I took a round of live bp at the Uptown Sports Complext hitting cages in the Bronx on Saturday afternoon. It was a humbling experience–my mind remembered how to hit but the body wasn’t so willing (I lunged all over the place). I came away with blisters on my left hand, having worked up a good sweat swinging the bat for half-an-hour. It was a reminder of just how hard baseball is to play, something I thought of again watching Old Timers’ Day this afternoon.
Baseball is not meant to be played by old men. (The same cannot be said about Golf, as Tom Watson nearly became the oldest man to ever win the British Open; a great story, Watson fell short, proving that no age is too old to experience the agony of defeat). Sure, some former players can still swing–Jesse Barfield had a couple of good hacks, Lee Maz knocked a Ron Guidry pitch deep but foul before Gator came back and stuck him out on a slider–and a couple can even move–Jeff Nelson shagging a fly in left, Mickey Rivers turning it on and legging out a double, but mostly, old players just look old trying to play.
Mariano Rivera, yeah, he’s old, but he’s still got the Midas Touch. Rivera saved a game for the third consecutive day as the Yankees completed the sweep of the Tigers, winning 2-1. Joba Chamberlain threw a nice game–hitting the upper 90s on the radar gun–going 6 2/3 strong innings. He worked out of a trouble in the fifth; five or his last six outs came on strikeouts (he had eight in all). Phil Coke threw one pitch to get out of the seventh and Phil Hughes mowed ’em down in the eighth setting the stage for Rivera, who worked around a two out walk (only his fourth base on balls of the year), to earn his 26th save of the year. Rivera lowered his ERA to 2.25.
Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira hit solo home runs and that was the difference. Roy Halladay and the Jays beat the Red Sox and the Yanks are now just one game behind Boston.
In all, a swell start to the second half, wouldn’t you say?
