One of the most marvelous things about baseball is the fact that, while a team sport at heart, it is an individualistic battleground by design, a man-versus-man showdown in which a batter faces a pitcher or, as can often be the case, a pitcher faces himself. It’s theoretically possible to play an entire baseball game without using any of the fielders, except for the catcher. A pitcher could throw a complete-game shutout with 27 strikeouts, for example. Or you could use just one other fielder: maybe the pitcher gets 20 strikeouts, but also induces 7 groundouts to himself. Adding to the quirkiness is the fact that there’s no escaping one’s responsibilities as ball-hurler or bat-wielder: all eyes are on you until one of you wins. There’s no time limit on either actor: an at-bat could last five second, or for all eternity, should the hitter foul off an endless number of pitches. There’s little that a shortstop or right fielder can do in these instances unless something happens to be asked of him on a resultant play, and once a batted ball has been corralled and the play is over, the 60-foot 6-inch contest resumes.
In last night’s matinée Yankees-Rangers matchup in Arlington, Yankees manager Joe Girardi hung an ineffective Damaso Marte out to dry, putting a 5-5 ballgame in his hands and his hands alone in the bottom of the 9th. In what was his fifth appearance with the club since being acquired from the Pirates, Marte was left to throw 42 pitches, the most he’d tossed in an appearance since an August 16th 2006 game against the Brewers in which he threw 44 pitches and was also saddled with the loss. Marte recorded two outs in the inning – one via strikeout – but walked three, and was quite visibly struggling with his control. All told, he threw just 23 of those 42 pitches for strikes, including the first-pitch fastball that Byrd crushed to right field for a walk-off grand slam.
It was his fifth career grand slam and second career walk-off home run, his first coming in his rookie season against Tim Drew, the most obscure of the Drew Brothers. That season was actually quite promising for Byrd: with a .303/.366/.418 line in 135 games with the Phillies, he garnered more Rookie of the Year votes than Miguel Cabrera and Jose Reyes (though both played in fewer games). Since then, he’s been a prototypical fourth outfielder, playing solid defense and not killing his team at the plate while occasionally running into a hot month (see: June 2007, .398). It was a jubilant moment for Byrd, who was the subject of trade rumors around the deadline thanks to the Rangers’ outfield depth and gigantic need for pitching. After being stormed at the plate by his teammates, Byrd high-fived several fans sitting in the front row by the Rangers dugout and then saluted his fans by doing the “Byrd Flap,” an arm-flapping gesture that Rangers fans began taking up last year when Byrd had the best season of his career, driving in 70 runs with a 113 OPS+ in 414 at-bats.
Byrd will never really be famous, nor is he likely to be remembered for very long once his playing days are over. Now 30 years old, the right-handed outfielder from Boynton Beach, Florida should bounce around in the game for as long as he can play a decent center field and hit above .250. When he reflects on his life, he’ll see a track record that includes playing in parts of double-digit major league seasons, with over 50 home runs, and maybe around 800 hits, which ain’t too shabby when parts of those seasons include the local fanbase gesturing in celebration of you. It’s certainly more than most can say for themselves, and when your better days witness you mashing walk-off grand slams against the New York Yankees, well, count yourself amongst the lucky. It was clear from last night’s celebration that Marlon did just that.
As for Damaso, the tragic foil to Marlon Jerrard’s heroics, he’ll survive. There may have been little else that Girardi could have done: with the best closer in history unavailable with back spasms and his second-best option wearing a Detroit Tigers jersey, it was reportedly either Marte or rookie David Robertson, as Veras has been “overworked” and Bruney appears not to be ready to resume a meaningful role in the bullpen following his Lisfranc injury. Marte was signed by the Mariners all the way back in 1992 out of the Dominican Republic as a 17-year old, and he holds a tidy 21-22 career record. He’ll notch his 500th career strikeout this year, and when you’ve got a 3.29 ERA in 499 career appearances, well, you’ve had a decent life. He makes $2 million dollars in 2008, and it stands to reason that his ability to hold lefties to a career .193 batting average against has transformed the lives of everyone in his family and given him everything he could’ve ever wanted. Who among us wouldn’t sacrifice a foot – and the occasional +1 in the loss column – to do the same?
