July 10-11

Tuesday evening in Baseballtown as the Reading Phillies hosted the Eastern League All-Star formalities for the first time since 1974. This night featured the now-requisite home run derby which was officially billed as a "hitting challenge". There are no printed words that can accurately describe what occurred at this event and I am not going to try to explain, it literally had to be seen to be believed (and even then you may have rubbed your eyes in utter bewilderment). The late Rod Serling of "Twilight Zone" fame would have been proud. By the time the night was over I was glad it was, I was thoroughly exhausted and had a headache. On Wednesday morning I had lunch with Jenny and Helen, they had attended the hitting challenge but elected to forgo the All-Star game since it was going to be on TV. I must admit I've never been a big fan of All-Star games, there are those who think they're a huge deal but to me it is much ado about nothing. Once you strip away the spectacle, the pageantry and the other assorted triviality all that remains is the game itself and it's usually a rather unimportant one at that. For the record the Eastern Division (the R-Phils' division) won the game defeating the Western Division 5-4. The R-Phils were represented by manager Dusty Wathan, coaches Bob Milacki and Frank Cacciatore, trainers Jonathan May and Justin Miloszewski, pitchers Lisalberto Bonilla, Julio Rodriguez and Jordan Whatcott, catcher Sebastian Valle, infielders Darin Ruf, Cesar Hernandez and Troy Hanzawa plus outfielder Leandro Castro. A crowd of better than 9400 stayed for fireworks after the game as I got into my car for a quiet drive home and a sense of relief that the whole thing was finally over. It's been thirty-eight years since the last one, if it doesn't happen again until 2050 I'm perfectly fine with it. Take care, thanks for reading.