OK, so maybe the All-Star break isn’t that exciting. But after that 19-inning gut-twister, maybe a little break won’t be so bad. The homerun derby was only watchable thanks to Mr. Big Papi and that awe-inspiring stroke. Is it just me, or were his homeruns just a bit more towering, a touch more…majestic…than all the others? And just for a fleeting moment, didn’t you want to be one of those clowns jumping off a rubber raft to get one of those souvenirs?
Then Berman would bring back his tired “back-back-back” act and remind us all that this was ESPN and not a real game and pan to Robinson Cano doing whatever the hell he was doing and just why do we really need the All-Star break again? And another “was it just me” question: did Ortiz’s kid look eerily like a mini-Manny?
Let’s wrap up the first half in style. Jason Johnson was busted down to a single-A rehab start on Wednesday. Thank Christ-on-the-cross we won’t be seeing him toe the rubber for the big club again. Or will we? Give me Snyder for another start. Shit, give me Don Johnson for that matter.
Johnny Damon admitted in a recent interview to having smoked pot. Well thank you Mr. Damon for solving that little mystery. I had it narrowed down to a blow to the head as a child, a combination of glue-sniffing and paint-chip eating, or pot. Damon said (and I paraphrase a bit because I’m far too lazy at this hour to look up the exact quote) “why not? It is natural, it comes from the earth.” File that in the who-gives-a-shit drawer.
Finally, for a rare serious SG note, all the best to Peter Gammons and family. He is “the man” when it comes to baseball.
