I’ve seen hundreds of baseball games in my life, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard/seen what I did Saturday while covering the Mariners-Cleveland spring training game in Peoria Saturday.
↵Mariners catcher Miguel Olivo was trotting down the third-base line to score on a sacrifice fly. He started fast but slowed up because the ball was hit so deep. Then, just as Olivo got close to home plate, he pulled up suddenly and fell forward, reaching out to touch home plate and make sure he scored.
↵Olivo lay on the ground in pain, but many in the crowd thought he was belly-flopping for fun. There was laughter, and plenty of it, coming from the crowd.
↵Of course, it was only seconds before everyone realized Olivo was hurt. He suffered a strained groin and had to leave the field on a cart.
↵Needless to say, it was all just odd.