Kamala Harris is proving to be the political version of what in baseball a CLOSER. A fresh arm brought in in the ninth inning of a game to mow down the last hitter. Or two or three hitters. Any team that’s behind or in a tied game knows they’re in trouble when a great closer walks in from the bullpen, fully warmed up. The hitters slated to bat fight it, but the picture they can’t get out of their heads is what you see in the title pic. A blurry background but the ball, clear as day getting to the plate and them being helpless to hit it! Notice how the GOP this week is all out of sorts? Pitches are sailing past them. At best they’ve fouled a few off. Mostly they’ve either been frozen as the ball flies past them for a strike, or take a weak swing and miss.
I know, those of you who aren’t sports (much less baseball) fans hate sports metaphors but since President Biden unleashed a political earthquake last Sunday it’s hard not to look for a familiar non-political comparison. Hell, I don’t follow sports like I used to but baseball is in my blood. It hit me this evening that Joe Biden is an aging but still capable pitcher who CAN go the distance. And I’ll always believe he could have again. But if you’re old school you remember how things used to be. Starters routinely pitched seven or eight innings and it wasn’t unusual for some to go the full nine. But every bullpen had a “closer.” Someone who could come in during the ninth and get those final few outs with a handful of blazingly fast pitches, with a wicked slider or two tossed. Even a Hall of Fame bound pitcher sometimes needs someone to come in and close out the game. That’s what President Biden has done by handing the ball to his Vice President to close out the game and get the win.
Few, very few “power pitchers” (Nolan Ryan is the last one I can recall) maintain both blinding speed on their pitches and the capability to complete games or “go deep” almost every time. Most pitchers are crafty. As they age, they make up for lost speed on their pitches by knowing their hitters strengths and weaknesses and actually increasing their control – the precision of the placement of their pitches. They even sometimes develop a new pitch or two. One more weapon in their arsenal. Politically that’s been President Biden. A career longer than most during which he’s gained incredible knowledge and skill. He was never a “power pitcher” but one of the crafty ones. Oh, he could zip in a fast ball when he needed to to help keep hitters off balance. But mostly he “worked the corners of the strike zone” and racked up win after win.
However, even those kinds of pitchers who can or at least used to when statisticians took over the game could sometimes tire a bit. They were still capable of winning and had more years left but yes, sometimes the best thing to do was hand over the ball to a fresh arm. Closers are almost always “flamethrowers” and after a game facing normal and off-speed stuff the batters they faced usually couldn’t adjust. Kamal Harris took the ball from Joe Biden Sunday afternoon and has come out tossing heat. (in baseball terms that means 100mph pitches) and a couple of nasty “sliders” too. Yep, she’s looking like the political equivalent of a baseball “closer” for sure.
Money started flowing into what’s now the Harris (and a player to be named later) campaign, as volunteer signups and a new burst of voter registrations. Organically from the grassroots. All of it in record numbers. Endorsements have steadily grown too. Everyone can feel the excitement. Even the GOP feels it although they sure as hell aren’t enjoying the feeling. They are more in looking around saying ‘What the hell is going on? This doesn’t look good and I don’t know how to stop it. Do you?’ And in reply get a ‘No, I don’t know what’s going on but it seems bad and I don’t know what to do either!’
Major League is one of those silly movies that’s a guilty pleasure for some, especially baseball fans who realize they need some perspective. I won’t bore you with the whole story but basically an owner dies and his widow hates Cleveland. She has to break her teams lease and trigger a clause that will force other owners to allow her to relocate to Miami. She schemes to put together a team so lousy attendance will be low enough for that to happen. Of course her plans are foiled and her team finds itself in a one-game playoff for their division’s championship. An aging but crafty old pitcher does a great job and almost carries them through but tires and has a dangerous hitter coming up with runners on base. So the manager plays a hunch and brings in an unlikely reliever from the bullpen. Their crowd goes nuts to his “walk on” music. The Yankees are in WTF is going on mode.
The excitement in the air is so thick it can be cut with a knife. And on this Saturday night it’s come to me that while we DO face a “tough hitter” with what’s bound to be the ugliest campaign (from the GOP in modern history, a flame throwing pitcher has been brought in by Player/Coach Biden to close out the game. Have yourself a few minutes of fun and watch this. Then tell me we aren’t experiencing a political version of it. (Just so you know, “Wild Thing” does in fact strike out the most dangerous hitter in his league to end the inning. And his team wins in the bottom of the ninth with a daring, awesome play)
My cousin called me today. He’s a retired diplomat (he’s two years older than me) who retired several years before he’d planned wanted to. I thought he would make a good contributor here but instead of becoming an activist, and given his years of service to others he decided to indulge his passion for music instead. He performs with a couple of friends in quiet bars and coffee shops. As I said, he served others working for NGOs in some awfully tough spots before becoming part of the diplomatic corps. He’s sure as hell earned a quiet and peaceful retirement. I think he went to ONE march, years back (the huge one the day after Trump was sworn in he went across the river and took part in the St. Louis version of the DC March) but otherwise he’s pretty much done with politics. He has I’m told by my sister made “liberal” posts on FB now and then but that it’s.
Yet this week HE has become excited. I’m not sure how active he might turn out to be in GOTV efforts (his sister is pretty ill and he’s got his hand full helping care for her) but he’s a great example of what’s going on. Of people who were “blah” about politics and would cast their vote but that was it. NOW he’s amped up. All the evidence indicates millions of others are too. It’s only been a week and who knows what’s to come?
People talk about how “dug in” MAGAs are and how attacks on Trump make them more determined to vote and push others to vote for Trump. You know what? When the hard-core, vile racist and sexist attacks start being made against Harris, or attempt are made to lie about her accomplishments as VP (or earlier in her career) OUR side will “dig in” too. So will Independents already strongly leaning our way. On top of that I truly believe Independents who might listen to both sides will look at what’s going on with Democrats and what’s going on with Republicans and decide what we already know. That Trump and the GOP aren’t just weird. But also that they are downright crazy. And dangerous.
Yes, journalists are trying like hell to stir up sh*t and shove any Democrat they can find who doesn’t like the “process” that has resulted in VP Harris becoming our nominee. They can’t seem to come up with anything but “reasons” or a viable process for anything other than what naturally happened during the past week. That won’t stop journos from trotting them out up to and during the convention. Don’t think for a second they have given up on their dream of a floor fight/brokered convention.
it doesn’t matter. The Harris campaign is in a freshly tuned up high performance racing car and has a full tank of gas. And our soon to officially be the nominees has stomped her foot on the gas and has “peeled out” from the starting line. To a huge, cheering crowd. Or, back to where I began this piece, come in after a great warmup out in the bullpen and taken the ball. And confidently assured our starting pitcher and coach “Don’t worry. I’ve got this. Have a seat and I’ll get these guys out for you and the team.” “Coach” Biden knows there’s no one better he could have handed the ball too. One look at her as she said she was ready and he knew in his heart she would in fact close that other team out.
He’ll still be in the dugout managing the rest of the game, but everything is in place for the Democratic team to win, With flair. Convincingly. He’s got a great closer and great players to back her up, both in the field and when it’s their turn to bat. He’ll do manager stuff and monitor the action just in case he needs to do a little coaching or deal with the umpires, but for the most part he can sit back and having turned the game over to is players enjoy the rest of the game.
The other team doesn’t know what inning it is.
Even though I do not like sports, oh hell, I hate sports. The result of my childhood, being forced to watch too much. I do love the sports metaphors 🙂 Thank you Denis 🙂
Thanks, Denis, for the “Major League” reference and clip. I lost interest in modern baseball (Steinbrenner’s methods as Yankees owner turned me off), but I’ll watch this flick any time it’s rerun.