When you run out of 'K's you have to improvise

[Brother Buzz]

It's a common practice throughout baseball stadiums to have a specific area to track all of the strikeouts recorded by the home team. It's a fun way to keep fans buzzing about any given pitching performance, and during record outings like Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game, tracking all the "K" signs out there gets pretty crazy! What happens if you run out?

Giants fans at Oracle Park found themselves in this predicament during Friday night's 18-inning marathon. Through 17 frames, the Giants' pitching staff combined to fan 21 Rockies, using up the entirety of the right-field fans' strikeout signs. So when Travis Bergen got the K's going again in the top of the 18th, it was time to improvise:

[House of Roberts]

1. How does the 'code' work?

There's Ks, backwards Ks, orange Ks, and orange backwards Ks.

[Brother Buzz]

3. I believe the orange K's are for easy counting from across the field

A forward K is a strikeout by swinging, the backwards K is a called strikeout. If you think about it, the backwards K's are really just upside down K's; they're sneaky that way

[Ohiogal]

2. Ks

A swinging strikeout is a K

Batter called out looking is a backwards K

Not sure of the significance of the different colors.

[Brother Buzz]

4. I guarantee if I tried counting the crazy K's from across the field five times....

without the orange ones, I'd come up with five different numbers. Think about it.