Today was a long day for the Yankees in many respects. They played what essentially was a distance doubleheader — meaning they had an afternoon game in one location (against the Phillies across Tampa Bay in Clearwater) and an evening game in Tampa at home. People attending the afternoon game only made it back to Tampa about an hour before the evening game began because of rush hour and, well, a minor deluge during the first game.
Yes, after the last couple of hotter-than-normal days in Florida, the cold front that battered through the middle of the country this week brought overcast skies and a much needed drop in temperatures to the “Sunshine State”. Of course, that meant a 50 minute rain delay for one game and a chilly, windy night for the other.
The Yankees traveled to Clearwater this afternoon to face the Phillies (again!), giving Bryan Mitchell a chance to start, something he did rather well — allowing just 1 hit and striking out 2 batters in his 2 innings. Relievers Long, Goody, Tracy, Montgomery, and Pinder continued the pattern of excellent pitching, in total giving up just 4 hits to Phillies batters and a lone run (a home run in the 7th).
On the flip side of things, the Yankees were hitting today, and hitting rather well. In the 4th inning, with Teixeira on base with a single and then pinch-run by Roller, Greg Bird’s double scored Roller and landed him at 3rd on the throw. Bird would then score on Ramon Flores’ single. Just a few batters later, Judge scored on Didi Gregorius’ double. So by the end of the 4th inning, the Yankees were up 3-0 over the Phillies. Then they added an extra run in the 6th with a Nick Noonan RBI double to score Heathcott. Despite the Phillies’ lone run in the 7th, the Yankees still won the game soundly with a final 4-1 score.
Over in Tampa, as skies continued to loom and rain threatened but never fully manifested on the eastern side of the bay, the Yankees weren’t as lucky. The visiting Pirates took advantage of some well-placed pitches to attack. In the 2nd, with one man on with a single, a perfect strike became a perfect 2-run home run for the Pirates to jump them ahead of the Yankees. They added an extra run in the 5th with a first pitch solo home run. Pirates up 3-0 halfway through the game, and it wasn’t looking pretty. The “other guys” now in the game had their chance to shine, something they did rather well on the defensive side of things, but seem rather nervous in the batter’s box. Well, except for the 8th inning — a lead-off double and a single (with 2 outs) put runners on the corners so that Jake Cave could single in the Yankees’ lone run. Final score 4-1 Pirates.
For some reason, tonight’s game especially felt like Spring Training finally kicked in. I realize that I’m a few games too late, but there’s always a moment when it’s no longer theory or speculation or nerves or just sheer hope. I think it was tonight. I was sitting in the stadium, listening to the ruckus of the fans on both sides jeering each other and cheering on their respective teams, watching kids with gloves anxiously praying for foul balls or the kindness of a player or coach, smelling the crisp March air mix with (what I’ve officially dubbed) “the smell of baseball”.
It’s not enough to simply tick off days on a calendar or watch statistics ebb and flow on a chart; no, baseball must be experienced, even if from the nosebleed seats (though in a Spring Training stadium, there are none of these). If experience is our greatest teacher, then what exactly are we learning from a baseball game? Perhaps, it is that life is about the ebbs and flows, the successes and failures, the individual achievements that compose a group outcome, the camaraderie of perfect strangers in a single purpose, the joy in its simplicity contrasting the depth of its complexities, the strategies and sheer luck, and the tenacity to see it all the way through to whatever end.
I don’t know… maybe I’m overthinking it. I mean, it is after all, just a kids game that grown-ups get paid to play while others pay to watch. And even when your team loses, what’s the old soothing adage?, “it’s just a game”; or when your team wins, it’s the “best game ever”. Like I said, baseball must be experienced. It’s that experience that separates it from all the other mundane things you did that day — work, school, Starbucks run. grocery shopping, gym workout, Facebook trolling, whatever.
I mean, after all, it’s why you read this blog (and why I write it) in the first place.
Go Yankees!
{Tech note: There was only shareable media for one of today’s games. Sorry! But at least it was the one they won!}
Yankees Life 