It’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up.
I don’t tend to report on tennis news, but I happened to watch various parts of the Federer/Roddick match on Sunday, so I thought I’d say a few words on it.
It’s worth nothing that this is probably one of the most lopsided rivalries in tennis. In fact, the 2 wins by Roddick (of 21 matches) is so embarrassing I’m sure that he wishes people would stop calling it a rivalry so he wouldn’t have to hear that stat.
Federer was chasing a tennis record hoping to win his 15th Grand Slam title, which would put him just ahead of Pete Sampras’ 14.
Their match was the longest in Wimbledon history with 30 total games played in the fifth set (a record) and 77 sets played total. The match itself lasted a grueling four hours and sixteen minutes, with the final set lasting 95 minutes on its own.
Some are saying it’s the best Wimbledon performance in the history of the sport. I don’t watch enough tennis to have an opinion, but I will admit it was epic.
All-Star Starting Rosters
For the American League we have:
C Joe Mauer (Twins) 1B Mark Teixeira (Yankees) 2B Dustin Pedroia (Red Sox) 3B Evan Longoria (Rays) SS Derek Jeter (Yankees) OF Jason Bay (Red Sox) OF Ichiro Suzuki (Mariners) OF Josh Hamilton (Rangers)
A strong lineup which leaves almost nothing to complain about. Since coming back from the DL in May, Joe Mauer has been a hitting machine, Teixeira is playing well in NYC and Youkilis would have fit just as well into that spot. Pedroia is always a good choice for 2B and Bay/Suzuki are fantastic outfielders.
Despite the fact that I love this outcome, it’s definitely shocking to see Longoria at third in lieu of Alex Rodriguez. His long injury combined with the steroid allegations seem to have forced him out, which is just fine by me. Jeter is the most popular player in the game, but I don’t think that he’s the best shortstop in the game by any means. He should still hit well, regardless, and I can’t really argue that the younger Hanley Ramirez on the NL squad is that much better defensively. Finally, Josh Hamilton has played only a few games this year thanks to injuries and not all that well. If people would choose based on performance this year instead of last year’s Home Run Derby, we wouldn’t see him on this roster.
and the National League voted in
C Yadier Molina (Cardinals) 1B Albert Pujols (Cardinals) 2B Chase Utley (Phillies) 3B David Wright (Mets) SS Hanley Ramírez (Marlins) OF Carlos Beltrán (Mets) OF Ryan Braun (Brewers) OF Raúl Ibáñez (Phillies)
The NL manages to make better choices all-around, with the only bad choice being Beltrán and then only because he’s currently injured. Despite the mishaps in the AL lineup, they might actually have a slightly stronger one, considering that David Wright hasn’t been hitting all that well and who Charlie Manuel replaces Beltrán with.
Let’s hope they get it together, because the NL hasn’t won an all-star game outright since 1996. It’s kind of embarrassing.
As I’ve stated a few times already, I’ll be doing a much more live blog than usual, so be prepared for that. The game will be next Tuesday, 14 July, weather permitting, probably around 2000, but the pre-game and broadcast itself is scheduled for 1900. I can’t wait!
Another month of baseball has passed and it’s a testament to the sport that things have gotten a bit crazy. As I write this on Tuesday, the standings look a little something like this:
AL East
Yankees Red Sox Blue Jays Rays Orioles
AL Central
Tigers White Sox Twins Royals Indians
AL West
Rangers Mariners Angels Athletics
NL East
Phillies Mets Braves Marlins Nationals
NL Central
Brewers Cardinals Reds Cubs Pirates Astros
NL West
Dodgers Giants Padres Diamondbacks Rockies
The biggest surprise would have to be the collapse of the Blue Jays in the face of stiff competition. They are a meager 6-9 in the East and have dropped from their pedestal of 3.5 games ahead at their best to 1.5 games back, amassing a nine-game losing streak to get them to where they are today.
As mentioned by Rob Neyer, the Rays are somehow leading the league in batting average, doubles, homers, RBIs, walks, stolen bases, extra base hits, and they lead the league in runs scored, among other feats. Despite all of this, the Rays happen to lie six(!) games back in the East. Hopefully things start breaking their way soon, they deserve it.
My beloved Marlins sit 6.5 back in the NL East and all the injuries the team is suffering from seem to predict that this won’t change all that much.
Zack Greinke is still murdering batters at a ridiculous pace. His ERA sits at 1.10 after 11 starts and he shows no sign of slowing down. Keep an eye out for him.
Matt Wieters made his debut for Baltimore and he’s doing alright. Expectations are high for the catcher to help turn the team’s fate around.
Evan Longoria is leading the All-Star ballot and I encourage each and every one of you to keep him on top.
Manny Ramirez just might get selected on the ballot, despite being suspended for fifty games following a drug test failure.
The Yankees set an MLB record by allowing no errors in 18 straight games.
Quick me plug: I got my e-mail read on Monday’s ESPN Baseball Today podcast. It was pretty awesome.
And for our last bit of news, good luck on win number 300 Randy Johnson. The Big Unit will go for win number 300 tonight against the Washington Nationals. There’s also a delightful bit of symmetry in the fact that Randy Johnson was first drafted by the Montreal Expos, the team now known as the Nationals, and will be facing them in this historic game.
What a real bummer…
The biggest news since last week, if you hadn’t heard already, was the drug test that Manny Ramirez managed to fail.
This is now the biggest baseball star to fail a drug test and win himself a 50-game suspension along with a black mark on his hall of fame chances.
It goes like this:
Manny Ramirez saw some physician in Florida who gave him a banned substance according to MLB rules. The substance, whose name I don’t totally remember and am too depressed to look up, is a female fertility drug that is also used to mask drops in testosterone following a steroid treatment cycle. Seems pretty clear cut.
It’s also the most disappointing news I’ll receive this year. Alex Rodriguez’s situation didn’t really bum me out. He’s kind of a jerk and I wasn’t too surprised to hear that he was a cheater too. Manny was just so goofy and charismatic and I hate that it’s true.
Who can we trust from the steroid era now? The only name that I’m able to unequivocally trust nowadays seems to be Ken Griffey, Jr. It’s a real shame. I hope that the new drug tests will keep catching new cheaters so that baseball can be clean from here on out.
The NO PED Zone
Ryan Zimmerman has got himself a 30-game hitting streak. The record is, of course, 56, but seeing him approach it is super exciting, especially for a Washington team that has otherwise not been doing very well at all.
Evan Longoria is on an AL MVP pace with his production this year. Man do I love this guy. Keep it up.
The Rays are 7.5 (!) games out of first place in the AL East, only half a game up on the last place Orioles. We’ll see what will happen once the Blue Jays start playing teams in the East. Hopefully the Rays will start to catch up in the standings.
Meanwhile, the Marlins are a much more respectable 1.5 games back from the first place Mets, half a game behind the Phillies, and a game up on the Braves. The Nationals are…7.5 games out of first place. Wow, that makes me worry way more about the Rays, although the Rays do at least have a win percentage a full 0.100 higher than the Nats.
Poor Cole Hamels can’t catch a break. A poor spring training with injury leads to two starts where he’s beat up, another start where he’s hit by a batted ball, and another where he rolls his ankle and lands on the DL again. Hopefully his luck starts to turn around soon, a month of the season has already passed us by.
The Blue Jays lead their division by a game. An improbable fact only matched by the fact that the Royals also lead their division or the fact that Seattle leads the AL West. Zack Greinke continues to pitch like he was genetically engineered to. 0.50 ERA and six wins.
Florida finally lost its share of first place last night with a loss to the Reds putting them half a game back to the Phillies. The Mets are miraculously still ahead of the Braves.
Tampa Bay took three of four from the Red Sox, but remain in fourth in the AL East. 6.5 games is a tall mountain to climb, but hopefully twice-named player of the week and player of April Evan Longoria can help them get back to a respectable position at the very least ahead of the Yankees.
My brother put some more photos up. Here are some more of my faves.
Adam Jones evaluating his bat
Longoria going for the catch
The drama of the windup
Ballgames aren't all excitement every moment
My brother took a lot of Longoria pictures partly because we were sitting close to him, but mostly because he's my favorite player.
About to make the out at first
I love the moments in action shots that just seem physically impossible.
Kinda like this one
Baseball-themed ads are funny
Aki makes the grab while Bartlett watches on
The Rays didn't have a great hitting day...
15 April may mean the tax man is coming around, but I like to think of it from a better perspective: Jackie Robinson Day. That’s right, on 15 April 1947 Jackie Robinson debuted for the Branch Rickey’s Brooklyn Dodgers, finally breaking the color barrier in baseball and paving the way for civil rights in America. Jackie Robinson was a hero and I’m glad that baseball honors him each year on this day by allowing players to wear Robinson’s league-wide retired #42.
“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” -Jackie Robinson
Now for the standings and predictions:
Baltimore Orioles Toronto Blue Jays 0.5 Games Back (GB) New York Yankees 2.0 GB Tampa Bay Rays 2.0 GB Boston Red Sox 4.0 GB
Surprising as the standings are today, I don’t think this can realistically continue throughout the year. The current bottom three are just too good for this to stay like this all year. A more realistic October looks like:
Rays Red Sox Yankees Orioles Blue Jays
Most of sports news America has the Jays above the Os and the Rays anywhere between first and third. I think the Rays outplay both the Yanks and the Sox and I’ve seen the Orioles do some major slugging. Even with the rotation difficulties they’re projected to have, I think their offense might be able to make up for it, but not enough to beat the Yankees. If the Yankees can’t get their act together with their bullpen and starting pitching (CC is looking better, but Wang is awful), things could be further shaken up.
Florida Marlins Atlanta Braves 1.0 GB Philadelphia Phillies 2.0 GB New York Mets 3.0 GB Washington Nationals 6.0 GB
The Nats are off to an awful start, mostly thanks to the incredible Florida Marlins who are a MLB-best 6-1 right now. They’re riding high off of good hitting and pitching, but I don’t think they have the depth to stay that high. Their hitting is a little too inconsistent and the rest of the division is just so darn good. That being said, I don’t think that the Phils can win the East again, mostly thanks to an ailing Cole Hamels, so I see them coming in definitely behind the Mets who have a rebuilt bullpen. Nats will continue to suck. The Braves are good, but I don’t know if they’re contenders yet. We’ll have to see as the season progresses.
Mets Marlins Phillies Braves Nationals
Kansas City Royals Chicago White Sox 0.5 GB Detroit Tigers 1.0 GB Minnesota Twins 1.5 GB Cleveland Indians 4.0 GB
Trey Hillman is doing a heck of a job with his Royals so far this year, but I don’t think they can stay atop the Central all year long. I predict that the newly rebuilt and re-motivated Tigers will do much better, Cleveland will continue to suffer from whatever losing disease they have (no starting pitching), and the Twins will suffer some major losses thanks to Mauer’s injury. Here’s how I see it ending up:
Tigers White Sox Royals Twins Indians
I think I might be wrong with the Twins and Royals, but we’ll see when I reevaluate at the All-Star break.
Chicago Cubs St. Louis Cardinals 0.0 GB Cincinnati Reds 1.0 GB Pittsburgh Pirates 1.0 GB Milwaukee Brewers 3.5 GB Houston Astros 4.0 GB
This one is harder for me to predict cause it’s the division I know the least about. The Cubs are on top, as most would predict, partially thanks to my boy Fukudome doing his part again. I really hope he stays strong all year this time. The Cards are tearing it up with Pujols and I think they’re a lock for second in this division. Despite being everyone’s dark horse for the NL Central, I don’t think the Reds can outplay the Cubs or the Cards. Pirates are doing well out of the gate, but for how long? The Astros just stink and the Brewers can’t compete without the pitching they had last year.
Cubs Cardinals Reds Brewers Pirates Astros
Seattle Mariners Oakland Athletics 2.0 GB Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 2.5 GB Texas Rangers 3.0 GB
If you would have told me at the end of last year that the Mariners would be atop the AL West at any point I would have called you crazy. Some key things have changed out west, making it an open division. Injuries plague the Angels bullpen, the Athletics are just mediocre, and the Rangers stink, but somehow Wakamatsu, the new Mariners skipper, has pulled his team together to make them compete. Maybe it’s the return of Griffey, Jr. or something Wakamatsu’s putting in the water, but the team is jiving together much better and it shows.
Mariners Angels Athletics Rangers
IFF the Angels starting pitching is out for an extended period of time.
San Diego Padres Los Angeles Dodgers 1.0 GB Colorado Rockies 2.5 GB Arizona Diamondbacks 3.0 GB San Francisco Giants 3.5 GB
The Padres are off to a great, but unmaintainable start. No offense and no pitching means no winning. They’ll fall back in place. The rest of the West is pretty ugly too. San Francisco has great pitching, when Lincecum isn’t sucking, but no offense. The Rockies lost Matt Holliday, and the D-Backs have Webb on the DL. LA is easily the best in the division.
Dodgers Diamondbacks Rockies Giants Padres
Arizona is only high if Webb comes back soon. Otherwise they can’t hold on.
Those are my early season predictions, but we’ll see how well I’m doing come mid-season and adjust from there.
Pictures from the 10 April game:
Longoria at 3B
View of Camden from our sweet seats
I like this shot of Aki, even though he's in the background
Preparing for the next pitch.
Sonnanstine getting ready to throw
Rounding the bases
Adam Jones hit well that night.
Looks like a diving miss
Good swing
Scoreboard in the 2nd. Zobrist up to bat
Good hit and baserunning
Domo-kun was at the game too
A vital part of the game experience: park vendors
The end of Hendrickson's windup
Gross coming in Pete Rose style
I'm convinced this mental misstep cost us the game. Way to go Kapler...pay attention to the game!
Loosening up to make the calls
Nice, Japanese-style swing. Good work Aki
AKINORI IWAMURA! Seriously, try cheering that three times fast.
Infield meeting to slow down the O's. Longoria doesn't pay much attention, but Aki, Bartlett, Navarro, and Peña do.
One of Longoria's two homers for the night.
A disappointing loss, but a great time had by me and my friends.
You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ‘em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up.
We’ve finally arrived at the last WMQ before the baseball season. Congrats are in order for us all, but I honestly don’t know how we made it so long without our beloved baseball. Here are a few quick notes about things that have been going on:
Everyone’s hurt! From Cole Hamels to Alex Rodriguez, there are tons of stars hurting who might not be ready for Opening Day starts. It’ll be a chance for some younger players to showcase their talent, but, if I were them, I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much, it’ll only be for a month or so this year, then it’s back to the bench or the minors.
Speaking of the minors, David Price has been sent back down. Many call it a travesty, asking “How awesome do you have to be to stay in the show?” but I have faith in the Rays skipper. Joe Maddon is no fool and if he thinks that Price can do with some time in the minors before he comes up, then I think it’s probably not that bad an idea. Look at Evan Longoria, American League Rookie of the Year for 2008. He started last season in the minors in April and then he came up and spanked the AL.
The Marlins are batting former leadoff man Hanley Ramirez at third again this season, an expirement that mostly failed last year. I imagine that the Fish realize that they’ve just gotta make it happen at some point. He’s just got too much power behind his bat to hold him in the one hole.
The Cubbies have selected their closer and it’s NOT Carlos Marmol. A rough spring in both the WBC and Spring Training caused Lou Piniella to select former Marlins closer Kevin Gregg instead. Marmol’s disappointed, but, as I’ve heard from multiple sources, the outs by the set-up man are just as important. There’s no reason to think that his club is spurning him an important job, he’s still gotta make vital outs.
The season starts on Sunday, with the Phillies against the Braves. Get ready for a wild one! I’m gonna hold off predictions perhaps until next week, but possibly until the end of the month. We’ll see what happens with my schedule. Ah, baseball, I can almost taste you…
Everyone loves web gems, it’s an immutable fact of life. In honor of that fact, I’d like to start posting the gems of the day on the blog as often as I can, hopefully daily. I have no idea if ESPN will keep these videos up beyond this season, but until then, hopefully plenty of people will get the chance to enjoy these great plays. My favorite from today’s batch: without a doubt, Torii Hunter’s diving catch TOWARD THE WALL(!) and Evan Longoria’s smooth, clean fielding of a ball in what could even be shortstop territory.
When Schneider tagged me in her version of this I almost pulled a Linus Torvalds (http://torvalds-family.blogspot.com/2009/02/25-things-about-me.html), but instead I decided not to do one at all.
Then I came across two “25 Random Baseball Things” articles and fell in love with the idea as a way to release pent up excitement about the upcoming baseball season. Hope you enjoy it..
1. Baseball was the first team sport I ever played. To this day I don’t really understand what motivated my father to sign me up for the game. My grandfather is afraid of playing catch due to an incident where he got beaned, my dad is mostly apathetic toward sports in general, including baseball, and my older brother hated little league baseball. My best guess is that we were living in the mostly Cuban (at the time) Hialeah where little league baseball is the predominant sport.
2. I always wanted to play catcher as a kid, but I never got the chance to. I wasn’t ever going to be a pitcher, but I figured that catching involved the second most amount of action on the field. Instead most of my time was spent in the outfield, where I did a pretty good job, and one glorious season at second base. Whenever I play softball or baseball, I will usually play catcher or second base, unless the team needs me to play outfield.
3. My favorite team is the Florida Marlins and I still remember going to a game at Joe Robbie Stadium, as it was called then, to see them play in April of 1993. This was the first professional baseball game I ever attended and was the coolest thing that had ever happened to me before then until I actually walked on the field some years later.
4. I very quickly developed an intense hatred for the Atlanta Braves that still sticks with me to this day. It’s no coincidence that I also despise the Florida State Seminoles who share the absurdly racist and obnoxious tomahawk chop chant. Last year I found out that my uncle used to be a Braves fan since they were the closest team to Florida before 1993. I still feel deeply betrayed by this fact, even though he is now a Marlins fan.
5. When my family moved to Oregon sometime in 1995, I experienced something of a baseball Dark Ages that I didn’t really kick until 2003 and didn’t fully kick until last year, despite moving back to South Florida in 1997. Between 1995 to 2003 I went to one AAA baseball game (Portland Rockies), two pro baseball games (Seattle Mariners and Florida Marlins), one spring training game (Tigers at Yankees) and watched almost no baseball on tv.
6. I’m very ashamed to say that I maybe watched one or two of the games of the 1997 World Series, neither of which were Game 7. To this day I still root against the Cleveland Indians, partly because of that World Series, partly because they remind me of the Braves, and partly because living with Ohio-native Dean Strelau in 2007 allowed me to gloat about snatching two National Championships away from Ohio State, which led to a general dislike of any team from Ohio.
7. I quit playing baseball and started swimming competitively in 1998, a decision that I regret to this day. Sure, I wasn’t a very good ball player at that point, considering I did it mostly for fun, but I wish I had stuck with it. In case you were wondering, I wasn’t a very good swimmer either.
8. In that final season, my team played in a tournament against a team that traveled over to the states from Japan. We held our own for the first two or three innings, but eventually they got the best of us. I still remember that we had to use Japanese-style balls, but we didn’t have Japanese bats, which had some sort of rough coating on them that made them a bit different. I have a sneaking suspicion that we might have played a little better with access to their special equipment or if we used the standard American baseballs and bats instead.
9. The event that led to my baseball renaissance was the Steve Bartman incident in the 2003 postseason. Bartman will always be a hero of mine thanks to his paving the way for the Marlins 2003 World Series victory. I will gleefully ask any Cubs fan about how devastated they felt back in 2003 to be robbed of a pennant.
10. When the Marlins made it to the World Series in 2003 I wore a Marlins jersey that I’ve owned since the mid-90s to school. I’ll never forget that day, because in first period AP Statistics, Dan Gollins called me a front runner because he’d never seen me wear any Marlins paraphernalia before. I stand by the fact that I’ve been a Marlins fan since their inaugural year and I still get mad thinking about him calling me that, but I also kind of understand where he’s coming from and begrudgingly admit he’s got something of a point.
11. Speaking of the 2003 World Series, I have distinct memories of watching two of the seven games at Cornell during a campus visit that DPE flew me up for. I watched one of the games in the now-destroyed Class of ’26 with two Yankees fans. The other I watched in my brother’s apartment down on Gunn Hill.
12. This is a complicated one: I attended middle school and one year of high school down in South Florida at Cooper City High and the rest of them up in Central Florida at Sickles High. After prom at Sickles, I was invited down to Cooper City for prom with my old friends as my ex-girlfriend’s date, much to the ire of my current girlfriend. I still remember being quite insensitive as I called my girlfriend from their prom and told her that I wanted so badly to stay an extra day so that I could go with Josh Kushner to see the Marlins play the Diamondbacks that Sunday (23 May 2004 – http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/FLO/FLO200405230.shtml) because Dontrelle Willis was pitching against Randy Johnson. Better sense prevailed and I ended up going home as scheduled. The Marlins lost 4-3 that day and I’ve still yet to see Randy Johnson or Dontrelle Willis pitch in person.
13. The first Orioles game I went to was on 27 July 2005 against the Texas Rangers (http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL200507270.shtml). I’m pretty sure it was Sammy Sosa Bobblehead Night, although I could be wrong. It was a Wednesday, so I was worried about how long it would take me to get home cause I had work in the morning, but I figured it wouldn’t be that bad. After a 97-minute rain delay, the game FINALLY got underway. The Os and Rangers tied up the game in the 9th and the game ended in the 11th with the Rangers winning 11-8. I got home at 0200AM, but that baseball game is one of the best I’ve ever experienced.
14. One of my goals in life is to see a baseball game played in every ballpark. So far I’ve seen games in Joe Robbie Stadium/Pro Player Stadium/Dolphin Stadium (Marlins), the Kingdome (Mariners), Tropicana Field (Rays), Camden Yards (Orioles), RFK Stadium (Nationals), and Shea Stadium (Mets). Of these stadiums, the Kingdome, Shea, and RFK no longer house their respective teams, the Marlins will be leaving Dolphin Stadium by 2010ish, and the Rays are trying to get a new stadium approved leaving me with one solid stadium visited out of thirty. I’ve got a lot of work to do.
15. Once I’ve visited all the MLB stadiums, barring further stadium moves, I have decided to undertake the much more ambitious and difficult goal of seeing a game in all 13 Nippon Professional Baseball stadiums. I’ve only been to Japan once and Okinawa doesn’t have a baseball team, but I will get this done some day. Koshien Stadium here I come!
16. I am absolutely opposed to the DH rule in baseball. To me, it makes sense that any player who takes the field should have to bat for himself. Sure, it allows aging players or players with poor defense to have a spot on the roster, but I just think it takes away from the spirit of the game to have a guy whose only job is to bat while you have a whole group of guys whose only job it is to pitch. You could argue that pinch hitters serve that role in the NL, but the rules state that those guys have to step onto the field after they hit, unless there’s another substitution. Lack of a DH promotes greater strategy in baseball, period.
17. Rookie of the Year was the first baseball movie I ever saw. I’ve also seen Little Big League, A League of Their Own, Major League, Mr. Baseball, Hardball, and The Sandlot. My Netflix queue includes Field of Dreams, Mr. 3000, The Bad News Bears, and Fever Pitch. I think A League of Their Own and Little Big League are my two favorites.
18. I have a man-crush on 2008 Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria.
19. I’ve been to two games at Tropicana Field, one when the team was known as the Devil Rays and one after the name change. I was initially totally opposed to the name change, but it’s amazing what a name change, color scheme change, and a winning season will do for a team and their venue. The Trop is still one of the worst stadiums I’ve ever been to, but it was a lot more fun to go this past year.
20. I boo Darek Jeter when he comes up to bat for absolutely no reason. In retrospect, I should have been booing A-Rod this whole time.
21. There’s something about eating a hot dog in a ballpark that makes it taste infinitely better.
22. I always semi-rooted for the Devil Rays, but I definitely jumped on the Rays bandwagon this year and I fully intend to continue to root for them as my AL team. My NL team is, of course, the Marlins. I will actively root against the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Braves, and Indians. In the All-Star game, a non-Braves/Phillies game, or any Interleague game, I will root for the National League team. I don’t mind rooting for the Cubs unless they are in the postseason. I think it’s funny that they haven’t won a World Series in 100 years and I want the streak to continue.
23. My favorite ballplayers through the years: Benito Santiago, Chuck Carr, Cris Carpenter, Brian Harvey, Josh Beckett, Dontrelle Willis, Hanley Ramirez, Kosuke Fukudome, Mike Lowell, and Evan Longoria
24. I have never caught a foul ball, ground rule double, or home run in the stands. It’s a selfish thing to do as a grown man, but I’m not sure I’d be able to give any ball I caught in the future to a kid at a game. Wouldn’t it be enough to give the second or third away?
25. Once they are old enough to enjoy it, I plan to take my recently adopted little brothers and sister to a ball game in the hopes that it will inspire the same love for the game that I have in them.
Well, they’ve done it for the first time since 1993. The Phils have won the NL pennant. Their victory came at the expense of sloppy play by Rafael Furcal and the Dodgers in general. In the end, it didn’t matter that Manny Ramirez was batting .500 coming into the last game. It didn’t matter that the Dodgers had Joe Torre manning their ball club. It just mattered that the Phils wanted it more, were a more solid team, and took it in five.
Speaking of a team that wants it, the Rays will have a chance to take the AL pennant tonight as they face off once again in Boston. Let’s all hope that Longoria belts in another few homers.
