Sunday Morning Thoughts

• Whoever wins the NL East will be celebrating a tainted victory. The Phillies are the best team in the division if they have everyone healthy, and with injuries to Howard, Utley, Halladay, and now Ruiz they are nowhere near healthy. Beating up on an invalid or cripple is only a source of pleasure for a sadist, and that isn’t a thing any baseball fan wants their team to be. It would be much better if at the end of the season the fans of whatever team ends up winning the NL East can look back and say, “We’re the man because we beat the man,” but they won’t be able to because the Phillies are already 9 games back and it doesn’t look like it is going to get any better. Especially from a team who has an average age of 31.5.
• I went out for coffee this morning and was happy to see a number of people in Nats gear. One of the funnier incidents happened when a boosters Yankees fan of roughly 70 years of age came in to find a morning paper. He was showing off his Yankees tie and talking about how great they were when he introduced his companion who happened to be a priest, and a Nats fan. The umps may not be on the Nats side, but at least God is.
• No matter what happens in baseball there is always a tomorrow waiting to brighten your mood or humble you. After going 0-7 with 5 K’s yesterday today is Harper’s tomorrow.
• Six years ago on Fathers Day I was sitting at RFK stadium watching Chien-Ming Wang cruise to a complete game victory over the Nats when a young rookie came to the plate with two outs and one on and trailing 2-1. That rookie was Ryan Zimmerman and he took that baseball and deposited it over the left field fence to win the game. It wouldn’t be his last walk-off.
• Speaking of Ryan Zimmerman at some point this season the real Ryan Zimmerman will take the field and at that point baseball is going to have an even tougher team to deal with.
• The same is true of Michael Morse.