Just This League of America



Record: 46-28, first place in AL East

Did you ever read the Justice League of America comic books? You know the Justice League – all the great DC heroes like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman , the Green Lantern and yes, even Aquaman, teamed up to battle the forces of evil. If you read the comics, you might recall an annual “event” – a crossover with the Justice Society of America. Some dimensional gateway would open up, and all these relics from the 1940s comics like Hourman and Captain Ho-Ho and Dr.Codpiece and Tooty Frooty Man would show up and it was all very exciting…sort of. I mean, it was always clear that these “Golden Age” superheroes were second-rate and certainly not good enough to sustain a comic book of their own, but hey, they had a certain novelty value.

Which brings us to interleague play. It’s the same thing, really – for a couple weeks each summer, there’s a rift in the space-time continuum and all these strange teams from the National League like the Phillies and the Marlins show up to play their peculiar brand of baseball against the American League. And, much like the Justice Society, they are so severely over-matched, it’s a little sad. Okay, it’s not that sad, considering that the Red Sox haven’t lost a game since my post a week ago, having swept three consecutive 3-game series against National League opponents.



The Washington Nationals didn’t put up much of a fight. The Phillies were a little tougher, requiring walkoff hits in extra innings in back-to-back games, both courtesy of the ever-clutch David Ortiz. Last night, one of the few really good teams in the NL, the New York Mets, rolled into town. As it happens, this year is the 20th anniversary of the infamous 1986 World Series between these teams, and before the game last night, many members of the '86 Red Sox squad returned to Fenway to be honored before the game. (Bill Buckner didn’t show, but received an ovation anyway when his picture was shown on the Jumbotron; Roger Clemens was otherwise engaged, pitching for the Astros and probably wishing he had the Sox offense backing him up.) Former Red Sox ace and current Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez received a video tribute and a standing ovation from the Fenway faithful. The Sox have won 10 in a row and now lead the Yankees by three and a half games. Pedro pitches tonight against his former team for the first time since departing after the 2004 championship – must-see TV.