1
Last season, Philadelphia pitcher Roy Halladay threw a no-hitter against the Reds in the playoffs.
It was kind of a big deal.
Now? Maybe we really should not have been so impressed.
The Phillies and the Reds played again this week, and on Wednesday, the teams played into the 19th inning.
The Phillies had used all of their pitchers, so they gave Wilson Valdez, normally a second baseman, a shot on the mound.
He held the Reds hitless in the top of the 19th. The Phillies scored in the bottom of the frame, giving Valdez the pitching win.
If the Reds couldn’t hit a guy making his professional pitching debut, then maybe Halladay’s no-hitter in October really wasn’t that impressive.
2
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said that in order to have a full season, the NFL and its players must agree on a new collective bargaining agreement by July 4, or at least be coming close to an agreement by then.
We say hogwash.
The off-season transactions would have a smaller window of opportunity, but trust us, the process could be speeded up considerably.
And the players do not need two months to train for the September openers. In fact, many veterans have said for years that they don’t need four or five preseason games and an extended training camp.
Most of the players nowadays stay in shape all year. They have to, in order to keep their jobs come football time.
Heck, many of the players today are organizing their own workouts, keeping in shape, pretty much working for free.
Yeah, they’ll be ready. And the NFL could be ready to go into regular-season mode within three or four weeks.
