Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Hey now, you're an All-Star...
Another All-Star Game has come and gone, and it has ended in another American League victory. Generally speaking the All-Star Game, in addition to being a showcase of baseball’s talent, is a decent window on the relative strengths of the two leagues. The A.L. has been dominating inter-league play for some time now, dominated the World Series until last year’s surprising St. Louis Cardinals victory, and it has been dominating the All-Star Game. Clearly, the A.L. is superior.
But the close score to this All-Star Game and the resurgence of the N.L. in inter-league play serves notice that the N.L. is making its way back into the spotlight.
How did the Phillies do last night? Well …
Cole Hamels pitched the fourth inning of the game for the N.L. and surrendered two hits, but didn’t allow a run when he was on the mound. No strikeouts or walks. A pretty unremarkable appearance by the Phillies best pitcher.
Chase Utley started at second base for the N.L. and went 0-for-2.
Aaron Rowand replaced Ken Griffey, Jr. in rightfield (who are the knuckleheads who voted for Griffey?) and went 0-for-2, making the final out of the game.
Now the real season gets started. The Phillies are .500 and are very, very much still in the race, sitting just four and a half games out of first place, and four and a half games out of the wildcard. Anything is possible, and unless the team craters in the next two weeks, expect the Phillies to be buyers and not sellers at the All-Star Break. Say goodbye to Michael Bourn (probably traded for pitching help) and possibly to Pat Burrell, provided that the Phillies can find someone crazy enough to take his salary. It will be interesting to see how the Mets and Braves act in the coming days. Will they be aggressive? Will the opportunity to retake the N.L. East make the Braves go crazy? Will the Mets wilt under the pressure?
We shall see … I watched The Bronx Is Burning last night. It is an ESPN mini-series about the 1977 New York Yankees, the team that drove itself insane while winning the World Series, with Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner battling it out amidst the backdrop of the ’77 Mayoral race, the Son of Sam killer, riots, the blackout, etc. I thought the first episode was pretty good – John Turturro is particular is great as Billy Martin. I am looking forward to the rest of it.
More tomorrow.
But the close score to this All-Star Game and the resurgence of the N.L. in inter-league play serves notice that the N.L. is making its way back into the spotlight.
How did the Phillies do last night? Well …
Cole Hamels pitched the fourth inning of the game for the N.L. and surrendered two hits, but didn’t allow a run when he was on the mound. No strikeouts or walks. A pretty unremarkable appearance by the Phillies best pitcher.
Chase Utley started at second base for the N.L. and went 0-for-2.
Aaron Rowand replaced Ken Griffey, Jr. in rightfield (who are the knuckleheads who voted for Griffey?) and went 0-for-2, making the final out of the game.
Now the real season gets started. The Phillies are .500 and are very, very much still in the race, sitting just four and a half games out of first place, and four and a half games out of the wildcard. Anything is possible, and unless the team craters in the next two weeks, expect the Phillies to be buyers and not sellers at the All-Star Break. Say goodbye to Michael Bourn (probably traded for pitching help) and possibly to Pat Burrell, provided that the Phillies can find someone crazy enough to take his salary. It will be interesting to see how the Mets and Braves act in the coming days. Will they be aggressive? Will the opportunity to retake the N.L. East make the Braves go crazy? Will the Mets wilt under the pressure?
We shall see … I watched The Bronx Is Burning last night. It is an ESPN mini-series about the 1977 New York Yankees, the team that drove itself insane while winning the World Series, with Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner battling it out amidst the backdrop of the ’77 Mayoral race, the Son of Sam killer, riots, the blackout, etc. I thought the first episode was pretty good – John Turturro is particular is great as Billy Martin. I am looking forward to the rest of it.
More tomorrow.
Comments:
All in all, I enjoyed the All Star game this year. I liked to see Willie Mays again. As a kid, I sat next to him during a benefit softball game I was at and I told him how great his world series ring looked. He was a down to earth kind of guy and that was about 25 years ago or more.
Here all about what we thought of the All Star happenings on the Philly Webcast at:
http://phillysportstalknow.blogspot.com/2007/07/show-49-philly-sports-talk-now-jul-12.html
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Here all about what we thought of the All Star happenings on the Philly Webcast at:
http://phillysportstalknow.blogspot.com/2007/07/show-49-philly-sports-talk-now-jul-12.html
