The Musings of an Urban Christian

  Last week, the playoff run of the Philadelphia Phillies, picked by many experts to win it all, came to a painful and abrupt ending. In a tense pitchers’ duel, Orion Kerkering bobbled a grounder and threw wildly to home, allowing the winning run to score. Kerkering immediately bent over with the physical pain of having blundered away a routine play and with it his team’s chance of surviving and advancing. To their credit, his coach and teammates immediately rallied to him, offering encouragement and letting anyone willing to hear them that they lost as a team and not as a result of one play (an admirable level of genuine sportsmanship which we will come back to in a minute).   Baseball can be cruel. Fourteen Octobers ago, Phillies slugger Ryan Howard not only made the last out in the game that eliminated his team from the playoffs but tore his Achilles in the process. Thirty-two Octobers ago, Phillies closer Mitch Williams came in to protect a lead to force a World Series G...