Follow the Friars
It Ain't Over 'til It's Over
On October 9, we watched the Padres get trounced 8-0 from a little house in Escondido. To be honest, after the running-and-gunning of the past nine days, I was glad my commute home was no further than a walk from the living room to the bedroom. I imagine even the Gaslamp put its lights out a little earlier than usual that night.
While these dispatches have focused solely on the great and amusing, we’ve been burning the candle at both ends. Amidst all the driving and game-attending, we’ve both been working — to say nothing of my striving to get you dear readers a little something every few days! So, two days of body-imposed house-arrest were not so much pleasant as mandatory.
Despite that, Debbie and I had gone back and forth over trying to get tickets for the, as we imagined it, series clincher. However, as dawn arrived on October 9th, it was clear we were both wiped out. Tickets were getable — if pricey — but while the spirit was willing the flesh was plum tuckered out. The Padres looked a little worse for wear by day’s end, too.
But, a few thoughts before tonight’s game. Before the final big push over the top, boys.Â
For her part, Debbie has been the most fierce defender of Dylan Cease. He’s her guy. So, watching him get rocked by the Dodgers during Game #1 and Game #4 was rough, in large part because his getting thumped really didn’t cause us to lose: the bullpen slumped and the bats were cold. You can imagine how she felt reading the headline CEASE AND DISASTER in the October 10th edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Twitter was no more kind to him.Â
It’s easy to forget, or to ignore entirely, that Cease was a stud all season. He made 33 starts this year, more than any other pitcher in MLB. He threw the third-most pitches out of all pitchers and finished tenth in innings pitched. He achieved his first-ever — and only the franchises second — no-hitter on July 25. He then started on only three days rest. He’s been a dawg, a real mensch. I hope we win tonight so that Cease gets another crack at a start, just to show the nay-sayers how well he can shove.
Yesterday also saw the birth of a new thing for the Friar Faithful to rally-around, to inspire and reinvigorate hopes: the Rally Mantis. During yesterday’s team practice in Dodger Stadium, Luis Arraez found a praying mantis on the ballfield. He carried it around, showed it off to teammates, and gave it a little place to stay in the clubhouse. The Faithful online have since made drawings and photoshopped little Padres hats onto the mantis. I suspect t-shirts will be rolled out any minute.
Some cultures consider the mantis sacred, and a portent of good fortune. The Greeks saw the mantis as an entity that could show lost travelers the way home, and maybe it can show the San Diego Padres the way to a home series against the New York Mets in the NLCS. I think we would all be okay with that.
But, this new creature for Padres fans to hold up — like a mandible-waving Simba at Pride Rock — is part of a long line of sacred animals in Padres lore. It is a mantis now, but before it was a light-green stagmomantis californica it was a rally cockroach (thanks to local talk-show legends Ben and Woods), the Rally Goose from the 2022 playoffs and, earlier in the same season, a black panther statue named Feisty Tom. We Padre fans really like our animals.Â
And who can forget, of course, the San Diego Chicken.Â
Tonight’s watch party will feature three Padres fans — myself, Debbie, and our lovely host Mary Jo. We aren’t chickens, or panthers, or geese, or cockroaches, or praying mantis’. But, we are fans, and we’ll be fully-kitted out (hats, jerseys, and all) to watch the Padres do what we all know they can do: win on the road in clutch situations.Â
If I’ve learned anything on the road these past eleven days it’s that you never know what might happen, where new friends might be lurking, what new experiences lie in wait. For us, like the Padres, all it takes to get by is a little help from your friends.
Follow the Friars