I know there are those who will accuse me of exaggeration when I say this, but, until baseball appeared, humans were a sad and benighted lot, lost in the labyrinth of matter, dimly and achingly aware of something incandescently beautiful and unattainable, something infinitely desirable shining up above in the empyrean of the ideas; but, throughout most of the history of the race, no culture was able to produce more than a shadowy sketch of whatever glorious mystery prompted those nameless longings.

The coarsest and most common of these sketches—which has gone through numerous variations down the centuries without conspicuous improvement—is what I think of as “the oblong game,” a contest played out on a rectangle between two sides, each attempting to penetrate the other’s territory to deposit some small object in the other’s goal or end zone. All the sports built on this paradigm require considerable athletic prowess, admittedly, and each has its special tactics, of a limited and martial kind; but all of them are no more than crude, faltering lurches toward the archetype; entertaining, perhaps, but appealing more to the beast within us than to the angel.

And The Big Picture shows some recent work of Mother Nature.

In the past several months, powerful storms have wreaked havoc in many places, torrential rains in central Europe and parts of China, tornadoes in Australia, Montana and the American Midwest, and strong thunderstorms across the northeast. Now, as Tropical Storm Bonnie makes landfall in Florida and heads into the Gulf of Mexico, oil cleanup is being suspended, and the final “kill” operation is delayed for at least one more week. These storms have been destructive and deadly, but beautiful and awe-inspiring at the same time. Collected here are a handful of photographs of stormy skies, lightning strikes and storm damage from the past several months. (37 photos total)

That’s what’s in a name in Major League Baseball. Z.

There are 1,200 ballplayers on major league rosters (40 per team — 25 are active at any given time). The most common surnames are Rodriguez and Hernandez with 15 each. There are 14 named Gonzalez and another 14 named Ramirez. 12 are named Perez, 11 Sanchez, 9 Lopez, 7 Martinez, and 5 each Chavez and Valdez. (That 107 out of 1200.)

There are 14 Johnsons, and 9 each Jones and Anderson. Currently there are just 8 Smiths, but it is the most common name in baseball history.

Some factoids.

Just 11 Spanish surnames account for one-quarter of all the people in the Western Hemisphere.

Approximately one-third of all major leaguers are from the Dominican Republic or Venezuela.

I can remember when Latino ballplayers first made it to the big leagues and announcers pronounced Martinez as Martin-ez.

Edward Abbey

No opponent had gone the cycle in Fenway in 32 years.

I had this game on TV for a few minutes and the Boston announcers were talking about Molina and whether he’d get the cycle. The triple, the hardest, came his next time up. I missed it. Damn.

But say Karen, wasn’t Molina a Giant a few weeks ago?

UPDATE: Molina is only the eighth player since 1900 to hit for the cycle with a grand slam.

He’d had just six triples in 4,998 at bats.

As Robert Mays wrote, “Molina rounded second and made his way for third at the one speed he has.”

He’s a catcher for Pete’s sake, notoriously slow.

I can’t believe I was watching that game and didn’t wait for his next at bat. (The triple was in the eighth inning; the grand slam in the sixth.)

I think this also is a good illustration of sports ultimately as part of culture more than a game. A soccer aficionado might think it fun to see Molina lumbering into third, but only the baseball fan could appreciate how rare the cycle is, how unusual for a catcher to triple, etc. And I don’t mean that makes baseball better than soccer. The same could be true in reverse for the baseball fan watching soccer. I just think it explains why soccer just does not catch on in the U.S. to any long-lasting extent. We have enough sports traditions.

Joe Posnanski: A Soccer Story (I linked to this already, yesterday.)

Hendrik Hertzberg: Out to the Ball Game

Just something different to do for a few evenings; see the teams, hear the different broadcasters.

No guarantees for your cable/satellite system or if I’m right that it’s for a week. But that’s my understanding.

I’m watching on DirecTV. Fun to see the New England ads. They love their Dunkin’ Donuts.

(I’m feeling yucky — not up to a movie or a book.)

BTW GQ lists The Best (and Worst) from MLB’s Broadcast Booths. Top 5 and Bottom 5 from the TV side.

And why do they need all those players (each team had 34)?

Bud Selig says he will retire as baseball commissioner for sure in 2012. There’s already been a couple of Brett Favreian reversals, so no one takes him seriously, but he says he means it this time. He’ll retire for certain unless baseball has some sort of emergency.

If there’s an emergency wouldn’t it likely be his doing in the first place?

Steven Strasburg

You think there’s a batter in the National League that won’t have some doubt the next time he faces that 100 mph Strasburg fastball?

Tim McCarver quoted by Joe Posnanski

It was 7-7 in the bottom of the 9th when the Cardinals brought in Evan MacLane to pitch. It was MacLane’s major league debut (after 8 seasons in the minors).

I was torn. I wanted the Rockies to win, but — ahh! — it’s MacLane’s first appearance in the big leagues. His mom may be watching.

I hope not. Chris Iannetta hit MacLane’s sixth major league pitch 416 feet into the left field seats for a walk-off Rockies victory.

Take that, Karen.

In the barnstorming days, he pitched perhaps 2,500 games, completed 55 no-hitters and performed before crowds estimated at 10 million persons in the United States, the Caribbean and Central America. He once started 29 games in one month in Bismarck, N.D., and he said later that he won 104 of the 105 games he pitched in 1934.

By the time Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 as the first black player in the majors, Mr. Paige was past 40. But Bill Veeck, the impresario of the Cleveland club, signed him to a contract the following summer, and he promptly drew crowds of 72,000 in his first game and 78,000 in his third game. (The New York Times)

Paige first published his Rules for Staying Young in 1953. This version is from his autobiography published in 1962, Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever.

1. Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood.
2. If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.
3. Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.
4. Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society — the social ramble ain’t restful.
5. Avoid running at all times.
6. And don’t look back — something might be gaining on you.

The view from the $50 seats. Attendance was 49,271.

Sofie took time out during the game for a little dental work. It’s the lower tooth that came out during the game. The upper missing front tooth is old news.

No rain at the ballpark but we got these beautiful double rainbows.

The crowd from the left and center field seats was moved to the grass to watch the fireworks — one of the most awesome displays I’ve ever seen. They were set off right outside the ballpark — the smoke and debris actually floating down on us. Fireworks are very, very, very, very loud when you are within 50-60 yards of them. And the finale wouldn’t end. There must have been hundreds of rockets in that last blast.

A great night. All photos taken with an iPhone. Sofie photo taken by Veronica. Click on the images for larger versions.