Winter
I know. These pages are meant for the weighty issues of our time, but I have written my diary of the week about such things and now find it is time to contemplate the winter.
The late great Commissioner of Baseball, A Bartlett Giamatti. (He has a son who is an actor).
They tried to tell us this all season: our eyes and our hearts deceive us. He is the same Papelbon as he always was; just tryin' out a few new things that did not work.
Yeh, and Papi is back, even though he can't hit a lefty to save his life.
Players get old just like the rest of us. We are grateful for what they've done and resist putting them out to pasture. And, after all, won't Damon be playing tonight? Isn't Pedro pitching tonight?
But I do not regret losing those two guys. They no longer can contribute in the way we---the Boston Red Sox---need them to.
I saw it in midseason and the Joy of Sox people were so upset at my saying so that they all but banished me from their knitting circle. But that could not change the facts. We were relying on ghosts: players whose past cannot make up for what they have in the present.
Theo taught us this lesson. You can't get too attached to these guys. They serve a purpose and then they leave. Sometimes they come back finding the adulation we give them something to treasure. Dewey left; he's back. Jim Ed was angry once; now he's back. Luis went to the Yankees of all things, but he's back. But none of them still play. They all have great meaning for me and I treasure what they gave us when they could. But that was then, and this is now.
I don't know if Daniel Bard is our closer next year. I doubt it. Paps still has a year on his contract and he will have to try very hard to redeem himself, so Bard the Closer can wait a year, I guess.
Ortiz is a platoon DH at best. At best. And Mike Lowell---I love the guy. His big hit in the eighth today reminded me of what a guy he is and I hope when it is all said and done, he, too, stays with us in some way. But as a player, I think we are nearing the end if not at it. Same, in every way, goes for Tek.
It was not a great year for Theo. He made up for it by a few midseason deals. Wagner was worth getting, I guess, considering we gave up nothing for him. Vmart has value though not as much as people keep saying.
I do not think we were ever in the running for Texeira who used us to jack up the price for NY, which is fine with me but we put too many eggs in that basket last off season.
Jason Bay either gives us a hometown discount or can leave with my blessing. He did very well---a more than adequate replacement for That Guy on the Dodgers. But he is not worth the kings ransom people say he is worth. We can do better.
A little more Bart before I go:
It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Today, October 2, a Sunday of rain and broken branches and leaf-clogged drains and slick streets, it stopped, and summer was gone.
The late great Commissioner of Baseball, A Bartlett Giamatti. (He has a son who is an actor).
They tried to tell us this all season: our eyes and our hearts deceive us. He is the same Papelbon as he always was; just tryin' out a few new things that did not work.
Yeh, and Papi is back, even though he can't hit a lefty to save his life.
Players get old just like the rest of us. We are grateful for what they've done and resist putting them out to pasture. And, after all, won't Damon be playing tonight? Isn't Pedro pitching tonight?
But I do not regret losing those two guys. They no longer can contribute in the way we---the Boston Red Sox---need them to.
I saw it in midseason and the Joy of Sox people were so upset at my saying so that they all but banished me from their knitting circle. But that could not change the facts. We were relying on ghosts: players whose past cannot make up for what they have in the present.
Theo taught us this lesson. You can't get too attached to these guys. They serve a purpose and then they leave. Sometimes they come back finding the adulation we give them something to treasure. Dewey left; he's back. Jim Ed was angry once; now he's back. Luis went to the Yankees of all things, but he's back. But none of them still play. They all have great meaning for me and I treasure what they gave us when they could. But that was then, and this is now.
I don't know if Daniel Bard is our closer next year. I doubt it. Paps still has a year on his contract and he will have to try very hard to redeem himself, so Bard the Closer can wait a year, I guess.
Ortiz is a platoon DH at best. At best. And Mike Lowell---I love the guy. His big hit in the eighth today reminded me of what a guy he is and I hope when it is all said and done, he, too, stays with us in some way. But as a player, I think we are nearing the end if not at it. Same, in every way, goes for Tek.
It was not a great year for Theo. He made up for it by a few midseason deals. Wagner was worth getting, I guess, considering we gave up nothing for him. Vmart has value though not as much as people keep saying.
I do not think we were ever in the running for Texeira who used us to jack up the price for NY, which is fine with me but we put too many eggs in that basket last off season.
Jason Bay either gives us a hometown discount or can leave with my blessing. He did very well---a more than adequate replacement for That Guy on the Dodgers. But he is not worth the kings ransom people say he is worth. We can do better.
A little more Bart before I go:
Of course, there are those who learn after the first few times. They grow out of sports. And there are others who were born with the wisdom to know that nothing lasts. These are the truly tough among us, the ones who can live without illusion, or without even the hope of illusion. I am not that grown-up or up-to-date. I am a simpler creature, tied to more primitive patterns and cycles. I need to think something lasts forever, and it might as well be that state of being that is a game; it might as well be that, in a green field, in the sun.
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A couple of nights ago I spent some time with friends who were watching what turned out to be a pretty sad game for them. Sad for the friends, I mean. Their team lost but the team will be back next year...the team is always back next year...and I am certain my friends will be watching every pitch once again. Hey, battah, battah.
I was more of a fan when I was little. I used to watch the games with my grandpa on a black and white tv. I didn't know the rules too well then, I just knew that when the Tigers were winning grandpa didn't need his Maalox and it was a happy day.
The names...Willie Horton, Al Kaline, Lolich, Cash and Freehan. Jim Northrup and Mickey Stanley and Denny McLain oh em gee.
The last time I seriously watched a game was 1968 when the Tigers won the Series. That was about it except for a short fling when Fidrych pitched. I mean, how can you not love a guy that talked to the baseball before a pitch and was nicknamed "The Bird"?
;o)
Thanks, barth. This was fun.
October 11, 2009 7:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I watched the twins get thrown out on a FORCE OUT by a right fielder.
I am quitting baseball forever.
October 11, 2009 11:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
No room for error when playing the Yankees. It was painful for sure, every bit as much as watching the kid get picked off while overrunning second base the night before.
Me, too. Quitting forever. At least 'til next year.
Although.... gotta say that at least the Twins will finally get out of that godforsaken concrete septic tank with a baggie thrown over the top that they call an HHH Metrodome.
Baseball. In a real stadium. On real grass. What a concept!
October 11, 2009 11:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course, if I can tell you the Red Sox were not much of a team this year, 95 wins notwithstanding, the Twins were even less of a team. They have, perhaps, the best player in the league in Mauer and a manager, Gardenhire, whose ability to get the most out of those he is charged with leading should be an example from Rahm Emmanuel, but they got very far on very little.
When the Twins play New York it always makes me think of Damn Yankees since the Twins are the team once known as the Washington Senators, the team for which "Joe Hardy" played and won.
The Devil can't always be depended on, though.
October 12, 2009 11:10 AM | Reply | Permalink