Bruce Bochy = Dope?

One good thing about having NASCAR rained out Sunday afternoon is that you get to waste a whole afternoon at work tuning in- as opposed to wasting you own Sunday afternoon! And the rain did give me a chance to cast more than an occasional glance over at the Phillies. I find less and less joy in the wins- as opposed to simple marvel at the vagaries that occur. I mean, I dunno: how was your belly when “closer” Ryan Madson- after being allowed to bat in the bottom of the 8th- walked two guys with one out in the ninth? Candidly, I was sick.

Fortunately, for maybe the second, third time in his entire career managing a bench, Charlie out-coached his peer! Okay, it was largely due Bruce Bochy electing to- get this, seriously- pitch to Ryan Howard, with two on, up two runs in the seventh. Look, I know the book is “don’t put the go-ahead run on base”- but the Phillies best chance to get back in this game late was Ryan losing one somewhere- which he promptly did. And Ryan hasn’t been a cripple with the bat since he’s come back…. I just don’t get that decision. Didn’t some member of the Giants have a civic obligation to stage some sort of intervention? Bruce, do we really want to do this? Bruce?

In other news, I don’t follow the fight game all that closely- other than to visit the Legendary Blue Horizon twice a year. But, the PDN today draws attention to the fact that no one, other than a Russian, holds a world championship in the heavyweight division. To put it another way, it is sort of like saying that in fifteen years the top five players in the NBA would be eastern Europeans- that is the sort of seismic, pretty unexpected shift we’re looking at here. Seriously, look at the guy. He just doesn't look bad. He just looks very tired.

I have a thing for the decaying sports- ice hockey, boxing, horse racing (another article here from the New York Post giving yet another example of why it is in decline in the US)- which is why the immediate introduction of ESPN Ocho is increasingly important. Shoot, if ESPN could put the spelling bee on the map- the Ocho could help revitalize these sports. I guarantee you all three are better than women’s softball currently clogging up the nation’s airwarves.