by John Walters

Weather has forced us to take flight tomorrow instead of today, so a brief item or two….

Rule No. 7*

Just pure chaos.

Taijuan Walker pushes the ball toward the dugout after thinking this swinging bunt was a foul ball. The Pirates ended up scoring 3 runs on the play.

🎥 @Pirates pic.twitter.com/6z3B5PH2gT

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) July 18, 2021

*Any baseball game offers the opportunity to see something on the field (no, we’re not talking about Saturday night’s Padres-Nats contest) you’ve never seen before

Is it strange that two of the most bizarre plays in baseball this season have taken place within 15 feet of home plate at PNC Park?

The Mets fell behind 6-0, in the first inning, on this bizarre play. They rallied to win 7-6 on a go-ahead two-run Michael Conforto homer in the top of the 9th. A day earlier, the Mets had blown a 6-0 lead to the Pirates and lost. That has only happened (teams trading blown 6-0 leads and losing on consecutive days) four times before: 1889, 1968, 2019 and this weekend.