1, 2, 3 Strikes...You're Out

I am ideologically opposed to the sacrifice bunt.

And the sac fly, intentional walk, and designated hitter for that matter.

So I sit here watching the Phillies turn a double play in the top of the 8th, fighting their hardest to seal the deal on Game 5 and the World Series as a whole. I am torn on who to root for...I am traditionally for the National League in the Fall Classic, but I am caught up in the miracle story of the Tampa Bay Rays. (I am always a sucker for a redemption story.) What I most want is a seven game series. I want to squeeze every last inch of baseball that I can out of 2008; the longest part of the year as the six month span with no baseball.

I am the consummate baseball fan. I grew up going to baseball games, cheering for the Astros, suffering through the roller coaster that is that organization. I am obsessive, to say the least. To me, baseball is poetry in motion. There are few things as beautiful to watch as a perfectly executed double play, a smooth and easy swing, or a close play at home plate. Baseball is a thinking person's game, made of a small adjustments and behind the scenes strategy...the placement of a pitch, a shift in the outfield, a tweak to the batting order. It is both the prototypical duel of batter versus pitcher and the classic expression of teamwork. Everything must move as clockwork as each player has each other's back.

What I most want out of a game is a good fight. That is why I hate sacrifice bunt and intentional walks. I am honestly troubled when a sportscaster says "he did his job" as the batter trots back to the dugout having sacrificed himself to advance the runner. True, they didn't end the inning, but I am always of the mindset that the job of the batter is not to get out. Draw a walk, hit a single, knock it out of the park, but every at bat needs to truly count for something. Get on base. The same principal goes for pitching. If you can't locate your pitches in a place the draws an out, the batter deserves to get a hit off of you. Intentional walks are for cowards.

I love baseball because I love watching players go out there an PLAY. They run hard into the bases; they swing at the pitches they think they can hit; the gun down runners at the plate; they burn you with a 94mph fastball then confuse you with a 72mph curve ball. It's the beauty of baseball. Somehow sports teams mirror our own common place lives and transcend us into victory. We band together to cheer our boys on to victory. It's the simple but very true joy of a children's game. 162 games a year is not close to enough.