“Basepaths“- Now at the West End Gallery
I have been pretty open about my dislike of the month of August. There is a past of negative incidents and events in it that definitely taint it for me. I don’t know if it’s one of those deals where past performance creates an environment that continues to produce similar results or what.
Just not a fan of this time of year. Let’s just keep it at that.
But from past Augusts, I know that the key to getting through to September is to find something to hang your hopes on, something on the horizon to shoot for.
In July, I didn’t think it would be baseball and the Yankees, to be specific. They had went through a host of injuries to key players, some lost for the season or the better part of it, and their performance was mediocre to say the least. They looked like hell out there, nobody playing up to anywhere near their average level of performance and they sometimes were forced to field a team with several untested minor leaguers called up to start games in different positions. Hardly the mighty Yankees with unlimited resources.
In July, they had a bad stretch, blowing several games including being swept by their perennial nemesis, the Red Sox. They simply looked plain sloppy and distracted. That I could identify with but one of the reasons I watch baseball is to get away from that feeling.
They were what seemed a country mile back in the standings, way out of playoff contention. The season looked like it was almost time to start saying, “Wait ’til next year!”
It looked hopeless.
But it wasn’t. As long as there is a grain of hope and effort to sustain it, there’s a chance. They rebounded, got a few key additions from the trade deadline and some players returning from injury. Their level of effort increased dramatically and there seems to be a renewed sense of purpose and enthusiasm in the dugout. They have made mad rush in the past few weeks, culminating in a sweep of a doubleheader yesterday with the Sox that catapulted the Yanks past them in the standings and back into playoff contention.
They have finally shown some heart and hope springs out of that.
There is still a long way to go and maybe they will stumble later in the season. But for now, it was a needed elixir for a guy mired in the morass of August. It was good to have this small thing to hold on to, something in which to find a grain of hope.
Some heart.
Because, as the song from the play and movie Damn Yankees goes, You Gotta Have Heart.
Redtree Times 