B-more, Kickball, T&T

Winston-Salem, NC – It was one of those weekends where you were looking for an excuse the week before to not go, but you definitely would have kicked yourself the week after if you didn’t go. After marching up to Baltimore for some shenanigans, followed by some kickball, and a long drive home, we amassed 858 miles of driving, 1 nasty hangover, and a weekend to remember.

Baltimore:
The only reason that I travel up to Baltimore is to attend Orioles’ games. I have concluded that any area in Baltimore – be it a block – outside of Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor is nothing, but dilapidated. The dueling piano bar was settled in a nice spot in the Inner Harbor vicinity. However, a brisk 7:30 a.m. walk from the Sheraton Hotel on Lombard Street to the Market Street parking garage led us uneasy encounters with homeless people and civilians asking us for 40 cents. The streets were littered with garbage, graffiti covers many buildings, and the smell of exhaust permeates the air. According to the Bureau of Labor & Statistics, Baltimore is the second most crime-ridden city in America behind Detroit with a population over 800,000. For a state that prides itself on the environment, the Chesapeake Bay, and black-eyed susans, Baltimore surely sticks out like a sore thumb.

Kickball:
You may laugh when someone asks you to play kickball, instead referring it to an elementary school game. But with a dozen players in their mid-20’s, it’s actually pretty fun to participate in. Although, some of these players still possess the skills of elementary students. I feared that with the preceding night’s festivities, playing kickball would be last on my to-do list on Sunday. However, “The Hurricane,” Jose was only a category 3 status on Saturday night. Had it been at previous categories of 4 and 5, kickball may have been postponed.

Baseball’s This & That
- The trade involving Jason Kendall to the Cubs will have zero impact. In a previous blog, I noted the diminishing skills of Kendall. This trade may foreshadow a future deal involving an impact bat. Maybe when this season is over, the Cubs make a deal for Jarrod Saltalamacchia, a long term solution at catcher. The Cubs supposedly have a sufficient supply of impact arms in the minors that they can fork over to the Braves.

- Speaking of the Cubs, as Mike M. made a great point to me over the weekend, if Mark Cuban wins the bidding to own the Cubs after this season, I wouldn’t be a surprised if his first splash is A-Rod. Cuban may go crazy on the free agent considering that there’s no salary cap in baseball as compared to basketball.

- Mark Texeira will not be traded at the deadline. The team that would trade for him would be guaranteed the remainder of this season and next season. Nothing more since he’s a client of Scott Boras.