October 19, 2006
Thank god for baseball. Seeing as I'm not a big baseball fan, I never thought I'd be saying that, but right about now the playoffs are serving to be a good distraction from life's painful realities.
Ross played baseball as a kid and one of his favorite teams has always been the St. Louis Cardinals, so we've been watching the Cards in the playoffs. Maybe I'm just a sports ho, but it doesn't take much for me to get into watching any competitive sport and start getting attached to teams, so I've quickly developed a liking for the Cards. And, much to Ross' enjoyment, I've even started to learn about baseball, rather than just assessing teams by how cute the players are or what their uniforms look like (Mets have a cuter team, Cards have better uniforms). Like I now know that a player can't strike out on a foul ball, that the catcher tells the pitcher what kind of ball to throw, and left-handed batters are considered to have an advantage because they have a shorter distance to run to first base. That and being left-handed myself, I love that there are so many lefties in baseball.
So, on this glum, rain soaked evening with depression riding high, Ross and I curled up together and watched game 7 of the Mets vs Cardinals. Through much of the game, I really didn't think the Cardinals were going to pull it off, but then Yadier Molina (who has become my favorite player) went up to bat and knocked it out of the park and Ross and I were squealing like schoolgirls. That wasn't the end of the game, though, the Mets would still have opportunity to score, so we sat glued to the tv, crossing our fingers and holding our breath. And, much to my surprise, the Cards held the Mets scoreless for the rest of the game and won the series, at which point Ross and I were cheering like mad, high fiving each other, and acting like sports crazed dorks.
So the Cards are on to the World Series and I couldn't be happier, although my joy stems less from a love of baseball and more from gratitude that we have more games, and thus more distraction, to look forward to. That's really important right now - distraction and things to look forward to - and I'd like to give Yadier Molina and the rest of the Cards a big kiss for offering us that. Granted, everyone thinks the Cards will lose to Detroit in the World Series, but I don't care about that. All I'm focused on is that there's a game Saturday and Sunday and I'll be able to lose myself in baseball and pizza for a few hours. And right now, not having to think is a good thing.
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