BUILDING YEAR

By Terry Downes

Five of six they lost last week
Just two in ten they won in streak
The wins come hard, the cost is dear:
Baseball’s tough in a building year.

The outfield we last season knew
All have bid the game adieu;
The rookies who now take their place
Still struggle learning pops to chase.

The shortstop fumbles for the ball
The man at first can’t catch at all
The second baseman scans the skies
While glove at third drops easy flies.

On the mound a veteran hopes
To put the hitters on the ropes
Knowing that his infield crew
Is quite uncertain what to do.

When at bat they swing from heel
To try to get a better feel
Of what it’s like to be onboard
A team that many runs has scored.

But often, when they open eyes
To see if they approach the prize
Empty bags so mock their hope
And make it hard for them to cope.

For coaches, pitchers, fielders too
The mood slow slips to dreary blue,
For in their hearts they feel it clear:
Baseball’s tough in a building year.

****

Terry Downes is an attorney and retired District Court Clerk/Magistrate who went on to found and direct the MCC Program on Homeland Security, and long served as an adjunct professor at Suffolk Univ. Law School and UMASS-Lowell. He lives in Lowell with his wife Atty. Annie O’Connor.

This is the second in a series of nine poems about baseball (nine, like in nine innings of a game, or nine players on the field, etc.) which will appear on the first Friday of each month through the baseball season. Here are the previously posted poems in this series:

March – Spring Training

April – Opening Day

May – Early Season

June – Postponed!

July – In the Minors

August – Pitchers’ Duel