The Greatest Game

Last week the Yankees were in town and I was fortunate to attend games pitched by the always interesting Chien Ming Wang and eternal fan favorite Andy Pettite. Generally when the Yankee's play the A's at the Colisseum the blue and white of Yankee fans is almost as prevalent as the green and gold of the home team. On Tuesday for Chien Ming Wang I think the A's fans may have been outnumbered. Many with Wang jerseys looked like first timers, taking pictures on the way into the ballpark. The Yankees got off to a two run lead in the first inning. Being up two runs makes watching CMW pitch just a tad less stressful. The leadoff man got on, th hits, the walks, they keep coming every inning but then the ground ball comes, the double plans and 10,000 Yankee fans breath again. The Yankees were up two to one in the seventh and the A's loaded the bases with one out. As the count reached 3-2 the crowd was roaring 26,000 people, some cheering for some cheering against the pitcher. He stares in at the batter, the batter stares back ground ball, double play, inning over. 26,000 people sit back in their seats and it's time to stretch. For just a second imagine you are at work at a very stressful moment during your day. Okay, now imagine that moment with 26,000 people screaming at you. It was that moment that I saw what an athlete does, the focus, the ability to block out everything else going on and deliver the way people expect you to. No one would say CMW delivered a great pitch, or even that he pitched a great game, he did what we expect him to do. The tension of that moment, sitting on the edge of your seat, there's nothing else like it. Every game has a moment, sometimes it's an interesting play, sometimes it's a nailbiting at bat, sometimes it's a great play you weren't expecting that's what makes baseball great.