schooner2
07-10-2002, 03:18 AM
Anybody else out there a bball fan? Anybody else watch the game? I decided to at least leave the TV on and listen to the game while I worked on other things.....and the ending to this game is so incredibly ironic to me. So ironic I just had to say a few words.
I'm an Expos fan believe it or not. Grew up in Memphis when the Single-A Memphis Chicks were a farm team to the Montreal Expos. Watched Tim Raines, Tim Wallach, and Charlie Lea play.
Back to the game.....good game to watch. Lots of runs scored. Just one problem. Game was tied 7-7 after 9 innings. There were enough pitchers to take the game 2 extra innings but the managers for both teams decided to call it a game after 11 innings in order to save the respective pitchers' arms.
At this time in baseball when practically nothing seems to be going right... when everything from steriod testing, to the looming stalemate over the next collective bargaining agreement, to the ever-increasing players' salaries, and ever-increasing gulf between the rich teams and poor teams, baseball seems stuck in a downward spiral that has already claimed its own claim to "The National Pastime".
So maybe the All-Star game makes things all-too clear. The game of baseball minus the owners, agents, salaries, and collective bargaining agreements is still as alluring as ever. This was a fun game to watch for those who like to follow in-game strategies; like watching center fielders clear outfield fences to rob sure-fire home runs; second basemen dive into short right-field to rob sure-fire hits; continued home run hitting by one of the best all-time players in the game; and power pitchers dominate the best hitters in the game. But baseball is apparently snake-bitten and cursed. Nothing it does can go right.
Bud Selig's, Joe Torre's, and Bob Brenly's hands were tied in the end. They really had no control over ending the game because you simply cannot gas a pitcher that is needed by his team in just two more days. And when baseball wanted to honor one of its all time greats, Ted Williams, by naming the All-Star MVP after him, the honor could not be completed tonight because an MVP cannot be named for a tie-game. It was as if the fates decided that baseball would have to endure yet another ugly scar although the game itself was a thing of beauty to watch.
And so maybe it is with baseball as a whole. No matter what those in charge of running this game do, they can do no right. Baseball is stuck in its downward spiral and apparently the fates have decided it will not pull out until rock-bottom is reached.
And how ironic for me, an Expos fan. Montreal was having a break-out year in 1994. Poised to become an elite franchise with fantastic and young talent. When baseball was stopped August 12, 1994, Montreal had the best record of all teams. Atlanta's run of consecutive division titles was practically stopped. But it wasn't to be. Montreal had to have that break-out year to increase attendance thereby increasing revenue in order for it to sustain the inevitable increase in payroll that would come with all its maturing young stars. So instead, Montreal went on a fire-sale. That fire-sale didn't last just through 1995, but continued for 7 more years until in all oddities, it was purchased by Major League Baseball as a collective whole. This led to a turn of events this season that had Montreal going all out by trading for Bartolo Colon one of baseball's best pitchers and hopefully producing a follow-up trade for Cliff Floyd and Ryan Dempster that could put the Expos over the top in the wild-card race. Montreal could finally contend for the wild-card and reenter baseball playoffs. It would now only be fitting if baseball were to endure another strike and once again refuse Montreal a chance to build a baseball team it really deserves.
I'm an Expos fan believe it or not. Grew up in Memphis when the Single-A Memphis Chicks were a farm team to the Montreal Expos. Watched Tim Raines, Tim Wallach, and Charlie Lea play.
Back to the game.....good game to watch. Lots of runs scored. Just one problem. Game was tied 7-7 after 9 innings. There were enough pitchers to take the game 2 extra innings but the managers for both teams decided to call it a game after 11 innings in order to save the respective pitchers' arms.
At this time in baseball when practically nothing seems to be going right... when everything from steriod testing, to the looming stalemate over the next collective bargaining agreement, to the ever-increasing players' salaries, and ever-increasing gulf between the rich teams and poor teams, baseball seems stuck in a downward spiral that has already claimed its own claim to "The National Pastime".
So maybe the All-Star game makes things all-too clear. The game of baseball minus the owners, agents, salaries, and collective bargaining agreements is still as alluring as ever. This was a fun game to watch for those who like to follow in-game strategies; like watching center fielders clear outfield fences to rob sure-fire home runs; second basemen dive into short right-field to rob sure-fire hits; continued home run hitting by one of the best all-time players in the game; and power pitchers dominate the best hitters in the game. But baseball is apparently snake-bitten and cursed. Nothing it does can go right.
Bud Selig's, Joe Torre's, and Bob Brenly's hands were tied in the end. They really had no control over ending the game because you simply cannot gas a pitcher that is needed by his team in just two more days. And when baseball wanted to honor one of its all time greats, Ted Williams, by naming the All-Star MVP after him, the honor could not be completed tonight because an MVP cannot be named for a tie-game. It was as if the fates decided that baseball would have to endure yet another ugly scar although the game itself was a thing of beauty to watch.
And so maybe it is with baseball as a whole. No matter what those in charge of running this game do, they can do no right. Baseball is stuck in its downward spiral and apparently the fates have decided it will not pull out until rock-bottom is reached.
And how ironic for me, an Expos fan. Montreal was having a break-out year in 1994. Poised to become an elite franchise with fantastic and young talent. When baseball was stopped August 12, 1994, Montreal had the best record of all teams. Atlanta's run of consecutive division titles was practically stopped. But it wasn't to be. Montreal had to have that break-out year to increase attendance thereby increasing revenue in order for it to sustain the inevitable increase in payroll that would come with all its maturing young stars. So instead, Montreal went on a fire-sale. That fire-sale didn't last just through 1995, but continued for 7 more years until in all oddities, it was purchased by Major League Baseball as a collective whole. This led to a turn of events this season that had Montreal going all out by trading for Bartolo Colon one of baseball's best pitchers and hopefully producing a follow-up trade for Cliff Floyd and Ryan Dempster that could put the Expos over the top in the wild-card race. Montreal could finally contend for the wild-card and reenter baseball playoffs. It would now only be fitting if baseball were to endure another strike and once again refuse Montreal a chance to build a baseball team it really deserves.