2010 MLB: June Review/All-Star Game Preview

Well I am doin' this a little early, because this is the best time to do it (Mainly because it is after 3am).
Current Standings
AL East
NY Yankees 47-29
Boston 47-31
Tampa Bay 44-32
Toronto 40-38
Baltimore 23-53
AL Central
Minnesota 42-35
Detroit 41-35
Chicago 40-36
Kansas City 33-45
Cleveland 29-47
AL West
Texas 46-30
LA Angels 44-35
Oakland 38-40
Seattle 32-44
NL East
Atlanta 45-33
NY Mets 43-34
Philadelphia 41-34
Florida 37-40
Washington 34-44
NL Central
St.Louis 43-34
Cincinnati 43-35
Milwaukee 35-42
Chicago 34-43
Houston 30-48
Pittsburgh 26-51
NL West
San Diego 45-32
LA Dodgers 42-35
Colorado 41-36
San Francisco 40-36
Arizona 30-48

Well, its not the end of June, and my Pittsburgh Pirates are 26-51. Before the season started my cousin Josh and I, made a bet, I said the Pirates would have less than 68 wins, and he said over. We put $10 on it, I think he should just pay me now.

Stephen Strasburg made his debut in June, and here are his June stats.
2-2 with a 2.27 ERA in his 5 starts and 48 K's! Impressive.
I believe he could be 4-0 right now, but the Nationals didn't give him much run support. While I'm talkin' about the Nationals, the draft was in June, and Washington had the 1st pick again, and selected Bryce Harper. Watch out for the Nats in like 2 or 3 years. Also there is a chance I will be at Nationals Park for a game or two at the end of July.

But July has always, and always will be my favorite month of baseball. Because of the Derby and All-Star game. I really hope that the National League can win the All-Star game this year. I voted a few times (like 2 or 3 times). The only Pirate I can see on the NL team is Andrew McCutchen. Even though, relief pitcher, Evan Meek has some excellent numbers this year, but as we all know relief pitches don't usually end up in the All-Star game. Relief pitchers are overlooked by most fans and media.

And for something new...
AL Leaders
AVG- Robinson Cano (NYY) .358
HR- Bautisa/Konerko/Cabrera (TOR/CHW/DET) 20
RBI- Miguel Cabrera (DET) 67
ERA- David Price (TB) 2.44
Wins- David Price (TB) 11
K's- Jered Weaver (LAA) 118
SV- Neftali Feliz (TEX) 20
NL Leaders
AVG- Martin Prado (ATL) .334
HR- Hart/Pujols/Reynolds (MIL/STL/ARZ) 18
RBI- David Wright (NYM) 61
ERA- Jimenez/Johnson (COL/FLA) 1.83
Wins- Ubaldo Jimenez (COL) 14
K's- Yovani Gallardo (MIL) 120
SV- Matt Capps (WASH) 22

* I will be at the Pirates game Thursday night vs. Philadelphia, stay tuned for that.

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A Few Hours In Gettysburg

Well I was in Maryland, and for one day we went up to Gettysburg, PA. I bought some souvenirs, and went on a ghost tour. Here are 2 pictures that I took there.

These little plaques are all over Gettysburg, they show what buildings were there in July 1863.

And this is a picture of the tour guide, also some of the people that were on this tour.

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NHL Awards/Draft

NHL Awards
This isn't really a review, mainly cause I missed the awards show, but anyway here is a link to ESPN.com.
Click here for the link of award winners.
NHL Draft
Same with the awards show above, but Edmonton has the first pick, and they will either pick Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin. I would like to see Hall picked first.
Click here for a NHL.com mock draft.

Also, the other day, the NHL released the 2010/2011 regular season schedules, click here for a link of schedules of all 30 teams.

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6/18/10- Pirates vs Indians

I was the first one in line for this game, and I knew there was goin' to be alot of people at this game, not just ballhawks, I mean a above average attendance for the Pirates, because we were playin' the Indians, and many Cleveland fans made the trip. More importantly, at this game I didn't run around the stadium like I usually do after the game began, I sat in my ticketed seat for most of the game (for once).
Before the game started, I bought a new Pedro Alvarez t-shirt.

I got my only ball of the game, from this guy (pictured below).

At 5:30, I ran over to section 140, to try a find a ball or get a toss up. No luck.
Below: Indians BP

After BP, I took the following picture. Ok, Pirates, its warm, sunny, no clouds in the sky, just a beautiful day, but you have to lights on! What a waste, instead of havin' good players on the team, we have the lights on while the sun is bright in the sky.

Below: View from my seat

Section 134 Row B Seat 17.
Like I mentioned before, I actually sat in my seat for a while.
Below: Pedro Alvarez on the scoreboard

This was his 3 game and my first time to see him play in person.

In the picture above, see the first row with all the people from Cleveland? Well these people were all ignorant. They flipped out on an usher because he asked one of them to show their ticket. I know there probably are good people from Cleveland, but those people showed me a bad example.
When I got home I took the 2 usual pictures.
Below: Stuff I collected at this game.

1 ball, 5 tickets, Andy LaRoche jersey that I won, and 2 Bill Mazeroski photo wraps.
I had 3 but I gave one to my grandparents.
Below: Upclose on my 1 ball.


SEASON STATS
1 ball at this game.
16 balls at 9 games this season.
1.78 balls per game (BPG)
35 LIFETIME/29 CAREER BASEBALLS

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6/15/10- Pirates vs White Sox

I went to this game with my buddy Matt.
We left my house around 2:30.
I couldn't get into the bleachers at 5, so me and Matt stood over by the gate at Section 140, and we both watched where BP homeruns landed in the section. We saw Garrett Jones hit some into the sections.
Below: Pirates BP

When the gates opened for the rest of the stadium at 5:30, I looked around for the balls hit by Jones. I found one in Section 139, and the other in 140.
Below: White Sox BP

After that, I changed into my White Sox shirt, as they came out for their BP time. I must say that the White Sox are not very friendly at givin' balls to the fans. I did not get any balls from Chicago. After BP, I changed up my usual routine, instead of pizza, I got Rita's first and then pizza.

Brad Lincoln was pitchin', it was his 2nd start.
Below: Brad Lincoln.

Below: View from where me and Matt sat in the bleachers, for like 10 minutes.

This was also the first game where I got to see Jose Tabata in person.
Below: Jose Tabata.

Durin' the game, I took this random picture of the thin moon.

Pirates lost the game 6-4. When I got home I took the 2 usual pictures.
Below: What I collected.

*Ignore the dirty wall.
Below: Upclose on the 2 balls.


SEASON STATS
2 balls at this game.
15 balls in 8 games this season.
1.87 balls per game (BPG)
34 LIFETIME/28 CAREER BASEBALLS


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I Am A Couple Days Late On This...

But the Chicago Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup. Before the season began, I picked the Blackhawks to represent the Western Conference in the finals. Chicago won on an OT goal by Patrick Kane, that barely got past Flyers goalie Michael Leighton.



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6/4/10- Pirates vs Giants

Well first off Im gonna ruin the surprise and tell everybody that I got NO BALLS at this game. I got to PNC around 3:50, just like the other night, I was 3rd in line. BP started early today, because of the heavy storms in the forecast. 2 other ballhawks, and I spent some time on the Riverwalk, to try and snag a BP blast. Nick Pelescak got 2 balls down there, I ended up with none. When the gates opened at 5, there was no players on the field, cause BP ended just before 5. I looked for balls, and found none.
Below: Field view from 140.

At 5:30 when all the other sections were opened, me and a few other ballhawks, raced up the steps to try and find some balls, I ALMOST found one, but I walked right past it and another ballhawk picked it up. Around 6, I got my usual PNC Park dinner, pictured below.

Then it began to rain, and the tarp came out.

Below: Weather announcement on the scoreboard

As the rain kept comin' down,

these started to show on the field.
Around 9:30, the Pirates decided to start the game at 10. And the tarp was taken off the field.

Below: Neil Walker

At 10, the game began.

Before the 2nd, I tried to snag a toss-up ball from Garrett Jones in Section 144(?) right before he threw it, an usher asked me to leave the section.
After that, I decided to accept the shut-out and go home.
When I got home I took the usual picture.


SEASON STATS
0 balls at this game.
13 balls in 7 games this season.
1.86 balls per game (BPG)
32 LIFETIME/26 CAREER BASEBALLS

6/1/10- Pirates vs Cubs

I arrived at the stadium, about 10 minutes before 4. I was 3rd in line, behind 2 other Pittsburgh ballhawks.

*Look at the sky, just beautiful, because the weather did not look good the day before when I checked.
At 5, I got in, ran down to the bleachers, and within 5-10 minutes, I got my first and only ball of the day from Evan Meek. I asked him for the ball, he said "Do you have a ball yet today?" I said no, and then he threw me the ball.
Below: Pirates BP

Below: Bleachers at 5:21

When the Cubs came out for BP, they really did not hit many homeruns, I was kinda upset in them. I went over to section 140, and the Clemente wall sections, and I got nothing! I was kinda upset, because I thought I would get more than 1 ball at this game, cause my last game against the Cubs, I got 6.
Below: Cubs BP

After BP, I did my usual routine (Diamond Club Pizza, and a short walk around the stadium).
Below: View from my ticketed seat.

Section 135 Row B Seat 7.
I did not get any toss-ups either from the Pirates, before the gates even opened, I thought this was not goin' to be a good day, well I was right.
The Pirates won, Neil Walker hit his first career homerun in the 8th, I wish I was the one who caught that. Anyways, I left the stadium in the top of the 9th, I was on the Clemente bridge when the game ended, I took this photo below.

*Note the fireworks.
When I got home I took the 2 usual pictures.

1 ball, 1 ticket, 1 first pitch book.
Below: Upclose on the 1 ball.


Season Stats
1 ball at this game.
13 balls in 6 games this season.
2.17 balls per game (BPG)
32 Lifetime/26 Career baseballs

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