Baseball

I learned a long time ago not to take this game too seriously. I learned that, more times than it will ever reward your faith, this game will break your heart. I learned that when they say you fail seven out of 10 times in this game, they don't just mean hitters. They mean everyone, and everything. And so, naturally, I learned one more thing:

I learned to take more joy from three wins than pain from seven losses.

There was a baseball game played on Friday night. The Yankees lost it 10-4 to the Orioles. Truth be told, nobody cared.

Honestly, nobody is going to remember the result, not now nor down the road. Baseball fans are only going to remember that on Sept. 11, 2009, they saw baseball history.

It took 90 minutes to get Friday night's game between the Yankees and Orioles going because of a rain delay, but the fans in the Bronx stuck around to witness a chance to see Derek Jeter surpass Lou Gehrig for the all-time Yankees hit record of 2,721.

Hiroki Kuroda gave up two runs on just three hits in eight strong innings, and the Dodgers touched-up Merkin Valdez and Bob Howry in a five-run seventh inning in a 10-3 Dodger rout to open a three-game set at AT&T Park in San Francisco, in front of 39,212.

Never, ever go to sleep on these Rockies.

Eight years ago, New York City and the world stopped to watch the events that had taken place on the morning of 9/11. Humanity as a whole had been changed as thousands of lives and hundreds of towns had been turned upside forever.

On Friday night, the baseball world too stopped and watched as one of it's most prolific players snapped a 70-year-old team record and re-stamped  his ballot for the hall of fame. 

For the third consecutive year, the Chicago Cubs have gotten sparkling performances out of their starting rotation. Even with injuries to each of the top four slated starters, and inconsistent play from Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Rich Harden, the team's starters have been their strength: Chicago leads the league in quality start percentage, at 61 percent, and Chicago's relievers have entered with a lead the fourth-most times of any team in the league.

The Mets are tired and numb from injuries. They're trailing the Phillies by an impossible 18 games in the NL East. They trail the Colorado Rockies by an equally insurmountable 18-1/2 games in the NL Wild Card race. It's time to put their long, miserable season to sleep.

But not before a bedtime story.

The year is 1969.

The Mets are playing in a new ballpark—playing quite terribly, too. Coming into this season, New York has gone a dismal 321-648 since the opening of their new stadium. Shea Stadium.

The Chicago Cubs won their fourth consecutive game Friday, beating Cincinnati 6-4 in the opener of a three-game weekend set at Wrigley Field. Starter Rich Harden lasted just four innings, but got help from the Cubs bats, as Geovany Soto homered and Aramis Ramirez went three-for-three.

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