Kid stuff

So here is this kid from South Korea, coming set now on the bump. He is the Little League World Series to me, an event that used to be charming and now is just more slick ESPN packaging. That's because he's 12-years-old and actually looks it.

I find this refreshing. Also comforting.

Some of these other 12-year-olds,  see, look like they just got their driver's licenses. But this kid, he looks 12. He looks like his favorite food is ice cream or Pop Rocks or maybe hamburger, which a screen graphic just told us is the favorite food of the Japanese batter at the plate.

I don't remember what that particular kid did on that at-bat. But I do know the Japanese team roughed up the poor South Korean kid pretty good. Loaded the bases on him and then scored two runs on a sharp single.

That bumped Japan's lead from 5-2 to 7-2, which was the final score. They were pretty machine-like, the Japanese. Executed a flawless double steal and worked the hit-and-run and did all the things you never see major league teams do anymore, on account of MLB is home run derby now and not really baseball in the purest sense.

So Japan advanced and, watching them, you fell into that trap you sometimes fall into watching the Little League World Series. You forget these are 11-, 12-year-old kids because they play the game far too well for their age. You keep waiting for them to do goofy 12-year-old things out there, and it almost never happens.

A for-instance: There was a woman sitting next to me at  the bar where I was watching Japan and South Korea the other day. She stared at the screen for a moment and then asked her boyfriend what level of baseball this was, because the players looked awfully small. She had no clue the players looked small because, well, they were kids, not tiny grownups.

And so, yes, thank God for that pitcher from South Korea, who actually looked his age. And thank God for what happened the other day, when the Cubs and the Pirates came to Williamsport to hang with the Little Leaguers and play a game.

There at the tail end of a 7-1 Cubs victory was reliever Craig Kimbrel, doing what he does. You've seen it: Right before he throws a pitch, he bends over at the waist and does this weird thing with his arms. Looks a little like the Karate Kid doing the Crane.

So there Kimbrel is, doing it. And up in the bleachers ... yep, sure enough, there's a bunch of Little Leaguers, imitating him. And for one wonderful moment, they look like what they are.

Kids. Just kids.