It is a bona fide storyline. Crochet out, hurt. A pitching staff nonetheless more than holding its own. Undermined and failed by a lineup without punch or luck. A manager fired in a poorly handled out-of-town defenestration. The gang that couldn’t shoot straight, except for directly into its own foot.

Narratives once taken root are not destiny. There remains hope. Serendipity has a heartbeat.

“Changeup!” Kevin Stocker, a former player and analyst on the WIP broadcast said to register his surprise at the pitch selection. 

“Need to change something up,” Scott Franzke offered, aridly, during Sunday’s Phillies broadcast. 

“Heh heh heh,” Stocker gave low-wattage assent.

It’s a Robert Altman movie of a baseball season and on Saturday John Henry, Sam Kennedy, and Craig Breslow delivered the first disruptive plot twist.

Baseball started the weekend with that new-season smell still in force. There were loads of home openers on Friday; circumstance and pomp reigned in Boston, Denver, Sacramento. It remains reasonable to say it’s early yet, if a team is scuffling.