America's pas-time

  As a long time Yankee fan, and as I felt like writing, what lies in draft form is far more important, but it will have to wait, that is, until the intentional interruptions finally leave. By the way, the one waiting to come to a paper near you is called, Looking for America. So, making lemonade out of lemons, I turned to something that is easier.
  I am a fan, but far from a fanatic. I love the game, have so all my life. I'm not going to speak about my Yankees specifically, as I'll leave it to others, but rather about the game itself. For the game by itself is sacred, pure. The thinking man's game for sure, as for me, even though a prefer the designated hitter, I thought the most interesting game from that perspective, was by far and away the Chicago vs. Rockies. (If I'm wrong on the two teams, you can hang me at sunrise). To say that I'm not a fan of the binary efforts as a way to manage a baseball team is an understatement. They are a tool and nothing more. And while I'm off on this little tangent, I might as well go on. There is so much one could say about this subject, as there is a lot. But let me at least say this. May they never take away living breathing umpires! 

  But beyond that, lets dig a little deeper shall we? At its core, baseball is a very easy game to learn. Like any sport, the "game" leads its players to be ever pushing to excel. and as for life lessons learned from a game played.  Life lessons? It, the game, can only make you a better person. Are there exceptions? of course there are, but these are the type players who are into the game for themselves, they don't understand the gift they've been given is a gift from God. Think about the millions of kids throughout the world, who dream of being where these select few are someday. 

Gripes in opinion form. The shift: Because I'm only a fan, take what I say with a grain of salt if you must, but I'll never understand how professional hitters can't hit an outside pitch with authority. You hit baseballs for a living, and you can't stop being a dead pull hitter? I'll tell you a story that I just found out about recently myself. Joe Maddon is a great coach, and when he started using it in Tampa I believe, obviously, he started something. But as Solomon once said, There is nothing new under the sun, and so it is with this. The greatest hitter of all time, Boston's own, Ted Williams, was held to a paltry 116 in the world series. How? The shift.  

  But skipping ahead to more recent times, when Joe's team would go into these switches, their pitching staff were told to stay inside, to entice them into hitting into the switch.  But now, the pitchers throw outside often to these pull hitters. Maybe its me, but I would take that as in insult. I'm a professional hitter, and I can't learn to hit a ball with authority where its pitched?