Mother’s Day start holds extra meaning for Padres’ Andrew Cashner

As most major-league pitchers will tell you, pitching on Mother’s Day is different than most other assignments. There’s a different feeling, an extra significance perhaps, that simply doesn’t exist on a random Thursday in April.

However, for San Diego Padres right-hander Andrew Cashner, his Mother’s Day start against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday goes beyond simply making his mother Jane proud. It’s an opportunity to make her smile and give her some comfort as she battles acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The outstanding staff at MLB Network recently put together a special feature on Andrew Cashner and his mother, which has been airing on their programming all weekend. It goes all the way back to the days when Jane Cashner would pitch to her son in their backyard in Conroe, Texas, and the day she realized his power had outgrown their yard and was putting her in danger.

That’s the bird feeder that wore Cashner’s wrath, according to his mom. But he says there was more than one time where mom had to shake off the affects of a line drive comebacker that would have driven most parents or coaches into retirement on the spot.

In those moments, another bond was formed within the typical mother-son relationship that centered around baseball. A bond that still connects them even now that Cashner is a six-year veteran in MLB, and gives them comfort at a time when both are dealing with the pain associated with her illness in different ways.

[Check out Big League Stew on Tumblr for even more baseball awesomeness.]

As Cashner’s father, Jeff Cashner explains, she’s Andrew’s biggest fan. When he’s on the mound, she’s just like any other fan sitting on the edge of her seat, and the physical pain she’s enduring becomes secondary to the moment and being a mom.

For Andrew, the game gives him a chance to escape mentally and focus on the task at hand.

“When you come to the field, you try to let go of everything else you have going on,” Cashner said. “It’s about your teammates, your coaches, and it’s about you getting in your work that day. Everything is more geared toward having fun and just playing baseball. … When I get to the field, I try to leave what’s going on at home, at home.”

But he also knows his mother is watching, feeling the same nervous energy all mothers feel under those circumstances, and hopefully smiling when all is said and done.

Of course, there’s a lot more to story in the video posted above. It’s a story worth telling, and it’s definitely a story worth watching, so we encourage you to invest six minutes of your Mother’s Day to take it in.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – – –

Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813