Tuesday, March 17, 2009

THEY DO COUNT.

Last night’s WBC game (where Puerto Rico faced Venezuela) was a beautiful thing.

I don’t know how anyone who loves baseball could have watched last night’s game and not been moved, not have gotten involved, not have been interested. I could not walk away. By the time we hit the 6th inning, I had to tear myself away to get some work done. But I couldn’t focus. We left the game on, and I kept walking away… and walking back. Or TBF would come over to say, “You have to come see this.” I was supposed to be asleep by 11, and I stayed glued to the TV until the very last pitch.

We kept debating who we were rooting for. When we were watching Puerto Rico-USA, we were rooting for PR - one, we were rooting for Dos Carlos; two, to quote TBF, “I can’t root for a team that has Derek Jeter, Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins” (all the while bitching that they were playing Jeter and not Rollins, too). Last night we kept going back and forth between Puerto Rico and Venezuela. (“I love the Carloses and all, but right now I’d like my new closer to strike out Yadier Molina,” TBF said at the end.)

And the fans. The #2 reason I am desperate to acquire fluent verbal Spanish is because I want to understand what people are saying at the ballpark. But you didn’t need Spanish to understand that to the people in the crowd, those games mattered. The Marlins don’t get that many fans (except when the Mets are in town, and even then). “We are here! It’s amazing!” tweeted Kristin from We’ve Got Heart. “Wish you were here. Phenomenal atmosphere,” came from a journalist of my acquaintence who is a MLB beat reporter for the Cardinals. Johan Santana was even rumored to be there last night, watching the game.

But you didn’t need to be there to get it.

I know, it doesn’t “count”. But that’s not true. It counts, because it matters to the players. And it matters to the people who are attending and watching the games. No, I don’t want my players hurt (I was tweeting “THAT’S MY NEW CLOSER! DON’T HURT HIM!” at the end of the game) but it’s one thing to say, “I wish my players weren’t playing because they’re old and I worry about injury.” Personally, I am completely fine with the Mets asking Santana not to play, and given his status at the end of last season and the whole Spring Training soap opera, it was absolutely the right thing to do. I would be upset if he had played anyway.

But I wouldn’t have dismissed the entire event because of that one factor.

The WBC is putting heart and soul into what is otherwise a very boring Spring Training. I would have choked on another Alex Rodriguez story. Instead, the writers are writing about actual baseball that is being played with grit and guts and everything that people say they want to see on the field. It’s not being played for money or contracts (well, in some cases it is, I admit that, but not in most). It’s being played for the sake of the game, for honor, for country. And I don’t want to say that people’s bad attitudes are because it’s not being played for this particular country, but there is part of me that wonders how much that plays into things. I don’t like to think that, but the vehemence of some reactions out there today makes it hard to think otherwise.

These games do count. Whether you like it or not. People are going to remember these games when the WBC rolls around next, and it’s going to be (If you’ll pardon the expression) a whole other ballgame from now on.