With no live baseball to occupy myself, I decided to play video editor with a contest between the Yanks and Jays that I attended last year. August 8th, 2019, man. It was a Thursday night, about 7-ish, and I had snuck away from real life for a wee bit of mid-week baseball. The first inning is what you see here, in Toronto's dome. Yes, those shots the Yanks struck were just as impressive from my seat up in the 500s as what you have a better view of here. Good times. A special thanks to quants at Baseball Savant for the data and MLBtv for the pics. Thomas Pannone deals primarily in four seamers and curves. On August 8th, 2019, he did so with yours truly in attendance, with the Yanks playing the part of ungrateful visitors. The following video and statistical evidence as to how he faired is unkind to the lefty's stuff and how it must have left his emotional state. Although the Yankees would only score two runs in that opening half-inning, the conclusion was clear: indeed, as Mike Wilner said in the moment, Pannone wasn't fooling anyone. He lasted into the third, which is kind of a surprise considering all the hard hits (95 MPH-plus exit velo) the streaking pinstripers put on him. But it sure made for one hell of an opening to a game for those of us in the dome. I like to think of myself as a 'thinking man' in my fandom of the game. I remember baseball-past and try to apply those moments to what I watch and enjoy in today's era. I love the way that the numbers based quantification has added to the romantic. I reflect and then reflect some more, in entirely too much wordy prose, about the potential overstep from a reliance on the statistical. If I'm honest, though, loud contact is the juice that really drives my interest. From batting practice before a game to the anticipation of a stacked line-up, who have bad intentions in mind with the lumber in their hands, it is Exit Velo City that can persuade me to trek out to the big city during the work week. A 7PM-ish start means an AM crawl into bed for this fella; it's not a lot of rest before the alarm goes off for that next adventure into adulthood. But when Aaron Judge is threatening with the bat, and you can't depend on the guy to take bp in latter games of a series, sometimes a fan has to do what a fan has to do. Indeed, as evidence to the sound coming off their bats and the exit velo flashing in the dome, recorded on Baseball Savant, my so-called 'thinking man's affection for the game' was rewarded with hard hit blast after hard hit blast that summer evening. In any event, the accompanying vid tells the tale of that first inning. So too does that video clipping exercise tell the tale of idle hands, as I consider how the hell I'm going to occupy myself with the likelihood of zero baseball happening in 2020. Man, that was a perfect night at the dome. Beautiful weather, the premium foe in the hometeam's den, and a wack of hard hit wacks following first pitch. Man, that was just the best. #Yankees #BlueJays #AaronJudge #DJLeMahieu #GioUrshela #DidiGregorius #exitvelo #BaseballSavant #MLB