Randal Grichuk
Rosenberg TX
Toronto Blue Jays
Randal Grichuk. ~ Add that name to the list of those players whose greatest joy was bringing down the House of Joy for his now distantly fellow local neighbor fans and breaking the hearts, in this instance, of the Houston Astros.
Here’s a link to ESPN and as good a summary as any of the painful game particulars. Had it not been for his 8th inning home run bomb to left, and his 9th inning Spiderman catch in right, the Astros would have won. Had it not been for only one or the other of these lights out plays by the young native of Rosenberg, TX and Lamar Consolidated High School, the Astros probably still would have fallen to the Toronto Blue Jays.
The ESPN Report describes it well:
His soaring 471-foot home run, which clanged off the light pole above the train tracks on the left-field wall, came against Will Harris and made it 6-3 with two out in the eighth.
Grichuk then reached over the short wall in right field to rob George Springer of a homer with two on and no outs in the ninth.
“Those are the plays you dream of that you don’t really get too often,” he said. “But exactly what you hope for happened.”
Here’s a link to their whole story:
http://www.espn.com/mlb/recap?gameId=380625118
Makes you wonder about the mental appetites of the so-called baseball gods – or fate and destiny themselves – don’t you think? Baseball already is a sport that exposes the ironies of life like no other sport ever will, but this one is probably the most curiously joyful and resentfully painful of them all.
Irony of all ironies – our boys have just been defeated by a local guy who grew up worshipping every step the team took as his club of childhood heroes. His joy is not based on revenge, is it? We’ve no record in this instance that the Astros ever singled out Randal Grichuk for rejection. Had they done so, his boundless glee state of self-satisfaction as a result of last night would be much easier to explain.
What is it then? Why was Grichuk so ecstatic over his ability to defeat the Astros on their shared home turf of the Greater Houston area?
It’s still “ego” – and we must remember that ego has many long, spindly, and nearly invisible legs beyond the ones that are easy to see.
Sometimes a young player needs only to see a lack of contact by – or an expression of interest from – the club in their region of origin to view a game like last night as a form of subtle revenge. Maybe Grichuk (unconsciously or not) would simply like the Astros to know they missed out by not signing him as a younger prospect when he was coming of age.
This last statement is also ego:
“That’s OK, Grichuk! ~ The Astros can’t win ’em all! ~ But we’re still in first place! ~ And you’re still playing for a 4th place club! ~ Keep playing like you did last night! ~ And maybe the Astros will pick you up somewhere down the line!”
********************
Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
The Pecan Park Eagle 
June 26, 2018 at 3:10 pm |
Grichuk was a first round pick in a pretty decent 2009 draft class.
Nats picked Strasburg 1st, Dbacks took Pollock 17th, Astros drafted a Jiovanni Mier 21st and the Angels picked back to back with the 24th/25th picks.
Selections were Grichuk and a kid named Mike Trout!
I’d say we missed out clearly. Keke Hernandez and Dallas Keuchel were Astros only 2 keepers out of 50 draftees.
June 26, 2018 at 6:08 pm |
He has bad moo doo jung shin.
June 27, 2018 at 5:27 am |
Randall Grichuk also attended back to back Little League World Series with Lamar Little League. That is extremely rare. One of his teammate on the first World Series appearance was none other than Brady Rogers, a pitcher for the Astros in AAA.