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If you haven’t already, take a moment to read Julie Parker’s piece on SFBay.ca from earlier this week about the time that Erik Kratz struck out Brandon Belt in a relief appearance for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Belt’s mantra approaching the at-bat was to not be struck out by a position player, by any means necessary. Obviously, he did not succeed and was bested by a high-70s “fastball.”
The story is pretty hilarious to everyone not named Brandon Belt. Some of his teammates may gracefully pretend not to remember it, such as Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey, but it will haunt Belt for the rest of his life.
And some of his teammates may never let him forget it. Parker notes that Joe Panik had this to share:
“[Kratz] left it up on the computer during the home-opener against Tampa. I was in the video room and I was just looking at video and on the computer next to me I saw the same play going over and over again and it was of Erik striking out Brandon.
Cold. Just cold.