If the only baseball news you get come from my blog (because you only read my blog to be nice, not because you're a true baseball fan), there are a lot of newsworthy items that you may have missed. First of all, the Baltimore Orioles' second baseman, Brian Roberts, returned to his team last night after being on the Disabled List for over a year due to recurring concussion symptoms. Not only did Roberts get a standing ovation from the fans at Camden Yards, but he went 3 for 4 with one RBI. Welcome back, Brian!
Another noteworthy event is that the Washington Nationals' Stephen Strasburg became the first pitcher in the Majors to reach 100 strikeouts this season. He did so in 76 1/3 innings pitched and now has a record of 8-1. If Strasburg is not selected to be a starting pitcher for this year's All-Star Game, I swear I will run my next marathon in my bare feet with my hands tied behind my back. The Nationals, by the way, just finished a six-game road trip where they swept the Red Sox and Blue Jays, and are now headed home to face the Yankees this weekend with a franchise-best 38-23 record.
Also of note (though I wish I could skip this item, but it would be irresponsible of me to do so) is that the New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez tied Lou Gehrig with the 23rd grand slam of his career. Now, I don't see this as a particularly great individual feat, because it is out of your control as a batter whether the bases are loaded or not when you hit a home run. Now, if the bases are loaded, no pitcher in his right mind would intentionally walk a batter to walk in a run, so of course they're going to pitch to A-Rod. On other occasions, pitchers either intentionally walk him or pitch around him ("unintentionally" intentionally walking him), so when they're forced to pitch to him, yes, he's likely to hit a home run. Not because there are 3 guys on base, but because they don't want to walk him in this case. So because I'm an A-Rod hater, I'm going to pooh-pooh this otherwise-wonderful feat and hope that someone with the grace and dignity of Lou Gehrig passes A-Rod on this list someday.
Let's see... what else? Oh, sorry Scott, but I have to mention how the Phillies are in LAST place by 10 games in the NL East. Their 29-24 record is a far cry from that of victorious years past, - maybe their fans will stop being so obnoxious when they visit other ballparks. And how about those Pirates? They're only one game back of the Reds in the NL Central, and as much as I like the Cardinals (for having Beltrán and Molina), it's nice to see someone else in the top two spots for a change.
So yeah, this has been an interesting week so far, and it will only get better on Saturday, when my husband and will I go down to Nationals Park for our second game of the season. Yankees and Nationals - Jordan Zimmermann against previously-retired Andy Pettite; Harper versus A-Rod; Jeter versus Desmond; the "Curly W" versus pinstriped uniforms that haven't changed since the 1800s. I'm looking forward to seeing Robinson Canó in person, though I hope he goes 0-4 that day. I can't wait to tell you all about it!
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