Right now JD Drew is the happiest man in St. Louis. Why, you ask? Well, now when the Cards return to Philly, he will no longer be the most hated man on the visiting squad. So Rolen is in St Loo, but they still need some pitching to be a threat in the playoffs. Meanwhile, my man Jim at the Vet is telling everyone how Bud Smith joins Padilla, Duckworth and Myers to give the Phils a good young staff. Time will tell if Jim's prediction will be true, but I know that Jimmy Rollins is still the man most likely to play with a toothpick and that rates him high in my book.

Here are my thoughts about baseball: Boston needs to make a move because the Yanks can be had this year, but not with this squad. Tony Clark and Frank Castillo won't cut it. The Mets should trade some guys as I think they will fold down the stretch and be screwed for next year.....or they could just send all the castoffs like Ordonez and Cedeno to Florida and my friend Jeff Loria.

Softball playoffs tomorrow...more after the game.

Quick update tonight before I head out to RI in the morning. I think that I did not do Jim from The Vet justice in my last update. The guy was worth the price of admission and if every pro and college team has a few fans like him, they are in good shape.

Softball has reached the playoffs and we are scuffling right now with new line-ups each game. I am feeling better at short as of late, but my arm can't take too many long throws from the hole. Hopefully, we can win a couple of games and keep the season going- if not it has been fun.

Well NCAA Football 2003 is out and in my possession. Great game and as always EA Sports comes through for the college fb fanatics like myself. Don't run, but drive (carefully) to your local store to pick this bad boy up. I guaranteee that you won' t be disappointed.

Back from Philly and sorry to report that the Braves did not wear the powder-blue unis. Instead we got the 1970s and those have the lower case "a" hat which is about all I can say about them. The Vet has $1.25 hot dogs down by the left field foul pole and Jim the dancing usher. Jim is very (hmmm..how shall I say this) "enthusiastic" about his job and the Phils. The guy was going like mad in mid-90s heat, even donning the rally bandana late in the game. When the final out was recorded, Jim looked like he had just lost- he definitely took it hard.

I don't get the throwback unis that some teams have been wearing, but did you catch those yellow A's jerseys....wow they were so bright poor Dave Burba couldn't focus to throw a pitch with the bases loaded. I've never seen a pitcher freeze like that and it must have been the jerseys.

It was a great weekend hanging out with Travis and Justin- just having a good time and coming up with some crazy stuff. Sometimes I think it is good that we don't live closer to one another- that could be big trouble for a bunch of people.

Celtics get Vin Baker- the rest of the East laughs. So does mean that Antoine gets his wish and brings the ball up? Think Vin was depressed before- how is he going to like being ignored by Walker and Pierce.

Not much to write tonight. I will be heading to Philly this weekend to catch the Braves-Phillies on Saturday. According to my man Travis, both teams are wearing their 80s uniforms which is going to be sweet. Powder-blue v-necks for the Bravos. Too bad Maddux pitched last night. Speaking of Maddux, watching him pitch is amazing. The guy looks like someone who does your taxes and not someone who would dominate the Majors. I appreciate how quickly he works, and just goes about his business. Plus, the "Chicks Dig the Longball" commercial that he did with Glavine is a classic.

Well I made my mound debut tonight as I pitched mop-up duty in our blowout loss. It went well, but we still lost by ten runs. Thankfully everyone makes the playoffs. I will be back with a report from my trip on Sunday. Have a good weekend.

Back from The Boilermaker and if you ever need a good reason to put your body through 9.3 miles of pain, then this is the place to be. The route is packed with spectators and the free popsicles,pepsi,choc. chip cookies and of course beer are worth all that torture. For me it was a chance to catch up and work on the plan to bring back ......The Black Squirrels!!!!!

So I read this article in the NY Post today and the guy talks about how the Mets can land A-Rod. Pick up the courtesy phone Junior and give Tony Tarasco back his stash. Why would the Rangers give up A-Rod for a bunch of has-beens and never proven prospects. A-Rod is only the best player in the game right now. Yet, Joel Sherman thinks that picking up Rey Ordonez,Robbie Alomar, Jeremy Burnitz,Roger Cedeno and two prospects for A-Rod,Hank Blalock and Gabe Kapler....as Rog would say..."Riiiighttttt". I mean do I need to break this down anymore. Yes, the Rangers are awful and want to dump salary, but you don't trade the best player in the game. This would be like the Lakers trading Shaq (along with Kareem Rush and Brian Shaw) to the Celtics for two 1st round picks, Kenny Anderson, Vitaly Potapenko, Rodney Rogers, Walter McCarty and Tony Delk. Would anyone think he that's a good trade for LA. No, they wouldn't. If you were to trade A-Rod, it would have to be for Nomar and Casey Fossum, or Tejada and Zito. C'mon people, a little common sense here.

Quick update tonight. Nice trade for the Expos getting Floyd. He should play 1st and hit behind Vlad to add some protection to the middle of the order. I am also happy that Encarnacion is in Florida as he will get to play everyday and that helps my Black Squirrels fantasy squad.

Softball Update: Nice comeback win for the Collective Unconscious tonight. I was 2-2 w/ two walks and 3 runs scored. My OBP is sitting well above .500.

Now playing: I used to do this back on my old site, so here are the songs getting frequent airplay in the Sentra:

"Business"- Eminem
"Boom"- P.O.D.
"I Feel So"- Boxcar Racer

Boilermaker is Sunday- I'll update you on that event next week. I should have some stories from Utica and maybe a guest rant by The Rog.

Ok so we all know what happened in the All-Star Game and let me add my $.02 on this subject. I don't mind the game ending in a tie, since it is not worth anyone getting hurt, but did we need the "ok if you guys don't score, then it's a tie game because it is getting dark and my mom is calling me me home" bit. I agree with those who said that they should have decided in the 9th how many innings they would play in case of a tie and let the fans now ahead of time. Other people had a good idea saying they should have had a short Home Run Derby to pick a winner.

My beef is with the lack of an MVP. I mean here they go through all of this about honoring Ted Williams and then they pull a "John Henry" by not picking someone. Here you go- Co-MVP's: Paul Konerko and Damian Miller- problem solved- you're welcome.

I have turned off the ESPYs because Jennifer Capriati won for Comeback of the Year over Saku Koivu. OK, let me get this straight girl overcomes "burnout" while guy beats cancer and returns in less than a year to help lead his team to an opening-round playoff win....yes I am biased towards Saku, but c'mon people- which is truly the better comeback. I would buy Peter Forsberg maybe over Koivu because he had a better playoffs and his team went further and at least he had some medical problems to overcome. This is a travesty of justice.....travesty I tell ya.

Link of the week: The Pawtucket Red Sox

It's heading to extra innings in the All-Star Game and I have to say that I am enjoying this year's contest. Torii Hunter's catch on Bonds was unreal and it was cool to see Barry joking with him after the play. I know that Bonds has a bad rep but face it- the guy can flat out play. He is one of the top 5 all-around players in baseball history and him being a jerk should not diminish that fact.

Well our softball team fell in defeat tonight. We are in a bit of a slump with the bats and the two weeks off did not help any. I saw my average drop a couple of hundred points tonight with my 1-4 showing.....too many fly balls. I have to say that I am feeling more comfortable at short despite the terrible field conditions.

At this moment, Sammy Sosa is knocking down Miller Park bit by bit. Somehow the estimated distances that they are reporting appear to be a bit off. One ball hit about 50 feet up in center field and they said it was 480.....right. That ball had to be over 5 bills without a doubt. Of course at this rate, this contest will end around midnight, so we'll have to see what else happens during the rest of the competition.

My top hitting performance of the first half would have to go to Shawn Green for his 6-6, 4HR day against the Brewers. Best pitching performance will go to Derek Lowe, but a no-hitter against Tampa Bay is a little bit like pitching one in a Nintendo game.

Hey look as Jeffrey Loria ruins another baseball franchise. Guess what Jeff, it rains a lot in South Florida and people won't buy good money to see a crappy team. Good luck with that contraction. I make no secret about my wish that the Expos make the playoffs and maybe adding Dempster and Floyd would allow them to sneak past the second-place squad in the West.

Right now, my fantasy team is sitting at .500 thanks to some up and down play and poor decisions by yours truly. Here's hoping for a big second half from Piazza and Dunn and the continued success of Vizquel,Colon and Mulder.

Ok so the Rangers kept Richter and added Holik and Kasparitis. If they get Amonte, I will be worried. Losing Fleury does hurt them because the guy plays hard and really gets under the skin of his opponents. Here's hoping that Dougie Gilmour comes back for another year with Les Habitants.

I am currently reading "Tropic of Hockey" by Dave Bidini. It is about finding hockey in some unusual places. So far, it's a good read if you like hockey. It also made me realize that if I was Canadian, my nickname would be "Kevie"....hmmm well maybe we could go with "Wally" instead.

R.I.P.- Ted Williams- the best all-around hitter in baseball history.

Hope everyone out there had a good holiday weekend. For those who have been waiting, here are my mid-season MLB awards:
MVP: AL- Alex Rodriguez NL- Eric Gagne
Cy Young: AL- Derek Lowe NL- Tom Glavine
Rookie: AL-Eric Hinske NL- Austin Kearns (note: I follow the Peter Gammons principle whereas players from Japan are not rookies since they played in a professional league, thus Kaz Ishii is not a rookie)

3 more weeks until NCAA Football 2003 is released and if you love college football then you should be putting your money down for this game.

OK I had this typed yesterday, but must have goofed on the posting. Anyway without further ado, here are my All-Star picks....(since these are my pics, I don't have to pick a player from every team)
AL
C- Posada, Pierzinski
1B- Giambi, Konerko,Sweeney
2B-Soriano
SS-A-Rod, Nomar,Vizquel,Jeter
3B-Ventura,Hinske,Chavez, Batista
OF-Ichiro,Hunter,Damon,Ordonez,G.Anderson,Winn
P-Pedro,Lowe,Buehrle,Sazaki,Garcia,Zito,Guardado,Romero,Halladay
NL
C-Piazza,Miller
1B-Helton,Dunn
2B-Vidro,Spivey,Castillo
SS-Rollins,Hernandez
3B-Lowell,Pujols
OF-Bonds,Sosa,Guerrero,A.Jones,Berkman,Giles, Walker,Green,Floyd
P-Colon,Glavine,Schilling,Johnson,Perez,Smoltz,Gagne,Morris,Williams,Nen

Next week I will give you my mid-season award winners.

I still say Cujo is not the goalie to lead the Red Wings to a repeat, but Toronto is done with Belfour as their #1 guy. Who knows who the Rangers are going to have in net? Maybe they are going to go with Byron Dafoe....

Have a safe and holiday and I will be back next week with my thoughts on the weekend....now can you dig that..............SUCKAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

It's Canada Day, so I have to talk about hockey. If I'm Detroit, try and grab Richter and Guerin and keep Chelios. Yes, Cujo might be better than Richter but Legace is ready to play 30 games and they could pick up another big scorer. Hey who cares what the Wings do, I just want to see what the Habs pull off. First, they need to lock up Theo and then cut some payroll and let some young guys get in there next year.

The All-Star picks are ridiculous...how does Brian Giles not make this squad? They need to use a 3 person committee and not allow the manager to pick because of course they will pick their own guys when it comes down to it. I have to jet now so I can go put my keyboard in its humidor.