Pitcher pitching....Catcher catching

First baseman awaiting throw to first base to try and get an out against the batter (no. 20) who has just hit the ball.

Third baseman protecting third base...
 
 

    Pitching - the pitcher on the defense pitches the ball to the batter of the offense, who tries to hit the ball and get on base.  If the pitcher can record 3 strikes against the batter, that batter is "out".  Conversely, if the pitcher is unable to "strike out" the batter, but pitches 4 balls, then that batter is awarded a "walk" to first base, where he becomes a runner with a chance to advance, and eventually return to home plate for a "run", or score.  Pitchers will throw a variety of different pitches, to different locations in or out of the strike zone, in order to keep the batter from hitting the ball.  These different pitches will vary by speed, spin, and movement of the ball.  The play of the ball usually starts with the pitcher being set to pitch, and then pitching the ball in the direction of the strike zone.  The photo shows a pitcher on the Los Angeles Dodgers team in the act of stepping towards home plate to pitch the ball as hard as he can.  Pitchers can pitch at speeds up to 90 miles (150 kilometres) per hour. 

    Catching - squatting behind the batter at home plate is the catcher for the defense team.  His job is to catch any pitched ball which is not hit by the batter, throw out any runner on base that tries to advance to another base whenever the ball is active, but has not been hit by the batter, and to guard home plate against any runner running in from third base to try and score a run.  Each catcher wears special equipment (face mask, chest protector, and shin guards) because of the nature of his position.  Note also the home base umpire, dressed in the black.  His job is to call the balls and strikes, and to call whether a runner is safe or out at home plate. 

    Umpires - in any major league game, there will be a minimum of 4 umpires, up to six umpires.  The four umpires will be normally standing at home plate and at each of the 3 other bases.  The additional two umpires, if there for usually a big game, will be at the left field and right field edge of the outfield.  The job of the umpire is to rule on safe or out, and on any rules and regulations of the game.  Since the call of the umpire is subject to some judgment, and mistakes do occur, you might see, every now and then, a player, but more usually, the manager of the team ruled against, having an argument against one or more umpires.  The umpire has a right to "eject or throw out" any player or manager if the umpire decides that the player or manager's behaviour is beyond reasonable bounds.

    Fielding - if the batter hits one of the pitched balls, and the ball is caught by any player on the defense team, before the ball touches the ground or lands in the stadium stands, whether the ball is in the fair or foul area, that is a "fly out".  If the batted ball lands on the ground in the fair area, the defense players must try to field the ball, and if possible, throw the ball to reach first base before the batter has himself arrived to touch first base.  If the ball arrives first, then the batter is "thrown out" at first.  If there already are other runners on base, the fielders first try to prevent any runner from reaching home plate for a score.  They try to tag or throw out a runner by tagging him with the ball whenever he is not in a safe area on a base, or by throwing the ball to reach the runner's desired destination base before the runner arrives.  Fielders wear baseball gloves to assist them in fielding and catching the batted balls, and develop strong and accurate ball throws to throw the ball to the correct position to tag out a runner.

    Errors - if any defense player commits a mistake while the ball is in play, this is called an "Error".  The error may be from dropping a fly ball that normally should have been caught without difficulty, throwing a ball so that the ball cannot be caught, missing a ground ball that should have been fielded normally, or not catching a ball properly.  If this is the case, the game's official scorekeeper will mark this mistake as an error, and on the scoreboard, such as on the first page, the team's total number of errors, will be shown under the letter "E".  In that game, the Yankees commited one error, as did the Mets.

The shortstop has just tagged out the runner (no. 23) coming from first base into second base (just visible on lower left of photo), and is now throwing the ball towards first base to try and throw out the batter who is running towards first base.  If successful, this will be a double play, i.e. two outs achieved from one hit of the ball.

    Double play - this is where, on one play of the ball, two outs are recorded in quick order against the offense team.  This is an exciting event to watch, gives a big boost to the defense, and is very demoralizing to the offense.  The most common occurence is when the offense has a runner at first base, and the batter hits a ground ball, which is fielded by one of the defense players in the infield.  This player throws the ball to second base, before the runner from first base arrives, thereby recording the first out; the ball is then thrown quickly to first base, before the batter has arrived at first base, thereby recording the second out.  Of course, if there are already two outs, then only one additional out is necessary to "retire" the offense team from batting, and in this case, a double play is not necessary.

    Pick-off - In this case, the offense team has a man on base, for example, first base.  While the base is a safe area, the runner does not need to stand right on the base or even touching the base.  He has stand a few steps off the base, so as to be closer to second base, in case he needs to run to second base.  If he does this, the pitcher can try to "pick him off", which is to throw the ball to the defense team first baseman, who will try to tag out the runner before the runner can scamper back to the safety of first base.  If the defense is successful in this, this is a pick-off and the runner is "out".