WITH EL BEIS A MONTH AWAY, "THE PITCHER," BY R. FRANCIS

(Ed.s Note: We don't know if the Houston Astros will pull it off again and win the World Series, but we can only hope. The San Antonio Spurs still haven't peaked and that championship is still months away. With that in mind, here's one of our favorite baseball poems to get us in the mood for the coming season.)

By Robert Francis

His art

is eccentricity,

His aim

how not to hit

the mark he seems to aim at,

His passion

how to avoid the obvious,

His technique

how to vary the avoidance.

The others throw

to be comprehended.

He throws to be

a moment misunderstood.

Yet not too much.

Not errant, arrant, wild,

But every seeming aberration willed.

Not to, yet still, still to communicate

Making the batter understand

too late.