![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]()
|
|
|||||||||||||
![]() |
|||||||||||||
. |
![]() |
. |
![]()
All-Star Disadvantage Yippee for Bud Selig. Whichever team wins the 2003 All-Star Game gets to have two or three of its players share home field advantage in the World Series with 20-plus guys who had nothing to do with it. As lame an idea as that is, what's worse is that Selig gets to pat himself on the back for a plan which doesn't undo what he screwed up last year, which brought on this experiment in the first place. The All-Star Game isn't what it used to be for a bunch of reasons, none of which Selig's plan addresses. Fans can't pick players. Managers can't either particularly, and take their own guys based on what they did the year before or because of a performance clause more often than not, then weakly excuse their selections. West Coast games start at twilight for television, a nightmare for hitters, already at the usual disadvantage of facing the best pitchers in an unfamiliar league, and only for one at bat at that. Then you have an NBA-like fly ball derby, Barry Bonds pretending to be Mr. Fun by picking up the opposing outfielder who robbed him, managers trying to be liked by players they can't stand the rest of the year or by towns they spend at most ten days in out of 365, and a baseball commissioner who was passed over for leadership badges repeatedly as a child. All-Star Games used to conjure images of Ted Williams skipping around the bases high-fiving himself after a game-ender and Reggie Jackson reaching a light standard and Stu Miller being blow off the mound at Candlestick. Today it's Bonds playing grab-ass with Tori Hunter… Is it just me, or is there something warm and fuzzy about Bonds' being plunked three times by Dusty Baker's Cubs, followed by the obligatory Bonds fake move toward the mound… It's also comforting to see even one sports organization anywhere on earth, in this case Houston, dump a man for conduct unbecoming. In case you missed it, after shortstop Julio Lugo beat the crap out of his wife, Astros' g.m. Gerry Hunsicker said, and I'm paraphrasing, "Adios, get your pink slip here, no waiting." Due process, my ass. Well, Hunsicker's. Something to think about Portland Trail Blazers, Crimson Tide, and Iowa State Cyclones. Oh, what the hell, let's dredge up Bobby Cox too while were at it… Like I said, Adrian Beltre is fine. Continued patience please… Memo to Dan Evans: Bite the bullet and release Andy Ashby. Recall Joe Thurston… Took my mom to see Odalis Perez shut out Philadelphia for 8 2/3, with Gagne getting the save. Nice, crisply played win with timely hitting and solid defense, easy parking and no traffic. Couldn't ask for more really, but for some reason our Reserved section, Aisle 1, row D seats had cup holders. None in row C, none in row E, none in Aisles 2 or 4, or anywhere else in sight. Go figure. It's also nice having a mom who not only understands a manager's angst in lifting a pitcher an out away from a shutout, but also knows to join in a chorus of boos. Course, she didn't have the pitch count, which was 132… On May 1, 1920, in what is still baseball's longest game, the Brooklyn Dodgers banged out nine hits in 26 innings. And they say tradition is lost on Fox's Dodgers… Clipped this one from "USA Today": "Seattle CF Mike Cameron, who missed a weekend series against Detroit, will test his strained right groin in a pregame workout and hopes to play tonight at the Yankees." Film at 11… After a slow start, it's nice to see that Mike Piazza and Mo Vaughn are finally hitting Vaughn's weight… Remember, glove conquers all....
|
. |
![]() |
. | |||||||
![]() ![]() ![]() |
|||||||||||||
Copyright © 2005 by BaseballSavvy.com. |