a no-good southpaw with his puss all smashed up
and his arm gone to rubber
all thrown out in spring training
lounging all woebegone in the bullpen
his hat pulled down over his eyes
his head leaning back against the brick
nodding off and gone slack in the sun
with a week’s stubble showing
and his spikes untied
not even slapping away the flies
just resting and waiting
for the seventh-inning stretch to wake him up
or a blowout
when the skip needs somebody to eat up some outs
and the bullpen phone will ring
he’ll get the nod
maybe
toss a warm-up session
before trotting on out to the mound
one last time
to take a brand new ball
roll it around in his palm
rub it up and scuff it a little
listen to the hushed mumbling of the crowd
thumb the red stitched seams
and remember what it’s like
to throw a 3-2 cutter
and nail the inside corner
freezing some poor bastard
for strike three
because he never saw the damn thing coming
one more thing
he just might have up his sleeve
like a dream he maybe forgot somewhere around Omaha
when there wasn’t anything better in the world
than lying in the perfectly green manicured grass before a game
while a soft breeze blew
and the sun put him to sleep
just like now
and everything was silent and peaceful
and he was free
*
shortstops don’t like rain
mud is an enemy to be feared and respected
middle infielders in general try to keep the divots and rocks to minimum
in the dirt around their feet
sometimes taking great pains
getting down on all fours between taking grounders during warm-ups
crawling along like gardeners
smoothing the ground with their palms
sweeping away excess mounds of accumulated pebbles
filling in cleat holes and scooping away other imperfections in the field’s skin
not wanting to get eaten up by a wayward grounder
or hit in the chops with a bad hop
second baseman tend to drink beer alone in their hotel rooms on the road
usually can’t hit for shit
but enjoy the rain every now and again
you can sometimes find them
in the early afternoon
grooming the sienna dirt
or just playing catch with a batboy
waiting for the crowd to show up
Posts
