Faith, Hard Work, and the Red Sox

We have all had the experience of doing our very best, and still not having the support of the people around us. It's probably not even intentional; sometimes, it just turns out that way. Such is the case for Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale. He's battled back from multiple injuries and set-backs in his recovery, and last night, for his start, he was pretty darn vintage Sale: 11K before the relievers --"relievers"-- came in to pretty much give the game away. That said, while the rest of the team was hitting, they couldn't seem to close the deal. They did, at one point, have bases loaded (often referred to "ducks on the pond"), and yes, there were two live ducks on the field-- only the real ducks got anywhere in that inning. They left.

I did, too, around 10 pm, top of the 10th, tied game. I went up to bed. I turned on the radio to listen to the game, and found that in the minute or so it took me to head up the stairs, the Sox had managed to dump it again --down 4-2, with the bottom of the 10th looming. I turned the radio off, musing about the fate of pitchers and how unfair the stats are: pitchers get tagged with a loss or a win, regardless of what the rest of the team is doing or not doing. 

Imagine my surprise when I got up this morning to see that there were, in fact, late game heroics. Dugie (Alex Verdugo) couldn't stop peppering his post-game commentary with "colorful" language. I would have, too: his walk-off hit that dinged just shy of the foul pole-- Pesky's Pole-- won the Sox the game. They rallied for three runs in the bottom of the 10th. 

It doesn't help Sale's record --he officially gets a "no decision"-- but it was a win. I should have kept listening. Lesson to me, right? Faith is rewarded, especially if work is part of the equation.

That's a life lesson I have to keep learning and re-learning.

Have a good day,

C

ps Go, Bruins!