Going to Iowa

I'll be heading out to Iowa for a few days, leaving on Friday and not returning until the middle of next week. I'll get to spend some time with my parents and also run the Bix on Saturday. I've always enjoyed running that race, but the past couple of years I've been injured, so it's been a while since I've run it. I think I'm in pretty decent shape now, but the course is rough and the heat could be bad. So I'm really not sure what to expect. I've only broken 50 minutes once, so I'd love to do that again. Whatever happens, it should be an interesting race.

AL wins all-star game

What a shock - the AL won the all-star game Tuesday night! I can't really remember the last time the NL won, although I do remember the year it ended in a tie. I didn't watch the game this year due to being asleep at the time, but I saw news of the AL's 4-3 victory the following morning. All this means is that the AL will once again have home-field advantage in the World Series. I think it was a dumb decision to have the all-star game decide this, but that's the way it is. Baseball resumes tonight, and the Phillies take on the Marlins in Florida.

All-Star break coming up

With all the tennis action that's been going on for the past couple of months, I haven't really been able to follow baseball very closely. I listen to the Phillies games whenever they play, but I usually only hear half an inning or so before I fall asleep. Now the season is half over. Today will be the last day of baseball before the all-star break tomorrow, and then the game itself will be on Tuesday. I'd love to be able to watch, but if my memory is correct, they usually don't throw the first pitch until 8:30, so I'd be lucky just to see the first batter before going to bed.

The Phillies had an exciting game last night against the Pirates. They were trailing 5-0 when I tuned in, and then I remember them scoring a run to make it 5-1. I must have fallen asleep somewhere around there, because they scored 3 runs in that inning. They were behind 7-2 in the 9th inning, and somehow they managed to score 5 runs in the bottom frame to steal the victory. Now their record is 47-38, a solid 4 games ahead of the second-place Marlins.

What a final!

I was in for a real treat on Sunday watching the men's final at Wimbledon. 5-time champ Roger Federer faced Andy Roddick, who had been playing some remarkable tennis leading up to the match. I knew Roddick would give the Fed a good fight, but I never would have predicted it would be as close as it was. The first set stayed on serve until the 12th game, when Roddick broke to steal the first set 7-5. Sets two and three both stayed on serve and went to tiebreaks, both of which were won by Federer. The first one was rough on Andy, who had a 6-2 lead and then lost the next 6 points. Amazingly, he kept his composure and didn't lose serve in the next set. In the fourth set he broke Roger once again to win 6-3. Finally, in the fifth and decisive set where there are no tiebreakers, the two stayed on serve through 29 games. At 15-14, Federer finally broke serve and won the match. I can only imagine how devastating it must have been for Roddick. Lots of tennis greats were in attendance, including Sampras, Borg, and Laver. The title was Federer's 15th major, which puts him at number one on the all-time list, ahead of Pete.

Semis today

The semis at Wimbledon are all set for today. Federer plays Tommy Haas, and Andy Roddick plays Andy Murray. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'll get to watch the matches on TV since NBC does not start coverage until noon. It appears that the matches will air live on ESPN2, and then NBC will show them tape-delayed. So all I can do is listen to Radio Wimbledon, unless video is being streamed online. I hope that is the case. As for the tennis, I expect Federer to win and advance to his 7th straight Wimbledon final. I'm not going to offer a prediction on the other match. I believe Roddick has the capability to win, but he needs to play his best and keep his head in the game. In the Hewitt match it seemed to me like he fell asleep mentally a few times. If he does that against Murray, he's toast.