Monday, July 09, 2012

NOW IT'S TIME FOR THAT ALL-STAR THING

I consider myself to be a baseball fan, who happens to root for the Yankees, so you'd  think that I would enjoy this mid-summer classic. I don't. I haven't watched it for a long time. The home field advantage in the World Series depends on the outcome so it's a very important game, yet it's played like it doesn't matter who wins. Pitchers pitch one inning at most, every position player on the team is put in the game at one time or another. One time, they even ran out of pitchers. If they insist on doing this, why give it such importance? This is one of the silliest things Bunglin' Bud Selig ever thought up, if thinking was ever involved. 

***THREE GAMES OUT OF FOUR AIN'T BAD***
Well, it is when you're Boston and those three games are losses. The Sox didn't even really win that one game, the Yanks handed it to them.
Yesterday, Andruw Jones continued his assault on Red Sox pitching with another home run. Boston figured it was wise to start four left-handers, in an attempt to neutralize the Yanks left-handed power. Jones reminded them that NY had some right-handed power, too.
Derek Jeter made two more errors last night. Okay, they only charged him with one, but it was really two. It almost took a gun to his head to get the official scorer to give him an error when he dropped the pop-up. (There was a lot of wind. Do I really have to?)
Adrian Gonzales left in the fourth inning with what was later described as "an illness." I wouldn't be surprised if Bobby Valentine had made him sick to his stomach.

***DROPPING OUT OF THE ALL-STAR GAME***
It's becoming more and more prevalent for players chosen as an All-Star, to drop out because of injuries, real or suspect. Some are reasonable (Giancarlo Stanton just had a knee operation), some sound awfully fishy. One has a blister, another has a mild wrist sprain and one has excessive belly-button lint. Alright, I made that last one up, but I'm just waiting for an excuse that silly.  Jeter suffered from a shoulder cramp last night, but he stayed in the game ans he WILL play in the All-Star game.
Buster Only wrote, "It makes absolutely no sense that at the exact time Ian Desmond was getting hits and running around the field Saturday, it was announced that he is too hurt to play in the All-Star game."  You'd swear it was some huge hardship. It's not. It's three days out of the season - and trust me - none of them ever breaks a sweat.

***AROUND THE HORN***
## Buster Olney's Schedule Analysis shows the Pittsburgh Pirates with the 2nd easiest schedule in the National league. That's just what the rest of the NL Central Division teams want to hear. The Pirates already have a one game lead over 2nd place Cincinnati.

## Tampa Bay keeps losing and every story about them includes a reference to the absence of Evan Longoria. That's definitely a big loss, but he's only one guy. He gets one at bat for every nine and he can only play one position at a time. There are certainly other problems they have to deal with.

## Boston's problem is a little different. They have multiple players out, big name players: Crawford, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Bucholz and Bailey. It's possible that they might even lose Crawford for the rest of the year. Yes, the Sox are using a number of call-ups from their minor league affiliate, but they rank second in runs scored in the Majors, and their pitching stats compare reasonably with the Yankees, yet they're tied for last place in the Al East, nine and a half games out.  Can it be that there is a managerial problem?

## A flash of lightning and a sonic boom-like crash of thunder, sent players, coaches and umpires fleeing to the dugouts and ducking for cover during a game in Texas. The Rangers offense has been described as 'explosive,' but I think someone upstairs displayed something a little more potent. check out this link:  http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/8142796/booming-thunder-sends-minnesota-twins-texas-rangers-players-scurrying

***THEY SAID IT***
"A 190-kph serve by Mardy Fish hit a Wimbledon linesperson in the eye. The bad news is the eye is closed. The good news is she's been asked to be boxing judge."  -- RJ Currie
"A U.S. congressional candidate was scheduled to carry the Olympic torch in England on Monday. Considering the quality of congressional candidate we usually see, the Olympic Torch should end up in Sweden."  -- Brad Dickson
"It took three police officers to subdue Vikings running back Adrian Peterson after he allegedly became belligerent when asked to leave a Houston nightclub at closing. Peterson has been charged with resisting arrest and impersonating a Cincinnati Bengal."  -- Dwight Perry
"Erin Andrews has left ESPN. No word yet if this means the college football season is canceled."  -- Brad Dickson
"Yankees manager Joe Girardi, to The Associated Press, on the skill set of 20-year-old Angels outfielder Mike Trout: "Most guys don't hit triples down the left-field line."
"Dan Le Batard of the Miami Herald, on LeBron James answering his critics: "If I'm in LeBron James' shoes, I'm going to have a hard time not putting that championship ring on my middle finger."
"Hear about the college jock who flunked his geography final? He thought Lapland was a private room at the local strip club. -- Dwight Perry
"The Wisconsin wedding of two NU grads featured a wedding cake that was an exact replica of Memorial Stadium during a game. It was so authentic I spotted myself outside the stadium trying to buy tickets."  -- Brad Dickson

CP-

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