
• And my favorite, the Southern Illinois Salukis. Which, after a painfully boring article about why on earth these people thought it would be a good name, I discovered is some ancient purebreed dog from Egypt.

Rule #5: Pick your favorite animal!

Hope it’s not the Saluki.

Which do you prefer: Cardinals or falcons? Eagles or ravens? Panthers or Jaguars? Bears or Tigers? Buck or Timberwolf? Ooooh or a Raptor! It gets trickier when the team doesn’t have animals. But just think about it: Do you like White Socks or Red Socks better

Rule Test #2-5: This is how I pick my brackets for the NCAA March Madness Tournament. I won the pool the first year I did one and came in second another time. The boys were not amused.

Rule #6: Remember, it’s a girl’s prerogative to change her mind! (added January 20, 2009)

Don’t feel like have to be 100% committed to your pick! Thing of them more like a fabulous pair of shoes you found to go with a hot outfit! They might be absolutely perfect and you can totally go with them. But if you keep looking and find another pair that’s a better fit and goes better, that’s totally fine!

Sometimes you will go into a game not knowing all the info. You may know of a hottie on one team so you pick them. Half-way through the game, you may find the other team has more hotties. If this happens, remember the shoe thing and reweigh your options!

• 6a. “you can totally change your pick mid-game if you discover hotties on the other team that you did not know about.” Just be prepared, not everyone approves of this rule. Or even knows about it. Refer them here if you have any problems exerting your rights!
• Rule test: See Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens Team Selection and following Recap Article for proof of how well this method works!

More Rules to come as I Invent them!

*All Rules are subject to change without notice.

**Although it has great results for me, I in no way guarantee this method or recommend putting money down based on what I say. If you do and you lose, don’t blame me. If you win, gimme half! Or at least let me know it worked so I can have testimonials!

image.art.com's image of Ken Griffey, Jr. hitting his record 500th homerun!

In general baseball converation and game recaps you can make do with just knowing the “homeruns” and faking it from there. But not during the actual game! Especially watching it on t.v. Then there are terms like base hit, line drive, pop up, double, RBIs all flying around the room, or field as the case may be.

But I promise, it’s not so bad. Most of those weird terms are just different types of hits based on where the ball landed and how it got there. And they are important because not everyone scores from home runs, plenty of guys score the hard way by making their way around the bases.

So how do you score in baseball if you don’t hit a homerun?

Well, any guy will tell you that if you get to second or third base you are in prime scoring position and could actually make it to home base. And you are still scoring, does it really matter how you did it? (Yes, they will tell you this about actual baseball and not just about rounding the bases while making out).

Keep in mind that baseball is full of all sorts of other really complicated rules and “buts” Like, yes its a base hit, BUT only if there wasn’t an error by the outfielders on the second Tuesday of the full moon and blah, blah, blah. I’m not going into all that. Just giving you enough to understand what the heck the announcers are talking about.

You Swing. You Hit the Ball and it’s not Foul. Now What?

Chances are, your ball did one of these things:

Base Hit: A hit that gets the batter to at least first base.

Bunt: The batter doesn’t actually swing the ball and try to hit it, he kinda puts the bat in front of him and lets the ball hit the bat instead. This results in a short tap that makes the catcher and pitcher scramble forward to retrive the ball. Usually used to help move players around the bases (advance the runner).

Double: A hit that gets the batter to second base.

Fly-Ball: Batter hits the ball hard enough to catch air and it’s usually a high-flyer into the outfield.

Ground Ball (grounder): Ball rolls or bounces along the ground in the infield.

Line Drive: Flies in the air, but not at the height and angle of fly-ball. It’s almost like a missle the way it rockets through the infield and outfield. They are very hard to catch because of their speed, and because they are lower to the ground then a fly-ball, they drop quicker. Often they are hit directly at an outfielder and are caught on pure instinct–which registers on their faces! They look surprised to see the ball in their glove! How’d you get here?

Pop-Up: Goes very high but not very far and gives the appearance of dropping straight down almost slowly giving the fielder plenty of time to catch it. ***

Sacrifice: There are two kinds of these but the point is the same. The batter takes one for the team, so to speak. His action results in him being tagged out, but helps his team in the long run because it either advances the runners already on base (Sacrifice Bunt) or can actually drive in a scoring run (Sacrifice Fly). There are a lot of really small details about this but just know that makes the batter, well, a great team player.

Triple: A hit that gets the batter to third base.

***A bonus if you want to totally wow everyone is to know the Infield Fly Rule. It is one of those crazy little details that every once in a while it happens in a game. And guys can rarely remember the actual rule unless they played the sport themselves because it is obscure. They know the gist of it but if you throw this out there, well, you can pretty much get anything you want. So here ya go:

If there are runners on base and the batter hits a high pop-up in the infield that is so obviously catch-able that even I could catch it..while wearing stilletos… the ump will automatically declare the batter is out without waiting for the play to finish. This prevents the fielder from dropping the ball on purpose to tag out the baserunners and then throwing to tag out the batter.

Scoring Terms:

RBI: Runs Batted In. How many times the batter helped his teammates score while at bat.

Earned Run: Earned by a walk, stealing or from a hit.

Homerun: When the batter hits the ball out of the playing field, but in fair territory.

Grand Slam: The batter hits a homerun when the bases are loaded. Scores 4 runs!

Sure you know the lyrics, but what do they mean? What’s a strike? Why is he out? What’s a ball versus a strike? Why do they say things like “The count is 0 and 2?”

Here it is, as basic as I can be.

Right over home plate there is the Strike Zone. The zone actually changes per batter. It is technically the space over the plate that runs from the batter’s armpits (ew) to their knees when they are in swinging position. Since everyone is of different height and body structure, this zone does fluxuate but the goal doesn’t.

one, two, three strike, you're out! Thanks bleedingsports.blogspot.com!

Pitcher’s Goal: To throw the ball in the strike zone without the batter hitting it. He does this by using a variety of pitches and communicating with the catcher.

Batter’s Goal: To be able to anticipate and read the pitch. He needs to determine if it is coming into the strike zone where he needs to hit it or if it is outside the box.

Strikes: Happen when the pitcher successfully throws the ball into the strike zone and the batter:

-Fails to swing

-Swings and misses

-Hits the ball but it flies into foul territory.

Ball: When the pitcher fails to throw the ball into the strike zone.

The Count: Keeps track of how many balls and strikes the batter has during the current at bat. Always reads balls first then strikes. So, an 0-2 count means that the batter has no balls (go ahead, giggle. It’s okay) and 2 strikes.

Strike Out: This is where the song comes in: 1, 2, 3 strikes, you are out! Swing and miss three times and it’s time for you to go sit back down!

Walk (base-on-balls): If the pitcher throws 4 balls, the player is automatically allowed to take first base (hence the taking a Base on Balls)! He doesn’t even have to swing or do anything! He just get gets to play.

Foul Balls: There is a line that runs up the field on 1st and 3rd base and extends up poles in the stands. This is the foul/fair ball line. If the ball lands on the line it is still fair, but if it lands on the wrong side (meaning the side closest to the fans in the stadium), it is declared a Foul Ball. Or as I like to call them, Do Overs, because all the players, even those on the bases, trot back to their original places and the hitter has to try again.

Official-rules.org

Things to know:

-If the batter has no strikes, the first two foul balls count as strikes.

-The batter can never strike-out on a foul ball. You can have 2 strikes and hit 100 foul balls and well, you’d piss everyone off, but they still can’t say you struck out.

-Unless you bunt the ball into foul territory. Then for some reason, you struck out. Still can’t figure that rule out.

-And, if the catcher or another fielder catches your foul ball, well you are out, regardless of your count. Go sit down.

-For more details see the Official Rules & Diagram

Major League Baseball (yup, MLB), the pinnacle of pro-baseball. What every little boy dreams of being when he is growing up. Which is why he tortures you with watching a dozen games a week (or so it seems). Here’s your MLB survival guide, key terms, facts and name dropping that will drop the jaws of your friends.

The Major League.

sportslogo.net

-Made up of 30 pro teams

-There are two leagues within the MLB: American & National (that would be the AL and the NL of MLB).

-There are 14 teams in the American League and 16 teams in the National League.

-Each league is broken down into three divisions: East, West & Central.

-The Difference between them: The American league has a 10th player: the designated hitter.

-Designated hitter is a player that comes in to replace the pitcher in the lineup when the team is up at bat.

Names to throw around:

David Ortiz, aka Big Papi, from the Red Sox (however, if your man likes the Yankees, DO NOT mention the Red Sox!)

Jason Giambi, the Yankees (vice versa, don’t mention him to a Red Sox lover)

Frank “The Big Hurt” Thomas, most commonly known for his time in the 90s on the Chicago White Sox. You will totally wow with that trivia fact.

-In 1997 MLB introduced Interleague play meaning the AL and the NL teams play each other during the season, not just for the championship game.

-Pitcher’s Duel: Exciting competetion between the two opposing pitchers. Both give up few runs and base hits, keeping the score low and tensions high.

Matzusaka on the mound in the 2008 ALCS against Tampa Bay

Roger Clemens. The one and only time you can mention the Yankees and the Red Sox together because he played for both, and had the respect of the fans of both teams. One of 4 players to have 4,000 strikeouts in his career. He is also the only player to have his 4,000the strikeout come during his 300th game win. He lead the Yankees to two World Series wins and won the coveted Cy Young pitching Award 7 times.

Randy Johnson: Throws a 100 mph fastball! He is another one of the 4 players to ever have 4,000 strikeouts. Played for the Seattle Mariners and is now on the Arizona Diamondbacks. Won Cy Young Award 5 times. He’s nicknamed “the Big Unit,” partially because he is 6’10″!

Pedro Martinez, Andy Petitte and Daisuke Matzusaka: If you can say it, that would be impressive enough

Bonus Points: Sandy Kofax. This will frighten people if you know it since he played from 1955-66. Just throw around Kofax, curveball and the Brooklyn Dodgers and watch the boys spit their beer across the room in shock.

MLB Seasons:

-The Pre-Season is called Spring training. It starts towards the end of February. Teams from all over the country migrate south to train in the warmer, thawed-out climates. Think of it like their summer homes.

-There are two spring training leagues:

Grapefruit = teams that migrate to Florida.

Cactus = teams that play in Arizona.

-The regular season runs from the first Sunday in April to the first Sunday in October.

-Regular season = 162 games. So if you feel like the season is never-ending, well, it kinda is.

-The post-season, or playoffs, begin in October. Guys live for this.

You will notice, however, that a majority of the players listed come from the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox or the Tampa Bay Rays. Partly it’s because their names are pretty famous (I’m sure you have heard of a little guy named Derek Jeter?). But it’s also in part because these are names that I know. The ones that have seeped into my brain from all the games my boyfriend and my father have made me watch on television. And also because the Rays are about to go into the World Series and are the talk of the town. But I encourage you to check out your local team’s top players. MLB.com has a complete list for each team. Scroll through the pics and pic your favorite hottie. I mean, player.

Who’s the Boss?

The Manager: In baseball, the coach is actually called the manager. And he gets to wear the same cute little uniform that the players do!

Famous Managers:

Base Coach: The guys that hang out next to first and third base and gesture wildly at the players. They are giving elaborate hand signals to the runners on base to help them know what to do! Not sure why they are not called Base Managers….

Guys holding the bat:

Swing batter, batter, swing!

Batter: Player that is holding the bat and is trying to hit the ball. Usually wiggles around a lot with the bat to get comfy in the batter’s box. Usually taunted with “sing batter, batter, batter, swing.”

Designated Hitter: We’ll go into this more when we talk about Major League Baseball. But basically, this is a player that comes in to bat in the place of the pitcher. It is different from the pinch-hitter because the pitcher is allowed to stay in the game.

Pinch Hitter: A player that comes in to replace another hitter in the line-up, in a pinch. However, once the player has been replaced by the pinch hitter, he is retired to go hang out in the dug-out and the pinch hitter stays in the game. Usually the pinch hitter is great at offense (hitting the ball) but sucks at defense (can’t catch anything) and the coach, oh sorry, manager, has to determine which is more important.

Leadoff Hitter: The first player to hit in the batting order. He is not the team’s power hitter but he has horse power. He gets the most at-bats in the lineup but his goal isn’t always to drill the ball into the stands, but rather gain base hits and doubles to get on base. Then run like heck during the rest of the line-up to make it around the bases and score.

Clean-up hitter: The person slated to be 4th in the batting order. The hope is that the first three batters are on base and the 4th will “clean-up” by hitting a homerun and clearing the bases. The clean-up position is usually reserved for the team’s best hitter, a powerhouse. But, while the top four spots in the lineup are key, they are not stationary. Meaning that players rotate through them. It’s rare that the same person stays as the teams clean-up hitter through a whole season.

Names to Drop: Right now, one hot name would be Justin Morneau. He played 163 games in 2008 as the Twins’ clean-up hitter. And Alex Rodriguez has spent a lot of time in this role for the Yankees. Cecil Fielder will also score you some points as one to know.

Guys holding the ball:

Pitchers and catchers are arguably the two most important players in the game. If you have a sucky pitcher, you are not going to win games. At the same time, if the pitcher and catcher don’t work well together, well then, forget about it. We will go into more detail about these in a later section but for now, we want to give you the basics on what they do.

Pitcher: Player who throws the ball at the player holding the bat. Spends a lot of time shaking his head (at the catcher, see below) and spitting on the dirt mound he is standing on. We will elaborate further on the importance of the pitcher in the next blog.

Starting: The pitcher that starts the game.

Relief: The pitcher that takes over when the starting pitcher gets tired. The old perception was that the bullpen (where the pitchers hang out) was full of the has beens. But times have changed and the bullpen is full of bright stars now, especially the Closers. And the relief pitchers really extend the careers of the team’s starting pitchers.

Closer: A relief pitcher, but one that specializes in closing out games: keeping the lead or making a comeback in the final innings. (Mariano Rivera-Yankees, Jonathan Papelbon-Red Sox, Troy Percival-Devil Rays)

Ace: The team’s best starter

Ones to know: See the Pitching Blog to learn more about the top stars and the names to drop!

Catcher: Guy in the crazy mask and big knee pads crouching down behind the batter. Usually making weird hand signals in his crotch—his means of communicating with the pitcher a few hundred feet away without letting the batter know what is going to happen.

Top Catchers To Name Drop: Jorge Posada (Yankees), Jason Varitek (Red Sox), Mike Piazza (most noted for his time with the Mets) and Yogi Berra (Yankees)

Infielders & Outfielders: The ones playing defense out in the field (you know, catching the ball and throwing it to their friends around the field)

This pic from open-site.org illustrates the key parts of the field

This illustration from baseballfactory.com shows the 9 positions around the infield and outfield.

Infielders

The Basemen: They are the protectors of the bases. Each has their own forte that we will elaborate on later.

Name Dropping

1st: If you really want to wow people, especially Yankee fans, ask them who is the greatest 1st baseman of all time: Lou Gehrig or Don Mattingly.

2nd: Dustin Pedroia (Red Sox), Akinori Iwamura (Rays)

3rd: Alex Rodriguez (Yankees). And really, do you need another one besides him?

Shortstop:

Derek Jeter. Cal Ripken, Jr.

Outfielders

Centerfield:

Name Dropping: B.J Upton (Devil Rays), Johnny Damon (Yankees), Coco Crisp (Red Sox)–Easy to remember, and makes me laugh every time I hear it.

My Personal Fave: Ken Griffey, Jr.

Old School “Wow” Bonus Points: Joe Dimaggio, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays.

Left-Field:

Name Dropping: Hideki Matsui (Yankees), Manny Ramierez (Red Sox, now Dodgers), Jason Bay (Red Sox). Bay and Ramierez were actually part of much gossiped about trade mid-season this year.

Old School “Wow” Bonus Points: Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds.

Right-Field:

Name Dropping: Kosuke Fukudome (just be careful how you say it!)

Old School “Wow” Bonus Points: Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente

Terms to know:

At Bat: The offensive team’s turn to try to score.

Ball: When the pitch goes outside of the strikezone

Bases Empty: No runners on the bases.

Bases Loaded: Runners on every base and in scoring position! Very exciting!

Bat: Um, the thing used to hit the ball.

Batter’s Box: Place the batter must stand while the pitcher throws a really fast ball at them. Defined by chalk lines around the home plate marker.

Batting Order: The order that the teams will take turns hitting. The “top of the order” is usually the teams key players and hitters.

Count: Not 1, 2, 3, 4. It means the number of balls and strikes on the hitter at bat. “The count is 3 and 2″ means the pitcher has thrown 3 balls and two strikes and the batter still has one more pitch left.

On Deck: The next player about to bat. Usually hanging out on the side swinging multiple bats around while he waits his turn. This, apparently, is to warm up his arm.

Retiring the Side:

Safe: Usually accompanied by wild hand signals by the umpire.

Shoplifting: Oh wait, I mean stealing. This is actually a good thing in baseball. Stealing is when a player runs ahead to the next base before it’s time to run.

Strikezone: The specific area over home plate that the pitcher is aiming for. Technically, its the space over the plate that falls between the batter’s armpit and his knees when he is positioned to swing. The umpire behind the plate is the one that determines if the pitch was thrown in the strikezone and if it was, then it is called a:

Strike:

-A pitch thrown in the strikezone that the batter did not swing at.
-When a player swings and misses the ball. Really funny to watch because they swing with so much power and when it doesn’t connect with anything, they stumble a bit.

-A foul ball that is not caught.

Walk: When the pitcher throws 4 pitches outside of the strikezone (Balls) the batter is automatically allowed to go to First Base. This is also called a Base On Balls, meaning the batter took the Base because of Balls, not hits.

Or what I find fascinating: It’s the sport where if you manage to hit the ball a whopping 30% of the time, you are a good player. And if you hit 35%, you are like God!

The official start of the MLB season isn’t until April but the start of Spring Training is well underway! Florida and Arizona have been invaded by the MLB teams and the games have begun. This time last year the only thing I cared about was heading to the bar to pick me up a Pirate (their camp is here in Bradenton, Florida about 10 minutes from my house and every year around St Paddy’s Day I inevitably meet some guy who claims he is on the Pirates).

Anyway, this yeah is actually different! Last October I finally learned that baseball is fun and exciting and I’ve been waiting for months for Spring Training to start!

I’ve put together a great quick refresher guide of everything you need to know about baseball to get you excited about Spring Training–from why it’s fun to watch to the more complex terms to know!

We are going to really break this down by category because I came across over 150 baseball terms to know (some that my guy friends didn’t even know!) and that’s way to overwhelming to put in one quick guide. So it’s going to be broken down into categories like Players & Positions, Types of Pitches, Types of Hits, In Play & Scoring and more generic terms to know. And as this evolves, we will add some more advanced terms to really razzle and dazzle!

Let’s start with the basics of baseball and the key terms to know like “bat” and “ball”

The Basics

-There are nine players on the line-up for each team and two teams per game.

-The line-up is the team roster for each game.

-The two teams are the home team and the visiting team.

-Each team alternates between fielding (trying to catch the ball, aka defense) and batting (trying to hit the ball and score, aka offense).

-One game lasts nine innings. An inning is the period of play, there is no set time limit for an inning: It could be over in 10 minutes or last 45.

One inning is complete when each team has a turn at batting.

Innings are divided into Top and Bottom.

The visiting team always bats in the Top, or the beginning, of each inning. The home team bats in the bottom half of the inning.

Cool Facts:

-In the middle of the seventh inning, there is a 7th inning stretch. This is a key point in the game. They sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and usually stop selling beer. Pay attention!

-After the top of the 9th (last) inning, if the home team is winning, they don’t play the bottom half of the inning!

-Object & Scoring

Score is kept in terms of Runs, as opposed to points or goals

Object is to score a homerun and the team with the most after 9 innings, wins.

-To score a run, the player must go around all the bases and touch homeplate.

-Playing Field

-Divided into the Infield and the Outfield

-The Infield is where the pitcher and Derek Jeter hang out. It’s also known as the diamond (warning: calling the field ‘the Harry Winston diamond’ really freaks guys out. Do not recommend this). The diamond consists of three bases (easily named 1st, 2nd and 3rd) and homeplate.

-The Outfield is the area outside of the diamond. The Outfielders (the players that hang out in the outfield) catch high flying balls and are often stereotyped as butterfly watchers because they are out in an open field.

-Pitcher’s Mound: The big lump of dirt in the middle of the diamond that the pitcher stands on.

-Foul Line

-Bullpen: Area set aside where the extra pitchers warm-up and practice before stepping into to relieve the starting pitcher.

-Dugout: Where the managers and players that are not in the field or at bat hang out and spit a lot.

Batting Average: The amount of times you actually hit the ball when you are up at bat.

-30% good, 35% great, 25% ok, 20% they kick you off the team and put you back in training.

-Don’t discuss it in percents. Boys don’t like that. They put it in terms of hundreds. So if a players hits 30% of the time, he bats a 300. It sounds cooler.

]]> http://www.stilettosetsports.com/girls-guide-to-baseball-the-basics/feed/ 4 http://www.stilettosetsports.com/why-you-should-say-take-me-out-to-the-ballgame-please/ http://www.stilettosetsports.com/why-you-should-say-take-me-out-to-the-ballgame-please/#comments Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:21:20 +0000 Stiletto Jen http://stilettosetsports.com/?p=66 I may have come down a little hard on baseball and it’s serious lack of excitement. But, in all seriousness, baseball is not as boring as it seems, especially live. That’s my number one suggestion for getting to know baseball, or any sport. Go to a game. It’s far more exciting than watching it on television.

Top Reasons To Take Me Out to the Ballgame

1. Ballpark food. Nothing beats a ballpark hotdog but now in the newer stadiums you can actually get sushi. And if you really go for broke in the VIP areas, they have high-class buffets with prime rib! But you really can’t go wrong with hotdogs, turkey legs and roasted peanuts!

2. They deliver beer to your chair! You don’t have to get up! The man just comes by and brings it to you!

3. It’s a lot warmer than football. You don’t have to sit out in the cold and snow. Brr.

4. Star-spotting. You get to see famous players in person–kinda like spotting Brad Pitt! And actually you might spot him too. Games are always celebrity friendly! And it puts you that much closer to meeting and marrying Derek Jeter.

5. Seeing a famous place in person. Ballparks are super-famous, especially to your man. He will get really excited to see a park that he’s used to only seeing on television. And, some places are truly iconic. Think of the old Yankee & Shea Stadiums. People actually pay money to collect dirt from those places. So just think how important you are if you were actually there once!

Photo: Kjetil Ree

6. Sense of tradition. You boyfriend probably went to his first ballpark game with his dad when he was 6 or 7 years old and deep inside, he can’t wait for the day to bring his son to his first game. You can so work this to your advantage!

I was so moved by this I had to snap the shot! And your man will definietly be thinking about his son-to-be!

7. Proud to be an American. What is more American then spending a gorgeous sunny summer day at the ballpark? And, hello, major tanning opportunity!

8. It’s like you are on tv! Go to a televised game and you get a wonderful sense of superiority. You are there live while so many other people are watching you from their living rooms. And if you are in the postseason well, it’s like getting to go to the Academy Awards. No, really, call and tell your guy friends you are at Game 7 of the ALCS (and you don’t even have to know what that means!) and they will totally freak out. It’s like you are a famous tv star! Or at least VIP.

9. “Play Ball!” They actually say that! It’s so cute! Plus they sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and someone famous usually sings the National Anthem. And the sound of a homerun—first the bat connecting with the ball and then the roar of the crowd—is so incredible live! You just don’t get the same feeling in your living room (unless your boyfriend is like mine and jumps up and down and rings his metal cowbell…) But each stadium does something unique when the hometeam hits one home—something you don’t get to see live.

10. Three way tie:

-No cheerleaders or half-time show to disrupt your man’s attention.

-Fun things to do: Ballparks are full of fun things to keep you entertained: Tropicana Field has live stingrays to touch!

The 10,000 gallon sting-ray

-Hotdogs. I was told that this deserves at least another mention, if not two. They are that good.

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What to know before you go:

The song: Take me out to the ballgame. People get really excited about this during the 7^th inning stretch. Plus its full of useful info “take me out to the ballgame, take me out to the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and crackerjack (yum!), I don’t care if I ever get back cuz its Root Root Root for the home team, if they don’t win it’s a shame. For its One, Two, Three Strikes You’re Out at the old ballgame!”

]]> http://www.stilettosetsports.com/why-you-should-say-take-me-out-to-the-ballgame-please/feed/ 0 http://www.stilettosetsports.com/baseball-why-hitting-a-ball-with-a-stick-is-so-fun-to-watch/ http://www.stilettosetsports.com/baseball-why-hitting-a-ball-with-a-stick-is-so-fun-to-watch/#comments Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:14:26 +0000 Stiletto Jen http://stilettosetsports.com/?p=62

I will be the first to admit that baseball bores used to bore me to tears. There can be a whole lot of nothing going on for a very long time. But, there are some positives to get you to tune in. And, keep in mind, your man will probably be so shocked that you agree to watch and can actually talk about this sport that he will be willing to change the channel every once and a while so you can tune into America’s Next Top Model.

Top 10 Reason’s to Watch Baseball: aka Why Hitting a Ball with a Stick can be So Much Fun to Watch

1. Homeruns. When it happens, it’s really exciting. And sometimes the ball hits people in the stands. That’s just funny.
2. Strikeouts. Guys get really excited when this happens.
3. Hot guys in tight pants. Do I need to elaborate on this? Hot Guys. In tight pants. Lots of them.
4. Fanwear now comes in Pink. Team apparel has gone chic. No longer do you have to wear the hideous oversized orange t-shirt (shudder!). Check out all these supercute tees, hats and fanwear in light pink, cut in cute little baby-tee styles! Not to mention a baseball hat is the perfect fix for a bad hair day! Check out Amazon.com for tons of cute pink apparel like:

How cute would you be in this pink jersey?

5. Derek Jeter. Or, if you prefer, Alex Rodriguez. And they stand really close to each other on the field! Bonus!

Look at those eyes! Photo from Room111heroes.com

6. No Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders! That’s right, no official team cheerleaders! No competition! Better yet, if you dress as a cheerleader for your man’s team, well, let’s just say he will be very happy.

Wonder where I can get those boots?

7. Plenty of Drinking Time. The game lasts a long time. Plenty of time to drink. And if you are actually at the game live, they bring the beer to you. But you could score major points if you 1. bring yoru man beer during the game or 2. invent a drinking game to play while the game is on (i.e. Drink everytime there is strikeout or chug a beer if someone gets hit with a ball.) And you don’t have to drink beer. Get a variety pack of Smirnoff!
8. Derek Jeter. This deserves a second mention. It would have been #1 but the boy wouldn’t let me.

9. Longstanding rivalries. They make your catfight with your BFF over your BF look like a temper-tantrum. Think I’m kidding? Just mention the Red Sox to a Yankee fan or vice-versa. See what happens.

10. You get to watch guys play with their bat and balls. And that’s hot.