Bits & Pieces
Bits & Pieces
By Kim J. Harmon
Itâs 10:41 on Thursday, November 1 . . .
Â
If you want to know whatâs wrong with major league baseball â well, then, Iâm 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, itâs after midnight and Iâve just pulled myself off the couch. Tino Martinez steps into the batterâs box and Iâve got my finger on the OFF button of my remote control and for a moment â or two â I hope that Tino grounds out so I can go to bed.
Iâm 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 Arizonaâs 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, âGreat, now the stupid game is going into the extra innings. Iâll NEVER get to bed.â
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 donât even know what time it was then. I just turned off the television and stumbled off to bed.
Thatâs whatâs wrong with baseball.
That â and some other things, too, but Iâve got to go home and take a nap. Thereâs another game tonight.
Itâs 8:41 on Friday, November 2 . . .
Â
Arrrggghhh â 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 â BRUTAL!
Itâs 10:24 on Tuesday, November 6 . . .
Â
Now that I have had time to reflect (and sleep), I can at least appreciate what I did (or didnât) 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 â even if major league baseball did what it could to screw the whole thing up.
Iâm still a little tired. Thank God baseball season is over.