[Ads-l] baseball lingo: to shove (intr)

[Laurence Horn]

Weird--both the term and the fact that it has somehow escaped me for a long
enough period of time that it goes back to when Matt "The Dark Knight"
Harvey was actually pitching well for the Mets.  I'm familiar with the
poker term: while "shove" is intransitive in that use too, it's clearly
derived from an unspecified object transitive--shoving all one's
chips/money into the pot.  Can't see how that relates to the baseball use.

LH

On Mon, Jun 19, 2023 at 3:05 PM Charles C Rice <charles.rice at louisiana.edu>
wrote:

> I just noticed this usage today and it took some digging to figure it out.
> It seems to mean "pitched shut out innings" or similar.
>
> An article headline in Saturday's Fansided<
> https://fansided.com/2023/06/17/braves-jesse-chavez-replacement-ben-heller/>
> says "Braves: Jesse Chavez replacement returned to MLB after over 1,000
> days and shoved." The first paragraph reads:
>
> The Atlanta Braves got a huge boost from their bullpen in the wake of the
> Jesse Chavez injury by way of Ben Heller on Friday night vs. the Colorado
> Rockies.
>
> Ben Heller appears to be one helluva Jesse Chavez replacement for the
> Atlanta Braves<http://fansided.com/mlb/mlb-teams/atlanta-braves>, alright.
>
> Chavez is the spirit animal of the bullpen. Combined, he and Charlie
> Morton are pushing 100 years old, but it had been over 1,000 days since
> Heller last pitched in a big-league game. With Chavez going down with a
> left shin contusion, it was Heller's time to shine. He had not pitched in
> the big leagues since early Sept. 2020 when he was with the New York
> Yankees. Heller shoved on Friday.
>
> He struck out five of the eight batters he faced, walking one and allowing
> two hits over two innings. Heller was exceptional in his return to the
> Major Leagues. Braves Country was loving it<
> https://mlb-cuts-diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2023/2023-06/16/4ec64f0e-290aa50d-bbc9ff40-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4
> >.
>
> I could not figure out what Heller was said to have done. I searched MLB
> text and found a March 1, 2020 article, "Maples throws BP; Morrow hurt;
> Lester shoves" by Russell Dorsey. Down in the third section we find the
> description of what Lester did:
>
> Left-hander Jon Lester<https://www.mlb.com/player/452657> had a solid
> outing as he tossed three shutout innings in the Cubs' 7-3 victory over the
> Mariners<https://www.mlb.com/gameday/604157> on Sunday at Sloan Park.
> Lester allowed two hits, struck out four batters and did not allow a walk.
>
> So it seems to specifically refer to shut-out pitching rather than just
> good pitching in general.
>
> Urban Dictionary has it from 2013:
>
> Shoving
>
> A term in baseball to describe a pitching who is dominating opposing
> batters.
>
> Example: Matt Harvey of the Mets is shoving right now. He has 8 strikeouts
> and no walks in three innings.
>
> by RedBeard53, June 18, 2013
>
>
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>

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