Gregory Polanco arrived in Pittsburgh aboard a flight from Philadelphia at 11:11 a.m. Tuesday and walked into his 3 p.m. news conference exactly one minute early and still not a moment too soon.
Such was the habitual clock-watcher's history of June 10, on which the Pirates awoke 7½ games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the theoretically competitive National League Central Division.
Can the pennant race start now?
Or as one of my favorite tweeters put it so perfectly, Apolancolypse Now!
Meaning now that the best player in the International League, the winter leagues, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the 5-tool commissioner in a league of his own has been allowed to put on a big-league uniform?
"It was emotional; I was like a child -- I didn't know what to do," Polanco said about getting the news that he would finally join the Pirates. "I was like, 'Oh my God it's happening.' "
So he called his mom.
That seemed right.
He wondered not whether it was too late to help Clint Hurdle's team, which turned in an indecorous performance for Polanco's debut, losing deservedly to the Chicago Cubs, the worst team in the division. He wondered only what it would be like to play alongside NL MVP Andrew McCutchen and to play right field in Pittsburgh, the iconic baseball address of Roberto Clemente.
"It just felt great to walk in here, been waiting all my life," Polanco said. "I just say thank God for everything. It's gonna be special. I feel proud to play where somebody like Clemente played. I'll be so happy about that.
No comments:
Post a Comment