Three Beautiful Things 10/06/2021: Booster, Slow Building Baseball Tension, Copper vrs Gibbs

 1. Debbie and I piled into the Sube, steered it into the drive through line at the clinic uptown, rolled up our sleeves, and got a Covid booster shot.

2. Back home, after a shopping trip, I settled into the Vizio room and watched the tight wild card playoff game between the Dodgers and the Cardinals. Depending on how you experience baseball, it was baseball at its best or its worst. On the one hand, it was a slow game with numerous pitching changes, not a lot of hits or action on the bases, and few, if any memorable plays by either team on defense. On the other hand, one of the unique features of baseball is slow building tension. The Cardinals scratched out a run in the first inning. Tommy Edman banjoed a broken bat single to right, stole second, advanced to third on a foul ball caught down the right field line, and trotted home on a Max Scherzer wild pitch. Justin Turner homered in the bottom of the fourth to tie things up. From that point forward, Dodger and Cardinal rallies fizzled, pitchers had the upper hand, and the tension arising from not knowing who would win this tilt slowly built. 

In the bottom of the ninth inning, a "baseball is so awesome" moment occurred. Late game outfield replacement Chris Taylor, who came into this game having only something like 8 hits in his last 72 at bats, slammed a breaking ball that Alex Reyes hung over the plate out of the park, a game winning round tripper, and joyous mayhem exploded in Dodger Stadium on the field and in the stands. 

Now the Dodgers advance to meet the Giants in the best of five division playoff.

3. Gibbs checked out as healthy at the vet this morning. Copper still hasn't made his peace with having Gibbs in the house and won't come inside unless I carry him in. That never happened today. Copper stayed in hiding outside all day and through the night. I left wet food for him on the back porch which he ate some time during the night. I hope he'll relent and be more willing to come inside as the nights get colder. Will Copper ever accept our addition of Gibbs to our family? That's tough to say!