Tonight I’ll be at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field for the sixth opening night of the Worcester Tornadoes; our local Canadian-American (independent) League baseball team.
This is baseball at it’s finest, with great athletes such as catcher Alex Trezza, infielders Omar Pena (the younger brother of Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Carlos Pena); local favorite Chris Colabello, and California native Nick Salotti; just to name a few.
I love this game. Baseball is a game of athleticism, coordination, strategy, coercion and trickery. Ball players have to constantly “psych out” their opponents, giving them the impression of confidence and ability. They must attempt to steal bases, execute a “bunted ball” at the very last millisecond and judge the abilities of an opposing defensive player to “tag them out”.
The great Red Sox slugger Ted Williams once said “Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.”
This is a game of statistics, percentages and chance. Going into tonight’s game infielder Omar Pena has an on base percentage (OBP) of .392 which gives him almost a 40% chance of reaching a base every time he steps up to the plate, but his batting average is .300 thus he’ll get a hit less than one out of three times at the plate.
It is in KNOWING this that, as a baseball fan, you can more appreciate each attempt that a player makes in helping his team to win the game.
Tornadoes pitcher Albert Ayala has only pitched 3.2 innings over 3 games. He’s responsible for one win and one loss and has an earned run average of 4.91 (meaning that, on average per nine innings when he is pitching, the other team will get almost 5 runs in)…and when he takes to the mound we will cheer for him, with fanatic enthusiasm because we know; nay we are CERTAIN that he is going to strike that batter out, or force him to hit a “pop fly”, easily caught by someone in the infield, and that his 4.91 ERA will drop like a lead balloon.
The numbers are important in baseball. They help us to understand and predict what is happening, and what might happen on the field of play.
When you’re at a ball park with friends (and your son; if he’ll go with you to the game) there’s nothing so fine as a bag of peanuts, an ice cold beer and a ball game taking place before you.
I love this game, and the Worcester Tornadoes are MY team. They play hard with a great passion for the sport. They work together as a squad of professionals, enhancing each others performance and supporting each other through every move on the field.
Tonight I’ll be in a box seat of section J, right along the third base side behind the Tornadoes dug-out. I’ll have a few beers, probably a hot dog and some peanuts and cheer with my friends as the Tornadoes play against the Sussex Skyhawks of New Jersey
The Skyhawks have a winning percentage of .571, having won 4 out of the 7 games they’ve played thus far in the season. My Tornadoes are at .333 with only 2 wins of the 8 games they’ve played (having just been shut out by the Quebec Les Capitales in a three game series).
Tonight I predict a Tornadoes win, as they come home to the season opener at Fitton Field at the College of the Holy Cross.
But there’s an 85% chance of rain tonight, with a band of thunderstorms due to roll in through the first hour of the game. Me? I’m betting we’ll only get a few drops and plan to be at the ball park for the first pitch: whenever that first pitch takes place.
Officially, Summer is still three weeks away, but as far as we Tornadoes fans are concerned; it begins tonight.
You see, we have a baseball game to go to, in our park with our team: and if the game isn’t cancelled I’ll be there to watch and cheer as the boys of summer come to play ball.
Go Tornadoes!
