I love baseball. I always have. There's something so damn romantic about this timeless game, the thrill of the grass, the crack of the bat, young Mike sending his vibes to Exhibition Stadium in the hopes that George Bell would get a hit. It's a beautiful sport to play and watch.
The Colorado Rockies, my adopted team for this playoff drive, have won 21 of their past 22 games. They're white hot, but now they sit and wait. The layoff is a record 8 games as they await the winner of the Cleveland ~ Boston series. I'm struggling with the lack of games.
All this waiting is killing my baseball spirit. The Rockies are ultra hot, led by a Canadian pitcher, and they sit about three times as often as they play. They beat the San Diego Padres in a one-game playoff for the National League wild-card berth before they swept the Philadelphia Phillies and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
When they do eventually get back to playing ball, Jeff Francis will become the fifth Canadian pitcher to set foot in a World Series. The four other Canadian pitchers to taste Series action are Toronto's Ron Taylor, Johnny Rutherford of Belleville, Ont., John Hiller of Scarborough, Ont., and Reggie Cleveland of Swift Current, Sask.
Francis will be the first to open a World Series, and the first to win a game.
