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Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

And I’m Erica.

And today we’re bringing you another lesson on our sports series.

Uhu We’re talking about baseball today.

Baseball – the American national pastime, [NOT pastime = an activity or entertainment that makes time pass pleasantly]

Is it?

Yes, it is.

Okay.

So, we’re gonna be looking at this interesting sport that is played mainly in the Caribbean and, well, it’s actually very popular in the United States and Japan.

That’s right.

Korea.

Yeah, So, we’re not only gonna learn a bunch of baseball language, but we’re also going to see how baseball has a big influence on English in general.

That’s right, so, we’re gonna learn a lot of great things today. So, why don’t we start and listen to our dialogue?

Hello baseball fans, and welcome back to today’s game! My name is Rick Fields and of course, I am here, once again, with the man that seals the deal, Bob Copeland.

It’s a beautiful day to see two world class teams face each other and fight for their right to be called champions.

Well, the national anthem has just been sung, and the umpire has started the game. It’s time to play ball!

Roger Vargas is up at bat. The pitcher winds up and strike one!

A very nice curve ball by the pitcher. The catcher gives him the sign, he winds up and Vargas gets a line drive!

The players are scrambling to get the ball. Vargas gets to first base and he’s still going! The outfielder throws it to second! Vargas slides! He’s safe!

Great play!

We have a runner on third and up at bat is Brian Okami! There’s the pitch, he hits it! It’s going, going, that ball is gone!

Home run by Okami! That puts this team ahead by two as we are at the bottom of the fifth inning here at Richie Stadium!

Alright, well, a pretty exiting game there at Richie Stadium.

Exactly, and we have some interesting players: Roger Vargas and Brian Okami.

Alright, so, well, we saw some great words and, well, it’s time for us to take a look at them now in “language takeaway”.

Language takeaway.

Okay, we’re gonna look at some, uh, common sports and baseball words here. And the first phrase – we’ll hear this almost at any sort of international sports event, right?

Exactly, and it’s the national anthem.

National anthem.

National anthem.

So, this is a song, right?

Exactly, it’s the song that you sing about your country. And many people confuse it, right?

Yeah, a lot of people might say “national hymn”.

Okay, hymn Because in some languages it might be like a hymn.

Like literally translating.

Yeah

But in English it’s called the national anthem.

The national anthem.

Alright. So, what about our next word?

Well, we were talking about the pitcher.

Pitcher.

P-I-T-C-H-E-R.

The pitcher.

Pitcher.

Okay, and now this is one of the players on a baseball team. And his job is to…

To throw the ball.

To throw the ball really fast.

So that the guy can’t hit it with the bat.

Okay, so, that’s the pitcher.

Uhu.

Now, the interesting thing is that the baseball commentator said “the pitcher winds up”.

Winds up.

To wind up

To wind up. Okay, well, let me paint you a picture.

Okay.

So, imagine a clock.

Aha.

And you’re turning, turning and turning the clock to wind it up, to get it ready to go.

To make it work.

Exactly.

So, imagine the pitcher doing the same sort of a thing – bringing his arm back behind them, getting ready to throw the ball.

Okay, so, that is to wind up.

Very good. So, you can use this word not only in baseball, but for other things that require you to do this action.

Right, to turn something and get it… get it ready to have lots of power.

Like some toys.

Yeah.

Or maybe like a m… a music box.

Okay, wind up. What about our next phrase?

Well, Roger Vargas hit a line drive.

Line drive.

Line drive.

Okay, so, what is a line drive?

Well, it’s a term from baseball and when you hit a line drive, you hit the ball sort of low On towards the ground and it… it travels along the outside of the field.

Right, so, the ball basically travels along the foul line.

Uhu, the white line.

The white line.

Yeah.

Exactly. Very good, so, that’s a line drive.

And, so, the players on the field were scrambling to get the ball.

Scrambling.

Scrambling.

Now, we know scrambled eggs form one of our lessons.

Yes, uh, but the verb to scramble means to, um, move quickly in a disorganized way to do something.

Okay, so, the players are moving very fast, trying to get the ball, but they’re not dong it very well.

Right. And you can use this other ways, right? Not just in baseball.

Right, for example, we can say “the people are scrambling to buy their tickets for the concert”.

Yeah, or I’m going on vacation tomorrow and I’m scrambling to get everything ready.

Exactly, it’s a very good term that you can use also in your daily life.

Exactly.

Alright. And what about our last word for today on language takeaway?

Well, they were in the fifth inning of the game.

Okay, so, inning.

Inning.

Inning.

Alright, this is another baseball term.

Uhu.

And, um, it… it just means the period of play.

Okay, so, we learned, for example, that in soccer you have two halves.

Uhu Or in hockey, you have three periods.

Alright. And in baseball you have nine innings.

Okay, great, so, some interesting sports and baseball vocabulary. Now, I think it’ll help us to hear this again slower. So, let’s listen to the dialogue.

Hello baseball fans, and welcome back to today’s game! My name is Rick Fields and of course, I am here, once again, with the man that seals the deal, Bob Copeland.

It’s a beautiful day to see two world class teams face each other and fight for their right to be called champions.

Well, the national anthem has just been sung, and the umpire has started the game. It’s time to play ball!

Roger Vargas is up at bat. The pitcher winds up and strike one!

A very nice curve ball by the pitcher. The catcher gives him the sign, he winds up and Vargas gets a line drive!

The players are scrambling to get the ball. Vargas gets to first base and he’s still going! The outfielder throws it to second! Vargas slides! He’s safe!

Great play!

We have a runner on third and up at bat is Brian Okami! There’s the pitch, he hits it! It’s going, going, that ball is gone!

Home run by Okami! That puts this team ahead by two as we are at the bottom of the fifth inning here at Richie Stadium!

Alright, so, as we said, there’re a lot of English terms that come form baseball, but we use them in business context or in your daily life, right?

Yeah, why don’t we look at those now in “fluency builder”?

Fluency builder.

Alright, so, the first phrase that we have is up to bat.

Up to bat.

Up to bat.

So, literally in this dialogue it means the guy is standing on home plate ready to hit the ball, right?

Right. He has the bat and he’s ready to hit it.

But what about in other contexts?

So, for example, you can be at a meeting.

And maybe it’s your turn to talk.

So, you’re up to bat.

So, the b… yeah, exactly. Your boss will say “okay, Erica, you’re up to bat”.

Okay, so, it means sort of like it’s your tern.

It’s your turn.

Yeah.

Very good.

Alright, so, that’s another term that is used in baseball, but very commonly used in other circumstances.

So, we also saw, um, in the dialogue that Roger Vargas, um… he hit the ball, but he missed and that was strike one.

Right. Strike one.

Uhu.

So, in baseball you have three strikes.

Three tries.

Three tries before you’re out.

Yes.

And, so, now the same thing happens in daily life.

So, um, if someone says “that was strike one”.

It means you made the first mistake.

Yes, and if you make two more, you will be fired, for example.

Maybe.

Yeah.

Aha. Or maybe your parents will say “okay, you… that wasn’t nice, strike one”.

And then two more times and you’ll have a time out. Or you’ll be grounded.

Yes.

Okay, so, that’s also called a strike. And the pitcher threw a curve ball.

A curve ball.

Curve ball.

So, okay, pretty clear. A curve ball is when you throw the ball and it sort of goes on a curve, it doesn’t goes straight, right?

Right, exactly.

But how can this be used outside of baseball?

So, you can say “oh, my boss threw me a curve ball today”.

So, he gave you an unexpected problem.

Aha, or something that was difficult to handle.

Okay, um, this one is pretty interesting. I’d like to hear a few more examples.

Example one.

My boss threw me a curve ball today, so I have to stay in work late.

Example two.

It was a huge curve ball when she asked me how many kids I wanted to have. How am I supposed to know?

Alright, so, that’s basically a curve ball. You can say a non-expected problem…

Yeah.

Or situation.

That’s right.

And our last phrase - and, well, probably one that’s you already know – home run.

A home run.

A home run.

From baseball we know that that’s when you hit the ball really far.

And you hit it outside of the… of the playing area or outside the park.

Yes.

And now if you use it a business context or in your daily life…

Uhu It means something similar. Why don’t we take a listen to the examples and see if we can figure it our.

Example one.

Great job on that sales presentation. You really hit a home run.

Example two.

Our sales team hit a home run this month by doubling our revenue.

Okay, so, basically, a home run is a success.

A victory.

A victory.

Yeah, something a big accomplishment.

That’s right. So, we’ve seen a lot of these great phrases and as you can see a lot of them from baseball are used in your daily life and there many, many more.

Okay, well, why don’t we hear them again in the baseball context and we listen to the dialogue one more time?

Hello baseball fans, and welcome back to today’s game! My name is Rick Fields and of course, I am here, once again, with the man that seals the deal, Bob Copeland.

It’s a beautiful day to see two world class teams face each other and fight for their right to be called champions.

Well, the national anthem has just been sung, and the umpire has started the game. It’s time to play ball!

Roger Vargas is up at bat. The pitcher winds up and strike one!

A very nice curve ball by the pitcher. The catcher gives him the sign, he winds up and Vargas gets a line drive!

The players are scrambling to get the ball. Vargas gets to first base and he’s still going! The outfielder throws it to second! Vargas slides! He’s safe!

Great play!

We have a runner on third and up at bat is Brian Okami! There’s the pitch, he hits it! It’s going, going, that ball is gone!

Home run by Okami! That puts this team ahead by two as we are at the bottom of the fifth inning here at Richie Stadium!

Alright, so, an interesting dialogue; a very interesting sport.

And, well, personally I never played this as a child.

Uh, me neither, really.

I don’t really like it too much, but it is kind of fun to… go to a game and especially in the United States have those hot dogs and all that stuff.

Okay, yeah.

Hehe.

Well, a cultural event; a really important piece of American culture.

Exactly.

So, well, we encourage you to come to our website englishpod.com; tell us what you think and also, of course, if you have questions or doubts, be sure to tell us.

If you have any other sort of baseball-related phrases, let us know about them on the website.

Okay, so, we’ll see you guys there.

Thanks for downloading and until next time… Good bye!

Bye!