The phrase 'off with the crack of the bat', while romantic, is really meaningless, since the outfielder should be in motion long before he hears the sound of the ball meeting the bat.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The bat is gone, but the smile remains.
I hate it, but a popout is the same as a strikeout. It's a matter of productive at-bats, a matter of how you do it.
The typical baseball play is a pitcher throwing a ball and the batter not swinging at it, while the other players watch. Even a home run, the sport's defining big blast, is only metaphorically exciting; a fly ball that leaves the yard changes the score but may offer no more compelling view than an outfielder staring up.
To cure a batting slump, I took my bat to bed with me. I wanted to know my bat a little better.
You have to stay fresh and blank in your mind when you go out to bat. You complicate things, and you're gone.
You fool around with different pitches playing catch, but it's not the same when you've got to face some guy with a bat in his hand.
If a pitcher sees you fiddling with the bat, he'll stall until your arms are tired before you even get a chance to hit.
Hitting a baseball well, as in cricket, is a very rare skill. One of most difficult things to do in the world to do, hitting a ball coming at you at ninety miles an hour with a round bat. Wonderful to watch.
Baseball can be slow in many ways. The action starts with when the pitcher delivers the ball. But the action really starts when the crack of the bat happens.
The crack of the bat, the sound of baseballs thumping into gloves, the infield chatter are like birdsong to the baseball starved.