Knox makes the move. He pulls Mitchell from the on-deck circle in favor of Hemmerling, drawing that same “huh?!” sound effect from the dugout that we heard earlier regarding the profanity. Mitchell, the guy who made the comment about speech for most of the team, is understandably pissed off. He removes his batting helmet, then violently throws that and his bat against the dugout wall. Meanwhile, Knox has to remind Hemmerling to get his stuff; he was ready to go to home plate without a bat or helmet.
Ranch Wilder fills us in, saying Hemmerling is a utility
infielder known for his glove and not his bat. The right-handed hitter steps
into the box adjusting his batting gloves. Quick cut to the bleachers, and it
seems beer-and-tank-top-guy is a season-ticket holder or something. He’s there
again and leads the jeers for Knox making the move.
Hemmerling looks at strike one down the middle, drawing a
ton of boos. OK, so he took a pitch, big deal. What’s really laughable is when
he swings out of his shoes on the next pitch… after the ball was in the
catcher’s mitt. Knox is pissed, while an amused Mitchell sits in the dugout and
shakes his head with a smirk.
Sparkling pajamas make a late appearance
Angel alert. This time, it is absolutely an unrealistic baseball play definitely
made for the movies. An angel grabs the ball after the pitcher releases it and
makes it stop in mid-air right in front of Hemmerling. He swings at it like
it’s on a tee and makes contact. When he does, it cues up the soundtrack of “Hippy
Hippy Shakes” by the Swinging Blue Jeans. (I had to look it up.)
Hemmerling takes off running to first, while the baseball is
jerked around the infield grass, evading the Oakland infielders. For some
strange reason, we see the boss-angel Al clearly in the outfield grass kicking
the ball around like a hacky sack. But the ball is still in the infield. It’s a
comedy or errors. A player slips on the ball like a banana peel. Another player
takes his glove hand and slaps a bunch of players in the face. Of course,
there’s a ball-in-the-crotch shot, too, for good measure.
Meanwhile, Hemmerling turns an infield hit into an infield home run. They finally get the ball to the plate, but he slides in head-first to win the game. It’s his first run of the season, and another 1-0, walk-off win for the Angels.
What just happened?
Ranch says it will go down in the record books. Yup. As a bunch of baseball
plays that would never happen in real life. The camera looks up from the ground
to see the four umpires in a circle passing the baseball around looking
confused. The scoreboard racks up the errors for the A’s, reaching at least 19.
That’s a record right there.
Ranch rhetorically asks his audience if they can say the
angels are on a winning streak. Again, I’m having a little trouble with the
continuity here. Ranch mentions their “last few games.” So, did they win games
without angels that we didn’t see?
They’re freaking out in the radio booth trying to make sense
of it all.
“Let me tell ya, this is not baseball. This is not
baseball.” Right on, Ranch.
Bonded with the boys
Knox is in a decidedly better mood postgame, and we get to see his office for
the first time. He informs David that he’s basically going to be the babysitter
for the boys as they attend all the games from here on out. He’s “bonded with
the boys.” Yup, Knox is a believer in whatever it is that is helping his team
win.
He walks the boys, loaded up with all their Angels
souvenirs, out of the stadium and sets up a plan for Roger to watch the road
games on TV and then they can talk on the phone. Knox is about to give them a
ride home in his sporty convertible, but J.P. hangs back with an incredibly sad
look on his face.
J.P. politely thanks Knox for the ride home, which must be
the first words he’s said to Knox since he’s so shy around strangers.
Miguel, we hardly knew ye
The boys come home to find out that Miguel is gone, placed with a foster
family. J.P. is upset at this, even though Miguel was nothing but awful to the
kid. I’m not quite sure what the purpose of having Miguel in this movie is at
all. Just to prove that Maggie took care of more than just Roger and J.P.? He
hardly got any screen time and wouldn’t have been missed.
Still, Maggie explains, in a very this-is-for-movie-viewers
kind of way, that she only has a license for short-term foster care. Miguel was
there for seven months, which is apparently a lengthy stay. Roger tries to
comfort Maggie, who for some reason feels bad. The whole scene seems really
unnecessary.
In the bunk-bed room, suddenly the sleeping bags are gone and
the boys are nestled under baseball-themed sheets and comforters. Wearing
California Angels pajamas. It’s like they’re living in the middle of a gift
shop.
J.P. bugs Roger about their parents. Roger is still hopeful his dad will come back for him, and J.P. wonders if his mom will come to get him. Roger leans down and throws J.P.’s line in his face. “It could happen!”
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