Ah, back-to-back entries about sports. How wonderful. Escapism at its best. This one isn't about soccer, though, it's about something much better than that. It's about baseball. More specifically, it's about last night's All-Star Game held in Pittsburgh.
For fans of the National League, the Midsummer Classic is beginning to feel more like a Peanuts comic strip every year. Since 1997, the National League has played the part of the eternally optimistic Charlie Brown. They come in once a year hoping for a win (that elusive football), but the American League (crabby Lucy) inevitably snatches it away.
This year's game started well enough. The Dodgers' Brad Penny struck out the side in the first inning with nothing but fastballs. He surrendered a solo home run to the Angels' Vladimir Guerrero in the second, but the National League responded in the bottom half of the inning with a home run off the bat of the Mets' David Wright, the runner-up in Monday's Home Run Derby.
A quick aside: Philadelphia's Ryan Howard won the Derby, making him the second Philly in a row to take the title. Bobby Abreu won in 2005.
In the third inning, the National League took the lead after the Mets' Carlos Beltran doubled, stole third and scored on a wild pitch. For the next five innings, the N.L. kept the A.L. at bay and took a 2-1 lead into the ninth.
San Diego's Trevor Hoffman came in to pitch the last inning and managed to get the first two batters out. Everything was set. Lucy was holding the football and Charlie Brown was a step away from kicking it. It looked like it would actually happen this time.
But at the last second, Lucy yanked the football away and sent Charlie Brown flying. With two outs, Hoffman gave up a single to Jose Lopez, a double to Troy Glaus and a triple to Michael Young, which scored Lopez and Glaus and put the A.L. ahead by a run. Mariano Rivera pitched the bottom of the inning and secured the American League's eighth consecutive All-Star victory.
It was heartbreaking loss. With its young, rising stars putting them on the board early, the National League looked like it had a real chance of snapping its losing streak, but an old arm blew the lead late in the game and kept the sorry streak alive.
Sigh.
I guess all I can do is echo the mantra of baseball fans everywhere, "Wait till next year!"
