Pleasant Pastime Posting: Home Opener, pep talks...minor, major concessions. 

Double takes, natural pairings: It's almost as if they were meant to be together...that you can't have one without the other...Such as balls and bats...ball in glove -- the former if you are content to just what pre-gamers call "shag balls", the latter if you want to just go out and have, as the son said invited his dad in "Field of Dreams" (gets me every time😂)..."you want to have a catch?". And then there's the player duets, as in pitchers and catchers -- who are frequently the first to report to what's still called Spring Training and who, if they are pressed, will state their preference, partly due to their ability to effectively 'communicate' (which includes all kinds of interesting signs the catcher does and if the pitcher does not appreciate will occasionally 'wave off'...sometimes via a disapproving head nod, and others a mere shrug of the shoulders...kinda how effective couples effectively communicate after getting to know each other (?). And throughout bball history, the debate continues to be who made up the best double play combo...around here it was known as Tramell/Whitaker("Lou!") or Whitaker/Trammell...either way it was a bye bye directional -- as in automatic two outs!! And, as for us fans, there's the time-tested combo of dogs and suds, peanuts and cracker jacks which, depending on the respective amounts, could see you either before (if you are an effective pre-gamer) or after, reaching for the newest and strongest form of Pep-cid...(and you thought pep talks were only for the locker room)...

Abbott and Costello: Who deserve a separate heading, as in "hall of famers"...who year-after-year, never fail to have us "hooting and hollering" -- even prior to the umps first bad call, and the ceremonial first pitch, which rarely makes it...to home plate and rumor has it, the real reason that many professional catchers have bad knees, having to lurch, dive, and otherwise make it look like the "best ever!" -- end up with the worst knees on the field. As in turns out, based on my "ump-teenth" of hearing this skit that "Who really was, on first", as it turns out...at least so it appears from where I reside, as what's still occasionally referred to as a "bleacher bums"...The full meaning of which can be worked out at what's referred to by post-gamers as your favorite "watering hole"😆

All warmed up, just in time for the Home Opener, thanks to me, eh? Now all we need is a slightly more favorable meteorological prognostication, other than "wind and rain" which are yet another dynamic duo that seem to surface this time of year, just following the grounds crew removing the tarp..."Field of Dreams" indeed - "Play Ball!"