Scouting Reports

You know, we just got hit with another 12 inches of snow yesterday. And the Midwest is supposed to get hit by yet another snowstorm.  You would think that instead of the L.A. Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks playing their Opening Day game in Australia, it should be the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox, or the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs.

There is one thing that I've noticed about baseball fans. Baseball lovers often have a lot more fun talking about baseball than actually watching it.  So I've invited folks I know who love baseball to talk about it and give me a heads up what they think their teams are going to do this year. I am going to run some Scouting Reports over the next couple weeks.  If you have a report, bring it on. Talk to me.

I love the beginning of the baseball season.  Everyone starts out in the same place.  Everyone has a record of 0-0 (Zero Wins- Zero Losses.)  Everyone is tied for first.  When I was a pouty teenager, my dad would often tell me, "but life isn't fair."  But on the first day of baseball, it seems it can be. It feels like anything can happen.  Like the first days of spring.  The whole season is ahead. It is such a hopeful time of year.  We aren't there yet, but we can talk enthusiastically about it, can't we?  

So Girlfriends out there, if this is your year to try baseball,  pick a team. Just before Opening Day, take a look at the roster -that's the list of the team members and the positions they play. (You can do this. This will be fun-- just stick with me.)  If you are not sure who to follow,  start with the team closest to where you live or a team who is on your local television network the most. It doesn't really matter who you follow. If you follow a team, you will like the game more.  If you get to know a team, and recognize the guy at the plate, trust me, it gives you incentive to sit through nine (sometimes plus) innings.

Some people love the sport for the athletic skill. Some people love the stats. Some people only watch winning teams.  Me?  I like watching the players.  I like to see their faces as they bat, or pitch, or catch. I like to catch glimpses of the manager in the dugout and the pitching coaches eagle eyeing their students.  I like the exotic names of the players and their weird rituals.  I like to wonder about things like how many pound of sunflower seeds does a team go through each season? (Why sunflower seeds?  Why not circus peanuts? Walnuts? Animal crackers?)

If you can't figure out who to follow,  check out some of the scouting reports coming up in the next two weeks.  I have to let The Softball Diva and Terminal Yankees Fan go first.  I asked her for a scouting report and she had an extensive one done by the next day. After all those years of reporting for the Kenyon Softball Team, she has something to say about the Yankees this year.

It still burns me to see Ichiro Suzuki in a Yankees uniform. But I cheer him every time he steps up to the plate and does his zen pose just like he did in Seattle all those many years. I still clap (even if he is playing against the Mariners) when he garbage hits a ball and it appears to wimpily roll between first and second base, and he still races it out to first base.  You would get kicked out of Little League if you hit the ball that way. But it works.  Plus he is a Spiderman in the outfield.  I have to root for him. I can't help myself.  I like the players. And I'm going to look into that sunflower seed question...

Stay tuned for Scouting Reports.