Astrals 5
Subcontinentals 1
contributed by NeilT
People ask me, what is Cleveland like? Cleveland, land of mystery, exotic, extravagant, elegant, eclectic, it is the city of a million faces and experiences. Cleveland! And of course there are the Subcontinentals, the baseball avatars of our City, with the stylized picture of the Father of our City, Gandhi, on their caps.
It is also a City of great spirituality, a home to all the major religions of the world, a place where individual and community harmony with the great mysteries is intrinsic. It is of this harmony, Ṛta, of which I would speak to my Houston sishya, for it is with this that any understanding of Cleveland must begin.
In the Vedic tradition, Ṛta is the proper functioning of cosmic order. It is a universal principal separate from any of the gods, though it is linked with the omniscient sky, the god Varuna. From the first this was a game of order and balance, with our very holy sadhu Carrasco walking Altuve in the first and Carter in the sixth, giving up a single to Marisnick in the third, and a Home Run to Gonzalez in the fifth.
But it is order from which harmony is derived, and it is the actions which conform to the proper cosmic order, dharma, from which holy baseball as the manifestation of cosmic harmony proceeds. Peacock allowed no base runners until the fifth, when the dharma of the Cleveland Brahmin Zach Walters provided a balancing home run.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Houston pitcher Peacock was removed for discomfort in the right forearm and replaced by Chapman, for whom much agarbathi was offered by the Houston fans. But Chapman showed good karma and allowed only one base runner on an Altuve error.
Again, Ṛta was restored in the seventh when the holy sadhu Carrasco was replaced by the sadhu Hagadone, and three up three downness was achieved.
Chapman was removed after the first out in the seventh, and was replaced by Fields. Again, the Houston fans in the stadium offered much agarbathi. The smell of rich incense filled the stadium like the air in Pasadena. Fields gave up a single with two Ks.
In the eighth, the sadhu Shaw replaced Hagadone, and again three up three downness was achieved. But it is the nature of all that there is a duality of order and chaos, and with two runners and no outs, both Subcontinental runners were caught stealing.
Chaos continued in the top of the ninth, though the Cleveland fans were chanting prayers for restoration of order. With the sadhu Cody Allen pitching, Carter walked and reached third with one out on a Santana throwing error. With Petit pinch running for Carter, Petit scored on a Perez throwing error. With Fowler at second, Castro walked. Fowler was out at home on a Castro ground ball. Was there some action in our Subcontinental’s past for which they must suffer? Of course, two caught stealings and two throwing errors. For the restoration of order Ṛta required a three run home run by Singleton. Namaste.
Qualls closed out the ninth. There are photographs of the holy Subcontinental pitchers here: http://www.joeyl.com/2012/05/1617/