GIF: E. Volquez Illustrates Role of Fortune in Human Endeavor

All, or nearly all, of the big philosophers you’ll hear about take pains to note that the correlation between one’s own actions and the events (good or bad) which befall that same one — that the correlation between the two is weak.

Indeed, Pirates right-hander and also contemporary philosopher Edinson Volquez took pains to illustrate that same thing tonight in the first inning against Detroit. With runners on first and third, and a run already in, Volquez conceded a ground ball up the middle that likely would have scored a second run while producing zero outs. What actually happened, though, was Volquez flailed wildly his right arm and somehow fielded the ball, eventually catching Ian Kinsler between third base and home. Out: recorded. The reality that our mistakes are sometimes rewarded, and vice versa: confirmed.