July 6, 2005 [LINK]

Hot summer, hot teams

So the Nats dropped another one to the Mets tonight. Oh well. At least all the teams in the NL East are at or above .500 again... As the All Star Game approaches, the astounding Washington Nationals are finally attracting nationwide attention, but other teams have been playing as well or even better lately. For one, the Yankees have pulled out of their long, dark slump and trounced the Orioles in two games in the Bronx, and are on the verge of passing the O's to move into second place behind the Bosox. The newly lean, clean, and healthy Jason Giambi has been a big part of the Yankees' upturn, hitting three home runs in two days. He says he finally got the "kink" out of his swing; see MLB.com. In the AL West, the "LAnaheim" Angels have widened their lead over the Texas Rangers to 8 1/2 games. With five of their position players batting well over .300, it's no surprise. Speaking of which, the Anaheim Stadium page has been updated with slightly modified diagrams to conform to the new standard.

Negro League ballparks

Thanks to Bruce Orser for cyber-research assistance on some of the old Negro League ballparks, including Web sites on Hinchliffe Stadium (projectballpark.org, Charlie's ballparks, and National Parks Service), as well as one on Dyckman Oval (Washington Heights & Inwood Online). The Negro Leagues page has been reformatted and updated with some of those links.