Feeling the heat

Yesterday was a hot day. The sun was beating down, the breeze was gentle at best, and it was just plain hot.
High school baseball has the fortune of wrapping its season up before players have to drip buckets of sweat each game. This spring they were only ringing rain out their hats, and tons of it. But for Legion players, it's a different story.
I attended the Shelby-Moultrie Jr. Legion game Sunday and saw the local team get beat up 20-3 by a strong Decature team. The crowd was groaning in the stands as we watched the Decatur team run all over the hometown team, and all we had to do was sit in the stands.
It may be a while before Shelby-Moultrie team gels together in the field and on the mound. They proved they could hit with 36 runs in their first two games, but it appeared on Sunday that, after they used six pitchers, fans and coaches may require a little patience.
Decatur's team was a well-oiled machine, as all the players showed great hustle and a team cohesiveness, while Shelby-Moultrie players often looked sluggish. These are things that may take a while, as several of Shelby-Moultrie's players aren't used to playing nine innings or dogging it in the summer heat, and this is only the first year of the program, so you can't expect cohesiveness.
Regardless, the fans remained upbeat, cheering every time a player even made contact or a pitcher threw a strike.

A confused Cubs fan

Today the Cubs have an offday, which means no game. In the past that brought a fun joke for all, saying that it's a good day because that means the Cubs can't lose, but this year it is no longer funny, because now it means the Cubs can't win.

This has to be the strangest year of baseball I've ever witnessed, and our Cubs are at the top of the weird thermometer. They still maintain the best record win in baseball with a 40-24 record, and they just keep on winning, taking seven of their past 10 games. The All-Star balloting is continuing and two of the three starting outfield spots are definitely going to be colored in with Cubby blue, Alfonso Soriano and Kusoke Fukudome, as is the catcher spot, Geovany Soto, and there's a very good chance they will have a representative at every infield position.

Does anyone else remember when we used to watch Ryne Sandberg, and that was it? Maybe Mark Grace might have gotten to bat in the seventh, but that would be all for us Cubs fans. And here we are, crossing our fingers that Ryan Theriot could get in at shortstop after three Cubs appear to be shoe-ins, barring a steroid scandal or a ride on a cursed goat, resulting in injury.

Did I mention it's a strange season? The Tampa Bay Rays have a record of 38-26, trailing the Boston Red Sox by one game in the east, and leading the Yankees by six. The Cardinals weren't expected to do anything but have a 38-27 record, the White Sox started poorly but have won seven in a row for a 37-26 record, and the Tigers were expected to have the best team ever and are 26-37.

It's a strange, strange year.