Perspectives: You Don’t Know What You’re Missing (or maybe you do…)
It’s a long season. Always. People like to say, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Most fans take comfort in knowing that, for the most part, baseball is there for them every single day throughout the spring and summer months. The hope is that baseball continues through watching their favorite team well into October.
But, since baseball is always there, fans sometimes drop in and out throughout the season. There are periods when we just can’t pay as much attention to the daily games of our favorite team. This is true of most fans, and it’s also true of most sports writers, including bloggers.
For me, this is one of the busiest times of year. Summer ends, a new school year beckons, and with that comes long days of work that often last well into the evening. There are lots of i’s to dot, lots of t’s to cross and lots of things (big and little) that just have to get done. (Because of all this, it’s also an exciting time, gearing up for “Opening Day” – a time filled with hope, anticipation, reunion, and joy.)
Every summer this is a time when I take a break from my daily interactions with the Yankees. I just don’t have lots of time for them right now. Sure, I observe on the periphery, but I’m not able to invest hour upon hour watching the games and following all the news and action.
There are just so many hours in a day…
All of this is especially true when the Yankees play on the west coast. When the Yankees play out west, with game times after 10:00 p.m., I’m usually asleep before the first pitch of the game comes, but even if I am awake, sleep comes (very) shortly after. I cannot trade necessary sleep to watch a baseball game – no matter how much I wish I could. And, to be honest, even if I start watching the game, I soon find my eyes closed.
When the Yankees play these late games, my daily routine after I awake is to come to Start Spreading the News to see the Quick Hit as soon as I get up in the morning. I do this with absolute hope each day – “I hope the Yankees won!” And then I hope I don’t feel remorse by discovering that I missed some epic feat (The greatest catch, the most remarkable pitching, the longest homerun, the greatest comeback…). I don’t DVR the games (I wouldn’t have the time to watch the games – even on fast forward) so it’s quite certain that if something great happened, I’ll miss all but the highlights (which never truly capture the emotion of the moment).
These last two mornings, the first of the west coast swing haven’t made me feel any remorse over missing the games. I love the Yankees. I enjoy watching them play. I enjoy watching them win. But, judging just by the scores and the recaps, it doesn’t seem that I’ve missed much so far. I’ve missed a 6-2 loss and a 6-4 loss. Neither game seemed particularly exciting:
It seems that neither Domingo German nor J.A. Happ pitched particularly well
In both games, the Yankees fell behind early and never seemed to really get back into the games
The Yankees scored only two runs off 11 hits in the first game, and only four runs (on 11 hits plus four walks) in the second game. Ouch. Has it been a lack of clutch hitting?
And then I wonder if the Yankees themselves are tired, just like me. I know it’s only selective memory, but it seems to me that more often than not, the Yankees play poorly on these long west coast trips, especially at the start. (I don’t have any statistics to back up that assertion, it is just my gut from observing and remembering the results of these late late late games.)
In short, I think I know what I’ve been missing these last two nights – and it hasn’t been much. I don’t like watching the Yankees lose. I enjoy, even less, watching them lose games that they’re never really even in. It is no fun for me to struggle to keep my eyes open, just to watch a baseball game.
It hasn’t been a great start of a road trip for the Yankees.
BUT… the Yankees will soon play the Dodgers. That, in and of itself, is exciting – a possible World Series preview! And the Saturday and Sunday games are on at reasonable hours. I hope, as the Yankees acclimate to a new time zone, that they get back on track and get back to winning. The way this is shaping up, they just might, real soon, and if the timing is right, I’ll be watching just as it happens.
I look forward, greatly, to watching the games on Saturday and Sunday. It’s only been a few days, but I miss the Yankees already.
Let’s go Yankees. (I cannot watch tonight. I just can’t, even with a slightly earlier start, but I hope I wake up to see news of a victory tomorrow morning.)
