A Symphony of Angry Spinning Baseballs: Game 53 Unfair Loss Shares

I loved that game.

Oh, not the result. I wasn't too happy about that. And there were some hapless times in the middle. It was the end that got me. I loved the end.

Except, not the very end. I loved the lead-up to the end, I guess. Yes. Everything until the moment when Snakes left fielder Parra's glove closed on the fly ball and the last out was recorded.

I remember feeling stunned that Parra could just nonchalantly run off the field after he caught it, as if it was just another routine end of an inning. Didn't he feel the excitement when Loretta hit that ball? Or dread for him, instead of excitement, since he's a Snake. Didn't he think that maybe the ball would go out, even for an instant? And didn't he then think that the ball might tango with the foul line for a double? And didn't he then think that it might fall in for a single that he just couldn't quite reach? I thought those things. I felt them, and hoped, hoped, until the hope was caught and put out.

But I guess Parra had a completely different perspective. He saw the ball fly off the bat, and tracked it, coolly, cruelly, like a big game hunter with the latest high powered rifle who knows the prey is his. He tracked down that fly ball and killed it and the game was over, and he jogged in with trophy in hand.

The Dodger outfielders were all there in the ninth inning. Did you ever get the feeling that those outfielders are all going to collapse at the same time, and have terrible Junes, three awful Junes between them, until we are begging for a new "days of the month verse" that instead of beginning with "30 days hath September" begins with "A merciful mere dozen days hath June/ so Dodger outer fielders mayst end their swoon"? I just have this grim feeling that Pierre is going to come back to the salty earth, and Ethier will keep struggling, and Kemp will stumble into a pit of strikeouts and chased sliders, until we're thinking not even Manny's return could save this wretched outfield. But they all came through with hits in the ninth inning on June the first, so maybe that's a good sign that this grim feeling I'm having is merely indigestion at seeing so many wild pitches. Okay, so Kemp's hit was actually ruled an error, but I'm calling it pretty good anyway. The outfielders three helped to build up that inning to the point where I was up out of my seat ready for the moment when the win would carry me off my feet.

There was so much other stuff in that game. Kuroda's return, and Martin being gobbled up by angry spinning baseballs, and the Dodgers making a symphony of squandered chances, complete with double play section ( the brass ), strike out section ( woodwinds ), great defensive play section ( the strings ) and harmless fly out that seemed like a hit for a moment section ( percussion ). The only thing missing was the win.


Unfair Loss Shares ( Dodgers )

Loretta -- 2
Leach -- 1


Unfair Win Shares ( Snakes )

Buckner -- 1
Whitesell -- 1
Gutierrez -- 1