Baseball blatherings
*It is about that time of year when someone out there unleashes one of my biggest sportswriting pet peeves -- the sanctimonious whine about All-Star Game balloting. You know, the one that proclaims in so many words that the people are too stupid to decide who belongs and should no longer be allowed to vote. This usually happens when the favored hometown player of said writer isn't winning in the balloting.
There are few things out there that the paying customers can actually call their own, aside from their allegiance to their teams. All-Star balloting is one. If the people decide en masse that they want Cesar Crespo or David DeJesus on the All-Star team, well, more power to them, even if I don’t agree with their choices.
And it ain't like the baseball writers always get it right when they have a ballot on front of them -- like Mo Vaughn winning the 1995 A.L. MVP instead of Albert Belle or Edgar Martinez; or Pedro not getting it a few years later.
*Well, Don Baylor is out of the record books. Craig Biggio got HBP'd twice last night. And the pitcher who did the honors? *Drumroll* … Byung-Hyun Kim. Of course. Biggio's been hit 268 times in his career now, and he's been hit by both Byung-Hyun and Sunny Kim at various points.
*Wil Cordero is 1-for-28 on the season: .031, one run scored, one RBI. No punchline here, just felt like sayin'.
*A couple pieces of minutiae from Wednesday night's Cards-Cardinals game: 1. Adam Dunn had his first sac fly in 1,085 at bats dating back to July of 2003. That from a fly-ball hitting slugger. And Wily Mo Pena hit the longest home run hit by a visiting player in Busch Stadium history, 492 feet.
*Hmmm … Oakland's won 10-of-11, which probably means we'll be hearing "THE A'S ARE MAKING THEIR MID-SEASON RUN AGAIN!!!!!"-type jibber-jabber soon. But hold up. In that stretch they're 5-1 against Seattle; 3-0 against the Giants; 2-0 against the struggling Phils. They have six against the White Sox before the break; if they make some noise in against the ChiSox they might be on to something.
*I was going to write something asking if it is OK to sort of admire the Braves, considering a. the way they've persevered through a ton of injuries, and b. the fact that Andruw Jones seems to finally be living up to his huge expectations. Then I remembered, no, it is not OK, because they'll get to the playoffs again and play "the one series I don't need to bother watching" in the first round where the stadium is half-empty and the Braves lose. But Jones has been pretty fun to watch recently.
*And finally, for Dave's World readers back in New England, I'm going to put in a plug for a high-class organization, the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League. The Cape League is where the best college players in the country play during the summer -- with wood bats -- and if you've never been to a Cape League game, you're really missing something pretty neat. If you've wanted to go but fear Cape traffic, the Gatemen are the league's only team North of the Canal. Admission is free (donations accepted). Just off the top of my head, Gatemen alumni include Vaughn, Barry Zito, Carlos Pena, Lance Berkman, Mike Remlinger, and Ben Sheets.
Baseball blatherings 6/23
Feedback
<< Home