I was home for a typical evening game. Lasorda was up in the booth giving this bombastic speech about all time Dodger greats like Sax and Nomar.
Who? Did he just misspeak?
Meanwhile, Loney picked a short hop for the second out of the frame. His story soon moved to Manny Mota’s pinch hitting then Alex Cora’s memorable marathon at-bat.
“Just my hearing, I guess.” I made a mental note to get it checked out.
But then, in an inexplicable moment, he was rambling about Kazuhisa Ishii!
Is my mind playing tricks on me? What about Jim Gilliam or Kirk Gibson? Even Beltre had the one great year! I doubt I’m alone in wanting to remember Piazzas as opposed to the Dreiforts of Dodger history. Now, Vin, he can make even a Jeff Shaw interesting. Or even Andy Ashby if he really worked at it. The man had called games seasons even before Jesse Orosco was born!
That got me thinking. Was the skipper really trying to teach me that being able to see one like Don Drysdale in Dodger blue, it’s worth waiting through 100 Guillermo Motas? “Hey, that’s deep for such an old blowhard,” I thought. So, will there be some eventual cosmic payoff for watching the game when Park served up two slams in an inning?
“Better be damned good” I muttered.
The answer to the puzzle is a Dodger. Comment freely in the thread, but if you have the solution, please don't give it away to everyone in the comments section. Instead, do the following:
- Email me with the first and last name of the Dodger player who is the answer, along with your reasoning. Partial credit may be awarded at the discretion of the board of directors. Please include your screen name somewhere in the email.
- Post in the comments notifying me you have mailed you solution attempt.
57 comments:
My lead is in jeopardy. I have NO IDEA where to start.
If anyone takes the lead, it's definitely not going to be me.
Answer sent!
Anybody working? I'll post some clarifications and a hint at 10.
No dice, Greg.
Hint 1:
There are 3 distinct parts to the puzzle.
1. Figure out what the players Tommy's talking about have in common.
2. Use the information for step 1 to interpret the text.
3. Answer the resulting question.
Only the players that Tommy explicitly mentions? Or also include the players Mr. C is watching and thinking about?
@greg
Every player or former player mentioned in the text is relevant.
Vinny, too?
answer sent
Question sent
Sorry, Sax. Step 1 is correct, though.
Greg, Vinny doesn't qualify.
I'm not quite sure I'll get to this today. Work sucks.
... So, we have weathered 2 Guillermo Mota's. Does this mean we have to see 98 more before the Darren Dreifort mistake is remedied? or 98 more before we see another Darren Dreifort?
@dusto
Philosophically speaking? I'm only saying that seeing that one moment of brilliance validates those 1OO mediocre perfomances.
That does not directly relate to the solution to the puzzle, however.
I need further clarification on your answer to Greg's question. I know all the players are relevant to the puzzle, for part 1 specifically do I need to focus only on the one's Tommy mentions?
How did the apostrophe get in there?
@josh
The players names all specifically relate to step 1. Any that are mentioned in the text, not just in Tommy's diatribe.
Answer sent. And it is THE answer. Because that is the only solution I can come up with in the 15 minutes I gave myself to answer it before I have to actually do some work.
Sorry Dusto.
It was AN answer.
I know Vin's name isn't included, but is Lasorda's?
@Josh
Lasorda qualifies.
Hint 2 for step 2 posted to the main text.
If only I were on Step 2 yet...
Are most people stuck on step 1?
I'll post the third hint for that part around 2p.
Answer sent.
Breakthrough then stuck again.
About halfway through step 2, I figure.
Answer sent.
MLASF, Jason, and Sax are all at the exact same point. Someone should finish soon.
Hint 3:
(Part 1) I was not watching this game on KCAL. It was on neither ESPN nor was it a FOX game of the week.
MLASF, Sax, and Jason
You all have part 1 correct, and a portion of part 2. Continue the same pattern.
Josh is also halfway through Step 2.
Clarification for part 3: decade, not century.
Question sent.
I am getting a very uneasy feeling now that so may of you are so close an aren't hitting. If I miscounted, I will be horrified. Going back for a recount now.
Progress and possible answer sent.
*Head on desk*
Where did it all go wrong?
I will surely be punished in a future life.
Hold the phones, I've committed a KFP-like baserunning error. If I could only figure out how or why...
And now we wait...
*weeps silently*
I really liked living in this country under my real name.
If it's FUBAR, I'm willing to give you a pass. I don't know about the rest of the gang, though.
At least I know I'm right up to a point.
Alright. I am a complete fuckup, So I have already decided to award credit to those that reached step 2 based on the time of their e-mails, but I'm trying to find out HOW and fix it, fer the love of Christ.
I WAS RIGHT!!!
I mean, if you were wrong, I was right... right?
haha.
Yay credit!
Boo to (I think) being the last to reach Step 2!
Josh, I'm still trying to figure out Step 1...
Sorry to delay corrections, but if I got those wrong, I'd need witness protection.
*sigh*
Corrections in italics...
Worst part of all was Sax being so nice about ending up with gibberish at a certain point.
*facepalm*
Uh...even more confused e-mail sent.
Ignore that. I goofed.
@Josh
That's what we do here.
Still trying to figure out part one.
I am a broken man right now.
How many times did I check that?!
Crap. I have to leave. I hope I'll have time to solve this at some point.
I seem to still be missing the last few letters in the question for step 3 and I've got to head out. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult this was to create so you won't get any crap from me, Mr. C. No need to assume another pseudonym for your pseudonym.
Don't worry about it, Mr. C. It's all good.
Waiting for my umamiburger order...
No worries from me either, Mr C. I can't imagine how difficult that was to concoct. I'm just happy that we are all sniffing the same glue.
Just read through this comment stream (I wasn't able to actually attempt the puzzle, and in fact am a little scared to do so) and I totally commiserate with you Mr C. Messing up a puzzle construction is one of my great fears. For several terrifying minutes I thought I f'ed up the puzzle where the Cub wanders through the forest looking for Jasmine by sunrise, and couldn't get to the internet to verify or correct...god that was an awful, awful feeling.
So I'm with you Mr C. I'm sure it will happen to me at some point (if it hasn't already and I've conveniently blocked it out of my memory).
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