The BetsyG-Spot

It’s spring, and that means baseball. Sunday is opening day here in Boston. At least for my son it is; first two games of the season on Sunday a.m. I got confirmation that he’ll be pitching one of those games. Very exciting. Watching my son play baseball is like watching ballet. Mind you, I have to older sons who both played baseball and there was no such pleasure in watching them. But Alex eats, sleeps, and breathes the sport. I’m looking forward to the season.

But of course it’s also opening day for the Red Sox at home on Monday. Beckett is pitching, and I look forward to seeing what kind of shape he’s in. It’s funny how, when you’re a kid, it’s all about the hitting, but when you’re older and really understand the game, it’s all about the pitching. The Sox have a very solid group of starting pitchers. I haven’t seen this new guy Brad Penney yet. Hoping to see Clay Buchholz (who threw a no-hitter in his was it second Major League game?) have a shot again this year. After a spectacular partial season in 2007, last year was a bust for him, and he was sent back down to the Minors to work it out. Now he seems just about ready. So much of it is the head game, and he seems to have it down.

As much as I love the sport of baseball, I confess that it’s the drama that makes it most appealing. I never cared for football, because you can’t see the guys’ faces so well. I never know who’s who except for Brady, er, I mean, the quarterback. Basketball, the guys are practically naked, so you do get to know your players, but with only 12 people on a team, there’s not so much drama. But baseball has so much going on, with so many players on a team playing such different positions. Plus all the players but the DH (and the pitchers in the AL) have to both play their position and bat, which comes with its own drama…the streakiness, the superstition, the slumps, the stats. It’s a great sport, and Boston has great sports writers who cover it beautifully. Even if I miss the games, I know exactly what’s going on.

One nice thing about Alex’s big opening day on Sunday is that his big brother MIchael will be home from college for it. I’m picking him up tomorrow, which I’m looking forward to, but I can tell Michael’s reaching that point where he could do without coming home. It’s a little painful to hear his reluctance to come home, but I know he needs to assert his independence and be his own person. Much healthier than coming home every weekend which, by the way, is what he said he wanted to do before he started applying to schools.

I think that’s about all I have to say for today. I’m very tired for some reason, and can sense a lack of pep to my writing. I actually have so much more going on inside, but it needs to percolate a bit before it comes out. That and I don’t really have the time to do the thought justice.

Oh, here’s an odd thing. You know how I made my Red Velvet Cake, but I made it blue instead, and it actually came out teal? (See The Cake That Ate My Day.) Yesterday, two people found my site by looking for “blue velvet cake” and “teal cake.” (I can see some of the search strings in my blog stats, but no, I can’t see who visited or who read what.) I found that very odd. I mean, how did that come about? Is there someone else out there making teal cakes or were they searching specifically for me? Why?

Well, hey. Have a great weekend—no rain in Beantown at least—and thanks for reading. Ah, shoot. I just checked the forecast and maybe some rain on Saturday, but a beautiful day on Sunday!