[17] One of my (American) friends living in London had a similar experience in reverse. He went to a cricket batting cage, or whatever the equivalent is called, and kept trying to swing through the ball – to hit a home run, basically – which is completely the wrong way to do it, as many people told him.

Unfortunately they dumbed down pounds shillings and pence some time back but they’ll never get our cricket.

[0] Fantastic article, Emma! 5 days of 8 hour long Yankee-Red Sox matches might grind the entire Northeast to a halt. Forget how long it would take for some of our regulars to be hauled off to the hospital for treatment of coronaries – I think ESPN might explode if that ever happened.

To my knowledge, no. But the Pirates did sign a couple of amateur players from India. They’re pitching for the GCL Pirates.

As for Cricket, I’m still learning about it, I kinda have the basics down. I would like to try my hand at it someday. I see games all the time @ Flushing Meadows and Ferry Point Park.

I know a couple of girls who tried to make the switch from cricket to baseball/softball, it was an interesting experience trying to coach them. The swing mechanics are completely different. I kept telling them that they could swing through the ball. I guess they would’ve made excellent bunters, I suppose.

and his pies have more chance of gating someone out than the rubbish I’ve delivered

Isn’t A.J. Burnett a pie-chucker?

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out. When they are all out, the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out.

Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.

When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.

[1] Googly is an off break bowled with a leg break action, by a right handed wrist spinner to a right handed batsman.

Chinaman is a left handed wrist spinner.

Toxic: top order bat, pie chucker, inept fielder.

I know a bit about cricket — I lived in Australia for a while. But much of it really still seems pretty mysterious to me. My kids understand it well, because they played it in Australian schools.

[6] hahahaha – very nice sliced

Have their been any Indian or Pakistani players in MLB?

And on a barely related note, is there any way to leave a ticket I have in hand at the stadium for a friend that will arrive late, short of leaving it under a rock?

“Nick Swisher” DOES have a bit of a British tinge to it …