Ask any long-time Giants or Cubs fan and they’ll tell you that it indeed ain’t over ’til it’s over. They won’t be using the quote in its original Yogi Berra “we’ve got a lot of fight left in us” sense, though. It will instead be uttered with memories of the likes of Bobby Richardson and Steve Bartman – obscure names having come and gone and meaning little to anyone other than those who truly cared and dared to entertain the thought “maybe this year ..” In Bartman’s case the association isn’t even deserved. He’s merely a marker, a guy who was there at a particular time in Cubs history to signal the inevitable changing of the postseason tide in the wrong direction. Richardson caught a Willie McCovey line drive in ’62 – I wasn’t around, but those who were are occasionally said to make it out as a more spectacular play than it really was. No matter; whether it was a leaping grab or an act of self-preservation, like Bartman it simply had to be. It represented the original moment in which the Giants confirmed that moving west negated all possibility for going all the way. Historical and sobering perspective was conveniently provided a day or two later with the Cuban Missile Crisis and impending end of the world.
Why then, would I be bothering to write anything with the Giants up three games to one in the 2010 National League Championship Series? I don’t know – it might have something to do with age and perspective; with realizing that I only tend to write about baseball, television, and depressive insight anyway. Really, though, it has to do with three separate pieces that I wrote in recent weeks, concerning loudmouths, living in the moment, and one hell of a rookie catcher.
Buster Posey is the antithesis of a loudmouth. After going four for five last night, including a sublime ninth inning at-bat against veteran Roy Oswalt to put the winning run at third base, he remained characteristically subdued and focused. His comments centered mostly on the task in front of him – to win another game in this series and get to the Big Show. It’s almost as if he was there in ’62 and again in ’02, and knows instinctively what can happen. It’s like he was there in ’87 against the Cardinals – the same year he was born. The feeling one gets watching and listening to this kid is that he’ll be there again, if only because at an unusually young age he already knows something about living in the moment, and playing each game as though none have come before and there are no more to follow. As a gifted athlete, his is an integral role in the process; as a fan, mine is simply to appreciate and learn. And as cliched as it may be, you can learn something from this game.
Pressed by the post-game media to comment on a night that included executing a supremely difficult tag-out at home plate, and becoming only the second rookie in franchise history to have a four-hit game in the postseason, Posey was characteristically level-headed. One writer tried to lend a little perspective by asking if he realized he’d had an epic night not just for a rookie, but for any player. “Well,” Posey responded, pausing momentarily to consider the question, “thank you.”
Post a Comment