BigFan

Friday starts a 17-day stretch of Interleague play.  Who do you think will come out on top?  Do you think this is the year the NL will take the lead?  View the full list of Interleague Wins By League

As a longtime Florida resident, I'm excited to see the Marlins vs. the Rays.  I'm pretty sure almost nobody out there picked either team to be within a few games of their division's first place spot (Note to those of you that did - PLAY LOTTERY NOW).  Surely nobody here thought that . . . let's revisit the preseason staff picks. Rays - fourth place across the board.  And, the Marlins, 4 out of 5 picked the fish to finish last.  I know, I know, it's not even the All-Star break yet, but this is still impressive.  At what point in time will these teams be given any respect?  Perhaps we should hold off (on the respect part) as the naysayers probably add fuel to the fire. 

In one of Scott's columns, he said it best about the Rays: "Welcome to the best story in baseball in 2008, a tale that many within the game saw coming as early as a year ago because of the treehouse full of young talent the Rays have amassed -- but a tale nobody saw coming this quickly.

"I'd be lying if I told you I thought our record would be (38-26) at this juncture," manager Joe Maddon says. "The part of that that's sustainable, though, is our pitching and defense. When you can do it in those two aspects of the game, that's when you have your best chance to keep it going."  . . . Read the full story.

Anyway, back to the point.  Both of these teams are making a serious run at division titles, both are fighting for a new stadum but who will have the staying power to take this momentum and go with it. . . not just through October but into 2009 and beyond?  In South Florida, fans are especially fickle and even with an amazing run at the end of this season, I'm guessing that unfortunately, it's not the Marlins.  I'm not in Tampa so I'm not sure how it is there, but could they be approaching the status they need to become one of those storied franchises . . maybe?

Did anyone see Mariah Carey's debacle at the Tokyo Dome? If you didn't you need to see it but either way here's the lowdown:

First, Mariah is brought onto the field escorted by twin mascots, one on each arm. Is this a Japanese tradition or is Mariah just considered SO special that she deserved TWO mascots?

Then, the camera zooms down on her legs and hovers there for a little too long -- long enough to notice that her legs were so shiny who knows what she put on there before she walked out. Was it lotion? Baby oil? A special Japanese potion? Who knows.

Not only were we able to see her shiny legs, but attention is drawn to her shoes which were like a white sneaker on a wedge. A high wedge is certainly an understatement. How did she expect to throw the ball in shoes that make her taller than Yao Ming. NICE.

Then that brings us to "THE PITCH." It could not have been worse. Didn't anyone warn Mariah to practice before she went out in front of all the people? Isn't that what celebs pay their PR people to do - tell them how NOT to make a fool of themselves. It's quite obvious she's never thrown out a pitch. Should that exclude her from making her way onto the field in heels and acting like a joke? It was truly awful but the Japanese were much more kind to her than baseball fans here would've been, that's for sure. Anyway, you gotta check out the video, it won't dissapoint.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbR6A8XrWZk