John Miller, player/coach of the Brussels Kangaroos and a reporter for a major American newspaper, is back chronicling his team’s 2009 season in his weekly column that will appear every Monday on mister-baseball.com.
Last night, following an anniversary dinner of mussels, fries and white wine, we tucked into our couch for the Tigers-Twins playoff game. The streaming was perfect, as was the TBS audio feed, but, weirdly, mlb.com forced viewers to pick a camera angle and stick with it.
There were a dozen choices, including third-base, first base, centerfield and home plate. I started with centerfield, because that’s what I’m used to. The pitcher’s back slowly turning and delivering ball to home plate. That was great, until Curtis Granderson flied to right-center and the ball disappeared off the top of the screen, leaving us to watch Scott Baker turns his head toward the outfield fence.
Salvation was the home plate angle. The camera is close. You feel the ferocious might of the Major League fastball and the furious swings hitters take, most of which result in foul balls. The camera follows the player from the dugout to the batter’s box, and observes his habits and his greeting of teammates. It tracks the ball to the defender catching it. It’s the closest I’ve ever felt to being at the stadium while watching on TV.
Then there was the game itself. We fell asleep in the fourth but I watched the condensed version this morning. There were clear signs the baseball gods were giving this one to the Twins. They had the energy of a team that’s won 17 of its last 21. It was obvious that their players cared more. The Tigers looked beat from the start. The Metrodome thundered.
As described in my last column, I have momentarily dumped the Orioles and adopted the Twins for the post-season. Every European should. They have more scouting presence here than anybody else, they’ve signed more European players, and this summer they gave the biggest-ever bonus to a European, dumping $800,000 on the 16-year-old outfielder from Berlin Max Kepler-Rozycki. At the World Cup, they had 23 players under contract, the most of any team.
The progressive politics in Minnesota are as close to Europe’s as anywhere in the U.S. It’s produced great writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Garrison Keillor. The Twins themselves are enjoyably competent, classy pro ballplayers. My favorite, Mr. Cabrera the shortstop, has now made the post-season five of his last six seasons. More than any other big-league team, they play to the rhythm of the baseball saints: Strikes, catch, throw, hustle off, line drive, steal, groundball to second, fly ball, run, run on. It is the right way.
Are there reasons Europeans should root for anybody else? The Yankees? Rant at oldworldpastime@gmail.com