It's out of here! It's out of here!

Four hits, two of them three run homers, seven RBI total...Griffey had it going on today in the US rout of South Africa.

As much as I was thrilled that my favorite player, Ken Griffey, Jr, kicked ass as he has been doing during the whole WBC (which looks good for the Reds!), the real story was the Rocket. Dear Roger, won't you please play this year? Didn't you have an unheard of 1.87 ERA last year? Baseball needs you. Class is sometimes lacking in today's young players - they need people like you to lead them. You know you'd miss it painfully.

The Chief got the last out - a strike out, thrown under the flattened brim of his USA cap. Nice to see him again, really nice.

ESPN's ratings are way up because of the Classic. I certainly did my part by making a bar, Post Pub, turn the game on Wednesday, and people turned their heads, first confused as to what this tournament was - simply seeing "USA" on the jerseys piqued their interest, and then half the bar, those who weren't "like" dizzy blond women, were unconsciously or consciously watching the US lose to Canada. I missed the game today but watched the archived game when I got home after happy hour in the beautiful spring weather, sixty-five and clear skies and promise that it will be even better this weekend. Is there anything better in life besides perfect weather and baseball? I think not.

In other WBC news, the Dutch guy pitched a no hitter against Panama. If you're interested in his name, look it up. Nederlands rox, though not at baseball. I still wouldn't mind one of those hoep hoep Holland orange BP jerseys. Not for $119, though. Too much spring time happy hour and baseball tix coming up.

What the announcers were saying during the commercials today: Aside from berating the South African team in what they thought was off the air and then deciding that they would praise the team when they officially went on the air, these guys spent half the time trying to decide how to suck up to the National Disgrace, who was visiting the booth during the third inning. Should I ask him about Barry? No, I know he doesn't want to hear it, but he's used to being asked the question. Should I talk about what a great decision the Wild Card was even though he was criticized for even thinking about it? Is my tie straight? Do I have enough makeup on? (Ok, so that last one I made up, but only because they went on air and ran out of time for that question.)

Today's prayer: Pray that Roger comes back this year.