As A Fan...

I watched the Giants vs. Phillies game last night, and kept score all the while, a pastime in which I have not indulged since this spring’s World Baseball Classic. I know most of this stuff can be done quicker and easier (and more accurately) with computers nowadays, but there’s something about that grid of square after square depicting baseball diamonds, some of them containing esoteric pencil marks that, when read correctly, can tell the story of a baseball game, that gets this Philosophy major going. For me, keeping score provides just the right amount of interaction with the game, while also encouraging unflagging focus on the proceedings.

I was interested in this game because it featured two of the best teams (and arguably the best pitcher) in the National League and because it provided a glimpse into the future with a possible playoff matchup. The incredible pitching performances by both starters (seven innings apiece from Tim Lincecum and Pedro Martinez) made for a really interesting pitcher’s duel and a really quick game (2 hrs, 8 mins).

My professional interest in the game notwithstanding, I don’t have any personal affiliation to either of these teams. This passive distance allowed me to observe certain events in the game without getting as worked up as I would if similar events were to happen in a game involving, say, the Oakland A’s. For instance, in the top of the ninth inning, with Brad Lidge trying to preserve the Phillies’ 2-1 lead, I was able to calmly trace the trajectory of Randy Winn’s ground ball single that just hit off the glove of Chase Utley and scratch through the letters “BB” signifying a walk given up to Juan Uribe without, say, hurling my scorebook across the room or jabbing my pencil into my own thigh. Lidge eventually got pinch-hitter Fred Lewis to ground out to end the game, lowering his ERA to 6.89 and managing to avoid blowing his tenth save of the year.

The plight of Brad Lidge this year is an interesting phenomenon for analysts, a perpetual headache for Phillies fans, and a faint glimmer of hope for any team playing the Phillies that finds itself faced with a three-run-or-less deficit going into the ninth inning. But for those of us who have no special place in their hearts for the Phillies, and yet wish them no specific ill will, we can only respond to each Lidge blown save with a half-sympathetic, “Well, that sucks.” We could lament about the unwillingness of management to give up on their “proven star closer” and tiptoe around mentioning that Ryan Madson needed only nine pitches to throw a perfect eighth inning, and yet was pulled before the ninth. But there’s really no gut reaction that inevitably rears its ugly head whenever “your team” is having a problem.

Why is that, do you think? What is it about the makeup of professional sports teams that can get people so riled up about one specific group of overpaid athletes and react with such cold, calculated attitudes towards another such group?

Oh, great, I can hear you all thinking. He’s asking the big questions about baseball. I know that, and I know the stigma attached to the big questions, and I apologize for bringing it up. Maybe it’s just through sheer boredom that follows my team (the A’s) having fallen so abysmally far back in the standings. And I’m not, by any means, implying that because I can recognize the issue, I am somehow able to avoid falling victim to it, because that is not the case at all. (You should have seen me last Friday when first base umpire Greg Gibson missed a blatant call against Craig Breslow and the A’s in the 7th inning that eventually cost us the game against the Angels.)

Just keep in mind that I’m not asking these questions in order to break down “the reasons” explaining them in hopes of receiving any definite answers. I’m merely acknowledging the questions, musing about them, and pointing out how cool are the complexities of life and sports that can cause otherwise rational people to behave in unexplainable and irrational ways. It's one of the mysteries of life that remain more compelling and interesting if they remain mysteries. But the occasional thought about them doesn't hurt.