I. Cold Storage

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II. Heroic Couplet, Unheroic Hitting

No outs and bases loaded, I foresee

A backwards K and then a 6-4-3.

III. We Watch the Nats Religiously

We watch the Nats religiously,

Prophesizing pitch selection,

Praising smart at-bats,

Preaching the gospel of Davey,

Praying for balls with backspin.

–

We watch the Nats religiously,

Chanting psalms of supplication,

Seeking help with upcast eyes:

Who swings at that pitch on a three-and-oh count?

What was he thinking there trying to bunt?

When will we hit when the bases are loaded?

Where was that pitch that you just called a strike?

Why did or didn’t the pitcher get pulled?

How did that ball not go out?

–

We watch the Nats religiously,

Awaiting deliverance to the post-season,

Hoping (with some reason) that next year

Will be more pleasing,

Looking for signs and signings,

White lines and silver linings,

Stars to guide us,

Aces up our sleeve,

Balls leaving the park,

And maybe even Baby Shark

Chomping round the bases

On the way to beautiful places.

Annotations: 

The first poem looked much more like a baseball diamond as a Word table; I can’t get it to display correctly in WordPress. Alas.

“So long for just a while” is the Nats play-by-play man’s (Bob Carpenter) sign-off after a loss.  Lane is Lane Thomas, IV is Ildemaro Vargas, CJ is CJ Abrams.

 A backwards K is the symbol for a called strike 3 (striking out after not swinging at a pitch in the zone).  A 6-4-3 is a double play where a grounder to shortstop (position 6) is relayed to the second baseman (4) for a force-out at second, followed by a throw to first (3) to get the batter out.  It feels like this situation happened a couple of dozen times this season.

Davey is Davey Martinez, the Nats’ manager who led them to a World Series championship in 2019 after a very rocky start.  His quote:  “Some times bumpy roads lead to beautiful places.”