It’s special because maybe the history of the sports is really special.  This mid-summer night’s dream, the All Star game this evening in Cincinnati.

 

It will be fun to watch the pitching matchup of Zack Greinke, the Dodgers ‘Mr. Zero’, who has thrown 35-straight shutout innings, against the Astros ace Dallas Keuchel.  Fun too, to watch the National League’s home run hitters against all the relievers stacked in the American League bullpen.

 

The history of this game, and its controversies, is amazing.

It started as a dream of a Chicago newspaper writer, Arch Ward, to bring all the stars together on a given night in mid-season in a showcase of talent.

 

It brought us Babe Ruth’s 1933-home run blast in the very first game.

Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, hit a mammoth home run off the light towers on top of the roof at old Tigers Stadium.

Ted Williams hit a blast of a home run in 1946 off a Luke Sewell eephus pitch.

The Orioles icon Cal Ripken hit a home run in his first at bat, in his last all start game.

But the game under the lights also brought us magnificent pitching too.  Fernando Valenzuala and Dwight Gooden combined to strike out six in a row one all star evening.

The greatest feat was in 1934, Giants ace King Carl Hubbell whiffing 5-Hall of Famers in a row with his patented screwball.  Take a seat and sit down Ruth-Gehrig-Foxx-Simmons and Cronin.

There was the beautiful sight of baseball’s two greatest pure hitters together on the mound at Fenway in the Ted Williams-Tony Gwynn reunion.

Pete Rose ran over catcher Ray Fosse in 1970-forever changing the image of Rose and the health of Fosse.

The Twins Harmon Killebrew badly tore a groin reaching for a throw at first base.

And there have been fun times too, John Kruk of the Phillies bailing out of the box, not wanting to face Randy Johnson, then of Seattle fame.

And controversies too, the stupidity of a couple of years when they staged two All Star games per season, and of course, Bud Selig suspending the game after 11-innings, in a 7-7 tie, when both teams ran out of pitchers.

 

What happens tonite is more meaningful than the NFL Pro Bowl flag football game, or the NBA night which is a three point shooting contest, and the NHL shooting gallery game.

Color, pagentry, history, and players wearing their team’s jerseys.  What a night, when the stars come out for tonite’s All Star game.

Remember the great ones gone by, and the new stories to be made this evening.  The stars come out tonite in a great night for baseball across America

Gone for a week on holiday, and lots of things happen that deserve comment.

Wimbledon…Novak Djokovic put on an awesome display of ground strokes and returns in winning his third title at Center Court. He broke Roger Federer’s serve four times in the final round, as the Serb won his 3rd All England title. That after he stomped home town favorite Andy Murray in the semis.

Wimbledon..When healthy she plays the beautiful game. Serena Williams gets another plate on the grass, wins her fourth straight Grand Slam event, and the 21st of her career. The Serena-Slam binge, reeling off four Grand Slams in a row is something to see.

Tour-de-France…Don’t want to wear the yellow jersey these days, and spill blood all over it. Terrible crashes at the front of the pack marred week one of the Tour, including mishaps that sent leaders to the hospital on back to back days, with a broken shoulder and collarbone.

NASCAR…A week after the horrific Austin Dillon flip into the fence at Daytona, the governing body of stock car racing, still doesn’t really have a handle on keep the cars on the ground, on the Super Speedways. Running at Kentucky or Dover is not like Talladega or Dayton.

Indy Car….Ditto the raging controversy of pack racing and getting airborne in that series too. Indy officials socked Will Power, the defending points champ with a 25,000 fine to calling out race leadership and its rules that put drivers at terrible risks. The race at Fontana was too fast, too dangerous.

NBA…Everybody wants to be a ‘max player’ in pro basketball, from the LeMarcus Aldridge’s of the world, to the fringe star like Monta Ellis. The Latrelle Sprewell issue of ‘can’t feed my family on 13M a year”.

Lakers…So much for championship banners, retired uniforms, and shiny trophies, after LA struck out in attempts to sign the big money free agents. Roy Hibbert, Pacers, a difference maker?

Clippers…Unless a signature is on the paper, there is no deal, and so, despite DeAndre Jordan’s verbal committment to sign in Dallas, the Clippers were still there when Jordan had second thoughts, and decided to call his former team back. Mark Cuban had to bite his tongue to avoid another 100,000-fines.

NHL…Much the same in hockey, where guys are getting 8-to-10M a year just because the salary cap has gone up.

Padres…Wow, someone gets excited because San Diego wins two games in a row vs a beat-up Rangers team. Skidding to the All Star break, the Friars are still 10-games behind first place LA, and are 7th in the fite for the two wildcard spots in the NL.

Chargers…Five weeks now since the Mayor unveiled his financing plan for the NFL Stadium at the Q, and not talks at all about the actual financing of who pays what or if money must be shifted around.

NFL…Just asking “‘what if” USC, which runs the Coliseum, says ‘no’ to the NFL request to rent the facility in 2016, where does the NFL go. Dodgers Stadium, Angels Stadium, the 27,000 seat Stub Hub soccer stadium in Carson. The NFL has always been about leverage. Wonder how this tastes to them now, that the Trojans have the edge.

Sports Fans.

Thanks for checking in daily.

On Vacation this week.

Check back on Monday, July 15th

Thanks,

Hacksaw.

It has been a fascinating week so far, with the opening of NBA free agency, an expensive week too.

The storylines and the reactions have been everywhere, surprising, stunning, loud in some quarters, and then silence in another.

This all started on NBA draft night when the Lakers bypassed the big man, Jahlil Okafor, and took the explosive guard DeAngelo Russell of Ohio State. All in the hopes they could use their cap space to grab a big name free agent.

It didn’t happen, despite the pronouncement of Kobe Bryant, about how quickly the Lakers could bounce back. Kobe even took part in the sales pitch meeting the opening night of free agency, sitting and talking to Portland’s leading scorer LeMarcus Aldridge, who put himself on the open market.

Within hours the story leaked, Aldridge was not interested in LA, for any variety of reasons, not so much money, but atmosphere, leadership, teammates etc. Aldridge, completing a whirlwind tour of meetings indicated he might meet a 2nd time with the Lakers today, rethinking not just basketball, but marketing opportunities that could add more to the (4Y-80M) max deal he’d get.

Move on to the next one,and the question, would he come home, Kevin Love, the Cavalier, and ex-UCLA star? The answer was quickly ‘no’, for he was staying in Cleveland where the max money guaranteed him 110M, and likely trips back to the finals.

Still searching, the Lakers cast a glance towards the 7-foot offensive talent that was Marc Gasol of Memphis. Who would choose to stay there rather than play here in LA, where the banners, trophies sit? Not Gasol. He decided to re-up. Some of it had to do with the fact older brother Pao played in LA and he left.

And now a last minute run across the hallway for the Clippers center DeAndre Jordan.. Once upon a time, anyone-everyone would flee the Clippers corner to go to the Lakers skybox. Not these days. Jordan went back to meet with the Clippers last nite.

So now the Lakers are casting about like a dinghy in the bay, not sure where to go, who to try and get, and facing the reality, they are no longer a destination point.

Hard to believe with all the cap space they have, with the banners and jerseys hanging from the rafters, and the championship trophies sitting in their executive offices, they can’t lure anyone.

No one wants their money, or maybe no one wants to play with Kobe.

Maybe the real truth is there is no longer greatness making the sales pitch to get people to put on the Purple & Gold. It’s obvious people are tired of Kobe Bryant’s sales pitch, attitude, philosophies and style on the court. Everyone knows the twilight has not been kind to him health-wise either. It always seemed to be about Kobe, his wants, wishes, moneuy demands.

What’s different now than then with the Lakers? Jerry Buss, the benevolent owner has passed on. Left behind, a son and daughter, and a trail of recent mistakes.

There’s no Showtime anymore. Magic Johnson is off being Mr. Dodger or whatever event he shows up at. The lure of Big Game James Worthy or Jabbar is long ago history.

Mitch Kupchack is class, but does not bring the shine of the greatness before.

You only need to look at the standings to know, Byron Scott has been bounced out of a bunch of jobs, and the last group of coaches all before him failed.

And no one can ignore recent history of how it all ended up with Shaq, and Dwight Howard, Gasol, and Steve Nash.

The real story why you can’t draw stars to the Lakers these days?

There’s no Jerry West or Phil Jackson making a sales pitch. Their words spoke volumes. The words being spoken today are all about the past, not about the quality of presence or the hope of the future.

The Lakers, hard to believe what they have become, and now likely will be going forward, once the last couple of free agents go elsewhere.

The Padres head out on a death march of a road trip tonite, heading in the wrong direction, out of the playoff race..

The pitchers aren’t pitching well. The big bats are not hitting consistently. The defense keeps kicking balls around.

And the leadership doesn’t have any answers either.

This 10-game road junket will likely end the Padres season, before it even gets to the All Star break. So much for my prediction back in the Cactus League, they could go (90-72). Of course, that was based on what was on paper and what these guys had done in the past.

Matt Kemp is not a leadoff hitter, and unfortunately he hasn’t shown he is much of a hitter in the 3rd spot, 4th spot or in the 5th hole. He plays hard, his defense has been better than expected. But there are too many (2-for-18) stretches, and a batting average now in the .240s.

Justin Upton has been solid, especially hitting home runs, and has held up better than expected in left.

Derek Norris has been all out every night, glove, bat, grit. He seems the only thing holding this roster together.

Wil Myers has shown he can hit, and a willingness to play anywhere they want him, but he has been hurt. He gave the Padres whatever credibility they had in the leadoff spot.

Yonder Alonso is now living up to the expectations he brought with him from Cincinnati, healthy and hitting, and playing a rock-solid defense.

Jedd Gyorko has stopped hitting. It’s really be almost a year and a half, and you wonder if he will ever gather his rookie season credentials back in.

An occasional big hit from Will Middlebrooks, and once-in-awhile contribution from Clint Barmes, and a hope Alexi Amirista can get hot, is just not enough, coupled with the defensive liabilities we have seen.

And how do you like Melvin Upton’s 15M a year contract and that batting average in the .150s?

The pitching is so far removed from a year ago, it’s shocking, but that’s what lots of innings to arms last year, can mean this year. They have never gotten dominant on the mound this season. And aside from Craig Kimbrel’s glare and stare and saves, and the early success of James Shields, there isn’t enough on that staff to trust.

Pat Murphy has seen lots of good baseball in his career, but he probably cannot believe what he sees now. Not much of a leadoff hitter, no table setter, and not much consistency, aside from Upton after that. They cannot find the right bats for the right slots. Cannot find a catalyst. Can’t create rallies consistently.

Sure they have an explosive inning here or there, or beat up a bad team’s pitching staff, but there is never a connection one game to the next where you can say it’s come together.

This is a big disappointment here at midseason.

GM AJ Preller took all these gambles, and only half of them are working out. And he traded away 11-top young prospects and five former first round draft picks, to make these winter transactions. Now there is nothing left to call up; he has a bunch of bad contracts he’s stuck with, and some significant roster problems.

The international signing period for Caribbean players opens today, and even the GMs track record of signing those type of players, since coming to San Diego has not been impressive. They said they bid on some key Cubans, but you don’t see any Yasmany Tomas’ in this biatting order yet.

Guess we will have to hold off on his Hall of Fame induction, just like we may have to hold off ordering postseason playoff tickets.