Just wanted to document a little bit of history.
Some fun San Diego History, Baseball History and a bit of personal experience History.
And then share a story... about stories.
I have lived many decades now and the padres existed a decade before I was even born.
They have played over 8000 games and they have had a few exceptional pitchers and a few of them have gotten oh so close.
But tonight the home town kid comes in and gets the job done. Amazing Joe!!
There was a lot going on more than simply a kid getting his second start and stretching out to an impressive 115 pitches.
THE SHORT STORY IS: HE GOT THE DANG THING DONE!!
Musgrove gets the game ball from first baseman Profar
WHERE WAS I?
I'm sitting here in the airstream in southern Utah not too far from Zion NP. Just enjoying a good day of work and now relaxing for the evening.
When my old friend Eric messaged me as I grabbed my phone ready to start the game about 2hrs late. (Thanks to my paid season of MLB.TV and my aversion to commercials that made me want to start late)
I saw that Eric asked if I was watching the Game... I knew right then it was gonna be something special because we hadn't talked about the previous 7 games yet. A slug fest perhaps? I guess that could have spurred the comment but probably unlikely... so my mind went to no-hitter.
Also I knew MLB app was gonna mention something and I didn't want to see it but there was indeed a notification from them as well... which I swiped away from the notification as fast as I could but I knew something was going on.
Then my phone quickly died so i had to use my laptop and when i went to select the game to watch it stupidly tells me the score so I knew it was 3-0 and it wasn't over and I had some catching up to do.
As I started watching a couple of quick Padres runs I knew we'd be cruising through a bunch of innings skipping commercials and this time focusing on watching defense and pitching more than the offense.
Then things got interesting around inning 6 and talks of no-hitters started to creep into the conversation and onto the screen. Then we started getting into the 7th and 8th inning. It was then that the main question in my mind and on the lips of the announcers was if and how Joe Musgrove was gonna try to go all 9 himself.
I did go radio silent after I got the game rolling and didn't talk to my friend or anyone so I didn't know if he actually made it all the way... my friend messaged me around the 7th or 8th inning. So I did get to experience the suspense myself... who knows he could have gone 8 and 2/3rds and given up a hit. It has certainly happened before... many times. Or someone else comes in from the bullpen and gives up a hit ... how sucky would that be.
But he got the dang thing done!!
In a short number of years Padres finally hit for the cycle (Will Myers ... not fat kemp) and now Musgrove with a No Hitter.
AN EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE
The emotions are mostly excitement
But also a ton of pride... the pride of a life-long fan. Also being a padres fan means being a tough-luck fan a lot of the time.
I love seeing people succeed and celebrate... the celebration is the best part of something like this. You can re-watch just that part a few times. The jumping up and down, the hugs and the smiles. Other people being excited for and proud of their friend. Creating history that millions of people will note down and remember that's no small thing. Sports is essentially a lot of repetition, it is the same actions over and over and over again without much to note until one moment and one day something extremely note-worthy happens.
So i picked the screenshot that was most memorable to me... The first baseman giving Joe Musgrove the game ball. Which he will almost surely put up somewhere very memorable. That ball will signify that monumental task and bit of history, it was with that ball that it went from almost a no-hitter to an actual no-hitter. One moment he was like dozens before him and with that ball and one throw and one grounder and one hard toss to first that he became like no one else to ever play for the Padres. And Profar was so excited to give the ball to him. They're all just happy for someone else and that's a beautiful thing.
ROMANTIC ABOUT THIS MOMENT
There's a saying I've heard more than once... probably stated a few times from the amazing broadcast team which San Diego is lucky to have. But it came from the movie moneyball and it encapsulates so well what true baseball fans really feel.
"How can you not be romantic about Baseball?"
It's not the most fast paced action packed game... not by a long shot.
It's a game that thrives and lives on STORY.
It's about history... it's about stats... it's about odds... and the odds are set again and again and when you break the odds.
The narrative of baseball is beautiful.
It's listening to the voices you grew up with for decades talk about the same guys and tell stories all game long to fill in those gaps.
They're telling you an epic narrative that lasts 162 games of highs and lows... and story!
The adventure continues all season long and still into the off season where you continue to piece together the narratives... Like padres on the heels of nabbing two of the best pitchers (a cy-young winner and a 2nd place cy-young finalist) both come to padres and then all of a sudden we get a 3rd guy in a trade out of no-where.... and now 4 months after that trade he makes history... for the team he grew up cheering for. Going to games and watching the same players I watched when I was young. Seeing the greats like Tony Gwynn and Trevor Hoffman and idolizing Jake Peavy ... so much so that he picks Jake's number to put on his jersey.
Baseball is narrative... it's a story. And the punch line of a big success is so amazing because of all the months or years of setup for this moment.
I realize baseball isn't a sport you jump into and think "holy crap this is exciting"
Instead to get the full effect you learn about it and hear about how amazingly difficult every aspect of the game is. Hitting a 100mph fastball is an insane act in and of itself, some say the hardest consistent action that happens in all of sports. On the other side producing those throws is no small task and every throw takes a toll on the pitcher that they can only do so many a game and they have to spend months getting to the point where they can go from 30 to 50 to 80 pitches and doing so requires them to recover for 5 days in between.
Oh and btw it was never certainJoee was going to be allowed to pitch that many pitches tonight... but when you're throwing a no-hitter and your team has never thrown one and your not just getting no hits but you're dominating and no one has even gotten close and your manager is chill and understanding he lets you go out there and ride the adrenaline and your catcher is pulling for you and is in your corner... You go back out!! In the 9th... and you make it happen.
Each one of the moments in this video is part of a much much larger story... and this video is just a portion of the stories of 2010's ... I'm giddy right now realizing how many of these are going to be of my team in the 20's. That's a happy feeling
To some tonight was just a random FIRST... but there are a few thousand (maybe a few hundred thousand) of us closely connected to the narrative of San Diego that understand what really happened tonight.
Baseball is romantic ... and tonight was a nice love story for San Diegans