In Disney’s The Lion King, there is a scene where Mufasa sits with his young son Simba as they look over the kingdom that he rules.

He then gives his little lion cub the inspirational ‘circle of life’ speech.  You know, the one where the lions hunt, kill, and eat the antelope.  Then eventually, the lions die, decay away, become dirt, grass grows in the dirt, then the antelope eats the grass.  Typical father-son talk that you probably had with your dad.  Anyhow, I am sure the talk made Simba feel a little better the next time he and the family threw their next antelope-mauling buffet extravaganza.   I am guessing though, that Andy the Antelope didn’t quite have the same take on the circle of life with his own offspring.  I think he wouldn’t have minded trading seats with Mufasa at that round table!  Needless to say, life is pretty good when you are in the headliner spot at the top of the food chain.

Baseball has many different elements to it that contribute to success and defeat. Defensively, turning the double play, hitting the cut-off man, catchers blocking wild pitches, and throwing first-pitch strikes are just some of the key ingredients to triumph.  On offense, heads up aggressive base running, timely hitting, working the count, and hitting behind the runner are also nice items to have on the victory menu.  And of course, to quote Major League Baseball’s catch-phrase of the steroid-filled 1990’s

Home runs sell tickets, but one of baseball’s 1^st commandments almost always rings true:  “Great Pitching beats great hitting”.  I would amend that to ‘great pitching eliminates great hitting”.  The Dover High School baseball team found that out Friday in their 2-0 loss to Bloom-Carroll in the Division II regional finals.  To be completely accurate, the story of this game was ‘Great pitching loses out to greater pitching”.    B-C pitcher Corey Stanley limited the Tornadoes to 3 hits with excellent location and great change of speed.  Keaton Lahmers and Kyle Abel did their best to keep the Tornadoes in the game, holding B-C to just 7 hits.  But in a pitcher’s duel, every walk and error is amplified, and the Bloom-Carroll Bulldogs were errorless in the field while surrendering just one base on balls.

Facing great pitching is demoralizing, even for the best of offenses.  Exhibit 1A is one of the most beloved teams in Northeast Ohio history, the 1995 Cleveland Indians.  The Tribe went 100-44 in a strike-shortened season with one of the most impressive offensive line-ups in MLB history.  Here is the role call:

1^st           CF          Kenny Lofton         .310 batting avg, 7 HR, 54 stolen bases

2^nd         SS           Omar Vizquel         .266, 6 HR, 29 SB

3^rd         2B          Carlos Baerga         .314, 15 HR, 90 RBI

4^th          LF          Albert Belle           .317, 50 HR, 126 RBI

5^th         DH          Eddie Murray         .323, 21 HR, 81 RBI

6^th           3B           Jim Thome              .314, 25 HR, 73 RBI

7^th          RF          Manny Ramirez         .308, 31 HR, 107 RBI

8^th          1B         Paul Sorrento         .235, 25 HR, 79 RBI

9^th         C         Sandy Alomar         .300, 10 HR

WOW!  How would you like to pitch against that line-up?  If your factor out steroids and Belle’s career-ending hip injury, you have 5 current or likely Hall of Famers in the line-up (Murray, Vizquel, Thome, Ramirez, and Belle) and 3 other perennial all-atars in Lofton, Baerga, and Alomar.  No wonder they cruised to the World Series!

And then came GREAT PITCHING in the form of the Atlanta Braves and their Hall of Fame trio of Greg Maddox, Tom Glavine, and Jon Smoltz.  In game 1, Maddox got the win, holding the Tribe to 2 runs on 2 hits.  Glavine won game 2, where the Tribe ‘pounded’ out 3 runs on 6 hits.  Cleveland only scored 2 runs on 6 hits in a game 4 loss to Steve Avery.  The closing argument on the merits of great pitching would be the series-clinching game 6.  Glavine eliminated  the Wahoo offense, winning a 1-0 pitcher’s duel and surrendering just one hit!  There would always be next year for the vaunted Indian offense.  Well, maybe not.

So Tornadoes, I know that you are greatly disappointed in falling one step short of a trip to the state tournament.  But take heart in the fact that you went as far as any team in Dover High School’s long history.  Congratulations on an outstanding season that you will always remember.