There’s No Veering in Baseball!

Well that whole journalism thing was awkward, wasn’t it?  Made me feel stupid for thinking there might be some point to it.  Let’s get back to what this strip does best: putting Milford’s girls in the orbit of Milford’s boys. After all, boys won’t watch girls play unless they’re interested in one of the players but girls will watch the boys play just because, amirite?

So to wrap the spring* plot up we’re gonna see if Ryan has indeed practiced his anger management after he gets another bad call from a crappy Valley ump and his teammates flub away a lead on him.  Marty’s mom has told him to take out the trash, so he quickly makes the Mudlarks a Fielding Three and rolls a 14 for the Tilden batter.  As with most Gil Thorp arcs, all of this would come off as a lot less contrived if the plot had been better paced. Then again, the phrase “it’s a marathon, not a sprint” is probably wasted on someone who holds track and field in such contempt.

*Feels funny calling it that in the middle of July, doesn’t it?

Which Two Did He Hit?

Poor Ryan.  Fist at the ready but he’s not supposed to punch anyone.  Way to not take advantage of a situation.

Know who else hasn’t taken advantage of a situation?  Marty Moon!  If he broadcasts every Milford game, he’d have seen the protest poster and been on the story like white on rice. Even if he doesn’t broadcast every game, surely Marjie Ducey would’ve picked up the story and he’d have commented on it. (Pouty Daftpunk isn’t the only “journalist” in town, dontchaknow.) Instead Marty’s been sitting in his basement, rolling his dice and composing music on his Casiotone. See the pile of blank staff paper on top of the keyboard?

Don’t look now folks but in a week’s time Milford has supposedly played six games. Reckon they’ll finish the season by the end of the month – or before Dafiltefish crawls back to Ms. Rizk begging to get back on the Trumpet staff?  Let’s put in an order to Rob’s Pizza and watch things unfold; I hear the breadsticks are a must. I’d say we could hang out but Rob’s is takeout or delivery only.

Opening Day Track Meet

P1: Surplus outfielders? I’m not sure how that’s a thing at the high school level, but that may just be my ignorance of high school baseball shining through.

P2: How that bunt doesn’t turn into a pop fly is beyond me.

P3: How much of a traffic spike will this call out get the Wellington Daily News? If this is WDN’s Social Media Director’s idea of a master promotion – one that might even go influenzal – I have some sad, sad news to tell that person.

Geoff Larkin? What’s His Story?

Carrie Hobson, higher on the status scale than hurdler, is ready to pitch for the Mudlarks. Will Gary Meola ever know that Carrie is scheming on him? He’s kind of a big deal track guy. Will Gary and Carrie’s worlds collide at any point during the Spring?

Let’s forget about them. It’s time for Gil to recite the opening baseball lineup to Marty (who shares Gil’s enthusiasm for Lefty Ryan “Cane” Van Auken). You’ll all be happy to know that Barry Bader is back at second base. Let the games begin.

 

Mid-week Cliffhanger

Nice strip today although the inking seems a bit rushed. Nevertheless, it is hard to see a strip like today’s and not think of how much potential could be unleashed if the pacing of these stories was more even.

Hey, who got the (potential) assist on the dish to AaAa?

Periodic Domination?

Let’s leave aside the mysterious periodic relationship between Aaron, his mother and Milford basketball for a moment and get back to something we really haven’t talked about enough.

Someone needs to explain to me what the hell is going on with Aardvark’s hair because between panels one and two it is not at all clear to me where it is shorn nor where it has been left to grow out.

Bonus point: Panel two is pretty darn awesome. Not sure why it couldn’t have been done across the final two panels as the drawing of Marty doesn’t add anything.

 

The Red and The Black

Slightly meta: While I was away from the TWIM rotation there was a big change to Gocomics, where I used to crib the strip for my posts. You can no longer zoom on a strip, right click/save as, and insert into post anymore. I haven’t yet mastered the screen grab and resize to fit to my satisfaction – the strips always end up too big for my liking. Instead I’ve been saving the zoomed strip from various Comics Kingdom sites, which I don’t particularly like using because of the color monkeys’ slipshod work.

For example, whenever a Milford team is drawn in light uniforms, they invariably get colored red, which is very unlikely to happen IRL. Most teams wear white (or at least a light color) at home for contrast. Color-on-color games are more the exception than the rule, and when they do happen there’s usually a fair amount of contrast between the colors.  Having gone to a red-and-black school, I can say I’ve never seen black numbers on red jerseys without a white outline.

I’m bringing all this minutiae up because I don’t have a lot to say about today’s strip which, after a week of promising but not delivering on Mother Aagard’s mysterious line of work, promises but doesn’t quite deliver actual basketball action. Panel 2 gives us a couple other oddities: Whigham’s typical tonsure on the unnamed Mudlark gets colored brown, and the ref gives an atypical hand signal for the digit “zero.” I’m used to seeing a clenched fist represent that digit; this ref’s version could be interpreted as code for “I saw Aagard toking up behind the bleachers before the game. Don’t expect too much from him tonight.”

Song for today:

Is Marty Holding A Pencil Or A Stylus?

Putting quadruple-A in for a Pantheon of Hair nomination now that it’s clearly the case that its posture is proportional to his perceived performance.

I tried, and failed, to line up all of the high fives with the arms in panel three. Nevermind that, however, because what is the deal with AAAA’s left arm? I think this is the first time I’ve used the ‘big arms’ tag but there it is.