2009 Centennial Conference Playoff Preview or "P-Day"

John Steinbeck traveled the country with his poodle, Charley, and wrote about his interactions with every day Americans along with his observations about the country and its people in his 1960 book “Travels with Charley”. Steinbeck in large measure was disappointed with what he observed but he was not heading to see a baseball game which makes all the difference. By contrast, I was driving from Connecticut to see your Fighting Diplomats with my dog Summy (“Summer” when addressed formally) play against the Fords of Haverford College in Pennsylvania. My travels with Summy, a beautiful young puggle, would take me through New York City and the stretch in New Jersey where the massive refineries display industrial might while serving as a poster for the industrial age In America I offered to Summy that we were traveling through the economic history of the country as we navigated through the Big Apple with its manifestation of the Information Economy as stocks ,bonds, options, futures and resources are moved with the stroke of a keyboard based on models comprised of invisible bits and bytes. Even baseball players are evaluated here using models to project their future contributions. We continued on through Jersey and the symbols of the industrial age and we were heading to Lancaster Pa after driving through miles of rolling farms of the Amish where the agrarian economy still flourishes. As we headed south to Haverford I concurred with Summy that although the economy and thus our daily lives as Americans had changed over the past hundred and fifty years or so-- there was one constant through all these stages of evolution -baseball. And we can count on one thing that we have learned from the esteemed philosopher Yogi Berra who taught us that good pitching always beats good hitting. and vice versa.
Arriving in Haverford for the second game this week between the Fords and Diplomats, I learned that the first game had become contentious. It seems a Haverford player had crashed into the Diplomat catcher with perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm e near the conclusion of the game that had been pretty much already decided. And a subsequent pitch to a Ford was deemed “too close” and a “bench clearing chat” ensued. As Haverford was founded by Quakers I am struggling to ponder what counts as trash talk for Quakers—what does Quaker trash talk sound like?… do they use the conjunctive tense erroneously? Well anyway it appeared Summy and I were in store for a game with a little extra intensity.
The Diplomats jumped out quickly on a 2 run home run by Bill Murray and Shea added a homer of his own ( see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpCpuJHTSBA and the Diplomats cruised to an easy 6-2 win and no further bench clearing discussions were held .
After the game as Summy and I drove through the farms of the Amish on the way to Lancaster it seemed as if the past 100 years of economic evolution had not made an impact on the life there. Horses were stilling pulling plows in the field and people were furiously doing chores as the sun gently set on the fertile land. It was a gorgeous ride through these farms which had just turned green. Baseball had its origins in fields just like these I mentioned to Summy, who agreed it was beautiful As Summy and I settled in for the night in Lancaster, we knew the next day was forecast to be a bright sunny spring day .and a great day as we were going to see a doubleheader against Swarthmore.
Your Fighting Diplomats had been forced to jam a lot of games in a tight schedule due to rainouts. Their game vs. the Messiah Falcons was cancelled to handle the conference schedule. This was much to my dismay as I had been eagerly waiting to anoint them with a new nickname. (Suggested by helpful reader Andy Bohjalian)

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you,……………Your 2009 Messiah Complex!

And there is more! We could have discussed the Messiah closer—who would not want the job of getting saves for Messiah! Alas, we were rained out (btw when was the last time you said the word “Alas” out loud?—I think it is time to bring it back and we ought to pronounce it with an English accent a lass!)
Anyway, please for give that little digression. Your Fighting Diplomats swept the Garnet of Swarthmore on the basis of a game winning base hit by Andrew Hanson seen here:(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwdLZVNAbRM&feature=channel_page
And the fine shutout pitching of sophomore Brendan McCreary shown here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX40CKnk9Xs&feature=channel
Shea had a fine day as well adding a triple shown here along with 3 other hits on the day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG7uArf8IgI&feature=channel

Next up was a doubleheader with the Diplomats hosting the vaunted Blue Jays of Johns Hopkins. This day did not turn out as well as the Diplomats were swept. Adding to this disappointment is long time reader’s recall, is that last year the Blue Jays beat the Fighting Diplomats for the conference title. The 2008 Blue Jays went on to come within one strike of winning the Division 3 title so they were indeed a top quality team In short, this day was not the finest moment of the season but as we get to discussing the playoffs, the Fighting Diplomats will have a chance to go head to head with this rival and jump over this big hurdle.
Going into the final week of the season the Diplomats beat York College handily and then journeyed to Westminster Md. to face the Green Terror of McDaniel in their final conference games. The Diplomats took care of business including 7 RBI’s on the day by Shea with a 3 run HR and this bases loaded double seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGG42dydQ3s

Brendan McCreary continued his fine work and closed out game 1 with this strikeout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUycN8Niupo&feature=channel_page

The last scheduled game took place yesterday at Stevenson College in Maryland. Tied at 4 in the ninth with 2 out and a runner on second ,Shea banged a double off the wall in left to drive in the gamer and was knocked in himself by Nick Rolnick to cement a 6-4 win . Thus going into the playoffs we are on a 4 game win streak and 7 of the last 9. Diplomat nation has good reason to be encouraged and hopeful.
The Fighting Diplomats are the #3 seed and play their first game at Johns Hopkins on Friday while Number 1 seed Ursinus hosts # 4 seed Haverford. The winners play Saturday and the losers play Saturday knocking out a team in the double elimination tourney. The team 2-0 coasts into Sunday while the teams with 1 loss battle it out for that makes it to Sunday where the winner of the loser’s bracket game will need to win twice against the 2-0 team.

But this is no ordinary game for the Fighting Diplomats as they now have a brief but awkward history with the Blue Jays losing handily the last 5 times they have played. The Blue Jays nickname fits the Johns Hopkins persona as they are cocky, loud and confident players bordering on arrogance. To their credit they back it up and are indeed a formidable foe. When the Diplomats arrive (Invade?)there are likely to be 50 Hopkins players dressed in their blue and white making a lot of noise.
The impressive Hopkins offense is led by Todd Emr who is a 5th year senior. Todd graduated last year but not finding employment he enrolled in graduate school at JHU and as he had taken a redshirt year his freshman year he is still eligible to play baseball this year. Todd is in fact a terrific hitter and has demonstrated this time for the past several years winning conference player of the year this season. This playoff game however will hear your faithful correspondent offering some comments about this situation while he patrols 3rd. Comments like “Hey Todd, why cant you graduate and not get a job like the rest of the seniors in college?” yeah it is goona be tough out there….
But as we approach “P-Day” I think there are parallels to be made with another big invasion back in 1944. Readers likely aware that Field Marshall Erwin Rommel was handed the responsibility to defend the French coast against the Allied invasion that everyone expected. Touring his troops, Rommel was discouraged to learn a majority of his soldiers were mostly POW’s or refugees from Russia. Rommel observed these refugees were hardly willing to die for Germany. These men were simply relieved to not be freezing and starving in a prison camp in Siberia. Rommel knew he did not have their hearts and minds committed to winning. To compensate, Rommel wanted to use technology and lace the shores with land mines and the waters with bombs to prevent the landings. Debates and arguments with other German commanders put him at odds with the ones who argued against him to let the Allied invasion land and then attack. Mobility and attack where they land they argued against Rommel. Rommel knew if the Allies got a beachhead they would never be removed and the war, which he already had serious doubts about, would be lost. Rommel needed the men to care deeply and he knew they were not up to the task. Additionally he did not know where the invasion would occur. Although we know now the Normandy beaches were the focus of the invasion, British intelligence has used spies and other means to help convince the German High command the invasion was to come at the closest point across the English Channel, Calais, a long way from the beaches-too far to move the troops in a timely enough fashion to thwart the invasion.

Across the English Channel General Eisenhower was spending long days organizing logistics and plans to direct the largest invasion in the history of man. Daily conflicts with his co invasion force the British made this job even more difficult as Churchill had long advocated an attack from the Balkans. Finally on May15, 1944 a meeting at St.Paul’s school at Hammersmith, London occurred where the complete invasion plans for Operation Overlord were revealed to all the senior commanders and Churchill ended the meeting with a nod to Eisenhower, and a sentence : “I am hardening toward this enterprise”. What it meant was that after all the rancor and disagreements there was only one goal now… one purpose… to devote themselves fully to the success of Operation Overlord. Eisenhower had their hearts and minds.
General Omar Bradley quipped “In war, there are no runner ups”.
Noted French manager Napoleon, who was known to love the spotlight playoff action, opined that “Glory may be fleeting, but obscurity is forever”

And that brings us to where we are now: Your Fighting Diplomats are invading the Blue Jays down in Baltimore.

Last year I wrote a story about my high school coach and how he focused on preparing players mentally. “My job is to get the players to play with unconscious confidence” he would say. His view was that practice helped the body “know what it had to do” and the mind just had to allow it to happen. “Trust your arm” he used to say. “It knows what to do.” He was also a white guy who could dance if that offers any further insight into him.



Just like Eisenhower had the hearts and mind committed to his goal so must our Fighting Diplomats. This journey actually began last year in this same tournament, on the very same field we are invading Friday. After the loss last year, despondent players committed themselves to get better. Hours of weight lifting were endured. They worked for hours hitting, throwing, running, and playing when tired or hurt. A huge effort to perform at one’s best was undertaken by these fine young men going in Homewood Park. New Coach Adam Taylor worked right alongside the players and helped them build a belief in themselves. Taylor has reinforced the player’s belief that they can perform as we witness the many fine moments during this journey, in the field, on the mound at the plate and on the base paths.

My high school coach would tell players “you have it in you …now just let it happen. Today is the day all that work is going to play off –you are entitled to play well- you have earned the right to expect it --today will be your best day against our toughest opponent. I expect everyone to play their best game this season- I know you have it in you”. This is also how Taylor has approached this battle. The Diplomats have a chance to face the bully in the bully’s backyard. Now is the time to show tenacity and determination. Not everyone has a chance to face up to a demon and conquer it –we at Diplomat nation welcome the opportunity. And players love playing in a game like this –each pitch seemingly has an impact on the outcome of the game and each play is a chance to direct the outcome in your favor -what a great game to experience!
Our coach is a man who is coaching the hearts and minds along with the arms and legs.
Coach Taylor has gotten his players to believe. He has their hearts and minds and the players will be ready to invade Hopkins and play their best. And now we approach the game. I think our guys have it them to win. They surely have had many great moments and plays over the course of the journey of this season. Every player has found a way to contribute. When they take the field they know in their hearts and minds they are going to win and they will do it.

Several summers ago, my family I and took some vacation time at Normandy and we went to Omaha beach. The beach was very tranquil with sea gulls flying overhead, a child with a kite ran along shore and the waves were gently lapping at the shore. We have all seen movies about the attack at Omaha Beach most notably the opening scene from "Saving Private Ryan”. But try as you might, when you are there it is so peaceful it is hard to imagine the carnage that took place there at dawn on June 6, 1994. But as your eyes gaze up the hill you still can see bunkers and reinforced concrete shelters where soldiers protected themselves while firing on the invaders. Then when you reach the summit over the hill are the graveyards where thousands of crosses adorn the graves of those brave soldiers who gave their life that day. It is a very solemn place. And you see the inscriptions of these soldiers most of whom were 18, or 19, or 20 and you realize you are indeed on sacred ground. Then you silently thank them for their sacrifice that has contributed to our nations safety and well being And you ponder today that our young men will have the privilege of playing a game tomorrow that they can put in all the hearts and minds and bodies can give—but without the risk of a violent death. Yes we are blessed to be part of this country with men who gave their lives for us.
Now ----Let's play ball!



-Your faithful correspondent