I have always been a bigger fan of the past than of the
future. I figure the past can’t hurt
me. The past is past. What the heck can it do to me?
The future, on the other hand, is precariously “iffy.” We don’t know what’s going to happen.
Except for one thing. And that one really sucks!
Sure, good things can happen in the future. But good things also happened in the past.
And I was in better shape to enjoy them.
I am thinking – being a “thinking” kind of a guy – “What is
one good thing that happens only in the future?”
And then I found one.
(Inspiring today’s effort.)
I offer an admitted trivial example. But experiencing it opened my eyes to “The
future doesn’t necessarily suck.” (Except for one thing.)
Consider the ballgame I just watched.
Stop it. I’m serious.
It’s the L.A. Dodgers
versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. And here’s – I was going to say “remarkably”
but that would be spilling the beans – oops, I just spilled them again.
Okay, here’s how it went.
(Try and forget I tipped the ending.)
The Dodgers are
down 4-3, in the bottom of the ninth.
The first two batters fail to reach base. The Dodgers
are down to their final out.
After getting the first two strikes, the Diamondbacks pitcher walks the potential
last batter of the game.
There is now a runner on first base, two outs, bottom of the
ninth, the Dodgers down, 4-3.
The Diamondbacks
pitcher walks the next batter.
There are now runners at first and second, two outs, bottom
of the ninth, Dodgers down 4-3.
The Diamondbacks
pitcher walks the next batter.
The bases are now loaded, two outs, bottom of the ninth, Dodgers down 4-3.
The Diamondbacks
pitcher walks the next batter.
A runner comes in. The
bases remain loaded, two out, bottom of the ninth. But the score is now tied, 4-4.
The D-Backs (belatedly?)
change pitchers.
The new pitcher comes in… and walks the next batter.
Dodgers win 5-4.
After five consecutive
walks.
With two outs.
In the bottom of the ninth!
I don’t know if that’s ever happened before. I do
know I have never seen it
before. And I’ve watched a truckload of
ballgames.
So there you have it.
The one thing special about the future.
The unpredictably wonderful and unexpected “unknown.”
The past’s, like, “We heard about it.”
The future’s, like, “Wow!”
Only the future holds the surprising possibility of seeing things
for the first time.
(I was going to say “… and doing things for the first time”, but let’s not get carried away.)
Without the future, I’d have missed those five consecutive,
late-inning walks.
But I didn’t.
And that’s why it’s okay.
2 comments:
Another amazing thing is that I hadn't heard about that game. But when I went back to look at the box score, I noticed another interesting thing about the rules of baseball. The two guys who walked when the runs scored got credit for a run batted in!
When I mentioned this to a friend, he acknowledged that rule but then wondered what would have happened if the pitcher had balked and the runners moved ahead and scored. Who gets the RBI then? The guy standing at the plate (who doesn't move)? The pitcher?
Thanks for writing about this game.
I asked a friend who knows these things and he says no one gets an RBI in the balk case. He says it's like the case of an error allowing a run to come in.
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