Daily Archives: July 10, 2006

As I did last year, I thought it would be fun to try to assemble my own versions of the two 32-man All-Star team rosters. The only rules here are that the fan vote counts, but the player vote doesn’t, and that each team must be represented. Unfortunately, I got a bit carried away and only had time for the AL roster, still, this should answer your questions about why some seemingly worthy Yankees aren’t in Pittsburgh tonight.

Starters elected by the fans:

1B – David Ortiz
2B – Mark Loretta
SS – Derek Jeter
3B – Alex Rodriguez
C – Ivan Rodriguez
RF – Ichiro Suzuki
CF – Vladimir Guerrero
LF – Manny Ramirez

First thing’s first. Ramirez has begged out of the game, clearing the way for Vernon Wells, who is both a proper center fielder and worthy of starting, so that’s all candy and berries. So reset the outfield:

RF – Ichiro Suzuki
CF – Vernon Wells
LF – Vladimir Guerrero

DL – Manny Ramirez

Next up, let’s get our reps from the worst teams in there to avoid any Mark Redman-style eyesores. From the Royals I’m going with David DeJesus (.310/.404/.477), who both leads the team in VORP and is really the only member of their team with any kind of future. From the Devil Rays I’ll go with Scott Kazmir (3.27, 10-6, 9.73 K/9), again the team leader in VORP and a young player with a bright future (far brighter than DeJesus’s to say the least). Moving up in the standings we need an Oriole. That team is basically Miguel Tejada (.315/.362/.510, 17 HR, 62 RBI) and change and again Tejada is the team leader in VORP (by a lot). Easy choice there. Next are the Indians. Travis Hafner (.322/.461/.650, 25 HR, 74 RBI) leads the major leagues in VORP and was shafted last year, so he’s an easy choice.

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Right around the time that Jason Giambi launched his grand slam Sunday afternoon, I was on the IRT headed downtown. At 225th street, a tall, scraggly-looking man in shorts entered the subway accompanied by a seeing-eye dog. The man sat directly across from me. The car was almost bare. A Latin couple sat to my right and a young girl–no more than 9 or 10–sat to my left. Next to her was what appeared to be her older brother. The dog–a golden retriever–wore a leather harness and had a red bandana hanging from its neck.

In no time, the owner asked if I wanted to pet his pooch. Somewhere in the back of my head I couldn’t remember ever interacting with a blind person’s dog, but since I love retrievers I didn’t hesitate. Before long, the dog was in love, and true to its nature, it couldn’t get enough of me. He pressed his head against my legs and slobbered on my lap. Later, as he faced his owner, he leaned into me hard (I love how dogs lean into you as a way of being friendly). The girl next to me looked cautious.

“She’s afraid of dogs,” the blind man said. I started to wonder if he had only partial vision. His eyes were clear, but what do I know? I figure he had heard the girl speaking to her brother.

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The Yanks blew a 5-0 lead on Sunday afternoon and lost to the Devil Rays, 6-5. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez had poor at bats with the game tied in the seventh (Jeter fouled out attempting to bunt and Rodriguez whiffed with the go-ahead run on second). The inning concluded in dramatic fashion when Rocco Baldelli made a fantastic throw to the plate on Bernie Williams’ single, nailing Melky Cabrera in the process. It was just a great play, man. Badelli later made an acrobatic catch, robbing Derek Jeter of a triple in the ninth inning. The Yanks wasted a grand slam from Jason Giambi but didn’t lose any ground in the east as the White Sox finally beat the Red Sox (took ’em 19 innings, but they got the “w”).

Yanks go into the break as just one of five teams in the majors with 50 or more wins. Four of those teams happen to be in the American League. If the Bombers were in the NL, they’d have the second best record in the league (three behind the Mets); in the AL, they’d miss the playoffs if the season ended today. Although I don’t think anyone would be shocked if the Yankees missed the post-season this year, it’s hard to down on the team right now. They have hung in there despite all of the injuries. Who knows? Maybe they go out in the second half and catch fire. Then again, they could win 95 games and find themselves playing golf in October.

It’ll be fun to see how it all pans out, eh?