Ty Blach and the little moments

Baseball seasons are long and sometimes arduous things. They are daily occupancies on our brains, televisions, and twitter feeds for six months of the year. Because of the long and constant season, it is easy to forget that that the season is made of little moments. Each game is a moment, sometimes each inning. These moments are so high in quantity that we let them wash over us and forget they happened a week, sometimes even a day later. Baseball players are taught to have a short memory, to always look ahead, but baseball fans seem to get one of those too. Especially in a lost season. When losses pile up, we forget the moments from the wins. We push out any good memories as we watch defeat in frustration. It’s the nature of it, impossible to fight. Memories get compressed as time goes on, it’s just how our brains function. A moment feels huge during the game and yet 30 days later we never bring it up.

Enter Ty Blach.

As the Denver native ran from the bullpen and into the game on Sunday, the Rockies lead by three runs. They had, earlier in the game, lead by six runs but a series of events that can only be described as “predictable” occurred that allowed the villainous Los Angeles Dodgers to get back in the game. A six run lead is fun, flighty, relaxing. A one run lead is horrifyingly stressful. A three run lead is a uncomfortable mix of the two. It would take more than one bad event to happen for the Dodgers to tie the game, but it wouldn’t take that many. You would love to feel ok with the scoreboard but you’ve been here before. Especially with the Dodgers.

It has been said, but Rockies fans have seen this movie. Maybe not this exact one, playing out this exact way, but the story hasn’t changed much. The Dodgers have won 60% of the games they’ve played against the Rockies since 2008. The Rockies haven’t won a home series against LA in nearly three full calendar years. A six run lead turning into a three run lead is just act one in the latest tragedy. As Ty Blach enters the game, the scoreboard is friendly, but it’s always waiting to double-cross. It has no loyalty to Ty, the Rockies, or joy.

Ty Blach is only here because of events outside his control. In July 2020, Blach was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow that led him to miss rest of that season and most of 2021. In 2021, even though he pitched, he only threw 22 innings total for minor league affiliates in Baltimore’s system. After the season, Blach was granted minor league free agency by the Orioles and signed a minor league contract with the hometown Rockies.

The Regis High School graduate received a non-roster invite to Spring Training, he was expected to compete for the lone lefty spot in the bullpen. By the end of spring, it wasn’t totally confirmed Ty would make the squad, though he was still in camp. Then, Ryan Rolison went down with an injury and opened the spot. If Blach hadn’t suffered an injury, would he have been on the Orioles 40 man roster and unable to go to his hometown team? If Ryan Rolison hadn’t gotten hurt, would he have made the roster? If Senzatela hadn’t run out of gas in the fourth inning, would the Rockies have needed Ty at all? It doesn’t matter, really. Asking these questions isn’t important. The Rockies had a tenuous three run lead against a hated division rival and needed a guy who could pitch multiple effective innings. That was all Ty had in his control, all he needed to worry about.

Blach opened with a walk of Cody Bellinger and then a single to Chris Taylor. Uh oh. The movie starts playing in every fan’s head once again. Dodger fans that infiltrated Coors Field begin to chant “let’s go Dodgers!” It’s starting to look bleak. After Gavin Lux hits a sacrifice fly to right that nearly gets away from Randall Grichuk in the wind, up steps Mookie Betts. The Dodger lineup is deadly throughout, the deepest in the league, but it’s 1-2 is two former MVPs still at the peak of their powers. Blach now has to face Betts and Freddie Freeman in a moment where one single swing can tie the game. Forgive anyone for not trusting Ty, but these moments rarely end well for anyone on the mound in purple and black.

Blach doesn’t waver though. He strikes out Betts and then gets Freeman to ground out softly. From there, he retires 9 more Dodgers in a row. The movie that was playing in everyone’s head turns off. Ty Blach has unplugged the projector. The 31-year-old hometown kid entering the “journeyman” state of his career has finished off a four inning save against one of the more dangerous lineups in baseball history.

In the grand scheme of the season, this will be a little moment. It is game three of 162, the likelihood this is remembered come September is very slim. The baseball season has just begun and Ty Blach will have 40 or more appearances to his name by the time it’s over, each with it’s own moment, good or bad. In June, Ty could look overmatched. He could be handing the ball to Bud Black having given up the lead and there could be fans demanding his release. The Rockies could be 20 games under .500 in September and a win over the Dodgers in April won’t matter a lick. This four inning save could be a distant memory, if it’s a memory at all. But these are the moments that create a baseball season. These little moments are part of the grand story we get to tell every year. It feels disrespectful to forget them. Not only for Ty but for the whole game. Blach’s moment was terrific, a rekindling of what makes this game special. A Denver native whose MLB journey has gone awry, a non-roster invitee who wasn’t sure he’d even be having this moment, a team on the other side that had kicked the Rockies ass every chance it had. It is only game three, we’re not even 2% of the way through the season, but it feels appropriate to revel just a little.

This moment will likely not matter in the long run. But for Ty and maybe just a little bit for the game itself, it feels like we should make it important. A little moment that deserves to be bigger.