The Pecan Park Eagle

The time has come,’ the Writer said,

      To talk of many things:

Of baseball boots — and  timing facts —

      Of baseball throws — and swings —

And why one team plays boiling hot —

       As the other freezes on the spot —

And whether or not — fate and destiny —

Are simply mental pests to me — and you.’

…. a referential thought issue, parodied as an excerpt

From The Walrus and The Carpenter by Lewis Carroll

If Houston were not playing out the guiding script of destiny, why else was Marwin Gonzales so 4-for-4 buzzed in Game Two of the ALDS that he even zapped that extraordinary double to right field off Andrew Miller of the Indians in the bottom of the 6th that scored the two runs from 2nd and 1st that gave the Astros their 2-1 first lead of the game, one they would only build upon the following time at bat with a solo homer from the same man that surprisingly scored all the way from 1st on the Gonzalez cruncher, that other superstar in the making, Alex Bregman?

If Cleveland were not playing out the hoary hand of disappointing fate, why didn’t pitcher Miller avoid the whole thing that actually happened by retiring Gonzalez and getting the Indians safely out of the 6th, still leading by 1-0 on a path they would keep as the club that evened the series at one game each for the Tribe and Stros? And why didn’t Cleveland right fielder Melky Cabrera exercise a little more hustle on the retrieval and throw of Gonzalez’s game-changing double. The few seconds lost to that little ball rolling away from Cabrera after it reached his excessively contemplative fielding area are what provided 1st base runner Bregman with all the time he needed to reach home on a play that only should have advanced him to 3rd, had it been fielded and played with big league efficiency. Had that happened, who knows what might have unfolded to the benefit of Cleveland, had they not been doused near a fire back in 1948 or 1954 with the contents of a gasoline can marked “fate?”

As for baseball luck, we speak only as a Houston big league fan since 1962. ~ Our good luck has been a lot more plentiful since our Astros became the best team in baseball. In fact, we’ve got a current World Series title trophy and five or six replica championship ring giveaway nights at Minute Maid Park this past season that says we are.

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle