We're going on vacation soon, but a couple of things need to be said first.
Some baseball strategies really bother me:
** Why do teams bring the infield in with a man on third and less than two outs -- and as early as the 2nd inning? They're trying to prevent ONE run from scoring. By bringing the infield in, they increase the odds of that happening tremendously. Now, in the eighth or ninth of a tie game, I can see that, but earlier than that, it just shows a complete lack of confidence in your offense.
** A tie game, top of the ninth, man on second with no outs and Derek Jeter at the plate. The idea is to at least get the runner over to third with less than two outs. Why did Girardi have Jeter try to bunt until he had two strikes? A ground ball to the right side would accomplish exactly what you want and Jeter, a player who made a career out of hitting to right field, at the plate. If he doesn't get a hit, you know he'll at least hit it that way. Ultimately, the bunt didn't happen and Jeter singled to right to score the winning run. Jeter gets praise (deservedly), but Girardi is not criticized.
Understatements:
** A headline on ESPN - "11 ballplayers who are overpaid" Just 11? I think you'd be hard pressed to find 11 that weren't overpaid.
** Mike Lupica talked about the election of the new baseball commissioner on The Sports Reporters. "A room full of multi-millionaires, some of whom were clueless about how to run the game." I hate to tell you, Mr. Lupica, but there were more than a few.
** Again on Sports reporters, baseball must find a way to speed up the game. There is already a way in place. All the umpires have to do is follow the rules.When the pitcher is ready to pitch, the batter must be ready to hit. If the batter thinks he can do that by standing 5 feet away from the batter's box and re-tightening his gloves, then let him try.
There are two sides to every story. This is an excerpt from an article written by Chicago White Sox star, Jose Abreu.
"When I played with Cienfuegos or with the Cuban national team, I worked
non-stop. Did it every day, even when I had a long trip ahead, traveling
by guagua (bus), to every city in our schedule."
This is an excerpt from his interview with USA Today.
"We play so many games, you get to a point you want (the season) to
end. It's too much, but
that's what you have to deal with and you've got to be strong. I've been
counting down since the 58th game and we still have (41) left. Wow."
This horrific story in the NASCAR dirt track race, where driver Kevin Ward, Jr. was killed, is very sad. We will never know what went on with Tony Stewart, whether it was an accident or something intentional. This question gets raised because of Stewart's history of incidents in his career, but it doesn't excuse Ward from running into traffic. Regardless of who was to blame, it's a shame that someone had to die in a sport where great care is always taken to keep the participants safe. There were mistakes made and Mr. Ward paid the price. Very sad.
Now what?
We're scheduled to see a few ballgames on our trip and I have been telling Annie-O that my concern about a rainout was in Chicago. Not in Denver, not in L.A. and certainly not in San Diego. So what did this morning's scoreboard show? The game in Denver was postponed. Not rain, however, but a broken water main flooded the area in front of the stadium forcing them to shut off the water to the stadium. No rest rooms, no games. I guess you can't plan for everything. I decided that if this happened when we were there, I would have insisted they let me in so I could just sit in the stands for three hours. I'm not traveling 2000 miles for nothing.
Some people never learn.
Jimmy Graham of the New Orleans Saints was fined twice in one game for dunking over the crossbar after scoring a touchdown. Twice! Each time, his ream was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct and Graham was fined $11,025. His teammates weren't thrilled and his coach was furious. One other point:
Eleven thousand and twenty-five dollars? What's the extra $25 for? Overuse of the penalty flag? If the $11,000 didn't bother him, I doubt the extra $25 is going to put Graham over the edge.
***THEY SAID IT***
"Knicks star Carmelo Anthony says he wants to be a facilitator. Imagine Nero saying he wanted to be a firefighter." -- RJ Currie
"Shouldn’t the Mariners have scheduled their August Fireworks Night the night they honored Lou Piniella?" -- Dwight Perry
"As for the new college football playoff format, I’m going to miss the Bowl
Championship Series — much the same way I’d miss second-hand smoke,
cellphones at dinner and people who examine their own earwax." -- Gene Wojciechowski
"According to a new book, Texas was prepared to give Nick Saban $100
million to coach the Longhorns. The governor of Texas has a salary of
about $133,000. Yeah, that sounds about right." -- Brad Dickson
"Caroline Wozniacki will run the New York Marathon in place of her
wedding to Rory McIlroy. It’s a gruelling, sweat-filled ordeal requiring
guts and determination. The other event is a footrace." -- RJ Currie
"The NY Yankees
"Side boob has been added to the Oxford dictionary. Note to Lakers fans: it does not refer to a guy on court with Kobe Bryant." -- RJ Currie
CP-
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