Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Baseball, dude. Baseball.

That is what you say when someone is trying to get your attention but it's bot 6, two on, two out, two on and a 3-2 count to Manny. Seriously, bro...

Baseball.

The mathematically perfect game. Every pitch accounted for, every play every hit, every move. Outs, steals, balls, strikes, its all there. At every pitch there are a limited but numerous series of events that can occur. As things happen, those options become reduced until you get to that moment in the game where you can either win, or not win. It can all sit on one pitch, the whole game....unless it's fouled off, then the suspense starts yet again! That is a special kind of suspense and I absolutely LOVE it. I long for it in the off season. I swear I get depressed when it isn't baseball season. I don't really give a shit about other sports so the off-season can be very emotionally difficult.

I have a good feeling about my team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. As a side, Giants suck, Angels suck, Padres suck, Dbacks suck, Rockies suck. Now I have that off my chest, i'll leave the shit talking to more than a Peter Griffin impression (I tried finding the clip on youtube, its when Peter is in the bar when the new yorkers come to Quahog and Lois learns to fight so he starts picking fights and says, "Jets suck, Yankees suck, Knicks suck..."

ANYWAY

Dodgers.
Furcal
Hudson
Ramirez
Ethier
Loney
Kemp
Martin
Blake
Pitcher

Kuroda
Wolf
Kershaw
Billingsley
McDonald

That's a team I can get behind, really, folks. There don't appear to be any real problems with this line up, on paper. In real life we come across all sorts of problems. I worry about the health of Furcal, Hudson and Wolf. I am concerned about the lack of experience from McDonald and Kershaw. The veterans are great. Ramirez makes people better by osmosis, Blake's beard is runmored to be the nephew beard of Chuck Norris, Martin is practically retired with how much he has matured since his first season. I love the young guys, I want them to recognize the potential they have to get a Championship if they work at it. Giving up on the team after two or three seasons just seems silly, but what do I know? I'm just a fan. Ethier could be a hall of famer. Just sayin...Matt Kemp is my guy.* I just wish he refined his baserunning. He is fast as all hell and I want to see him move. Really though, I wanna see him rounding 3rd in a playoff game for a game deciding play at the plate against some poor catcher with the confidence to block the plate. I know....I am american, violence is cool. :-/

And once again, and I don't know for how long I will be able to say this, I look forward to another season of Vin Scully. We are fortunate, as Dodger fans, to be one of the few ML teams with the same caller as we have had for, well, forever...It really means something special to me, to hear the same voice I have since I was a kid. Some folks don't get that about baseball. That it is more than guys on a field, it's entire lifetimes spent with a specific memory. Voices, names, numbers, stats, home runs, stolen bases, suspense, hot dogs, beers, friends, competition, victory. It's those memories and associated feelings that make us who we are. That's why I watch every game. That's why I named my dog, Dodger . Yep, some folks don't get that.

I get it.

Dude. Baseball.

*the individual members of my family each choose a "guy" to root for especially and claim property of in instances of good play. My dad's "Guy" is Russ Martin. Mine is Matt Kemp. My brother, James Loney. Mother Clayton Kershaw. My GUY just struck out, so now my dad will probably find a way to roast me on how its my fault somehow.

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