Egg Salad | The Baseball Bloggess

There are few things as wonderful as an egg salad sandwich on a summer Friday when you’re not working and everyone else is.

Yum!

Today is, I thought, one of those “salad days.”

Because, as with many turns of phrases, I am using “salad days” incorrectly.

(I will occasionally say someone is “over the moon” when they are very, very angry, and I once advised a new mother not to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” which I thought was darned good advice.)

And, so I thought “salad days” simply meant good days.

Like seeing an Orioles walk-off home run against the Oakland A’s last Saturday … or, that whole egg salad sandwich thing.

Chris Davis. Home Run Swing.

Turns out, these are not salad days after all.

“Salad days,” as Shakespeare meant it and as you probably already understand it, are the days of youthful naiveté when things were good and we were green – just fallen off the turnip truck. (Fun Fact: “Just fell off the turnip truck”? Not Shakespearean, but popularized by Johnny Carson … so, Carsonian.)

Salad days are the frivolities of our youth.

So, today’s egg salad sandwich? Not a “salad day.”

But, maybe Baltimore’s four wins against the Oakland A’s last weekend – outscoring them 34-13 – were salad days after all.

Because, for a brief moment we O’s fans believed we had the post-season in the bag.

me.

Playing a worked-over, tired-out, reeling team like this year’s A’s will do that to you. You forget the worked-over, tired-out, reeling part and you just jump up and down every time you win.

Such carefree, naïve fans were we.

(Although a little credit here. Our salad days did include a win over Sonny Gray.)

But, not all teams are reeling and you can’t play Oakland every day.

In fact, the O’s have pretty much seen the last of the reelers this season. And, today, they’re a half-game back for the second Wild Card.

Ahhh … the Salad Days of last Saturday.

Look how happy we were!

Jonathan Schoop. Second Base.

Miguel Gonzalez. Starting Pitcher.

Raise Your Hand If You Want To Go To The World Series. Steve Clevenger. Catcher.

And, Gerardo Parra, too!

Parra, the new O’s outfielder, is doing the Wave with the fans!

I know. I didn’t believe it either. That’s why I watched him do it two more times when the Wave came through the outfield bleachers. And, he did it each time.

I love Mr. Parra. Can we keep him?

Watch the walk-off home run here.

And, what are salad days without pie? Meaningless.

Watch here.

You know that egg salad? It wasn’t so great. First, the bread was sliced top to bottom, not on a diagonal, as perfect sandwiches are. And, it’s kind of made my stomach funny. Also, no pickle. What’s up with that? Although it was wrapped in deli paper, which is always a nice touch.

And, the Orioles?

Sure, they’ve only won one game since Oakland left town. Sure, there are some awfully good, surging teams that they will need to elbow out of the way to get into the post-season.

But, you know what they say – it ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings.