You probably won’t be surprised to learn that Tim Tebow, facing big-league pitching for the first time Wednesday in a spring training game with the New York Mets, struck out in his first at-bat. You might be surprised, however, to learn that it was a called third strike and super-nice-guy Tebow wasn’t too pleased with the umpire’s call.
Tebow wasn’t facing just any big-league pitching either. He was facing Rick Porcello of the Boston Red Sox, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, who set down Tebow on four pitches. He swung and missed at one. The called third strike did look a tad low and away, but it was framed well and Tebow was rung up anyway.
Here’s a look:
Tim Tebow gets called out on strike three. That does not look like a strike to me. At all. pic.twitter.com/rCj8pTvGj6— #InAllKindsOfWeather (@AllKindsWeather) March 8, 2017
And another look:
TIM TEBOW DOES NOT APPROVE! pic.twitter.com/xSIsa7YYed— Cork Gaines (@CorkGaines) March 8, 2017
Now before you be too critical of Tebow, saying he doesn’t belong in baseball, consider this: Getting mad at the umpire after a called third strike is pretty much a rite of passage for a ballplayer.
In his second at-bat, Tebow had a tad more success. He grounded into a double play, which hey, contact. It actually plated a run (no RBI on the stat sheet, though) and the crowd was pretty thrilled.
FINE. Not an RBI, but he got a standing ovation @cjzer0 Tebow RBI pic.twitter.com/7aSPcghsFr— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) March 8, 2017
That’s Mets announcer Ron Darling dropping the line: “First standing O I’ve ever seen for grounding into a double play.” That was about the high point for Tebow. In his third at-bat, he was hit by a pitch, then doubled off first base on a line drive to second. In his fourth and final at-bat, he struck out looking again.
His final line for the day: 0-3 with two strikeouts.
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