Was there ever anything more sneaky fun in Little League? Or in softball? Or even kickball?

The pitcher gets the ball back on a lob from the catcher and turns to walk back to the rubber. You stroll a little bit off third base while the catcher still has the ball, “la-di-dah, just a little stroll,” he tosses it and — whammo! — you go for it, you run for home. And you’re safe. Of course. (Better be.)

Jayson Werth lived that one Tuesday night, the second steal of home we’ve seen this season. The first one was more athletic in a way because it’s like Jacoby Ellsbury was racing the pitch, more dangerous because of that and just wildly entertaining. This one was the more sneaky, still athletic because Werth is fast, make no mistake, but more of the element of surprise — and just wildly entertaining.

Gotta love the steal, period. Poor thing got all tromped on the last decade or so, but there was some logic behind it. Steals are great. Getting caught is not good for anyone, except the opposing team. And that’s been the issue with the stats wonks, and they were right. But now that efficiency is up, so are attempts. Everybody wins.

In a piece like this one from last week, one has to retain the journalistic standards of point of view — the reader’s not supposed to know what it is. Maybe this example isn’t the best, but it points out that the steal is coming back into vogue. Attempts are way up in the AL, albeit with a few staunch devotees leading the way, and that trend’s holding up. Hopefully it’s not evident, or at least blatantly so, that the writer just absolutely loves the stolen base.

Here at the Grind, it can go a little bit more like this: The steal is back, baby. Deal with it.

Yakyu Haiku
That’s the American tradition of baseball in Japanese, and here’s an Americanized version of a Japanese tradition:
Z, for Zimmerman
Hits, hits all April and May –
Z, he’s got the goods