May 5, 2005 [LINK]

Early All Star picks

I can't believe they are already taking ballots to choose the All Star teams. Is one month enough time to base a decision? Among the Nationals, who are resting for a three-game stand in San Francisco, Vinny Castilla ought to be a shoo-in, and Jose Guillen will probably make the team as well. Brad Wilkerson started the season red hot but has been in a slump for the past ten days, and thus probably won't get picked. He's got plenty of years ahead of him in his career, however. As for the Yankees, A-Rod, Gary Sheffield, and Derek Jeter are hitting just fine and will no doubt get picked as All Stars, but the rest of the lineup pretty much stinks, with none of the regulars batting over .280. Pitching? Ughh... Is the dismal prospect of abandoning their cherished home having a depressing effect on how well the Yankees play?

Many thanks to Eric McErlain (of Off Wing Opinion sports-blogging fame) for sponsoring the Shea Stadium page. That's one of those stadium pages whose diagram is in need of updating (making it "dynamic"), so it will get moved up toward the front of the waiting line. When I was watching a Braves game there a week or two ago I noticed that the left field bleachers have been expanded, with a bigger section in the middle, but I haven't seen any solid information on that. Someone else asked me about sponsoring more than one page, and I said I'd have to think about that. Don't wait until the one you want is already taken!

I just received word from Joseph McCauley that his book Ebbets Field: Brooklyn's Baseball Shrine has just been published. "The book is currently available through Authorhouse.com for $19.50 or from other sites like Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble for a higher fee."

Mike Zurawski has referred me to more recent stadium photos at webshots.com, which has a separate page for baseball. Of particular interest are the extra rows of seats between the dugout and bullpen on the first base side in Wrigley Field. No wasted space there!

My apologies to all those folks who sent me e-mail messages in recent days but didn't get a timely response. Busy, busy, busy...