Okay, so you’re not a baseball fan. Stay with me for a couple of minutes anyway; it’s short and there are no exaggerated sound effects…

It was a dismal April for the Kansas City Royals. Batting averages slumped and ERA’s soared. Temperatures and ticket sales sagged into the freezing zone. In one agonizing streak, the Royals lost fifteen of seventeen games. For the Boston Red Sox, it was just the opposite; they were on fire, winning twenty games before May and thereby tying a major league record.

So, when the Royals took them into extra innings at Fenway last night, it was pretty special. When KC managed to grind out a run in the top of the twelfth, it was just plain exciting. In the bottom of that inning, the Royals’ closer promptly got the first batter out. As the second guy stepped in, I noticed what looked to me like a rather worried look on his face. That look did not change after the first pitch was called a strike. I said to Randa, “That is not a look of confidence on that batter’s face.”

He knocked the very next pitch clear over the top of the Green Monster, Boston’s hallmark towering left field fence. Game tied and two more outs left for the home team. Grrrr… We turned the TV off and headed to bed.

Thanks to an unrelated bout of insomnia, I learned just after midnight that the Royals scored three runs in the top of the thirteenth inning and held the Sox to two runs in the bottom of that one to win the game. Three wins in four days. Not bad for a team on the skids!

Observations: 1) Looking confident is not nearly as important as accomplishing the deed. In other words, it’s not how good you look; it’s how well you do the job. God doesn’t care how impressed others are by your claims of faith; he cares about whether it’s real or not. 2) Even on a losing streak, good things can still happen. Never give up hope and never quit stepping up to the plate and taking your turn. 3) It ain’t over till it’s over. Yeah, it’s an old cliché but it’s still true in opera, career, baseball and life.

H. Arnett
5/2/18