It won’t be so awful in three months. Another pitcher will climb out of the minor leagues, trading $5 lunches for far better options. He will startle with his curve, his cutter or his sinker. We may know him now….
Category: NL
He throws curveballs that buckle knees, and stands on the mound when no one else will do. Because he plays in the National League, he stands at the plate every nine batters. And sometimes he smacks a hit into right…
This one walked to the plate and knocked mud off his shoes, like he’d been digging for potatoes all afternoon and hadn’t changed yet. He didn’t care to wait under the lights for a minute longer. So he swung on…
I worked during the Cardinals game today. And so I checked the score between swigs of coffee. I sat on a bench along Lake Washington, with boats shadowing the water and Rainier shimmering. I assumed St. Louis stayed ahead during…
In the bottom of the 1st, Matt Carpenter doubled. This is no longer news. St. Louis trailed Cincinnati 1-0 after Joey Votto shot a ball over the fence, just beyond Jason’s Heyward’s grasp. With one out, and Carpenter standing on…
Not much doing through two against Milwaukee. St. Louis left men standing on bases instead of running between them. And second baseman Kolten Wong made his third error in three games. Mike Fiers’ pitch count started to worry, but his…
In the bottom of the 8th, Jon Jay walked to the plate. He wore blue and red striped socks that stretched up his calf, with baggy pants cinched below his knee. He took his stance one, two times. On the…
The Cardinals in solemn silence stood. They watched clips of a young man on a screen until years glowed. 22 years old. Oscar Taveras wore 18, and Carlos Martinez wears the number now to honor his teammate. That number is…
With two outs and a runner at second, Carlos Martinez stared at the batter. Cincinnati’s Brandon Phillips hit from the right side. He twirled his bat like a windmill and braced it against his shoulder. He waited for his pitch….
We know how it all ended at this point. Not with Bobby Thomson, but with Travis Ishikawa. His footsteps muffled by the shouts of his teammates crowding home plate. Though his run didn’t matter, nor the man who walked in…