Starscreams | The Beauty in Broken Things (58.05)

[mragland]

Starscreams: A Valencia Stars Baseball Blog

The Beauty in Broken Things

09/28/2058
Brianna Robles, Starscreams contributor


Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by fusing together the pieces with urushi, a lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. It is also a way of looking at the world, treating fractures and repair as part of the history of an object, something to be embraced rather than hidden away. Kintsugi is itself related to the larger philosophy of wabi-sabi, a world view concerned with the acceptance of imperfection.

Few teams in recent memory have been battered quite so much as the Valencia Stars. It's players have seen more than their fair share of injury and recent repair work in the past two seasons. Tim Bartlett, abdominal strain, broken kneecap. Habib bin Ameen, intercostal strain, bruised shin, knee tendinitis. Qadir bin Gamal, sprained elbow, ruptured tendon in ring finger of right hand. Jonathan Bryant, shoulder inflammation (2 months). Hotha Buyoya, torn elbow ligament. Chung Chan, torn elbow flexor tendon. Tyler Conklin, back spasms, concussion, back spasms again, and strained back. Juan García, elbow strain. Koray Kapkin, bruised wrist, broken elbow, strained rib cage muscle. Mark Kimball, ruptured Achilles tendon, and most recently, broken elbow. Kevin Lambert, sprained wrist. Dana Pualani, torn elbow flexor tendon. Martin Román, torn labrum. Rubén Vázquez, shoulder inflammation (11 months).

Tonight, first year manager Markus O'Byrne will be handing the ball to first year starter Juan García, who has had the sort of up and down season you'd expect from a back of the rotation arm, but he has had a good run of form lately, collecting wins in two of his last three starts, giving up just five earned runs in 23 2/3 innings pitched, for a 1.90 ERA. The Stars would appreciate it if he could give them seven innings in this game, with both closer Román and set up man Siua Hooheno seeing heavy use in the Vancouver series, and likely not available for this match-up.

The Valencia lineup, which has been notable this season mostly for its inability to make contact, will be without their most productive hitter, Kimball. Filling that void has been designated hitter and September call-up Bailey Sang. The twenty-one year old roookie has slashed .309/.356/.471 against right-handed pitching so far, and will be batting cleanup. Will he be the urushi that holds this lineup together? Sang will be hitting behind veteran and team captain Kenny Blackwell, who has had, at the age of thirty-four, quietly enjoyed the most productive season of his career (5.2 WAR). Hitting behind Sang is first baseman Sloan Davidson, who has slashed a Dunn-like .202/.312/.504, and who has belted 40 runs this season while hitting well below the Mendoza line.

At 80-82, the 2058 Valencia Stars are nowhere near anyone's notion of perfection, but the have their moments, such as bin Ameen's play in center field, where he looks to collect his third gold glove. Today Valencia will play fellow flawed club Omaha in a wild card tiebreaker. It's true that neither team is likely to be relevant in the postseason, they appear to be playing for the privilege of getting their brains beat in by Twin Cities, after all. While national pundits have heaped scorn on the idea of a playoff team with a losing record, perhaps we would all be happier if we tried to appreciate these teams who are still competing in spite of their imperfections, and maybe even celebrate them for it.

[BaseClogger]

Hopefully playing for the privilege to play the San Fernando Bears

[Jwalk100]

You've had a rough time of it for a while now. A long playoff run would be epic!

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[Dington]

I’ll be rooting for ya. Injuries have derailed your chances enough over the years.