NEW YORK, NY – We’re finally done with the worst sports week of the year. Baseball resumes normal service after the All-Star festivities and the extended break. And we don’t have to hear about the ESPY’s for another year. Let’s take a look at what transpired this week.
Monday night brought the Homerun Derby which Bryce Harper won on home turf after defending champion Aaron Judge declined to participate. The format in recent years is a lot more tolerable than the old 10-out format. Putting players on the clock has helped shorten the Derby but it still goes a bit too long. After the Derby we were treated to a celebrity softball game featuring Bill Nye and Tim Kurkjian. Skip.
Tuesday brought us another American League victory in the All Star Game. While Aaron Judge didn’t take part in the Homerun Derby, he did belt one out in the second inning of the main event. The All-Star Game looked like the Derby at times. There were 10 homeruns in the game. It looked like the the American League would win going away after Jean Segura hit a three-run homer in the top of the 8th to give the AL a 5-2 lead. But the Senior Circuit battled back with a run in the bottom of the 8th on a Christian Yelich homerun and two runs in the ninth to tie things up on a Scooter Gennett homerun.
In the top of the 10th the AL went to work again and took another three-run lead after homeruns from Alex Bregman and George Springer. Joey Votto added a homerun in the bottom of the 10th but it wasn’t enough to overturn the deficit and the National League lost 8-6. It was a great game even though the result has been the same for the last six years and 18 of the last 22 years. This year, the American League finally overtook the National League in the all-time All Star game standings, winning their 44th Midsummer Classic.
After the game there was a bit of a to-do because of some racist tweets from Josh Hader that were uncovered. The tweets were posted when he was 17-years old and they have landed the long-locked lefty in some hot water. Hader has owned up and apologized for the tweets saying he was “young, immature, and stupid” when he posted them. He will probably get through this just fine. MLB has yet to weigh in on the matter but I don’t think Hader will miss much time, if any. This is the world we live in.
Wednesday was the ESPY’s, which I didn’t watch. I hear they were ESPY-ish. Last night there was one baseball game on, which was a departure from the last couple of years when everyone got an extra day off and games weren’t played until the Friday after the All Star Game. The Cubbies beat the Cardinals at the Friendly Confines. It gave us something to watch in a week where there is a dearth of sports to watch.
Tonight we resume the race for October. The Mets and Yankees will do battle in the Bronx this weekend. The Yanks will be looking to gain ground on the Red Sox and the Mets will be looking to spoil the party. The Subway Series is back.
That’s it for me today. Tune in tomorrow for Junoir Blaber.
