The First Pitch Insufficiency

"The First Pitch Insufficiency" is the third episode of the eighth season of the  The Big Bang Theory. The episode will air September 29, 2014.

Summary
To be entered.

Extended Plot
At Leonard's place Howard is practising throwing a baseball in front of the TV. NASA has asked him to throw out the first pitch at a Los Angeles Angels baseball game. Raj is throwing insults at him to similate the fans. Sheldon claims to be the best athlete of the group while Penny mentions how sad it is watching her boyfriend play Quidditch in Griffith Park.

Amy and Shledon are retrning from a dinner date where Sheldon lectured the waiter on the history of Cornwall Englnad since they were having Cornish game hen. They are planning another date the next night because Sheldon missed some dates during his train trip. Leonard and Penny get invited to come.

Bernadette massages  Howard's arm after virtual baseball practice which amuses Bernadette as does the way that Howard runs. She wants him to also practice runing out to the mound.

Penny is getting rady and is surprised Sheldon wants to go to a pub. He did not like Amy's idea of a picnic, but knows that they serve Yorkshire pudding and can't wait to lecture the waiter about Yorkshire England. Amy and Sheldon voted on the pub date and it passed unanimiously. After Leonard jokes about it, Sheldon feels that they are just jealous with how great their relationship is. Leonard and Penny are surprised as Sheldon rates the quality of the relationships in their social group. Sheldon/Amy, Howard/Bernadette, Raj and his girlfriend, Penny/Chardonnay... Leonard argues that you can't rank relationships and that Lenny would not be at the bottom.

SCENE F. Playback. University gym: Howard, Bernadette and Raj.

Bernadette tells Howard and Raj that the home base is sixty feet from the mound, so she holds a crank tape measure and the boys run the line out to see how far 60 feet is. Howard keeps stopping and asking if it's sixty feet yet, and Bernie says no, she'll tell him. He finally gets all the way to the other end of the gym and she says that's 60 feet.

SCENE G. Re-enactment. Car interior: Amy drives, Sheldon in passenger, Leonard and Penny in back seat.

Leonard questions how Sheldon can possibly think they have a better relationship. Sheldon says for one, he and Amy enjoy spending time together. Leonard says he's seen them spend hours together not talking and doing separate things. Sheldon says that's called parallel play. Leonard points out that toddlers do that. Sheldon says, "Not as good as us!" Leonard says they can't even have a date without consulting their Relationship Agreement. Sheldon says if you have a problem with relationships being based on contracts, and then something about the thirteen colonies. He says that relationship is still pretty hot today. Amy says, "Good thing I'm not wearing flag underwear, or there's about to be a fire." Now since this was a re-enactment, I don't know how it plays out for real but Jim playfully backhanded Mayim's shoulder on that line all smiles between them, and after the cut, Mayim rubbed her shoulder and said, "Ow!" jokingly.

SCENE H. Two takes. University gym: Howard/Bernadette and Raj.

Bernadette coaches Howard on how to throw the ball. She says it's real easy. "Look to where you want to throw, step to where you want to throw, and then throw it." Howard says, "That's like saying here's how you fly a plane. Get in the plane, know where you want to fly, and then fly there." She's very giggly and says to just throw the ball and see what they're working with. Raj cheers, "Throw it in!" while waiting with the catcher's mitt. Howard spends a lot of time psyching himself up to throw the ball. Lots of hilarious stuff in here. Bernadette yells, "Just throw the damn ball!" right as he's about to.

SCENE J. Two takes, one pick up. Pub: Amy/Sheldon across from Penny/Leonard.

Sheldon asks Amy if he can have a fry, she says of course, and he takes one. She asks for a bite of his burger and he says, "Absolutely not." Leonard says, "Some perfect relationship. He won't even share food with her." Sheldon is deadpan and genuine as he says "This burger has avocado. Amy is allergic." (Audible gasps from audience on first take.) "Are you so jealous of our relationship that you want Amy to die?" Leonard says he can't quantify things in relationships, and Sheldon argues that everything is quantifiable. Then he proceeds to start putting numbers on things from a scale of one to ten. Leonard says he's just putting random numbers on things based on his opinion, but Sheldon gets out his phone and says, "Not according to Berscheid, Snyder, and Omoto." Amy explains that they created the relationship closeness inventory which gauges variables in relationships. Penny says it kind of takes the romance out of relationships, and Sheldon says, "Kind of? It does it perfectly." They share that they got an 8.2. Leonard wants to take the quiz but Penny stops him. He asks why not, and she says it doesn't matter what they get. Leonard says it will be fun, and Penny says, "I said no." She gets up and says she needs a drink and goes to the bar. Leonard hands Sheldon his phone back and goes after her. Amy says, "I'll let you count this as two dates. They are a lot of work." Sheldon smiles.

SCENE K. Playback. University gym: Bernadette and Raj waiting for Howard to throw the ball.

Bernadette asks if Raj thinks Howard is getting better. A ball flies in completely off. Raj says yes. He asks if it's too late to cancel, Bernie says yes. He asks if it's too late to get a divorce. Howard screams, "Watch out!" The baseball slowly rolls across the floor.

SCENE L. Two takes. Pub: Leonard and Penny at the bar.

Leonard approaches Penny at the bar and asks if she's mad at him. She says, "Of course not, stop being stupid." Leonard says, "Phew?" He asks if this is about the test or about "us." She says she doesn't need to get a score on a test to make her worried about something she's already worried about. He asks, "What are you worried about?" Penny says, "That we're engaged and we have nothing in common and that scares me?" Leonard says it scares him too. She asks, "It does?" He says, "Yeah, sometimes." Penny says, "That's not good! Your blind infatuation with me was the rock we were building this relationship on!" Leonard tries to make her feel better by saying that here's something they have in common: they're both scared about the marriage. Penny stares at him. Here's something else they have in common: "We both don't think I'm funny." Penny still stares. "See? You're not laughing."

Sheldon and Amy can be seen behind them not interacting, just eating.

SCENE M. One take, one pick up Howardette home: Howard and Bernadette, Skype with Mike.

Howard skypes with Mike to ask advice about the pitching. Mike says, "Don't do it." Howard asks why and Mike says that there's no upside. If you're good, no one cares, if you're bad, you get made fun of. (Second take he said, "You're an idiot on YouTube forever.") Howard says it's a good cause, what about all the kids there? Mike says kids are the worst. His own daughter tweeted that has a big nose. Howard says he might be good and Mike reminds him that he was unable to toss him a pen in zero gravity. Howard says, "Thanks for the pep talk." Mike says to give his wife a hug for him. "She's so much cuter than you and I don't know how you got her." Bernie says, "He's so nice!"

SCENE P. Three takes. Pub: Leonard/Penny across from Sheldon/Amy.

Leonard and Penny return to the table and apologize for that. Amy says no, we should have never compared relationships. Sheldon asks, "Why? We won." He suggest next they take on Raj and Cinnamon for a real challenge. Penny now wants to take the quiz, but Leonard shoots it down this time. Penny asks, "Why, because you think we'll get a low score?" And Leonard says he doesn't care if they get a ten or a two. "Marriage is scary. You're scared, I'm scared. It doesn't make me not want to do it. It just makes me want to hold your hand and do it with you." He takes her hand as he says this. Penny says, "Aw, Leonard," and they gaze into each other eyes. Amy watches from across the table with big sparkly anime eyes and says (while looking at Lenny still), "It would make me so happy if you said things like that." Sheldon looks incredulous. "We got an 8.2. Trust me, you're happy."

A few pickups of the scene added some jokes.

Tag scene. Re-enactment. Dodger's Stadium. Raj, Penny, Leonard, Sheldon, and Amy on the bleachers, Howard/Bernadette on mound. Raj makes a remark about the waterfall in the centerfield. Penny jokes that he's talking sports. Leonard says it will be fun to watch the game. Sheldon wonders who said anything about watching the game? Amy asks what did you expect? Sheldon says he expected to see the throw, finish the hot dog, and go to Disneyland in time to see Mickey's Soundsational Parade. Amy says if he stays, she'll buy him cotton candy and a bobble head. Sheldon asks which one? Amy asks if it matters and Sheldon says no, as long as it bobbles.

Howard is with Bernadette about to run out to the mound. He gives a speech about how a voice in his head said he couldn't do this, and that voice was right. So instead he brought the Mars rover to do it. It starts moving really slowly. People start booing.

Sheldon suggests that they head to Disneyland and go on a ride and come back for the end of the pitch later.

Critics
To be entered.

Trivia

 * This episode may involve baseball.
 * According to a tweet by Bill Prady, this is one of the few BBT episodes filmed outdoors.

Quotes
To be entered.