by James Finn Garner
I know our mortal trial’s done
Eternal judgment just beginning
When Verlander walks in two runs
And gives up seven in one inning.
I know our mortal trial’s done
Eternal judgment just beginning
When Verlander walks in two runs
And gives up seven in one inning.
He’s back! When I saw him, I squinted.
Is that silly beard really half-tinted?
. ‘Twas a lift that he gave
. Nailing down his first save,
And potential new doggerel minted!
CHICAGO
No Sale, no pennant?
Can Beckham bend it foreward?
Is Konerko Dunn?
CLEVELAND
Re-seeding is hard.
Big contracts are easier.
80-82.
DETROIT
No closer, no stress?
Just win every game by five!
(Time for a Zantac.)
KANSAS CITY
The Wil to win “soon”
Has been supplanted by the
Will to win today.
MINNESOTA
Ten thousand lakes teem
With tears from ticket-holding
Twin fan Targetees.
After Hurricane Sandy, and some days –
a rout of water washed memory away –
I try and recall the World Series.
Television numbers, ratings a barometer
of national enthusiasm, were lower,
much lower. So how to dissect this?
Critics argue: the Series starts too late.
Schedule it to start on an earlier date.
But this alone doesn’t make the Series
more memorable. Maybe it was what
lack of punch Detroit brought to the plate?
Or San Fran’s sudden metamorphosis?
Maybe a team peaked too soon while the other
crested even above its own high water
mark? In a season, any team will do this.
If I was an ardent hometown fan, Yes
I’d crow from the bleachers unabashed.
My team won – that’s all that matters.
But past the TV hype, the predictions
and overwhelming prognostications,
I try and recall the World Series.
Something happened. Or maybe not.
It was like the last pitch of the last out:
Cabrera not blinking, not even swinging –
Detroit in the eye of a storm not of its doing.
There was an extra round and there was rain
And there were extras. None of that would keep
The playoffs from concluding in their main
Month here. Win by the sweep, lose by the sweep.
The Tigers could go yard once they would try it,
The Giants showed them how. It’s not too weird
To overhear the yelling from “the riot”
Nor to watch the closer’s secondhand beard.
Let the rain fall; today the sky is orange.