Why can’t we be friends?

Two fun facts about Luke Perry: He's older than I am and I've never seen him in a Yankees cap! (I have no idea what the origins of this photo are)

I’m not particularly proud of this, but last night when home plate umpire Tom Hallion bent over and didn’t upright himself until they walked him off the field, I had two thoughts.  The first was, “Man, I hope he’s all right” but the second (and longer) one was “Great.  Now we have to wait for another ump to suit up while Papelbon stands on the mound getting cold with two outs behind him”.

Like I said, I’m not proud.  I’m not proud but I’m happy.  According to MLB.com, the tests on Hallion came backn negative, so he’s okay, and Papelbon got Nick Markakis to ground out to end the game.  All’s well that ends well.

At the very least, Sox won’t be getting swept by the Orioles this week.  Tonight, Daisuke is on the mound to try and eke out a series win.  Last night’s game was another example of how much fun this team is to watch and why I’m compelled to keep doing so.

Baseball has an interesting rivalry brewing between the Nationals and the Marlins.  I didn’t see it last night but if you go here, MLB has a good compilation video put together with both broadcasts covering the melee.  Keith Olbermann nails why Nyjer Morgan, the player who was hit last night and then got a purpose pitch behind him is the one getting all the grief today (and he agrees with the Marlins broadcasters who think MLB needs to do something about Morgan).  I enjoy the contrast of the Marlins announcers blaming Nyjer Morgan for starting the fight and the Nationals announcers worrying about his teammates getting Morgan out from under the pigpile.  What Olbermann doesn’t specifically write in his piece is that Tuesday night, because of one of those “brutal” collisions with a catcher, Morgan caused Marlins rookie catcher Brett Hayes to suffer a separated shoulder and ended his season. Can’t say it’s tough to blame the Marlins for their reactions last night.  (See the video here – can’t believe the kid held on to the ball.  And for folks defending Morgan, as the announcers said, had he actually slid like he should have he probably would have been safe.)

I have one question:  Who decided that we need to be given play by play of the fights on the field?  I don’t mind it.  It actually cracks me up.  It makes me laugh that these guys are giving us play by play of a game as tame as baseball and then switch gears and become announcers for the WWE.

I will not lie…I enjoy a good basebrawl once in a while. But the problem with basebrawls is that even though people laugh at them (usually most “brawls” are players milling around the field not really engaging each other too physically) someone could get seriously hurt.  Having written that, Hayes was just doing his job and got wrecked.  I can completely understand the Marlins doling out a little street justice.

Today is 9/02/10 (or “90210”) so pop culture nerds (which I am) will be flooding your Twitter feeds and Facebook pages with this information (which I won’t).  I found it interesting that when Beverly Hills 90210 began in 1990, I was 21 years old and TWELVE of the guys on the active roster for the Red Sox weren’t even 10 years old.  Maybe interesting isn’t the right word? Maybe depressing is?

I’m on a mini-vacation for the next few days.  The plan is to keep posting but I suppose that depends on how much fun I have!  Hope everyone stays safe this holiday weekend and avoids anyone named “Earl”.