Why I love baseball

Joe Posnanski put it best when he said, "I never argue with people who say baseball is boring because, well, baseball is boring, But then, suddenly, it isn’t. And that’s why it’s so great."

Watching Louisville's Chris Dominguez hit three home runs in Hyannis' 6-4 victory over Falmouth last night, I understood what he meant. Dominguez had gone deep in the first and sixth innings (two absolute blasts) so when he stepped to the plate with one on in the bottom of the eighth, you could almost hear the crowd wondering, "Can he hit another one?"

Nah, it's impossible, they conclude. And then, in an instant, Dominguez turns on a first-pitch fastball. It doesn't look like he got all of it, but the wind is carrying out to left, and wait a minute...that ball has a chance! Fans jump out of their seats and teammates lean against the dugout railing to get a better look...and it's gone!

The crowd erupts and the players pile onto the field to congratulate Dominguez, who is practically sprinting around the bases. Even he can't believe it. In fact, on the way back to the dugout, he checks his bat to see if it was broken. It wasn't.

And that's why we love baseball. For those moments, those rare occasions when you turn your brother next to you and say, "Holy s****, did that really just happen?"

The buzz around the ballpark remained the rest of the night. After the game, families were still talking about it and probably had the same conversation again on the ride home and over next morning's breakfast.

I call it a "Remember when" game because 20 years from now, I'll be able to turn to my brother and say, "Remember when we saw Chris Dominguez hit three home runs in Hyannis?"

And he'll respond, "Man, that was crazy. I can't believe that last one got out."

And then we'll talk so fondly about that day, the way parents like to brag about their kids. By then, the rest of the game will be a blur. We'll have forgotten the score, the opposing team, probably even the year.

But, none of that matters because we'll always remember that moment when baseball was no longer boring.

UPDATE: You can check out my feature story on Dominguez for codball.com here.

Also, it's worth mentioning that Vanderbilt's Russell Brewer picked up his league-best 10th save in the Mets' victory. Brewer entered the game with the based loaded and nobody out in the top of the eighth and escaped without surrendering a run after getting the first hitter to line into a double-play and inducing the next batter to ground out.

"He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever coached," Mets coach Rick Robinson said to Brewer's father after the game. "And I told Coach Corbin that the other day too. In my 20 years of coaching, he’s right there with the best of those guys. You’ve got a lot to be proud of."

It's great to see the Dores not only having success, but representing themselves in typical Vanderbilt fashion.