At Home Plate - Kat's Contemplations: Reflections of a Fan

At Home Plate

Kat's Contemplations: Reflections of a Fan

Written by Katherina DiChristina (Contact & Archive) on June 07, 2003

Warming Up
Let me introduce myself. My name is Katherina, but I’m called Kat. One special man calls me “Slugger”, though I’ve never done anything with any lumber. I’m a baseball fan, though a Braves fan first.

Maybe you are wondering why I love the Braves. Well, my grandmother loved them when she lived in Puerto Rico and my dad was a big fan and they just passed it down to me. My dad was a huge fan of everyone although Clemente was his favorite. But back when all the great players used to go down into the Puerto Rican league, that’s when my dad was into baseball, when he could see them play. And now it is my turn. I am into baseball and I love the Braves.

I will admit that I am biased in every way when it comes to the Braves, however that comes with being a true fan. I know how to be fair though and I will even honestly say that Alex Rodriguez is a wee bit better than Rafael Furcal.

Batting Practice

Baseball has a way of astounding us and never has exactly what we believe is in store. This is the American game, the official pastime. I guess I’ve just had an over extended love affair with the beautiful game of baseball. It has been a fault, I guess you could call it, of mine to romanticize the game. Bad calls by blue, a chess game between two genius managers, winning run being scored on a hard slide that takes out the catcher, I love it all. The only thing I can’t tolerate is baseball being played carelessly. I hate to use a player so talented as Manny Ramirez as an example, but I have to! His throw to cut off Hideki Matsui on May 28th was just a lazy, “I don’t care” type of throw. I hate to see that. Not running on a pop up, all of that. Luckily for me, most major leaguers are glad to be in the position that they are, and don’t take any time for granted. They run out those pop-ups.

First Pitch

The beginning of this 2003 season was very eventful. Sammy Sosa got 500, Rafael Palmeiro got his 500th, and Roger Clemens crept up on the sacred 300 mark. The Royals also got off to a very phenomenal start; a historical start at least, for a team that lost over 100 games to have a start like they did, was enough to occupy the time of every baseball writer in America. The Braves got off to a horrid start, which had every naysayer smug with conceit. However, they’ve turned their start around, and so have the Royals. I hate to say the “real” Royals have come out, but their not playing as well as they convinced everyone they could. The Braves however, are the May version of Aprils Royals. The Yankees have got Steinbrenner rubbing his sweaty forehead endlessly; Art Howe is second-guessing his decision to leave, despite having finally got rid of Beane. The Expos are surprising everybody as they are currently in second place in their division. The Diamondbacks and White Sox are underachieving, while the Reds and Rangers are overachieving.

The only conclusion I have to all of this, is that’s why the game captures us the way it does, it always keeps us guessing.

Bottom of the first soon to come - until then, let’s play ball.

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