SAN DIEGO — “That’s baseball.”
Manager manager Bud Black said it Thursday night after the Rockies hammered the Padres, 7-2, in the season-opener.
Referring to Elehuris Montero’s inconsequential doink single to right field to lead off the ninth inning, Black said, “In the box score, another hit is going to show up, but hey, that’s baseball.”
Black will likely utter “that’s baseball” another 161 times this season. I’ve had friends and family — casual baseball fans — ask me what the heck Black is talking about.
I’ve tried to explain that baseball is a quirky, lucky, maddening, heartbreaking, ironic, unpredictable, and endlessly fascinating game.