The Naming: a Minor League Poem

Listening to some of the names in the baseball game Saturday night, it dawned on me that the purpose of the minor leagues may be different than I thought. Names would be announced over the intercom and I'd think that's not a major league name. So Son Rivers has been commissioned to write a three act poem about the subject. Act 1 follows:

Act One: Ripping the Covers Off

The game is in the middle seventh
and fans are stretching limbs akimbo
waiting for those end-game exploits
when middle relievers unfailingly turn
towards closers. These games are saved or lost
with heat in a diamond-shaped Inferno.
Each pitch becomes a vehicle
to hitch a ride and leave bus hell
behind in puffs of rosin dust,
or else it slaps one back, a comebacker
leaving one at a loss, a flat
statistic in the sporting news,
a name not worthy for the show.
You might as well go incognito.

~Son Rivers 2005