More than Friends
Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner shared a quiet exchange on Thursday that made everyone who saw feel something
Nostalgia left solely to its own devices can turn back time in the worst of ways. It can undo progress and divert from the path we’re supposed to be on or at least the task at hand.
It can bring back old lovers or friends under false pretense, it can grind functioning governments to a halt, and it can clog up the rain gutters of the actual present preventing the tiny but important things from moving on through.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to see that nostalgia is about all we’ve got these days. Twenty months to an eternity of getting used to a new normal that’s not normal at all. Nostalgia is a kind of beta-blocker, a clear and recent memory of who we once were, even though we don’t have the mechanisms to get it back.k
But sometimes, the past collides with the present in a way that isn’t quite sepia-toned, it’s really happening right now, yet it’s a reminder of our better angels and where we’ve been. Maybe, ultimately, it’s a way forward.
Last night in San Francisco’s China Basin, Madison Bumgarner, the city’s favorite prodigal son, the man with the droopy eyes and the hangdog grimace, came home once more. Bumgarner, with his slow, loping windup, albatross-like in its repose, his left hand permanently weighed down from the unwieldy and otherworldly force of a trio of World Series rings, threw his best at his old home turf wearing the jersey of a division rival.
It was Bum and only Bum who stood in the way of his old team’s quest to win their franchise-record 105th regular-season game. Looking on as a civilian in the front row, his old teammate and mentor Matt Cain, outfitted in working bro Patagonia casual and a special lanyard along with a bemused expression of a grandpa watching his young charges run around his garden.
In the top of the first, the Diamondbacks, Bumgarner’s adopted team, had loaded the bases, and the pitcher who loves nothing more than to hit strode to the plate.
A very quick, subtle exchange took place. Bumgarner touched the shoulder of his friend and old batterymate Buster Posey, and Posey gave him a slap on the butt with his catchers’ glove. No biggie, just two old friends who, 12 years ago, boarded a rocket ship in Single-A San Jose, one that likely will end up coming to a soft landing in Cooperstown.
There’s a story about how when Buster and Bumgarner first got together; they went out to Applebee’s for their two-for-one entree specials. Bumgarner cracked open the menu and promptly ordered up a pair of dishes. Posey thought that was nice, the guy ordering for him and all that, and returned his menu to the server. The food came out a few minutes later, and Bumgarner slid Posey’s portion over to his side. “Sorry, these are both for me—I thought you knew,” he honey drawled in his Carolinian accent.
I think about that story a lot. It’s an honest friendship, come by in a way that only the two of them can understand. Of all the ballplayers in their generation, nobody has close to their wheelbarrows full of winning trinkets. Pitcher and catcher, yin and yang, different sides of the same coin and all that. Maybe it’s the greatest pairing in Giants history, maybe the greatest in the history of the sport. It’s hard to think of another; a couple of guys from the South cosmically spun into San Francisco and stitched forever in the fabric of that city’s lore. Forever Giants.
After the game, Bumgarner said the two didn’t really exchange any words; they talk all the time. For his part, Posey hit a sacrifice fly in the third and then an RBI double in the fifth, his head down each time, not daring to look back at the mound.
Some things are better left unsaid.
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Oregon State vs. Washington
Here come the Beavers.
Oregon State (3-1) was supposed to get ground up into also-ran Pac 12 pulp by the suddenly resurgent USC Trojans in Los Angles last weekend.
That didn’t happen.
Instead, the Beavers beat the Trojans for the first time in LA since the Eisenhower administration and now have the number one offense in the conference, racking up more yards per game, more offensive touchdowns, and more rushing yards than anyone else—including in-state rival no. 3 Oregon.
Head coach Jonathan Smith, quietly into the fourth year of his tenure in Corvallis, has Beaver faithful believing he’ll be the first under the headset to lead the team to a postseason berth since 2013.
The first-time head coach is a good recruiter and seems to do that thing the best offensive-minded coaches do: cater his team’s style of play to the weapons (or lack thereof) at his disposal. A seemingly simple task that the conference’s dormant juggernaut programs like USC, Washington, and UCLA have struggled with mightily over the last decade.
Oregon State quarterback Chance Nolan is probably the best, if not most efficient, passer in the conference with a 72.3 percent completion rate thus far this season. And had he not been on the bench during the first half against Oregon State’s season opener (a loss against Purdue), the Beavs would be likely sitting at 4-0.
Oregon State’s defense, one that has gotten progressively more effective year over year during Smith’s tenure, is also second in the conference in (fewest) yards allowed per game.
Washington, with a week-one hiccup to Montana, and a not-quite-ready-for-prime-time drop to Michigan in week two, has since righted their ship as turnovers (six in their two losses vs. their defense not forcing a single one) and mental mistakes/penalties seemed to have ebbed last week in a win vs. Cal.
If the Beavs do have a weakness, it’s in the air. Oregon State has given up an average of 300 yards passing per game. So Washington’s anemic offense still has a slim chance to sputter to life in week five. That said, there’s no sign Saturday will be a high-scoring affair, at least on the Huskies’ end, as Washington’s games have yet to eclipse a combined 57.5 points this season.
The 1.5-point favorite Beavers means Vegas isn’t fully confident about what’s going on in Corvallis—yet. But Oregon State is a good team. Talented at skill positions starting under center and well-coached. They should win by two scores in Saturday’s Pac-12 nightcap.
Take Oregon State (3-1) -1.5 vs. Washington (2-2) 6 p.m. PST Saturday, Oct. 2 at Reser Stadium in Corvallis, OR