Baseball Playoffs Around Here Somewhere

I am proud to announce that I finally caught some Major League Baseball.

Not a whole game, mind you.

In fact, not much more than an inning.

And I ended up tuning in not because I was interested in watching a collection of steroid abusers and bawl babies attempting to earn their multi-million-dollar paychecks.

I actually checked it out to see what a record-setting 18-inning playoff game looked like.

I’m glad I did, because there was actually some drama and heroism to be found.

It was the final National League Divisional Series game between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves.

Back when I used to enjoy Major League Baseball, before cheaters like Bonds and Giambi and Palmeiro ruined it, the Braves were one of the teams I liked to follow.

But I also liked to watch Roger Clemens in his prime (which, judging from Sunday’s performance, was about 10 minutes ago).

So the 6-6 battle into the 17th inning was rather intriguing.

Clemens came on in relief for only the second time in his career, pitching three brilliant scoreless innings after the Astros emptied their bullpen.

But in the bottom of the 18th inning, the equivalent of two full games, Chris Burke came to the plate.

Burke, a 25-year-old player for the Astros who had just five home runs during the season, appeared to pose no threat to the logjam.

But a stroke later, the ball was beyond the left-field wall and the Astros were on their way to the National League Championship.

That was pretty heroic.

But the true heroism came after the game.

With Burke and Clemens leaping around the field in celebration, a TV sports reporter began chasing Clemens for an interview.

It was obvious she wanted face time with the big-name star instead of the unknown player who had just hit the game-winning homer.

When she finally caught up with Clemens, Burke started to walk away.

However, the seasoned veteran reached out and pulled Burke back into the camera frame.

A few seconds after the reporter’s first question, Clemens pulled Burke into the interview and turned it over to him, ensuring that the kid would get his deserved 15 seconds of fame.

It was a classy gesture from a guy who has been there so many times before, a guy who took a pay cut to be with a team he believed in and wanted to help.

And while Clemens has the reputation of being a bully and a bad sport, those charges always seem to emanate from his adversaries and not his teammates.

Tomorrow, baseball news will again be filled with cheaters and cheating suspects, superstars who are all about the gain instead of the game, and criminals posing as baseball players.

But for this one beautiful moment, it was about the honor and beauty of America’s misplaced pastime.