This is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Baseball is creeping back. Thank you Dodgers and Padres.
Locally, the Red Sox have taken steps in the right direction enthusiasm and gumption that we hadn't seen in way too long. But the big leap forward has been transpiring somewhat after bedtime in these parts.
Saturday night put a spotlight on this dynamic.
Here's what you should know ...
- The Padres and Dodgers have developed the kind of rivalry baseball marketing departments have unsuccessfully attempted to artificially manufacture over recent years. This is all the reals. They have played each other six times now, with each team coming away with the same amount of wins and same amount of opportunities for some chest-thumping.
- Fernando Tatis Jr. followed up his two-home run night from Friday with two more. But this time it was all about the trot. One of the most dynamic players in the game celebrated his homer off Trevor Bauer in the manner many have been begging for. Mocking Bauer by covering one eye. Skipping before bases. And, finally, executing a full-on Conor McGregor strut upon arriving at home plate.
Fun ... Gasp!
- And, to top it all off, there was Bauer's reaction.
The pitcher gives a verbal tip of the chapeau after being the victim instead of the purveyor of the fun.
All in all, these two teams get it. Baseball thanks them.
"It's just fun," Tatis told the media after the Dodgers' win. "When you know you're facing a guy like that -- he's doing his stuff, he's having fun on the mound, and when you get him you get him, and you celebrate, too. He's a hard guy to deal with."