Wakefield:
I was actually in the weight room doing my work and John Farrell had come in and said, "Tito wants to see you after he talks to the other guys." I didn't know what other guys. Then I got to his office and the office was closed. When it opened, he called me into the office and I saw all the other guys walking out with their All-Star packages. He sat me down and tried to play it off like it wasn't good news. He couldn't hold the laughter.At 42 years old, Wakefield is the oldest All-Star rookie since Satchel Paige went to the 1952 ASG at age 46. Jamie Moyer (40 in 2003) and Connie Marrero (40 in 1951) are the only other players to become All-Stars for the first time at age 40+.
Wake:
I feel very honored and humbled at the same time. Excited and nervous. I have a lot of emotions going through me right now. ... I've been asking guys that have been there what to expect, how to dress and how to act -- things like that. It's been a fun day asking a lot of questions, that's for sure.Amalie Benjamin had a lengthy feature on Wakefield in Sunday's Globe.
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WEEI's Alex Speier reports that Jeff Bailey is likely headed to the disabled list because of a high left ankle sprain. Bailey hurt himself on Saturday, when he collided with Seattle's Ronny Cedeno at first base. Doctors told Bailey he will not be able to play for a couple of weeks.
It is about time that he got the call. He deserves it.
ReplyDeleteThis is really awesome. Few players with careers as good and as long as his go their whole career without playing in an all-star game. I guess it's because most players of his caliber usually have less consistent careers then him; they have big years and down years, and they get in on their down years.
ReplyDeleteAnyone see the Wimbledon final today? It's in a short list of the greatest tennis matches I've ever seen (probably only rivaled by last year's match, although the rain delay last year might make this the best, period). Unreal how good this two were, and it makes me think that Federer might be the best athlete on the planet...
Which leads me to a question; what if this guy had spent his life playing baseball? I don't think he'd hit for the power that some of the top guys in baseball do, but I do think he'd contend for batting titles, field well at either short or center, and steal a bunch of bases. I think he'd have the career of an Ichiro, or a Jeter, or a Boggs.
Yay for Wake, one of my long time favorites!
ReplyDeleteMake a little wish that Wake's knuckler will fool the hitters and not his catcher. On the other note, why couldn't Bailey have taken out that little turd Cedeno for the rest of the weekend?
ReplyDeleteAnyone see the Wimbledon final today? It's in a short list of the greatest tennis matches I've ever seen (probably only rivaled by last year's match, although the rain delay last year might make this the best, period).
ReplyDeleteI watched it, but I can't agree. I think it was a great match, but it wasn't close to last year's final in entertainment and quality, imho. The overall match was very even, but within the games, it wasn't. There were barely any break points, the games themselves weren't really contested. If you were serving, you won, almost automatically. Too many games ended with the other at either 0 or 15. I'm not going to claim perfect memory, but I remember last year's final being much more tense and close. You can see it just by the fact that even though there were about 10 more games in yesterday's match, last year's match was half an hour longer.
Anyway, I'm no tennis expert and this is, after all, a baseball blog. So I'll just say that I enjoyed last year's final more, and stop rambling.
Go Wake, BTW. I like the idea of the ASG as a reward for players for an all time achievement kind of thing. Especially since I don't really care about it, but the players do, it seems (although who knows? I can't imagine a player just going on air and say "I don't give a fuck about the All Star Game". Maybe Bill Lee would've, from what I heard...). As for me, I'll just check the score the day after to see if the Sox will have home field advantage or not.
ReplyDeleteBut still, congrats to Wake.
This is great, although I've felt fairly certain he was in for several weeks now. Would love to see us go on a mini streak right before the break, but west coast trips seem to always be tough on us.
ReplyDeleteOn one hand I always complain about the A-S break. 3 days with no games, BOO. However it does seem as though it's after the break that I finally get to start joining in on games on a more regular basis.
Things settle down a bit. The Jrs All-Star team is done, 2 and out just as we feared. So I'm down to just 1 team to deal with again. Also, the District 9-10 All-Star tournament we host every year at our complex will end this Wed. We're hosting the states as well this year, but with only 8 teams compared to the 26 that were in the district tourney, it'll be a breeze. So more JoS and GDGD is on the horizon. Yay!
I'm not a huge tennis fan, but I usually try to catch some of all the Grand Slam events, and Wimbledon is by far my favorite. I couldn't be around for the matches Saturday or Sunday but have both DVRed and, after seeing the highlight reels, I will be watching them both sometime soon.
Gotta figure Maddon will very loudly keep Wake as a bullpen reserve "in case the game goes into extended extra innings", sparing Mauer and Victor Martinez the indignity of all those passed balls.
ReplyDelete"Especially since I don't really care about it, but the players do, it seems (although who knows? I can't imagine a player just going on air and say "I don't give a fuck about the All Star Game"."
ReplyDeleteYes, I wonder about that, too. They profess to care about it, but I wonder if most actually do. Whenever a player declines to go, putting his own health or his team's interests about the ASG, he is villified in the media - accused of insulting the fans, disrespecting the game, blah blah blah - when in fact he may be doing exactly the opposite. So how many players who don't really like the ASG could come out and say so?
I'm glad we'll be off on a little mini-holiday for the whole break. We could use a getaway and ASG + Home Run Derby are more annoying than relaxing (for me).
In other news, I hate tennis.