“America’s game: has the snap, go fling, of the American atmosphere — belongs as much to our institutions, fits into them as significantly, as our constitutions, laws, [and] is just as important in the sum total of our historic life.” ~ Walt Whitman on baseball, 1889
“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” ~ Mark Twain
I was feeling pretty good about capturing last night’s “supermoon.”
Then, Mr. I’m-A-Very-Smart-Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson had to go and spoil it.
Thanks for bumming out my moon photos.
So here.
Not-So-Supermoon-afterall.
And, here’s a cow with the Not-So-Supermoon.
Here are lots of cows stampeding past the Not-So-Supermoon, becoming Ghost Cows in the process.
Not-So-Supermoon, feelings hurt by the rudeness of Astrophysicist, packs it in and heads for the clouds.
We spent Sunday’s pre-Supermoon daylight hours in Baltimore at the Orioles-Cardinals game (three-hour drive – each way – for those of you who wonder just how dedicated I am to baseball).
Here’s Super-Pitcher, But Not-Quite-So-Super-Today Kevin Gausman.
Here’s Rookie Catcher Caleb Joseph. He homered in each of his last five games, a club record for catchers.
Today?
Not-so-super. And, no home run.
Here’s Ever-Reliable Super Right Fielder Nick Markakis.
Still super.
Although 4-for-5 at the plate, he scored only twice, once thanks to a wild pitch. Thanks for nothing, rest of team.
For 17 hours this week, the Baltimore Orioles led the American League East. Ahead of the New York Yankees. Ahead of the World Champion Boston Red Sox.
It was a nice 17 hours, although, truthfully, several of those hours were in the middle of the night when I couldn’t really enjoy it fully.
They say one shouldn’t live in the past, but I hope you won’t mind if I just …
May 2, 2014
What a whirlwind, crazy, exciting ride it was.
The Orioles promptly lost their next two games.
No more number one.
(I believe at one point today as the Orioles were losing to the Minnesota Twins I said they “suckity suck suck.” This is the clever kind of thing that baseball fans say when they’re being betrayed by the players they love.)
There is a week that comes in every baseball season, when a private, quiet kind of panic begins to set in for fans of teams that are not number one.
This is that week.
A week ago, Editor/Husband and I went to our first Orioles game of the season. (Yes, it is a six-hour round-trip drive. He is the best.)
The scrappy Orioles played the equally scrappy Kansas City Royals.
We lost 9-3.
But, the sun was shining. 3,500 Little Leaguers were there. I took these pictures. So really the day wasn’t a total loss.
Here’s Orioles Pitcher Chris Tillman out by the bullpen. Four days later, against the Pirates he would throw 49 pitches in the top of the first and walk in two runs. The Orioles won anyway.
And, as a big fan of the bullpen and relief pitchers, I’m delighted to see they’ve dressed up the place with flowers.
These are ducks just behind center field.
These are Little Leaguers. More than 3,500 of them paraded around the ballpark before the game. It took more than an hour. The Orioles said “hi.”
Once again, I am besieged by protective netting. Let’s play “Guess The Infielder!”
Gold Glove Shortstop J.J. Hardy.
Second Baseman Steve Lombardozzi.
It’s a trick! It’s Right Fielder Nick Markakis playing first base, subbing for the injured Chris Davis.
Obligatory bullpen shot. Hi fellas, stay warm!
Orioles backup catch Steve Clevenger, born in Baltimore in the nearby neighborhood called Pigtown.
This is a kid who’s excited to be at a baseball game. He is a wide-eyed innocent who believes in his team and in a world that is just and fair.
This is a kid whose favorite team is rolling over to the Royals. I think he’s aged a bit this afternoon, and from here on out every smile will be tinged with just a hint of sadness.
Shortstop J.J. Hardy knew that if he stopped mid-game to pose for my photo he would get to appear in this post twice. Congratulations, Mr. Hardy.
OK, maybe it’s too early to panic.
We’re number two.
Photos: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland. April 27, 2014.
“You do this because you like it, you think what you’re making is beautiful. And, if you think it’s beautiful, maybe they think it’s beautiful.”
Lou Reed died today. He made beautiful music. Like this …
And, this. Oh, and this, too … which is magnificent:
“So, that’s the way, technically, it goes.”
Can I squeeze in some Lou Reed on baseball? Of course, I can. In 1995, he said:
“[I]if there was probably a childhood trauma that I had other than the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn, which, if you think about it, is a reason why some of us are imbued with a cynicism that we never recovered from. Obviously you’re not a Mets fan, and you can’t possibly be a Yankees fan, so baseball’s eliminated from your life because of being born in Brooklyn.”
Interviewer: “You cared about the Dodgers as a kid?”
“Very much. I don’t know why. I don’t like baseball. Of course, maybe I don’t like baseball because the Dodgers aren’t here anymore.”
UPDATE: And, I hope you’ll take just one moment to click here for the warm and loving tribute from Lou’s wife, Laurie Anderson (a wonderful artist, too), that appeared in their local newspaper.
Blogging is a young person’s game. Either that, or I’m blaming yesterday’s migraine.
In any event, the point of yesterday’s Black & White Chronicles post was to highlight a couple of photos taken from behind the net at Davenport Field (home of the University of Virginia baseball team).
So, imagine my surprise, to see that my favorite behind-the-net photo hadn’t posted. Wasn’t even in the post that it had inspired.
Oops. Let’s try again …
Here’s the catcher.
Matt Thaiss. He’s a freshman. He was drafted by the Red Sox this spring, but came to UVa instead. He’s very good.
He can hit. He can run (especially well for a guy who squats down for most of the game). He can throw out base-stealers and bunters.
And, I just like this photo and was annoyed it didn’t post yesterday. So, Catcher gets his own post.
Sunday, October 20, 2013. Davenport Field, University of Virginia. Intrasquad Game.
If I have my choice at a baseball game, I’ll sit as far away from the protective netting as possible.
I would love to catch a ball – fair or foul – to show off to my friends like a deer head stuck up on a wall or the ribbon you get at the fair when your pumpkin tops 200 pounds.
But, it won’t happen. Because, when I see a baseball whizzing toward me (and by “toward”, I mean anywhere, really, within eight or nine sections), I duck.
I will never reach out and grab a ball out of the sky. I will never steal the ball from an outfielder’s glove. And, by golly, Red Sox Fan Out There In The Bleachers, I will never-never-ever wrest a ball away from another fan and throw it back on the field.
I will duck.
So, I appreciate that someone has invented this net to protect me from a good head-wallop. But, given the choice, I’ll take my chances. Because the net gets in my way – just one more barrier between me and the field.
These past few weeks, the University of Virginia has had a fall baseball season – intrasquad games mostly. The games were quite good. But, they closed off the bleachers, because it was chilly and the fans were sparce, and they sat us all in the “good seats”.
Behind that damned netting.
So, all I could do was make the net a part of the photos. More and more over the past several games, I’ve been shooting in black and white. And, I kind of like it.
How better to illustrate a history-rich, simple game? How better to show how baseball is, at its essence, black and white – you pitch, you hit, you run, you throw, you score?
How better to celebrate the true heart of the game than by stripping away all the extraneous noise?
All that’s left is black and white.
September 22, October 6, and October 20, 2013. Davenport Field, University of Virginia. Exhibition & Intrasquad games.
An ad placed by Cheerio’s in today’s Baltimore Sun.
The Baseball Bloggess 