One of the first signs that winter is going to end is that day in February when pitchers and catchers report. We have a foot of snow outside and the wind has been howling, moving the snow around, making rock-hard drifts. The sun rarely shines – it’s usually overcast here in Bozeman. Winter will linger until April, and we won’t have a true green spring until May.
Except today … the Cincinnati Reds and all the other teams are now in camp. Many players have been there all week – the young guns who want to show up and impress the manager. Get this – some of them come early just because they love to play the game.
The Reds have a young outfielder, Jay Bruce, who is ranked the number one prospect in all of baseball. He’s been in Sarasota all week.
Last year the Reds finished 72-90, fired their manager, and played the last month of the season with basically a triple-A roster. Yet they started out in April of 2007 with the same optimism as now. But losing started early – it takes a couple of months for weaknesses to be exposed, but not that long for the 2007 Reds. They lacked two things – starting pitching and bullpen arms. No amount of hitting overcomes bad pitching. By the All Star break they were deep in the hole, and the manager had to go. Like he was the problem.
This winter they signed a closer, Francisco Cordera, to a monstrous contract, and also nabbed a potential starter in former Colorado Rocky Jeremy Affeldt. They traded away a brilliant young outfielder, Josh Hamilton, for a promising young arm, Edinson Volquez, and hired Dusty Baker to manage. Once again, there is hope. Their record right now is 0-0, and they are tied for first. It is February, I’m slogging through tax work, but pitchers and catchers report today. I’m excited.
We are going to San Francisco in late April, staying in a beach condo and babysitting a friend’s pooch for a while. If that wasn’t enough, I checked the schedule, and sure enough, the Reds are in Frisco at that time. If that wasn’t enough, our friend has a friend who has box seats who won’t be using the tickets … it was is if it were foreordained.
That’s something to look forward to this dark February morning. Talk of steroids and congressional hearings will soon give way to balls and strikes and dingers. Baseball fans are not complicated. We’re not so noisy as football fans – baseball is actually boring to many of them. I can see that. It’s a game without a time clock – a game made for lazy afternoons. Football became popular in an industrialized country where people had to punch clocks. It’s a different mindset.
On this dark and cold February morning I look forward to 162 three hour contests, each one uniquely important. This could be the year.
Piece of Mindful 