Hell Bent

[cincinnatus_c]

That absurd two-strike, two-out, bases-empty bunt attempt by Kyle Schwarber reminds me of a Doctor Who post I started writing years ago. It was about two moments in the Capaldi era: one, from what's one of my two favourite episodes of any TV show ever (the other being "Streetcar Named Marge"--there ought to be a Homicide episode up there too you'd think, and at one time I guess the Juliana Margulies episode might've been up there, but it's been too long and I guess Homicide was really more atmospheric than episodic anyway), "Heaven Sent", the confession dial episode, when an apparition of Clara asks, in chalk on a blackboard, "How are you going to WIN??"; the other, from the episode where the Doctor has to decide whether or not to help the young Davros escape a handmine field--which is a fantastic set-up obviously, because if he lets Davros die, the Daleks will never have existed, except that Davros is almost certain to die with or without his help, which is exactly the point: the Doctor tells him he has one chance in a thousand, and he needs to focus on the one. You're down by a touchdown and you're out of downs with twenty seconds to play; you've got to try the onside kick [ETA Nov. 15: uhh, obviously it has been a while since my brain has been in any football space but at least sober I can still realize that this scenario as stated makes no sense--it's not you're out of downs, it's you just scored and have to kick it off now, anyway], and only think about what to do when you recover the ball. You can, you should, go into the play with total confidence: you are going to recover the ball and then put it in the endzone because no other alternative is thinkable. But of course Schwarber didn't need to bunt, trying to bunt there was ludicrous, almost literally insane, magical thinking, the impulse of an artist, not a tactician. If Kyle Schwarber can bunt for a hit then anything is possible.

On to coffee with pumpkin spice whisky... gonna need a second wind (!) here.