A COUPLE OF OBSERVATIONS

There probably won't be much to write about the next few days because of the All-Star Exhibition. Hope no one gets hurt.

***A GREAT WEST COAST TRIP***
Winning 6 out of 7 on the West Coast is an excellent week for the Yanks, who usually struggle out there. Of course, Oakland is still "rebuilding," and Seattle, expected to rely on pitching and defense, got neither except for King Felix Hernandez.

***A BIG LOSS***
Bob Sheppard has passed away at age 99. Having grown up listening to his dulcet tones, I always thought that's the way a stadium announcer was supposed to sound.When I heard announcers in other stadiums, I actually thought, "Well, he must be substituting for the real guy." Little did I know.

***YANKEE ANNOUNCERS BEING CRITICIZED***
Bill Madden, NY Daily News, says the Yankee broadcast team, specifically John Flaherty, over-analyze each pitch in the game. According to Madden, their efforts to give fans an insight into the game, end up flooding the airways with too much information. Eventually, people just stop listening.
Personally, I have a problem with this "Pitch-by-Pitch" sequence. Occasionally it's informative, but too often it's just a rehash of what you've already seen. Today, Jeter struck out on three pitches and we were forced to suffer through the at-bat again, with the only comments being, "Strike one, strike two, ...and strike three." Wow! Thanks, guys. I was wondering why Derek walked back to the dugout.

It was kind of a dull game, as the "Play-of-the-Game" showed you. It was Flaherty catching a foul ball hit back into the booth. Flash, if you could have caught like that when you were wearing a uniform, you'd still be in one. He was pleased, anyway. "Boy, I haven't caught a ball in 6 years," he said. Unfortunately, he retired 4 years ago.

By the way, Spain won that game the rest of the world watches while we're all busy with baseball. Four more years until we hear the melodic tones of the vuvuzela. ...Thank the Lord!

CP-