It seems impossible that it has been nearly two years since I have written anything about baseball, so since we’re at the beginning of the annual baseball reawakening, I think I will begin to reengage this page with a reflection of my favorite sport. Not only is Major League Baseball Spring Training now underway, but college baseball has begun its season, and Nora and I had an opportunity to take in our first college baseball game together.
The last time I attended a college baseball game was at the Naval Academy in Annapolis while my ship was in port there back in the ’90s. The only thing I really remember was the jarring “tink” of the ball off the aluminum bats and the small venue. I don’t even remember if the Midshipmen won the game.
This past Monday, since I had the day off for Washington’s Birthday, we were able to attend the afternoon home game of the University of Miami Rainbow Warriors who hosted the Gonzaga Bulldogs at Les Murakami Stadium for the opening weekend of the season.
Nora and I drove to the campus and easily found the garage where ample parking is available for only $10. We then walked to the box office where, to my surprise, not only could I use cash to pay the $10 for two tickets, but they printed the tickets and handed them to me. I didn’t need to download any app or check my email. I had an actual ticket.
Admission wasn’t entirely free of frustration, however, since we discovered that the ballpark has a “clear bag policy” preventing women (or anyone) from bringing all but a small purse unless it was made of transparent plastic. This is one of those silly things public venues do now that inconveniences everyone to provide a veneer of “security.” We were not actually any safer because I could see the contents of strangers’ bags. (In fact, many bags contained some kind of jacket or even another bag which obscured its contents completely.) but UH could say they were doing something to help keep us safe. As it turned out, this policy wasn’t strictly enforced, at least for Nora whose average-sized purse was not checked at all.
The last time I attended a live baseball game was five years ago when I was able to take my family to see the Cubs play at Wrigley. A lot about the game has changed since then, and some of those changes have affected the college game too, and some of the changes are unique to the college game.
For example, this is the first baseball game I have ever attended at which I saw a clock mercilessly ticking down the time for a pitcher to throw his next pitch. I was surprised to find this far less distracting than I had thought it would be, and the improvement to the pace of the game overall is undeniable. As it turns out, having the clock is far less frustrating than watching a batter step out of the batter’s box or the pitcher circle the mound after every single pitch.
Despite the frequent “tinks” (please, NCAA, mandate wood bats) the game was scoreless and the UH pitcher didn’t give up a hit through four innings. It was a pitchers’ duel, but hitters were offering at pitches and putting the ball in play, not simply waiting for walks and striking out, so the pace was quick and there was a lot of action that we could follow from our seats in the stands.
I was just settling into the groove and enjoying the game’s quick pace when the Bulldogs’ manager challenged an “out” call at second base. I am old enough to remember when these kinds of challenges resulted in an entertaining interruption in game play, perfected by managers like Earl Weaver who would make sure that everyone in the stadium knew his opinion of the umpire’s judgement. But this time everything just stopped as the umpires trotted off the field—my only clue as to what was happening. They probably weren’t gone for as long as it seemed like they were when they returned and the home plate umpire announced that the call would stand: the runner was still out. We’d sat around watching nothing until the game resumed unchanged. What a waste.
Clearly instant replay had come to work its blight on NCAA Division 1 baseball. Instant replay does help to correct a very few missed calls of the very many correct ones made each game, but it places the outcome of the game in the hands of someone who isn’t on the field and interrupts the flow and pace of the game in the process. In this game, one head coach used both of his challenges on plays that weren’t likely to be overturned as a ploy to slow his opponents’ momentum of his or give his pitcher a breather. At least, that’s the only reason that seems likely to me, and with a pitch clock and mound visits limited by rule, this can be an effective strategy.
Regardless, instant replay, like the designated hitter, is probably here to stay—even though it’s stupid.
Scoring didn’t start in this game until the bottom of the fifth inning when the “‘Bows” scored two runs. By then I had about finished the bag of peanuts for which I paid too much, but which are a necessary staple at any baseball game. The problem I had this time was that I didn’t know if, like every other game I’d been to, I should chuck the empty shells on the ground. The only other guy I could see eating peanuts, a local and about my age, was putting them back in the bag they came from, so this is what I did. It is not a good idea. It’s easy enough at first, but it doesn’t take long until it becomes difficult to tell which shells still contain nuts. Next time I’ll have to get a bag or empty cup to contain the discards.
I would complain that I was also overcharged for the hotdog I bought, but the thing was enormous, and my guess is it contained the same amount of meat as a package of regular ‘dogs from the commissary. So, come to think of it, $10 was definitely an overcharge. Yes, I ate it. No, I’m not proud.
There were local flavors at the snack bars too, such as the cinnamon roasted macadamia nuts and lilikoi lemonade that we tried and found delicious. There are more we will try next time, including a Hawai’ian barbeque stand.
The visiting Bulldogs scored three unanswered runs in the seventh and eighth innings, setting up an exciting ninth. After one was out in the bottom of the inning, the Rainbow Warriors hit three straight singles that they combined with some aggressive base-running to tie the game and put the go-ahead run on third. The winning run scored on a wild pitch that got away from the Gonzaga catcher.
The home team won the game in a bottom of the ninth, come from behind victory on a sunny day in Hawaii. What a pleasant way to spend the afternoon and a fantastic beginning to a new year of baseball. There are dark clouds on the baseball’s horizon with MLB contract negotiations looming amidst out-of-control salaries and more new rules coming, including adding challenges to ball/strike calls, but for now I just look forward to enjoying the next game. Maybe this weekend.
An Orthodox Priest Abroad 