Indonesian baseball

Indonesian baseball

I am writing in response to the article RI bows out to
Pakistan in rain-halted match published on Feb. 19, 2001.

As baseball is a relatively new sport in Indonesia, so too is
baseball reporting and I would like to make a few comments and
suggestions regarding this article for the Post baseball
reporters.

First of all, the article says "Indonesia bowed out 2-5 to
Pakistan". It is standard procedure in baseball, as in most
sports as far as I know, to put the higher score first regardless
of the order in which the teams are mentioned.

Second, in the nomenclature of baseball you don't score
points, you score runs.

Third, when a particular inning is mentioned, it is used
singularly not plurally. You don't say "in the first innings" or
"entering the second innings", but rather "in the first inning"
and "entering the second inning".

Finally, and most importantly, baseball, as simple as it may
appear, is actually a very complex game and therefore, baseball
reporting requires precision, detail and clarity. The third
paragraph states that "Pakistan's first batter, KM ... hit the
ball over the fence giving him an easy home run and scoring
Pakistan's second point of the first innings". Say what?

The very first batter hits a one-run homer and scores the
second run. All I can figure is that it's just another case of
applying my arrogant western logic in trying to understand the
intricately mysterious game of Indonesian baseball, which defies
not only logic, but mathematics as well.

MARSHALL LESESNE

Jakarta