A Broader View Of Baseball

I was finding myself screaming at the TV on a regular basis, any time the Giants didn't win a baseball game.  It seemed natural enough to think that if the Giants were struggling and the Dodgers were having undeserved success, the universe was unfairly out to get me. 

Then we realized our cat had fleas, and all of a sudden baseball didn't seem as important.  After a frenzied day of vacuuming--in which I learned how to use the attachments on our fancy new vacuum cleaner WITHOUT an instruction book--and decimating our laundry piles and taking the kitty to a vet for treatment, I'm feeling very adult and productive, even if I did put whites in with a pink blanket.  Ouch. 

So this puts me in a more reflective frame of mind.  Time to consider some of the stories in baseball that intrigue me even without directly contributing to the all-conquering success of Buster Posey and company.

1) Bryce Harper.  I've been opposed to Bryce Harper, the young Washington Nationals phenom with the bad haircut, on general principle ever since I read in Sports Illustrated that he has a bit of a swelled head.  But then Cole Hamels intentionally hit Bryce Harper in the first Phillies-Nationals game of the year, for no valid reason, and Harper's response was to steal home.  That's just outstanding.  So now, today, there is a rematch on TV, and a rivalry I can actually care about on the East Coast.  It helps that the Red Sox and Yankees are struggling, so there are actually some different teams being shown on TV.

2) The Athletics.  Oakland is playing quite well this year, and even though Yoenis Cespedes is hurt, he has done enough to pique my curiosity.  With Oakland, I have the benefit of cheering for them as a local team from my boyhood, but with the buffer that they were never my favorite team, so I am not as heavily invested in them.  I can just enjoy the intricacies of the game when watching them play, and they are actually competing in the AL West.

3)  The Orioles.  The AL East is being lead by a team that does not hail from New York, Boston, or Tampa.  And they aren't Toronto.  That's fascinating.  The Orioles have a great tradition from the days of Cal Ripken Jr and Eddie Murray and Roberto Alomar.  They should be contending, and it is great that they are, especially since they weren't given much of a chance this year.

That's enough to be going on with.  It should be an awesome summer of baseball.