My Current Baseball Crush ("An Ode to Max")

No matter how many baseball games you have watched in your lifetime or how die-hard of a fan you are, occasionally a baseball player comes around who amazes even us extreme baseball nerds.  We know Mike Trout is awesome (especially since he's coming back earlier than expected from thumb surgery), we appreciate Yankees rookie Aaron Judge and all the home runs he's hitting, and we acknowledge that the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw is part alien because there's no way someone could be that consistently good.  We become accustomed to elite players being exceptional, and we expect perfection every time we watch a game (especially when we remind ourselves of the millions of dollars that these guys make).  But once in a while, a player comes around who takes our breath away, gives us goosebumps, and reminds us why we like the game of baseball so much.

Such is the case for me currently with Washington Nationals' rightie pitcher Max Scherzer.  Now, back in 2015, when Scherzer joined the Nats, I blogged about how the Nationals had some nerve starting Scherzer on Opening Day, especially after Jordan Zimmermann had finished the 2014 season with a no-hitter.  Who were the Nationals to think that a guy who had just joined the team deserved such a prestigious honor?  Well I went to that Opening Day game, and I remember realizing that Scherzer had a no-hitter going into the sixth inning, and my dislike for the guy went away instantly, because really, how many times do you get to witness a no-hitter? (his no-hitter ended shortly after I realized I might actually be present for one, but Scherzer has gone on to pitch two no-nos since.)

For the past two-and-a-half seasons, I have come to really love this guy.  So much so that he is now officially my baseball crush (not because he's cute, like Iván Rodriguez was, but because he's the most badass pitcher I have ever seen).  Let me share some impressive facts about Max with you so you can appreciate how cool this guy is.  A two-time Cy Young Award winner, Scherzer became just the sixth pitcher in Major League history to throw two no-hitters in a single season in 2015.  He has been to the All-Star Game, is the third-fastest pitcher to reach 2.000 strikeouts, and speaking of strikeouts, he punched out 20 batters in one game.

But it's not just Scherzer's numbers that make him fun to watch.  It's his presence on the mound - he is the most visibly competitive athlete I've ever seen, And the longer he stays in a game, the more fierce he gets.  He stomps the pitcher's mound like he's preying for his next meal; he grunts with every pitch; he stares down batters like he's going to annihilate them.  He is fierce, intimidating, and one of his eyes is blue and the other is brown (he has that condition where your irises are two different colors; didn't David Bowie have that too?).  According to Max, "strikeouts are sexy," so People magazine needs to have him on their next "Sexiest Man Alive" cover, because he's always in the top two or three for strikeouts every season (so far he's leading the National League in this category).  

Just recently, Scherzer had one of the most memorable outings for me - it was more intense than watching his two no-hitters and just as stressful.  It was not his best pitching performance at first, since he hit two batters due to lack of control of his inside pitches.  But as the game got going, Max starter getting loose and becoming more dominant.  The Mets' Yoenis Céspedes was up to bat with two outs in the eighth inning, and Scherzer was already at 107 pitches.  He was looking tired, like he had just emptied his tank and was just running on fumes.  But he was determined to get Céspedes out, and it was one of the most epic at-bats in recent memory.  After ten pitches to the Mets' slugger, each looking labored and followed by a grunt of desperation (like Scherzer was thinking that if he grunted, the ball would actually reach the plate), Céspedes struck out swinging.  My husband and I celebrated that strikeout like if it was the seventh game of the World Series, and Scherzer himself gave a fist pump of relief.

I have not been this excited about a pitcher since Nolan Ryan in the 80s and 90s.  And Scherzer doesn't just show up every five days to do his job - in his off days, he has a rigorous workout routine that includes distance running (to improve his endurance and help him make it through the later innings of a game) and sprinting (to help him with his fielding and split-second defensive plays).  He is a workhorse, but luckily his pitching style (throwing sliders to righties and curveballs to lefties) makes him less dependent on the fastball (which hopefully means he can avoid the dreaded "Tommy John" surgery).  Nolan Ryan pitched a boatload of innings in his career and never needed elbow surgery either, so all those haters who say that Max is the next big pitcher to go under the knife can just shut up and enjoy watching him pitch.

So as we approach the halfway point of the regular season (I know; can you believe it?), check out the Nationals games on MASN or MLBTV, because every fifth day, you are sure to get a treat watching badass Max Scherzer putting on a pitching show.  And don't forget to cast your ballot for the All-Star team - if we could vote for pitchers, you know Max Scherzer would be at the top of my ballot.

I'll Have a Blue World Series Without You

Major League Baseball’s 111^th World Series is set to start soon, with the blue-and-orange New York Mets taking on the blue-and-white Kansas City Royals.  It’s the Royals’ second consecutive trip to the World Series (which they lost to the San Francisco Giants), so naturally I have to root for them because it was so sad to see them lose last year.  I think it’s my first time picking an American League team since the Minnesota Twins went to the “big dance” in 1991 (and won it by beating the Atlanta Braves).  I was a huge Kirby Puckett fan, and seeing him do so well in the World Series was one of the highlights of my baseball fan-hood.  This year I’m a big fan of… let’s see… no one really; but I have to root for the Royals because I just can’t get myself to cheer for the other team.

What’s wrong with the Mets?  Don’t they have a Gold Glove-winning outfielder in Juan Lagares (who stole the award from the Nationals’ Denard Span in 2014)?  How about that guy Yoenis Céspedes (who killed the Nationals in the last regular-season series they played against each other)?  And don’t they have that good relief pitcher, Tyler Clippard (former National)?  Yeah – I’m a little bitter about the Mets making it this far while the Nationals didn’t even clinch a Wild Card spot in the playoffs.  Still licking my wounds a little bit.

The funny thing is that I used to be a die-hard Mets fan in the late 80s.  I can still recite their regular lineup (Dykstra, Teufel, Hernandez/Magadan, Strawberry, McReynolds, HoJo, Carter, and Elster – and I swear I didn’t get Google’s help!), and I remember their starting pitchers in 1989 being Ron Darling, Dwight Gooden, Sid Fernandez, David Cone, and Bob Ojeda (I believe Frank Viola came in halfway through the season).  I had the shirts, pennants, yearbooks, and even got a media guide from them after having sent them some sort of fan mail.  Darling and Elster were the cute ones, and the Mets still have the biggest section in my baseball card collection.

But alas, the Washington Nationals came to town in 2005, and I had to jump on the bandwagon.  I had not been able to embrace the Baltimore Orioles in the few years I had lived in Maryland, mainly because they were an American League team and because my first husband was not supportive of my baseball habit (lesson learned:  Don’t marry someone who doesn’t share your hobbies!).   After our separation in 2005, I decided to embrace the new team in town and have not looked back as a Nationals fan since.

Part of being a loyal fan is sticking by your team regardless of how well or how sucky they play (spell check says “sucky” isn’t a word, but I’m using it!).  And believe me – those first few seasons as a Nationals fan were pretty brutal.  Before the days of Strasburg and Harper, the team played in a crappy stadium, struggled to build their fan base, and went through several managers and staff changes.  And while they’ve come a long way in just ten years, some people think they haven’t lived up to the hype and the high payroll.  Yes, it would have been nice if the Nationals had made it this far (the red and white would have complimented the Royals’ colors nicely) – but I have not had a problem going to bed at my usual 10:00 time during a playoff game’s 6^th or 7^th inning.  If the Nationals had made the playoffs, I would have been sleep-deprived, stressed out, and impossible to live with (and that’s not my husband or kids talking – I think I know myself pretty well!).

So for all you fans of the other 28 teams that did not make it to the World Series:  Enjoy some good baseball, have fun checking out the cute players (Eric Hosmer for the Royals and Matt Harvey for the Mets), and feel free to go to bed before a game is over (unless it’s game seven or any other deciding game).  I predict that the Royals will win in six games (so they can win at home, which is always nice), but if the Mets end up winning, I will just shrug and wait for Bryce Harper to be announced as the NL MVP in November without having lost much sleep.  See how easy and laid-back it is when you don’t have anything vested in either of the two teams?  Let’s hope for some good clean baseball and let’s go Royals (I guess)!