A game of inches

[Roy Firestone]

"You only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out life’s this game of inches. So is this game. Because in either game, life or (baseball), the margin for error is so small -- I mean one-half a step too late, or too early, and you don’t quite make it. One-half second too slow, too fast, you don’t quite catch it.

The inches we need are everywhere around us.

They’re in every break of the game, every minute, every second.

On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch, because we know when we add up all those inches that’s gonna make the fuckin' difference between winning and losing! Between livin' and dyin'!---"Any Given Sunday" ---Al Pacino (script by Oliver Stone)

I was thinking about that scene in "Any Given Sunday", that great speech he gives to his players about the difference between winning and losing, "living and dying" is just about inches. Thia past series with the Astros was like that. In game 1, a sawed off bloop, inches from Henderson's glove...a dropped ball inches off Mateo's glove as he tried to catch a fly ball that would've given us a crucial out. Then the dropped foul tip that would've been a third strike on Tucker..and then today...a ball hit by Altuve just inches from a Home Run and also inches from Austin Hays glove....and then today, another blooped pop up just inches from being caught,..the liner just an inch away from being snared by Urias....but it didnt happen.....not to mention an inch or two away from Bautista striking out Tucker(I believe) again....Baseball's greatest cliche is "it's a game of inches"...we could have won two of the three games over just a few inches.

Remember this series...it was just INCHES away from being a successful one...and the Orioles have to remember that. Remember to fight and and hustle and claw with 'our fingernails' for that inch.

Because in those inches, a champion is born.

Those inches will make the difference.

They almost always do.

They  did today.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Roy Firestone

[FlaO'sFan]

Winning today made it a successful series for me. No damage done and just move on.

Losing would have had me worried about the rest of the season and the affect the series had on the teams confidence.

The play that stood out the most to me about being a 'game of inches' was the ball Urias dove for in the 9th and just barely missed. Man he was so close to making a second incredible defensive play in the game.

Your post describes the series perfectly. Enjoyed reading it.

 

[Sanfran327]

Roy, you and me both. First thing that came to mind on the Urias play and both of their little gorks that found OF grass was the Any Given Sunday rap. 

That was a fiercely battled series, but I'm glad it's behind us. That is a very good team.