Nick Mamalis is a full time baseball "beerman".
Hello everyone, today is the last day of the Red Sox/Yankees 4-game series and boy it has been quite interesting actually. The Yanks have taken the first two, the Sox, the last and tonight is the finale. Who will win? We shall see. I am up here in Boston visiting the family and amazingly enough, sports are still on my mind! Who would have thought?
The Rays seem to be continuing on their below par season, slipping further back in the standings. At least they aren’t the Blue Jays right! David Price looks to start the All-Star game in a few days, perhaps a welcome break to a very rough 1st half of baseball. With football beginning next month, will the fans continue to be talking about the Rays or will the Buccaneers and their new crew be the focal point?
With All-Star game around the corner, expect to see a great home run derby, great game and an even better expansion to Kauffman Stadium. Yes, they did put money into the stadium and while I will not be able to attend, even though I was invited, I will still watch the festivities from Beantown. Go American League!
My fantasy baseball team has excelled but not enough. I need guys like (David) Ortiz and (Derek) Jeter to be hitting but also guys like (R.A.) Dickey to keep faking guys out on those knuckle balls. What a pitcher. Anyone remember Tim Wakefield? He was the Red Sox premier knuckle-baller, rookie year I think in 1967 and recently retired! Not 1967? But it seemed that way because he played for so long. Is Dickey able to follow the longevity? Only if he stays dominant could be the answer but in the end, was Wakefield dominant? Pitchers are very hard to come by these days but this is the year of the pitcher where guys throw no-hitters and perfect games versus hitters taking pitchers deep non-stop.
Back in the day, hitters were hitting home runs one out of every 10 at-bats practically, the good ones anyway and the others were just hitting more and further. Why has that changed? Perhaps the steroid era helped batters get more hits or just get those hits further out of reach. Perhaps the balls hit went faster past the fielders so they could not react as well. Whatever the reason, it seems to have stopped being the case and get ready for pitchers to rise.
What is everyone going to do after the All-Star game? Personally, there is a really long homestand coming back to Tropicana Field starting with a Red Sox game and a Friday concert night. This is followed by the Indians and Mariners. The Marlins hopefully can get back to their winning ways after an awful month of June. The Nats remain in first place in the N.L. East.
Anyway, on that note, I do sign off and wish everyone a great weekend coming up. Watch the All-Star game and be responsible. Talk to you again soon.
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