Bits & Pieces

By Kim J. Harmon

It’s 10:41 on Thursday, November 1 . . .

 

If you want to know what’s wrong with major league baseball – well, then, I’m gonna tell you.

World Series.

Game 4.

Bottom of the ninth, two outs, one runner on and the New York Yankees on the short end of a 3-1 score.

Now, it’s after midnight and I’ve just pulled myself off the couch. Tino Martinez steps into the batter’s box and I’ve got my finger on the OFF button of my remote control and for a moment – or two – I hope that Tino grounds out so I can go to bed.

I’m tired. I drifted off in the bottom of the eighth inning for crying out loud and now I want to go to bed more than I want to see the Yankees win. Then Tino slugs the first pitch from Arizona’s Korean closer off the retaining wall in right centerfield and while part of me (at least the vocal part) is cheering, another part is whining, “Great, now the stupid game is going into the extra innings. I’ll NEVER get to bed.”

I laid back down on the couch. Drifted off and missed part of the top of the 10th inning. Missed a little bit of the bottom of the 10th and roused myself just in time to see Derek Jeter round second base after he belted the game-winning homer.

I don’t even know what time it was then. I just turned off the television and stumbled off to bed.

That’s what’s wrong with baseball.

That – and some other things, too, but I’ve got to go home and take a nap. There’s another game tonight.

It’s 8:41 on Friday, November 2 . . .

 

Arrrggghhh – not again! I saw Scott Brosius tie the score because I just KNEW the Yankees would do it again but, gosh darn it, I dropped back down on to the couch and missed the bottom of the 10th and then all of the 11th and 12th innings and woke up in time to catch the recap on ESPN.

This is brutal – BRUTAL!

It’s 10:24 on Tuesday, November 6 . . .

 

Now that I have had time to reflect (and sleep), I can at least appreciate what I did (or didn’t) see last week. Those last two games in New York were two of the most exciting World Series games I had ever seen (only Game 6, Mets and Red Sox, would rank higher).

And Game 7 on Sunday (which started, mercifully, at 8 pm) was nearly as exciting.

It was a GREAT series – even if major league baseball did what it could to screw the whole thing up.

I’m still a little tired. Thank God baseball season is over.