Yesterday's Nats @ Marlins game:


Now...  Name them.

Considering that I was looking at the career home run numbers a little earlier, I notice that Alex Rodriguez has hit 33 home runs so far this season. He would then need 29 to break the single-season record held by Roger Maris. With 65 games remaining, one every other game would do it. A possibility?

Rank	Player	Home Runs	Year
1.	Roger Maris	61	1961
2.	Babe Ruth	60	1927
3.	Babe Ruth	59	1921
4.	Jimmie Foxx	58	1932
	Hank Greenberg	58	1938
	Ryan Howard	58	2006
7.	Luis Gonzalez	57	2001
	Alex Rodriguez	57	2002
9.	Ken Griffey	56	1997
	Ken Griffey	56	1998
	Hack Wilson	56	1930
12.	Ralph Kiner	54	1949
	Mickey Mantle	54	1961
	David Ortiz	54	2006
	Babe Ruth	54	1920
	Babe Ruth	54	1928
17.	George Foster	52	1977
	Mickey Mantle	52	1956
	Willie Mays	52	1965
	Alex Rodriguez	52	2001
	Jim Thome	52	2002

Alex Rodriquez hit his 497^th home run today, in the second game of a Yankees/Tampa Bay doubleheader. At the age of 32, it is possible that Rodriguez could play another ten years, and in that time, accumulate the 259 home runs he would need to break Hank Aaron's career home run record.

Here's hoping?

The numbers, as of 20 July 2007
(adjusted for inflation)

1	Hank Aaron	755
2	Babe Ruth	714
3	Willie Mays	660
4	Ken Griffey, Jr. (24)	587
5	Frank Robinson	586
6	Harmon Killebrew	573
7	Rafael Palmeiro	569
8	Reggie Jackson	563
9	Mike Schmidt	548
10	Mickey Mantle	536
11	Jimmie Foxx	534
12	Willie McCovey	521
	Ted Williams	521
14	Ernie Banks	512
	Eddie Mathews	512
16	Mel Ott	511
17	Eddie Murray	504
18	Frank Thomas (14)	501
19	Alex Rodriguez (32)	496
20	Lou Gehrig	493
	Fred McGriff	493

The Brewers were in town last week.  So was the Furry Convention.  Bob Uecker was impressed.  Favorably or not, I cannot say, but here is a shot taken in the lobby of the Westin William Penn, on Friday morning:



Here is audio from Thursday's game.

And from Friday's game.

I almost wish I could have been there.

Indians @ Blue Jays, 1:05 pm
Angels @ Yankees, 3:55 pm
Brewers @ Nationals, 7:05 pm
Marlins @ Dodgers, 10:55 pm

That's twelve solid hours of baseball.  Ain't life grand?

Only six weeks into the season!  Yay, yay, oh golly yay!

Me and my affinity for the underdogs...

I asked the sports director at WJPA if the Wild Things' games would be on an Internet feed, and he answered in the affirmative.  Yay, yay!  Baseball without the hype!  Yay!

I cast my All-Star ballot (Singular. To hell with this "Vote early and often.") today. All right, I admit that I don't know the American League for crap. I don't even know the National League as well as some of these guys claim to know it. That said, there were a few names that jumped off the page, screaming "Me! Me! Over here! Me!". So, here it is, my 2007 All-Star ballot, with the obvious names set in bold-face.

American League First Base Hafner, T. CLE Second Base Barfield, J. CLE Third Base Blake, C. CLE Shortstop Peralta, J. CLE Catcher Posada, J. NYY Outfielder Abreu, B. NYY Outfielder Sizemore, G. CLE Outfielder Suzuki, I. SEA

National League First Base Garciaparra, N. LAD Second Base Biggio, C. HOU Third Base Zimmerman, R. WAS Shortstop Vizquel, O. SF Catcher Ausmus, B. HOU Outfielder Beltran, C. NYM Outfielder Church, R. WAS Outfielder Giles, B. SD

Yes, yes, there are a couple of Yankee names there. I know that if you followed the American League anywhere but in New York, you were supposed to hate the Yankees on principle. Thing is, the Yankees have some damned decent players. Especially Beaker (Posada). It's not every team who gets to bat a damned decent catcher in the #6 spot. And I had to think hard about shortstop, really and truly; I suppose I let team loyalty get the best of me.  Barfield, though; the Indians had better keep this boy.

In the NL, Zim was the most obvious of the obvious.  It's nice to see Giles doing well, too, after escaping Pittsburgh.

So here I am, trying desperately to hang on to Major League Baseball, feeling my grip slip bit by bit...

Clemens sweepstakes officially begin

Oh, for the love of St. Gulik! Hey, craphead, you're the ringmaster of your own circus by now! Retire, and stay retired. The team that signs you earns my unending disdain (it had better not be the Nationals, it had better not be the Nationals...). You know what? If Boston wants you, they can have you; I already lost all respect for the Red Sox when they didn't neuter Pedro Martínez for decking Don Zimmer in the 2003 ALCS.

It's the bottom of the 17^th. You're the only player on the bench. Your guys finally scored in the top of the inning. You want this game over. What do you do?

Here's what Rafael Furcal did: