Wednesday, July 16, 2008

13 years and counting...

Last night marked 13 straight non-wins (one tie if your memory stretches six years back) for the National League in baseball's mid-summer classic. Talk about domination. Cliff Lee started the game and worked two scoreless innings with three strikeouts and just one hit allowed. And Grady Sizemore figured prominently in the outcome. With the AL trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the 8th, his 2-out single with nobody on started the rally. He then stole second and eventually scored on Evan (not Eva) Longoria's double into the left field corner. The score remained tied for what seemed like years, until eventually the AL won on Michael Young's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 15th.

Cliff worked 2 scoreless innings for the AL

I'm still trying to figure out why I actually stayed up for the final outcome. I think I was hoping for Grady to be the hero. Or maybe for both teams to resort to position players having to pitch. Actually, I think I just wanted to see Bud Selig throw up his hands one more time and declare a tie, then flip a coin to see which team got home-field advantage in the World Series. But it wasn't meant to be and so I stayed up until 1:30am Eastern for no good reason. Now we begin the great summer sports void for the next two days. It's gonna be rough...

A repeat of 2002 just wasn't in the cards

Cavs Update:
Not really a surprise, today the Cavaliers inked guard Daniel 'Boobie' Gibson to a contract extension, keeping the restricted free agent sharpshooter in a wine and gold uniform for at least 5 more years. Boobie will always have a special place in my heart after his Game 6 heroics against Detroit in the 2007 Eastern Conference finals. I'm glad he was so quick and willing to re-sign, especially after last year's ridiculous holdouts from Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic. Next up is Delonte West.

And Posey Watch '08 continues. It seems to me like he is just playing these other teams to get the Celtics to lengthen their contract offer:
James Posey, the Celtics' highest-priority unsigned veteran, is seeking a four-year contract, an NBA source said yesterday. Posey, 31, is treating negotiations as if this could be his final contract and has been in talks with Detroit, the Lakers, New Orleans, Cleveland, and Washington. No team has been willing to offer a deal beyond three years. (Boston Globe)
*Update* as of 4:00 pm Wednesday, it looks like Posey is going to the Hornets in a 4-year deal. That still hurts the Celts and won't strap us for the next four years, so I'm fine with it. *End Update*

Finally, the Cavs summer league team takes on the Rockets tonight at 10:30pm in Las Vegas. It's another chance to get a sneak peek at J.J. Hickson. And maybe one of your final chances to watch Tractor Traylor lumber up and down the court. Anything to fill the sports void!

4 comments:

Chris Walker said...

I was reading the article on cleveland.com about the Cavs signing Boobie. Needless to say, I was absolutely shocked - befuddled, even - when I read the comments section and found not one, but TWO logical comments from readers. Logical, realistic, unbiased but hopeful comments. And they were both posted by you. So, I just wanted to say thanks. It's nice to know that there are some intelligent Cleveland fans out there. I know they exist, and most don't post on comment boards. I just needed a reminder that that was the case (since I'm stuck living in Wolverine country).

So, um, thanks stranger. And here's hoping we get that championship via the Browns this year.

We're close.....oh, so close!

chiefwahoo56 said...

Thanks for the kind words Chris, I appreciate it. The Browns are very close and I'm just trying to keep my mind off of the NFL for a couple more weeks. It makes the wait more tolerable if I just don't think about it.

Keep the faith up there in enemy country. It's nice to know it's not all gloom and doom with every Cleveland fan out there. And I'll be trying to preach optimism from now until our next title here in my little corner of the web...

Nicko said...

I can't believe you watched it all. I actually threw it on in the 10th and saw the three straight ground outs with the bases loaded. I didn't want Grady winning the game for the Red Sox or White Sox hosting a Game 7 at home...

Love the picture of Selig. What a mess he is.

sportsgirl132 said...

Lee looked good. He did Cleveland fans proud.
Thought Grady would pull it out with the bases loaded and no outs later in the game--but both teams worked out of similar jams throughout.

I really liked the HOF players being there to greet the All Stars. That was cool.

I stayed up until about the 12th inning --and I'm west coast. It was just too little at stake for any Cleveland team for me to miss out on the old zzzzzzzs.