The Facts of Life....And Baseball
You take the good.
You take the bad.
You take them both, and there you have....
....Well, you folks reading this already know where I'm going with this. Forgive me if my limitless pop culture references know no boundaries, but I do call myself tvwizard85 on Twitter for a reason. And for those of you that may have been wondering why that name, you now have one of many answers to that question. Happy to answer more of them anytime you'd like!
But in all seriousness, today's post is going to prove exactly why the game of baseball can be cruel. Even to some of the most hard working and brightest players in this sport today, which includes your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis.
First, the good. The Houston Astros have already taken the first two of a four game series against the AL Central's first place Cleveland Indians, also known as the tribe, up at Progressive Field in the NE part of Ohio. And yesterday, they even pulled out a win against the best pitcher on their staff, Corey Kluber. All the while, Brad Peacock, a minor league call up relief pitcher, kept the spacemen in the game. Not to mention the nice 3 run bomb that utility man, Marwin Gonzalez, launched off of Kluber in the second inning to get the team that early lead. Evan did draw a walk to set that up, so another silver lining in the cloud.
But now to the bad. And it was pretty bad.
Evan Gattis ended up going 0-for-3 on the night with a ground out and a pair of strikeouts on offense. He is now 0 for his last 9. Defensively, the 9th inning almost unraveled to a point that the game may have been lost. Two wild pitches got past Evan with those flame throwing fastballs that Ken Giles usually throws. Then, in an unfortunate twist of events, Evan tries to thrown down Coco Crisp at second base. It proved to be his first unsuccessful throw in 2016 that ended up in center field and allowed a runner on third base to score and make it 4-3. Thankfully, the next two batters would strikeout and ground out to end the game and save the win for the Astros.
Once the last out was recorded, Evan ripped off his chest pad, and it was evident even while shaking players hands that he was both angry and unhappy with himself. It shows just the kind of passion that El Oso Blanco has for this game and wanting to do the best for his team. Which is also why I, as his strongest supporter outside of his family, really had my heart sink seeing that because I don't want to see bad things happen to good players like Evan.
And of course, social media was quick to pounce on him for it, which also completely did not help the situation. It's funny how supposed fans out there can forget all of the great things that The Big White Bear brings to this team all in one bad game. They're ready to break out the torch and pitchforks for no reason whatsoever. All because Evan had this one bad outing, people are so quick to want to run him out of town. Never mind that he still has a caught stealing ratio of 50% and a catcher ERA that is still nearly a whole run better than Jason Castro.
The sad reality is, no one can predict what will happen in any given game. And with 162 of them every year, it's one of the things that does make baseball so fun, and at times nerve wrecking, to watch. Anything and everything can, and will, happen. Just like the ebbs and flows of life. To everything there is a season. A time to laugh and a time to cry. Though it may seem like I'm crying now, I'm not. Because I know that like with all things, this too shall pass. I will get to enjoy laughter once again.
So yes, I will take the good. I will take the bad. I will take them both, and there we will have The Facts of Life....and Baseball.
P.S. - As I am writing this, Evan is slated to bat cleanup (4th) and serve as team DH tonight. As with all of his DH starts, I truly believe that the first AB will tell the tale of what kind of night my bear buddy will have. Baseball Gods, PLEASE be kind to him and this team tonight!
You take the bad.
You take them both, and there you have....
....Well, you folks reading this already know where I'm going with this. Forgive me if my limitless pop culture references know no boundaries, but I do call myself tvwizard85 on Twitter for a reason. And for those of you that may have been wondering why that name, you now have one of many answers to that question. Happy to answer more of them anytime you'd like!
But in all seriousness, today's post is going to prove exactly why the game of baseball can be cruel. Even to some of the most hard working and brightest players in this sport today, which includes your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis.
First, the good. The Houston Astros have already taken the first two of a four game series against the AL Central's first place Cleveland Indians, also known as the tribe, up at Progressive Field in the NE part of Ohio. And yesterday, they even pulled out a win against the best pitcher on their staff, Corey Kluber. All the while, Brad Peacock, a minor league call up relief pitcher, kept the spacemen in the game. Not to mention the nice 3 run bomb that utility man, Marwin Gonzalez, launched off of Kluber in the second inning to get the team that early lead. Evan did draw a walk to set that up, so another silver lining in the cloud.
But now to the bad. And it was pretty bad.
Evan Gattis ended up going 0-for-3 on the night with a ground out and a pair of strikeouts on offense. He is now 0 for his last 9. Defensively, the 9th inning almost unraveled to a point that the game may have been lost. Two wild pitches got past Evan with those flame throwing fastballs that Ken Giles usually throws. Then, in an unfortunate twist of events, Evan tries to thrown down Coco Crisp at second base. It proved to be his first unsuccessful throw in 2016 that ended up in center field and allowed a runner on third base to score and make it 4-3. Thankfully, the next two batters would strikeout and ground out to end the game and save the win for the Astros.
Once the last out was recorded, Evan ripped off his chest pad, and it was evident even while shaking players hands that he was both angry and unhappy with himself. It shows just the kind of passion that El Oso Blanco has for this game and wanting to do the best for his team. Which is also why I, as his strongest supporter outside of his family, really had my heart sink seeing that because I don't want to see bad things happen to good players like Evan.
And of course, social media was quick to pounce on him for it, which also completely did not help the situation. It's funny how supposed fans out there can forget all of the great things that The Big White Bear brings to this team all in one bad game. They're ready to break out the torch and pitchforks for no reason whatsoever. All because Evan had this one bad outing, people are so quick to want to run him out of town. Never mind that he still has a caught stealing ratio of 50% and a catcher ERA that is still nearly a whole run better than Jason Castro.
The sad reality is, no one can predict what will happen in any given game. And with 162 of them every year, it's one of the things that does make baseball so fun, and at times nerve wrecking, to watch. Anything and everything can, and will, happen. Just like the ebbs and flows of life. To everything there is a season. A time to laugh and a time to cry. Though it may seem like I'm crying now, I'm not. Because I know that like with all things, this too shall pass. I will get to enjoy laughter once again.
So yes, I will take the good. I will take the bad. I will take them both, and there we will have The Facts of Life....and Baseball.
P.S. - As I am writing this, Evan is slated to bat cleanup (4th) and serve as team DH tonight. As with all of his DH starts, I truly believe that the first AB will tell the tale of what kind of night my bear buddy will have. Baseball Gods, PLEASE be kind to him and this team tonight!
Original Photo Credit: Jason Miller of Getty Images North America
Evan Gattis (El Oso Blanco) always gives 110% of himself to this game and this team. Critics, doubters and haters had better recognize that!!!!
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