It seems that lately every night has some pitcher flirting with a no-hitter. After the Angels pitching staff managed to do it a week ago, the following have all come very close: Two Rays pitchers, Chris Paddack, and last night it was Mike Leake’s turn. I was watching the 8th inning when my eldest came into the room and noticed the score (10-0) as he sat down on the couch. I told him that Mike Leake was currently throwing a no-hitter (my son is a pitcher on his HS baseball team) so he stuck around (a rarity these days) to watch the end of the game.
His first comment after watching Leake’s first pitch of the 8th inning was, “He only throws 85 MPH?” It was an astute observation, since he himself has faced pitchers who are throwing low 80s in HS. If you were watching the game, you know that Leake gave up a single to Rengifo, the first batter in the 9th inning, to lose his perfect game.
But this is what I love about baseball – even guys like Mike Leake (honestly, he look more like a lead guitarist for a metal band than a SP for an MLB team), who last week didn’t make it out of the first inning against the Angels, this week was pitching so well that the Angels couldn’t get one hit off him until the 9th inning. In case you are interested, he did throw a Maddux (he only needed 98 pitches), and it was only his second complete game shutout in his 10 year MLB career (he has pitched in a total of 289 games).
This morning I ran the Oregon Half Marathon on the Banks-Vernonia trail. It was a perfect morning for a long run and I ended up getting a PR and taking third in my age group (there are some perks to turning 40, it appears). It was a good day for me, but the thing I really love about running races is seeing the many different types of people who are also running. The oldest person to run was a 74 year old man, and I got beat by a 67 year old man who averaged 6:42 miles! But I also ran with people who were young (10 years old was the youngest), who had different body types and shapes, and who had come from far away places (Argentina was the furthest, I think). And all of us were doing the same thing – running a half-marathon on a beautiful Saturday morning in Banks, OR.
Watching Mike Leake nearly throw a no-hitter gave me the same type of feeling as this morning’s race did, though pitching a baseball is exponentially more difficult than running a race. But when you compare Leake to guys like Scherzer, Verlander, Sale and Kershaw, it makes you realize that all people are capable of doing great things. And that’s an invitation to each of us to not give up, to not chicken out, but to continue to living into the gifts God has given you – you never know what might happen!