Beyond Baseball

Thursday was a truly remarkable day. It was one of those days when life falls into perspective. Baseball-wise, Thursday was disappointing and exciting all in one game. With two outs in the seventh inning and two men on base, Justin got the call and hurriedly entered the game. Justin's entrance into the game was based on numerically proven facts about baseball; lefthanded pitchers perform better against lefthanded batters than righthanded batters, while righthanded pitchers perform better against righthanded batters than lefthanded batters. Thus, Justin came in for the so-called "lefty-lefty matchup." And he did not disappoint. After throwing his first pitch high for a ball, Justin induced a weak groundball out to the shortstop to strand the runners and end the inning.

The next inning was Justin's best as he induced three consecutive flyouts all on changeups.
While Justin was having a great outing, his team was not fairing so well. In fact, the Diamond Dawgs were being no-hit through seven innings. Lefty Kyle Hunter, who is to be a freshman at Dartmouth College in the fall, had allowed only three baserunners in the game, two on walks and one on an error. After Hunter threw another perfect inning in the eighth, Justin was sent back out to shut down the Amsterdam Mohawks who held a 1-0 advantage over the Diamond Dawgs.

Justin induced a groundout to shortstop on the first batter he faced. The second batter he faced hit the defination of a bloop single to rightfield. The next batter worked a 3-2 count. Justin had noticed that this batter was pulling out on his swings, so Justin decided to fire some high heat. The batter never had a chance. He swung at air and Justin had earned a crucial second out. Justin was now in a much better position with two outs and a runner on first base. However, you never know what can happen in baseball. The next batter hit nearly an identical bloop single as the first hit of the inning. The Diamond Dawgs rightfielder, Ryan Kemp, charged the ball as it "died" as it hit the outfield grass. Instead of making a great play on the ball, Ryan charged right past the ball. Upon seeing this, either the baserunner or the third base coach decided that the baserunner could make it home due to the fielding error in rightfield. Ryan quickly chased the ball down and threw a perfect threw to home plate. He hosed him! The runner was out and Justin and the Diamond Dawgs were pumped up! "Let's go!" they shouted. Now was the time for them to break up Hunter's no-hitter, and furthermore, to win the game.

Unfortunately, the first two Diamond Dawgs made quick outs. Hunter was now only one out away from reaching the great accomplishment of a no-hitter, and the Dawgs were one out from the great disgrace of being no-hit. However, the Dawgs had precisely the man they wanted coming to the plate: centerfielder Kyle "Richie" Richardson, the league-leading hitter with a .400 batting average. Richie delivered by smashing a ball over the Mohawk's leaping second baseman, with the ball clearing his glove by mere inches. The no-hitter was gone, and the Diamond Dawgs had new life. With only a double they could tie the game. Instead the Amsterdam closer came in and earned the save with a strike out of the final batter.

While the Diamond Dawgs were mourning their second consecutive loss, Justin was celebrating. He had just received news which made him happier than he would have been if his team had won in walk off fashion that night. "He's back!!!!!!!" Justin stuck his cellphone in front of my face so I could read and see the picture message that he had just received. Jarrod Brown, Justin's older brother and best friend, was back in Texas after a tour in Iraq. In that picture, Jarrod stood next to his wife Mallory, grinning ear to ear as he had just been greeted by her with a huge bear hug.

Justin and I talked for a while about Jarrod's return that night and Justin talked on the phone with relatives. The next day Justin got a call from Jarrod himself. Justin excitedly updated Jarrod on all of the major events in his life while Jarrod had been gone. Justin's joy was contagious as I sat and listened to Justin tell Jarrod story after story.

That day I came to a conclusion about my baseball trip. I told myself that my entire trip had become worthwhile in that one night. I had come to see Justin pitch in beautiful upstate New York, and I had, but something far more important had happened. I was able to be there for my longtime friend on one of the happiest nights, if not the happiest night of his summer. His joy, his excitement, his energy did not come from a great victory or a great pitching outing, but rather from the return home of his best friend and brother Jarrod from Iraq. And I, someone who has known Jarrod and Justin for ten years, was put into an incredible position. I was there to celebrate, to cheer on, and to praise God for the safe return home of a hero, a best friend and a brother. It was a day on which baseball was put into perspective, as brotherhood, literal and figurative, proved to be far more important.