Posted by
laeva65 on Sunday, June 10, 2007 12:44:52 PM
When the Roman emperors wanted to relieve the civic pressure brought on by their misadventures, they would order up a series of athletic contests in the Colosseum. I've been a little grim lately so I think I'll shift my focus to my favorite pastime, baseball - in particular my beloved Arizona State Sun Devils.
This year's crop of Devils is a magnificent, multi-talented lot. The maestro, Coach Pat Murphy, has a mad strategy that calls for inserting the most improbable player in the unlikeliest situation.
Take last night. Down 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth against Ole Miss and with runners on second and third, Murphy sends up his closer to pinch-hit. Now, normally. asking your closer (the pitcher who generally comes into games in the last inning to seal a win) to bat in a tight situation is a bit like asking jazz pianist extraordinaire Art Tatum to take a turn at tenor saxophone.
What sweet music there was! The closer, Jason Jarvis, launched a soaring fly ball to deep right field. It was caught, but it was deep enough to score the man from third and tie the ballgame.
As recently as the inning before, the Devils were scoreless, and had been handcuffed all night by a magnificent Ole Miss pitcher named Will Kline. While Jarvis raced down the field into the Devils bullpen to warm up in case he was going to pitch the 10th inning, the PAC-10's offensive player of the year came to bat.
That would be Brett Wallace, who had stunk up the joint with an O-fer. Kline had beaten Wallace like a rented mule all night long.
So naturally Wallace strokes the first pitch he sees into center field, driving home the winning run and deflating the spirit of a very good Ole Miss squad.
Game 2 of the three game series is this evening. Winner goes to the College World Series. Bet on the Devil(s).