It figures that I'd go the game where my team gets no-hit for 6 innings. Also, blogger is being lame and not letting post pictures. It was fun to be at the ballpark with a playoff atmosphere and ride that emotional rollercoaster on every pitch, but it was the same old story for the Sox. Pitching gives up an early lead that the offense make up the defecit for, defense and bullpen were solid. I just don't see the weaknesses getting better, because there's no consistency. Four guys (Thome, Konerko, Dye, Crede) are carrying the weight of the entire offense, all 5 starting pitchers have been schizophrenic, and the execution of subtler baseball tactics (holding runners on, laying down bunts, taking pitches) has been subpar. There just isn't enough cloth to cover all the holes, not enough consistency and reliability to make it to the postseason. I'm tired of "bases loaded, no outs" and coming up with zero runs.
And despite all this, they're still in the thick of the wildcard hunt. Sox faithful cling to the hope that the sum performance will finally equal the parts, but there don't seem to be any indicators that say otherwise. It's been the same-old, same-old since Opening Day; when the starters do ok, then the offense has enough room to win it (the starters don't really win it, the offense does). When they don't, then all the defense, hitting, and bullpen pitching in the world can't save them. And until that changes, I expect to see some more "bases loaded, no run" situations.
---
So, for those who do not know, I got a teaching job up here in the north 'burbs. (Thanks to y'all who've helped me along for the past 20 months, I know it hasn't always been a picnic.) Off to the races of Adulthood and Responsibility. In the midst of trying to figure it all out, I wrote a lot of personal manifestos, because 1) writing it out makes me feel better and 2) I was trying to figure out if I wasn't having any luck because my teacher antenna was all wrong. Anyway, here's a little blurb. It was sort of an open letter type deal:
...I get along with people. I like making them feel comfortable, because if they're comfortable, then they're willing to listen to me. It's reciprocal, isn't it? If I listen to you, then you might listen to me. I want people to get better at whatever it is that they want to do. I want to serve them in this way. Not because I know so much more, necessarily, but because everybody needs that
help to get better. I don't see them as empty vessels that I need to fill and anoint with my Knowledge. I want them to be good people. I want them to be the ones making the decisions in the future that are going to change the world. Because, you see, this is how I change the world, by affecting the ones that will change the world in the future. And I wouldn't be a responsible mentor to them (yes, I see myself as a role model, and I take that seriously) if I didn't give them an ability or a desire to choose to do the right thing, whatever that right thing may be in their different, unique, individual selves. Not some fakey all-inclusive, mind-flabby "tolerance" that just accepts everything, but to hone their minds as a sharp tool that desires to know the truth about everything. Because knowing that "true thing" is how you do the right thing. I believe that if you follow what's true, then it follows that you'll do the right thing. I think that's the key to finding happiness and fulfillment and deep, substantial joy with yourselves, and isn't that what we want? Isn't that what we want our kids to have? This is what we do when we study literature; we're searching for the truth. We talk about wanting to shape and nurture young minds; what better lesson can be taught than this? To discern what is true. To understand what the guiding principles are for how we make our decisions.
I suppose the true proving ground for all this idealism will be the classroom, starting in late August. Can't wait.
