Stacey's Baseball Tonight

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (aka, the Anaheim Angels) have a Rally Monkey. How cool is that?!?

This man has dubbed himself the San Fransisco Giants' "Rally Pumpkin". Hm. Giants. Pumpkin. I don't get the connection...

I don't know who started this little "trend", but I don't get this one either. Seriously. Wearing your baseball cap upside down and inside out is NOT going to help your team win. But it MAY help you look like a douchebag. I'm just sayin'.

Former cardinal (2000 - 2003) Fernando Vina became an analyst for ESPN's Baseball Tonight in 2007. I can't help but admire the perfection of his goatee. Really, this guy must spend HOURS alone on just the facial hair. Nice. It works.

All your Major League Baseball dreams come true when you get your own last name on the back of your favorite team's jersey. Except you don't get to play with the team. Or even hang out with them. Or, most importantly, earn their paychecks. I'm not a fan of this. You're buying a TEAM jersey. Get one of the PLAYERS' names on it. We're just fans.

And, in other areas...
Cards lost the series opener against the Cubs tonight (2-1). This puts them at 49 wins and 39 losses so far on the year. 3.5 games behind the Cubs for first place in the National League Central. (Cubs are 52 and 35.) With 74 games left to play in the regular season, there's more than enough time to surpass our rivals. (Side note: can you imagine playing 162 games of baseball in several months' time? With only a few days off in between games here and there? Although, if I were making even a QUARTER of some of those guys' salaries, I think I could suck it up to do it. Getting paid to do what you love is a beautiful thing.

On the same token, former Cardinal Jimmy (Ballgame / Half Shirt / Pool Party) Edmonds received a prolonged ovation before his first at-bat tonight. That ovation just proves that Cardinal fans ARE the best fans in baseball. Your guy gets picked up by your most hated rival, yet you STILL cheer him for his accomplishments when he comes home to play his former teammates.

And THAT is Stacey's Baseball Tonight.

Yankees lost (6-4) to their rivals, the Boston Red Sox, tonight also. This puts them at 45 and 42 on the year, 9 games out of first in their division. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are in first in the AL East. The DEVIL RAYS. Like Uncle Jimmy said tonight, "the Yankees are proof that money can buy ANYTHING". Except this year. Hopefully they'll get their act together and at least be able to vie for a wild card position. (Not that anyone who reads this, besides Dustin & myself, care about the Yankees. Just putting it out there.)

AND. Pujols hit his 300th career homerun tonight. This makes him the 5th youngest player to 300, at 28 years and 170 days old, beating Hall of Famer Mell Ott by one day. (I personally have my doubts as to whether or not Pujols is really 28, but that is neither here nor there.) Alex Rodriguez (Yankees) is the youngest to 300 homers at 27 years, 249 days.