But here you are in the ninth

Two men out and three men on

Nowhere to look but inside

Where we all respond to

Pressure

–Billy Joel, legendary singer/songwriter who has referenced baseball in at least three of his songs (“Zanzibar,” “Pressure,” “We Didn’t Start the Fire”) but I didn’t take the time to count; my apologies

⚾️⚾️⚾️

You can call it “America’s Pastime,” even though it’s played all over the world and professional rosters in the U.S. are filled with international talent. You can think of most games as a giant snoozefest; the new MLB “pitch clock” certainly wasn’t instilled because the action moves too quickly. You can get season tickets for a mediocre team because you love the park atmosphere, or you can make a certain team’s cap part of your daily wardrobe even if you’ve never watched an inning’s worth of play. 

But whether you love baseball, loathe it, or couldn’t care less about it– chances are you’ve heard and/or used a baseball term in everyday language… (In English-dominant countries, that is. I'd love to hear about it if it’s the same in other languages!)

• They’re bringing in the heavy hitters.

• Nice! You hit that presentation out of the park!

• Right off the bat, she made a great impression. 

• Well, that comment was totally out of left field.

• I’ll take on that task; it’s within my wheelhouse of skills.

• What a curveball! I did not expect the day to end like that. 

(Fun fact: I was planning to title this post The “Blessed” Curveball because of the surprising turn of events in the final St. Bons scenes, but realized upon repeat viewing that the keyword was KNUCKLEball. And of course, I’ll get back to all that in a bit.)

Fans of TGD in general (and #Shea in particular) are well-versed in the show’s use of baseball references. It was, after all, a prized baseball that Lea gave Shaun to “borrow” when she returned to Hershey in S1 and it has been on display in their loft apartment as the seasons roll by. Also, Morgan and Claire accompanied their young about-to-lose-his-vision patient to a ball game in S3’s “SFAD” episode. And Glassman’s specific love of the game showed when he escaped to Paradise, MT for a spell in S5 and Lea caught up with him as he played in the outfield. What’s more, once Glassman had returned to San Jose (and Salen had departed), he and Andrews got a St. Bons baseball team together (much too briefly) in an effort to build camaraderie.

So here we are, late in S6 (and now with a S7 to look forward to for sure!), and I went into this week’s post feeling like I should turn the whole thing into a massive baseball metaphor. I mean we have a pitcher POTW, talk of pitching speeds, Jared bringing up a ball-related volunteer opportunity to Perez, Lea making a little crack about Glassman’s taste in teams (“Well, he IS an A’s fan,” she snarks when Shaun mentions Glassy’s high intelligence)... and in perhaps the most poignant scene of the episode, Glassman semi-sarcastically asks Shaun “What’s the score?” regarding the executive functionality of his brain. 

All those references came before Shaun’s sad “knuckleball” epiphany.

But I have to be honest– despite my family ties to the sport (or perhaps because of them!), I don’t watch or follow baseball enough to have a sound understanding of its terminology and nuances. So rather than embarrass myself and get all my baseball aficionados out there correcting me in the comments, I’m keeping the references VERY light. For those of you who prefer basketball or soccer… you’re welcome!

Let’s see how “Blessed” broke down… 

Everything else aside, I have to say how relieved I was when Shaun pinpointed Glassman’s issue as a mini-stroke rather than a form of dementia. Watching it progress in S7, and wondering how far we’d see it progress… it can make for compelling television, as NBC’s This Is Us illustrated so beautifully last year. But that series was almost exclusively about a family dynamic. TGD is not This is Us.

What it is, of course, is a medical drama with characters and relationships that are essential– but the emphasis remains on the “medical drama” part. To have Glassman in this situation– the “best brain doctor in town” staring down what must feel to him an immeasurably cruel twist of fate– is a far better choice for this show. Painful to watch at times, yes. But far better. (And when has “painful to watch” stopped any of us??)

In Andrews’ endearing POTW Eddie– the first TGD patient we “lost” in quite a while*-- we got a man with a very rare condition (epidermodysplasia verruciformis) and what some might call an even more uncommon outlook on life.

Incidentally, the way Asher downshifts at the very end of the scene and says “MMM… this is done; can you grab the salad?” reminded me of the mom who is in the middle of shredding her 3 kids for feeding the dog laxatives…

MOM: What… do… you… MEAN he begged you to feed him the whole bottle? He wouldn’t have asked for ONE, let alone the whole–

(PHONE RINGS)

MOM (AS SHE TAKES PHONE OUT OF POCKET): Honest to God I DO NOT KNOW who raised the three of you to act like this!!!!!! 

(PUSHES BUTTON, HOLDS PHONE TO EAR, GETS ALL SING-SONGY): Helllooooooo?

I’m keeping Perez (who I’ll probably call “Danny” next season; just staying w/Perez now for consistency’s sake) and Jordan in the minors for now because this is most definitely a twosome that does not seem Ready For Prime Time. (OK, they obviously are in Prime Time; it’s an old Saturday Night Live reference I’m making… ah, never mind.) 

Recovering addict Perez mentions in this episode “wanting to stay clean for a year” before getting romantically involved with anyone, and as far as I can recall that’s the first time he’s set a time limit on his dating sabbatical. Meanwhile, he walks back dating advice he gave to Jordan, now delivering the uber-confusing “You’re everything” compliment instead. 

(I’m calling it a compliment, even though it felt heartfelt and achingly useless all at the same time.) 

I’m only making the “whiffleball” reference because this was the easiest story of the episode (and Lord knows we needed an easy one): Morgan got overly attached to Eden in the previous episode, and just when it looked as if the young lass with Turner Syndrome had scored herself a pair of foster parents… they balked at the added responsibility, and backed out of the deal. With the clock presumably ticking on how long public assistance would pay for Eden’s hospital digs, Morgan rose to the occasion and took her home (surely with hopes to legally adopt the baby girl somewhere down the road). 

Park didn’t have much going on this episode, which gave him plenty of time to check on Morgan and Eden’s situation… and soften his heart a little more each time he did so. It’s been a while since TGD tossed a rope to long-suffering #Parnick fans, and for everyone hoping they’d be back together before season’s end, congratulations (the odds seem better than ever now).

Will #Parnick be #Parnick again by May 1st…?

Will Glassman be speaking to Shaun at that point? Or anyone…???

Will Lea’s water break while burping up a storm in the St. Bons cafeteria????

Stay tuned!!!

(And please hit up the comments with your thoughts in the meantime)