And you thought the Reds collapse was depressing

MLB.com has two juxtaposed articles on the homepage this morning. The first is about 22 year old Anibal Sanchez's no-hitter. About the no-no, Sanchez says:

"This is the best moment of my life," an exuberant Sanchez said after turning in the 127th all-time National League no-hitter, and 233rd in Major League history. "I don't know what I think now, because you never think that is going to happen for you. But that happened, and I'm happy right now."

The two year Major League no-hitter drought has finally come to an end, though the Reds desperately tried to make it end sooner several times this year. (How often have we written in blog comments no-hitter no-hitter no-hitter no-hitter no-hitter no-hitter no-hitter no-hitter just to jinx an opposing team's pitcher?) The no-hitter is quite the accomplishment, right? Especially for a rook like Sanchez, who has just experienced the high of his brief life thus far.

Contrast that with the other article about 22 year old rookie pitcher Jon Lester, who won't be pitching any no-hitters for at least two years. Jon Lester has cancer.

He says:

"It's kind of one of those things you can't describe," Lester said. "You're 22 years old, you think you're just going in there for some back pain and then you find out you have cancer. I mean, that's pretty shocking, but we have a positive outlook in it, [it's] very curable and very fightable, and just go on from there. Taking one day at a time and fight it the best we can."

Some perspective on life, is it not? No-hitters don't mean a damn thing in the grand scheme of things. Baseball is meaningless, sports are meaningless, the whole material world means nothing.

But is baseball meaningless? Won't thinking about pitching in the Majors give Jon Lester the drive to get through his chemo? Don't we go to baseball games to spend precious time with family and friends? Doesn't baseball help us get away from the world for a few hours? It does. It is a great game, with healing powers and magic and spirituality abounding. But losing a game, losing a season, and collapsing in the playoff race have no signficance on the great game of Life.

Dear Reds fans, fret not. We're all depressed right now, I know, but we should get some perspective. There will be other seasons, maybe some winning ones. There is only one life, though, so don't let Ranklin or Morron or McClayton get you down for too long. Take a deep breath, enjoy the sunshine, be grateful for life, for it can be taken in a heartbeat.

(And hope still lives...)