What wondrous love is this –
to wait for Hunter Pence to take a 2-2 pitch
With two runners on the basepaths
And room for Pence at first
(And he would walk 90 feet to load the bases).
Pence wears black socks rolled over his kneecaps
And tugs at the buttons of his grey jersey, by the R and the A
while he chats with the first baseman.
Pence watches Buster Posey skip backward when a baseball spins toward his ankles
And Posey pops a ball to right field.
But it’s not far enough to score Denard Span standing at third.
Pence bend down to brush the dirt off of the base, then kicks, dust flying into the meadow surrounding the base.
And Pence jumps toward second
at contact
when Brandon Crawford chops a ball –
but it only goes a few feet and the catcher
touches the base
And Pence shrugs
takes his glove
runs back to right field
maybe thinking it was enough.
This time.
It wasn’t.
by 