Monday, June 21, 2004
Notes From The Weekend
• Edgardo! Nice to see him pitching in finally. A two-run pinch-hit home run in the eighth on Saturday--sounded like a monster. Listening to Jon Miller's call, we heard "(VERY LOUD CRACK OF BAT) Swing, and it's gone!" And then a grand slam to account for all the runs in a 4-0 win over the BoSox yesterday. One-and-a-half games back with the DodgeBalls coming in to town. A great opportunity to miraculously get into first place.
• And Jason Schmidt is a stud. Two one-hitters in one year is almost Nolan Ryan-like. And it's not even the All-Star Break yet.
• Speaking of the All-Star Game, I have a voting idea. To switch it up, let's have the managers, coaches and players, writers and broadcasters or any combo of those groups vote on the starters, excluding players from their own teams. And let's keep the fan vote, but let their vote determine the reserves. In other words, if Barry and Sammy and Junior go 1-2-3 the players' vote, and Barry, Sammy and Junior are the top three in the fan vote, let the fan vote determine the 4th, 5th and possibly 6th outfielders. And if somebody else is in the top three in the fan vote, they'd get to play as well. This way, the players who truly deserve to be in the game will get to start the game, and in the later innings the fan's choices will start to come in and get a chance to be a late-inning hero.
But we would change it up a bit more: If you haven't played at all during the season, you are not eligible to play in the All-Star Game. This would eliminate the possibility that a Nomar Garciaparra could come in and grab the fan vote and get to start the All-Star Game without even having played.
Also, the All-Star Game would not determine who gets home-field advantage in the World Series. It's a good idea in theory but its practicality is null and void.
• Note to the director of the Reds' cable broadcast of Saturday's game: When Ken Griffey Jr. is up going for his 500th home run, make sure the broadcast shows us Griffey at the time the ball is hit, and not his wife. They lingered on his wife for one shot, and we heard the crack of the bat before the director cut back to home plate. An outrageous way to cover a possbily historic moment in baseball. Face it, guys, nobody cares about the wives anyway. If we did, we'd have them be in a league and follow that.
• Matt Starr is still being maligned, so I am still here to back him up. When the harassment stops, so will I. I don't have the powers of Matthew Star, but if I did, I'd force everyone to stop pretending kids are the kings of the world. Kids should have to deal with adults the way adults have to deal with kids. We're all in this together. Right, Matthew?
• And Jason Schmidt is a stud. Two one-hitters in one year is almost Nolan Ryan-like. And it's not even the All-Star Break yet.
• Speaking of the All-Star Game, I have a voting idea. To switch it up, let's have the managers, coaches and players, writers and broadcasters or any combo of those groups vote on the starters, excluding players from their own teams. And let's keep the fan vote, but let their vote determine the reserves. In other words, if Barry and Sammy and Junior go 1-2-3 the players' vote, and Barry, Sammy and Junior are the top three in the fan vote, let the fan vote determine the 4th, 5th and possibly 6th outfielders. And if somebody else is in the top three in the fan vote, they'd get to play as well. This way, the players who truly deserve to be in the game will get to start the game, and in the later innings the fan's choices will start to come in and get a chance to be a late-inning hero.
But we would change it up a bit more: If you haven't played at all during the season, you are not eligible to play in the All-Star Game. This would eliminate the possibility that a Nomar Garciaparra could come in and grab the fan vote and get to start the All-Star Game without even having played.
Also, the All-Star Game would not determine who gets home-field advantage in the World Series. It's a good idea in theory but its practicality is null and void.
• Note to the director of the Reds' cable broadcast of Saturday's game: When Ken Griffey Jr. is up going for his 500th home run, make sure the broadcast shows us Griffey at the time the ball is hit, and not his wife. They lingered on his wife for one shot, and we heard the crack of the bat before the director cut back to home plate. An outrageous way to cover a possbily historic moment in baseball. Face it, guys, nobody cares about the wives anyway. If we did, we'd have them be in a league and follow that.
• Matt Starr is still being maligned, so I am still here to back him up. When the harassment stops, so will I. I don't have the powers of Matthew Star, but if I did, I'd force everyone to stop pretending kids are the kings of the world. Kids should have to deal with adults the way adults have to deal with kids. We're all in this together. Right, Matthew?
"Absolutely right, E.K."
