Baseball

This evening I watched a baseball game. The Sacramento River Cats played the Portland Beavers. They played nine innings of triple-A ball at Raley Field in West Sac.

How Much Money Did I Spend?

Triple-A players make somewhere over $2500 a month according to this site. Someone sure made a lot of money tonight because they packed us in the stadium. We paid $30 a ticket. More than 15,000 people attended. Biggest crowd ever. Someone made bucks.

Vendors made bucks, for sure. We bought

• three tri-tip sandwiches
• two bags of kettle corn
• two River Cat foam paws
• a bottle of water
  
• a snow cone
  

My wife spent almost $60 on this stuff.

We got a few silly gimmes. The kids each got a whistle. I snatched Charlotte's and blew it for about four or five innings. At that point, it annoyed even me. We also one discount coupons for Hooters. Whoopee.

How Did the Game Go?

The River Cats catcher went out in the 1st with an eye injury. The Beavers scored like 3 runs right away. We looked sunk. Then we came back.

Both teams hit the ball plenty. Both had home runs. The lead went back and forth.

The pitching changes didn't make sense to me. Whenever a pitcher looked like he had found the right touch, they yanked him. And this is NL ball, where pitchers don't bat. I guess the coaches want lots of looks at their pen.

By the top of the 8th, the Beavers had a 9-8 lead which they carried to the end.

I swear. We go every July 4th (approximately). Every time the River Cats lose. Add the stress of screaming, whining kids and you have the picture. Pretty miserable, right?

Then Why Do You Go?

The kids settle down when they get tired. Since I don't care about the Pacific Coast League, the River Cats winning would feel like a luxury.

After the game, we stayed for the fireworks show. The fireworks looked OK, I guess. Not much to write about.

I like the spherical shapes they make in the air. I also like the lazy, twisting sparks of blue and red. They snake toward you out of the burst, then shy away at crazy angles all of a sudden. Never seen that before.

I wish they played better music. More rock. Less patriotic mumbo gumbo.

I like the patriotism. Particularly this year. July 4th, 2008 feels special. Like people sense something changing. Could be the Presidential election this fall.

What's the Deal with Baseball?

Baseball works like a watch. Around and around it goes, in a cycle like the seasons. At the same time, someone wins and someone loses. The winning and losing becomes the game's narrative. Because it includes both a cycle and a narrative, baseball can mean anything to anyone. You can make any metaphor you want using baseball.

Yogi Berra stands as the epitome of baseball. He gave us a mass of contradictions, simple wisdoms or wise-sounding simplicities. So American.

You'll find a great quote on the bathroom wall at Raley Field, worded like this: "Ninety percent of baseball is mental, and the other half is physical."