Bronx, N.Y., June 11, 2002 — So starts a traditional Zen Buddhist tale, where the Zen Master confesses that once he has had that experience, he finds himself unable ever again to ascertain whether he is now a man who has had that dream, or if he is a butterfly now dreaming that he is a man?
(I don’t have that problem, but only because I have trouble imagining a butterfly being an avid and passionate baseball fan. I mean, all that delicious foliage cut and tromped on just to fashion the field!)
I can’t tell you why it is the Boomer’s starts that get me going on this Buddhist thing. Tomorrow afternoon we have a young and handsome ascetic who to all appearances would have definitely made it had the family profession been cloistered monk or hermit. And what of Roger, as passionate a believer as there has ever been in developing a routine and keeping one’s eyes on the prize? And Andy the good, who seems, like Derek, to never say the wrong thing, as he, too, grew up in the craziness that is Yankee land, but he does lend his voice and persona to ads for a book on Christian living.
But it is the Boomer, David the profligate, who hangs with WWF superstars and appears on controversial radio talk shows, who gets me musing about the “nature of pitching.” David, who knows late-night New York in a way that would have made Mickey, Whitey and Billy jealous, and who answered Charlie Steiner’s question on the postgame radio interview about how he felt about the comebackers that have hit off him his last two starts, “It scares the cr__ out of you,” this is the guy who seems to have mastered the quiet way.
Wells does not throw the hardest fastball on the Yankee squad; he doesn’t have the biggest-breaking curve. His control is good, but so is Moose’s. But he is the only guy on staff I think of as “becoming the act of the pitch,” of “being the thrower, the object thrown, and the act of throwing in a kind of cosmic oneness.” Something about the baseball fan in me knows that it is David’s approach that explains why I was strolling up River Ave. at 9:45. I saw a classic in ’96 pitting Jimmy Key against Brad Radke of the Twins where Radke almost threw a perfect game. But with one out in the seventh, Paul doubled and Tino wrapped one around the right-field foul pole, and there we were dumped outside the Stadium early with all this energy looking for a place to expend it, but that was a 2-1 game. During tonight’s victory, 10 runs were scored!
Congratulations are in order for a number of Yanks. Robin who just missed a couple of hot shots down the line, made a fine over-the-shoulder catch on Durazo after Colbrunn led off the seventh with a double, and hit a booming rbi double to left, a homer to right and walked. And Jason went yard the hard way, while Shane flashed a fine glove and arm on a night when he was unable to follow up last night’s heroics at the plate. And the legend of “The Stick” seems to grow nightly. The average and rbi totals climb relentlessly (particularly the latter); he had all three hits off a lefty, and the single and the bomb went the other way. In fact, had Shane’s ninth-inning liner fallen in, Nick would have come to the plate only needing a triple to , uh, oh, never mind…
The evolution of Mr. Thames and his treatment on the scoreboard are worthy of note. Last night, only his picture was displayed on the DiamondVision, as his name and stat(s) were listed on the Scoreboard. I thought of the old “tabula rasa” (blank slate) philosophical and theological discussions in history (was there anything innately “human” [or even divine] when man first entered life?) Marcus was an unwritten page last night, and tonight his picture appeared again, but now with his name (in fancy script) added. One imagines that Yankee logos, minor league highlights, the date he was recalled and some moments of note in the bigs will follow as his major league history is compiled over the weeks to come for us all to see. Sue and I always think back to the day in 1997 when Chad Curtis was added. He did have his ups and downs over the next two years (including a two-homer game — including the game winner — in the ’99 World Series), but some staffer must have been convinced he would not last, as literally weeks (well over a month) went by with the generic Yankee cap being pictured there any time Chad strode to the plate. Marcus already has a leg up.
But Marcus didn’t really figure in tonight’s story, though he did show a strong (if reckless) arm as his throw to third after he caught McCracken’s drive in the eighth soared out of cutoff man Jeter’s reach. And if anyone threatened the Boomer/Art of Zen impression it was el bruho, who, incredibly, notched the last five outs on a total of 14 pitches! But Mr. Wells was the story. David notched only two k’s, but except for an eerie seven-pitch streak of balls to start the sixth and the bomb to Gonzalez in the eighth that finished his night, he was an elusive butterfly, and the D’backs had no chance.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!