Opening Day

One week ago today was opening day for Major League Baseball. America's pastime. Most teams played the first of the 162 games they will play, this year, during the regular season. It's a very exciting time for players and fans alike.

Being from Orange County California I am, of course, partial to the Anaheim Angels. So, when the Seattle Mariners came to “The Big A,” for opening night, you know I was watching. One of the great things about opening day is that each team sends their ace to the mound to start the game. For the Angels, that meant the tall, lean Jered Weaver was first to take the bump.

In the top of the first inning Weaver set the Mariners down 1-2-3. The inning was ended when Seattle's new slugger, Robinson Cano, grounded a sharply hit ball to the shortstop Erick Aybar. Aybar fielded the ball cleanly and tossed it over to Albert Pujols to record the out. If you were keeping score you would write “6-3” next to Cano's name.

Leading off the game for the Angels was right fielder Kole Calhoun. On the mound, for the Mariners, was the imposing Cy Young Award winning Felix Hernandez. King Felix as they call him. After taking two straight balls, Calhoun hit a line drive to right field for a single. And in steps Mike Trout.

Trout is only 22 years old but he is already making a name for himself in MLB. The Angels recently recognized Mike's brilliance by signing the youngster to a six-year contract extension. Immediately Trout began earning his money. On a 1-1 count, Hernandez throws him an inside slider and Mike crushes the ball into the second bullpen for a home run. The crowd explodes.

Baseball, like life, is a game of momentum. When the wind is at your back, and things are going your way, you want to capitalize. As the next batter, Albert Pujols, checks into the batter's box, the stadium is still buzzing. And that's were my story really begins.

King Felix throws Pujols a 2-2 fastball, right down the middle of the plate. What does the Angels' MVP do? He pops a foul ball behind the plate which is caught, by Seattle's catcher Mike Zunino, for the first out of the inning. But it gets worse. Next up is Josh Hamilton. This is Josh's second year playing for the Halos and last year was quite a disappointment. Having just signed a five-year $125 million contract, the expectations for Hamilton were high. And 2013 turned out to be the worst offensive year of Josh's career.

Perhaps time for some redemption. In the box, Hamilton is a big, strong left-handed beast. And he bats clean-up. Throughout the history of baseball the fourth slot in the lineup (clean-up) has been reserved for the team's best run producer. In recent years that has more shifted to the third spot, but let's not split hairs. The fact is Hamilton can flat out rake. And in 2010 he was honored as the league's Most Valuable Player.

Josh takes the first pitch, a fastball on the outside corner, for a called strike. Next Hernandez throws a sinker and Hamilton swings right throw it. On the 0-2 count Mr. Clean-Up takes a fastball, right down the middle, for a called third strike. A terrible at-bat.

And, it got me to thinking about one of the saddest symbols in baseball. Early I mentioned that a ground out to shortstop is recorded as “6-3.” The shortstop is position number six on the field and first base is position number three. Hence the notation. The way the recorder would note what Hamilton did would be with a backwards K. It would look like this:

In the parlance of baseball, the letter K stands for strikeout. Actually there's a little more to it. The letter K, more accurately, means a strikeout where the batter swings the bat. When the batter doesn't swing, the out is recorded as a reverse or backwards K. Like above.

In a lot of ball parks you will see fans keeping records very publicly. The hometown crowd will often record their pitchers' strikeouts for everyone to see. It looks like this:

I'm not sure which game, or ball park, that was at. From the guy on the left, it looks like it may have been the Washington Nationals. But that is neither here nor there. As you can see, ten of the visiting players have been struckout that day. Nine of the times, the player swung the bat. And only once was he caught looking. That's what they call it, “Caught looking.” As the out batter walks back to the dugout, a good heckler might inquire as to how much the batter had paid for his seat :)

For me, that symbol, the reverse K, is so germane to life in general. It's okay to strikeout. Even the biggest boppers strikeout more often than they hit home runs. Everybody knows, Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs during his career. And "Hammering" Hank Aaron hit 755. But, how many strikeouts did he have? Nobody knows. I had to look it up! The answer is 1383. But nobody cares. We easily forgive failure. What we have a hard time accepting is inaction. To not even try, that's practically unforgivable (Especially when you're making $30M a year.)

So, this week, remember, don't get rung-up looking. As I once heard Dale Murphy say, “Swing hard, in case you hit it.”