2006 Home Run Derby

Congrats to Ryan Howard for winning the HR derby last evening. After all the AL player hype it was nice to see a NL player, even a Philly, take the crown. It was cool seeing all the HR's go into the Allegheny River, even though those folks in kayaks were just wacked. I do, however, have a few snarky comments about the broadcast and event in general:

• What was up with all those big Chevy inflatable baseballs in the river?
• One big "huh?" to the sports center guy who mentioned how many Phillie fans there were last night at PNC park. According to him, it's not that far away? In who's world? Philadelphia is on the other side of Pennsylvania and a good six hours by car. Guess we are looking at the, "well it is in Pennsylvania" argument.
• I like Chris Berman, but his schtick adding Pittsburgh cities to the home run calls got old for me early on in the evening. At least he pronounced them correctly, not always an easy feat.
• That brings me to the pronounciation of our rivers. OK, just so we are all on the same page ... while the Monongahela River looks as if it should be pronounced Mo-non-ga-hEla, it is pronounced Mo-non-ga-hAla by the locals. Or, quite simply, The Mon.
• Did we have to see all of the steel mill footage?
• Wow, all evening and no mention of a Primanti brothers sandwhich.

The park looked great and Harold Reynolds was especially complimentary to the city and crowd (Thanks). I look forward to seeing Jason Bay hit clean up in tonights game and hope Freddy Garcia gets a chance to hit.

Tags: MLB , Pittsburgh, All Star Game, PNC Park, Pittsburgh Pirates