Kenley Jansen

In spite of being a San Franciscan, and so by rights a Giants fan, I am not. I don’t know sports generally, and I am only by accident a student of baseball. John is a lifelong Dodger fan, and so their games are frequently playing on the TV at home.

The game moves slowly, except when it moves at lightning speed. It’s easy for a novice watcher to miss an important moment. Thankfully there’s instant replay.

The distances between the players on the field, the time required to play a single game, and the telephoto lens allow the spectator to imagine an understanding of the individual players, while the game is happening. 

I have started to recognize in certain batters and pitchers a series of moves or gestures that enact individual rituals or superstitions. Justin Turner always arches his back before settling into batting position. Somehow he always has a diagonal smudge of tar marking his back. Chris Taylor always sweeps the ground next to the plate with his right foot. Will Smith always begins, like an artist measuring a vertical, with his bat held at arm’s length in his left hand.

I like this painting of closing pitcher Kenley Jansen, painted after the 2021 season and just a short time before we found out he was traded to the Atlanta Braves. His ritual on the mound included this very intense gaze toward home plate. From early in the season, John had supplied the narrative: Kenley was becoming unreliable. Now it seemed that any 9th inning in which Kenley Jansen appeared was fraught with tension.

In spite of the ridiculous amount of money that touches every aspect of this entertainment, I feel sympathy for Kenley Jansen, placed in the center of a vast field of play, under glaring lights, trying to focus on this moment while the attention of four tiers of spectators in the park, not to mention the television audience, is bearing down on this same moment.