Is it Next Year Yet?

I HAVEN’T WRITTEN MUCH ABOUT BASEBALL THIS SUMMER. Why? Because it’s hard to keep from swearing while I have tears soaking the page.

It has not been a good season for my Giants. Things weren’t very good last year either, but with some sterling offseason acquisitions it looked like 2018 was going to have the Giants in the hunt for the Pennant once more. Appearances can be deceiving.

Spring Training looked good up until they were packing their bags to head home. On his last day in Arizona, “Mad Bum” – Madison Bumgarner, the Ace of the pitching staff took a line drive off of his hand. Broken bones. Surgery. Out until July. After that things went downhill.

Injuries and illness have plagued the team. Those things and mediocre play backed up by questionable managerial decisions have put the Giants firmly wedged into the middle of nowhere. I tell you – some days I just want to cry.

There have been some bright spots to be sure. A young pitcher shows up and performs like a veteran. Players who have knocked around The Game on a half dozen teams without distinction join the squad and start putting up numbers like a Hall of Famer.

Those rays of hope began to light up my eyes and then our All Star catcher – a genuine star of the game – leaves the field to have season ending hip surgery. We’ll be lucky to see him before next years All Star Game.

The three time World Series team is getting old and distressed by Time and frailty. The Glory Days are gone for the foreseeable future.

The harsh reality of The Game is that a player is an old man at 35. Injuries take longer to heal and the trip down the line to the bases doesn’t go as quickly any more.

Time is the ultimate enemy.

Every team lives on a roller coaster. They go up, up, and see the stars, but then there is the inevitable downward phase and it happens in the blink of an eye.

For my Giants the rebuilding process will take several years. That’s just the way it is. Older players retire

and younger players move up from the bus rides in the Minor Leagues to fill the vacancies. If you are lucky and smart the new team will gel and play like they do in your dreams. If and when that happens you will see your team rise once more to be the cream, riding on top – instead of the curdled milk sinking to the bottom.

This season is almost over. In the few remaining weeks a lot of young players will be brought up to The Show. They will get a taste of what their future might hold. The management will scrutinize them to see if they are Square or Round pegs and will they fit into the holes that will appear. Some will, some won’t. Some of those young players will have long and illustrious careers in The Game. Others will be selling insurance or going back to school before their next birthdays.

So it goes.

This season will soon be over and I will sit quietly by the window looking out at the snow and waiting for it to be Spring once again.

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