Game 34 Recap: What Sparks Joy?
Only you can know what kind of environment makes you happy – this is the underlying principle of the KonMari Method™.
-Marie Kondo
By Roberto Santiago
WEST OAKLAND—What sparks joy for a baseball fan? Can there be a sense of place and purpose when things don’t turn out the way you wished? These are the existential questions asked in the stands at Raimondi last night as the ballers fell 18-11 to Yuba-Sutter in another frustrating home loss.
The night began with an unexpected, dizzying high. Crossover-marketing-stunt-turned-sensation Liam Plunkett, the former English international team cricket star, made his baseball debut as the starting pitcher for the Ballers. Plunkett brought an unusual delivery and baffling ball movement, striking out the only batter he faced on a 2-2 breaking ball. The fans and Ballers C-Suite, who had taken a risk on playing Plunkett, were giddy. “I figured out how to watch him and get the Pitch Trax data,” said former pitcher, scout and current team president Yeshayah Goldfarb. He continued, “The ball drops like, four inches. He’s basically just throwing curve balls but from over the top. That movement works at 71 MPH.”
Goldfarb was standing in the seating area behind home plate talking to team co-founder Paul Freedman when the team’s VP of Communications and Fan Entertainment Casey Pratt leaned over the railing above to ask, “Can we keep him?”
Paul noted that by league rules, they could have him pitch again at the top of the second, and they could have him back for another game, but “We can only play him twice a month” due to the nature of his marketing contract. On the idea of having Plunkett start every inning, Freedman noted, “[Home plate umpire] Tony would eventually look at us like, what are you doing?”
Griffin Smith replaced Plunkett and quickly got the next two outs that included a home run robbery by Cam Bufford in left. Manager/third base coach Aaron Miles, who had wrestled with how to deploy Plunkett (pitching or outfield), walked off the field with a wry smile. Joy= sparked.
The bottom of the inning sent the crowd, largely made up of Gen X hippies drawn in by Phish Night, into an absolute frenzy. Ballers MVP candidate Tremayne Cobb led off with a towering home run that fell just short of becoming evidence in potential litigation. Noah Blythe doubled with the bases loaded to drive in two more runs. Then newcomer Paul Winland, recently claimed off waivers, launched the first pitch he saw as a Baller over the wall in left field. For one beautiful inning, the Ballers looked unstoppable. However, by league rules, they were forced to play the remaining eight innings. Eight innings in which they gave up at least one run in every frame.
Winland struck again, leading off the top of the third with a shot that went 400 feet into the batter’s eye in dead center, pushing Oakland’s lead to 9-6. But the home team bats went silent over the middle innings as the Freebirds put up 12 more to enter the bottom of the ninth up 18-9. The Ballers put up a fight in the ninth with recent signee Conner Smith driving in nascent Baller Brendan O’Sullivan with one out as the B’s emptied their bench. Do-it-all-Paul Winland walked with the bases loaded to cut the lead to just 7 runs. But Cam Bufford and T.J. McKenzie each struck out with the bases loaded to end the game.
Winland, who had a tough start to the season with Long Beach (.234, 5 HR) gave credit to the fans for his big night, “The energy that the fans bring out here. It can be a ten run game, a one run game, the energy’s still out here and you want that next AB. You gotta have it.” Winland was the Beer Batter earlier in the season as a visitor. Asked if players noticed that or cared, he opined, “It’s fun. It makes it even more enjoyable easier to be out there and it makes it easier to be in that moment. I enjoy stuff like that. Anything that gets the fans into it, I’m all about it.” Being the Beer Batter sparks joy.
As a person who was at the Jeter Flip Game, I can say with confidence that even in defeat, you can find joy in experiencing something no one has ever seen. Fans leaving the game were bummed about the loss. Pitching in general continues to be the Achilles’ heel for a team that can score runs with one arm tied behind their backs. Yet the conversation wasn’t all about the outcome. Supporters who came into the game skeptical about Plunkett were happy to have seen something novel. Once again Ballers innovation draws interested eyes to Oakland from all over the globe. Conversations turned to optimism around the performances of Winland and Conner Smith. The game was fun for people in attendance despite the loss. Sometimes even a setback can spark joy.
Odds and Ends:
The turntables continue to turn as the Ballers search for answers on how to turn things around in the second half. Friday’s transactions saw the additions of Winland, Smith and starting pitcher Connor Godwin, recently of the Dodgers organization. Sent out are catcher Nick Poss and pitchers Matt Lozovoy and Campbell Spradling.
Brady Chavez made his Ballers debut on Friday night throwing two innings while surrendering 5 hits, 2 walks and 3 runs to go with 4 strike outs.
Almost everyone in the park, including the Ballers brass, wanted to see Plunkett face another batter and maybe go the whole inning. As they thought things through, they came to agree with Miles’s decision to pull him as planned. The bulk of the analysis was that if anyone got on base, Plunkett didn’t know how to hold runners and was likely to balk due his unorthodox delivery.
It was another long game clocking just 15 minutes shy of four hours. “That home run Cobb hit to lead off feels like it was hit before the pandemic,” exclaimed one fan. “Dad, 11:00 PM? Did the game go to overtime?” asked my 15 year old when I got home. No, sweetie. It’s just the Pioneer League.
Roberto Santiago is a third generation Berkeley boy currently raising the fourth generation. Roberto’s writing has appeared in Latina, Parents, and various online outlets. A lifelong baseball fan, Roberto worked briefly with the Boston Red Sox and once hit an RBI single off Spaceman Lee on a 2-2 changeup. It was his only at bat ever in a real baseball game. Find him on Instagram.
