Week One, Baseball is Alive With Pleasure!!

Still Top of the first, no one out and with the leadoff batter on third base the manager starts to feel the urge to run to the telephone if only to hear a friendly voice. The second batter approaches the plate, taps his cleats once, takes two easy swings and sets his feet. He then does a slow follow through with the bat stopping when the bat is pointed firmly at the pitcher. The pitcher stares blankly into the catcher, acknowledging the sign with a faint twitch of his cheek and then places his foot on the rubber......

And now for my foray into the baseball bloggers quagmire.

The End of Week one.

Sheesh... the excitement of MLB week one can only be truly matched by the ultimate frustration of watching Mr. Ortiz go 2-14.


Though I would like to vouch for the gastrointestinal health of N. Swisher Esq. I will have to digress and move to some ramblings on this great game of ours in the full swing of or new and expanded league system.

Some of the many meanings and beauties of this game are these:
that it matches mind over matter, it shows you that youth does not always triumph over age and wisdom, and that the spectacle of the moment can be made insignificant by the collective moments of a grand time continuum.

Take what I think is one of sports most intense competitions, the pitcher/batter duel. Most people see a mindless combination of chance that sometimes leads to bat on ball action but the reality of the Cat and Mouse strategy is magnified by the fact that Cat can become mouse in the space of 1/3 of an inning. Pitch selection and placement meets the whimsy and discipline of the batter and the outcome always seems uncertain until it happens.

The journeyman batter or pitcher is often at the advantage of his more youthful comrades and can still make them look like the children they are. Skills honed over time have great value in baseball.

Though Comm. Selig would have you believe that opening night is like some sort of adolescent Super Bowl the players knew better and made you see that the greatest show on earth Neil Diamond does not make ( My apologies to sweet ass Caroline where ever you are baby). The painful performances of opening week will ultimately fade in comparison to the marathon that is yet to come.

To me all this does not even begin to cover the grace of the very game itself that appears when the teams hit the field. Just watching Ichiro swing a bat can be a Zen like experience in itself

Why is baseball not as popular now compared to some other American sports? Who Knows!??! No! It is because all these things are not evident under quick passing examination. Baseball is not to be understood by simply being watched, it only becomes truly great when it is actively "followed"

The pitcher rears back, kicks his leg and lets loose the pitch, his arm snapping forward. The batters arms start to move back, his left leg shifts, his eyes follow the ball. Suddenly his legs collapse as he twists his shoulders over while the high fastball hits the brim of his helmet, knocking the helmet free but thankfully not his cheekbone. Ball One.........